Summary of Gayle Laakmann McDowell & Jackie Bavaro's Cracking the PM Interview

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Sample Book Insights:

#1 A product manager is responsible for making sure that a team ships a great product. They are highly respected at most companies, but not more so than engineers. You must learn to lead your team without authority, influencing them with your vision and research.

#2 The product life cycle is a general pattern of Research Plan, Design, Implement Test, and Release. The product manager will be responsible for Research Planning and Release, while the technical product manager will be responsible for Design and Implement Test.

#3 The product manager begins planning and researching the next product or feature. The product manager is the expert on these topics, and should think deeply about the problems they are trying to solve and the goals of the features.

#4 The product manager’s role in product design varies between teams. Some have a detailed functional specification that is inspected, reviewed, and iterated on by developers, testers, and other PMs. Others have a more rapid design process, with minimal input from the PM.