A framework for PM skill development

Vikrama Dhiman, a product leader at Gojek who has built strong product and design talent across Asia, shares his career growth framework for product managers. The conversation covers the three W's (what you produce, what you bring to the table, and your operating model), how mindset shifts can stall or accelerate careers, and how to transition into product management.

01Key learnings

• Early in your career, prioritize shipping concrete outputs and being useful to your team; strategic influence comes as you earn it.
• Keep producing hands-on artifacts like PRDs, strategy docs, and briefs even as you grow senior, since quality artifacts signal your craft.
• Work on your operating model: raise difficult issues without being difficult to work with, surface topics without centering yourself, and drive decisions without making them all yourself.
• Focus on what you can control and keep your rate of change high by benchmarking yourself against the best people in your organization.
• Audit the stories you tell about yourself, since labels like 'high agency' can become excuses; replace them with enabling narratives like 'mindful agency' and seek candid feedback to correct them.
• When feedback is overwhelming, pick one or two skill areas with the highest leverage and improve those before moving on; for career switchers, pair a strong existing skill with a new one such as data or tech plus design or research.
• Think of the PM role as the connector across data, design, technology, and strategy, and define your value by the role you play rather than your title.
• Effort still matters: consistent investment of time and energy is a major driver of growth, even when it feels unfashionable to say.

02Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.