A Brief List of Product Management Assessment Tools

Note: This post was originally published in November 2021. After a few years passed, I realized it was time for a refresh, so I’ve added some new resources that I’ve discovered on my own or members of the product community have shared with me. What you’ll find below is the version that was updated in August 2024.

I’ve written quite a bit about the PMwheel tool I created. But occasionally, people ask me if there are any alternatives to the PMwheel. While I certainly recommend starting with the PMwheel (I created it, after all!), I’ve begun to compile a list of other product manager assessment resources that are out there.

You can check out:

• PMwheel (full disclosure: This is the tool I’ve created, so I’m a bit biased towards it, of course. You can find an overview of the PMwheel here, a guide for product managers to use the PMwheel for self-assessment here, and a guide for product leaders to use the PMwheel as a coaching tool here.)

• What’s Your Shape? A Product Manager’s Guide to Growing Yourself and Your Team and How to Become a Peak Product Manager by Ravi Mehta

• The PM Daisy

• Marty Cagan’s Coaching Tools – The Assessment 

• Shaun Russell’s adaptation of the Spotify model

• Mind the Product’s Product Skills Toolkit 

• Product Focus' Product Activities Framework

• Lenny Rachitsky’s podcast with Vikrama Dhiman and his article on Skills PMs Need to Build (Note you’ll need to be a subscriber to his newsletter to read this one).

• The PM Growth Bubble by Afonso Malo Franco

Did I miss anything? If you know of any additional resources for product managers—or anything similar for engineers, designers, or user research folks, please let me know! I’ll continue to update the list over time.

Career ladders for product people

If you’re interested in career ladders for product people, I have a super simplified take on it in my book. If you want to read more from other people, here are some additional resources to check out.

• Ken Norton’s It’s Time to Fight for  a Dual Product Management Career Path and Dual-Track PM Ladders

• Brent Tworetzky’s Product Manager Skills by Seniority Level — A Deep Breakdown  

• Mind the Product’s Product Management Job Titles and Hierarchy 

• Thor Mitchel on the Career Ladder work he did at Miro at the MTP Engage Leadership Forum in 2022

• Rich Mironov’s The Product Management Career Ladder 

• Lenny Rachitsky’s Product Management Career Ladders

Other resources to check out

• Fellow product leadership coach Kate Leto recommended Jason Mesut’s work on Shaping Designers and Design teams. Kate says, “It’s a set of tools to help designers and design teams to self-reflect, direct their future, and develop others. I think of this work as coaching tools for deeper self-assessment for individuals and teams.” 

• Christoph Steinlehner created a Product Team Assessment Workshop (including a Miro template) heavily inspired by Marty Cagan's Transformed. 

• Simonetta Batteiger developed a team learning workshop that addresses in a team and with their collaboration and co-creation where they see their own development needs.

While we’re on the topic of assessments, it’s worth noting that I’ve written a post where I share my (highly opinionated) guide to product maturity assessments. If you’d like to hear why I’m not always in favor of these types of assessments as well as a quick overview of what’s out there, please go ahead and check it out.

I’ll continue to revisit this post in the future, so if you know of anything that’s missing, feel free to reach out on LinkedIn and let me know!