Cracking the Product Manager Interview

Product managers are sometimes called the "CEO of a product." But what is a product manager really and how you do you land this role? How to crack the PM interview?

1. Cracking the PM Interview How to Land a Product Manager Job May 4, 2016 | Product School

2. Hi! I’m Gayle Laakmann McDowell Author Interview Coach Interview Consulting < dev > </ dev > (CS) (MBA)

3. Yes! Slides are online! Gayle.com Click “Events ” Email: [email protected] S ubject: PM prep

4. The Perfect PM

5. ---- -- the -- ---- P erfect PM ------ is a ------ MYTH

6. The Real Question(s) What do you have? What do you need? What do I assume ?

7. Smart Strategy & Vision Leadership Customer Focus Product Design Analysis & Synthesis Action Oriented Prioritization Project Management Technical Skills Communication Gets Things Done

8. Smart Strategy & Vision Leadership Customer Focus Product Design Analysis & Synthesis Action Oriented Prioritization Project Management Technical Skills Communication Gets Things Done Engineer

9. Smart Strategy & Vision Leadership Customer Focus Product Design Analysis & Synthesis Action Oriented Prioritization Project Management Technical Skills Communication Gets Things Done Marketing

10. Smart Strategy & Vision Leadership Customer Focus Product Design Analysis & Synthesis Action Oriented Prioritization Project Management Technical Skills Communication Gets Things Done Design

11. Smart Strategy & Vision Leadership Customer Focus Product Design Analysis & Synthesis Action Oriented Prioritization Project Management Technical Skills Communication Gets Things Done Project Manager

12. Smart Strategy & Vision Leadership Customer Focus Product Design Analysis & Synthesis Action Oriented Prioritization Project Management Technical Skills Communication Gets Things Done Customer Service

13. Smart Strategy & Vision Leadership Customer Focus Product Design Analysis & Synthesis Action Oriented Prioritization Project Management Technical Skills Communication Gets Things Done Business Analyst

14. Behavioral Tell me about yourself…

15. The Good Enough Pitch Shows of success Prompt the interviewer Hobbies

16. The Great Pitch Tells an [engaging] story Sends a message. Who are you, really? Addresses your “stereotype”

17. Developing Your Stories: Strategy 1 Job 1 Job 2 Leadership Successes Challenges Mistakes Conflicts

18. Developing Your Stories: Strategy 2 Strengths Data? Risk-taking? Thoroughness? Empathy? Resilience? Weaknesses Detail-oriented? Bluntness? Too optimistic? Sensitivity? Impatient?

19. Goals of Answering Behavioral Qs Good Content Good Communication +

20. Structure 1: Nugget First Lead with your “thesis” / nugget Grabs the listener’s attention Gives them context for where you’re going. I’m most proud of program I set up to … Q: What accomplishment are you most proud of ?

21. Structure 2: S.A.R. S A R What was the issue? What did you do about it? What was the impact? What’s the message?

22. Story Diagram Story 1 Story 2 NUGGET SITUATION ACTION What & Why & How RESULT THE MESSAGE DO DIFFERENTLY

23. Most Common Issues Too much “we”, too little “I” Especially leaders & women Too little action No message

24. ---- - don’t ----- sugarcoat ------ the ------ bad stuff

25. What I’m looking for If you’ll admit to bad stuff If you’ve really failed How you respond to bad things

26. Weaknesses, Failures & Mistakes Be REAL Be COMPELLING Be CHANGED The best candidates connect

27. Product Design How would you design a… 02

28. How would you design an alarm clock for the blind ? What’s your favorite app ? Why? Pick a Google product . How would you improve it?

29. What I’m Looking For Communication User empathy Creativity Judgment

30. How to Tackle Define the user Ask questions Are there multiple users? Discuss use cases, problems & goals Design Wrap-up

31. And don’t forget… the USER the WHITEBOARD

32. Make sure you know Favorite WEBSITE Favorite MOBILE APP Favorite PHYSICAL PRODUCT Favorite COMPANY PRODUCT

33. Your Favorites Why do you love it? Who are the users? What do they use it for? How do they competitors compare? What problems are there? How would you improve it?

34. not all favorites are created equal

35. Estimation How many and who cares? 03

36. How much money does Gmail make in a year? How many airplanes land in a day? How many golf balls can fit in a bus?

37. Why We Ask Smarts Ballparking Matters Comfort with numbers

38. How to Tackle Ask questions to resolve ambiguity Don’t make assumptions (yet) Outline / Structure Your Approach Break down the components Assume numbers when necessary State assumptions explicitly Round numbers to make your math easier Sanity Check Do your numbers make sense ?

39. How much money does Gmail make in a year?

40. Step 1: Ambiguous Information Just in the US? Or Worldwide? Profit or revenue? Past year? Or average over history? Gmail only? Or include Google Apps ?

41. Step 2: Outline Your Approach Estimate # of Gmail users Estimate annual clicks Top clicks Side clicks Estimate $ per click Top clicks Side clicks

42. Step 3: Break down components Estimate # of Gmail users in the US Assume 300 million people in the US. Exclude 0 - 12 years old and 65 - 75 years old  ~ 200 million Assume 80% of people use email But 50% only use their work email acct Assume 80% use a “major” email provider Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, etc. … and so on …

43. Step 4: Sanity Check Suppose you get US rev. = $5 billion. No, because… Google’s annual revenue is ~$30 billion $16 / US citizen (not just gmail users)

44. Case & Misc. Questions The other questions 04

45. How would you launch Amazon in Turkey? How would you price a new e-book reader? User signs up drop after launching new profiles. What would you do?

46. Many other question types! Problem solving Acquisition rates dropped. Why? Strategy Should we do X or Y? Marketing How would you market X to Y? Pricing How would you price X? Launching How would you launch X in country Y? Brainstorming Name as many things you could do with X

47. Generic Structure Understand/define problem Structure Solve Use instincts Make reasonable assumptions DRIVE the DISCUSSION

48. Useful Frameworks Customer Purchase Decision Making Process Marketing Mix (4 Ps) SWOT Analysis Five Cs Porter’s 5 Forces But it’s not a test of frameworks

49. Useful Metrics & Knowledge User Acquisition #, growth, active users, etc Activity What are people doing? Money Customer acquisition costs Revenue $ growth

50. Takeaways If you forget everything else… 05

51. If you forget everything… Know who you are ( and who we think you are) Focus on the user Structure your responses

52. I could write a whole book on this!

53. Other Resources Gayle.com CareerCup.com CrackingThe CodingInterview.com Or, follow me online facebook.com / gayle twitter.com / gayle gayle .com gayle @gayle.com q uora.com Email: [email protected] S ubject: PM prep