### Self assessment
##### Key points to clarify
1. FY25 review has strengths and improvement areas split 50-50 in terms of space taken. Does the review suggest I am an average performer? Where do I stack rank relative to others? 
2. Does the FY26 plan provide path to i10? i10 is about taking up more strategic initiatives. How is delegation, KT and expanded execution responsibilities helping me take up more strategic scope? Can my growth path to i10 be added in FY26 plan? 
##### Feedback for Sumedha
- Current assessment seems to suggest I'm an average performer, in all of last 5 assessments, I've received review that's highly positive. 
  I've received little appreciation of my skills in our 1:1 conversations. The discussion always revolves around here's what you need to improve. 
  Example - insights platform, the idea, the effort I have put in and the quality of my work - my slide is shared with Ankur as reference on how to pitch but no appreciation to me building that pitch deck. 
- No appreciation for how smoothly I am handling UB product management despite being a more complex product line than each of UX product lines. 
- Usually feedback is skewed on negative side. E.g., Rajitha sharing a feedback about me. When I talked to Rajitha afterwards, she had no negative feedback about me. 
- You appreciate data based mindset but when I bring data and insights into conversation, you shift focus on how I should think about design aspects. 
- Not getting clear direction on my path to i10. Answer is usually try again next year. 

##### FY25 Key Achievements
Strategy
1. TPX Northstar vision alignment 
2. Unified Basket strategy and executive alignment 
3. Transact KDD and future state including UB scope -
Execution
4. UB phase wise scope prioritization and UB client transition planning - 
5. Quote share capabilities on DCQO - Execution
6. V4 adoption across global DCQO client integrations for all item types - Execution
##### Review Sumedha's feedback
FY25 Look Back
This year, Saurabh joined my team during a significant IT reorganization that unified our legacy buyer,
seller, and platform teams into a single organization. He continued as Product Line Manager for the
DCQO product line, consistently delivering exceptional results across all planned initiatives. This
upcoming year presents great opportunities for Saurabh to expand his responsibilities both within TPX
and in his personal life, as he prepares to welcome his first child!
Saurabh's strengths are evident in his technical expertise, logical approach, and passion for his work.
This is reflected in his meticulous documentation, detail-oriented mindset, and effective use of
asynchronous communication. He embodies a platform-first approach, proactively driving innovation
rather than waiting for direction from UX teams. The insights platform is a great example of Saurabh
understanding where the product needs to go and proactively building for it. He leverages data to back
up his decisions, and he consistently demonstrates an openness to feedback with a commitment to
continuous self-improvement. His ownership mindset is particularly valuable—once tasked with
something, no follow-ups are needed from leadership. The coexistence program has benefitted
tremendously from his contributions.
In the shadow of any strength is a weakness that should (and can) be overcome*. While he clearly excels
in his areas of expertise, we've discussed several important growth opportunities. Understanding the
human element in conversations rather than focusing solely on the work would improve his interactions.
In group settings, his passion can sometimes come across as abrasive, requiring greater sensitivity.
Developing more empathy and recognizing that his priorities may differ from others' would enhance his
effectiveness. The experience of becoming a parent will likely provide valuable perspective in many of
these areas, as I can personally attest! Finally, Saurabh should work on resolving issues that primarily
affect his own productivity before escalating them, and approach leadership seeking confirmation of
answers rather than asking open-ended questions.
*https://theskip.substack.com/p/open-doors-in-your-career-by-unlocking
FY26 Look Forward
The FY26 fiscal year is going to continue the pattern started in FY25, with the company laser focused on
simplifying and standardizing out tools, architecture and processes. At the same time, there is a
constant push to identify and reduce costs within the IT organization. Given this landscape, I expect
Saurabh to handle both strategic and execution responsibilities.
Looking ahead, this is what I'd like his focus areas to be for this year:
Delegation & Knowledge Transfer: As Saurabh prepares for paternity leave, he should focus on
strengthening his delegation skills and knowledge transfer capabilities. This includes documenting
key processes (not just requirements), identifying deputies for various responsibilities, both within
the product and CPL org, and deliberately coaching these team members through increasingly
complex tasks. By establishing regular knowledge-sharing sessions and creating accessible
reference materials, he'll ensure business continuity during his absence while developing a more
capable team that can support his work-life balance as a new parent.
1.
Expanded Execution Responsibilities: As a Product Line Manager in this world of Maverick,
Saurabh faces the challenge of balancing strategic product direction with more hands-on
execution responsibilities. He will need to maintain his high standards for delivery while
2.
Saurabh Pitkar - FY25 EOY Review
Thursday, March 13, 2025 12:09 PM
EOY Feedback Page 1
execution responsibilities. He will need to maintain his high standards for delivery while
continuing on a more hands-on role in Epic level backlog management and Jira hygiene activities
supporting Maverick. This will test his ability to scale his proven execution skills across multiple
