Best Interview Question Ever /  by Lewis Lin

My favorite job interview question right now, credited to Peter Thiel is:

What's the one thing that you believe to be true, but nobody else agrees with you?

I find this question fascinating because:

  • Identifies innovators. Most innovators have contrarian view points.
  • Demonstrates courage. It can be embarrassing to state a contrarian and potentially far-fetched point of view with a stranger, the interviewer. To do so demonstrates the candidates comfort with him or herself.
  • Exemplifies persuasion. It's not enough for one to say they believe that the sky is purple. To claim that belief requires evidence, facts and logic.

Projecting Your Voice as a Tech Product Manager /  by Lewis Lin

Recently I was asked:

How important it is for a product manager to project his or her voice at work in tech companies such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon?

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Yes, you have to project your voice as a product manager. Here’s why:

  1. If your audience can’t hear you, engineers and executives (E&Es) can’t understand your point of view.
  2. If they can’t understand your point of view, you can’t influence E&Es.
  3. If you can’t influence E&Es, you can’t be an effective product manager.

If you’re not comfortable projecting your voice, try the following:

  1. Work on exercises to increase the volume of your voice. My presentation skills coach would have me say a phrase. Should would rate my volume from a scale of 1–10. Then she would say the same phrase and tell me that her volume is a 7 or 8, so I can calibrate my volume appropriately.
  2. Get comfortable speaking up. Sometimes projecting your voice is not just about volume. It’s about speaking up in a group where everyone is fighting for airtime. Here’s a game you can play to get more comfortable speaking up: at every meeting, set a goal of asking three questions. Questions are easier to ask in a crowded room (vs. making a statement). Do this enough, and you’ll find yourself more comfortable speaking up. You’ll also find that you’ll be more engaged in an otherwise boring meeting.
  3. Find alternative ways to make your point heard. Even if you’re not a master at projecting your voice in a room, you can make your point heard in countless number of alternative mediums including sharing your thoughts in email (no limit on how many you can send) or influencing others in a 1:1 scenario.s1

 

Day in the Life of a Software Product Manager, Updated 2018 /  by Lewis Lin

My day-to-day breakdown as PM:

  • 3-4 hrs. - email and other administrative to-dos including managing the backlog, corporate processes, templates, and requests for information
  • 3 hrs. - meetings including internal, external and 1:1's with directs
  • 2-2.5 hrs. - independent heads down thinking including product design (wireframes), business strategy, and go-to-market planning
  • 15 min. - industry research including competitive and tech trends
  • 20-30 min. - career skill building such as design, management, coding, and communication skills

The #1 Best-Kept Secret About Negotiation /  by Lewis Lin

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One of the best kept secrets about negotiation:

  • Experienced negotiators consistently get more information.
  • Novice negotiators do not.

A great example of this is the reality TV show, Pawn Stars.

  • Experts, like Rick and Richard, consistently get all goods appraised by experts (unless they are purchasing goods where they are experts themselves).
  • Novices, like Corey and Chumlee, don't consistently get goods appraised by experts. As a result, they get scammed and purchase counterfeit goods.

Why do negotiators decline an opportunity to get more information about a deal? Here's why:

  • Overconfidence bias. Novice negotiators think: I'm an expert. I've done this millions of times. I don't need to get this appraised.
  • Impatience. Who has time to get this appraised? I'm busy. Or I might lose this hot deal.
  • Worried about sharing appraisal information with the customer. The last time I got it appraised, the customer used the information to make me pay MORE than what they were willing to sell it for BEFORE the appraisal.

Photo credit: Pawn Stars via Wikipedia

How to Avoid Answering Expected Salary (Updated 2018) /  by Lewis Lin

Simply write "confidential" in the field.  Expect your recruiter or HR contact to react when you do this.  They don't like it when candidates don't follow instructions, especially when it's a required field or when a candidate does something out of the norm.

If you do buckle under the recruiter's pressure, you divulge your biggest piece of negotiation leverage.  There's no reason for your prospective employer to beat your current salary by anything more than a slight margin.  This is called revealing your best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA).

When asked why you won't reveal your current salary, simply tell your contact that you pledged your current employer that you wouldn't reveal confidential business information (via a signed NDA).  If they whine and say every other candidate hasn't had a problem with this, simply restate your position.  Take the high ground.  You might even been respected for your integrity.

Do keep in mind that you do need to divulge how much do you expect to get in compensation.  This is a different question from "how much do you currently make?" Recruiter doesn't want to waste time with a candidate they can't close, especially if their salary expectations are out of range.  So a possible line could be, "Due to confidentiality reasons, I can't divulge my current salary, but I can tell you that I expect a base salary of $50,000 for this role.  It's in line with market rates for a professional with my skills and experience."  Most recruiters would appreciate and accept this information, in lieu of your current salary.

If it helps you sleep better at night, just know that the "What's your current salary?" question is completely unfair to the candidate.  To be fair, candidates deserve answers to this question, "What's the highest possible you're willing to pay for this position?"  But don't bother asking them.  The company won't tell you (but a executive recruiter might).

Performance Review Scoring: Why You Should Consider a Non-Numerical Approach for 2018 /  by Lewis Lin

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Josh Bersin of Deloitte reported that "More than 60% of all companies are redesigning (or have redesigned) their performance management process, typically moving from top-down rating and ranking to a feedback-centric, developmental, often rating-less model.”

There’s a couple of benefits to a non-numerical performance review model:

  • Improves morale
  • Performance reviews will feel more constructive
  • Poorly rated employees will be less defensive at the performance review

There’s also a few disadvantages:

  • Employees will lose an opportunity to see how they are perceived relative to others
  • Employers will lose a datapoint to identify poor performers
  • Employers will lose a datapoint to determine merit-based bonuses

Product Design interview Question 11: How do you design a mobile kiosk for a hospital? /  by Kaitlin Hung

How do you design a mobile kiosk for a hospital?

When you are a new patient at a hospital in the US, they give you a bunch of paper work to fill-out. they ask demographics, disease history in the family, current medications, any surgeries, etc. If you are an existing patient, you can check-in at the kiosk. How do you design the app for the kiosk? What would the database look like?

Submit your answers in the comments and receive feedback.

Metric Interview Question 10: How do you use these 3 metrics to find the “best” campaign? /  by Kaitlin Hung

metric 1: pay per click (how much advertisers make per user click)

metric 2: click through rate (rate at which ppl actually click on an ad after seeing it)

metric 3: total number of ad views

As a PM, you have a huge library of ad campaigns for various audiences and you have access to the above 3 metrics. How do you use these 3 metrics to find the “best” campaign?

Submit your answers in the comments and receive feedback.