If you’re starting very fresh, let’s first go over what product management is. Atlassian defines product management as “an organizational function that guides every step of a product’s lifecycle: from development, to positioning and pricing, by focusing on the product and its customers first and foremost.”

I often refer to product managers as the glue that holds the organization together. Product managers are responsible for interfacing with almost all areas of an organization, not just with the technology teams. It’s for this reason that it’s possible to enter into a product manager career from a variety of different roles, especially those that are tech-adjacent.

How to start a successful product manager career

Starting a product manager career can happen at any point in your journey, regardless of your background. Typically, schools don’t have a product management major/minor, so it’s not necessarily something one can earn a degree in. There are trade schools and programs to earn certifications, and while these aren’t usually required to kick off a product management career, they can prove valuable for anyone entering the product management role as a career change.

The core skills you’ll need to start a career in product management are:

• Communication – be effective in communicating to different audiences, including customers
• Empathy – being able to think and feel like your users
• Curiosity – learn to constantly ask ‘why’ and think analytically

Again, you can begin a product management career from various backgrounds but most often you’ll be coming from an adjacent role in tech. The most common pathways into product management are from customer success, sales, quality assurance, and engineering. When you’re looking to become a product manager from these roles, a great option is to find an internal opportunity. Already having the business knowledge and context of the strategy will give you a pretty big advantage against other candidates that don’t. If you’re unsure about the role, ask to shadow someone for a few hours or have lunch with another product manager on the team.

If you’re not coming from an adjacent role and you’re entering into the tech industry like a baby chick on Easter, you’ll want to do some pre-work before you start scouring the product management job boards. What you’ll want to do first is to learn about the different levels and areas of a product manager career and what the responsibilities are for each one.

Product manager career path levels

There are essentially 4 levels in a career path in product management. These aren’t black and white and can vary from company to company, but even so this is the typical ladder you’ll find if you choose a career in product management.

Associate Product Manager, Product Owner

Experience: 0-3 years

Key Responsibilities:

• Participating in day-to-day activities with the development team
• Managing the backlog and priorities including writing user stories/requirements
• Working with the product manager on executing the immediate roadmap

Associate product managers or product owners is the role that most closely works with the development team. This role’s primary focus is execution of a strategy/vision and translating the ‘what’ into a ‘how.’ If you’re just entering into the product manager career path, you’ll want to put a focus on learning skills like user story writing, collaboration with dev teams, and prioritization.

Product Manager, Senior Product Manager

Experience: 3-7 years

Key Responsibilities:

• Define the product roadmap
• Establish KPIs and other metrics to share with leadership
• Work with product owner to execute roadmap
• Work directly with customers to uncover market problems
• Define launch plans for products/features
• Collaborate with stakeholders and leadership teams

Senior product managers and product managers tend to overlap the most when it comes to a product management team. This role interfaces with the customer more than the other roles up and down the product management path. As a product manager or senior product manager, your typical day will likely be spent strategizing, talking with customers, and evaluating opportunities. You’ll manage down to an associate product manager/owner to collaborate on execution of the roadmap, and you’ll manage up to product leadership to collaborate on the roadmap strategy.

Lead Product Manager, Principal Product Manager, Director of Product Management

Experience: 7-10 years

Key Responsibilities:

• Define long-term product vision/strategy
• Work with product managers to define roadmap and launch plans
• Manage portfolio of products and/or several product managers
• People management – career development, coaching, etc.

Depending on the size or structure of the product team at a given company, product leadership roles can actually manifest in product manager or senior product manager roles. No matter the level or title, the responsibilities will transcend. This part of the product manager career path is where people management comes into play. Other skills you’ll need for this level will be more focused on visualizing a long-term roadmap and managing more than a single product (or area of a product).

VP of Product, Chief Product Officer

Experience: 10+ years

Key Responsibilities:

• Work with leadership on company strategy
• Lead the product vision
• Communicate product vision to executive team and board (if applicable)
• Define and shape product management teams

The head of a product department will be more focused on a company strategy rather than an individual product strategy. Don’t get me wrong – you’ll still need the product expertise so that you can lead the vision and propel the product forward. You’ll be a critical part of the executive leadership team especially during strategic discussions and company direction.

