Every PM interview ends with “what questions do you have for me?”
95% of applicants don’t impress.
Their questions demonstrate lack of curiosity, and they ask too few.
I’ve interviewed over 100 PMs over the last few months.
Here’s how some ROCK this part of the interview:
Just because you are nervous prior to a major meeting or an important presentation doesn’t automatically mean you have Imposter Syndrome. It usually just means that you care about ensuring it goes well.
You can often trace back a co's massive competitive advantage to a key decision in its history. For amazon, it was this 2002 memo. The API economy was still 10yrs out, so this took real courage. The only joke here was the last line. Bezos didn't really care if you had a nice day.
As a PM leader, in the first
30 days:
Understand org/process
Build rapport
Contribute to a feature
60 days:
Understand the products
Build relationships
Contribute to process
90 days:
Understand customers
Build deep trust
Contribute to strategy
Most vital, act based on context
Here is an image of frameworks I have aggregated over the years. It can be used by anyone that is just entering the Product Management space or by someone that is currently interviewing.
5) What few actions of yours truly matter for it?
6) What is blocking you from focusing more on those specific, concentrated actions?
7) Are these blockers within your control or outside your control?
8) What lies did you just tell yourself when responding to these questions?
As a stressed & overwhelmed product leader, ask yourself
1) What is the most important thing for the product over the next 6 months?
2) Are you sure that answer is correct?
3) What portion of your time do you spend on this thing?
4) Why are you afraid of focusing more on it?