How to Build a Product Manager
Treat yourself like a product and land that early Product Manager role.
Welcome to Build a Product Manager!
If you want to land your first (or second) Product Manager role, you’ve come to the right place.
TL;DR: I'll teach you everything you need to approach your Product Manager interviews with confidence and achieve success quicker. Scroll about half way down if you want to get to the content examples and the subscription options to make sure you're getting the good stuff you need. Skip straight to it here:
As Product Managers, or people with an interest in Product, we naturally have a deep passion for building things. We want to start something new from the ground up, we want to pull apart things that already exist to improve them, we want to speak to people to understand their problems and, in so doing, arrive at a brilliantly suited solution. And so much more.
It’s a bit of a cliché, but it largely holds true: the rules of Product apply to so much more than just the apps, portals and websites we build. So, in true Product Manager style (to-be, if you’re not quite there yet!), it’s time to do some building that benefits us - treat ourselves as the customer we’re building a product for. We’re going to build ourselves a Product Manager; one that you’ll soon be looking back at in the mirror.
Why me? Well, I’ve just interviewed for, and succeeding in gaining, my first Product Manager role - though I'd been promoted into a PM role that I'd done for two years by the time I came to interview. But this was my first product interviewing rodeo.
The process was…. gruelling.
For some reason, PM interview processes involve a minimum of four interview rounds, and always include a presentation, case study or technical challenge (don’t be scared; I’ll be sharing advice and even deck templates to help). After my first month of interviewing and reaching the penultimate or final round, only to lose out to “a candidate with more experience than you” (fuck off), I was burnt out. I did 25+ interviews in total; not an experience I wish to repeat.
I learnt along the way. My initial case study was too light, fluffy and conceptual. My answers didn’t drill down into the specifics of prioritisation. I was simultaneously not detailed enough and didn’t acknowledge the never-ending shades of grey that come with Product. I made notes after every interview, I asked for feedback, I tweaked my deck more times than I’d like to say. But I learnt, I improved and I got an awesome, awesome Product Manager role at OVO Energy. I was tired, but I’d done it.
I want you to avoid a) the failed interviews and burnout, and b) the time it takes to learn as you go. If you can benefit from my 25+ product interviews (and I know you can through these newsletters), then I would love you to.
So why this newsletter? I’ll be sharing exactly those lessons that I’ve just outlined for you, so you can get that first or second PM job in super speedy time and avoid the heartache and exhaustion I went through. That will look like any of the following:
How to write your CV
How to make all your non-product skills seem directly relatable and transferable to Product (and believe me, they are)
Whether or not you should be building a product portfolio
How to prepare for experience based questions
How to prepare for technical/skills based questions
Sample answers to interview question that you can adapt and personalise
How to prepare for a case study interview
Templates to structure your interview planning
Template decks for case studies and technical interviews
Recommended reading lists
Questions to ask to find out if the company you’re interviewing with is the right fit for you
This is just some of my planned content. We’ll also be taking a bit of a deep dive into product specific knowledge and skills: frameworks, prioritisation, agile methodology, roadmapping etc. The meat of Product Management. Things that will prove to your interviewers that, despite your limited or non-existent experience in Product, you know your shit.
I’ll also be opening it up to the floor with an Ask Me Anything. Both for me and my pool of Product experts (who I have mainly pinched from twitter, not gonna lie). We’ll answer your questions and try to give that tailored advice where we can.
I think the content speaks for itself. Hopefully you can see that, through this newsletter, I will be giving you a well-rounded approach to getting so ready for interview that they have no choice but to hire you. Hell, I might even poach you one day!
So how does this work?
There are two versions of this newsletter.
Build a BASIC Product Manager - this is the newsletter where I’ll share with you what I plan on helping you with. I’ll also share a couple of helpful articles to help you along your way. I want everyone to be able to access top Product knowledge. It’s monthly and it’s free.
Build a PREMIUM Product Manager - this is the newsletter where the real shit happens. This is the one where you’ll learn from my experience and insider knowledge to land that Product Manager job you’ve been after. In each issue, there’ll be a “land that PM job” focus, sharing my crucial insights and tips, links to articles and resources by super smart Product people, and a deep dive into a PM must-have skill. It’s a monthly* newsletter and costs just £3.50 a month (or £40 a year for a little discount).
*Depending on feedback, this could become fortnightly. But there will be so much content in the monthly newsletter, that I’m sure it’ll tide you over for the month.
What now? You’ll know which newsletter you wish to sign up for. If you’re on the right one for you, excellent - stay exactly where you are. The content will come. If you feel you’d like to upgrade to the Premium version (and thanks to the so very many of you that are on this subscription already!), click the big button.
Or have a colleague, friend, child, niece or nephew that is desperate to get into Product? The newsletter makes a great gift. (But you must also take them out for a celebratory pint or pizza when they get the job - which they will - as well. That’s an order!).
It’s not an exaggeration to say that every day, when I think about being a Product Manager, I feel proud. My career has been a bumpy one, I’ve tried just about every role under the sun, and I feel deeply grateful to have discovered a role I love so much, and actually to get to do every single day. I want you lot to feel the pride that I feel when you show up at work each day; the kind of pride that makes you smile and feel contentment.
So please hang around. And if you’d like to get that fuzzy feeling when you’ve built yourself your very own Product Manager (and, that’s just you in your shiny new PM role, by the way), the Premium membership is for you.
Big Product Love,
Jacs