6 tips to speed up your product manager career progression

There isn’t a one size fits all approach to speeding up product management careers because there can be many variables at play: company size, culture, industry, etc. The product management career path doesn’t have to be straight and narrow, either. Make your own way or choose the road less traveled. The constant in the following tips is to stay curious and seek out information. If you are perpetually learning you are improving each day and, as you learn and improve, your vision of the road ahead will become ever clearer.

Network and Find a Mentor

The best way, in my opinion, to learn more about product management is to hang with product managers. Pre-COVID, I would say grab a drink or some coffee but… well, you know the story. For now, network through communities like Product Collective.

Books and Blogs

The second best way to learn is to read (or listen, if you’re like me) books and blogs/articles. There are quite a few from product management leaders in the industry. Whether you’re looking to expand your knowledge on a specific skill or research best practices overall, you have a plethora to choose from.

If you’re a product management beginner, I highly recommend starting with Inspired by Marty Cagan. Cagan does a phenomenal job outlining the product management fundamentals.

Podcasts

Podcasts are a great way to stay current on industry trends. Look for podcasts specific to product management, like rocketship.fm, or find topics related to your product/market. Subscribe so that you’re notified of new episodes.

Follow Product Leaders

Whether your preference is LinkedIn or Twitter, following product management leaders is another way to stay up-to-date. Many experts will post tidbits or advice or best practices that you can take with you on your product management career climb. Having product management content in your social feeds allows you to absorb nuggets of information throughout your day and you’ll be learning more product management without even realizing it.

Attend Conferences

I’ve learned buckets of information from attending conferences. Not only will you hear great talks from other product managers, but you’ll also be able to network (even if you attend virtually). You’ll likely walk away with lots of notes to take back to your day-to-day product management life. The best product conference? Industry, of course!

Ask for Feedback

No matter what stage of your product management career you’re in, asking for feedback is invaluable. From your peers, your manager, or your direct reports, feedback will let you know how others perceive you and where you have room to improve. Asking for it is not enough, though. Make sure you are taking action against the feedback provided.

Other product management career options and roles

If a traditional product management career path doesn’t appeal to you, there are other roles in product management that might be more your cup of tea.

Technical Product Manager

A technical product manager career path is quite similar to a traditional product manager but with more of a technical focus (obvious, right?). Most technical product managers evolve out of a developer or QA role because they usually need to know a bit of code. Technical product managers usually lead back-end systems or products.

Product Operations (Product Ops Manager)

Pendo defines Product Ops as an operational function that optimizes the intersection of product, engineering, and customer success. As a product operations manager, you’ll focus on communication and alignment of launch plans, research tools for the teams’ needs, support production, and analyze everything within your purview. This is a rising role in the product management field, and one that companies have found critical to success.

Key takeaways about PM career path

There are several roles in the product management world and, lucky for all of us, the product manager career path will never be straight and narrow. Being a great product manager requires having empathy, being perpetually curious, and learning to communicate with all different audiences. The great news? You don’t need to go to school for any of that! These are the skills you can practice throughout each and every day. When you are ready to begin your interview process, start with this list of 101+ Product Manager Interview Questions to prepare.

What I love most about being a product manager is that no day is the same. If you like variety, solving problems, and working with people, then explore a product management career. If you’re unsure about starting a career in product management, talk with someone! I’ve met loads of people willing to discuss what it’s like to be a product manager and help others break into it. My Twitter DMs are always open: @danie__k. Stay curious, friends.

The post What’s the Product Manager Career Path and 6 Tips to Speed it Up appeared first on Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference.

What is a product launch?

Product launch definition
“Product launch” can seem like an omnipresent term in many organizations. The ubiquity and repetition of the word can sink its semantics and make it feel blasé. It falls into the buzzword trap, blending into the background noise of our day-to-day. But what does the phrase really mean?

