Newsletter 83: Product and chill
Earlier this month, I wrote on how generalists are misunderstood. How specialization was important in the past, but that’s not necessarily the case today. Most importantly, how a chaotic journey can lead to happiness and economic upside. Many generalists resonated with that chain of thoughts. Readers from all walks of life reached out to express how relatable that thought was.
Today, I want to take the opposite approach. Let's talk about one particular vertical. A vertical where I learned just enough to be dangerous - product management.
Why focus on a specialization this time?
I want to demonstrate how being a generalist does not mean that you won’t dive into different fields.
Lately, I have been spending a lot of time working on product which has resulted in many new learnings.
As Naval says, “learn to build, learn to sell; if you can do both, you will be unstoppable.” Meaning, working on product is one of the most impactful roles you may have.
My journey to product
I have been fortunate enough to build new ventures for the past eight years. That has allowed me to have a front-row experience in shipping features and solving problems with technology.
My career did not start in product, though. Instead, I needed to take a scenic route to develop a builder mindset. A generalist path, if you may.
My first leadership role was in marketing. A year and a half later, I transitioned to business development and ops. Although I did not have the chance to practice marketing, sales, or ops extensively, I spent just enough time understanding the fundamentals. Today, I find myself working predominantly on product.
The more time I spent building new features, the more I appreciated my generalist journey. Having experience across many different fields helps me understand and empathize with other stakeholders at a deeper level. The better you understand a problem, the higher the probability of figuring out how you can solve it.
As I spend more time working on product, I start reflecting on what it takes to be great in that line of work. So, naturally, I wanted to share my thoughts. This post is a summary of everything I have learned so far. I will cover how I think of the PM role, how to recognize talented product people and my processes of recruiting (including the questions I like to ask PMs we are interviewing).
Thoughts on leading product
Recently I took on a role where I am heavily involved in the product team. As part of that exercise, I have enrolled in what I consider to be one of the world’s best tech educations - Reforge’s cohort-based programs. I have immersed myself in verticals like retention and engagement throughout the process. All that got me thinking about the many lessons I have internalized over the years. What does it take to build a product people want?
The challenges of the product role and how to overcome them
Based on my experience and what I have seen as effective at other organizations, the product role is unique. So I would like to start with some considerations on why working on product is such a challenge:
Lead through influence, not authority - whereas as a business development leader, you can single-handedly decide what accounts to focus on; that’s not the case with product. Therefore, you have to be cautious with your management approach. After all, the product is the core of the entire business, and all eyes are most likely on you. In turn, your ability to come prepared at all times, communicate clearly, listen attentively, and most importantly, lead through influence determines your success.
“Product managers have a unique challenge in that they own the product, yet do not manage any of the people who are directly responsible for executing on the product. While I agree with this organizational design to ensure separation of concerns and specialization of skills, it leads to product managers needing the ability to influence others to help them achieve their objectives without the direct authority to do so.”
Sachin Rekhi
Getting shit done despite limitations and tradeoffs - the core of the product role is solving problems. Problems for your users, clients, or colleagues. Each problem is messy (e.g., grow adoption of a product, reduce churn, improve 6-month retention, drive higher engagement, etc.). The solutions that come to mind at first glance often have more drawbacks than benefits. If that was not the case, those problems would have been solved by someone else already. In turn, you have to juggle with uncertainty at any given time. That comes with the job, and it should not slow you from getting shit done. In Lenny Rachitsky’s words, you must set and hit deadlines while ruthlessly unblocking blockers.
“What typically separates successful and unsuccessful teams is not whether they do things that fail (this is guaranteed), but how well they can consistently execute.”
Julie Zhuo
Nailing the problem is more important than building a solution - building things is getting easier. Today’s development in no/low-code tools, an abundance of venture capital, and a history of success in tech have made the process of building new products more feasible than ever before. However, creating the right solution is hard. I have seen how easy it is to focus on the wrong problem at every company I worked for. The challenge is that your users/clients do not know how to articulate what they need. It is truly a superpower to be able to:
Ask the right questions. This book is an excellent resource on the topic.
