Decode & Conquer: Answers to Product Management Interviews
Tags: #careers #technology #product management #interviewing #job search
Authors: Lewis C. Lin
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Overview
My book, ‘Decode and Conquer’, is a practical guide designed to help aspiring product managers excel in their job interviews. Drawing on my years of experience coaching candidates at top tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook, I’ve compiled a collection of common product management interview questions along with detailed sample answers. The book covers a wide range of interview topics, including product design, strategy, technical skills, analytical thinking, and even behavioral questions. It emphasizes a structured approach to answering each question type, while also highlighting the importance of showcasing your creativity, thoughtfulness, and ability to adapt to different scenarios. While frameworks and methodologies are important tools, I stress the need to avoid sounding robotic or overly reliant on pre-determined answers. Instead, I encourage candidates to engage in genuine conversations, demonstrate their individual strengths, and back up their claims with data and evidence whenever possible. I’ve included specific tips and strategies tailored to different question categories. For example, in product design, I introduce the CIRCLES Method™ to help candidates structure their responses and consider all essential aspects of the design process. For behavioral questions, I recommend the DIGS Method™ to craft engaging stories that highlight your impact and contributions. The book provides a practical roadmap for navigating the challenging landscape of product management interviews. It equips candidates with the knowledge, frameworks, and confidence to approach any question with clarity, insight, and a touch of personal flair.
Book Outline
1. Critiquing Design
To effectively critique a product’s design, one must use a scorecard based on pre-determined criteria. These criteria can be derived from Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of Good Design, which provide a robust framework for evaluating any product or feature. By focusing on innovation, utility, ease of use, and honesty, you can provide a comprehensive and insightful critique.
Key concept: Good design is: 1. Innovative 2. Makes a product useful 3. Aesthetic 4. Understandable 5. Unobtrusive 6. Honest 7. Long-lasting 8. Thorough down to the last detail 9. Environmentally friendly 10. As little design as possible. Of these 10 design principles, I find innovation, utility, ease of use and a sense of honesty to be the most important.
2. Designing a Desktop Application
The CIRCLES Method™ is a comprehensive framework designed to help you tackle product design questions effectively. It emphasizes a structured approach, starting with understanding the context, identifying the target customer and their needs, prioritizing those needs, and then brainstorming and evaluating potential solutions before summarizing your recommendation.
Key concept: The CIRCLES Method is a seven-step process: 1. Comprehend the situation 2. Identify the Customer 3. Report the Customer’s Needs 4. Cut, through Prioritization 5. List Solutions 6. Evaluate Trade-offs 7. Summarize Your Recommendation
3. Designing a Web page or Website
When designing web pages or websites, it’s crucial to communicate your ideas visually. Using wireframes, mockups, or even simple sketches on a whiteboard can make your design concepts more tangible and help the interviewer understand your thought process better.
Key concept: Pictures often express ideas better than words. To make your ideas stand out in the interview, visually share your ideas.
4. Designing a Mobile App
When designing mobile apps, leverage existing design patterns for common UI elements. Design patterns are documented solutions to common design problems and can help you create intuitive and user-friendly interfaces.
Key concept: Before your interview, take a moment to review popular design patterns. There is no need to design news feeds from scratch.
5. Designing a Consumer Product
When designing consumer products, it’s important to avoid rigidly adhering to design frameworks. While frameworks can be helpful, they can also make your responses sound robotic and insincere. Instead, engage in a natural conversation with the interviewer, demonstrating your thought process and adaptability.
Key concept: Don’t blindly follow frameworks. It’ll sound scripted…This sounds like a conversation I could have with a co-worker.
6. Designing a Service or Other Product
When designing services or other non-physical products, understanding the root cause of a problem is crucial. The ‘Five Whys’ technique, popularized by Toyota, can help you uncover the underlying issues by repeatedly asking ‘why’ to delve deeper into the problem.
Key concept: Here’s an easy way to determine gaps: ask the “Five Whys.” This is a technique popularized by the car maker Toyota. It involves iterative inquiry to identify a problem’s root cause.
7. Getting Technical
Product Managers must possess a strong technical foundation. Brushing up on fundamental computer science concepts like algorithms, data structures, and common coding problems is essential, especially when interviewing at tech-focused companies like Google.
Key concept: I also recommend reviewing core computer science concepts, such as sorting algorithms, trees and hash tables. Then practice the same coding questions companies would ask entry-level software engineers. Companies like Google understand that you may be rusty, but they do want you to attempt the technical interview question.
8. Getting Analytical: Estimation
Estimation questions are a common part of product management interviews. The two main approaches are ‘top-down’, which starts with the overall market and narrows down, and ‘bottoms-up’, which builds up an estimate from individual data points.
Key concept: There are two ways to answer estimation questions: top down and bottoms up.
9. Getting Analytical: Pricing
Pricing strategy plays a critical role in a product’s success. The optimal price point often lies at the intersection of customer willingness to pay, production cost, and competitor pricing. Real-world experimentation with different price points is essential to maximizing product profitability.
Key concept: In the real world, the best way to finalize price is to try different price points.
