As product leaders, we like to think we know how our team is doing. But when was the last time you had an honest, structured view of how your team really perceives your leadership, your priorities, and your connection to the customer?
That’s exactly why Product Rebels created their Product Team Assessment. In this interview, I sat down with co-founder Vidya Dinamani to dig into what inspired it, how to interpret the results, and what a product leader can gain from simply asking: How’s my team doing?
Why Create a Team Assessment in the First Place?
Kelsey: Why did you decide to build this assessment?
Vidya: One of the first things a leader can do with this assessment is self-reflect. You get a snapshot of how you view the organization — and then the real value kicks in when your team takes it too.
Now you can see: Are we aligned? Do we see the same challenges and strengths? Or are there blind spots — places where the team sees problems the leader doesn’t, or vice versa?
And that’s when the work begins. Once you see the gaps, you can dig into why they exist.”
It’s not just a scorecard — it’s a mirror and a map. And it prompts conversations you might never have otherwise.
One Example: When “Customer Intimacy” Goes Red
We walked through a real-world diagnostic heatmap of a 15-person team. One area — Customer Intimacy — was flagged bright red, meaning the team had wildly different views on how well the organization understands and connects with its customers.
Kelsey: What might that signal?
Vidya: It often means the team doesn’t feel close to the customer. Maybe there’s no consistent way to engage with users beyond early discovery.
Or — and this is where it gets nuanced — the product team is doing customer research, but they’re not effectively communicating the findings. So engineering might feel like the roadmap is based on gut or the CEO’s last idea, not customer insights. They’ve lost faith.
That’s what makes this assessment so powerful: it doesn’t just tell you that something’s off. It tells you where to look and what questions to ask next.
Misalignment Is the Start of a Conversation
Even seemingly simple questions — like “Do we believe customer understanding drives product success?” — can reveal deep misalignment.
Sometimes people disagree not because something isn’t happening, but because it isn’t visible or clearly explained. As Vidya puts it:
“You can’t take anything at face value. This isn’t about being right or wrong — it’s about surfacing differences in understanding so you can talk about them. That’s leadership.”
So, What DOES a Product Leader Gets Out of This?
So what should you expect as a product leader?
- A heat map of where your team sees strengths, gaps, and misalignment
- Insights into whether your biggest challenges are strategy, communication, or execution. Or, it might, just might, be your leadership. Wouldn’t it be better to know, than to not know?
- Clarity on what to dig into next — and where you may need to change how you lead, support, or prioritize
Kelsey: Would you say this is typical or an outlier result?
Vidya: This team was a bit below average — but what matters isn’t the score, it’s the signal.
If your results are all green, we say: great, now go find out what everyone else thinks. If you’ve got red, ask why. This isn’t a test — it’s a conversation starter.
Final Thought: Asking the Question Is a Leadership Move
At its core, this tool exists to help you ask better questions. Because just by asking your team “How are we doing?” — you’re signaling that you care, that you’re open to learning, and that you’re ready to grow.
“It’s a game-changer,” Vidya said, “when you have the data to walk into a meeting and say, Here’s what I’m seeing. Can we talk about this? That’s where trust and transformation begin.”
👉 Ready to see what your team thinks?
Take the Product Rebels Team Assessment and start the conversation that could shift your entire product organization.