Saturday, 5 May 2007
Interviewing for Product Management positions in Silicon Valley - 2005 to 2008.
There's a pattern emerging to the kind of expectations industry has about Product Managers; and also what the industry is formed off when it comes to existing Product Management teams that are interviewing the new batches. I'm focusing on recent timeline in a very localized geography to show that Product Management here may be stark different from how else it is outside of here. If it is similar to the below description everywhere else, then BINGO!, that'd be a huge coincidence in the patterns (although not accidental!).
- Kaleem Aziz.
- Product Manager is the lowest entry point job for techies entering into business side of the organization. Program Managers in some companies manage/own distinct product features and have customer visibility, but in many companies Program Managers are just one promotion step up from Project Managers - essentially not requiring an MBA degree, but a certificate course like PMI being sufficient.
- Approximately 85% of Product Managers (i.e., a sure majority) in the current industry do not have an MBA degree, even from a non-reputed school. How they got to be a Product Manager is a mystery, esp. if they were in a core development team that didn't meet the customer. While you get interviewed by them, there's a clear indication that they generally have clear communication skills but extremely poor (and sometimes almost laughable) business sense. If you have a business experience or a keen sense of what makes profits/sales, you can see through these people's bluff - even as they try to mask their inability to answer business advantage with self-confident chatter.
- Many seasoned software engineers with anywhere from 5-20 years of experience as a Software Engineer, Developer or Architect have a difficult time getting into Product Management roles, even after clearing an MBA coursework from a reputed school. #2 is a reason, but a smaller reason. The bigger reason is the "domain expertise" (aka., technical skill) that is key for a technology product manager, which not every other Developer seems to have developed as a course of their career. The next big reason is that "techies" are geeky and unfriendly to customers - what with the uneasiness in being around people, the winding scrutinizing conversations on technical details and set beliefs in "analytical absolutes" as basis for logic which is contrary to how customers consuming the technology often times are. Going by the "learned" standards of these technically accomplished people, customers would be foolish nincompoops - and they'd make sure they let the customers candidly know that.
Hence, the reluctance in letting the long-time developers into the vicinity of valued paying customers. - Approximately 60% of Directors of Product Management and Strategy as well as VPs of Products Strategy do not have an MBA degree. They may have had done coursework at community colleges and specialized training/coaching by the company to enhance their managerial/leadership skills; but most likely they learned what they learned by experiences in the field and being the best of the lot in investing/volunteering their efforts for the company for little cost to the company. They tend to operate their department by self-confidence in their past (aka., gut feelings of an experienced veteran), commanding ownership over the respect subordinates offer for their title and past success, and most importantly, the greater visibility/vision the kind of information at their level offers them. They've risen by sticking with a company through its highs and lows - with the highs happening because of them, and in the lows they taking the place of people who leave for greener pastures.
- There are typically 4-6 phases of interviews.
- The first and second phases are phone screens. First one typically by the recruiter to get a better understanding of your skills and number of years of experience at it. He/she is probably making notes of your strengths and accomplishments, to lobby for you - their interest being the fat comission they upon if you are hired through them. They don't love you for your skills, but are sweet spoken and want to see you make it into the position on your own.
- The second phone screen is by the recruiting manager - usually the Director of Product Management or a Senior Product Manager who is moving on to a different group/product or offloading a product to a peer or subordinate. This will be your future boss at the company. His questions are usually about your contributions/achievements at your current company, reason why you are leaving, assessing your technical strength and ascertaining your customer-facing presence of mind as well as communication skills. As a part of the communication skills, you may be asked to submit a sample of your writing - a written document that you had authored at your company or school.
- The third phase is to bring you in for face-to-face round of interviews. You may have to bring in a form and NDA signed that the recruiter had mailed you previously. Typical interviewers are your future boss, the peer Product Managers you'll work with, Director of Sales, VP of Products/Strategy, Product Marketing Manager, Engineering Director/Manager and Product's Architect. Presence of Architect signifies some special things though. He/she is the founder/father of the product and holds a special place in the company. You've practically to prove chemistry - as if it is a date to impress. Steer away from technical depths, but stay at market level abstraction - because going to deep into the details will set red flags in the Architect's mind about him losing his importance/job. Market level abstraction still has to be accurate and data driven, because a successful Architect of this kind has himself been a part-time Product Manager while they are hunting for one by interviewing the likes of you. Sometimes, the Engineering Director or Manager would've been the part-time Product Manager. Some of these folks are lousy at business presence and loath easy user interfaces and presentable attire - but send the right kind of vibes into customers who send their Architects in to work peer-to-peer with these Architects. Among architect-to-architect conversations, at one sales phase, one architect is able to excite the other in terms of the product capability and, thereby, resulting in sales - which makes them a market success besides a technology-guru that they already are. Some of these architects/managers are, on the other hand, very keen with their professionalism and ability to converse at various levels of a customer organization.
