Sunday Rewind: Hiring product managers by Kate Leto

This week’s Sunday Rewind is a 2023 ProductTank Edinburgh talk from consultant Kate Leto on a different way to approach hiring product managers. Kate’s talk runs through working towards a balanced product practice by focusing on human skills, as well as technical, three steps to change your hiring process and creating change on a personal and team level.

Product management is a practice of technical skills and human skills, she says, and there is a human skill attached to every task carried out using technical skills. The traditional hiring process is outdated and too rigid, so we lose sight of the skills needed in product people and miss out on a prime opportunity to focus on human skills and hire for them.

To improve your hiring process, build a role that matters, and to do this she suggests using her role canvas. You should also ask behavioural-based interview questions and reflect and respond so that you can continuously learn through the hiring process.

Kate concludes that “the secret to building a balanced product practice is you”. In order to hire a new team member with human skills, you must have them yourself.

Watch the original talk: Hiring product managers by Kate Leto