Cracking the Product Manager Interview
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The document is a presentation by Gayle Laakmann McDowell about preparing for product management interviews, emphasizing the importance of personal storytelling and structuring responses to behavioral questions. It outlines methods for tackling product design questions and estimation tasks, highlighting the significance of user empathy and clear communication. Additionally, it offers strategies for understanding problem-solving and marketing challenges in technical roles.
![gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 16
The Great Pitch
Tells an [engaging] story
Sends a message.Who are you, really?
Addresses your “stereotype”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/crackingthepminterview-svcc-october2014-141014122156-conversion-gate01/85/Cracking-the-Product-Manager-Interview-16-320.jpg)
Cracking the Product Manager Interview
- 1. GayleL. McDowell | Founder/ CEO, CareerCup gayle in/gaylemcdgayle Cracking the PM Interview Howto Landa Product ManagerJob May 4,2016 |ProductSchool
- 2. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 2 Hi! I’m Gayle LaakmannMcDowell Author Interview Coach Interview Consulting <dev> </dev> (CS) (MBA)
- 3. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 3gayle in/gaylemcdgayle Yes! Slidesare online! Gayle.com Click “Events”
- 4. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 4 The Perfect PM Leadership & Execution Technical Product Industry Business
- 5. ------ the ------ Perfect PM ------ is a ------ MYTH
- 6. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 6 The Real Question(s) What do you have? What do you need? What do Iassume?
- 14. Behavioral Tell me about yourself…
- 15. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 15 The Good EnoughPitch • Showsof success • Prompt the interviewer • Hobbies
- 16. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 16 The Great Pitch Tells an [engaging] story Sends a message.Who are you, really? Addresses your “stereotype”
- 17. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 17gayle in/gaylemcdgayle DevelopingYour Stories: Strategy 1 Job1 Job2 Leadership Successes Challenges Mistakes Conflicts
- 18. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 18gayle in/gaylemcdgayle DevelopingYour Stories: Strategy 2 Strengths Data? Risk-taking? Thoroughness? Empathy? Resilience? Weaknesses Detail-oriented? Bluntness? Toooptimistic? Sensitivity? Impatient?
- 19. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 19gayle in/gaylemcdgayle Goals of Answering BehavioralQs Good Content Good Communication +
- 20. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 20 Structure 1: Nugget First Lead with your “thesis”/ nugget Grabs thelistener’sattention Givesthemcontextforwhereyou’regoing. I’m most proud of program I set up to … Q: What accomplishment are you most proud of?
- 21. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 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 themessage?
- 22. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 22gayle in/gaylemcdgayle Story Diagram Story1 Story2 NUGGET SITUATION ACTION What&Why&How RESULT THEMESSAGE DO DIFFERENTLY
- 23. gayle in/gaylemcdgayle 23Gayle Laakmann McDowell Most Common Issues Too much “we”, too little“I” Especiallyleaders&women Too littleaction No message
- 24. ----- don’t ----- sugarcoat ------ the ------ bad stuff
- 25. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 25gayle in/gaylemcdgayle What I’m looking for If you’ll admitto bad stuff If you’ve really failed How you respond to bad things
- 26. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 26gayle in/gaylemcdgayle 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. gayle in/gaylemcdgayle 29 z Gayle Laakmann McDowell What I’m Looking For Communication User empathy Creativity Judgment
- 30. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 30gayle in/gaylemcdgayle How toTackle 1. Define theuser Askquestions Arethere multipleusers? 2. Discuss use cases, problems & goals 3. Design 4. Wrap-up
- 31. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 31gayle in/gaylemcdgayle Anddon’t forget… the USER the WHITEBOARD
- 32. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 32gayle in/gaylemcdgayle Make sure youknow Favorite WEBSITE Favorite MOBILE APP Favorite PHYSICAL PRODUCT Favorite COMPANY PRODUCT
- 33. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 33gayle in/gaylemcdgayle Your Favorites Why do you love it? Whoare the users? What do they use it for? How do they competitors compare? Whatproblems 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. gayle in/gaylemcdgayle 37 z Gayle Laakmann McDowell Why We Ask Smarts Ballparking Matters Comfort withnumbers
- 38. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 38 How toTackle 1. Ask questions to resolve ambiguity Don’tmake assumptions(yet) 2. Outline/ StructureYour Approach 3. Break down the components Assumenumberswhennecessary State assumptionsexplicitly Roundnumberstomake yourmath easier 4. Sanity Check Doyournumbersmake sense?
- 39. How much money does Gmail make in a year?
- 40. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 40gayle in/gaylemcdgayle Step 1: Ambiguous Information Just in theUS? Or Worldwide? Profit or revenue? Pastyear? Or average over history? Gmail only? Or includeGoogle Apps?
- 41. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 41gayle in/gaylemcdgayle Step 2: Outline YourApproach 1. Estimate # of Gmail users 2. Estimate annualclicks a. Top clicks b. Side clicks 3. Estimate $ per click a. Top clicks b. Side clicks
- 42. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 42 Step 3:Break downcomponents Estimate # of Gmail usersin theUS 1. Assume 300 million people in the US. Exclude0 -12 yearsold and65- 75yearsold ~200 million 2. Assume 80% of people use email But 50% only use their work email acct 3. Assume 80% use a “major” email provider Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, etc. … and so on …
- 43. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 43 Step 4:Sanity Check Suppose you get US rev. = $5 billion. No, because… Google’sannualrevenueis~$30billion $16/ UScitizen(notjustgmailusers)
- 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. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 46 Many other questiontypes! Problemsolving Acquisition rates dropped. Why? Strategy Should wedo X orY? Marketing How would youmarketX to Y? Pricing How would youprice X? Launching How would youlaunchX incountryY? Brainstorming Nameas manythings youcould do with X
- 47. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 47 Generic Structure 1. Understand/defineproblem 2. Structure 3. Solve Useinstincts Make reasonableassumptions DRIVEtheDISCUSSION
- 48. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 48 Useful Frameworks Customer PurchaseDecision MakingProcess Marketing Mix (4 Ps) SWOTAnalysis Five Cs Porter’s 5 Forces Butit’snotatestofframeworks
- 49. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 49 Useful Metrics& Knowledge User Acquisition #,growth,activeusers,etc Activity What arepeopledoing? Money Customeracquisitioncosts Revenue $growth
- 50. Takeaways If you forget everything else… 05
- 51. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 51 If you forget everything… Know who you are (andwhowethinkyouare) Focus on theuser Structure your responses
- 52. I could write a whole book on this!
- 53. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 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 • quora.com