Professional Product Manager Interview Preparation Guide

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Yes, I like to support/coach other company staff, such as R&D, sales, support/service, and financial/logistic departments.

If we've gotten this far and you haven't talked about being the voice of the customer, getting out and talking to users, doing any type of user research, I'm already concerned. This is your last chance to convince me you can be the voice of the customer.
"I once interviewed someone who worked at a company that thought user research was a waste of time. She had zero budget and worked in an Agile environment. She struggled to get requirements out ahead of her engineers. And yet, when I asked her this question she told me all of these constraints. But she didn't stop there. She was working on a shopping mobile app and she told me about how during her lunch break she went to her local mall and asked people to try it out. It didn't cost anything. It didn't take very much time. It wasn't perfect. But it was much better than nothing. Be that person. Find a way."

This to me is the heart of product management. You may have said a lot of great things, but if you don't have a great answer to this question, we are done. There are lots of good answers. But I'm looking for a mix of things. First and foremost, have you put thought into this. If you just ramble off an unrelated list of things, we are done. Second, I want to understand how you balance all the competing inputs: user feedback, business needs, the CEO's pet feature, engineering favorites, time to build, cost, market needs, and so on.
This is a great question for gauging how well someone understands the business context in which they work and the market in which their product sits. It's also a good measure of critical thinking. If you want to move on to an in-person interview, you better nail this one.

When answering this question you also have the opportunity to briefly touch on a previous area/question that you may have felt you didn't answer too well - however you have to be brief, no detract in any way shape or form from the original question and ensure you don't give the impression that you are laboring any particular point or trying to get one up on the interviewer. For example if you where previously asked about stakeholder management and you didn't feel that you gave a full and impressive answer - then touch on your experience on stakeholder management while speaking about a project you have worked on.

☛ Demonstrate that you have a practical experience in the product development process.
☛ That you have considered the user by developing a product that utilizes technology to solve a problem and therefore meets the customer's needs.
☛ That you are able to lead with-out-authority by matrix managing a cross functional team of multi-disciplined professionals.

There are many ways to do this. Books, articles, blogs, extension courses, experiment with the technologies or write software on your own, spend more time with your engineers, ask them about the technology topics they are exploring and tag along.

Product life cycle management is the process of managing the entire life cycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal. Therefore it is important that the product manager believes and supports the processes that the company has implemented.

It's important that a product manager recognizes the symptoms of stress learn how to cope with stress and have in place successful techniques for managing stress and be able to manage projects and/or product development in such a way as to reduce stress.

Stress can be a killer and every Product Manager and Project Mangers would have experienced during the course of their career.
Remember we are all human beings - admit that you do get stressed` and turn what some may see as a negative into a positive by demonstrating ways you've handled stress in the past and therefore showing that you can handle it if you where hired for the job in question.

First I would Celebrate with the team of course.
As the product manager I'd have the over view of all activities but the analyse will be designed to get into the detail.

☛ How should I track and manage feature requests?
☛ Do all products need a product road map?
☛ What tips do you have for a new product manager?
☛ What is the key to writing a good Use Case?
☛ What should I study to become a product manager?
☛ What to do when your main competitor is your best customer?
☛ How do product managers prioritize requirements?

☛ How can market research be best used for a growing product?
☛ How can a product manager assess product strategy?
☛ How can a product manager motivate sales?
☛ What are good product manager goals and objectives?
☛ How can I become a product manager without any experience?
☛ How much should Sales be involved in Product Development?
☛ How can I take charge of my product?

☛ How do you manage a licensed enterprise software application?
☛ Where does product management belong in the organization?
☛ How can a product manager best measure customer satisfaction?
☛ Can a product manager get feedback without talking to customers?
☛ How can I manage a licensed product?
☛ How can a software engineer become a product manager?
☛ How can I become a product management consultant?

☛ What goals are appropriate for a new product manager?
☛ How can you quickly evaluate international product expansion?
☛ How do you handle competitors in a beta program?
☛ How do you balance needs of the target market with the vocal minority?
☛ How do you choose between major and minor product releases?
☛ What should I look for in a product management job?
☛ When do you release the next version of a product?

☛ Should I get product management certification?
☛ How soon does a product manager need a product plan?
☛ How can a QA / tester become a product manager?
☛ How can a salesperson become a product manager?
☛ How should a product manager use feedback from industry analysts?
☛ Are there any product road map best practice tools?
☛ How much do you share with beta program participants?

☛ Will an IT person be a good product manager?
☛ What is better: many small customers or a few large ones?
☛ Should product managers have input on hiring decisions?
☛ How much project management should a product manager do?
☛ How can product management work in a services firm?
☛ How can I persuade others who have more industry experience?
☛ What are the best product management MBA programs?

☛ What is the best way to manage feature requests?
☛ How can you best discontinue a product?
☛ How do you differentiate in an overcrowded market?
☛ How many products should a product manager manage?
☛ What is the best product manager career path?
☛ How can IT be involved in product management?
☛ How do you manage a product as part of a portfolio?

☛ How can a product manager best use surveys?
☛ What questions should I ask on a product management job interview?
☛ How can you best manage a product atop a platform?
☛ How can I get international product management experience?
☛ How can you listen to the market with limited resources?
☛ How can I gather competitive information on private companies?
☛ How can products sharing the same platform best be managed?

☛ What goes in to a product strategy besides goals, objectives, and tactics?
☛ How can I avoid cannibalization with a new product?
☛ How to go from sales engineer to product manager?
☛ How can I determine the sales ability of an innovative new product?
☛ What are my career options after product management?
☛ How can product management weather the recession?
☛ How is a product manager different from a brand manager?

☛ Should my requirements documents include all requirements or just new ones?
☛ How can I establish product management within a company?
☛ How technical should a product manager be?
☛ What is the difference between a good product manager and a great product manager?
☛ If product managers are CEOs of their products, why aren't more of them CEOs?
☛ How can I create a product which customers love?
☛ How do I position a new version of an existing product and avoid cannibalization?

☛ Ask A Good Product Manager is going on hiatus?
☛ Should I study product design or economics?
☛ Is a good product or a good management team more important?
☛ How do I set up customer interviews?
☛ Should I just focus on my product or the supporting services too?
☛ How can I translate needs of an industry into portfolio requirements?
☛ Are product managers always just developing new products?

I learn/understand the market needs through performing market analysis.

I learn/understand quickly the functional/technical aspects of a complex system.

Go through its value proposition, target customers, and competitive analysis, to the product's positioning strategy.

Specify stages such as market research, development, documentation, mass production, launching, marketing, branding, services, etc.