Chris Favorite Interview Question

Chris Favorite Interview Question describes a hiring question a PM manager can use: ask candidates to rank four work attributes (execution, creativity, strategy, growth) from strongest to weakest. The exercise reveals self-awareness and how candidates handle discussing their weaknesses, which is more useful than the generic 'tell me about your weaknesses.' For managers, it also guards against hiring clones of themselves by framing the team as a diversified portfolio of strengths. The author argues teams should be assessed collectively and hires made to fill deficiencies, with the manager doing the same self-assessment. Mandatory traits like intelligence and communication sit outside this portfolio.

01Key takeaways

• Ask candidates to rank broad work attributes to surface self-awareness and their honest view of weaknesses.
• Judge candidates against what you observed elsewhere in the interview, not just their self-description.
• Assess your team as a portfolio of skills rather than a set of all-round stars.
• Match PM strengths to stage: creative leaders for early products, execution-heavy leaders for mature ones.
• Periodically rank your own attributes and hire people who cover your deficiencies.
• Treat core traits like intelligence and communication as baseline requirements, not portfolio items.

02Key sections

The interview question

A late-stage interview prompt asks candidates to stack rank four broad attributes, with no right answer, to open an honest conversation. The four are execution, creativity, strategy, and growth.

What it reveals about candidates

The answer shows how candidates discuss self-assessed weaknesses and their self-awareness. Interviewers should be skeptical when a candidate's self-view clashes with what they observed elsewhere.

Guarding against clone hiring

Managers use the question to check their own biases and avoid building a team of one-dimensional copies of themselves. The team should be seen as a diverse portfolio of skills.

Matching attributes to team needs

Creative PMs suit early-stage products, execution-heavy PMs suit mature products, strategy-oriented PMs help with vision and portfolio, and growth-oriented PMs help with process and team management.

Table stakes and self-assessment

Intelligence, communication, leadership soft skills, and passion for product are mandatory and not part of the portfolio. Managers should periodically rank their own attributes and hire to cover their gaps.

03From the post

“A partnership dedicated to teaching best practices to product teams and product leaders”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.