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What PM doesn’t love a numbered list, am I right?!
After having the pleasure of working with a lot of Product Managers over 20+ years, I’ve noticed something: the ones who truly excel share a surprising set of traits—many of which aren’t in the job description.
Some PMs struggle to find their footing. Others? They absolutely crush it. They elevate teams, ship incredible products, and become the kind of leaders people want to work with again and again.
Looking back on the early days of the most impressive PMs I’ve worked with, these are the 12 traits they all had in common.
The most impactful and career-mobilizing skill I’ve seen from PMs is their ability to disambiguate complexity with precision—whether in emails, Slack messages, meeting notes, User Stories, roadmap presentations, or discussions with leadership.
Great PMs applied an inordinate amount of energy into making their communication a perfect balance of exhaustive and easy to understand. They knew that poor communication leads to confusion, misalignment, and wasted effort.
✅ Concise yet comprehensive – No fluff, no ambiguity.
✅ Tailored to the audience – Execs, engineers, and customers all need different levels of detail.
✅ Structured for action – Always answering questions and driving results
Great PMs operate at every level of altitude. They dive into the weeds when necessary—understanding edge cases, error states, and data flows—but they also zoom out to align the team with the big picture.
📌 Low-level focus: Specs, execution details, identifying risks early.
📌 High-level focus: Strategy, outcomes, long-term vision.
The best PMs didn’t park at one level; they lived avidly in all of them.
Some PMs see details as a burden. The best PMs see them as the foundation of great execution.
I have rarely found PMs to be convincing or effective in high-level strategy without also being masterful at the fundamentals of design and execution. Sure, some PMs love to brag about not worrying about details, but in reality, the most successful ones were always surgeons as much as they were strategists.
🎯 Why this matters: A missing edge case, an ambiguous requirement, or an unconsidered technical limitation can derail a launch. Great PMs anticipate these problems before they happen.
Don’t underestimate the power of a well-designed deck. Every PM has to communicate ideas—to execs, stakeholders, or teams–and the more impactful and precise the visuals, the more effectively the audience will absorb and respond
🔹 Clear structure = faster decisions.
🔹 Strong visuals = better knowledge transfer.
🔹 Messy slides = lost credibility.
On the flip side, nothing screams lack of attention to detail like slides that look like they were pawed together by their pet Chihuahua.
While the best PMs took “ownership” and “management” very seriously, they never made it about them. They understood that their job wasn’t about checking off their own tasks—it was about ensuring everyone else had what they needed to succeed.
✅ They weren’t the hero of the story—they were the force multiplier for their team.
✅ They didn’t seek credit—they made sure the right outcomes happened.
✅ They focused on unblocking others and ensuring everyone around them always had clarity.
Great PMs are relentless process optimizers. They didn’t just inherit how things were done—they refined how information flowed in their company.
⚡ What this looked like:
While PMs don’t “own” UX, the best ones cared deeply about it. They never just took the first draft as final, and they were all about the nuances.
💡 Sure, PMs need to “stay in their lane,” but the ones with the best outcomes were very vocal about making sure UX was exceptional. They asked tough questions, challenged assumptions, and never settled for mediocrity in the product experience.
The more they cared about user experience, the more everyone around them cared about it too.
As Jerry Seinfeld once said to a desk agent at Worthy Rent-a-Car, “...that’s really the most important part of the reservation: the holding. Anybody can just take ‘em.”
A PM knows that getting feedback is easy. Knowing what to do with it is hard.
🎯 Great PMs didn’t just collect feedback—they decomposed, prioritized, and acted on it intelligently, and lightening fast. They knew:
Superstar PMs aren’t just curious—they’re relentless interrogators of ambiguity. They ask questions that get to the truth:
❌ Weak question: “What do you need?”
✅ Strong question: “What exactly makes this process so difficult for you?”
And they never settled for the first answer. They kept going—follow-up after follow-up, uncovering hidden assumptions and blind spots—until they understood the real issue.
Yes, data is important. But great PMs knew how to balance data with intuition.
📊 They used data as a compass, not a crutch.
They could tell when numbers revealed insights and when they created false narratives. They didn’t just optimize for metrics—they optimized for outcomes.
The strongest PMs weren’t the most technical—they were the most user- and outcome-focused.
The most successful PMs:
✅ Understood technical concepts and architecture at a high level.
✅ Asked smart questions but didn’t micromanage engineering decisions on the ‘how’.
✅ Kept their focus on users and business outcomes.
The best PMs didn’t wait until the last minute to involve engineering, they looped in and got feedback from engineering early.
⏳ Why? It saved time, surfaced risks, and led to better long-term solutions. The best PMs:
✔ Didn’t wait until estimations were needed to bring engineers in.✔ Sought engineering input before finalizing decisions.✔ Built strong, trusting relationships with technical teams.
The best early-career PMs didn’t just check their own boxes—they put efforts into the skills and activities that elevated everyone around them. They demanded excellence of themselves and enabled excellence in their colleagues. Oh, and they shipped some pretty great products too
🚀 Which of these traits are you focusing on? If you’re a seasoned PM, what would you add to this list? Have questions or comments about this article? Feel free to reach out to Ben McPhee on LinkedIn!
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What PM doesn’t love a numbered list, am I right?!
