During my interview process at Asana, I made a mistake that I thought would cost me the role. It was during the product design question, where I was asked to design a “YouTube for kids”. My training for this question was pristine. I could do it my sleep. The Why, the Who, the prioritization. All was going great until they asked me about the success criteria. What was the exact action I wanted to use to measure engagement? I opened my mouth and said: “Reproduction count”. Everyone in the room looked at me, puzzled. What I had just said made no sense whatsoever. You see, English is not my first language. In Spanish, we use the word “Reproducción” to refer to a video view count. My answer was good, only that for my American audience, I had used the word for "making babies”. Great. That threw me off, so I tried to finish the exercise the best way I could. I gave myself a hard time for days, convinced that I had bombed the exercise with my crappy English. But I hadn’t. I got the offer. Years later, talking to my manager at Asana, we recalled that moment. I told her I was mortified at the time. She looked at me and shrugged: “No biggie, your process was great, so that didn’t matter”. Mistakes are amplified 10-fold when you are the one making them. It’s called the “spotlight effect”. Remember that and carry on. No biggie. Learn strategies to land a Product Manager job, for free ➡️ arijanover.com #productmanagement #jobsearch #aspiringpms #productmanagers #interview #jobinterview
😂😅 I always add -tion to every word that I don’t know in English…
Ari Janover Kudos for turning an awkward moment into a valuable lesson! It perfectly highlights the importance of focusing on the overall quality of our work and not getting too hung up on minor errors. It also reflects the understanding and supportive company culture where the emphasis is on the process and potential rather than perfection.
Great take, Ari
Totally agree, the most important thing is training, doesn’t matter the accent or vocabulary but the importance is the right process and good communication.
If that's the "spotlight effect", what's it called when I get stuck in a shame spiral, ruminating on mistakes I made in the past over and over and over....
oh man i love this story so much ari! glad you are with us!
Global Product Manager at NedGraphics
1moWasn't this YouTube for kids? Emphasizing ‘reproduction’ is a smart way to grow your audience. Clever strategy!