Building a product team: mission, role mix, hiring order and ways of working

In a product manager interview at Netflix, the interviewer asks how you would go about building a team. Explain how you would decide what the team needs, which roles and people you would bring on and in what order, and how you would set the team up to work well. ```hint Work backward from the mission Before naming any roles, pin down what the team has to achieve and how mature the product is. Remember that a PM usually shapes a cross-functional team whose engineers and designers report to other managers. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Is this a new team for a new product or initiative, or a reshaping of an existing team? - Will I have hiring authority, or am I assembling engineers, designers and analysts who report to their own managers? - Is the work early-stage exploration, or scaling a product that already works? - Is there a fixed headcount, and how soon must the team deliver? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Anchoring the team's shape on its mission, success measures and the product's stage before choosing roles. - A reasoned mix of functions and seniority, with a hiring sequence that starts with the key leads. - Clear criteria for what to look for in people and how they will be assessed, including diversity of background and thinking. - How the team is set up to work: goals, decision rights, operating rhythm and onboarding. - How the candidate would tell whether the team is working, and how they would adjust it as the product evolves. ### Follow-up Questions - You can fill only three roles in the first quarter. Which three, and why? - How would your plan change if most members were on loan from other teams and reported to other managers? - Six months in, a high performer is damaging collaboration on the team. What do you do?