Product launch captures all the hopes and aspirations of our team. It is the time and effort of one or many people wrapped up in that brief moment of time where the focus of our efforts is released into the world. It’s an edge-of-your-seat experience, as you wait to see how the market responds, and how your customers react to the product you’ve spent countless hours gestating, considering, and crafting.

It can be hard to avoid losing sight of this when between launches when the word hovers in the air detached from the experience. But when you’re in it, when you see it—the word “launch” should evoke the kind of excitement you get when watching a rocket soar into the unknown: the butterflies-in-your-stomach sensation of both a job well done and the anticipation of new discovery.

What is a product launch plan?

A product launch plan is both your rocket blueprint and your map of the stars. In order to successfully launch a product, you’ll need as precise a launch plan as your resources allow: specific tasks, assigned to specific people, with specific deadlines. And you’ll need a plan that is resilient enough to withstand the headwinds in your way. It’s normal to have some anxiety about your plan—we all have some smoldering anxiety that we won’t reach the heights we hope for. But the best product launch plans strike a balance between hope and reality: if you do your research, put in the work, know your target audience, and understand pain points, you should have enough confidence that, even under the worst distress, the structures you’ve engineered will sway but will not break. Your new product launch plan is your guiding light through troubled waters, hazy woods, the starry skies… you get the idea.

What is the purpose of a product launch?

A product launch is when you start capitalizing on a market opportunity. It’s the point at which the skills, efforts, and talents of those involved converge, and something new, risen out of the product endeavor, is put out into the world. In the most simple terms, it’s the point at which we release a product to market, in hopes of some gain (financial or otherwise). In the best cases, it’s more than that: it’s delivering something of ourselves to the world, because, through enterprise, we hope we can make our world a better place.

What should a new product launch plan include?

A product launch plan will include differing tasks depending on the type of company, type of product, and significance of the product or feature you’re launching.  At its core, a product launch plan for product management teams will always include development tasks, marketing tasks, and sales tasks (even if you don’t have a sales team, you’ll still have a category where things like pricing and selling platforms would live).

4 steps to perfect product launch planning

As you and your team collaborate on the product launch plans, you’ll want to keep the focus on outcomes.  Instead of developing a list of deliverables and action items, start with the value proposition of your product and use it as a guiding light.  The reason you’re launching this product is that it holds value, right?  Build your product launch roadmap and launch plans off of that value.

1 – Get your Messaging On-Point

Whether you use a formal positioning document, something home-grown, or even if it exists in the heads of the team, solidifying the messaging for your product is the first and most critical step of a product launch.  If your value proposition doesn’t exist on paper, now is the time to make that happen.  There are quite a few variations of positioning- type documents, but the fundamentals remain the same:

• What is your product?
• What does it do?
• Who cares about it?
• Why do they care about it?

This document will be used throughout the entirety of the product launch.  Marketing will use it to create content, sales will use it to sell it, and you, the product manager, will use it to communicate to the organization and to customers.  In order for the messaging document to be effective, the content should tell a story.  Jobs-to-be-done is usually my favorite way of formulating this information.

2 – Define your Goals/Key Performance Indicators

Defining your key performance indicators (KPIs) upfront will keep your product launch plan outcome-driven.  This task presents the perfect opportunity to collaborate with a working group.  A working group is a team composed of representatives from different areas of an organization that meet regularly to solve problems and collaborate on opportunities for a product or products.

The working group will represent the interests in different areas of the business and therefore have different goals.  As a product manager, it’s our job to source those interests, ensure that we have tools in place to capture the data, and report out on a regular basis. For the product launch plan, I recommend creating a template of the data you’re tracing.  This will make things easier after launch; you’ll collect data and plug it into a report that’s consumable for different audiences.

Quantitative data is paramount to track the success of a product, but you should also be considering qualitative data.  This will come in the form of customer feedback and testimonials.  Prior to launching a product, you should line up customers to regularly collect feedback from.  (Using the same customer(s) will allow you to track feedback without introducing more variables.)  This is also where you can work with marketing to set up a case study and customer testimonials (assuming the customer agrees to it).  Case studies can be a great marketing tactic because prospective customers see it as a “review” of your product.

