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Hari Srinivasan (LinkedIn)16 July 2023

LinkedIn’s product evolution and the art of building complex systems

7Frameworks
13Insights

Episode overview

LinkedIn VP of Product Hari Srinivasan explains how LinkedIn connects people to economic opportunity across intertwined hiring, learning, content, and relationship marketplaces. He describes the durable shift toward skills-first hiring, gives tactical advice for job seekers and aspiring product managers, and explains how LinkedIn uses clear decision ownership and escalation rules to manage complexity. The conversation also covers LinkedIn Learning, the company's internal Product University, Hari's side projects, and his recommendations for books and media.

Key ideas

  • LinkedIn treats its feed, professional network, hiring products, and learning products as connected marketplaces organized around connecting people to economic opportunity.
  • Skills-first hiring broadens candidate discovery beyond job titles by translating experience into skills and attaching evidence or credentials to those skills.
  • Job seekers can improve visibility by signaling intent through Open to Work and company-interest features, while demonstrating relevant skills, work products, relationships, and industry knowledge.
  • Complex product ecosystems require attention to second-, third-, and fourth-order effects rather than isolated feature outcomes.
  • LinkedIn uses RAPID to establish one clear decision owner and a five-day alignment rule to escalate unresolved blockers.
  • Strong product managers often excel at an edge of the craft—creation, data and pattern recognition, or general management—and should choose roles that leverage that strength.
  • Product managers build judgment by owning product direction, repeatedly making things, validating acute and widespread pain, and studying both successful and failed case studies.

Transcript available · source text is retained privately and is not published

Frameworks in this episode

Communication4 steps

Job Seeker Signal Playbook

Win a recruiter's search by broadcasting two signals: proven skills and clear intent

Read →
Innovation4 steps

New-Idea Validation Bar

Prove real demand with 'duct tape', then prioritize ideas by pain-point sharpness and reach

Read →
Productivity3 steps

Orange and Red Priorities Planning

Leaders name the non-negotiable 'big rocks' up front, then teams plan around them

Read →
Leadership3 steps

RAPID + Five-Day Escalation

Name one decision-maker and put a clock on every unresolved decision

Read →
Innovation3 steps

Second- and Third-Order Effect Mapping

In connected systems, trace a change's ripple effects before you ship it

Read →
Strategy3 steps

Skills-First Hiring

Rebalance a stuck labor market by matching people on transferable skills, not job titles

Read →
Leadership3 steps

The PM Skills Triangle

Great PMs live on the edges of the creator / data-science / GM triangle, not the center

Read →

People & resources mentioned

Attributed to the moment in the episode. Timestamps are approximate.

People · 7

  • Lenny RachitskyMentionstoday we've got another very special compilation episode something I've been pulling on more and more with the podcast and the newsletter

    “Welcome to Lenny's podcast where I interview world-class product leaders and growth experts”

    ▶ Watch at ~0:30approx.
  • Hari SrinivasanMentionsHari's been at LinkedIn for 8 and 1/2 years and he leads the talent solutions product team as VP of product

    “Today my guest is Hari Srinivasan.”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:00approx.
  • Hari SrinivasanMentionsHari's been at LinkedIn for 8 and 1/2 years and he leads the talent solutions product team as VP of product

    “he leads the talent solutions product team as VP of product”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:30approx.
  • Jatin RajvanshiRecommendsJatin Rajvanshi, also known as the Curious PM

    “So, thank you, Jatin, for making this happen. It's all thanks to you.”

    ▶ Watch at ~6:00approx.
  • KumarMentionsthis guy Kumar who's just phenomenal

    “I was in an Uber with with the person runs a feed as who's is this guy Kumar who's just phenomenal.”

    ▶ Watch at ~7:30approx.
  • Ryan RoslanskyMentionswhen Jeff was CEO and Ryan and they are just exceptional at continuously repeating that

    “when Jeff was CEO and Ryan and they are just exceptional at continuously repeating that.”

    ▶ Watch at ~32:00approx.
  • DamianMentionsDamian who leads our growth team

    “Damian who leads our growth team comes in and he starts talking a lot about leading a kind of thinking in loops.”

