How and why I decided to create the PLwheel
From Managing Up to Mapping Leadership: How the PLwheel Came to Be
It all started with a talk. Back in early 2024, I had committed to giving a talk at Y Oslo. The topic? Managing Up—A Guide for Product People to Understand and Influence Leadership. I wanted to equip product managers and designers with practical strategies to work more effectively with their leadership, ensuring they could get buy-in, navigate decision-making, and ultimately shape their careers.
As I started crafting the talk, I quickly realized something: before I could guide the audience on how to manage up, I needed to define what they were managing up into. What exactly are the responsibilities of a strong product leader? What should a Head of Product or CPO actually be doing? And what gaps could an ambitious product manager help fill?
So, I outlined what I considered to be the core leadership responsibilities for product leaders. (Curious what those were? Check out my talk here). This blueprint gave the audience a lens to evaluate their own leadership team—what their boss was already doing well, where there were gaps, and where they might step in to help.
And then, something clicked.
The Missing Tool for Product Leaders
After delivering the Y Oslo talk in late November, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was onto something bigger. Those leadership responsibilities? They weren’t just useful for product managers trying to manage up. They sparked great conversations in my coaching sessions with product leaders themselves.
Time and time again, Heads of Product, Directors, and VPs would ask: What does great product leadership actually look like? What should I focus on? Any skills that I'm missing? Any competence that I should build?
And I knew from experience—because people had been asking for it for years—that a Product Leadership Wheel (PLwheel) was long overdue. The PMwheel, my self-assessment tool for product managers, had been widely used to help ICs reflect on their growth and navigate their development. But for product leaders? I didn’t have an equivalent framework for them. Until now.
From an Idea to a Framework
So, in December 2024, I got to work. I created a first draft, drawing on the leadership responsibilities I had outlined for my talk. Then, I refined it—collecting input from fellow coaches and product friends (thanks Arne Kittler, Andrew Skotzko, Talke Hoppmann Walton, Heike Funk, Jan Schwitters, Alexandru Dina-Gargala and Björn Waide!) and, more importantly, coachees. Through this process, I landed on 12 key responsibilities that define strong product leadership, grouped into three categories:
People (how you build and support strong product teams)
Product (how you drive vision, strategy, and business outcomes)
Ways of Working (how you ensure operational excellence and continuous improvement)
But defining these responsibilities was only the beginning. The real challenge? Crafting the right reflection questions that would allow leaders to self-assess and spark meaningful career conversations.
Still a work in progress: The full version of the leadership wheel with the 12 responsibilities and all its assessment questions.
Leadership Is Not One-Size-Fits-All
Unlike the PMwheel—where I always encouraged PMs and their leaders to heavily customize it to fit their needs—the PLwheel requires even more customization by its users.
For example, in the 'Directional Clarity' section, I emphasize strategy, but its ownership varies widely. In some organizations, the product lead is responsible for creating the product strategy, while in others, product managers own it, and the lead ensures strategies exist. In yet other cases, the lead handles portfolio strategy, while PMs focus on individual product strategies.
What a VP of Product focuses on in a 20-person startup is quite different from what a Head of Product needs to prioritize in a 5,000-person organization. The responsibilities shift based on:
Company size (Are you leading a small team or a global product org?)
Product maturity (Are you launching 0-to-1 products or scaling an established portfolio?)
Industry (Are you in fintech, SaaS, e-commerce, deep tech?)
Business model (Are you optimizing for engagement, revenue, marketplace dynamics?)
Leadership experience (Are you a first-time product leader or a seasoned CPO?)
I quickly realized that there was no universal “one-size-fits-all” leadership wheel. The PLwheel can only be a starting point—a structured way to reflect, but one that leaders will need to customize based on their own context.
How Product Leaders Can Use the PLwheel
The PLwheel is designed to be a practical self-assessment and development tool. Here’s how product leaders can use it:
✅ Self-reflection – Evaluate where you currently spend your time vs. where you should.
✅ Coaching conversations – Use it as a guide in coaching sessions to identify strengths and growth areas.
✅ Team alignment – Discuss it with fellow product leaders to clarify responsibilities.
✅ Career planning – Map out how you want to develop as a leader and where you need to grow next.
And because leadership is contextual, I encourage leaders to tweak and adapt the framework. Your wheel might look different from someone else’s—and that’s exactly the point.
A glimpse inside the PLwheel - Three of the many pages that help product leaders reflect, align, and grow.
The PLwheel: Who Can Access It?
Unlike the PMwheel, which is free and available to anyone, the PLwheel is only available to select groups: my coachees, participants in my leadership course, and organizations who purchase the licensing tool and consulting package. This package includes:
A structured framework breaking down leadership into 12 responsibilities across People, Product, and Ways of Working
A performance scale to assess where your leaders are now
Time allocation diagnostics to align focus with company context
Reflection guides and optional coaching formats to support growth
Guidance for team workshops, development planning, and leadership conversations
If you're curious about how the PLwheel could help you or your organization, let’s talk! I’d love to collaborate with teams looking to elevate their product leadership and bring more clarity to their roles. Feel free to reach out if you’re interested.