product school ama: how to crack the pm interview
TRANSCRIPT
Lead Product School Instructor Talks: How To Crack The PM Interview
January 25, 2017
Jake StrichCampus Director
Contact for more info about PS courses!
Upcoming Courses in Silicon ValleyMondays and WednesdaysFebruary 27 - April 19*1 spot left* Tuesdays and ThursdaysFebruary 28 - April 20 *1 spot left*
SaturdaysMarch 4 - April 22*SOLD OUT*
Fred Radfordwww.productschool.com
Director of Product at 8x8
5-time Product School Instructor
Feb 27 - April 19Monday & Wednesday 6:30-9pm
*1 spot left*
Madhumita Mantriwww.productschool.com
Data and Analytics - Technical Program Manager @ LinkedIn
Product School alum ‘16
Q & A
How to gain PM experience w/o work experience?
- Side projects- Tangible, released into the marketplace
- What are product related things you can do- Blogs- Side projects- Website
- ‘Can you get the job done?’- Meeting with PMs in the workplace, grab coffee
Question
- Madhumita: worked in Sales Ops/Productive- Built app - Ran campaigns to test market-fit- Building use cases- Pitch deck for jobs she was applying for- PM @ Oracle - presented to VP Product, proving why
she can do the job
[Technical background] What kind of opportunities do you get out of Product School?
- PM Triangle: Intersection of Design, Technology, Business
- Background of building internal products- Looking for roles that were specific to her
experience- Qualified for mid- and senior-level Product roles- How can you be a closer fit for the job?
How do you prepare based on Job descriptions
- Madhumita: CRM background, so looking for products related to this
- Problems company is facing building their software
- Understanding how you can help the Product team with their current problem
What are the top 3 questions asked in PM interviews- Are you going to lessen my workload and solve
my problems?- Biggest failure, tell me about yourself..doesn’t
matter- Framework is the same
- Evaluate the problem- Ask questions- Bring a solution
- Solve the problems that don’t have the current definition
Question- How would you go about building an elevator?
- Scope the problem, why are we building it? - Criteria: Freight or people elevator? Speed of elevator,
number of floors- Framework: evaluate metrics that define success of
building elevator - LinkedIn: Like feature, what was going on in PM’s
head when he came up with this feature?- Asking why they are thinking about building the
elevator…
What would a PM consider important when building an elevator?
- How vs. Why >> acting like a PM- PM, take a step back- Number one skill is communication
- Establish persona - Advocates for end user - PM- Asking right questions, coming up with the right
problem- Once we create persona and hypothesis, we can solve
the right problem
How do you recover from formulating around hypothesis after finding the wrong solution?
- Understanding the customer- Journey, not a snapshot
- Starting over is OK, connecting with customer
‘Rockstar PM’ defined
- Product Market fit- Mission of company- Industry specific knowledge- ‘Get the right sh*t done at the right time’ :)
- Google PM- E.g. Sundar Pichai, Google CEO. Former VP
Product, led Product for Chrome, Drive, etc.- Prioritization, proactively attacking the day-to-day-
When’s the wrong time?
- Building something that is indispensable - E.g. Netflix pricing change to Mail-order DVD
What are secret weapons to stand out as a PM?
- Prioritization- Aha.io , roadmapping software tool
- Understanding core MVP- Data analytics
- Mixpanel- Optimizely - A/B testing
- UX- Sketch- Zepplin
- Influence w/o authority
What are secret weapons to stand out as a PM?
- Chocolate, esp for QA- Understand your team, keep honing
communication skills- Empathize with your people
- E.g. Sales, ‘I understand you need this to make your sale!’
- Soft skills - Presentation
Books, podcasts, resources
- LinkedIn course: Conscious Business (https://conscious.linkedin.com/)
- This is Product Management - AlphaUX- Bringing the Donuts >> Ken Norton, Google
Ventures- Cracking the PM Interview , Gayle Laakman
McDowell- Decode and Conquer, Lewis Lin- Hooked by Nir Eyal- Send Jake a message and he will send you a
comprehensive list! [email protected]
Prioritization and Metrics
- Breaking it down by feature, or holistically- What is the business value? - Types of priorities:
- Home run- Big bet- Junk- Quick wins
- Success metrics
Do I need to know how to code?
- No- Can you be more of a critic- Building a website shows initiative - Legacy knowledge:
- First PM in startup, taking over from CEO- No domain, not helpful
- Go after roles where you can get stuff done, not domain expertise
How do you work closely with engineering?
- Speaking in their language, empathy- Review PRD with architect- ‘It can’t be done’ ‘It’ll take too long’
What are the biggest things candidates do wrong?
- Talking about Solution first- What type of PM are you? - Surfer guy, resumes that talk a lot about showing
up and results
Good at execution, not strong at vision. How to shore up?
- Who comes up with the solution?- Leverage experts- Speak with management, raise your hand- User focus groups to help understand direction of
product- Need to be willing to learn
What do you think is the most effective way to get the interview in the first place?
- Inbound hot job opportunity :) - Resume, Linkedin, Network in order
- Madhumita: reached out to someone in company that she wants to work at, asking for details
- Tell your story, why should they help you?
What makes a good PRD?
- Living document - E.g. Hospital vs Startup
- Waterfall, 200 page PRD @ hospital- 1 page Google doc list of requirements @ startup
- Write your press release first, gets team on board with vision
Titles, titles, titles
- Program Manager @ Microsoft is a product Manager at Google is a Program manager @ Apple
- Technical program/project management- Product focused vs customer focused- Solving problem of building product
- Uber - taxi fleet vs driver’s personal car
Would PS be beneficial for a program manager?
- Getting acquainted to every aspect of product - Access to Product Managers on daily basis
How do you come up on the recruiter’s radar?
- Key words- Resume- Highlight accomplishments, results from projects- What can we do to find our ways into the org? - Informational interview, intent isn’t to get a job,
most ambitious is asking for a referral/intro to someone closer to the job opening
- Google PM’s personal website: Odean.com
Upcoming Courses in Silicon ValleyMondays and WednesdaysFebruary 27 - April 19*1 spot left* Tuesdays and ThursdaysFebruary 28 - April 20 *SOLD OUT*
SaturdaysMarch 4 - April 22*SOLD OUT*
Upcoming Course Instructors
www.productschool.com
Fred Radford
Director of Product at 8x8
5-time Product School Instructor
Feb 27 - April 19Monday & Wednesday 6:30-9pm
*1 spot left*
Upcoming Course Instructors
www.productschool.com
Inbal Cohen
Product Manager @ FacebookPreviously Sr. PM @ Amazon
Feb 28 - April 20Tuesday & Thursday 6:30-9pm
*sold out*
Upcoming Course Instructors
www.productschool.com
Jamal Eason
Product Manager @ GooglePreviously PM @ Intel
March 4 - April 22Saturdays9:30am-3:30pm (12-1 lunch)
*sold out*
Upcoming Workshops
Feb 8: Growth Explained by Facebook's Core Product Manager Yaron Fidler