Interviewing Like A Product Manager
13
Interviewing Like A Product Manager Rich Mironov CEO, Mironov Consulting 18 May 2016 1
-
Upload
rich-mironov -
Category
Business
-
view
825 -
download
3
Transcript of Interviewing Like A Product Manager
Interviewing Like A Product Manager
Rich MironovCEO, Mironov Consulting
18 May 2016
1
w w w . M I R O N O V. c o m
• Veteran product manager/exec/strategist• Organizing product organizations• Business models, pricing, agile/lean
• 6 startups, including as CEO/founder• “The Art of Product Management” • Founded Product Camp• Interviewed many hundreds of product
management candidates
About Rich Mironov
w w w . M I R O N O V. c o m
Will product manage for food,
options, and illusory
moments ofself-importance
w w w . M I R O N O V. c o m 4
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 & CustomersDevelopment Marketin
g& Sales
Executives
ProductManagement
What Does a Product Manager Do?
WE CAN PRODUCT
MANAGE OURSELVES
w w w . M I R O N O V. c o m
• 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
ME!
w w w . M I R O N O V. c o m
• 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)
w w w . M I R O N O V. c o m
• 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”
w w w . M I R O N O V. c o m
“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 responsibilityNon-goal: carefully frame all problems and decisions
What Hiring Managers Really Want
10
“As a programmer who knows nothing about being a technology product manager, what should I learn before interviewing for /
transitioning into a product role?” - Real Quora question to Rich
w w w . M I R O N O V. c o m 11
"As a professional race car driver who knows nothing about
software, what should I know before interviewing for an
enterprise software architect role?"
W W W. M I R O N O V. C O M
• 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
CONTACT
Rich Mironov, CEOMironov Consulting233 Franklin St, Suite #308San Francisco, CA 94102
RichMironov
@RichMironov
+1-650-315-7394
