Slides Felix Sargent recently used in his discussion w/ mentees of The Product Mentor. The Product Mentor is a program designed to pair Product Mentors and Mentees from around the World, across all industries, from start-up to enterprise, guided by the fundamental goals…Better Decisions. Better Products. Better Product People. Throughout the program, each mentor leads a conversation in an area of their expertise that is live streamed and available to both mentee and the broader product community. http://TheProductMentor.com

1. A PRODUCT MANAGER
HOW TO HIRE

2. 🎉CONGRATULATIONS 🎉

3. WHY DO WE NEED ANOTHER
PRODUCT MANAGER?
The existing Product Manager
UH OH.

4. WHEN TO HIRE A PM
▸ New Teams
▸ New Projects
▸ The existing PM wants to separate concerns

5. CREATE THE
POSITION

8. FIND THE PEOPLE

11. WHERE ARE THE PRODUCT MANAGERS?
▸ Don't bother with dice.com
▸ angel.co isn't bad
▸ LinkedIn
▸ Your local Product Meetup

12. RESUMES
FILTERING - SIGNS TO LOOK FOR
▸ Has shipped product before
▸ Previous technical background
▸ Proud of their previous work
▸ Blogs / Writes / Involved in the community

13. REASONS TO EXCLUDE
▸ Experience reads like a job description

14. REASONS TO EXCLUDE
▸ Describes tools,
and certifications
more than
innovations, and
successes

15. Felix Sargent
FELIX.SARGENT@GMAIL.COM
HTTP://FELIXSARGENT.COM
NEW YORK
Experience
Product Manager, Bloomberg Vault Surveillance @Bloomberg
October 2014 - In Progress
• Product Owner for Bloomberg Vault Surveillance, the communications monitoring and
auditing tool for the Bloomberg Terminal (MCMP, BVTP)
• Implemented technology and policies to capture communications to prevent Market Abuse,
Insider Trading, Harassment, and Data Loss
• Coordinated a team working on the latest and greatest technology stack including Scala,
Play, Accumulo, & Akka running on a Mesos infrastructure
• Worked with Compliance and Security Officers to ensure the data integrity of our clients,
and the Bloomberg Terminal
• Product Management Mentor in the 2015 The Product Mentor program, associated with The
Product Group. Presented "Inheriting a Project".
Product Manager, Repose @Rackspace
December 2013 - October 2014
• Product Owner for Repose, the API Middleware Platform
Repose handles Rackspace API Security, Rate Limiting, Content Normalization and more
• Defined the product strategy, roadmap, user stories, KPIs, and priorities
• Presented Repose, the Openstack API Filter at OpenStack Atlanta
• Improved Net Promoter Score by 25% by revamping documentation, and simplifying product
support processes
• Built out continuous integration, continuous deployment infrastructure with Jenkins/Docker/
Puppet
Product Manager, Autoscale @Rackspace
November 2012 - December 2013
• Founding Product Owner for Rackspace Autoscale, an API to dynamically scale cloud
infrastructure based on monitoring alerts
• Defined the product strategy, roadmap, user stories, KPIs, and priorities
• 30,000+ new servers created by Autoscale since launch
• Restructured our product to integrate with OpenStack
Software Engineer @Cloudkick
August 2011 - November 2012
• Developer and support engineer on Cloudkick, a Python/Django based Cloud Server
Monitoring/Management console, which was acquired by Rackspace.
• Developer on Rackspace Cloud Control Panel
• Developer on Open Source project Gutsy, an automagical NodeJS project dashboard
• Developer of RaxURL, a NodeJS internal URL shortener
• Built the office Kegerator

16. INTERVIEWS

17. INTERVIEWS
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
▸ Energy, and feel
▸ Confidence
▸ An understanding of office politics
▸ A similar skill-set of to your team

18. WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO
INTERVIEW... YOU?
The Machiavellian Interviewer
INTERVIEWS

19. HOW WOULD YOU SPEND
YOUR FIRST WEEK ON THE JOB
HERE?
Johnny Appleseed
INTERVIEWS

20. WHAT'S A PRODUCT YOU
LOVE?
Johnny Appleseed
INTERVIEWS

21. WHAT'S THE ROLE OF CULTURE
ON A TEAM?
Johnny Appleseed
INTERVIEWS

22. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT
AGILE/WATERFALL?
Johnny Appleseed
INTERVIEWS

23. INTERVIEWS
KEN NORTON SAYS:
▸ Hire all the smart people
▸ Strong technical background
▸ “Spidey-sense” product instincts and creativity
▸ Leadership that’s earned
▸ Ability to channel multiple points-of-view
▸ Give me someone who’s shipped something
kennorton.com/essays/productmanager.html

24. INTERVIEWS
IS A TECHNICAL BACKGROUND NECESSARY
▸ Empathy
▸ Lie Detection
▸ Trust
▸ Leadership
▸ The voice of prudence

25. MAKE THE OFFER

27. THEN WISH FOR
THE BEST
Thank you!

28. BIBLIOGRAPHY
▸ http://www.khoslaventures.com/wp-content/uploads/
Good_Product_Manager_Bad_Product_Manager_KV.pdf
▸ https://www.kennorton.com/essays/productmanager.html
▸ https://blog.intercom.io/the-blind-product-manager/