Understand the difference between attitude (what I say) vs. behavior (what I need).
“A product succeeds because it solves a problem for people. This sounds very basic, but it is the single most important thing to understand about building good products.”
Julie Zhuo
Intuition drives testing. Data drives decision-making - your intuition will guide you in exploring what might be broken. Once you have a crisp definition of the problem, develop concrete metrics for that very issue. As your understanding of a problem grows, formulate persona-specific metrics. Your objective is to create a granular understanding of the problem you are trying to solve, given a specific use case (i.e., persona).
“Everyone on your team has a unique version of the problem in their heads. Sometimes they are nearly identical. Sometimes they are very different. The larger and more complex the project, them more likely they are different. Your job is to eradicate this misalignment early and often.”
Lenny Rachitsky
Communication is the job - perhaps the most critical role of any leader is to become good at communication. The number one role of a PM is to keep all stakeholders updated. That involves keeping a clear record of all learnings and experiments. Contrary to what most people think, it is really difficult to over-communicate. You have to become great at all forms of communication. Perhaps a better way to phrase it is, you have to work on your storytelling.
Email - follow this framework. Offer context, keep it short, explain what you want to achieve with that email. To make sure all emails are tackled, schedule reminders to follow up.
Docs - I like to use Notion. It gives me the ability to express my ideas more visually through tables, forms, embedded links, emoji, images, etc. In addition, I can build entire web pages in minutes. That in turn, helps me communicate concepts to a broader audience.
Meetings - while I think that most meetings could be an email, they are inevitable. To be more effective, always add descriptions to each calendar invite. Make sure the title is easy to understand and avoid adding too many people. Too many people in the room substantially diminish the objective of having a fast-paced discussion and debate. Once a meeting takes place, always follow up with an email. Summarize what has been discussed and the next steps. Follow this resource on how to run great meetings.
“When I’m doing a poor job of communicating it can feel like I’m pushing with a rope. I have some clear vision in my head and people just aren’t doing what I expect. It can be a frustrating experience and it is tempting to blame the audience for not understanding. But make no mistake, when this happens, it is your fault. You have to sit down and ask questions from a place of humility to hear what they took away from what you said. Take full responsibility for any discrepancy from what you intended and make corrections with your entire audience.”
Andrew Bosworth
Always be prepared - entering every meeting and discussion overprepared is a superpower. As Lenny Rachitsky calls it, you must demonstrate, “I got this aura.” The PM is the glue between engineering, design, analytics, users, and management. In turn, everyone must feel that you are exceptionally well prepared at all times. You need to have a higher bar of detail-orientation than everyone around you. Do the boring stuff that makes a difference and moves things forward.
“[Great PMs] say what they’ll do, and then do what they say. Their follow-through is impeccable, and they don’t let details slip. When they join a team, quality and pace seems to dramatically improve overnight.”
How to recognize who a great PM is?
When entering a new organization, it might be unclear who is an excellent PM. So here you go, my recommendations of what you need to pay attention to:
The founders will escalate problems directly to great PMs without involving other people. That means they trust them to do the right thing.
When a great PM speaks, other people listen. So pay attention to the people whose opinions carry the most weight in meetings. But, more importantly, keep an eye on people who have earned the respect of others, irrespective of their seniority.
The absence of a great PM is felt across the entire team. When people start asking “what would [name] do,” then you know how that person's insights are valued.
Great PMs are good at storytelling and communication. They can build narratives, have a positive attitude, and listen attentively.
Call it a gut sense or intuition, but great product people are known for their excellent product sense. In my experience, you develop such an intuition by:
Fall in love with the problem. Immerse yourself in the product you are working on. That happens through numerous interactions and conversations with stakeholders.
Build a habit of exploring new products that get significant traction. Visit product hunt every second day. Keep on exploring what makes the most upvoted products successful.
Always search for the best content and education on product and other adjacent fields. Attend programs like Reforge, OnDeck, and DemandCurve. Have a super high bar of what’s considered great content.
Develop an awareness of what’s your superpower. Ask your colleagues, “what comes easy to you, but it’s hard for others.” Having a great understanding of your strengths is imperative.
