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Started reading
August 17, 2018
You get thrown into a new problem like redesign a bookstore. With little guidance, you go out and talk to users, take pictures, come back and synthesize, prototype, and bring your prototype back to user to see how it works.
I talked to a company who wanted product advice. I asked them who their users were, and they said wedding planners, bakers, personal trainers, the flower shop around the corner. So then I asked how many of those customers they’d actually talked to and they said zero. So I told them the first thing they needed to do was go out and talk to their users and find out who their users are.
There’s a methodology of storyboarding and personas coming from user research that you can learn. It helps to have a CS degree or be technical. You need to work with engineers and earn their trust. If they have to dumb it down for you, you’re lost.
How would you feel about teaching yourself some Java by buying a book, installing eclipse, and building a simple mobile app? If that would excite you, that’s great. If you think, “Do I really have to?” you’re probably in the wrong industry.
A good PM doesn’t only create delightful experiences but knows how to measure success and define success.
When I met the Product Manager, Tom, I was blown away that he actually knew what the company should build. I dreamed that one day I would have the skills to know what we should build. That’s when I decided I wanted to become a Product Manager.
Do something fun. Do something important. I don’t think there is a single answer to career advancement.
It wasn’t that easy to get my job at Google. I was the last person in my MBA class to get an internship. Take heart, all these things can turn around.
That said, all great PMs are goal oriented. They’re able to get things done, focus, prioritize. One mistake junior PMs at Google (and probably at other other big companies too) make is to go to too many meetings and think their work is done.
A good PM defines what it takes to achieve her goals. Less effective PMs let their schedules sway how they get things done and it gets in their way.
Great PMs care about their users. They use...
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I had always known that while I found investing very intellectually stimulating, I was really itching to be part of the creation of products and services—to be hands on.
I joined two of my former colleagues at Bright, heading their product team.
An open mind, a deep sense of curiosity, and constant desire to learn. You can’t be afraid of going into an area that you don’t know much about – you have to be
comfortable getting up to speed quickly in new and potentially intimidating areas.
You need to be a consummate and life-...
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The key is to ask questions, be curious and learn...
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I always treat engineers, designers and other team members as equal partners, and they explain and teach me about their areas of expertise. My team showed me...
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A sense of curiosity and passion for the product is very important as well, as is developing empathy for the customer – if the PM doesn’t care about the product, it will show in the quality of product in many different ways.
You need to genuinely like being around people and working with people, bringing their best energy forward. You need to be the type of person who thrives on being in the thick of it, solving problems on the fly, and making decisions quickly without fear.
What this also means is that as a PM, you have to recognize that you will never be the best marketer, or engineer, or sales person. You have to be proficient and versed enough in a lot of these areas and have a good sense of how they fit together in the product.
The other thing I loved about the MBA is the experience of spending two amazing jam-packed years learning and getting exposed to a variety of companies, industries, and people in a very intellectually stimulating and mind-opening environment.
An MBA might well be a good path for you, but you need to think carefully about what you’re looking to get out of it and why you would invest the time and money in the experience.
Be curious and strive to learn something new every day. Learn from the people around you – the marketers, from engineers, from sales people, the QA guys, etc.
A lot of companies go by for a long time without product managers and others don’t have that role at all. You don’t have a defined set of buttons to push and levers to pull. You have to be excited, driven, self-motivated, and compassionate. You have to be able to pitch in and help where needed – that’s how you carve out your role as PM in a startup.
It may be different than what you expect, but if it gets you in the door and one step closer to creating a product, seize it. Be scrappy and trust that it will all eventually work out.
It begins with two phone interviews that may cover technical, cultural fit, strategic, analytical, and product design questions (though perhaps not all of these).
Try to mix a few key points into each interview (where appropriate) since interviewers might not probe as deeply into your background.
That awesome side project you did, when combined with strong performance on an analytical question, could be what you need to get a “strong hire” recommendation.
Google loves questions about its own products: Which ones do you love? Which ones would you do differently? Be prepared to talk in detail about some Google products.
Be sure to brush up on both your quantitative skills and your technical skills. Don’t be surprised if you’re asked to write a bit of code on the whiteboard.
Read through your resume. Anything that’s three lines of text or more should be condensed. Additionally, you should aim to have no more than 50 percent of your bullets expand to two lines. That is, at least half of your bullets should be just one line, with the remainder being two lines.
No left column dedicated to headings. Many resume templates use the left side of the page for headings such as “Employment” and “Education.” This looks attractive, but can waste 20 percent of the available space.
Ask yourself: what did you not include? Are there projects you’ve done (on your own, for school, for a friend’s company, for a hackathon, etc.) that you haven’t listed? Any relevant hobbies? Or interests which have some interesting accomplishment (e.g., completing a triathlon)?
Employers want PMs who have technical skills, love technology, possess initiative, are leaders, and will have an impact. A resume is a chance to showcase these parts of your background.
It’s more than that though. A resume is itself a product. It makes a statement about your communication skills, design skills, and your ability to put yourself in the “user’s shoes.”
What is the array of products or features that the company creates? How do the products fit with each other?
Who are the competitors? How does the company differentiate itself from them?
How would you suggest the company make more money? If it doesn’t make money, what revenue strategies would you want to explore? Love and Hate: How do customers feel about the product? What do they love or hate? What are the most common complaints and issues? Metrics: If possible, try to learn about the company’s key metrics. Finding exact numbers might be difficult, but you can at least get an understanding of which metrics they’re doing well on and which ones they’re struggling with. How many users does it have? What is its conversion rate? What is its growth rate? News and Rumors: Have there
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You should know not only what the company is doing, but why it is doing it. Knowing the “why” will help your answers fit the company’s view of the world.
For example, if the company cares about “changing the world,” then you should mix that sort of passion into your answers. Or if the company is passionate about expanding worldwide, you can talk about global expansion and internationalization issues.
Strengths: What are the product’s selling points? How does the company leverage those? What about the company or its products has enabled its success?
Weaknesses: What are the major issues with the company and its products? How should the company address those weaknesses, or should they just accept them?
Challenges: What are the biggest challenges for the company right now? How do you see them addressing those? Wha...
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Opportunities: Is there anything on the horizon (with technology or in their industry) that might create ...
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Future: What do you think the future holds for this company? Think about any new products or features that would be a natural fit.
Culture: What is the company’s culture? The company’s job pages might discuss this a little, but that’s obviously going to be biased toward the image they want to project. Look online for reports of what candidates, current employees, and former employees say about working there.
What does the company value? By “values,” we mean anything that’s important to them, explicitly or implicitly. To understand this, read interviews with the founders and think about
their culture and products. Values might include aspects such as moving fast (Facebook) o...
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History: How long has the company been around? How did the company get started? Have they been doing what they set...
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