10. Getting Analytical: Metrics
Evaluating a product’s success requires a comprehensive understanding of key metrics. AARM Metrics - Acquisition, Activation, Retention, and Monetization - provide a structured framework for assessing a product’s performance across these crucial dimensions.
Key concept: AARM Metrics: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Monetization
10. Getting Analytical: Metrics
Retention is key for any successful product. The Three Loops model - Data Loop, Compulsion Loop, and Viral Loop - highlights how user engagement can be fostered by encouraging users to add more information, check the product frequently, and invite their friends.
Key concept: Three Loops: Data loop, Compulsion loop, Viral loop
10. Getting Analytical: Metrics
A/B testing often presents trade-offs between competing metrics. The decision on which feature to implement should always align with the overarching strategic goals of the company. Prioritizing revenue over engagement or vice versa should be driven by the current business priorities.
Key concept: When faced with this dilemma, make the decision that’s in-line with the corporate strategic goal. Ask the interviewer. What’s the current objective? If the owner is desperate to meet a quarterly profit goal, choose the feature that maximizes revenue at the expense of engagement. If engagement’s the goal, choose that over maximizing revenue.
11. Strategizing: Trade-offs
When evaluating trade-offs, it’s important to present a balanced argument, considering both the pros and cons of a decision. Supporting your arguments with data and evidence strengthens your position and demonstrates your ability to make objective, data-driven decisions.
Key concept: Stay factual, or at least logical, because subjective statements, invite skepticism particularly if they’re not backed with evidence. Having numbers and hard data always helps. Also, be decisive and have hard conviction behind a single position.
12. Strategizing: New Market entry
When considering new market entry, a structured approach is vital. Using the New Market Entry Checklist, which includes assessing market characteristics, evaluating the competitive environment, and analyzing the company’s fit within the new market, will enable you to make informed strategic decisions.
Key concept: New Market Entry Checklist: Market Characteristics, Competitive Environment, Company Fit
13. Strategizing: CEO-level Issues
When tackling CEO-level strategy questions, focus on understanding the company’s core business model and revenue streams. Then, analyze how external factors, such as competitors, potential acquisitions, or complementary products, could impact those key business drivers.
Key concept: Start by thinking how these companies make money and the critical drivers to the business. Then, consider how the competition, the new acquisition, or complementary product can affect those particular business drivers.
16. Winning the Behavioral Interview
Behavioral interview questions require a compelling narrative approach. By incorporating the three key elements of a good story - colorful characters and settings, conflict, and resolution - you can transform your experiences into engaging stories that capture the interviewer’s attention and demonstrate your skills and impact.
Key concept: Think of your favorite storyteller. It could be J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, or Steven Spielberg. Thinking through the basics of a satisfying story, there are three key elements: Colorful Characters & Settings, Conflict, Resolution
16. Winning the Behavioral Interview
The DIGS Method™ provides a structured framework for answering behavioral interview questions effectively. By dramatizing the situation, indicating alternative approaches, detailing your actions, and summarizing your impact, you can create a compelling narrative that highlights your skills and accomplishments.
Key concept: DIGS Method: Dramatize the situation, Indicate the alternatives, Go through what you did, Summarize your impact
Essential Questions
1. What are the key frameworks presented in the book, and how can they be applied to different types of PM interview questions?
This book’s core value lies in providing a structured approach to navigating the diverse challenges posed in product management interviews. The CIRCLES Method serves as a robust framework for tackling product design questions, guiding candidates through a logical process of understanding the context, identifying customer needs, and developing effective solutions. Similarly, the DIGS Method offers a structured narrative approach to answering behavioral questions, emphasizing the importance of storytelling, showcasing impact, and connecting with the interviewer on a personal level.
2. How does the book emphasize the importance of customer understanding and business alignment in the product management interview process?
The book underscores the need for a deep understanding of the product, its users, and the underlying business goals. Whether critiquing an existing product, designing a new feature, or formulating a pricing strategy, the ability to empathize with the customer and align your solutions with the company’s strategic objectives is paramount. The book illustrates this through numerous examples, demonstrating how to analyze user needs, prioritize features based on business value, and tailor solutions to specific customer segments.
3. How does the book address the increasing importance of technical skills for product managers, and what advice does it offer for tackling technical interview questions?
Recognizing that technical proficiency is increasingly important for product managers, especially at companies like Google, the book dedicates a chapter to tackling technical interview questions. It encourages candidates to refresh their knowledge of core computer science concepts, practice common coding problems, and approach technical discussions with a structured, analytical mindset. The book acknowledges that PMs are not expected to be expert coders but emphasizes the importance of demonstrating technical fluency and the ability to work effectively with engineering teams.
Key Takeaways
1. Think Big and Challenge Conventional Wisdom
When tackling design or strategy questions, avoid settling for simplistic, ‘me too’ solutions. Hiring managers seek candidates who can think critically, uncover unique insights, and propose innovative solutions that go beyond the obvious. By considering multiple perspectives, challenging assumptions, and drawing inspiration from diverse sources, you can differentiate yourself and demonstrate your ability to think outside the box.
