LinkedIn’s product evolution and the art of building complex systems | Hari Srinivasan (LinkedIn)

1. Develop Systems Thinking

Cultivate the ability to see and understand entire systems and make decisions based on the whole, not just individual parts. This is a crucial and rare skill set for managing complex ecosystems and is highly valued in product leadership.

2. Align with Clear North Star

For product development, always align decisions and priorities with a clear North Star (e.g., “connecting people to economic opportunity” for LinkedIn). A clear North Star simplifies decision-making and ensures focus, especially in complex systems.

3. Take Ownership of Product

As a Product Manager, clearly understand and embrace your role to fully own your product, speak up about its direction, and drive it to the next level. Taking ownership attracts support and collaboration from others, making it easier to build and improve the product.

4. Continuously Build Side Projects

Regularly engage in building personal side projects or creative endeavors outside of work to maintain and strengthen your “builder muscle.” Building is at the heart of product management, and continuous practice prevents skill atrophy.

5. Work on Products People Love

Seek opportunities to work on products that genuinely resonate with users and that people love, to understand the full journey of creating successful products. Experiencing the success and user connection of a beloved product sets a high bar and provides invaluable lessons for a PM’s career.

6. Play to Your PM Strengths

Understand your core strengths as a PM (creator, data scientist, or general manager) and gravitate towards roles that leverage those specific strengths, rather than trying to be equally strong in all areas. Great PMs often excel at the “edges” of these skill sets, and focusing on your strengths can lead to greater success.

7. Validate New Ideas Rigorously

Use frameworks to validate new ideas by proving real-world need (e.g., “duct tape” solutions), prioritizing against acute pain points for a wide audience, and using data to validate. This ensures ideas are sound, address real problems, and are supported by evidence before significant investment.

8. Think in Growth Loops

When building products, design them with growth loops in mind, ensuring they have the inherent “fuel” to cascade and grow organically. This approach creates sustainable product growth and scalability.

9. Focus on Skills-Based Hiring

For job seekers, translate experiences into a set of skills; for recruiters, look for candidates based on skills rather than just traditional titles. This helps balance the marketplace and find suitable candidates who possess the necessary capabilities.

10. Add Credentials to LinkedIn Skills

For each skill listed on your LinkedIn profile or associated with a job application, add credentials such as work products, recommendations, or other evidence to demonstrate your proficiency. Recruiters actively look for these credentials, which help them recommend you to hiring managers and differentiate you from other candidates.

11. Optimize LinkedIn Skills Section

Pay close attention to and actively update the skills section on your LinkedIn profile, as its value is increasing in a skills-first hiring environment. While LinkedIn infers skills, explicitly listing and updating them ensures recruiters see your relevant capabilities.

12. Use ‘Open to Work’ Feature

Clearly mark yourself as “Open to Work” on LinkedIn to signal your intent to recruiters and the wider population. This is a high signal of intent and helps recruiters find you for relevant roles.

13. Detail Job Preferences in ‘Open to Work’

When using the “Open to Work” feature, provide detailed specifications about the particular kinds of jobs and roles you are seeking. More detailed intent ensures your profile is shown to the right recruiters and for the most relevant opportunities.

14. Signal Interest in Target Companies

On LinkedIn company pages, indicate your interest in a company even if no specific roles are open, so they receive a signal when new positions arise. This provides a high signal of intent to recruiters, potentially giving you an early advantage.

15. Form Relationships for Job Searching

Actively develop relationships with people in your target industry or companies, especially in a difficult job market. Relationships are always helpful for job opportunities and can be a differentiator.

16. Contact Hiring Managers Directly

Identify the hiring manager listed on job postings and proactively try to get in touch with them. This can be an effective way to make a direct connection, especially for senior roles.

17. Leverage Industry Experience for PM

When applying for PM roles, emphasize and zone in on positions where you have prior industry experience or a strong understanding of that industry. Industry knowledge can help you differentiate yourself from other candidates, especially if you lack specific functional PM experience.

18. Network for Senior Roles

For senior-level positions, focus on building long-term recruiting contacts and connecting with C-level individuals on LinkedIn, as direct applications are less common. Senior roles are often filled through recruitment and networking, rather than direct job applications.

19. Search Jobs by Values/Interests

When searching for jobs, consider filtering or looking for roles that align with your purpose or specific interests (e.g., AI), rather than just titles. This helps find roles that are a better fit and align with personal values, a growing trend in the job market.

20. Implement RAPID Decision Framework

Implement the RAPID framework (Recommender, Agree, Input, Decision-maker) to clarify roles in decision-making, ensuring a single decision-maker is identified. This helps manage complexity and ensures decisions are made quickly and clearly, especially in large, interconnected organizations.

21. Implement 5-Day Escalation Rule

Establish a rule where managers are accountable to resolve or escalate issues within five days, pushing unresolved items to the next level of leadership. This prevents blockages and ensures timely resolution of complex issues in an ecosystem.

22. Shorten Product Review Meetings

Experiment with significantly shortening product review meetings (e.g., to 15 minutes) to encourage quick problem statement articulation and design discussion, and prevent institutionalization. This increases efficiency, gets to clarity faster, and avoids lengthy, document-heavy processes.

23. Explore LinkedIn Learning

Check out LinkedIn Learning for professional skill development, especially if your company provides access, as it’s a valuable resource often overlooked by individuals. It offers high-quality, professionally tailored content to help individuals acquire new skills for career advancement.

24. Understand Current PM Job Market

Acknowledge that the PM job market is currently difficult, with tech hiring down significantly and PM roles trending below other tech functions. This context helps set realistic expectations and informs job search strategy.