The best PMs I know are early adopters of the latest products. They try dozens of apps, tear them down, and develop an eye for what makes an app tick. It’s the repeated process of learning, feedback, and iteration that both improves the product and the builder’s sense of what makes for an improved product. This is one of the most sought after skill. Deconstruct products that you use on a daily basis.

Every week, try at least one new product, feature, or service and think deeply about it. Share your thoughts on it with your friends. This way you will create a portfolio of product deconstructs.
Every week, have at least one conversation or reflection about how a specific product decision impacts its intended audience.

What is deconstruction?

Deconstruction involves critical thinking and answer some questions with regards to the product!

What works?	What doesn’t work?	How to improve it further?
Describe what features in the product for you?	Describe what features DON'T work in the product for you?	How would you compete with this product?
Explain why it works?	Explain why it doesn't work? How would you fix this problem?	What can make this product 10x better?

Do this for every product that you use and dig deeper into specific flows that you may not have discovered before? Create a portfolio of all your deconstructs.

Exercises to build a better product intuition

Exercise 1

To get better at identifying the key components, establish a shallow working knowledge of a wide range of subjects. The breadth of knowledge will give you enough context about the business and technology trends for any product. You want to know enough so that you’re able to say “hey, competition matters in this market.”

If you’re studying for a generalist PM role: (1) Google search trends for each Apple App store category, and (2) research recent news articles about top 3-5 apps in each category.
If you’re studying for a non-generalist PM role (e.g. fintech, marketing tech, blockchain, health tech), then go deep on the latest trends for that industry.

Exercise 2

Practice articulating why the 3-4 components you chose (among the 10+ components in a typical PM framework) makes a material difference in increasing the chance of success for an app. For every product sense interview question, ask yourself:

I’m the real CEO for this product. What do I absolutely need to get right to win in this market?

Think about all of the PM frameworks: competition, user experience/design, economics, technology, market, user segments and business models. Then, pick five and number them in order of importance. Then, articulate why #1-3 are materially more important than #4-5. Practice until you can give compelling reasons, or shift the priority and practice again.

Interviewers are looking for interviewees who treat every pixel as an intentional product decision. Further, they expect interviewees to explain why a certain product decision was superior to all other alternatives, given a product’s goal and target user. This is especially important in two parts of the product sense interview: