Thread by @Pentropy

Some notes of product manager hiring:

1. Similar industry experience:

If you are too rigid on hiring PMs who’ve done same Work in past, Beware! She may get to delivery fast but doesn’t give any guarantee that she will fix the unknown product problems of growth, retention and user behaviour etc for your setup.

So, be open for PMs who have done different things and have tried well in solving problems which they were totally unexposed to in past. PMs job is such that even if you have done the same thing for years, every now and then you will face problems that you have never seen.

Remember, most times you want your PMs to be helping build a future that’s not seen yet. So ability to solve newer Set of problems with limited context can be better than having all the context in the world (which comes with strong biases as well)

2. Product management Experience:

Past PM experience gets PMs to speed fast but hiring only Ex-PMs is blinding yourself to a large group of potential PMs out there. There are variety of problem-solving roles with different names, especially in small & mid sized companies.

Entrepreneurs make great PMs (@sudhanshuraheja @wiredmau5 ), So do operations ninjas who understand tech and are 1st principles driven(@praneethtv ), Engineers who get excited by business and growth too (@ulaar @aakashd @dillisingh),

Designers who understand the user and design vs art too (@Kshitij_B). So, if you are looking at the term ‘product manager’ in CVs and rejecting people on not finding it, you’re missing out on a large chunk of brilliant folks out there.

3. Interview Process (hard skills):

Many a times, startups have random interview process for PMs where a lot of people meet PMs, ask them for guesstimates, ask them problems related to their product, ask them to build some app and assess how ‘smart’ one is.

The process is either too easy/generic which makes anyone a PM or its too specific/tough where we’re Seeking exact ideas and answers. The trick here is the homework before hunting PMs. Try to be as clear as you can be on the kind of problem this role will solve.

PM needs to work with variety of aspects - data, research, engineering, design, strategy, project management, operations, business and each PM will have only some of those skills. Most times PMs do most of it, but not being clear beforehand will not help you with the hiring.

Once you know this, it’s easier to define the interview process, and set expectations, and chances of getting a right fit are more. Also, make the PM meet as many people that she will be expected to work with.

4. Interview process (soft skills):

Don’t ignore fitment at all and be very open about explaining the (true) culture of your organisation. If you are an early age company, it’s certain that the setup would be messy and those who look for an organised place will suffer.

If you have a flat org, those who are looking for fancy growth designations will suffer. So, be clear. Interestingly, if you try to paint the real scary picture, you will find people who get excited. (Learnt this from @ponnappa and @AjeyGore and it still works like a charm).

5. Be diverse:

Force fit diversity rules In your process! If you have teams in different areas, don’t just hire for a location. Try to get at both areas. Same with gender, try to interview both women and men for your roles. Why, 2 reasons - 1, this is the right thing to do!

2, diversity gives you coverage. The PMs talk data but inherently there are biases that sneak in and it takes years for PMs to realise how biased they are while building products. A diverse set of people allow you to build products with more perspectives.

End.

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