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Product Management 101

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Agenda

  • What is Product Management?
    • What does a Product Manager do?
    • Skill set
    • Why PM?
  • Recruiting for PM
    • Companies
    • Programs
  • Application
    • Prep
    • Interview Questions
  • Next Steps

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Your Presenters

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Nancy McSwain - SEAS 2023

Co-President

Faye Zhang - SEAS 2025

AVP of Design

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What do we do?

Sign up for our Newsletter:

Product Space @ Penn

  • Education + Recruitment
  • Community!!!

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https://bit.ly/3Xix4np

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What is Product Management (PM)?

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What does a PM actually do?

  • A PM is responsible for making sure that a team ships a great product.
    • Influence, credibility & communication, data & research, persuasion
  • The role can be split up sometimes between a more business oriented person and a more technically-oriented person
  • Every PM’s job is a little different
    • Startup - building a product from scratch
    • Big Firm - refining a product OR starting a new product in the context of others
  • In a word: Influence without authority

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Important Skills

  • Not all PMs know how to code! However, you should understand the process.
  • Communication!!!!
  • Examples of Useful Tools
    • Figma - Useful for designing and wireframing products
    • SQL - Data pulling and manipulation
    • Java/Python - Great beginner coding languages
  • Find projects and experiences where you can tangibly use these skills!

Skill Set

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Success as a Non-Technical PM

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The Cons of Being a Product Manager

Why not PM?

Indirect

Control

SWE pay >=,

Less ambiguous

Lots of Meetings

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The Pros of Being a Product Manager

Why PM?

*We’ll mainly focus on software PM

Exit

Opportunities

Great

Compensation

Interesting Problems*

Kaleidoscope of People

Diverse Set of Skills

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Alternatives

More Business

More Technical

MGMT Consulting

Product Marketing Manager

Technical Program Manager

Software Engineer

Focus:

Advise people in a specific field to help businesses achieve a desired goal (eg. increase revenue by X%)

Pros:

Broader Focus; Traveling; Can still do PM Interviews p easily

Cons:

Lower Pay; Longer Hours; What you make might not be used

Focus:

Communicate product’s value to the market. "Voice of the customer," and understand consumer's needs and user journeys. V versatile

Pros:

More MKTG focused; less tech, more magic; Control over how the product is “seen”

Cons:

Lower Pay; Less say on what the product will be; less standardized; Lots of meetings

Focus:

Execution of requirements defined by PM. Work w/ Engineering Managers and Team Leads to iron out implementation details and resourcing, and w/ other stakeholders to create timelines. Responsible for the “when”, and work with Engineering leads on the “how” and the “who.”

Pros:

Execution oriented; more problem solving/tangible

Cons:

Lots of Meetings; Less say on what the product will be

Focus:

Building and shipping software. Accountable for the quality and rate at which you ship as well as the scalability, performance and reliability of your code

Pros:

Problem Solving; You get to build the thing; Less responsibility; Less Meetings/more deep work

Cons:

Less say on what the product will be; Can be very coding/mentally intense

PM

Alternatives

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A Word of Warning

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A Word of Warning

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What’s Out There?

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Companies

  • PMs are a role that pretty much any firm needs - all industries, all sizes, all products
  • Startups - More responsibility given, more risk involved; Bigger firm - Less responsibility, less risk (but also greater variability in experience)
  • Research the firms you’re interested in, especially their products!
    • Different firms require differing levels of technical expertise; most like to see STEM of some form
    • Knowing how to code is always helpful

More Technical

Less Technical

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Culture

  • Also consider what cultures work for you
    • Transparent vs Focused
    • Ratio of PMs to Engineers
    • Product Strategy - Bottom Up vs Top Down
    • General Culture (ie lighthearted, intense, etc.)
  • Know your values!
  • Your team is key!