How to recruit great PMs?
There is much for me to learn about recruiting great PMs, but here you go, the best practices and questions I currently ask when interviewing.
Process
Typically, I prefer a three to four-step process when recruiting. At the moment, I follow these steps:
Phone interview
Duration: ~10 to 30 minutes. If a candidate is a good fit, usually the conversation lasts longer; the opposite is true as well.
What am I looking for?
What interests them about my company specifically?
Get a sense of how much research the candidate has done.
If the candidate brings up how they are looking for a more challenging opportunity, you can probe how they want to make an impact or the types of problems they would love to work on.
Behavioral interview
Duration: 30 minutes for me to ask questions + 15 minutes to allow the candidate to ask whatever is on their mind.
What am I looking for?
Understand how the candidate looks at the product role.
Self-awareness.
Ability to communicate clearly.
I vs. We attitude.
Is the person a life-long learner?
Maturity and conflict resolution.
Product intuition.
What interests them and their level of curiosity?
Assignment
Duration: 45 to 60 min.
What am I looking for?
Speed of execution.
Competence.
Quality of work and attention to detail.
Ability to communicate clearly.
Working smart vs. hard, e.g., use of no-code/low-code to build prototypes.
Understanding of the role.
Process and preparation.
What drives their decision-making.
Culture-fit (if the position is senior or if we continue to have doubts)
Duration: multiple interviews with different people on the team
What am I looking for?
Culture fit
Interest/passion in what we are doing
My favorite interview questions
Remember, the hiring manager’s job is to give every opportunity to the candidate to be successful throughout the interview. Both of you have the same goal. Therefore, we have to listen attentively. In fact, I do not like to involve too many people in interviews. That puts unnecessary stress on the candidate. If you want a second perspective you can involve one more person, but I am against 5vs1 interviews. Instead, ask different questions to explore whether the interviewee is a good fit or not. Here you go the questions I like to ask, alongside answers I am looking for (this article inspired the list):
Q) What’s your understanding of the product role?
A) It looks like a simple question, but the way people answer is quite insightful. It helps me understand their clarity of thinking and passion for the role.
Q) What are you really good at but never want to do anymore?
A) There are incredible candidates who excel at exactly what you’re hiring for. The trouble is that they don’t want to do it anymore.
Q) What's one part of your previous company's culture that you hope to bring to your next one? Conversely, what one part do you hope not to find?
A) Do they immaturely complain about the failings of past teammates? Do they thoughtfully consider why specific problems existed, maturely discussing the tradeoffs their previous company had to make? Can they reason why one company or industry's problems or culture might not apply to another's?
Q) What are you better at than most anyone else? What’s your superpower?
A) By asking about their superpower, you can learn a lot about candidates’ self-awareness. As a manager, it’s essential to help people flex what they are great at instead of just trying to improve on the areas they are struggling with.
Q) When was the last time you went through the rabbit hole for a topic that excited you? It does not have to be related to your work; please walk me through the process.
A) It helps me get a sense of whether this person is a life-long learner, self-starter, naturally curious, and able to teach themselves new things they're interested in. I want to hear them talk about something they have received no formal training on. It shows curiosity, tenacity around learning, and it helps us gauge how a person addresses complex topics and new challenges.
Q) What people/resources do you follow/study to be on top of your game?
A) Similar to the previous question, I am trying to understand if the person is a life-long learner. How high is their bar for quality in product education?
Bonus
If you are interested in an alternative process, explore the following thread 🧵
What’s next?
If you aspire to be a great product leader, are already a leader, or have taken a generalist journey, you simply need to continue learning. Each of us has a unique personality. In addition, we work at different industries and stages of growth. Meaning all of us have unique circumstances. There is no “right” approach to becoming a better PM. But there are common mistakes we can all strive to avoid making. Keep experimenting until you find the method that works best for you.
If you enjoyed this essay, please share it on social media to make it easier for others to find. I’d also love it if you could give feedback by replying to this email. I am always looking for feedback and new insights. 🙏