Hiring Great Product Managers

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Conducting Great PM Interviews

Reverse Engineering Interviews to Reduce False Negatives

Gayle Laakmann McDowell

AOL Bootcamp Oct 2014

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Gayle Laakmann McDowell

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Author Interview Coach Interview Consulting

(CS) (MBA)

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The Problem(s)

1. Great employees often aren’t great interviewees.

2. Interviewers often aren’t good.

Rejecting great people

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What I Coach

Download at: CrackingThePMInterview.com

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What I Coach

Download at: CrackingThePMInterview.com

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Typical PM Questions

• Behavioral/Experience• Technical Questions• Strategy• Product• Analytical• Knowledge

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How “They” Interview

• Startups– Lean towards “practical”

• Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc.– Lean towards hypotheticals

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Skills vs. Attributes

What do you want?

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Skills vs. AttributesKnowledge & Experience

TechnicalMetrics

Design SpecsIndustry Expertise

…

Personal Attributes

IntelligenceDrive

InitiativePassion

…

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Skills vs. Attributes

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What You WantProduct Knows what to build

Execution Will get it done

Culture Fit Works well with others

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What You WantProduct • Vision

• Empathy• Analytical

Execution • Initiative• Opinionated

• Drive• Project

mgmt

Culture Fit • Enjoyable• Open to

feedback

• No jerks

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Product

• Design a ___________.• Favorite product & why?• What would you improve about our product?

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What to Look For

• Do they really get the user?– Surface level & deep

• Do the features/design make sense?• Can they defend decisions?• Will they change their mind with other info?• Execution:– Can they prioritize?– Can they execute?

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Issues: Design a ___

• Yay: Starts from scratch• Nay: Bias towards knowledge• Nay: Coaching matters• Nay: Your bias• Nay: Hypothetical

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Issues: Favorite Product

• Yay: Something they know• Nay: Bias towards preparation• Nay: Some products better than others

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Issues: Our Product

• Yay: It matters• Yay: Ensures alignment• Nay: Group think• Nay: Uneven playing field

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Recommendation

• Need to know space?– Our product

• Else?– Hypothetical

• Encourage questions

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Execution

• What have they done?• Why?• How?• What would they do differently?• What if…?

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Common Issues

• “Lack of personal accomplishments”– Didn’t do much?– Or doesn’t boast much?

• Can’t immediately think of example

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Recommendation

• Look for initiative & drive– More than just following orders

• Don’t be overly specific• Probe deeper

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Culture Fit

Personality +

Your Culture

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Common Issues

• Lack of clarity around culture• Not structuring culture interview

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What about skills?

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Good Skills?

• Technical knowledge?• Industry expertise?• Metrics?

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What about the skills?

Proxy Knowledgevs

Deep Knowledge

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Proxy Knowledge

• Can reasonably expect that someone would know it

• But is that true?

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Deep Knowledge

• Need someone who really knows this• But is that true?

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Technical Skills

• How much is enough?• Talk to and work with developers

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Common Issues

• Requiring more than you need• Can be really intimidating

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My Recommendation

Explain prior work Push deeper

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It’s About…

Job PerformanceNOT

Interview Performance

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Don’t get too caught up in the question.

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Approach interview process like an engineer

(it has bugs!)