Gayle McDowell gave a presentation on cracking the product manager interview. She discussed that there is no perfect PM profile and that interviews assess a variety of soft and technical skills. She provided strategies for behavioral questions including developing stories from work experiences and using a Situation-Action-Result structure. She also reviewed how to approach common question types like product design, estimation, and case study questions. Her key advice was to focus on the user and structure responses.

1. GayleL. McDowell | Founder/ CEO, CareerCup
gayle in/gaylemcdgayle
Cracking the PM Interview
Howto Landa Product ManagerJob
May 4,2016 |ProductSchool

2. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 2
Hi! I’m Gayle LaakmannMcDowell
Author Interview Coach Interview Consulting
<dev> </dev>
(CS) (MBA)

3. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 3gayle in/gaylemcdgayle
Yes! Slidesare online!
Gayle.com
 Click “Events”

4. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 4
The Perfect PM
Leadership &
Execution
Technical
Product
Industry
Business

5. ------ the ------
Perfect PM
------ is a ------
MYTH

6. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 6
The Real Question(s)
What do you have? What do you need?
What do Iassume?

7. Strategy &
Vision
Leadership
Customer
Focus
Product
Design
Analysis &
Synthesis
Action
Oriented
Prioritization
Project
Management
Technical
Skills
Communication

8. Strategy &
Vision
Leadership
Customer
Focus
Product
Design
Analysis &
Synthesis
Action
Oriented
Prioritization
Project
Management
Technical
Skills
Communication
Engineer

9. Strategy &
Vision
Leadership
Customer
Focus
Product
Design
Analysis &
Synthesis
Action
Oriented
Prioritization
Project
Management
Technical
Skills
Communication
Marketing

10. Strategy &
Vision
Leadership
Customer
Focus
Product
Design
Analysis &
Synthesis
Action
Oriented
Prioritization
Project
Management
Technical
Skills
Communication
Design

11. Strategy &
Vision
Leadership
Customer
Focus
Product
Design
Analysis &
Synthesis
Action
Oriented
Prioritization
Project
Management
Technical
Skills
Communication
Project Manager

12. Strategy &
Vision
Leadership
Customer
Focus
Product
Design
Analysis &
Synthesis
Action
Oriented
Prioritization
Project
Management
Technical
Skills
Communication
Customer Service

13. Strategy &
Vision
Leadership
Customer
Focus
Product
Design
Analysis &
Synthesis
Action
Oriented
Prioritization
Project
Management
Technical
Skills
Communication
Business Analyst

14. Behavioral
Tell me about yourself…

15. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 15
The Good EnoughPitch
• Showsof success
• Prompt the
interviewer
• Hobbies

16. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 16
The Great Pitch
Tells an [engaging] story
Sends a message.Who are you, really?
Addresses your “stereotype”

17. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 17gayle in/gaylemcdgayle
DevelopingYour Stories: Strategy 1
Job1 Job2
Leadership
Successes
Challenges
Mistakes
Conflicts

18. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 18gayle in/gaylemcdgayle
DevelopingYour Stories: Strategy 2
Strengths
 Data?
 Risk-taking?
 Thoroughness?
 Empathy?
 Resilience?
Weaknesses
 Detail-oriented?
 Bluntness?
 Toooptimistic?
 Sensitivity?
 Impatient?

19. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 19gayle in/gaylemcdgayle
Goals of Answering BehavioralQs
Good
Content
Good Communication
+

20. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 20
Structure 1: Nugget First
Lead with your “thesis”/ nugget
 Grabs thelistener’sattention
 Givesthemcontextforwhereyou’regoing.
I’m most proud of program I set up to …
Q: What accomplishment are you most
proud of?

21. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 21
Structure 2: S.A.R.
S
A
R
What was the issue?
What did you do about it?
What was the impact?
What’s themessage?

22. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 22gayle in/gaylemcdgayle
Story Diagram
Story1 Story2
NUGGET
SITUATION
ACTION
What&Why&How
RESULT
THEMESSAGE
DO DIFFERENTLY

23. gayle in/gaylemcdgayle 23Gayle Laakmann McDowell
Most
Common
Issues
Too much “we”, too little“I”
 Especiallyleaders&women
Too littleaction
No message

24. ----- don’t -----
sugarcoat
------ the ------
bad stuff

25. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 25gayle in/gaylemcdgayle
What I’m looking for
If you’ll admitto bad stuff
If you’ve really failed
How you respond to bad things

26. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 26gayle in/gaylemcdgayle
Weaknesses, Failures& Mistakes
Be REAL
Be COMPELLING
Be CHANGED
The best candidates connect

27. Product Design
How would you design a…
02

28. 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?