Bottom Up

Top Down

Intense

Laid Back

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Internships

  • Explore programs
    • Typically for freshman and sophomores (with encouragement of underrepresented backgrounds)
    • Summer Program
  • Internships
    • Typically for juniors (sophomores go for them too!)
    • Summer Program
  • Use these opportunities to get to know companies better and see if they fit for you

https://tinyurl.com/3k9wz934

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PM vs APM

  • PM Programs
    • Undergraduate focused (some MBA, ie Amazon, HP)
    • Usually have employees on a single team/product
    • Usually open to a broader variety of backgrounds
  • APM Programs
    • Typically (rotational) 18 month programs
    • Usually for newer college graduates or graduating grad students
    • Preferred background depends on firm

Scan the QR Codes for

Each Respective Role

PM: https://tinyurl.com/46fepan3

APM: https://tinyurl.com/382xz7bh

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Recruiting &�Application Process

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Timeline

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Timeline

Prep

Define your scope.

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Use this time to prepare your resume, understand and plan which companies you want to work at, start conversations for referrals.

Wait it out.

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Unfortunately, once you submit your resume, the screening process is out of your hands for the most part. So do what you can, PREP FOR NON-SPECIFICS TOPICS (ie product framework, behavioral qs)!

Applying

Phone Interviews

1-2 interviews, 30 - 40 minutes each

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Typically a behavioral interview and some sort of technical question. Depends on firm. Know the firm’s products and how you might solve problems for them.

On-Sites/Virtual

2 - 5 interviews, 30 - 45 minutes each

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May have multiple interviews, may have one. Generally lacks behaviorals and jumps directly into a more technical type of case. May happen in one day or spread out.

You’re in!

RECRUITING IS LATE SUMMER AND THROUGH EARLY TO MID FALL

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What If I Missed the Deadlines?

  • MANY FIRMS BUCK THE TREND!!!

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  • PM at a Startup
    • Always looking for talent!
    • Often larger learning opportunities and responsibilities
    • Do your research on startups as not all firms will give you the same development opportunities

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  • Recruit For Something Else
    • Many people have experience doing another role (usually Software Engineer) before becoming a PM
    • Consultants, Marketers, Technical Sales, Data Engineers, etc. are all also viable roles as well
    • You can also try to build PM work into your role as you go (i.e. help PM team with competitive research, etc.)

Unicorn Startup List

https://bit.ly/3lnH4P5

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Before You Apply

  • Consider what you want out of your experience

Company

Culture & Values

Products

Compensation/Benefits

Stage of Company

Life Impact

Location & Culture

Living Expenses

Lifestyle Changes

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Application Tracking

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Your Resume

  • Technical/Product Experience
    • Take an intro CIS class
    • Try to get involved in a coding project/Hackathon
    • Write an article on a technology/try to improve an existing product (ie a park)
  • Leadership Experience
    • Lead a project
    • Doesn’t have to be tech
    • Want to see you can communicate effectively and manage a team
  • Past Work Experience
    • PM Exp != PM role
    • Always try to pivot your work to show how you can be an effective PM

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Applying

  • Applications typically open Mid-Summer and continue throughout the year
    • Try to add them to your tracking sheet beforehand!

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  • Where to Apply?
    • Use company websites - you’ll at least know your application will go through
    • If a company also has a University specific website (i.e. consulting firms), you may want to apply there
    • It’s also helpful as you can get your referrals easily done within the system

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  • Referrals
    • An employee or past intern vouches for you (each firm does it a little different (ie MSFT internship, MSFT intern))
    • Friends > New Folks
    • If you know no one in it, try to use 1st degree connections as bridges or cold outreach
    • Resources
      • MyPenn - Good for connecting with Penn Alumni
      • LinkedIn - Easier to use but less information

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PM Interview Questions

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The Types of PM Interview Questions

Cross-Functional Expertise Questions

03

Questions that assess how you will work with non-PMs, e.g. engineers, data science, product marketers, designers and support and operations employees.

Product Case Study Questions

02

Questions that focus on a specific product challenge often modeled after a real challenge from that specific company.

General "Product Sense" Questions

01

Tell me which product of ours you like the best and three ways you could improve it?

Behavior Questions

04

Give us an example of a goal you failed to meet, and how you handled the situation.

