Each year Pragmatic Institute conducts a survey of product managers and marketing professionals.
Over 1,100 responded to the survey, which was conducted from November 3 through November 26, 2008 using Verint’s (formally Vovici’s) EFM Feedback.
Note: When making decisions, remember this report describes typical practices, not best practices. For best practices in product management and marketing, attend a Pragmatic Institute event.
Additional analysis is at the end of this summary.
Profile of a product manager
Average age is 37
Responsible for 3 products
89% claim to be “somewhat” or “very” technical
34% are female, 66% are male
95% have completed college and 44% have completed a masters program.
“How has your job changed over the last 2 years?”
Organization
The typical product manager reports to a director in the product management department.
- 45% report to a director
- 29% report to a vice president
- 17% report to a manager
- 9% to CxO
Reporting Department
- 23% report directly to the CEO or COO
- 22% are in the Product Management department
- 19% are in the Marketing department
- 11% are in Development/Engineering
- 7% are in Sales
- 4% are in the Product Marketing department
“If you could say one thing to your company president..”
Over 650 responded to this question! Read some of the highlights.
Impacts on productivity
Product managers receive 50 e-mails a day and send 25.
Product managers spend roughly two days a week in internal meetings (15 meetings/week). But 55% are going to 15 meetings or more each week, and 35% attend 20 or more meetings!
Product managers typically work 50 hours per week.
Ratios within the company
How are product managers allocated relative to other departments?
For each Product Manager, we find:
- 0.6 product marketing managers
- 0.75 marketing communications
- 7.2 salespeople
- 3.5 sales engineers (pre-sales support)
- 0.72 development leads
- 5.5 developers
- 1.0 product architects and designers
Other ratios
- 3.6 developers per QA manager
- 3.6 salespeople per sales engineer
Responsible for product profit & loss
Responsible for go-to-market strategies
Software Development Methods
Activities (based on the Pragmatic Institute Framework)
Percentage of respondents indicating they conduct the activity
Comparison of roles
Percentage of product managers and product marketers indicating they conduct each activity
Compensation
Average US product management compensation is $100,341 salary plus $12,467 annual bonus. 79% of product managers get a bonus (multiple responses were permitted):
- 64% based on company profit
- 24% based on product revenue
- 36% based on quarterly objectives (MBOs)
29% say bonus does not motivate at all and 16% say bonus motivates a lot.
Geographical impact on compensation
(US $)
| Maximum Salary |
Bonus |
Average Salary |
Bonus |
Minimum Salary |
Bonus |
|
| Australia |
90,000 | 20,000 | 78,571 | 10,400 | 65,000 | 2,000 |
| Canada |
145,000 | 85,000 | 88,719 | 14,792 | 50,000 | 1,000 |
| Europe |
182,000 | 30,000 | 90,429 | 10,704 | 18,000 | 2,000 |
| USA | 180,000 | 70,000 | 100,341 | 12,467 | 40,000 | 1,000 |
US regional impact on compensation
(US $)
| Maximum Salary |
Bonus |
Average Salary |
Bonus |
Minimum Salary |
Bonus |
|
| Midwest | 170,000 | 30,000 | 90,944 | 10,453 | 50,000 | 1,000 |
| Northeast | 175,000 | 55,000 | 105,178 | 12,933 | 40,000 | 1,000 |
| Pacific | 180,000 | 70,000 | 107,105 | 14,026 | 41,000 | 1,000 |
| Southeast | 150,000 | 25,000 | 96,038 | 10,787 | 50,000 | 1,000 |
| South | 145,000 | 27,000 | 105,789 | 13,933 | 58,000 | 2,000 |
| West |
165,000 | 39,000 | 94,152 | 12,833 | 40,000 | 2,000 |
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 (AK. CA, HI, OR, WA)
Southeast (AL, FL, GA, KY, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)
South (AR, LA, OK, TX)
West (AZ, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, UT, WY)
Gender comparison in compensation vs. experience
(US $)
Additional Analysis
A look at Agile product management
