CEO Test for Team Value

The question "If you were the CEO, would you fully fund your own team?" serves as a powerful lens for evaluating your team's true business impact and avoiding the "low impact PM death spiral."

The Low Impact PM Death Spiral

Teams gradually drift toward low-impact work because it's safer and invites less scrutiny
- Adding small features and cosmetic improvements feels productive but doesn't move core business metrics
- "If you're working on a car, putting your hands in the engine might make it run better or not run at all. Many choose to add rhinestones instead."
- When multiple teams add "rhinestones," the product becomes bloated and harder to maintain
This creates a reinforcing cycle:
- Low-impact work → Product complexity increases → Dependencies multiply
- Companies add program management layers and reorgs to manage complexity
- These additional layers make high-impact work even harder to accomplish
- Teams retreat further into low-impact work until the next round of layoffs

Three Steps to Become an Impact-First Product Team

1. Set team goals no more than one step away from company goals

Avoid cascading goals through multiple levels where meaning gets lost
Use Christina Woodtke's model: company goal as center of gravity with team goals orbiting directly around it
Example: If company goal is $100M revenue, your team goal might be "convert X single-product users to multi-product users" with a clear formula showing revenue impact
When sharing with leadership, they should immediately understand the connection without complex explanation

2. Keep impact first at every step

Don't just set impact goals during planning then file them away
Make impact visible throughout execution with visual reminders
Example: Draw a timeline with the end goal and current position clearly marked
Encourage the team to propose any approach that gets you 1% closer to the goal

3. Connect every bit of work back to impact

When prioritizing, express impact in the same unit as your team goal
Avoid abstract scoring systems that disconnect work from business outcomes
Example: Instead of rating "impact" 1-10, estimate "number of users converted" for each initiative
Be willing to tackle high-effort, high-impact work even when it requires cross-team collaboration

How to Push Back on Low-Impact Requests

Never simply say "yes" or "no" to stakeholder requests
Present options with trade-offs and a recommendation
- "If we build this, here's how it affects our ability to hit our goal"
- "Here are three approaches with different impact/effort profiles"
Frame pushback in terms of business impact, not process purity
Recognize executives may have information you don't have

Mindset Shift: Work With, Not Against Business Constraints

Constraints (regulation, quarterly targets, B2B dynamics) aren't obstacles to "doing product right"
These constraints are what shape your work and give it meaning
"The things you think you're fighting against are usually the things giving your work shape"
This perspective is liberating: you're not responsible for changing the entire company, just for maximizing impact within your sphere of influence

The most commercially-minded PMs are often the happiest because they accept the reality that business success is partly outside their control, focus on what they can influence, and maintain healthier work-life boundaries.