- The next phase is that of doing a powerpoint presentation to a bunch of product managers, sales manager, engineering manager and architect. The topic is generally a technical topic (rather than Iraq war), and you are evaluated on the quality of the presentation and the way you handle the questions. Here's the real test of how well you understand a technology, its ability to create value, and its ability to form a sale-able/profitable product. You'll justify yourself by doing the following things in your presentation:
- Clearly and succinctly state the purpose and end result up front. So if you are going to say that a particular method is going to financially beat a competitor at its own game, you have to say that towards the starting. The attempt of saying it towards the end with a "ta-da! here's a great twist in the ending!" will fail for various reasons - primarily because they'll heckle you on purpose at the beginning of the presentation itself, and get to hear the end if you push it (at which point they'll feel that you pushed them beyond where they said "STOP").
- Discuss both pros and cons on each topic on a single slide (each). Often times when you are discussing the pros, they'll heckle you with questions about the cons. Hence, the recommendation to list both pros and cons alongside each other.
- Use data to clear doubts about "proportionality". If you claim one attribute over the other, people's imaginations run wild and drag the possibilities to the extremes at each end. If you clarify (in words) the proportion not being one extreme they think it to be, they'll drag the concept to the other extreme possibility and give you a hard time.
- Feel free to go back and forth on the slides as per the questions. However, if you ever find that your next slide answers the very question they ask on this slide, proudly point out your flow of slides being natural.
- If you have the option, don't pick a topic that they are strong in (or are strongly biased in). For example, they may be strong in a particular medical device process, and dipping from your past experience, you may think your insights (either to what you did right or what they are doing wrong) would impress them beyond bounds - but due to general agreement/consensus in their methods (over those of other known methods - some practiced by their competition) they'll find you illiterate, illogical, unreasonable and even demeaning to their sentiments.
- If you have the option, stay away from your favorite patented ideas, published articles, business plans and peer-reviewed works. Their criticism of your work (as perceived by you) - as a part of their questioning process - will make you more and more defensive of your idea. If your idea is a unique/radical approach to how things are done today - their debate may even discourage/dissuade you (e.g., that they tried it themselves without success, take you down the rabbit hole so deep that the debate turns into clarifying their misconceptions, etc.). If your idea is quite understandable and do-able as the next step in their progression, they will use the tip and they do not hire you for it.
- Keep a stash of lesser heard bright ideas that you can expense as free gifts to impress your interviewers. Pure conversational bright spots will not sway their mind as much as being able to engage them in a useful/interesting discussion that gives-and-takes respect.
- Similarly, keep a stash of interesting questions you could ask them. Asking intelligent questions about their work makes them feel you care about their challenges and will bond them with you.
- The final phases are usually done to weed out close competition with you - essentially when they are unable to make up their mind between you and another (couple) folks they interviewed. Sometimes it is done because a key interviewer was on vacation. This phase also has some closing ceremonies and turning in some details that will result in you background (criminal/moral) check, drug testing, references check, and in some cases your financial/credit standing.
- Clear communication is a key requirement that may make-or-break the deal. Use short concise sentences in your answers. Form the sentence in your head first. Then relay them out in you speech. Your job will be one of being able to give consistent "direction" to various people, without contradicting yourself.
- Another key question is the reason why you'll be leaving your current job. Any sign you give of wanting not to travel, citing personal restrictions, willing to slow down in life, wanting to be too ambitious, etc., are quickly seen negatively. The hiring managers seem to want a very strong reason for leaving your current job, so they'll not lose you for a silly reason themselves. Product Management is about ownership in thick and thin of the product life cycle - and they want dedication to the product/company.
- Few companies are giving stock options - an attraction in previous years that used to keep you interested in company's profitability over several years of vesting. This change has likely happened because of how Sarbanes-Oxley requires stock options to be expensed - but that's a guess. In this case, Product Manager job these days is no different from a Software Engineer job.
- 50-500 Software Engineers may be hired in the same company that hires 4 to 12 Product Managers. This has several implications for Product Managers:
- Once you fail in the interview with a particular mid-sized or large-cap company, you'd have failed in all other opportunities that company is offering.
- You'll end up meeting these same guys in trade-shows, conferences, etc., from time to time. Unlike while being a Software Engineer/Architect/Project Manager (esp. inward facing one), you'll see how small the business world is.
- You'll have to manage multiple bosses and keep diverse people happy, as well as earn the respect of diverse set of people. Get into the habit of passing on freebies and getting them (decent) gifts from your most recent vacations. Don't be cheap in the gifts, parties, clothes you wear and the accessories you carry - because it is all part of the package to handle "visibility".
- Failure costs dearly, including being sacked. Product Managers are one of the first ones to go in troubled times or when your product doesn't succeed as calculated (by you) at the time of its conception.
- Networking into the company's existing Product Managers is a good way of getting your resume seen by people who make decisions on that role. Infact, you have a fatter chance because referral from within the team is valued even more so than it is for Development jobs.
- Last, but not the least, many times competitors interview "Product Manager wannabes" to statistically mint the breadth of ideas into their company for free. That this is done with Product Management jobs is now becoming an openly known industry side-trick, at least in Silicon Valley.
- Kaleem Aziz.
