The Dark Side of PM

24 February 2014 | Uncategorized

A product manager explains the three toughest emotional challenges of the job. By Ellen Chisa (Product Manager, Kickstarter) I’ve written a bunch recently about how I became a PM and recommendations for how others can get started. Yet, I’ve been shielding people from...
5 Tips for More Effective Performance Reviews

5 Tips for More Effective Performance Reviews

29 January 2014 | Uncategorized

Part three of the three-part series about Ellen Chisa’s experiences at Microsoft and challenges with the Stack Rank System proposes some elements for giving a great review.By Ellen Chisa (Product Manager, Kickstarter) No Surprises When you go into a review,...
Why Stack Rank Doesn’t Measure Up

Why Stack Rank Doesn’t Measure Up

20 January 2014 | Uncategorized

In a two-part series, Ellen Chisa shares her experience at Microsoft and how its review system affected her psyche and productivity. (Read part 1 here.) By Ellen Chisa (Product Manager, Kickstarter) Stack ranking is a performance review system that ranks employees...