HELP! I need to get two junior PMs back on track. They just aren’t doing a good job. It seems they don’t know the next steps after deployment and are missing vital in-depth product knowledge. I want to take this as a mentorship opportunity, but how do I begin to turn this around before I have to put them on a PIP?

1. Add a training section to their development plan and encourage them to do a PO certification
2. Ask them to document the best practice process for auditing purposes and get them to do it together
3. Ask them to identify process improvements based off of recent releases and any post deployment issues that came about

First step I think is to talk to them about it. 9/10 people just don't know they're missing something and so they haven't taken steps to correct it. Other than that, OCR1's tips are spot on! Especially having them work together, I think that's a great idea.

Are there other PMs they can shadow?
First step would be to talk to them and level set some goals for improvement without PIP. Then maybe they can shadow some other PMs and work together to identify missing process pieces and/or come up with a self- plan on how they will tackle the missing areas.
And as mentioned above, add training to their goals and encourage them to take up training and/or certificationS.

How long have they been in the job? If they’re junior PMs, I’d imagine they have limited experience and may need more guidance or resources. I don’t know that I would necessarily expect them to know the things you’ve pointed out.

Basically what everyone else is saying! Please just talk to them and be upfront about your expectations. Also, do you have weekly syncs with them? Do they know that they aren’t doing a good job? And do they feel comfortable reaching out to you if they were struggling? A good manager/mentor would have channels for open communication and addressed this before taking drastic measures, just as you are trying to do!

Also, I’ve worked in companies before where problems with an individual contributor cascades up the reporting line. So a bad PM is a reflection of bad leadership from the Manager or Director of that person. And it lit a fire in their asses to properly manage and mentor the people under them. I’m lucky that I started as a PM in an environment like that bc my manager set me up for success and always used our weekly 1-1’s as an opportunity to mentor me and help me grow.

Basically what everyone else is saying! Please just talk to them and be upfront about your expectations. Also, do you have weekly syncs with them? Do they know that they aren’t doing a good job? And do they feel comfortable reaching out to you if they were struggling? A good manager/mentor would have channels for open communication and addressed this before taking drastic measures, just as you are trying to do!

Also, I’ve worked in companies before where problems with an individual contributor cascades up the reporting line. So a bad PM is a reflection of bad leadership from the Manager or Director of that person. And it lit a fire in their asses to properly manage and mentor the people under them. I’m lucky that I started as a PM in an environment like that bc my manager set me up for success and always used our weekly 1-1’s as an opportunity to mentor me and help me grow.