Results from the 2016 Product Managers Association of Los Angeels Survey With over 200 respondents, this is the larges PM survey specifc to the city of Los Angeles.

1. 2016 Product Managers Survey
pma.lafrom
Prepared by Neal Cabage

2. Survey Summary
220 responses to the 2016 PMALA survey were received as of August 2016. Of those,
84% are practicing product managers. What follows are statistics about only those
practicing product managers, and their experiences, practicing Product in Los Angeles.
Date of Submissions June – August 2016
Total Responses 220 Submissions
Counted Submissions 185 Product Mgrs (84%)

3. Participation by Title
The average respondent has 5.7 years experience, and we see a natural distribution pattern, with
fewer people at higher ranked positions, consistent with what we’d expect in the market. Notably
though, VP and Head participation tends to be mostly from startups and smaller companies.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Associate Tech PO PM Sr PM Lead / Mgr Director VP / Head

4. i. The Individual

5. Age Distribution
Average age of 34.7 years
0
5
10
15
20
25
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

6. Gender Distribution
2:1 ratio between men and women. Slightly better than recent BLA statistics
that 19% of engineers are women.
Female
35%Male
65%

7. Personality Type
Intuitive personalities correlate strongly with Product Management, particularly INTJ.
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
20%

8. Education
Business degrees are more common than Engineering & CS degrees combined.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
High school
Some college
Bachelor's degree
Some master's
Master's degree
Doctoral degree
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
Art & Music
Business
Science
Social Science
Education
Engineering
Computer Science

9. Professional Certifications
A majority of practicing Product Managers do not have a professional certifications.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Business Analyst
Analytics
Leadership
UX
Project Management (PMP/CSM)
Product Management / CSPO
None

10. Prior Career Track
More people enter Product from the business they serve, than coming from an related skills-
based disciplines like Engineering or Project Management - particularly true in B2B .
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Marketing
Project Manager
User Experience / Design
College (Product was my first job)
Business/Technical Analyst
Engineering
Buiness (Subject matter expert)

11. ii. At Work

12. Where We Work
Nearly half of the members of PMA.LA are based on the West Side; specifically Santa Monica.
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Inland Empire
Ventura County
Santa Barbara
San Diego
Long Beach / South Bay
Downtown
Hollywood / Beverly Hills
Orange County
Pasadena
San Fernando Valley
Santa Monica / West Side

13. Industry
Enterprise software (tools to run the business rather than for users) came out on top this year-
surprisingly even topping out Media & Entertainment. These two were flipped in the last survey.
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%

14. Type of Product
SaaS /PaaS products dominate with 1/3 of all respondents. Consumer electronics and consumer
packaged goods (CPG) are low due to the focus on PMA.LA on the digital/tech product community.
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%

15. Company Size
Startups are the surprising leader in Product employment. Companies in the 1k – 10k range follow,
then returning to companies under 200 and 500 employers again for #3 and #4 position.
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
Startup (<50 ppl)
51-200
201-500
501-1000
1001-10,000
Greater than 10,000

16. Reporting Line of the Product Org
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Other
General Manager
Chief Tech Officer
Directly to President / CEO
Chief Product Officer (Head/SVP)
A majority (77%) of companies have either executive Product representation at the
CxO level or report directly to the CEO.

17. What I own…
A majority “own” a Product or a platform. Feature or initiative ownership may exist on
large products/platforms, where team shares ownership.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Customer Problem
Feature
Strategic Initiative
Platform
Product

18. Dev Process
More than half practice 2 week sprint Scrum, with a dynamic story backlog rather than PRDs.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Other
Scrum (1 week)
Waterfall (stage-gated, Gantt)
Kanban (ticket queue)
Wagile (2 wk sprints w/ PRD)
Scrum (2 wk sprints no PRD)

19. Spend the Most Time On …
What the typical Product Manager (associate, PM, Sr PM) spends the most time on.
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
Market Research
Product Design (UX/UI)
ScrumMaster / Project Mgmt
Product Operations
Product Strategy
Requirements

20. Tools Used for the Job
A majority of Product Managers use the Atlassian tools (Confluence & Jira), compared to other
project management tools such as Rally, Pivotal, or Trello. Use of Google Docs, roadmapping and
wireframing tools appear to be additive, with project mgmt tools being the core toolset.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Atlassian /
Jira
Google
Docs
Aha Trello Other Pivotal Product
Plan
Rally Balsamiq Asana Office &
PPT
Road
Munk

21. iii. Sentiment

22. I’m the CEO of My Product
I somewhat
agree
I somewhat
disagree
I strongly
agree
I strongly
disagree
47%24%
12%
16%
71% strongly or somewhat agree that they are the CEO of their product.

23. Product Mgmt is valued Within My Company
I somewhat
agree
I somewhat
disagree
I strongly
agree
I strongly
disagree
41% 44%
10%
5%
85% strongly or somewhat agree that Product Mgmt is a valued within their organization.

24. I make a Meaningful Contribution
I somewhat
agree
I somewhat
disagree
I strongly
agree
I strongly
disagree
57% 37%
1%
5%
90% feel they make a meaningful contribution in their role.

25. What I like the MOST about my role
Ownership, having an impact, and solving meaningful problems are key for being in Product.
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
Ownership
& influence
Solving
Problems
Working
with Team
Having
Impact
Creativity Executing Strategy People
Interaction
Learning Variety of
Tasks

26. What I like the LEAST about my role
Politics, bureaucracy, rate of progress and tactical ‘block & tackling’ that distract from strategic
planning and deeper understanding of customer needs are among the greatest challenges.
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
Politics Bureaucracy Blocking &
Tackling
Not
Empowered
Lack of
Resources
Pushing
Engineering
Lacking
Vision /
Leadership
Lack of Role
Definition
Chaotic
Plate
Spinning
Limited
Access to
Data

27. About pma.la
Product Managers Association of Los Angeles

28. Networking
Learning
Insights
ü LA’s Product Community
ü 1,900 Members
ü Non-Profit Organization
ü Quarterly Meetups & Workshops
ü Bi-Annual ProductCamp
What is PMA.LA ?
Product Managers Association of Los Angeles is a professional group that connects
thousands of digital Product professionals throughout Southern California.
http://pma.la

29. Meetups
Network and learn what
Other companies are doing
In product & innovation.
Workshops
Learn valuable skills
From thought leaders in the
field, from Agile to UX and
market strategy.

30. http://pma.la/join-us/
Join Us!
Join our mailing list to learn about upcoming events.