Impact/Drag Ratio

Corporates / big companies often rely on complex frameworks to evaluate product managers. While these systems aim to bring structure, they can sometimes obscure what really matters.

A simpler, more effective approach can be to assign every product manager an Impact/Drag Ratio and act accordingly.

Write off (or better yet, part ways with) anyone whose ratio isn’t “high” or “very high.” Ignore everything else.

What’s an Impact/Drag Ratio?

Impact represents the meaningful contributions a product manager makes to the product, team, and organization.

For a PM, this includes:

• Defining clear, actionable product requirements that developers can execute on without confusion.
• Prioritizing effectively to ensure the team focuses on the highest-value work.
• Driving measurable outcomes, such as improving KPIs like conversion, retention, or time-to-value.
• Aligning stakeholders around a unified vision while cutting through ambiguity.
• Unblocking teams, solving challenges, and creating an environment where execution is smooth.

Drag refers to the counterproductive behaviors or activities that slow the team / org down, such as:

• Indecisiveness, frequent course corrections, or poorly thought-out decisions.
• Over-engineering processes or creating unnecessary work (e.g., endless presentations, bloated documentation).
• Poor accountability, blame-shifting, or avoiding responsibility for mistakes.
• Wasting time debating minor issues rather than moving forward.
• Overpromising to stakeholders or committing to unrealistic goals that burn out the team.

How to Evaluate a Product Manager’s Impact/Drag Ratio

1. Look at results: Evaluate their track record. Are they delivering tangible, positive outcomes for the product and team? Or do their efforts create more questions and delays than answers?
2. Accept some drag: Everyone generates some level of drag—it’s part of working with humans. But the more drag a PM creates, the more significant their impact must be to justify it.

Why It Works

The Impact/Drag Ratio cuts through the noise. It simplifies performance evaluation by focusing on what matters most: Are you moving the team forward, or are you slowing them down? This system doesn’t require exact metrics or formal processes—it relies on intuition, observation, and results.

• High Impact, Low Drag: A PM who drives alignment, delivers outcomes, and clears the path for the team.
• Low Impact, High Drag: A PM who creates friction, wastes time, and holds the team back.

Product management is about enabling teams to deliver value. The higher your Impact/Drag Ratio, the more effective you are. Keep it high, and the rest will take care of itself.