Claire Vo (CPO Color): Why It's Finally Time for the Individual Contributor PM to Shine
How to pursue the super IC PM career path and use AI to excel at crafting products
Dear subscribers,
Today, I want to share an interview with Claire Vo, Chief Product Officer of Color and ex-CPO of Optimizely.
Claire believes that it’s never been a better time to be a strong IC PM and has built a career ladder where the best individual contributors report directly to the C-suite.
We spoke about:
Why PM performance theater needs to end
How to pursue the super IC PM career path
How IC PMs can use AI to excel at their job
Why PM performance theater needs to end
Welcome, Claire! To kick things off, can you explain what PM performance theater is and why it’s problematic?
I think we need to stop rewarding the performance theater of PM frameworks and instead reward people for actually building great products.
You can't put an idea into the framework factory and get a great product out on the other end.
I agree. Simply memorizing frameworks doesn't ensure that you can make a quality product. The actual process tends to be very messy.
Yes, I’ve been a product leader for many years and still build duds from time to time. Part of it is luck in finding the right problem space and being in the right place at the right time.
Another element of PM performance theater is the desire to grow your team to demonstrate impact. I’ve written about this before but would love to get your take.
When you get to the group PM or director level:
Your growth becomes constrained by the size of your product team.
I think this is a big problem.
PM orgs are naturally smaller than engineering orgs. So forcing all great PMs to aspire to be managers isn’t sustainable.
It’s common to have an IC career track in engineering. We need the same for PMs.
Why hasn’t there been an IC PM career track?
Candidly, I think it's because product leaders haven’t introduced the right incentives.
In my org, we have an IC PM track that goes all the way up to the C-suite. For example, an IC PM reports directly to me as our Chief Product Innovation Officer.
Do you think this perspective is changing? When you talk to your CPO or VP peers, are they thinking about creating an IC PM career track?
Well, the past year hasn’t been kind to tech companies. We've seen a lot of reorgs, layoffs, and budget cuts.
Product leaders everywhere are being asked to do more with less. So my peers are looking at PM managers who are only doing 1:1s, hiring, and career work and asking:
Can you jump in and build? Can you get your hands dirty on the product itself?
Combined with the AI wave, I think many companies are rethinking their management and leadership practices to cater to small teams instead.
Yet another element of PM performance theater is the belief that there’s always a right way to do things. You have this principle called “fast beats right” which is somewhat counter to that.
Yes, I think this goes back to our profession’s fixation on PM frameworks.
There’s this belief that if you just talk to the right customer, write the right PRD, and follow the right process — then you’ll build a successful product.
But after two decades of doing this, I think that’s just not true.
The reality is that good work sometimes produces bad outcomes while sloppy work can lead to good outcomes. So I believe that:
The more times you get at bat, the more likely you are to strike gold.
That’s why I think rapid iteration is key. You have to ship quickly and learn from the market instead of always trying to do things the right way.
Founders often come to me and ask: “We could pursue A, B, and C opportunities, which direction should we go with?” And my response is: “Well, any of those could work but what won’t work is if you don’t pick a direction and deliver on it.”
The team that ships faster almost always beats the team that has the best processes.
Yes, I think the heart of product management is getting the understand, identify, and execute flywheel going as quickly as possible.
Yes, in addition to speed, I also think it’s important for PMs to elevate the team:
Engineers should be sharing their ideas instead of only relying on the PM.
Designers should be involved in product ideation and execution from the start.
Sales is often the tip of the spear in gathering great customer feedback.
The best PMs know how to move fast and recognize great ideas from anyone.
That’s my pet peeve with the term “product sense.” It implies some PMs just have it while others don’t. But the market is changing all the time. You have to be humble and listen to your customers and the rest of your team to build the best product.
Exactly!
How to pursue the super IC PM career path
Let’s talk more about how someone can pursue an IC PM career track. I love your discussion with Brian Balfour (CEO Reforge) about his “coaches, captains, and players” analogy. Can you recap what that is?
If you think about a great sports team, you have:
Coaches who recruit and manage the team.
Captains who are the leaders on the field.
Players who are executing plays.
In sports, being a captain or player is often better from a title and comp perspective than being a coach.
I think this is where we mess up in the PM profession.
Why do PM managers get paid more and have better titles than great ICs? If you can level out the playing field across these three types of roles, I think you’ll make it much more attractive for great PMs to aspire to be captains and players instead.
I think the captain title is great. Being a captain feels better than being “just an IC.”
Exactly, you’re not going to call Tom Brady “just an IC.” He’s bringing in more money than any coach.
So let’s make this more tactical – you mentioned that you have an IC PM who reports to you. What are some traits that help him or her stand out?
I think great IC PMs shine in the following areas:
High context on the company. They’re a reference point for others on customer needs and how the company operates.
Obsession with craft and details. You can toss any problem at them and they’ll sweat the details and figure it out.
Directors, not consensus builders. They know how to drive towards decisions and have the cultural carry to say “We’re going to do X” instead of only trying to influence without authority.
Well networked internally. They tend to be low-drama and well-liked. They know everyone and won’t hesitate to DM the C-suite to get something unblocked.
Get stuff done fast. They’re right a lot and incredibly responsive.
Does a super senior IC PM need air cover from execs? I think it’s hard to come into a new company in this role without the right relationships.
I think you’re right. Today, I rarely see someone hired into a super IC PM role. It’s more of a promotion path for someone who has a lot of credibility.
To play devil’s advocate though, the IC PM track is still nascent. I’ve seen senior IC engineers get hired in and be effective. So it can happen on the PM side as well.
Let’s say you’re a great IC PM reading this interview. You want to continue building products instead of orgs. How can you find a company that supports this goal?
Tactically, you can find product leaders like me who believe in the IC PM career path and can refer you to other leaders who are thinking about this. But more broadly:
You have to shoot your shot when it comes to the careers and roles that you want.