The bottom line: be specific about your goals and your KPIs and use them to keep your plan outcome-focused.

3 – Document Plan and Assign Tasks

Now is when the pen hits the paper when it comes to the product launch plan.  This step is where the ideas, goals, and teamwork culminate into a set of action items and deliverables that define the product launch plan.  This is another step you’ll collaborate closely with your working group because they will be assigned tasks and be held accountable to complete them.

To devise the list itself, I use an exercise similar to story-mapping.  (I recognize this is difficult to do in COVID life or if you’re a remote team, but there are a few great tools to facilitate the exercise.)  Grab a bunch of post-its and markers and have everyone in the room write down tasks.  Get the post-its up on the wall, group them by type of task, then discuss.  Each member of the team will bring a different set of skills and expertise to the table, so lean on each other to develop the list.  Ultimately you’ll walk out of the room with a solid list of tasks.  Then, you can compile everything and create a formal launch task list.  Think of these tasks as the small steps that lead to the giant leap.

This is similar to a successful list I’ve used in the past:

Product

• Create and publish the Messaging/Positioning document
• KPI and metrics definition
• Customer feedback interview setup

Development

• Product/system readiness: This would include things like completion of MVP and working with a product to ensure any data collection is included
• Ensure ability to pilot (if applicable) with customers
• Document plan for deployment/release

Marketing

The bulk of the product launch list will consist of marketing deliverables because, well, marketing is how you let the world know about you. Here’s what I’ve used in a B2B, SaaS setting:

• Customer/prospect emails
• Press release
• White paper
• Update website
• Promotional videos
• Social media campaigns
• Ad planning and buying
• Any other communication mediums consumed by customers (e.g. newsletters, webinars)

Sales

• Pricing–this isn’t necessarily the responsibility of the sales/finance team, but it’s part of selling the product.  I put it here, but it may make more sense elsewhere on your own list.
• Updates to sales sandbox/demo environments
• Enablement for sales teams (including talking points)
• Sales collateral (this can sometimes be the responsibility of marketing or product)

Here’s where a product launch task  list will start to differ depending on your product and company

Operations

• CRM updates (i.e. what configurations need to be done for sales)
• System outage planning
• Actual deployment and release (this may be a development task or an IT operations task)

Customer Success

• Enabling the teams so they know the product and how it works
• Developing any documentation needed for training and/or support
• Any customer-facing help pages/documentation

Once you’ve worked as a team to finalize this product launch checklist, it’s time to assign specific people to each deliverable and do your best to define target completion dates.

4 – Communicate and Collaborate

Now you’ve reached the execution part of your product launch plan.  Meet with your working group regularly and report on the status of deliverables.  Your launching plan isn’t written in stone so if you find it’s not working, shift things around.  Maybe you missed something in the initial plan or maybe something you thought would work actually won’t.  Be flexible and work together toward the goal line.

Now is also a great time to communicate the plan to the rest of the organization.  Everyone will likely be curious to know what’s happening and when.  Ideally, you’re keeping everyone in the loop all along since transparency and teamwork are parts of a successful company.  But, in the off chance that you aren’t in that type of environment, now’s the time to let everyone in on the plan.

4…3…2…1… Blast Off!

The day has finally arrived!  You’ve hit the magic button and the product is now launched and into the atmosphere.  So… now what?  Assuming things are running smoothly, you should be monitoring your KPIs as they come in.  If you’re not able to do that (or if watching logins tick up isn’t your idea of a good time), see if you can listen in on some sales or customer success calls.  Let Houston–I mean, customer support know that you’d like to be notified of any communication from customers on issues or feedback.

Most importantly, celebrate!  The teams have put in a lot of work to get to this point and that’s worth some high-fives.  When the time is right (and when it is safe to do so) try to get out of the office and celebrate.  Sometimes we move so quickly and we’re too focused on the next thing that we forget to slow down and appreciate what we’ve accomplished.  Stop, take that breath, and celebrate.