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Tips for General "Product Sense" Questions

  • Usually a mix of generic product questions (e.g., "What's your favorite product and why?" or "Tell me which product of ours you like the best and three ways you could improve it?").
    • Unstructured with each question an independent exercise
    • At some of the bigger companies, like Google and Facebook, these types of interviews still happen frequently. However, many tech companies have evolved their approach to focus on specific, relevant product challenges and questions focused on cross-functional expertise.
  • How to Prepare?
    • Have a framework!
    • Review and research the company’s products
    • Understand how the product helps its target market as well as how it could better serve said market

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Tips for Product Case Study Questions

  • More focused on customers and products
  • Typically involve strategies a company took in relation to a product, a market, and/or innovation.
  • Question Examples
    • Why did Google enter the mobile phone market?
    • Describe a product or service you think takes an interesting approach to pricing.
    • What analysis would you go through to determine if/when Amazon should change the price of Amazon Prime?
  • Try to bring in frameworks that help you make sense of the value provided and allow you to walk step by step through success

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Tips for Cross-Functional Expertise Questions

  • All about non-product managers assessing collaboration, ranging from engineers, data science, product marketers, designers and support and operations employees. Goal of is to determine if you'll be a productive partner to that discipline.
  • Some Possible Questions
    • Conversion on our homepage dropped by 10% last week. How do you diagnose what happened?
    • How would you do the SQL pull for a certain data set.
    • Understanding the user funnel to your product
  • Breadth and projects are your friend here.

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Tips for Behavioral Questions

  • Typically questions that are seeking to understand more about how you do work and communicate about said work
  • Can range in what they ask with five typical varieties:
    • Leadership & Influence
      • Describe a decision you made that wasn’t popular. How did you handle implementing it?
    • Challenges
      • Tell me about a time you faced a challenge and how you overcame it.
    • Mistakes & Failures - Accept that you failed, how did you improve?
      • Tell me about a time when you failed.
    • Successes
      • Tell me about something you’re proud of accomplishing.
    • Teamwork
      • Tell me about a time when you had to work across teams to accomplish something.

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Preparing for Interviews

Books

Media

Cracking the PM Interview

Swipe to Unlock

Decode and Conquer

Exponent (YT playlists)

Hacker Rank (YT playlists)

Lenny Rachitsky’s Newsletter

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Other Resource Recommendations

  • Videos
    • Exponent - Good mock interviews to watch (don’t pay for it)
    • This Cracking the Coding Interview Playlist - Good for coding questions
    • Product Alliance - Similar to Exponent; broader focus with add-ons on strategy
    • Product School - Some good free webinars explaining PM roles and higher level concepts
  • Newsletters/Blogs/Podcasts
    • Acquired - Podcast reviewing tech strategy from tech giant’s early days
    • Technically - explanations of technical concepts that are useful for your day to day job and fun to read
    • Essays from Sachin - General thoughts and insights from a PM
    • WSJ Daily Tech - Daily tech briefing
    • Accelerated - Tech news and jobs newsletters
    • Axios Login - newsletter blend of politics and tech meant to be consumed quickly
  • Other sites
    • *Quora - literally google a PM recruiting question
    • Reddit - Good for a more informal look
    • UPenn Career Services - Check out the Vault guides

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Some More Help

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Newsletters/Blogs

https://tinyurl.com/3sej66pk

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Classes @ Penn

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Analytical Techniques & Understanding Experiments

  • MKTG 2120
  • BEPP 2800
  • STAT 4100
  • STAT 4700

Technology Strategy

  • OIDD 2360
  • OIDD 3140

Technical Foundations

  • CIS 1100
  • CIS 1200

Frameworks

  • MKTG 1010
  • MGMT 1010

Design Basics

  • DSGN 2570
  • CIS 3990
  • IPD 5150

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You’re In! Now what?

  • Keep interviewing
    • More job offers provides you more leverage

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  • Negotiate your salary
    • Look at industry averages and other companies from sites like levels.fyi and Glassdoor
    • Make sure to be able to describe your impact at other firms too!

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  • How does this fit into your long term plans?
  • Consider which office you’ll be working at
    • Different cities have different associated living costs
    • Where are your friends and family?
    • Do you want to live abroad?

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Questions?

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