AMA: Salesforce Senior Director of Product, Agentforce AI Platform, Deepak Mukunthu on Product Management KPI's

Some of the worst KPIs for Product Managers are those that reward activity over impact or ignore user value. Examples: Number of features shipped — encourages output, not outcomes. Story points completed — measures engineering throughput, not customer success. Daily active users (DAU) without context — can rise even if satisfaction drops. Vanity metrics like page views, downloads, or sign-ups — say nothing about real engagement. Total revenue (for non-monetized or shared products) — outside PM c ...Read More

One of the most overlooked KPIs in product teams is Time-to-Value (TTV) — how quickly a user experiences the core value after adopting the product. Teams often obsess over acquisition, engagement, or feature delivery, but miss whether users actually get value fast enough to stick around. A long TTV is a silent killer of retention, adoption, and word-of-mouth growth. TTV bridges product and customer experience — it forces PMs to ask: How many steps, minutes, or clicks does it take for a new user ...Read More

When a product isn’t directly monetized, business impact should be measured through proxy metrics that tie user value to strategic or financial outcomes. Start by asking: What behavior in my product drives broader company success? For example: Engagement impact: Does it increase active usage, retention, or ecosystem stickiness? Acquisition impact: Does it improve conversion, referrals, or satisfaction that fuels growth? Efficiency impact: Does it reduce costs, support load, or operational fricti ...Read More

Strong Product Management OKRs tie user value, business impact, and execution excellence together. Examples: Objective 1: Deliver products users love and adopt quickly KR1: Increase feature adoption rate by 30% within 60 days of launch. KR2: Achieve NPS > 50 for new feature experiences. KR3: Reduce time-to-value for new users by 40%. Objective 2: Drive measurable business outcomes KR1: Improve retention by 15%. KR2: Grow active usage (DAU/MAU) by 25%. KR3: Launch 2 product initiatives contrib ...Read More

Yes — Gen AI has become an invaluable layer in internal communication and stakeholder reporting. I’ve used it to synthesize complex product insights into clear, executive-ready narratives within minutes. The most valuable artifact has been the “AI-generated Product Brief” — a concise, auto-updated summary that combines metrics, user feedback, and roadmap progress into one story. Instead of manual slide decks, AI transforms dashboards, notes, and Jira data into a cohesive narrative: what we shipp ...Read More

When entering new markets, KPI setting feels arbitrary because data is scarce — but it doesn’t have to be guesswork. The key is to anchor goals in learning, not precision. Start with assumptions, not targets: define what success might look like (e.g., conversion, activation, retention) and set directional hypotheses — “If our messaging resonates, we should see X% activation within Y weeks.” Then, instrument early to gather data fast. Use small launches, benchmarks from adjacent markets, and earl ...Read More

Feature adoption should be a shared KPI with clear stage ownership: Product Marketing (PMM) owns awareness and intent — ensuring users know about the feature and want to try it. Their metrics: feature awareness, CTR on announcements, traffic to feature pages, and activation campaigns’ reach and engagement. Product Management (PM) owns activation and retention — ensuring users use the feature successfully and keep using it. Their metrics: activation rate, repeat usage, task completion, and impact ...Read More

With a self-serve product, KPIs shift from sales-driven outcomes to user-driven conversion and value realization. Since users onboard, explore, and purchase without human help, PMs must measure the entire self-serve funnel: Acquisition: traffic, sign-ups, and free-to-paid conversion rates. Activation: time-to-value, onboarding completion, and first “aha” moment. Engagement: weekly active users, feature adoption, and depth of use. Retention: churn rate, expansion (upgrades, usage growth), and NPS ...Read More

In a successful product launch, Product Management (PM) and Product Marketing (PMM) own complementary halves of the same story — PM focuses on what and why, PMM on how and who. Product Management drives the product’s readiness: defining user problems, roadmap, MVP scope, and success metrics. Their KPIs include feature adoption, NPS, usage retention, and delivery on time and quality. PM ensures the product works, delivers value, and fits market needs. Product Marketing drives market readiness: cr ...Read More

To avoid proxy KPIs, start by clarifying the real outcome you want — the change in user or business behavior that defines success. Then ask: “If this KPI moves, does it prove the outcome happened, or just suggest it might have?” If the link is indirect, it’s a proxy. Replace or pair it with a direct metric that reflects actual value creation. Example: Instead of “time spent in app”, measure “tasks completed successfully.” Instead of “feature clicks”, measure “users achieving desired result.” Ins ...Read More

I start by asking one question: “What user or business behavior proves this product is succeeding?” From there, I map a causal chain — user problem → product outcome → business result. Each PM’s metrics should sit in the middle: close enough to user behavior to show value, and close enough to business goals to show impact. Then I layer: Outcome metrics (activation, retention, NPS) — show value creation. Input metrics (adoption, engagement depth) — show what drives it. Health metrics (quality, sp ...Read More