Hey folks 👋. This is Product Bites. The only product newsletter that’s more fun to read than an internal slack battle on the value of roadmaps. Let’s get into it.
🪓 Till’s take on PM interviewing
I’m interviewing a lot of PM candidates recently and thought to share my perception how to stand out - turn the tables and ask insightful questions. You're not just there to answer, but also to inquire, evaluate, and most importantly, engage:
Adopt an Exclusive Mindset: Picture yourself as a top pick with multiple offers. Just like dating, nobody is attracted to desperation. Display confidence and curiosity.
Preparation is Key: Before you step in, know what you want to uncover about the role. A well-prepared mind can identify the right opportunities and dodge the wrong ones.
Specific Questions Speak Volumes: Don't stick to a generic script. Dare to ask about team composition, product rituals, company culture, and PM retention. Challenge your interviewer with these:
"What are the biggest challenges in this role?" (Beware, the truth often lies here!)
"What are the tough parts of being a PM here? Any looming legal, compliance or GTM hurdles?"
"What's the least favorite part of the company culture?"
Unleash Your Curiosity: Use the '5 Whys' technique to peel back the layers of the onion. This will not only help you understand better but also show you're genuinely interested.
Time is of the Essence: Your potential manager's time is a golden opportunity. A riveting 45-60 minute conversation now will set the tone for your future interactions.
In a nutshell, a good interview should showcase your curiosity, evaluation skills, and an understanding that you have options. Think of interviews as a chance to meet new people and learn something new. Enjoy the process, and let them enjoy you!
🤌 Till’s Pick
An epic piece (+10k words) that took me a flight to Egypt to finally read it. It's more than just a blog - it's a time capsule on the history of product management, the pulsating heartbeat of market dynamics, and strokes of luck within the so-called browser wars. I’m not attempting to condense it - save it for later it’s worth reading.
Packy McCormick endorses the new browser 'Arc' within, which I've enjoyed using over the past two weeks. Use this link if you want to skip the waitlist.
💻 Tools
WebChatGPT - Maximize your efficiency with ChatGPT using this chrome extension, designed to pull data directly from the internet. Want a summary of a specific Reddit page? Done. This handy tool also solves the pre-2021 data training limitation.
Who said you need a nice UI?
SCISPACE - This one is excellent for aspiring academics like myself. This tool provides conclusions, contributors, and other information on any research paper. You can also highlight specific segments and receive explanations. This is the tool you need if you want to sound intelligent without putting in extra effort. You can chat with the specific paper in a co-pilot.
Feathery.AI - We all know it’s good practice to do a survey after a presentation or workshop. And then it’s the poor intern who has to create a form. Those days are over. Feathery creates questions on your topic of the box with a great UI to adapt and easy publishing. Free plan up to 250 submissions.
🤷♂️ Random
Productivity hack - Lofi: I'm not sure if I'm late to this trend. It's relaxing music (for whatever reason, combined with manga). There's a subreddit and new playlists arriving each day. Great to focus and work in open office spaces. (Reddit; Spotify playlist)
🌆 Industry and other stuff
I feel old. I remember when the iMac came out, 25 years ago. I was in boarding school when a fellow student brought it in. We all looked at this beautiful thing with awe. Its ads were great too. Managing software products is hard, but managing hardware products is next level. (link)
John Cutler provides a great list of "wrong answers" to the question of why something is on the product backlog. I've heard all of them. It's a great read. (link)
Stack Overflow traffic is decreasing while GitHub's is increasing. This might be related to the introduction of Copilot and AI, marking an interesting shift in how we write software. (link)
The "godfather of AI" who recently left his part-time position at Google believes that AI could be more problematic than climate change, as the solution to climate change is relatively straightforward. (link)
Microsoft released their Bing AI chatbot to everyone, which draws on the web and shares links, making it more suitable than ChatGPT for some tasks. It recommended me a direct flight from Berlin to Orlando - which unfortunately doesn’t exist. It’s good on recipes though. For more complex prompts, it seems weaker than using GPT-4 now. The future of search will be interesting. (link)
🤣 Memes to say goodbye
My favorite meeting: the annual product review
Sales celebrating the quarter:
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That’s a wrap. Keep building 💪
Till
