How to interview great product managers and reduce false negatives.

1. Conducting Great PM Interviews
Reverse Engineering Interviews to
Reduce False Negatives
Gayle Laakmann McDowell
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AOL Bootcamp Oct 2014

2. Gayle Laakmann McDowell
(CS) (MBA)
<dev> </dev>
Author Interview Coach Interview Consulting
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3. The Problem(s)
1. Great employees often aren’t great
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interviewees.
2. Interviewers often aren’t good.
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Rejecting great people 

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What I Coach
Download at:
CrackingThePMInterview.com
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What I Coach
Download at:
CrackingThePMInterview.com
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6. Typical PM Questions
• Behavioral/Experience
• Technical Questions
• Strategy
• Product
• Analytical
• Knowledge
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7. How “They” Interview
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• Startups
– Lean towards “practical”
• Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc.
– Lean towards hypotheticals
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8. Skills vs. Attributes
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What do you want?

9. Skills vs. Attributes
Knowledge & Experience
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Technical
Metrics
Design Specs
Industry Expertise
…
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Personal Attributes
Intelligence
Drive
Initiative
Passion
…

10. Skills vs. Attributes
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11. What You Want
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Product Knows what to build
Execution Will get it done
Culture Fit Works well with others

12. What You Want
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Product • Vision
• Empathy
• Analytical
Execution • Initiative
• Opinionated
• Drive
• Project
mgmt
Culture Fit • Enjoyable
• Open to
feedback
• No jerks

13. Product
• Design a ___________.
• Favorite product & why?
• What would you improve about our product?
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14. What to Look For
• Do they really get the user?
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– Surface level & deep
• Do the features/design make sense?
• Can they defend decisions?
• Will they change their mind with other info?
• Execution:
– Can they prioritize?
– Can they execute?
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15. Issues: Design a ___
• Yay: Starts from scratch
• Nay: Bias towards knowledge
• Nay: Coaching matters
• Nay: Your bias
• Nay: Hypothetical
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16. Issues: Favorite Product
• Yay: Something they know
• Nay: Bias towards preparation
• Nay: Some products better than others
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17. Issues: Our Product
• Yay: It matters
• Yay: Ensures alignment
• Nay: Group think
• Nay: Uneven playing field
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18. Recommendation
• Need to know space?
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– Our product
• Else?
– Hypothetical
• Encourage questions
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19. Execution
• What have they done?
• Why?
• How?
• What would they do differently?
• What if…?
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20. Common Issues
• “Lack of personal accomplishments”
– Didn’t do much?
– Or doesn’t boast much?
• Can’t immediately think of example
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21. Recommendation
• Look for initiative & drive
– More than just following orders
• Don’t be overly specific
• Probe deeper
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22. Culture Fit
Personality
+
Your Culture
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23. Common Issues
• Lack of clarity around culture
• Not structuring culture interview
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24. What about skills?
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25. Good Skills?
• Technical knowledge?
• Industry expertise?
• Metrics?
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26. What about the skills?
Proxy Knowledge
vs
Deep Knowledge
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27. Proxy Knowledge
• Can reasonably expect that someone would
know it
• But is that true?
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28. Deep Knowledge
• Need someone who really knows this
• But is that true?
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29. Technical Skills
• How much is enough?
• Talk to and work with developers
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30. Common Issues
• Requiring more than you need
• Can be really intimidating
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31. My Recommendation
Explain prior work
 Push deeper
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33. It’s About…
Job Performance
NOT
Interview Performance
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34. Don’t get too caught up
in the question.
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35. Approach interview
process like an engineer
(it has bugs!)
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