Not sure if this is even a thing but I thought I’d ask the community anyway.
One of the popular things to ask in our interviews is a 30-60-90 days plan - as in “if hired for this product manager position - what would be your first 30-60-90 days plan?”
I was wondering 2 things:
what would be YOUR 30-60-90 days plan - or what were your first 30-60-90 days like when you started your product management position?
is this even a good question for the interview (explainer: we offer a case of “build your product” scenario and it is one of the logical things to ask)? I know what I can get out of the candidate by asking this question but I want to see what others think about this.
As an interview question I think it’s terrible. A good 30-60-90 plan should be made together with the candidate and their direct manager. It often involves so many variables that they can’t guess yet (the famous unknown unknowns) that it’s unfair to judge them on this. Honestly it’s a better question to ask the interviewer to see how much they’ve thought about the role and how prepared they are for you to succeed.
Time is at a premium in interviews, use it wisely, talk about their past experience and how that lines up with your current needs. Talk about how they solved different challenges to see if they have the right experience and mindset to tackle the ones you are facing.
I’ve been asked this previously for an interview and usually answer as follows:
Here is my 30 day plan, based on the information I know. Mainly I’ll talk about how I will meet with stakeholders and my team 1:1, and I’ll be a sponge absorbing information about the company and product.
Here is what I have done in my previous companies and some of the skills that I may begin to show during the next 60 days. However, it’s completely dependent on the shape of the product, the team that is working on it, ongoing priorities, etc.
I do think it’s a super unfair interview question and would not recommend it. However, it could be a good way to see differentiation in candidates. I think most will give a standard answer for 30/60/90 days and not tell the truth of “It depends.”
+1 @james.tobias.gis the candidate generally does not have enough information to come up with a good plan. I have always struggled with this question. Your response helped. Thank you.