Be sure you’re consistently measuring your KPIs post-launch.  If things aren’t looking as you expected, reassess and develop a plan.  Maybe there’s a key marketing tactic you left out or the price isn’t right.  Always be measuring and always be analyzing.

Key takeaways about product launch plans

There are a number of different variables that can change the makeup of a product launch plan, but the structure and steps for a successful product launch plan will transcend different companies, products, and teams.  Collaborating with your working group and being intentional with your product launch strategy are the fundamentals of a successful product launch.  Tell the story of your product, communicate it to your market, and celebrate your wins.

The post 4 Steps to Perfect Product Launch Plans in 2021 appeared first on Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference.

To help navigate the journey of finding a new product manager job, we’ve compiled this list of the most popular product manager interview questions of 2021.  With over 100 questions to practice with, you’ll be prepared and ready to rock your interviews.  

What to Expect from a Product Manager Job Interview Process

Product manager interviews (and the processes for those interviews) can look different at different companies but, at its core, you’ll find yourself following the same steps.  Let’s start from the top. 

Taking the Leap: The first step in a product manager interview process is arguably the most important.  Deciding WHERE to apply is not only how to kick off the interview process, it’s how you determine what the next chapter in your career is going to be.  As for me, I look for a company whose mission and values align with my own and a company whose product I’d be excited to work on. Find what you feel is right for you. 

Phone Screen: Once you’ve chosen where to apply and sent out your resume, you can expect an email with either (basically) “thanks, but not at this time” or a request for a phone screen, likely from a recruiter or HR rep.  This is where you’ll discuss your background, what you’re looking for as a next step, and why you were attracted to that particular product manager role. The purpose here is to filter out candidates who can be identified as not a good fit right away. 

Product Manager Interview with Hiring Manager: In what now feels like “the olden days” (am I becoming my grandparents?), the next step would be some sort of on-site interview with the hiring manager and several others. In a COVID world, this step will be a video interview.  Some companies will split the hiring manager and other team members into two or more days/steps, but a lot try to get it done in a single day in order to save time in the overall product manager interview process.  This is the step where you’ll showcase your product manager skills and strengths.  You’ll answer product manager interview questions and discuss what value you can add to the company. 

Take-Home Assignment: Not all companies incorporate a take-home assignment but if they, this is the place in the product manager interview process where it would likely take place.  As someone who has interviewed frequently, I’ve encountered only two companies with a take-home assignment.  What the hiring team is looking for in a take-home assignment is your ability to strategize, create a plan, and the process you use to identify and solve problems. 

Final Interview: If you’ve been given a take-home assignment, you’ll likely have a follow-up interview to walk through it.  The interviewer (likely the hiring manager) will discuss the assignment with you and give you an opportunity to explain your process in more detail.  

You made it!: If you’ve made it through and the team sees you as the right person for the job, you’ll get a call from either HR or the hiring manager.  This is the part of the product manager interview process where you’ll discuss numbers and benefits, what your specific title will be, and negotiate.  Congratulations! 

What do companies look for in a new Product Manager?

Whether you’re looking for a junior product manager or the Chief Product Officer, the qualities of a good product manager remain the same: customer obsessed, empathetic, strategic thinker, collaborative, analytical, a great communicator, and insightful.  The product manager is the glue that holds the organization all together.  As a product manager, you touch sales, customer success, development, customers themselves, user experience, leadership, pricing, and even depending on the size and structure of the organization. A company hiring a product manager at any level will be looking for a mixture of these skills. 

The Ultimate List (100+) of Product Manager Interview Questions

We’ve compiled over 100 product manager interview questions to give you an idea of what you can expect in a product manager interview.  These questions will help the interviewer understand your skills as a product manager, the processes you use to solve problems and strategize, how you work with a team, and your technical knowledge. 

