u/Cute_Ad5582

I’m a GTM PM in a centralized GTM & enablement org. My manager has a reputation for being difficult — multiple people have left the team citing issues with her, and complaints have been raised before, though as far as I know nothing ever came of them.

At the end of 2025 during performance reviews, I was rated “Met Expectations.” Based on that, I also received GDP/PA outcomes, so there were no indications at that point that my performance was considered poor.

In January, I was assigned a completely new set of products. Jan–March was mostly spent ramping up, learning the products, working with Product Marketing and Tech PMs, and helping shape GTM strategy while the product org itself was still figuring out roadmap, launches, and priorities. Honestly, not a ton of execution happened across the board during that period because everything was still in planning mode.

Then in April there was an org reshuffle and I got moved out of the centralized GTM team into a product team under a new manager. The issue was that this manager was traveling/on PTO most of the time, and we never really had proper conversations around expectations, responsibilities, priorities, or deliverables. This basically continued through April and May, so I felt stuck in limbo.

Then in mid-May, my old manager called and told me I was being moved back under her org again. I explicitly told her that the last couple of months had been chaotic and unclear, and that I’d effectively been operating without direction.

Today, I got pulled into a call with her and her manager and was told I’m being put on a PIP due to performance concerns.

What confused me was the framing. She said that last year my performance was good/strong, but that we had discussed areas I needed to improve on going into this year and that they “haven’t seen enough improvement.”

My issue with that is:

• Those conversations happened only during the end-of-year review cycle a few months ago
• The year had barely started before org changes and role reshuffling began
• Jan–March was spent ramping on entirely new products while the broader org itself was still figuring out GTM direction
• We even had a Jan–March review/check-in before the org changes where I walked through what had and hadn’t been completed, and at no point was I told my performance was considered poor or that I was at risk of a PIP

That’s why this feels blindsiding to me. If my work was genuinely viewed as low performance, I would have expected more direct feedback, coaching, or at least some indication that I was trending toward formal performance action.

What’s also confusing is:

• I had a “Met Expectations” review just a few months ago
• I was never formally told my performance was slipping
• I was never given a warning or explicit conversation like “you need to improve or this could escalate”
• A large chunk of the last few months involved org chaos, changing managers, changing products, and unclear ownership

They’re framing the PIP as “support to help me improve,” but honestly I don’t know whether to take that at face value.

So my questions are:

• Is there realistically coming back from a PIP?
• Should I immediately start job hunting?
• Is it worth pushing back on the lack of warning/feedback before the PIP?
• Has anyone successfully survived a PIP at IBM?

I’m honestly trying to figure out whether this is a genuine improvement plan or whether the decision has already been made.