Practical Application:
When designing a recommendation algorithm for a music streaming service, consider various factors beyond simple listening history. For example, analyze user-created playlists, song ratings, concert attendance data, social media activity related to music, and even device usage patterns to create a multi-faceted understanding of user preferences and build a more sophisticated and effective recommendation engine.
2. Anticipate Objections and Address Them Proactively
Product managers often face skepticism and pushback, especially when proposing new ideas or challenging existing processes. By anticipating potential objections, proactively addressing them, and framing your arguments with data and evidence, you can demonstrate your thoughtfulness, preparedness, and ability to handle difficult conversations constructively.
Practical Application:
In a meeting to discuss a new product launch, proactively identify potential objections or concerns that stakeholders might raise. By anticipating these challenges and preparing thoughtful responses, you can navigate difficult conversations more effectively, build consensus, and demonstrate your ability to address complex issues with a strategic mindset.
3. Emphasize the ‘Why’ Behind Your Decisions
Hiring managers seek candidates who can understand and communicate the ‘why’ behind their decisions. Instead of just listing features or solutions, explain the rationale behind your choices, the customer problem you’re addressing, and the value you’re delivering. This demonstrates your ability to think strategically, empathize with the customer, and connect your work to broader business goals.
Practical Application:
When presenting a new feature idea to stakeholders, instead of simply describing the feature’s functionality, focus on the customer problem it solves and the value it delivers. For example, instead of saying ‘We’re adding a new filter option,’ say ‘Our customers are struggling to find relevant information, so we’re adding a new filter option that will help them quickly and easily narrow down their search results, saving them time and effort.’
Suggested Deep Dive
Chapter: Chapter 2: Designing a Desktop Application
This chapter’s deep dive into the CIRCLES method provides a structured framework that is particularly relevant for AI product engineers. Mastering this framework will be invaluable for designing user-centered AI products and features, considering all aspects from customer needs to technical feasibility.
Memorable Quotes
Chapter 1: Critiquing Design. 14
Any good design critique includes a scorecard. It’s an objective way to determine if a product passes or fails based on predetermined criteria.
Chapter 2: Designing a Desktop Application. 24
CIRCLES Method is a guideline on what makes a complete, thoughtful response any design question. It’s a memory aid that prevents us from forgetting a step in the interview.
Chapter 3: Designing a Web page or Website. 42
A product manager’s job is to effectively communicate their ideas and pictures often express ideas better than words.
Chapter 5: Designing a Consumer Product. 80
Don’t blindly follow frameworks. It’ll sound scripted. Interviewers don’t like robots. They like candidates that have personality and are similar to the interviewer.
Chapter 7: Getting Technical. 96
Companies like Google understand that you may be rusty, but they do want you to attempt the technical interview question.
Comparative Analysis
While many books delve into the theoretical aspects of product management, ‘Decode and Conquer’ stands out for its practical, interview-focused approach. It aligns with Gayle Laakmann McDowell’s ‘Cracking the PM Interview’ in its emphasis on understanding the interviewer’s perspective and tailoring responses accordingly. However, it differentiates itself by providing a more comprehensive collection of real-world interview questions and in-depth sample answers, focusing on specific scenarios and strategies. In contrast to books like Marty Cagan’s ‘Inspired,’ which dives deep into product leadership and vision, Lin’s book is laser-focused on equipping candidates with the tactical skills to ace the interview itself. It acknowledges the importance of understanding product principles but prioritizes practical execution in a high-pressure interview setting.
Reflection
Decode and Conquer’ offers a treasure trove of practical advice for anyone prepping for a product management interview. The book’s strength lies in its specificity, providing numerous real-world examples and detailed answers to common questions. The CIRCLES and DIGS methods are helpful frameworks, but it’s crucial to internalize the underlying principles and avoid rote memorization, as the author emphasizes. While the book leans heavily on the author’s experience with top tech companies, its core principles apply broadly to product roles across various industries. One potential critique is that it focuses heavily on the ‘how’ of answering interview questions and could benefit from a deeper exploration of product management principles and best practices. Ultimately, the book’s significance lies in its ability to empower candidates by equipping them with the knowledge, confidence, and communication skills to navigate the challenging landscape of product management interviews successfully. By emphasizing authenticity, critical thinking, and a customer-centric approach, ‘Decode and Conquer’ provides a valuable roadmap for aspiring product leaders.
Flashcards
What are the 7 steps of the CIRCLES Method™?
Comprehend the situation, Identify the Customer, Report the Customer’s Needs, Cut, Through Prioritization, List Solutions, Evaluate Trade-offs, Summarize Your Recommendation
What are the 4 steps of the DIGS Method™?
Dramatize the situation, Indicate the alternatives, Go through what you did, Summarize your impact
What are the AARM Metrics™?
Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Monetization
What are the Three Loops™?
Data loop, Compulsion loop, Viral loop
What is Customer Willingness to Pay?
The maximum a customer would pay for the product
What is BATNA?
The best alternative to a negotiated agreement
What are some examples of Market Characteristics to consider in new market entry?
Market size, Market growth, Profit margins, Market trends
What are some examples of Company Fit considerations in new market entry?
Expertise, Economies of scale, Access to distribution channels, Good relationships with suppliers