    ▶ Watch at ~47:30approx.

Resources · 29

  • TwitterMentionswebsite · Twitter

    “On Twitter an account called The Curious PM tagged me with a request”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:00approx.
  • LinkedIn Talent SolutionsMentionsproduct · LinkedIn

    “he leads the talent solutions product team as VP of product”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:30approx.
  • LinkedInMentionswebsite · LinkedIn

    “Hari's been at LinkedIn for 8 and 1/2 years”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:30approx.
  • MiroUsessoftware · Miro

    “I actually used Miro to collaborate with the Miro team on creating my own board”

    ▶ Watch at ~3:00approx.
  • MiroverseMentionswebsite · Miro

    “I've also embedded a handful of my favorite templates that other people have published in the Miroverse.”

    ▶ Watch at ~3:00approx.
  • Brave SearchMentionswebsite · Brave Software

    “Brave Search is the fastest growing search engine since Bing”

    ▶ Watch at ~4:00approx.link ↗
  • Brave Search APIRecommendstool · Brave Software

    “The Brave Search API gives you access to its novel web-scale data with competitive features, intuitive structuring, and affordable costs.”

    ▶ Watch at ~4:30approx.
  • The Curious PMCoinedwebsite · Jatin Rajvanshi

    “Jatin Rajvanshi, also known as the Curious PM”

    ▶ Watch at ~5:30approx.
  • Lenny's NewsletterCoinednewsletter · Lenny Rachitsky

    “Also, it's become the biggest source of traffic for my newsletter, more so than Twitter”

    ▶ Watch at ~6:30approx.
  • Lynda.comMentionscompany

    “It was all through started with the Lynda acquisition.”

    ▶ Watch at ~15:00approx.
  • LinkedIn Economic GraphRecommendswebsite · LinkedIn

    “you can go to our economic graph site and you can see that how it compares across industry.”

    ▶ Watch at ~22:30approx.
  • Open to WorkRecommendsproduct · LinkedIn

    “If you're looking for a role, be open about it and tell the companies that you're looking for there.”

    ▶ Watch at ~26:00approx.
  • AirbnbUsescompany · Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk

    “When I was at Airbnb, one of the things that I loved most about working there was our experimentation platform”

    ▶ Watch at ~34:30approx.
  • EppoRecommendssoftware · Eppo

    “Check out Eppo at geteppo.com. That's geteppo.com and 10x your experiment velocity.”

    ▶ Watch at ~35:00approx.
  • RAPIDUsesother

    “we've kind of put in things like we have something called Rapid which is a really easy way to know who the decision-maker is.”

    ▶ Watch at ~37:30approx.
  • Ford Escape HybridMentionsproduct · Ford

    “At the time it was it was a hybrid escape and Ford.”

    ▶ Watch at ~49:30approx.
  • Ford Escape HybridUsesproduct · Ford

    “I was on the first team that did a hybrid kind of SUV in the in in the US.”

    ▶ Watch at ~49:30approx.
  • Mind of HariCoinedwebsite · Hari Srinivasan

    “I have a site that's called mindofharri cuz it is really whatever's top of mind.”

    ▶ Watch at ~52:00approx.
  • Parallel UniverseCoinedproduct · Hari Srinivasan

    “We made a board game recently that I know Stanford Design School or some professors there have been using and it was called parallel universe”

    ▶ Watch at ~52:30approx.
  • Stanford d.schoolMentionsplace · Stanford University

    “I know Stanford Design School or some professors there have been using”

    ▶ Watch at ~52:30approx.
  • Thinking in SystemsRecommendsbook · Donella Meadows

    “The first one is called Thinking in Systems. It's the one I give kind of the team every now and then”

    ▶ Watch at ~55:00approx.
  • Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and TomorrowMentionsbook

    “It's called Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I was recommended by a friend.”

    ▶ Watch at ~55:30approx.
  • An Immense WorldRecommendsbook

    “It is An Immense World. I don't know if you read that one.”

