Cracking the PM

Interview
How to Land a Product Manager Job

Gayle L. McDowell | Founder / CEO,

CareerCup
May 4, 2016 | Product School

gayle gayle in/gaylemcd

 Hi! I’m Gayle Laakmann McDowell

(CS) (M BA)

< dev < /dev

> >

Author Interview Coach Interview Consulting

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 Yes! Slides are online!

 Gayle.com
 Click “Events”

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 The Perfect PM

Technic
al

Leadershi
Busines p&
s Product
Execution

Industr
y

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------ the ------
Perfect PM
------ is a ------

MYTH
 The Real Question(s)

What do you What do you

have? need?

What do I assume?

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 Ge
ts
Customer Action

Th
art

Focus Oriented

in
Sm

gs
Product Prioritizatio
Technic

Do
Design n
al Skills

ne
Communicatio
Analysis & n Project
Synthesis Management

Strategy & Leadershi

Vision p
 Engineer

Ge
ts
Customer Action

Th
art

Focus Oriented

in
Sm

gs
Product Prioritizatio
Technic

Do
Design n
al Skills

ne
Communicatio
Analysis & n Project
Synthesis Management

Strategy & Leadershi

Vision p
 Marketing

Ge
ts
Customer Action

Th
art

Focus Oriented

in
Sm

gs
Product Prioritizatio
Technic

Do
Design n
al Skills

ne
Communicatio
Analysis & n Project
Synthesis Management

Strategy & Leadershi

Vision p
 Design

Ge
ts
Customer Action

Th
art

Focus Oriented

in
Sm

gs
Product Prioritizatio
Technic

Do
Design n
al Skills

ne
Communicatio
Analysis & n Project
Synthesis Management

Strategy & Leadershi

Vision p
 Project Manager

Ge
ts
Customer Action

Th
art

Focus Oriented

in
Sm

gs
Product Prioritizatio
Technic

Do
Design n
al Skills

ne
Communicatio
Analysis & n Project
Synthesis Management

Strategy & Leadershi

Vision p
 Customer Service

Ge
ts
Customer Action

Th
art

Focus Oriented

in
Sm

gs
Product Prioritizatio
Technic

Do
Design n
al Skills

ne
Communicatio
Analysis & n Project
Synthesis Management

Strategy & Leadershi

Vision p
 Business Analyst

Ge
ts
Customer Action

Th
art

Focus Oriented

in
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Product Prioritizatio
Technic

Do
Design n
al Skills

ne
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Analysis & n Project
Synthesis Management

Strategy & Leadershi

Vision p
Behavioral
Tell me about yourself…
 The Good Enough Pitch

• Shows of
success

• Prompt
the
interviewe
r

• Hobbies
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 The Great Pitch

 Tells an [engaging] story

 Sends a message. Who are you,
really?
 Addresses your “stereotype”

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 Developing Your Stories: Strategy
1

Job 1 Job 2
Leadership

Successes

Challenges

Mistakes

Conflicts

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 Developing Your Stories: Strategy
2

 Strengths  Weaknesses
 Data?  Detail-
 Risk-taking? oriented?
 Thoroughness?  Bluntness?
 Empathy?  Too optimistic?
 Resilience?  Sensitivity?
 Impatient?

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 Goals of Answering Behavioral Qs

Good Good
Content + Communication

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 Structure 1: Nugget First

 Lead with your “thesis” / nugget

 Grabs the listener’s attention
 Gives them context for where you’re
going.
Q: What accomplishment
are you most proud of?

I’m most proud of

program I set up to …

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 Structure 2: S.A.R.

S What was the issue?

A What did you do about it?

R What was the impact?

What’s the
message?
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 Story Diagram

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

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  Too much “we”, too
little “I”
 Especially leaders &
Most women
Commo  Too little action
n  No message
Issues

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----- don’t -----
sugarcoat
------ the ------
bad stuf
 What I’m looking for

 If you’ll admit to bad stuf

 If you’ve really failed
 How you respond to bad things

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 Weaknesses, Failures & Mistakes

 Be REAL
 Be COMPELLING
 Be CHANGED

The best candidates

connect
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 Product Design

02
How would you design a…
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?
  Communication
 User empathy
What  Creativity
I’m  Judgment
Looking
z

For

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 How to Tackle

1. Define the user

 Ask questions
 Are there multiple users?
2. Discuss use cases, problems &
goals
3. Design
4. Wrap-up
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 And don’t forget…

the the
USER WHITEBOARD

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 Make sure you know

 Favorite WEBSITE
 Favorite MOBILE APP
 Favorite PHYSICAL PRODUCT
 Favorite COMPANY PRODUCT

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 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?

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not all favorites
are created equal
 Estimation

03
How many and who cares?
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?
  Smarts
 Ballparking Matters
 Comfort with
Why
numbers
Wez
Ask

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 How to Tackle

1. Ask questions to resolve ambiguity

 Don’t make assumptions (yet)
2. Outline / Structure Your Approach
3. Break down the components
 Assume numbers when necessary
 State assumptions explicitly
 Round numbers to make your math
easier
4. Sanity Check
 Do your numbers make sense?
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How much money
does
Gmail make in a year?
 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?

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 Step 2: Outline Your Approach

1. Estimate # of Gmail users

2. Estimate annual clicks
a. Top clicks
b. Side clicks
3. Estimate $ per click
a. Top clicks
b. Side clicks

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 Step 3: Break down components

Estimate # of Gmail users in the US

1. Assume 300 million people in the US.
 Exclude 0 - 12 years old and 65 - 75 years old
  ~ 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 …

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 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)

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 Case & Misc.
Questions

04
The other questions
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?
 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

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 Generic Structure

1. Understand/define problem
2. Structure
3. Solve
 Use instincts
 Make reasonable assumptions

DRIVE the
DISCUSSION
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 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
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 Useful Metrics & Knowledge

 User Acquisition
 #, growth, active users, etc
 Activity
 What are people doing?
 Money
 Customer acquisition costs
 Revenue
 $ growth

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 Takeaways

05
If you forget everything else…
 If you forget everything…

 Know who you are

 (and who we think you are)
 Focus on the user
 Structure your responses

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I could write
a whole book
on this!
 Other Resources

Gayle.com

CareerCup.com

CrackingThe
CodingInterview.co
m

Or, follow me online

• facebook.com/gayle
• twitter.com/gayle
• gayle.com
• gayle@gayle.com
Email: • quora.com

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