How to Hire Product Managers for Agile Organizations
Any Google search or LinkedIn query will tell you the core responsibilities required of a Product Manager, however, evaluating whether a candidate is actually ready for the role in an agile, product-led organization can be challenging.
Product people come from a wide variety of disciplines and roles, especially since many people with the required experience didn’t even know product management was a “thing” when they started their careers. I see designers, marketers, project managers, and technologists making their way into these positions. That diversity of backgrounds makes for powerful team dynamics, but it can also make it hard to evaluate candidates for roles when they bring those experiences to bear in a new context.
As I've navigated hiring in-house roles and as a consultant, I’m always vigilant to make sure I’m considering people who have come from “somewhere else.” But how do I know if they’ll make a good product person? In my experience, there are three balance points you should consider to determine if someone is ready to make the transition to Product Management.
1. Input/Action Balance
As we navigate transitions from project-to-product frameworks in our companies, it’s easy to find candidates that are action-oriented and adept with timelines and budget projections. In product management we require people who are not only comfortable with data, but also skilled in the synthesis of a ton of different inputs – from business partners and customer interviews to market and competitor trends. This is not a role that can fall prey to analysis paralysis; successful product people know how to collect, understand, and act on data that they gather.
Here are some sample interview questions to help you evaluate a candidate within this dimension:
“Where do your product ideas come from? How do you decide which ideas are worth exploring?”
“What indicators do you pay attention to that signal you have enough data to move forward?”
“Can you give an example of a time when you’ve either slowed down or sped up your work based on data you collected?”
2. Vision/Detail Balance
Great product people can operate in the clouds while their feet are planted on the ground (all without breaking anything). This is where folks moving into product roles can sometimes get stuck. If they’re accustomed to focusing on the details of time, scope, and budget, they might not see themselves as being the owners of the “what” or the “why” behind the team's work. Product people need to be able to walk these paths in parallel, with one eye on the vision and one eye on the details of delivery.
The ideal candidate should also be able to paint a picture of the future AND support it with a plan to make it happen. Detail alone isn’t enough to ensure you’re strategically building something with the end in mind. And vision alone isn’t enough to ensure you know how to get there and where to begin.
Here are some sample questions and evaluation points with regard to this dimension:
“When/how do you check in to make sure the day-to-day work still ladders up to the big picture?”
“What is a typical day for you? How do you focus and spend your time?”
“What’s your ‘elevator pitch’ for the work you and your team do? How do you – if at all – modulate that story depending on your audience?
3. Customer/Business Balance
One of the benefits of a product model is that it seeks out the sweet spot of solutions that delight the customer and further the business. I call these “elegant solutions” and they are absolutely MAGICAL to discover. Successful product people chase that high at every opportunity because they know there is an extensive territory to mine in the space between customer benefit and business benefit. We all know product people that martyr themselves on the altar of customer primacy, or who are only interested in revenue or growth at all costs. Let’s be honest; they aren’t all that fun to be around because they’ve refused to use their creative powers to find that aforementioned magical solution. So, let’s not hire any more of these, shall we?
In interviews, I like to ask questions like:
“Tell me about something you worked on where you knew the user needed one thing but it was in conflict with the best interests of the business, and how you managed that.”
“How do you reduce friction for the user while making sure the needs of the business are protected or advanced?”
“How do you think about risk and/or compliance in the context of the work you do and the teams you’re on?”
These three balance points are my big hitters in terms of the tendencies required to make a successful transition to product management. That said, there are two “bonus” qualities that I think are also worth considering as you evaluate product hires.
1. Ability to influence/align
Storytelling is an extremely valuable skill in the product world. You need a team member who can influence the group and get them to rally around an idea, even when they aren’t the most senior person in the room. They’re articulate, can paint a compelling picture, and are probably a little charming. If your product person’s ability to influence is only as good as their title, they won’t be successful in the long run.
2. Confident, continuous prioritization
While I’m a huge fan of persistent priorities at the top of an organization, the reality is that the application of those priorities at the team level is highly fluid. Great product people are constantly considering the contexts of effort and impact, capacity and demand, all within the strategic priorities of the organization.
When I work on a product team, my brain functions like one of those old subway station split-flap boards, where ETAs are always updating in successive order (and in real time!). Any great Product Manager should have a constant awareness of their top priorities and be able to quickly shift them based on external demands and inputs.
Here’s the truth: these skill sets and abilities can come from just about any discipline, which means your talent pool just got larger. Remember, a product mindset can come in many different packages, so spend some time thinking about where you believe these balance points should rest in your organization. Evaluating your hires with that in mind will keep your team and your vision moving in the right direction.