#90: My all-time favorite responses for "Do you have any question for me?" during PM interviews
and if Jesus takes a selfie?
"Do you have any questions for me?"
Let me tell you: All the junior PMs, who passed my interview and eventually passed through all the rounds, always prepared some responses to this question.
In the early days, I merely viewed this question as a courtesy act from the hiring manager to end the meeting, thus I never paid close attention to it.
But when I had had my times at some companies (most often, bad times), I realized that the true essence of my job can be somewhat inferred through the words of the hiring manager even before I join the company.
That’s when I decided to make the most out of this final question. I started experimenting with which question will generate the most insights about my future employer.
Below are the two questions that I’ve found most useful. Use them at your own expense :)
1. "How much energy the product team is spending on building the core, capturing more value from the core, and the rest of the product works?"
In product management, there are four types of product work. Each type requires and rewards a completely different set of skills and knowledge.
Building the core (Feature work) and capturing more value from the core (Growth work) are the two most common types.
While building the core will offer me a plethora of chances to build many features from the ground up (thus rewarding me with lots of technical knowledge), optimizing for acquisition, conversion, and retention offers me a better exposure to the sales and marketing side (thus rewarding me with a comprehensive view of the business).
But wait, there's more.
This is the true intention behind this question: It reveals the dynamics of your role and the quality of your leader.
A company that mainly focuses on building the core is likely to be a startup or big tech incubated team, with an uncertain future.
It's running quickly to test ideas and get feedback from MVPs. It has the cash to burn but it’s also quick to die. It has the enthusiasm of the founders and early employees but also has a grim chance that you might not get this year's bonus or pay raise.
A company that mainly focuses on capturing more value from the core, on the other hand, is likely to have found its product-market fit and wants to milk the most out of its end users (I’m not talking about you, Blizzard). These guys are more stable, in the sense that they will not go bankrupt within, at least, a decade.
If the interviewer, who I assume to also be the product lead/VP of product, is not able to answer this question thoroughly, this is a red flag.
He/she is either trying to hide the truth (why tho??) or doesn't have a bird-eye view of the organization. Think twice if you want to be their subordinate.
2. "How do you get product feedback and work on it?"
Another version: “What are the 3 main criteria your product team is using to decide which features to build next?”
The answer to this question, once again, can indicate a lot of things.
On the surface, most likely you'll hear that the feedback comes from some weekly customer surveys, online interviews, the "Tell us what you think" button on the app, etc.
But deep down, you'll know about the balance of power among the Product and Sales departments (and sometimes the CEOs lol)
If a product team only works on its own initiatives and overrules current clients’ demands, it might not have a good sense of its customer's needs and might as well be chasing its own tail.
A product team that is overruled by the sales team, spending a disproportionate amount of time on building features for Proof of Concept, or for current clients, is likely to have little room for experimentation and break-through. The product might be profitable, but will be a big mess without coherence.
. . .
You may wonder: How to come up with a similar question?
The key to preparing this question is: Never reveal your true intention in the question. Sugarcoat it to take the respondent off guard.
Start with your true intention (e.g. check the dynamics of the role)
Find things within your area of work that can be a proxy to check the real intention (e.g. whether the company is building the core or capturing value from the core)
Frame the question in a high-level format (e.g. how much energy is distributed to core feature, core optimization, and the rest).
A tip for (3) is to ask open-ended questions and refrain from the direct comparison between different entities.
🙅🏻♂️ An example of a bad question:
"What is the proportion of features built from sales requests and from the product team's strategy?"
--> An interviewer in their right mind will immediately notice your intention to compare, and they will never tilt toward any side, simply because it will carry negative meaning.
Weekly discovery: Technical terms and concepts by Technically
I recently stumbled upon one of the most well-crafted and thorough collections of the technical terms and concepts that I believe every Product Manager should know.
It’s done by Technically, a newsletter designated for software engineers.
Some of the original posts are paywalled, but I believe it's worth your penny to subscribe because the free posts are already amazing.
Even if you decide not to subscribe, this is a great directory for you to start exploring the technical side of a product.
The downside of this collection is there's little connection between the terms, although, in reality, they are really well-connected.
If you want to get a better overview of these concepts’ connection, check out this great course of Karan about system design.
Around the Internet
1. David Guetta used AI to write Eminem-styled verse and he used it in his track beautifully!
2. First pic: Me started running a paid publication, feeling miserably 99% of the time.
Second pic: Me when someone paid.
3. Platforms are finding more ways for viewers to support their content creators
Substack gives readers a way to shout "shut up and take my money" onto the writer's face
4. Someone asked AI to paint a picture of Jesus taking a selfie during the last supper. I'm speechless…
Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter. If anything in this newsletter has provoked your thoughts, I‘d love to hear them - it’s the best reward for my writing journey.
As always, I wish you a relaxing Sunday and a productive week ahead.
Yours,
Tuan Mon
P/s: Someone cute forwarded this email to you? You can subscribe below to keep up with my weekly newsletter!
Many One Percents newsletter is my weekly curation of Internet gems, mostly about technology, productivity and product management. If you want to support me, you can either subscribe to this newsletter, or donate via these channels: Momo | Paypal | Vietcombank | Patreon