At eBay PMs are super empowered and usually scopes are high. Most teams have high level of autonomy. Support systems are super weak - you will not have support to hire, run numbers, do research - there is always scarcity. It’s a penny wise pound foolish company. Impact is massive if you get things right in product. That said the platform is 25 years old and learning curve is steep. Comp is OK, but special bonuses are awesome. People are nice. Work is hectic.
Thanks for sharing such detailed information :). Does the project management support function exist or do PMs spend a lot of time in project managing as well? Also can you pls elaborate on the special bonuses if possible.
Depends on which division in eBay and I was a PM in classifieds several years ago. Its really a SEO shop. No real product sense except for the rare new features that coincide with a country launch. I had to work with arguably racist General managers whom I do not want to name but are real pieces of work who only care about how to do under the table deals to meet quarterly numbers. Some of worst people I have ever come across. As for eBay core, tons of politics at the time whenever we worked with them. To move a button on a product display page required moving mountains and convincing multiple teams. Its legacy and size have become its worst enemy. Maybe with the new ceo things have changed.
Thanks for the response, so the team plays a pivotal role it seems.
Really depends on WHERE you are in EBay - I had lots of autonomy to make plans but those plans were routinely blown up by outside stakeholders that I had no access to and therefore no way to influence. Someone else mentioned that getting ANYTHING done can require months of negotiation with multiple other teams who have no incentive to do anything.
Got it. Actually PM’s have to navigate through a lot of teams specifically in companies which are large and have established stakeholder experiences. I agree that it is very challenging, but have seen this pretty much in every large company.
It depends on the team and Product. If you’re tasked with stating up a new product line or innovative product, then you can near complete autonomy. But If you get tasked with owning an existing product, it will vary depending upon the scope and age of the product. Lots of in-house products (A——, T—-) come immediately to mind. Recently we also had various Velocity and Developer initiatives as well. The recent changes included separations from StubHub and the European Classifieds Groups as well - though they may be more termed Project Management. I’m sure we all recognize certain in-house products, but there are always new products coming in because of someone’s pet interest or due to a merger as well. I’ve seen more Project Managers cut than anything, while Product Managers don’t advertise their names in the emails that cross my desk nor on Slack.
Thanks for responding. Can you pls elaborate on this ‘I’ve seen more Project Managers cut than anything, while Product Managers don’t advertise their names in the emails that cross my desk nor on Slack’ - was a bit confusing :)
Irrespective of the team you go 1. Too many decision makers 2. Too less resources in analytics, design and user research 3. More decisions made based on "I feel like" .. rather than hard facts and data 4. Lot of politics 5. Lot of program and project management more than product management 6. Lack of diversity in most teams 7. Senior Management have no clue on what's happening 8. If you talk well - you can thrive/grow well 9. Sub par engineering / legacy tech stack and they use only proprietary frameworks 10. Chaotic and you are always on fire 11. Pay peanuts I can keep on going... Please stay away from eBay.
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