interview prep no. 48

Breaking Down & Sorting Stories | Users Over Pirate Metrics | Airlines Make It Work | Don't Forget the Tension | Self-Care | More Amazon Mocks | Bias for Action

Death Valley - More life (and green) than I expected.

This Week’s Highlights

1. Job Search Breaking Down & Sorting Stories

2. Execution Users Over Pirate Metrics

3. GenAI Airlines Make It Work

4. Communication Tip Don’t Forget the Tension

5. Getting Your Foot in the Door Self-Care

PAID SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

1. Coach's Mock Amazon Practice (yes, again)

2. Insider Info Bias for Action

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Job Search

Breaking Down & Sorting Stories

The market is tough, and so I am going above and beyond preparing for my Amazon interviews. I have: listed all my stories, sorted, deduped, practiced verbally, written long form, and reached out to old engineering partners to job my memory on technical challenges.

For some of you, this is a bit overboard. For me, it is a sign of the times. I can’t risk it. I need to know my stories backward and forward. But most importantly, I need to make sure I don’t repeat stories, as that is a deal breaker.

What I did:

• List out by hand

• Spreadsheet

• Tag

• Sort

• Remove duplicates

• Kill weak stories

• Rank Stories

• Determined story for written submission requirement

• Write out key stories

Was this overkill? Maybe/Maybe not. We shall see.

Feeling overwhelmed with the process. I have been writing this blog each week since I started my job search. This is 11, which means I have been at this 11 weeks, or 77 days, or 2.5 months. Job searches are lengthy affairs.

Read more here (including a link to my spreadsheet).

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Execution

Users Over Pirate Metrics

I know I have written about this topic a lot, but 80%+ of the people who come to me for help on product design/sense and execution cases still fall into this trap, so I will address it again.

The goal of a product company is NOT engagement or retention. The goal of a product company is to solve a problem for a user. Yes, you might pivot from a growth to an engagement strategy at a high level, but your goal is NOT engagement or retention.

Most people who come to mock with me try to force their metrics into one or more of the 5 metrics called pirate metrics because the anagram sounds like the sound we grew up being told pirates make.

What are they:

• Acquisition

• Activation

• Retention

• Referral

• Revenue

This list is for different categories of metrics NOT the goal. Read more here from Product Plan on Pirate Metrics.

When you come up with a goal, use the language of the user, not a Silicon Valley investor.

The story is here on my blog.

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GenAI

Airlines Make It Work

This week, I heard about one of the rare wins in GenAI. Something that is more than hype. The New York Times wrote about How Airlines are Making Travel Eaiser with AI. While they didn’t get into the technical details, as technologists, we can make educated guesses about how they are doing it.

As product managers, we can learn how to solve REAL problems with GenAI practically. The story talks about four major breakthroughs:

• Holding flights for ~10 minutes to save 13 people from being rebooked

• Prioritizing messages with suggested responses based on urgency

• Making decisions that save fuel

• Using real information to keep people informed, increasing trust and reducing frustration

Learn more on my blog.

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Communication Tip

Don’t Forget the Tension

This week a friend reminded me I was forgetting the basics of business storytelling when they reminded me to anchor my listener of the motivations and/or pains of both parties when telling my story.

Roughly 80-90% of behavioral stories are about some sort of tension or trade-off.

• Prioritizing User Over Business

• Disagreement with ___________ partner (fill in the blank)

• Time you dove into the data

• Time you made a tough call

When you set up your story, don’t forget to set up the tension.

For example: My story about trying to get a third-party vendor to move to a new Google platform:

• Google’s Goal: Launch a new privacy-safe solution and get it out on time to avoid bad PR

• Third-Party Vendor: Move to a new platform with as little disruption to their business and customers as possible.

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Getting Your Foot In the Door

Self-Care

This week, I was telling a client how I was prioritizing self-care to help me get a new role. I thought I was mostly lamenting how I had fallen behind in the basics of life because of the job search, but they thanked me for sharing because they felt the similarly. This left me inspired to remind you all that part of getting your foot in the door is taking care of yourself. Over the last few weeks I have:

• Returned to running

• Added walking for fat burn to my routine

• Eating Salads daily (increasing fiber) to improve my diet

• Intermittent Fasting to shed pounds

• Clean my kitchen daily - to feel my space is clean and help my mind feel the same

• Try to go to sleep earlier (although this is the MOST difficult for this nocturnal person with insomnia)

This is a reminder, it is easy to sit at your desk all day and to give up exercise for studying. When we get depressed or in a funk, we justify comfort food, and the next thing we know we have gained 20 lbs+.

Don’t forget to take care of yourself. Even your coach, who knows better, falls into the same unhealthy patterns.