AMA: Cisco VP Product Management, Cisco Wireless, D Matthew Landry on Product Management KPI's

When monetization isn’t direct, you shift into “driver metrics” that link to business value: adoption rates, reliability, customer (whether internal or external) satisfaction, support case reduction, and so on. Basically, anything that shows your product is delivering value and enabling dependent outcomes. Work backwards from the business objective (e.g., fewer churns, lower delivery cost, higher usage) and map your product’s role in that chain. By doing so, you convert indirect usage into busin ...Read More

I often use GenAI for aggregating diverse documents and synthesizing details into concise, coherent summaries. Critical caveat: GenAI often misses nuance that domain experts shouldn't. Treat AI summaries as strong first- or second drafts, then apply your expertise to ensure proper emphasis and relevant granularity for your audience. Some of the most valuable artifacts I've created include: Industry research summaries for product opportunities and competitor analysis Customer profile summaries be ...Read More

Early on, you will be arbitraging metrics. There’s no perfect KPI when you’re breaking new ground. The smart move is to pick something rational (based on your understanding of what customers want and how you're helping), instrument it, monitor whether optimizing moves the long‑term outcomes you care about, and then iterate. It’s almost always better to try, learn and adjust than to wait for discovering the perfect metric. The KPI’s main job early on is to generate insight, not to lock you into a ...Read More

This is a good question that comes up frequently. The trick is: it's a false trade-off. Yes, working with large stakeholder groups creates more meetings and coordination overhead. But, you can't sacrifice stakeholder alignment for speed. You also do not need every discussion to become a consensus marathon. The key is a RACI (Responsible / Accountable / Consulted / Informed) chart, formal or informal, that clearly defines roles and responsibilities to streamline decision-making. Making decisions ...Read More

Product management owns feature adoption KPIs, period. Why build the feature if you don't care about usage? (Even if the feature is targeted a specific sub-segment, you should care about that segment's adoption.) I understand why one might think product marketing could own this, given initiatives like awareness campaigns, growth programs, and marketing-led adoption efforts. But here's the reality: product management always depends on many stakeholders to accomplish outcomes, but that doesn't mea ...Read More

Product management owns the what and why, defining the feature set, prioritization, and fundamental value proposition. Product marketing owns the how and to whom, specifying messaging, positioning, and market segmentation. These are broad characterizations, but should generally guide judgment calls on who owns what. Regardless, collaboration is critical. Both teams should lean in during discovery phases (customer challenges, solution efficacy, buying motivators, routes to market, etc.) and feed ...Read More

Many useful KPIs are proxies because the ultimate KPIs (like revenue) are often lagging indicators. The key is to clarify the link between a metric and the outcome. Pick metrics that logically roll into the business outcome you care about, and build in review points to ask: “is optimizing this metric actually moving the business needle?” If you find the KPI is being gamed or optimized in isolation from the business goal, change it. KPIs aren't meant to be set-and-forget tools. Evolve them as the ...Read More

Revenue is the ultimate metric, but it's typically a lagging indicator and depends on many elements of the buying cycle that PM doesn't directly control. So, maybe it may be a secondary accountability metric. But PM can still measure primary metrics that contribute to revenue: adoption rates renewal rates time-to-value customer satisfaction (indicating willingness to refer) trial conversions product-led pipeline generation and so on. These are all signals that feed into a funnel describing how c ...Read More

In a small startup where the CEO is strongly involved, the "PM as CEO of the product" premise doesn't apply. Thus, you shouldn't typically start with revenue as the primary KPI. Instead, focus on early‑stage metrics tied to product‑market fit: are you reaching the right customers, is usage/adoption growing, is retention improving? These are the signals you control more directly as the first PM. Revenue is still the guiding light, but at this stage your goal is setting up the product so revenue c ...Read More