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2006 Annual Product Management and Marketing Survey

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Each year Pragmatic Institute conducts a survey of product managers and marketing professionals. Our objective is to provide you with information about compensation as well as the most common responsibilities for product managers and other marketing professionals.

Over 500 product management and marketing professionals responded to the survey which was conducted during the period of October 22 through November 23, 2006 using WebSurveyor.

Summary Report (.pdf)


Profile of a product manager

The average Product Manager is 36 years old;
88% claim to be ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ technical;
29% are female, 71% are male;

91% have completed college and 39% have completed a masters program;

The typical product manager has responsibility for 3 products.

 

Organization

The typical product manager reports to a director in the product management department.

  • 38% report to a director
  • 35% to VP
  • 8% report directly to the CEO or COO
  • 19% are in the Product Management department
  • 21% are in the Marketing department
  • 10% are in Development or Engineering
  • 7% are in a sales department

 

Impacts on productivity

Product managers receive 50 emails a day and send about 25.

Product managers spend roughly two days a week in internal meetings (14 meetings/week). But 50% are going to 15 meetings or more each week, and 27% attend 20 or more meetings!

 

Working with Development

The majority of product managers are researching market needs, writing requirements, and monitoring development projects.

  • 71% researching market needs
  • 51% preparing business case
  • 18% performing win/loss analysis
  • 82% monitoring development projects
  • 80% writing requirements (the ‘what’ document)
  • 54% writing specifications (the ‘how’ document)

 

Working with Marketing Communications and Sales

Product managers also spend time providing technical content for marketing and sales.

  • 44% writing promotional copy
  • 41% approving promotional materials
  • 9% working with press and analysts
  • 49% training sales people
  • 42% going on sales calls

 

 


Compensation

Average US product management compensation is
$93,682 salary
plus $14,875 annual bonus
(79% of product managers get a bonus)

Our bonuses are based on:

  • 55% company profit
  • 32% product revenue
  • 45% quarterly objectives (MBOs)

Over 25% say the bonus does not motivate at all and only 16% say the bonus motivates a lot.

Regional impact on compensation

US Region

Female

Male

Salary

Bonus

Total

Salary

Bonus

Total

Midwest 78.583 11.857 90.440 85.140 13.361 98.501
Northeast 95.862 19.263 115.125 103.872 17.974 121.847
Pacific 90.536 11.250 101.786 103.855 18.816 122.670
South 77.227 9.462 86.689 91.511 12.472 103.983
Southwest 76.778 11.500 88.278 98.381 17.222 115.603
West 88.167 10.750 98.917 97.519 12.000 109.519
Overall
$84.841
$12.630
$97.471
$94.663
$16.819
$111.482
Canada 73.133 9.455 82.588 83.800 10.636 94.436
Europe 90.250 10.000 100.250 103.313 18.714 122.027

 

Averages, Maximums and Minimums

 US Region
Avg

Max

Min

Salary
Bonus
Total
Salary
Bonus
Totals
Salary
Bonus
Totals
Midwest 83,643 13,045 96,688 150,000 78,000 228,000 25,000 2,000 27,000
Northeast 100,649 18,288 118,937 157,000 100,000 257,000 55,000 3,000 58,000
Pacific 99,361 16,207 115,568 159,000 155,000 314,000 43,000 43,000
South 86,957 11,673 98,630 160,000 50,000 210,000 36,000 36,000
Southwest 92,000 15,960 107,960 130,000 47,000 177,000 50,000 2,000 52,000
West 95,818 11,773 107,591 133,000 30,000 163,000 64,000 2,000 66,000
Overall
$93,682 $14,875 $108,557 $155,000 $25,000 $315,000 $25,000 $25,000
Canada 81,525 11,000 92,525 155,000 40,000 195,000 46,000 1,000 47,000
Europe 100,700 18,133 118,833 200,000 47,000 247,000 50,000 50,000

Note: Salary and bonus amounts requested in US$.

Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)
Northeast (CT, DE, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT)
Pacific (Alaska. CA, Hawaii, OR, WA)
South (AL, FL, GA, KY, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)
Southwest (AR, LA, OK, TX)
West (AZ, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, UT, WY)

 


Product Management ratios within the company

How are product managers allocated relative to other departments?

For each Product Manager (PM), we find:

  • 1.0 Product managers
  • 3.0 Products
  • 5.0 Developers
  • 0.8 Development leads
  • 0.4 Product architects and designers
  • 0.4 Product marketing managers
  • 0.6 Marketing communications
  • 3.2 Salespeople
  • 0.8 Sales engineers (pre-sales support)

Other ratios

  • 0.3 QA people per developer
  • 4.0 salespeople per SE
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