workstreams simultaneously without compromising quality. His familiarity with current processes
and strong follow-through make him well-positioned to adapt to these expanded responsibilities,
though we'll need to work together to ensure this doesn't detract from his growth in other areas
Building Human Connections: While technically proficient, Saurabh needs to focus on
strengthening interpersonal relationships with peers and stakeholders. This means actively
practicing empathetic listening, expressing genuine interest in colleagues' perspectives, and being
more present during conversations rather than solely focusing on tasks. By recognizing that
building rapport creates psychological safety and trust, Saurabh can transform professional
interactions from transactional exchanges into meaningful collaborations. Developing these
relationship skills will not only improve team dynamics but also enhance project outcomes
through better communication and increased mutual support.
3.
I recognize that navigating these focus areas while managing day-to-day responsibilities is challenging,
particularly during this period of intense delivery pressure at work and new changes to his family life. I'm
committed to supporting Saurabh by removing roadblocks, providing access to trainings, or simply being
a sounding board as he tackles these areas. His success matters to me both professionally and
personally. With these goals in mind, I'll work with him to develop an IDP that addresses these focus
areas. I'm fully invested in his growth and success!
Peer Feedback for Saurabh
Areas of Strength
Exceptional communication; Great collaboration; Great Accountability • and Ownership
Saurabh is very detail oriented, constantly thinking about areas his products can help solve
business problems. Even though he is from platform team he always tries to understand the
business usecases behind the requirements and comes up with solutions that are better suited.
•
Saurabh brings a great enthusiasm while solving customer and business problems. He goes above
and beyond to research industry best practices and standards and sets the standards bar high.
•
Saurabh is one of the finest product owners I've worked with. His excellent documentation of UB's
capabilities ensures smooth client integrations. Saurabh excels in articulating UB product features
to DCQO stakeholders and has developed a strong product vision and roadmap based on market
trends. His representation of DCQO products in all forums drives our API-first and transact API-asa-
service capabilities forward.
•
Saurabh’s strength comes from his depth of knowledge, competence, but especially his thought
leadership. His contributions extend far beyond daily tasks. He regularly delivers breakthrough
thinking, fresh ideas, and challenges the status quo.
•
I got a chance to work with Saurabh as part of the 100% Online initiative. He is very detailed and
articulate. He has very good ideas and a very customer centric outlook. So any features /
capabilities that were discussed, he always brought in that perspective which made it better to get
to a holistic outcome. He brings in a good experience from his work prior to DELL which add a
certain freshness to it. He has an outside-in perspective.
•
Saurabh is a remarkable innovator and collaborator, consistently bringing fresh ideas and creative
solutions to the table. His ability to think outside the box, combined with his excellent teamwork
skills, makes him an invaluable asset to any software development project. Saurabh's collaborative
spirit and innovative mindset drives progress and inspires those around him to think differently
and innovate as well.
•
Saurabh excels in his role, demonstrating exceptional leadership, alignment on new ideas, and
thorough documentation of requirements. He effectively manages the development process and
ensures follow-through. And a big highlight of Saurabh is that he is also self-aware, persistently
working to close any identified gaps when stepping outside his domain.
•
• I have told this multiple times to Saurabh, he is one of the top 3 product managers I have ever
EOY Feedback Page 2
I have told this multiple times to Saurabh, he is one of the top 3 product managers I have ever
interacted and it still holds good. He has a very strong data driven thought process and has a
fantastic point of view bringing in customer and company with the right mix. He has great
strategic thinking that can benefit the org extremely well.
•
Areas of Improvement
He is pushy yet times in the urge to get things delivered and that • can be balanced.
I would encourage Saurabh to partner more with stakeholders and business counterparts to
understand their top pain areas and prioritize them.
•
As much as Saurabh is detailed, sometimes, he tends to get too deep into it. It would be good for
him to be able to foresee earlier for any caveats or callouts in analysis and be able to make a
decision faster. That will also help close out deliverables sooner and with better visibility to
execution. And he should use his outside-in thinking more often and challenge status quo and
push for transformational changes.
•
Saurabh has demonstrated exceptional skills in innovation and collaboration, but there is a slight
need for him to improve his presentation skills. By refining his ability to effectively communicate
his ideas and insights, he can ensure that his innovative solutions are clearly understood and
appreciated by a wider audience. This improvement will further enhance his impact and career
progression.
•
I very much enjoy partnering with Saurabh, and the following is nothing more than to help him
excel even further. Saurabh's strong ability to build a clear vision is commendable, but he could
benefit from occasionally stepping back and not trying to fit new information or ideas into his
existing framework. This flexibility will enhance his adaptability and openness to understand
opposing ideas.
• Working with people needs some more learning.
EOY Feedback Page 3


##### Leadership imperative training
I am self-motivated individual and will show up to work with positive mindset to drive change and innovation. During stressful times, I can see emotions taking over logical thinking but I am able to control them and acknowledge whenever such situations happen. 
- Ask for more context
- Ask for alignment with business goals

Team members can sometime be non-collaborative or non-supportive to common company-wide business goals. That becomes challenging.

Better engagement with business stakeholders to prioritize on the customer pain points and deliver incremental impact that is aligned with long term gains for Dell.



Growth Mindset Feedback

Action Plan
As a Product Line Manager, you have a unique opportunity to shape the future of Dell's product lines. Here are a few clear actions you can take to build on your existing strengths:

1. Schedule regular project updates with your leader to ensure everyone is aligned on progress and goals. This will help you stay top of mind and demonstrate your commitment to the company's strategic direction.
2. Identify areas where you'd like to develop new skills or take on more responsibilities, and use this information to drive career development discussions with your leader.
3. Prepare specific, data-driven questions to drive conversations around key areas such as modernization and AI adoption at Dell. This will show your leader that you're invested in the company's strategy and willing to think critically about its implications.
4. Consider sharing your thoughts on specific projects or initiatives, and ask for feedback on your approach. This will demonstrate your ability to think critically and receive constructive feedback.

By taking these steps, you'll be able to build on your existing strengths, demonstrate your commitment to Dell's strategic direction, and position yourself for future growth and development.

Overcoming Non-Collaborative Team Members

As a Product Line Manager, you're well aware of the challenges that come with working with individuals from other teams to drive business goals. Non-collaborative behavior can lead to frustration and hinder your ability to achieve success. However, it's essential to approach this issue with empathy and a growth mindset.

When faced with non-collaborative team members, it's not uncommon to feel discouraged or even demotivated. However, it's crucial to remember that their behavior is often a reflection of their own challenges and priorities, rather than a personal attack on you or your team. By taking a step back and focusing on the bigger picture, you can shift your perspective and develop more effective strategies for overcoming this challenge.

As a Product Line Manager, you can take the following action to address non-collaborative team members:
1. Schedule a 1-on-1 meeting with the team member to understand their perspective and identify potential pain points that may be contributing to their non-collaborative behavior.
2. Work with the team member to develop a shared understanding of the company's strategic goals, particularly those related to Dell's modernization efforts, and how their role fits into the larger picture.
3. Collaborate with other teams to identify potential areas of alignment and begin building relationships that can help drive mutual understanding and support.

By taking a proactive and empathetic approach, you can begin to build trust and cooperation with non-collaborative team members, ultimately driving better business outcomes for Dell.

Improving Engagement with Business Stakeholders

As a Product Line Manager, you want to see better engagement with business stakeholders to prioritize on customer pain points and deliver incremental impact that aligns with long-term gains for Dell. This is a great goal, as prioritizing customer needs and delivering value to them is crucial for business success.

To address this challenge, let's focus on simplifying and standardizing stakeholder engagement processes. One way to do this is by establishing a standardized framework for stakeholder mapping, needs assessment, and priority setting. This will help ensure that all stakeholders are engaged and their needs are being met, which will lead to better decision-making and more effective customer pain point prioritization.

