Interviewing like a Product Manager

/Productschool @ProdSchool /ProductmanagementSF

Rich Mironov

-  CEO of Mironov Consulting -  Author of The Art of Product

Management -  Founder of Product Camp

www.productschool.com

Interviewing like a Product Manager

•  Veteranproductmanager/exec/strategist•  Organizingproductorganiza5ons•  Businessmodels,pricing,agile/lean

•  6startups,includingasCEO/founder•  “TheArtofProductManagement”•  FoundedProductCamp•  Interviewedmanyhundredsofproductmanagementcandidates

About Rich Mironov

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Will product manage for food,

options, and illusory

moments of self-importance

Conversations, market information, priorities, requirements,

roadmaps, epics, user stories, backlogs, personas…

product bits

strategy, forecasts, commitments, roadmaps, competitive intelligence

budgets, staff, targets

Field input, Market feedback

Segmentation, messages, benefits/features, pricing,

qualification, demos…

Markets & Customers Development

Marketing& Sales

Executives

Product Management

What Does a Product Manager Do?

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WE CAN PRODUCT

MANAGE OURSELVES

•  Good product managers know how to •  Learn about markets/customers •  Segment markets, target customers •  Turn features into benefits •  Do basic solution selling

•  In your job hunt, you are the product •  Quiz: how to apply these skills to your job hunt?

Core Product Skills

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ME!

•  Segmentation: identify reasonable-fit companies •  Identify where your background/skills/assets are most relevant

•  Market/customer analysis •  Do some homework, try my product, read up on my company

•  Benefits, not features •  Tell me why you’re who I need.

Highlight relevant résumé bits.

•  Solution selling •  Think about my pain points: what product

problems am I having? How would you help?

Demonstrate Your Product Skills (What I Expect from Candidates)

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•  Quiz: best ways to learn about what’s happening inside a company?

•  F2F discussion with someone who works there •  Not someone on the interview roster •  Ideally, a product person •  LinkedIn is your friend

•  Humble, thoughtful, open-ended •  You would never launch a product

without understanding your target audience…

“But I Don’t Know What’s Happening Inside These Target Companies”

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“As a product management executive… I want to hire product managers who already have great product skills… So that I can unload a bunch of products problems that I currently handle myself” Non-goal: product training/mentoring responsibility Non-goal: carefully frame all problems and decisions

What Hiring Managers Really Want

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“Asaprogrammerwhoknowsnothingaboutbeingatechnologyproductmanager,whatshouldIlearnbeforeinterviewingfor/

transi=oningintoaproductrole?”-RealQuoraques5ontoRich

11

"Asaprofessionalracecardriverwhoknowsnothingabout

soAware,whatshouldIknowbeforeinterviewingforan

enterprisesoAwarearchitectrole?"

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•  Promise a new feature to a customer during meeting •  First customer interview represents a market segment •  Confusing sales calls with customer learning/research •  Believing your own marketing/selling materials about why

customers buy and love your product •  Confuse process steps (stories, tickets, releases) with

market success (renewals, revenue, customer love) •  Announcing that you’re “CEO of the product” •  Narrow job role definitions (“you do X”) •  Project managing development work •  Ticket-writing instead of communicating •  Telling engineers how to solve things •  Not knowing internal counterparts

(Marketing, Sales, Support, Finance)

11 Mistakes You’ll (Probably) Make in Your First 6 Months as a Product Manager

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CONTACT

Rich Mironov, CEO Mironov Consulting 233 Franklin St, Suite #308 San Francisco, CA 94102

RichMironov

@RichMironov

Rich@Mironov.com

+1-650-315-7394