30-Day Facebook PM Interview Study Guide
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The document is a comprehensive 30-day study guide for preparing for Facebook's Product Manager interview, outlining daily tasks, readings, and exercises. It focuses on developing skills in product sense, execution, metrics, and leadership through a structured approach using the 'circles' framework and various practical exercises. The guide emphasizes the importance of practice, real-life application of concepts, and understanding user empathy to excel in the interview process.
30-Day Facebook PM Interview Study Guide
- 1. 10 30-Day Facebook PM Study Guide Day 1. Getting familiar with Facebook’s PM Interview Tasks Read Lewis’ blog post: “Facebook Product Manager Interview: What to Expect and How to Prepare” bit.ly/fb-pm-int-tips Goal Know the scope and nature of the Facebook PM interview. Day 2. Product Sense Interview: Getting familiar Background Reading Read about the CIRCLES design method in Decode and Conquer. Review the product design examples from Decode and Conquer to see how CIRCLES is applied. Exercises Do exercises from: Chapter 12, Product Design: Pain Point Exercises Chapter 11, Product Design: Customer Journey Map Exercises Goals Learn about product sense questions. Understand the product sense framework, CIRCLES. Observe how others answer interview questions with CIRCLES. Practice two parts of the CIRCLES framework: c. Listing (brainstorming) solutions d. Reporting customer needs (customer journey map). Day 3. Product Sense: Putting questions together with the CIRCLES Method™ Exercise Do the following product design exercises in The Product Manager Interview: Improving Facebook for the Web Improving Facebook Mobile Goals
- 2. 11 Detect and deduce how your response differs from the sample. As you become more aware of the differences, your own responses will improve. For now, do not worry about response quality or speed. Getting started, by practicing, is half the battle. Day 4 to 10. Product Sense: Practice one question per day Exercise Complete one example a day for the next seven days, choosing from the list of questions from The Product Manager Interview, below. 1. People You May Know 2. Instagram UX 3. Improving Facebook Login 4. Favorite Product 5. Favorite Website 6. Car for the Blind 7. ATM for the Elderly 8. Physical Product Goals Easily explain why CIRCLES leads to better interview responses. Understand when, how and why one should adapt CIRCLES. Day 11-13. Product Sense: CIRCLES in Real-life Exercise Improve your product design skills further by applying the CIRCLES Method™ to real-life. For each one of the next three days: 3. Walk around the neighborhood. 4. As you walk, use the CIRCLES Method™ to improve everyday items. Here are some design problems to ponder: How to improve sidewalks? How can street lamps be more effective? Build a product to solve the dog poop problem. What new products can prevent flat tires in cars or bikes? What innovation can make gardening less of a chore? What innovative new product can make park gatherings be more social, with strangers? Goal Acculturating a product design mindset 24 hours a day, both at the interview and in your everyday life.
- 3. 12 Day 14*. Product Sense: Find a practice partner Exercise Sign up for the product management interview practice group on Slack: bit.ly/PMInterviewGroup Post a request for a partner or partners in the #req-practice-ptr channel. Take turns during your practice session. That is, Partner A (interviewer) gives a case to Partner B (interviewee). Then, swap roles. Coordinate in advance which case each person will receive; to simulate the interview environment, the interviewee should do an unfamiliar case. The interviewer should take time to acquaint themselves with the question and the sample answer. * Repeat the partner practice activity as often as you would like. The best candidates will have practiced at least 20 product sense cases. Goal Master the product sense interview. It is a common reason why candidates fail the Facebook PM interview. If you have committed yourself to thoughtful practice, you should be an expert when it comes to tackling product design questions. Use the guidelines below to gauge your product design proficiency: A novice suggests the obvious or copies competitive features. An expert suggests novel and memorable ideas. An expert suggests ideas that make the interviewer go, “Hmm, I wish I thought of that; maybe I should build a company based off of that idea.” A novice mentions shallow user insights. The novice does not take interest in users or their motivations. The novice is deficient in user empathy. The expert is a lifelong learner of human psychology and behavior. An expert continually asks questions about what people do and why they do it. As a result, an expert easily points out insights that are urgent, relevant, and surprising. A novice follows the CIRCLES Method™ step-by-step, like a home cook trying to make a sophisticated soufflé for the first time. The novice is afraid of making mistakes and clings tightly to a prescribed framework. The novice is so busy trying to recall the different steps of the CIRCLES framework that the novice’s responses sound robotic and textbook. The expert understands that a framework is a checklist, not a recipe. The expert understands that CIRCLES is there to prevent errors of omission. CIRCLES is there to help ensure that the listener’s experience is complete, satisfying and possibly even entertaining. Day 15. Execution Interview: Getting familiar Introduction Interviewers are testing your judgment in choosing a reasonable goal, along with your ability to defend your opinion. Example
- 4. 13 Imagine you are the PM in charge of Reactions on Facebook - the new way to interact with posts by using “love”, “haha”, “wow”, “sad”, and “angry” reactions. Your gut tells you that the average number of these reactions per post will be less than the current average number of likes per post. What would success look like in terms of number of non-like reactions per post at launch and how do you come up with this? Would this number differ by reaction? Why or why not? How to Approach 1. Brainstorm a list of metrics. 2. Identify a shortlist of 2 to 3 potential metrics you’d consider as the “success” metric. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each. 3. Make your final recommendation. Exercises Do exercises from: Chapter 15, Metrics: Brainstorming Exercises Chapter 16, Metrics: Prioritization Exercises Goal Get familiarity in coming up with and identifying good metrics. Additional Background Reading Read about the AARM framework in Decode and Conquer. Read metrics examples in Decode and Conquer to get familiar with metrics questions in an interview setting. Day 16 to 18. Execution Interview: Diagnosing problems Introduction Tests your ability to diagnose and explain a drop in a critical metric. Examples Weekly active usage dropped on Android. Why? Facebook signups dropped. Why? How to Approach 1. Build an issue tree (aka diagnostic map). 2. Systematically explore each issue. 3. Deduce the issue by process of elimination.