General Product Manager Interview Questions

Behavioral

1. Describe a situation in which you had to arrive at a compromise or help others to compromise. What was your role? What steps did you take? What was the result?
2. Describe a time you wish you had handled a difficult situation differently with a colleague.
3. Tell me about the first job you’ve ever had. What did you do to learn and acclimate yourself to the environment/role?
4. Describe a time that a project failed and what you did to recover?
5. Tell me about a time of change over which you had no control and how you adapted?
6. Tell me about a time your responsibilities got a little overwhelming and you couldn’t complete everything on your list. 
7. When you set a goal for yourself, what steps do you take to get over the finish line?
8. Describe how you have balanced a situation that required you to do a number of things at the same time. 
9. Give me an example of a business decision you made that you ultimately regretted.  What did you learn from it?
10. Tell me about a particular work-related setback you have faced and what you did to turn things around?
11. What is a piece of negative feedback that you’ve received and how did you react?
12. Give me an example of a time when you were told ‘no’ by a manager and how did you react?

Product Management

1. What is one way you impacted a previous company as a product manager?
2. What has been a mistake you’ve made as a product manager?
3. How would you explain the role of a product manager to a stranger?
4. What do you love most about being a product manager?
5. What don’t you love about being a product manager?
6. What do you believe are the best qualities of a product manager? 
7. What is something you’re actively working on to improve your skills as a product manager?
8. Walk me through a successful product launch and the steps you took to get there. Is there anything you’d have done differently? 
9. Talk to me about how you manage a feature from conception to launch.
10. How do you define an excellent user experience?

Roadmap/Prioritization

1. How did you manage the roadmap for one of your previous products?
2. What do you do when you and a member of leadership disagree about the roadmap? 
3. Imagine a member of leadership comes to you and tells you to add a new feature to your roadmap.  What do you do? 
4. How do you make sure that every team member is aligned regarding the product roadmap?
5. What information do you use to inform your roadmap?
6. How do you prioritize customers’ varying needs?
7. Give me an example of a time when you had to make a decision on prioritizing two equally important features. How did you determine which to do first?
8. What was the hardest decision you had to make regarding priority/roadmap?
9. Have you ever had to cut a feature, even if it would make your product more usable, for priority reasons? How did you approach the subject with stakeholders?
10. How do you know when to cut corners to get a product or feature shipped? How do you decide what gets cut?
11. Imagine you are mid-sprint and the CEO comes to you and asks for a new feature/change to be made to an existing feature.  What do you do?
12. How do you avoid scope creep?

Customer / Users  

1. What is your process for gathering feedback from product users? 
2. Have you used any tools or frameworks to gather feedback/survey customers? 
3. What motivates you to build better solutions to people in our industry?
4. Give me an example of a time when you did not meet a client’s expectation and how you rectified the situation?
5. Give me an example of a time when you had a frustrated customer and how you diffused the situation?

Communication

1. How would you describe product management to someone that doesn’t work in technology? 
2. How do you communicate with different audiences, e.g. executive leadership or a development-focused engineer?
3. Describe a time when you were able to successfully persuade someone to see things your way.
4. Give me an example of when you failed to convince your manager of something?
5. Describe a time when you were the resident technical expert and you had to explain something in a way everyone was able to understand you?
6. Tell me about a time when you had to rely on written communication to get your ideas across to your team.
7. Tell me about a time you needed to get information from someone that was not responsive.
8. Tell me about a successful presentation or demo you gave and why it was well-received.
9. Have you ever had to “sell” an idea to your team?
10. How do you tell someone no?

Cross-Functional Teamwork

1. How do you motivate your team?
2. How do you involve the development team with the product vision?
3. Tell me about a project that required you to influence people that did not report to you.
4. Tell me about your role on your current (or a recent) team and how you work together to achieve a common goal.
5. What’s your favorite product you’ve ever worked on and why?

Product Leadership Interview Questions

1. What was the biggest mistake you have made when delegating work as part of a team project?
2. Tell me about a time when you had to help settle a conflict between team members. 
3. Describe a time when you saw a problem and took the initiative to correct it.
4. What have been the greatest challenges you have faced in building/growing a team?
5. Describe a time when you were not only responsible for leading a team, but also for taking part in the day-to-day responsibilities and how you were able to balance your time.
6. Describe your management style.