After having the pleasure of working with a lot of Product Managers over 20+ years, I’ve noticed something: the ones who truly excel share a surprising set of traits—many of which aren’t in the job description.
Some PMs struggle to find their footing. Others? They absolutely crush it. They elevate teams, ship incredible products, and become the kind of leaders people want to work with again and again.
Looking back on the early days of the most impressive PMs I’ve worked with, these are the 12 traits they all had in common.
The most impactful and career-mobilizing skill I’ve seen from PMs is their ability to disambiguate complexity with precision—whether in emails, Slack messages, meeting notes, User Stories, roadmap presentations, or discussions with leadership.
Great PMs applied an inordinate amount of energy into making their communication a perfect balance of exhaustive and easy to understand. They knew that poor communication leads to confusion, misalignment, and wasted effort.
✅ Concise yet comprehensive – No fluff, no ambiguity.
✅ Tailored to the audience – Execs, engineers, and customers all need different levels of detail.
✅ Structured for action – Always answering questions and driving results
Great PMs operate at every level of altitude. They dive into the weeds when necessary—understanding edge cases, error states, and data flows—but they also zoom out to align the team with the big picture.
📌 Low-level focus: Specs, execution details, identifying risks early.
📌 High-level focus: Strategy, outcomes, long-term vision.
The best PMs didn’t park at one level; they lived avidly in all of them.
Some PMs see details as a burden. The best PMs see them as the foundation of great execution.
I have rarely found PMs to be convincing or effective in high-level strategy without also being masterful at the fundamentals of design and execution. Sure, some PMs love to brag about not worrying about details, but in reality, the most successful ones were always surgeons as much as they were strategists.
🎯 Why this matters: A missing edge case, an ambiguous requirement, or an unconsidered technical limitation can derail a launch. Great PMs anticipate these problems before they happen.
Don’t underestimate the power of a well-designed deck. Every PM has to communicate ideas—to execs, stakeholders, or teams–and the more impactful and precise the visuals, the more effectively the audience will absorb and respond
🔹 Clear structure = faster decisions.
🔹 Strong visuals = better knowledge transfer.
🔹 Messy slides = lost credibility.
On the flip side, nothing screams lack of attention to detail like slides that look like they were pawed together by their pet Chihuahua.
While the best PMs took “ownership” and “management” very seriously, they never made it about them. They understood that their job wasn’t about checking off their own tasks—it was about ensuring everyone else had what they needed to succeed.
✅ They weren’t the hero of the story—they were the force multiplier for their team.
✅ They didn’t seek credit—they made sure the right outcomes happened.
✅ They focused on unblocking others and ensuring everyone around them always had clarity.
Great PMs are relentless process optimizers. They didn’t just inherit how things were done—they refined how information flowed in their company.
⚡ What this looked like:
While PMs don’t “own” UX, the best ones cared deeply about it. They never just took the first draft as final, and they were all about the nuances.
💡 Sure, PMs need to “stay in their lane,” but the ones with the best outcomes were very vocal about making sure UX was exceptional. They asked tough questions, challenged assumptions, and never settled for mediocrity in the product experience.
The more they cared about user experience, the more everyone around them cared about it too.
As Jerry Seinfeld once said to a desk agent at Worthy Rent-a-Car, “...that’s really the most important part of the reservation: the holding. Anybody can just take ‘em.”
A PM knows that getting feedback is easy. Knowing what to do with it is hard.
🎯 Great PMs didn’t just collect feedback—they decomposed, prioritized, and acted on it intelligently, and lightening fast. They knew:
Superstar PMs aren’t just curious—they’re relentless interrogators of ambiguity. They ask questions that get to the truth:
❌ Weak question: “What do you need?”
✅ Strong question: “What exactly makes this process so difficult for you?”
And they never settled for the first answer. They kept going—follow-up after follow-up, uncovering hidden assumptions and blind spots—until they understood the real issue.
Yes, data is important. But great PMs knew how to balance data with intuition.
📊 They used data as a compass, not a crutch.
They could tell when numbers revealed insights and when they created false narratives. They didn’t just optimize for metrics—they optimized for outcomes.
The strongest PMs weren’t the most technical—they were the most user- and outcome-focused.
The most successful PMs:
✅ Understood technical concepts and architecture at a high level.
✅ Asked smart questions but didn’t micromanage engineering decisions on the ‘how’.
✅ Kept their focus on users and business outcomes.
The best PMs didn’t wait until the last minute to involve engineering, they looped in and got feedback from engineering early.
⏳ Why? It saved time, surfaced risks, and led to better long-term solutions. The best PMs:
✔ Didn’t wait until estimations were needed to bring engineers in.✔ Sought engineering input before finalizing decisions.✔ Built strong, trusting relationships with technical teams.
The best early-career PMs didn’t just check their own boxes—they put efforts into the skills and activities that elevated everyone around them. They demanded excellence of themselves and enabled excellence in their colleagues. Oh, and they shipped some pretty great products too
🚀 Which of these traits are you focusing on? If you’re a seasoned PM, what would you add to this list? Have questions or comments about this article? Feel free to reach out to Ben McPhee on LinkedIn!
Toronto Product Management Association (TPMA) is a community focused on development, growth and networking of Product professionals in the Greater Toronto Area.
