Jeff Bezos is known for a peculiar practice: he requires all senior Amazon product leaders to travel in time before every launch. Long before the product hits the market, the lead product manager (PM) has to write a Press Release (PR) from the future telling the world a phenomenal success story. The PR piece is never published, but it helps the cross functional team align itself on the goal.
This mental Jiu Jitsu has high ROI: it forces the PM to think through concrete milestones connecting the present with the future identifying potential risks and prioritizing what needs to be watched with hawk-eyed scrutiny.
When I first learned about Jeff’s time travel apparatus, I was excited to try it out. I was working on a new Google product helping hospitals eliminate CDs used to share medical images with patients. This work also enabled me to scratch my own itch: this picture is me after being handed a CD with my X-rays by the most advanced hospital in Tokyo and after paying a ￥5,000 fee.
Personal venting aside, after the MVP was out, I sat and wrote down in detail how the world would look like when we launched this medical image data exchange product. I made up our 2 first major customers, made a list of the core product features and listed the social channels that picked up the news. I even made up some quotes by customers and planted them in the PR. It looked so real that our product counsel reached out to confirm that the made up customers gave us permission to use the made up quotes in the press.
Fast forward 6 months. We launched Google’s first Healthcare cloud product in 6 countries. Believe it or not, 5 out of the 7 key features from the imaginary PR made it into the launch and the Mayo clinic was indeed our first big customer. Painting the mental image of the future state in writing has tremendous power to focus ideas and orient the team towards the common objective. This magnificent, unborn future makes prioritization easy. The leading question becomes “does it bring me closer to or further away from my North star?”
Now…you probably ask yourself: what does all this have to do with resumes and job hunting?
A lot actually. Working with aspiring product managers over the last 2 years, I met AJ. AJ was an MBA student in a top 50 US MBA program. He was hungry, driven and laser focused on his post-MBA dream job: he wanted to become a product manager in Google.
The problem was, AJ didn’t have any product experience and while his GMAT score was 710 signaling his math strength, his technical skills were maxing out at Excel macros. He admitted taking a class on SQL and Python but never using them.
It was hard telling AJ the truth. Silicon Valley thrives on a culture of positivity and people often act as cheerleaders far too long to be useful. I often see folks wasting their time on an objectively bad idea running east looking for a sunset. As a coach, my goal is to help people see reality for what it is: a starting point which you can grow from.
I told AJ verbatim: “Your current resume is B-. You need to be A+ to be noticed by a top tier tech company like Google.” He stared at me and got quiet for a good 60 secs. I could see all the scenarios running through his head. After the dramatic pause, his answer surprised me: “How long would it take to get to A+ ?”
I went into a hedged combo of “It depends..” and “a coach cannot tell an Olympic talent how long it would take them to practice…”. AJ interrupted me and repeated: “How long ?”.
Now it was my time to get quiet. I looked at AJ, I could see the hunger for action in his eyes. I said: “6 months.” His response was simple: “I’ll do it in 3.”
We built a plan. AJ needed to beef up his resume in the product experience dimension and expand on his technical skills to convey technical competence: since AJ already had some basic familiarity with Python and SQL. We came up with 2 ultra-focused projects where he could expand on these skills and produce something concrete that benefits users. This is known in the industry as product.
Now comes the best part: wanna guess what was this plan ? It was AJ’s future resume. The same way that Bezos has his PMs write PR from the future, AJ wrote his future resume. Even though he didn’t have all the experiences yet, he wrote them down in the resume as if he already had them. He designed his resume in advance to make sure he clears the Big Tech screening step without breaking a sweat. His resume became his action plan: it helped him focus on closing the resume:reality gap.
At this point you might ask yourself, how did he compress 2–3 years of solid PM experience into 3 months to get hired by Google? He didn’t. But he did learn how to build his network of support within Google to be on the shortlist for the moment entry level positions open up.
The future resume exercise drove AJ to develop 2 web SAAS products and an iPhone app in less than 90 days learning how to lead eng teams and collaborate with designers.
These started as side projects to close resume gaps but one of them is now generating $100 a month in revenue. Who knows, it might turn into a side business or a full-fledged startup.
In addition to the side projects, AJ’s clear vision of his career path made him stand tall as he entered any interview room. He crushed 9 out of the 10 interviews he had been invited to and he got 7 offers. He chose a food delivery startup in the Bay Area and he’s well on his way towards his long term career goals. He can choose Big Tech or hang out his own shingle with the skills he acquired.
Where have YOU used a future resume / PR technique in your professional life?
If you haven’t, how do you think this could help accelerate your career?
Comment below and tell me what you think.
P.S. I’m serious, go ahead and comment below.
