| name | pm-team |
| description | People workflow - hiring pipeline, 1:1s, team culture, difficult conversations, delegation, sales team building, and compensation |
| triggers | ["hiring","job description","JD","interview","onboarding","team culture",61,"one on one","difficult conversation","delegation","managing up","promotion","negotiation","mentor","career transition","sales team","founder sales","enterprise sales","partnership","compensation","team rituals"] |
PM Team: Build and Lead People
Products are built by people. This module covers the full people lifecycle: hiring, developing, retaining, and leading teams — including sales team building for PM leaders who own revenue.
When to Use This Module
- Writing job descriptions or designing interview loops
- Running effective 1:1s
- Having a difficult conversation
- Building team culture and rituals
- Setting up sales processes and compensation
- Navigating career transitions (your own or your reports')
Workflow Overview
Hire → Onboard → Develop (1:1s, feedback) → Retain (culture, growth) → Lead (delegation, managing up)
Skills
Hiring Pipeline
1. Writing Job Descriptions
Context: JDs are marketing documents for candidates, not internal req forms.
Framework:
- Open with impact: What will this person accomplish in the first year? (not responsibilities)
- Requirements: 5 max, distinguish must-have from nice-to-have
- Culture signal: Show what it's actually like to work here (voice, values, team description)
- Avoid: Jargon, unrealistic requirements, "rockstar/ninja", gendered language
- Include: Salary range, location policy, interview process overview
2. Conducting Interviews
Framework — Structured Interviews:
- Define the scorecard before interviewing: 4-6 competencies, each with a rubric
- Ask the same questions to every candidate (comparability)
- Behavioral questions: "Tell me about a time when..." (past behavior predicts future behavior)
- Work samples: Give a realistic exercise that mirrors the actual job
- Score independently before debriefing with other interviewers (avoid anchoring)
3. Evaluating Candidates
Framework — Hire/No-Hire Signal:
- Strong hire: Specific examples, admits mistakes, shows curiosity, asks great questions
- Weak signal: Generic answers, no ownership of failures, doesn't ask about the role
- Key question: "Would I be excited to work with this person every day?"
4. Onboarding New Hires
Framework — 30/60/90 Day Plan:
- Day 1-30: Learn — meet the team, understand the product, read key docs, shadow meetings
- Day 31-60: Contribute — own a small project, ship something, build relationships
- Day 61-90: Lead — own a meaningful workstream, propose improvements, present at team meeting
Team Development
5. Running Effective 1:1s
Context: 1:1s are the most important meeting a manager has. They're for the report, not the manager.
Framework:
- Cadence: Weekly, 30 min, never cancel (reschedule if needed)
- Agenda ownership: Report owns the agenda. Manager adds items if needed.
- Structure: Start with their topics → your topics → career/growth → action items
- Questions that work: "What's blocking you?", "What would you do differently?", "What do you want to learn next?"
- Track: Keep running notes and follow up on action items
Template: See one-on-one-template
6. Having Difficult Conversations
Framework — SBI (Situation-Behavior-Impact):
- Situation: "In yesterday's meeting with the client..."
- Behavior: "...you interrupted the client three times during their presentation..."
- Impact: "...which made them visibly frustrated and they cut the meeting short."
- Follow with: "What's your perspective on what happened?"
Rules:
- Have the conversation within 48 hours (not weeks later)
- Private setting, never in front of others
- Focus on behavior, not character ("you did X" not "you are X")
- Listen to their side — you might have incomplete context
7. Delegating Work
Framework — Delegation Levels:
- Tell: "Do exactly this." (new hires, urgent/high-stakes)
- Sell: "Here's what I'd recommend and why." (building trust)
- Consult: "What do you think? I'll decide." (developing judgment)
- Agree: "Let's decide together." (senior team members)
- Advise: "Here's my input. You decide." (high-trust, experienced)
- Inquire: "You decide. Tell me what you decided." (autonomous)
- Delegate: "You decide. No need to tell me." (fully autonomous)
Match the level to the person's experience and the decision's stakes.