Analytical Product Manager Interview Questions

Guesstimation

1. How do you balance gut feeling with the use of data?
2. Have you ever had to make a decision without all the information you needed?  How did you handle it?
3. How would you go about determining how many cat owners there are in Ohio?

Product Metrics

1. What is the most important KPI for your product (or a recent one) and why?
2. What metrics do you use to measure a product’s success?
3. What tools have you used to measure KPIs? 
4. Give an example of a project or situation that demonstrates your analytical skills. What was your role?
5. What is one thing you learned from your last product launch?
6. Tell me about a time when you had to analyze information to make a decision/recommendation. 

Strategy

1. What is an example of a problem that you have solved in a unique or creative way. What was the outcome?
2. How do you develop a product strategy? What frameworks/processes do you use?
3. What is an example of an innovative idea you brought to the team? 
4. Tell me about a project you initiated and the outcome.
5. What’s something you’d change about a product that you love?
6. How do you go about determining a pricing strategy? 

Technical Product Manager Interview Questions

1. What level is the importance of including the engineering team as a stakeholder? 
2. What is a technical solution that you designed with engineers that became a product or feature? 
3. How do you incorporate quality assurance (QA) practices into the product development process?
4. What process/framework do you use to translate strategic/roadmap ideas into technical requirements? 
5. What development methodology do you have the most experience with?  What is your preferred methodology? 
6. How do you ensure that stakeholders and business teams fully understand technical challenges?

Product Manager Interview Questions: Interpersonal Skills 

1. What types of people do you work best with?
2. Describe a situation where you had to work closely with someone with a different personality than yours.
3. Give me an example of a time you faced a conflict while working on a team and how you worked through it.
4. Tell me about a time where team members disagreed with your ideas on a project.
5. Think about a manager you’ve worked well with. What about the relationship that made it successful?
6. Think about a time when you had to work with someone who was difficult to get along with. How did you effectively work together and how did the relationship progress?
7. How do you build relationships with business partners and team members?

Amazon Product Manager Interview Questions 

1. From start to finish, explain what you did to complete a project. 
2. How can you translate your skills towards Amazon? 
3. Explain a time where you faced a difficult task and had to choose between two competing results.
4. Tell me about the most innovative project you worked on.
5. Tell me about a time when you gave a simple solution to a complex problem. 
6. Give me an example of when you made a decision without all the data necessary to make the decision. 

Source: https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/Amazon-Interview-Questions-E6036.htm 

Product Manager Career Development Interview Questions

1. When you set a goal for yourself, how do you go about achieving it? How do you measure your progress along the way?
2. What obstacles have you encountered in your career progression and how did you overcome them?
3. Tell me about a professional goal that you set for yourself that you did not reach and why.
4. How does this opportunity fit into your overall career trajectory?

Product Manager Interview Questions: Ask the Interviewer

1. What top 3 skills are you looking for in a candidate? 
2. When was the last time you talked with a customer?  How often do you typically talk with customers?
3. What was the last feature you launched?  How did you measure its success? 
4. What do you envision a “day in the life” looks like for this particular role? 
5. What does the product team/org look like here and how long has it been this way?

Conclusion/Final Points/key takeaways

Whew, that’s a lot of questions!  You won’t get asked all of them in a single interview, but having a prepared answer will give you the confidence to ensure you’re showcasing your value as a product manager.  When you get ready to sit down for a virtual interview, make sure you’re in a quiet space free from background noise and distractions.  (Side note: This can be difficult for parents trying to balance childcare.  A tactic I have used is literally locking myself in a room since my husband is also working at home and can take over for a while.  If you can’t do that, screen time for the win (thanks, Pokemon). Bottom line – just do your best. We’re all working with what we got.)

Once you’ve gone through the product manager interview process, you’ll want to send a quick follow-up email to your interviewers (or, the recruiter if you don’t have everyone’s email addresses).  Keep it short and sweet, thanking them for the opportunity to chat.  

Best of luck on your hunt! 

The post 101+ Product Manager Interview Questions You Should Know About appeared first on Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference.