Main takeaways:
-Getting into interview mode: How to prepare effectively
-Structuring your answers: Basic principles and frameworks that can be applied to most situations
-Finding the edge: Things that will make you stand out
8. Not a substitute for PM experience
USERS
Who are the
users and what
are their needs,
wants?
MARKET
How are the use
cases being met
today?
SOLUTION
What solution can
we build that will
address the gap?
BUILD
Build the solution
Team Are we the right team?
Research Are the external factors favorable?
Measure How will we know if we are succeeding?
Iterate Are we adapting at every step?
Continuous
recalibration
9. PM Experience
● You are already in a PM role (great!)
● Not a PM
○ Exercise product thinking in your current function (Eng, Analytics, Marketing etc.) and
partner closely with PM
○ Talk to Product or Engineering leadership to official work in PM capacity (part-time, full
time rotation etc.)
○ Seek out a PM mentor
10. Interview basics
● Provide structured answer
● Keep moving the problem forward and arrive at solutions
● Discuss at least one big innovation
12. Zoom out before you dive in
● Who are the users and what are their needs, wants?
● How are the use cases being met today?
● What solution can we build that will address the gap?
○ Why us?
○ What is the innovation/differentiation?
○ Is it practical?
○ How will we roll it out?
13. Technical Interview
● Doesn’t always mean coding (but know the basics)
● Develop genuine curiosity about how systems work
CS75 (Summer 2012) Lecture 9 Scalability
Harvard Web Development David Malan
14. Analytics
● Pick a framework for structured answering
○ Business, adoption, engagement, survey, issues etc.
○ Metrics and Dimensions
○ Trends
● Apply the framework to the specific solution
16. Practice
● Look at everyday products and think how you could improve it
● Look at emerging technologies and think how it could improve lives
● Practice in front of the mirror or record yourself
● Do several rounds of mock interviews
When you feel you have practiced enough… practice some more!