- 5. 14 Exercises Do exercises from: Chapter 17, Metrics: Diagnose Exercises Goals Gain proficiency in brainstorming a complete and exhaustive list of issues when troubleshooting a metric. Day 19 to 21. Execution Interview: Solving problem with a metric Introduction Tests your ability to diagnose an issue and suggest a solution. Examples You are the PM of Facebook Ads. Ads return rate has gone down 5%. What do you do? How to Approach 1. Build an issue tree (aka diagnostic map). 2. Systematically explore each issue. 3. Deduce the issue by process of elimination. 4. Brainstorm a list of at least 10 ideas to solve the issue you’ve root caused. 5. Describe pros and cons for your top 3 solutions. Top 2 is okay if you’re short on time. 6. Recommend a single solution out of your top 2 to 3. Exercises Do exercises from: Chapter 18, Metrics: Putting it Together Goals Build proficiency in solving metrics problems, along with identifying, prioritizing and diagnosing. Day 22 & 23. Execution Interview: Giving your strategic opinion Introduction Sometimes interviewers ask for your strategic opinion, as a way to test your ability to reason out a course of action. Example What are the trade offs between having advertisements vs. no advertisements on Facebook?
- 6. 15 Exercises Do exercises from: Ch. 19 - Hypothetical: Opinion Ch. 20 - Hypothetical: Problem Solving Ch. 23 - Strategy: Other Goals Demonstrate that you comprehend the situation, including appropriate goals, constraints, and risks Develop a plan or criteria for evaluating the issue Provide analysis Make a recommendation Day 24 to 26. Execution Interview: Crunching Numbers Introduction Facebook is looking for product managers who are data-driven in their approach. That means making executive decisions backed with data. The two question examples below do not beg for a quantitative approach, but my debriefs with Facebook hiring managers indicate that they want candidates to do a back-of-the-envelope calculation supporting their recommendation. Example How would you decide between showing more ads on the Facebook News Feed vs. showing a People You May Know recommendation widget? We’ve outsourced a critical mobile app to a third-party developer. How do we decide when to take that development in house? Exercises Do exercises from: Ch. 6 – Analytics: Estimation Ch. 8 – Analytics: Pricing New Products Ch. 9 – Analytics: Pricing Existing Products Ch. 10 – Analytics: ROI Day 27 to 29. Execution Interview: Revisiting Product Sense with Execution Emphasis Introduction Sometimes FB interviewers will ask a question that focuses only on a product’s execution (aka implementation) details.
- 7. 16 Examples Interviewer says that based on the reports gathered, two-factor authentication (2FA) seems like a good first option to implement. What sort of things would I consider upon the development of 2FA to ensure that the development and adoption go well? Imagine you are the product manager behind launching the Safety Check feature. Walk me through the various product design and software engineering tradeoffs you had to consider when defining which features would make it to minimum viable product (MVP). How to Approach 1. Diagram or wireframe how a feature would work 2. Discuss strengths, weaknesses and tradeoffs of the implementation 3. Propose alternate solutions, if appropriate 4. Make a recommendation on what the final development plan should be This is essentially the “LES” (last three steps) of the CIRCLES Method™. Exercises Choose exercises from Ch. 14 – Product Design: Putting it Together with either a wireframing or implementation emphasis. Day 30. Leadership Interview: Getting familiar Introduction Facebook firmly believes that good PMs are strong leaders. They evaluate a PM candidate’s leadership and drive by evaluating the four criteria below: 1. Introspection. Is the candidate self-aware, especially of their own flaws? 2. Emotional Intelligence. Does the candidate get along with others? 3. Leadership & team building. Does the candidate enjoy leading others and building teams? 4. Vision. Does the candidate get excited about technology? Can they set a bold and inspiring vision? Examples What’s a self-development area that needs improvement? Tell me a time when you disagreed with an engineer. How did you convince him or her? What’s your favorite project where you played a leadership role? What’s a technology trend that you’re excited about? Exercises Choose appropriate exercises from Ch. 19 – Hypothetical: Opinion and Ch. 26 – Behavioral.