Cracking the PM Interview: How to Land a Product Manager Job in Technology (Cracking the Interview & Career)

by Gayle Laakmann McDowell

Some people will say that the product manager (sometimes called the program manager or project manager) is like a mini-CEO of their product. That’s accurate in some ways, since a PM takes holistic responsibility for the product, from the little details to the big picture. The PM needs to set vision and strategy. The PM defines success and makes decisions.

you’ll make sure those features are built in a cohesive, well-designed way that actually solves the customer’s needs. You’ll focus on everything from the big picture to the small details. One day you might brainstorm the three-year vision for your team, while the next day you work through the details of the buttons in a dialog.

Sometimes, implementation of a feature will turn out to be harder than anticipated, and the PM will look for ways to change the feature to make it easier to implement. If an engineer is running behind schedule, the product manager can review the scheduled work carefully and cut lower priority work.

Product managers are responsible for identifying problems and opportunities, picking which ones to go after, and then making sure the team comes up with great solutions, either by thinking of the solution themselves or by working with the designers and engineers. This is why product sense—having the intuition to recognize the difference between a good product and a bad product—is so important for product managers.

Marketing folks focus on getting users into the product, while product managers define what happens once the user is in the product.

They’ve found that passion, intellect, a strong customer focus, and lots of energy can be a winning combination for great PMs.

5. Product managers just set up meetings. Some people think that a PM’s job is just to get the key stakeholders in a room together to make decisions. Good product managers don’t just serve as passive conduits of other people’s opinions. Instead, PMs research the area and come up with their own point of view and frameworks for making decisions. PMs do need to meet with the key stakeholders and understand their opinions and priorities, but then they synthesize those perspectives, lay out the tradeoffs, and come up with a recommendation that will satisfy all of the stakeholders. In any meeting or conversation, the PM needs to represent the interests of all the people who are not in the room. Product managers are able to reduce the number of meetings their teammates need to attend because they’re able to represent the team to other groups and find productive ways of communicating that don’t require meetings.

Instead, PMs influence without authority, building up credibility with the team, communicating clearly, gathering data and research, and being persuasive to lead the team. Teams follow PMs when they’re convinced that their goals align and that the PM will help them better achieve their goals.