As a Product Line Manager, take the following action:

Review and standardize Dell's current stakeholder engagement process to include a set of key questions and metrics to assess stakeholder needs and pain points. This will help ensure that all stakeholders are being engaged and that their needs are being prioritized effectively. Specifically, focus on the following key questions:

1. What are the key pain points and opportunities for Dell customers in this market?
2. Who are the key stakeholders that will be impacted by these pain points and opportunities?
3. What are the key metrics that will be used to measure the effectiveness of Dell's stakeholder engagement efforts?

By standardizing and simplifying stakeholder engagement processes, you can ensure that all stakeholders are being engaged and that their needs are being prioritized effectively, which will lead to better decision-making and more effective customer pain point prioritization.

### Feedback to others
##### Nilotpal
Strength: Extremely methodical, knowledgeable and reliable. Nilotpal excels in scoping customer problems, translating them into technical requirements and ensuring communication across stakeholders for alignment.
Improvements: He has several PM skills honed. One area where he can invest further in is getting further involved in deep-technical conversations to deliberate on technical tradeoffs with architects and engineers. That'll help him further grow as PM.

##### Rajitha
Strength: I interacted with Rajitha for half of the year and she has been phenomenal. She handled conflicts well and established a ringfenced team to focus delivery output at fast pace. She is also ready to get her hands dirty and dive deep as needed. She shows balanced leadership and should continue being the same.
Improvements: Rajitha excels as a leader, and I think should continue refining her communication skills to ensure alignments can happen quicker for priority workstreams. Otherwise, she's an amazing leader to partner with.

##### Paulo
Strength: Paulo is hands on with numbers and brings in-depth knowledge of customer behavior which is unique. He is keen on helping others to improve collective team's contribution as well.
Improvement: I feel he has great leadership presence and he can further improve leadership communication by bringing selective and topic-relevant insights to execs instead of all the details and analyses.

##### Batu
Strength: His ability to keenly understand the customer problem and bring out the best innovative solutions is phenomenal. He should keep doing it to bring more intelligent technical solutions to our customers.

##### Bhargava 
Strength: He is great at bringing out completeness to the solution being implemented.

##### Zuzana
Zuzana has been an amazing partner. She collaborates well and communicates proactively.

##### Vidhi
We partnered for an A/B test to experiment with an idea and Vidhi was super-collaborative. She understood the customer pain point well and communicated the challenges along with implementation possibilities to help us uncover and learn about customer behaviors.

##### Jonathan
Strength: Jonathan is thorough when it comes to understanding customer needs and pain areas. He can bring several different perspectives and details around product and design that are unique and help him put his point across strongly.

##### Karthi
Strength: Karthi is great with managing product execution and going deeper into technical aspects of the problem statement. He should continue building on this strength to lift team's efficiency up overall.
Improvement: Karthi should continue expanding his knowledge of various product management skills such as problem scoping, digging into data to analyze metrics. This will help him become better at product discovery and learning core pain points not just at API level but at customer experience level as well.

##### Mohan
Strength: His expertise has shined in DCQO events and Unified Basket workstreams, both delivered high value to our customers and UX clients. He has curious mind and does not shy away from having difficult conversations. He should continue building on this.
Improvement: One thing Mohan can improve further is structuring architecture solutions and tradeoffs conversations. This will truly differentiate him from others to bring very clear and effective decisions out of architecture conversations. I think he is great at all other aspects, and he is good at explaining tradeoffs, I just think he can get even better by structuring in documents/discussions to bring clarity to everyone quickly.

##### Rishab
Strength: He's really good at explaining technical details and bring everyone on the same page
Improvement: I feel he can be a bit more risk-taking to question the norm and suggest innovations that would drive our tech stack further while helping solve customer pain points, even if that means having couple of difficult conversations, he should go for it.

##### Shivani
Strength: Shivani stepped up to take ownership of newly created UB service from day 1 itself and we had a lot of success because of her contribution to the overall efforts. She is great at understanding higher level strategy while staying deep-enough to understand the product domain. The right balance to be a successful product manager at Dell.

Improvements: Shivani can begin improving her analytical muscle as she grows into this role. She will need to dive into data for quick insights (business metrics and API metrics) and update next steps accordingly. She can start with Splunk and PowerBI and build further on these skills.