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.
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 |
- Read more about compensation in Product Management Glass Ceiling Cracked.
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
