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

by Gayle Laakmann McDowell

to do. Tell me about a time when you had to compromise. Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a conflict. Tell me about a time when you had a challenging interaction with a coworker.

Since estimation questions are fundamentally problem-solving questions, it should be no surprise that the key to these questions is the approach. You can ace these questions with a bit of structure (and some tips and tricks). Step 1: Clarify the Question

Step 2: Catalog What You Know (or Wish You Knew)

Steps 2 and 3 are done somewhat in parallel. You can come back to your Fact List as you’re developing your equation. Step 3: Make an Equation

Step 4: Think About Edge Cases and Alternate Sources

Step 5: Break It Down

Step 6: Review & State Your Assumptions

Step 7: Do the Math

Step 8: Sanity Check

The product question is the heart and soul of the PM interview. It directly gets at what a PM does: design, build, and improve products. These questions come in three common forms:

How would you design _________? For example, you might be asked to design an alarm clock for the blind. What would you improve about ____________? What’s your favorite product and why?

The Approach We’ve offered one framework that works well for these problems, but there are other frameworks too. Good frameworks have the following in common: they ask appropriate questions, understand and assess a goal (often a good user experience), and apply a structured approach to accomplish that goal.

Step 1: Ask questions to understand the problem Before you can even start to answer the question, you need to make sure you understand what the question is. It might not be what you think. For example, suppose you were asked, “Design a pen.” That’s a pretty straightforward question, right? Not necessarily.

Step 2: Provide a structure Interviewers are looking for structured

that you approach problems in a structured way. It will also help keep your thoughts and those of your interviewer straight. Step 3: Identify the users and customers Now that you understand the question itself, you should identify who the users and customers are. Ask more questions if you need to. In some cases, the users and customers

Example: “Design a calculator for kids” In this case, the interviewer has told us who the user is. Or have they? There are, of course, many kids in the world and they’re not all the same. The child is also not the only user.

We have the following potential users or customers: The child: The child is the primary user of the calculator. You will need to know children’s ages. A calculator for seven year olds will look very different from a calculator for high schoolers. The teacher: If this is a calculator used in schools or for an academic purpose,

then the child’s teacher will likely need to use the calculator or at least understand how it works. The parent: The parent may use the calculator when helping a child with homework, and they are likely paying for the calculator as well. This makes the parent both a user and the customer. Depending...

calculator is designed specifically for a textbook, then you might also include textbook publishers. Or, if the calculator is being used within a classroom, the school or school district might be th...

Step 4: What are the use cases? Why are they using this product? What are their goals? For each user (if there’s more than one), make a list of the use cases. This is a list of

In many cases, and especially when you get a question in the form of “Design a _______ for the _______,” it can be useful to think carefully about what makes this type of user special. For example, an elderly person often has limited mobility and dexterity, but they are about more than just their limitations; they also have particular values.

Step 6: What features or changes would improve those weak spots?

good way to handle this section is to name a few ideas and then ask the interviewer if they want you to dive deeper into any of them.

Step 7: Wrap things up

Type 2: Improving a Product

Structure is, again, very important here. You don’t have to be quite as explicit in outlining your structure, but you should

tackle it in an organized fashion. A simple line like this will work: “Let me start first with understanding the goals of the product, then move on to the issues and how to solve those. Okay, so the goals of the product are…” Step 1: What is the goal of the product? First, you need to understand the product’s ultimate goal. What problems is it solving

Step 2: What problems does the product face? Next, you need to assess the problems the product faces. Does it need to expand its user base? If

Step 3: How would you solve this problem? Third, brainstorm a few ways you might solve this problem and discuss the pros and cons of each. Again, be open about the tradeoffs of each option.

Many startups in particular will value a PM who is “scrappy” and can do a lot with limited resources. Show this side of yourself.

Step 5: How would you validate your solution? A good PM knows he’s not always right and that his suggestions are little more than an educated guess. Therefore, he will prioritize

validating his s...

Type 3: Favorite Product It’s very likely that at least one of your interviewers will ask you what your favorite product is and why (see our preparation tips below).

Step 1: What problems does the product solve for the user?

Step 3: How does it compare to the alternatives?

Preparation Practice makes perfect—and you should practice these questions alone or with a friend. Additionally, it’s important to come in with ready-to-go answers for these questions. Step 1: Select Products

One online product. One physical “offline” product. Interviewers love to try to “stump” candidates by asking them to assess a physical product. One product you purchased recently. Your “favorite” product or website. A product you think is well designed. The company or team’s product.

Step 2: Understand Key Metrics For each product, think about and understand the product’s key metrics. These will likely include the following: Users / Traffic: How many users does the product have? How are they acquiring users? Conversion: How effectively does the product convert a visitor to a user, a free

user to a paid user, or a paid user to a more highly paying user? Referral Rates: Do users refer other users? How often? Is the product viral? Engagement: Are users actively engaging with the product (posting, comment, playing, etc.)? How often? Retention: How often do users come back? How many users come back after a certain amount of time? For some products, visiting once a month is good.

For others, you’ll want a user to frequently visit. Revenue: How does the product make money? How much money does it make? Costs: Where does the product face costs? Does it require physical materials? What are its development costs? Does it face hig...

Step 3: Analyze Each Product Now that you understand what the metrics are for each product (as well as you can), analyze the product on the following aspects:

Users and Goals: What are the primary types of users? What are their goals? How does the product help users accomplish these goals? Strengths: For which metrics does the product excel? Does it have a lot of users? Does it have high engagement per user? Challenges / Focuses: What is the main challenge the product faces? Is it struggling to get users to sign up? Is it struggling to convert free users to paid users? Why, Why, Why: Why does the product excel (or struggle) in a particular way? Priorities and Values: What does the product or company care about? Apple, for instance, is obsessed with the user experience. An enterprise-software company, however, might prioritize security and reliability over aesthetics.

Competitors: What are the product’s competitors? How does the product measure up to them? Think both narrowly and broadly about competitors. A stereo competes not only with other stereos, but also with people’s mobile phones. Tradeoffs: What are the tradeoffs a product has had to make in order to accomplish its goals or address user needs? How did it come to be that the

Focusing on the user is key. In addition though, the following tips and tricks will help you:

Have an Opinion: Develop a point of view and act like you’re the owner of the product. Interviewers want PMs who have opinions. “Wow” the Interviewer: Try to come up with at least one “wow” idea. When you find it, point it out. Did you think of

Use the whiteboard: Don’t feel you need to stay glued to your seat during such a question. In fact, it’s great to get up and use the whiteboard; that’s what it’s there for. Using the whiteboard may help you communicate your design more clearly to your interviewer. Don’t overbuild: Some people go overboard with wacky designs to

Don’t complain that you need more research:

Think about the business, too: The customer’s goals are incredibly important, but so are the goals of the business.

Be open about the tradeoffs: Some candidates try to pass off their product as the best idea, as though their interviewer

won’t catch potential issues. Not so. Your interviewer will know the issues your idea has. If she doesn’t, then you’ll actually impress her by pointing out issues that she wasn’t aware of. When in doubt, act like you would imagine a good PM to act. A good PM will be realistic about the limitations. A good PM would gather research, but would also be able to move forward without it.