Gayle McDowell gives a presentation on cracking the product manager interview. She discusses common interview questions and frameworks, including behavioral, case study, and estimation questions. She emphasizes focusing on the user, structuring responses, and showing product insight. McDowell also provides resources for further preparing for PM interviews.

1. Cracking the Product Manager Interview
with Gayle McDowell
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7. Gayle McDowell
Tonight’s Speaker

8. Cracking the
PM Interview
Gayle Laakmann McDowell
Author, Cracking the PM
Interview

9. Hi! I’m Gayle Laakmann McDowell
Author Acquisition Interview
Coaching
<dev> </dev>
(CS) (MBA)
Hiring Consultant /
Interview Training

10. Yes! Slides are online!
● go.gayle.com/PMprepslides
gayle@gayle.com
subject: PMprep

11. The many names of a PM
● Product Manager
● Associate Product Manager
○ Typically new grad
○ Rotation, training
● Project Manager

12. What does a PM do?
● Manage the product, not the people
● Build a great product for the users
○ Who are the users?
○ What are the features?
○ When will we launch?

13. The “Perfect” PM

14. The Perfect PM
Leadership
&
Execution
Technica
l
Product
Industry
Business

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

16. What do you have? What do you need?
What do I assume?

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

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

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

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

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

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

23. The MBA
● Some anti-MBA sentiment in SV
○ Be humble!
● Advantages:
○ Recruiting opportunities at big companies
○ Networking
○ “Checks off” the business skill box

24. Should I get an MBA?
● Highly dependent on where you go
● Don’t rely on it
○ Big companies: on-campus recruiting
○ Smaller companies: proactively recruit/network
● What else ya got?
○ An MBA isn’t enough

25. Behavioral Questions

26. The “Good Enough” Pitch
● Quick walk through
● Demonstrations of
success
● Prompt the interviewer
● Hobbies

27. The Great Pitch
● Tells an [engaging] story
● Sends a message. Who are you, really?
● Addresses your “stereotype”
The Great Pitch

28. Who are you?
What have you
done?

29. Job 1 Job 2
Leadership
Successes
Challenges
Mistakes
Conflicts
Developing Your Stories: Strategy 1:

30. Developing Your Stories: Strategy 2
STRENGTHS:
● Data driven
● Risk taking
● Thoroughness
● Empathy
● Grit
WEAKNESSES:
● Not detail oriented
● Bluntness
● Sensitivity
● Impatient

31. WHAT
you say
HOW
you say it+
Goals of Your Answer

32. Your Response Should:
● Answer the Question
● Deliver a Positive Message
● Be Well Structured

33. Well-Structured Responses
● State the “Nugget” First
● Situation, Action, Response

34. Structure 1:
Nugget FirstA: I’m most proud of program
I set up to …
Q: What accomplishment are you
most proud of?
Nugget First

35. S
A
R
What was the issue?
What did you do about it?
What was the impact?
What’s the message?
Nugget + ...
S.A.R.

36. 3 Big Mistakes
● Too little action
● No message
● “We” instead of “I”

37. Story 1 Story 2
NUGGET
SITUATION
ACTION
What & Why & How
RESULT
THE MESSAGE
DO DIFFERENTLY
Diagram Your Stories

38. What about the
bad stuff?
● Mistakes
● Weaknesses
● Failures

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

40. What I’m looking for
▶ If you’ll admit to bad stuff
▶ If you’ve really failed
▶ How you respond to bad things
What I’m Looking For

41. These stories can
make you look
--- BETTER ---

42. Weaknesses, Failures & Mistakes
▶ Be REAL
▶ Be COMPELLING
▶ Be CHANGED
The best candidates connect
Looking Good Through Bad Stuff

43. Product Design

44. 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?

45. What I’m Looking For
● Communication
● User Empathy
● Creativity
● Judgement
● Product Insight

46. 1. Define the user
■ Ask questions
■ Are there multiple users?
2. Discuss use cases, problems & goals
3. Design
4. Wrap-up
How to Tackle

47. don’t forget the user

48. don’t forget the
USER

49. What’s your
favorite __?
● Mobile App
● Website
● Physical Product
● Company Product
Never, ever walk into a PM interview
without prepping these!

50. Know:
● Why do you love it?
● Who are the users?
● Why do they love it?
● Who’s the competition?
● What are the alternative
products/solutions?
● What issues are there?
How would you improve it?

51. show me insight.

52. not all products
are created equal

53. Estimation Questions

54. 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?

55. What We’re Looking For
● Smarts
● Ballparking Skill
● Comfort with Numbers
It’s not at all about the final answer

56. How to Tackle
1. Ask questions to resolve ambiguity
2. Outline / Structure Your Approach
3. Break down the components
4. Sanity Check
■ Do your numbers make sense?
How to Tackle

57. How to Tackle
● Define the problem
● Ask questions
● LOOK for ambiguity
● Make assumptions explicit
1.Asking Questions

58. How to Tackle
● Be aware of other approaches
● Consider alternate sources
2. Outline/Structure Your Approach

59. How to Tackle
● Assume numbers when necessary
● State assumptions explicitly
● Round numbers to make your math easier
● Move along quickly!
3. Break Down Components

60. How to Tackle
● Do your numbers make sense?
● What if this number were accurate?
4. Sanity Check

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

62. 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?
1.Ask Questions

63. Step 2: Outline Your Approach
1. Estimate # of Gmail users
2. Estimate annual clicks
○ Top clicks
○ Side clicks
3. Estimate $ per click
○ Top clicks
○ Side clicks
2. Structure Your Approach

64. 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 …
3. Solve

65. 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)
4. Sanity Check

66. 3 Big Mistakes
● Getting lost in
minor details
● Forgetting other
sources
● Crazy assumptions

67. Case &
Miscellaneous Questions

68. 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?

69. Lots of 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

70. Generic Structure
1. Understand/define the
problem
2. Structure
3. Solve
a. Use Instincts
b. Make reasonable
assumptions
● Drive the discussion
● Empathize with the
user
● Show insight

71. Some Useful Frameworks
● Customer Purchase Decision Making
Process
● Marketing Mix (4 Ps)
● SWOT Analysis
● Five Cs
● Porter’s 5 Forces
not a test of
frameworks!

72. Useful Metrics & Knowledge
▶ User Acquisition
■ #, growth, active users, etc
▶ Activity
■ What are people doing?
▶ Money
■ Customer acquisition costs
■ Revenue
■ $ growth
Useful Metrics

73. use your gut instincts.

74. If you forget everything else...

75. If you forget everything…
▶ Know who you are
■ (and who we think you are)
▶ Focus on the user
▶ Structure your responses
If you forget everything else...

76. I could write a
whole book on
this!

77. 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
More Resources

78. Part-time Product Management Courses in
San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles
and New York
www.productschool.com