8. Building Team Culture
Framework:
- Define values as behaviors, not nouns ("we ship every week" not "excellence")
- Model the behavior — culture is what the leader does, not what they say
- Hire for culture add (not culture fit — fit creates homogeneity)
- Celebrate publicly, correct privately
- Rituals: Weekly wins, team lunches, post-mortems, hack days
9. Designing Team Rituals
Common Rituals:
| Ritual | Purpose | Cadence |
|---|
| Monday kickoff | Align on the week | Weekly, 15 min |
| Demo day | Show progress, celebrate | Weekly/biweekly, 30 min |
| Retrospective | Learn and improve | End of sprint, 60 min |
| Hack day | Creative exploration | Monthly, full day |
| Team lunch | Bond and decompress | Weekly |
| Wins channel | Recognition | Async, always-on |
Career Navigation
10. Managing Up
Framework:
- Understand your manager's goals and metrics — align your work to what they care about
- Bring solutions, not just problems
- Give them no surprises — flag risks early
- Make their job easier and they'll champion you
- Adapt to their communication style (some want detail, some want headlines)
11. Building a Promotion Case
Framework:
- Understand the rubric for the next level (ask for it explicitly)
- Start operating at the next level 6 months before seeking promotion
- Document impact with metrics ("increased retention by 12%", not "worked on retention")
- Build advocacy — your manager shouldn't be the only person who knows your work
- Ask explicitly: "What would I need to demonstrate to be promoted to [level]?"
12. Negotiating Offers
Framework:
- Never give a number first — let them anchor
- Negotiate the full package (base, equity, bonus, title, start date, remote policy)
- Use competing offers as leverage, not threats
- Be specific: "I was hoping for $X based on [market data / competing offer]"
- Always negotiate — companies expect it. The worst outcome is they say no.
13. Finding Mentors & Sponsors
Distinction:
- Mentor: Gives advice (you ask, they suggest)
- Sponsor: Uses their influence on your behalf (they advocate, you execute)
How to find them:
- Mentors: Identify people 2-3 levels ahead. Ask specific questions, not "will you mentor me?"
- Sponsors: Deliver exceptional work visibly. Sponsors choose you based on results.
- Build the relationship first — mentorship/sponsorship follows trust
Sales & Revenue
14. Founder Sales
Framework:
- Founders should sell the first 10-20 customers personally
- Purpose: Learn objections, refine positioning, build customer relationships
- Process: Cold outreach → Discovery call → Demo → Trial → Close
- Document everything — you're building the sales playbook for future hires
15. Building Sales Team
Framework:
- Hire your first salesperson only after you've sold it yourself
- First hire: player-coach who can sell and build process
- Give them the playbook you built during founder sales
- Measure ramp time: months to first closed deal (target: 3-4 months)
- Don't hire the second rep until the first is consistently hitting quota
16. Enterprise Sales
Framework:
- Longer sales cycles (3-12 months) — plan accordingly
- Multi-stakeholder: map the decision-making unit (champion, economic buyer, technical evaluator)
- Security review, procurement, legal — build the "enterprise readiness" checklist
- Land and expand: start with one team, prove value, then go org-wide
17. Partnership & BD
Framework:
- Strategic fit test: Does this partner help us reach customers we can't reach alone?
- Start small: pilot with clear success metrics before long-term commitment
- Assign an owner — partnerships die without active management
- Review quarterly: is this partnership still strategic?
18. Sales Compensation Design
Framework:
- OTE split: 50/50 base/variable for AEs, 70/30 for SDRs, 60/40 for managers
- Quota: 4-6x OTE for AEs (industry standard)
- Accelerators: Pay more above quota to motivate over-performance
- Clawbacks: Only for genuine fraud, not customer churn
- Keep it simple: If a rep can't calculate their commission in 30 seconds, it's too complex
19. Sales Qualification
Framework — BANT:
- Budget: Can they afford it?
- Authority: Can they make the decision?
- Need: Do they have the problem you solve?
- Timeline: When do they need a solution?
All four = qualified. Missing one = nurture. Missing two = disqualify.
Module Checklist
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