29. gayle in/gaylemcdgayle 29
z
Gayle Laakmann McDowell
What I’m
Looking
For
Communication
User empathy
Creativity
Judgment

30. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 30gayle in/gaylemcdgayle
How toTackle
1. Define theuser
 Askquestions
 Arethere multipleusers?
2. Discuss use cases, problems & goals
3. Design
4. Wrap-up

31. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 31gayle in/gaylemcdgayle
Anddon’t forget…
the
USER
the
WHITEBOARD

32. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 32gayle in/gaylemcdgayle
Make sure youknow
Favorite WEBSITE
Favorite MOBILE APP
Favorite PHYSICAL PRODUCT
Favorite COMPANY PRODUCT

33. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 33gayle in/gaylemcdgayle
Your Favorites
Why do you love it?
Whoare the users?
What do they use it for?
How do they competitors compare?
Whatproblems are there?
How would you improve it?

34. not all favorites
are created equal

35. Estimation
How many and who cares?
03

36. 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?

37. gayle in/gaylemcdgayle 37
z
Gayle Laakmann McDowell
Why
We
Ask
Smarts
Ballparking Matters
Comfort withnumbers

38. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 38
How toTackle
1. Ask questions to resolve ambiguity
 Don’tmake assumptions(yet)
2. Outline/ StructureYour Approach
3. Break down the components
 Assumenumberswhennecessary
 State assumptionsexplicitly
 Roundnumberstomake yourmath easier
4. Sanity Check
 Doyournumbersmake sense?

39. How much money does
Gmail make in a year?

40. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 40gayle in/gaylemcdgayle
Step 1: Ambiguous Information
Just in theUS? Or Worldwide?
Profit or revenue?
Pastyear? Or average over history?
Gmail only? Or includeGoogle Apps?

41. Gayle Laakmann McDowell 41gayle in/gaylemcdgayle
Step 2: Outline YourApproach
1. Estimate # of Gmail users
2. Estimate annualclicks
a. Top clicks
b. Side clicks
3. Estimate $ per click
a. Top clicks
b. Side clicks

42. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 42
Step 3:Break downcomponents
Estimate # of Gmail usersin theUS
1. Assume 300 million people in the US.
 Exclude0 -12 yearsold and65- 75yearsold
  ~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 …

43. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 43
Step 4:Sanity Check
Suppose you get US rev. = $5 billion.
No, because…
 Google’sannualrevenueis~$30billion
 $16/ UScitizen(notjustgmailusers)

44. Case & Misc.
Questions
The other questions
04

45. 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?

46. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 46
Many other questiontypes!
 Problemsolving
 Acquisition rates dropped. Why?
 Strategy
 Should wedo X orY?
 Marketing
 How would youmarketX to Y?
 Pricing
 How would youprice X?
 Launching
 How would youlaunchX incountryY?
 Brainstorming
 Nameas manythings youcould do with X

47. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 47
Generic Structure
1. Understand/defineproblem
2. Structure
3. Solve
 Useinstincts
 Make reasonableassumptions
DRIVEtheDISCUSSION

48. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 48
Useful Frameworks
Customer PurchaseDecision MakingProcess
Marketing Mix (4 Ps)
SWOTAnalysis
Five Cs
Porter’s 5 Forces
Butit’snotatestofframeworks

49. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 49
Useful Metrics& Knowledge
User Acquisition
 #,growth,activeusers,etc
Activity
 What arepeopledoing?
Money
 Customeracquisitioncosts
 Revenue
 $growth

50. Takeaways
If you forget everything else…
05

51. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 51
If you forget everything…
Know who you are
 (andwhowethinkyouare)
Focus on theuser
Structure your responses

52. I could write a
whole book on
this!

53. gayle in/gaylemcdgayleGayle Laakmann McDowell 53
Other Resources
Gayle.com
CareerCup.com
CrackingThe
CodingInterview.com
Or, follow me online
• facebook.com/gayle
• twitter.com/gayle
• gayle.com
• gayle@gayle.com
• quora.com