    ▶ Watch at ~56:00approx.
  • Star WarsUsesfilm · George Lucas

    “we are doing Star Wars with the kids, which is for the first time”

    ▶ Watch at ~57:00approx.
  • E.T. the Extra-TerrestrialUsesfilm

    “So, we watched ET, which is, you know, we kind of it's quite fun.”

    ▶ Watch at ~57:00approx.
  • LinkedIn LearningRecommendscourse · LinkedIn

    “I would check out LinkedIn Learning. I do think LinkedIn Learning is a gem”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:03:00approx.
  • Apple PodcastsMentionssoftware · Apple Inc.

    “you can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast app.”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:04:00approx.
  • SpotifyMentionssoftware · Spotify

    “you can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast app.”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:04:00approx.
  • Lenny's PodcastCoinedpodcast · Lenny Rachitsky

    “You can find all past episodes or learn more about the show at lennyspodcast.com.”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:04:30approx.

Spot an error or want something removed? Request a correction or removal.

Insights & moments

The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.

Hot Take· 1

Hot Take48:30

Great PMs Live on the Edges of the Skills Triangle

Hari lays out a triangle of three PM skills: creativity (a human Spielberg type), data science and pattern-seeing, and general management. His contrarian take is that he's never seen a great PM sitting in the center. The best ones live on the edges, exceptional at one or two, and he urges people to gravitate to roles that play to their strengths rather than shore up weaknesses.

  • Three PM skills: creator/storyteller, data science, and general management
  • Great PMs are strong on the edges of the triangle, not balanced in the center
  • People often waste energy trying to make up for their weaker corners
  • Advice: understand where you fit and gravitate toward roles matching your strengths

“I've actually never seen a great PM who's in the center of it. I find the great PMs live on the edges.”

Hari Srinivasan · 49:00
#product-management#career#skills#hiring

Explainer· 3

Explainer06:30

How LinkedIn Made Its Feed Less Cringe and More Valuable

Hari explains why LinkedIn's feed has shifted from a cringey place to post into a genuinely interesting one. The answer is a relentless focus on what members repeatedly say they want from the platform: knowledge and advice. That clarity, plus better machine learning and newer gen-AI-assisted prompts, is what let the team dial the knobs in the right direction.

  • Members consistently say they come to LinkedIn for knowledge and advice, not just connections
  • The feed connects opportunity two ways: in-network relationships and out-of-network knowledge
  • Better machine learning and clearer understanding of member value drove the improvement
  • New gen-AI-assisted prompts let people share perspectives to unlock knowledge at scale

“If there's anything with knowledge or advice, I think that's what a lot of people are looking for.”

Hari Srinivasan · 11:00

“we're starting to do a lot of things which are gen AI assisted, right? So you basically can come in and get some prompts and…”

Hari Srinivasan · 10:30
#linkedin#feed#content#algorithm
Explainer37:00

Managing a Complex System: Order Effects, RAPID, and the 5-Day Rule

Hari argues that managing interconnected products requires different skills than shipping standalone ones. Every change ripples into second, third, even fourth-order effects that must be anticipated and measured. To move fast despite all the ties, LinkedIn uses decision mechanisms like RAPID (a clear single decision-maker) and a five-day escalation rule.

  • Complex, interconnected products demand thinking through second, third, and fourth-order effects
  • RAPID assigns a single named decision-maker plus recommenders, agreers, and input-givers
  • The most important part of RAPID is having one name on the decision line
  • A five-day alignment rule forces unresolved escalations up to the next level
  • Personal rule: after three email back-and-forths pick up the phone; after 20 minutes on the phone, name a decider

“You have to think through third and and second and third and maybe even fourth order effects and kind of manage that as you go…”

Hari Srinivasan · 37:00

“if you had three back and forth in an email, you got to pick up the phone. And if you've been on the phone for…”

Hari Srinivasan · 38:30
#complex-systems#decision-making#product-process#leadership
Explainer43:30

What LinkedIn Learning Actually Is (and Its Film Studios)

Many people don't realize LinkedIn Learning exists inside LinkedIn. Hari explains it as a marketplace connecting learners and instructors that LinkedIn entered in 2015, growing out of the Lynda acquisition. The team brings the best instructors into film studios, helps write scripts, and produces polished content, with most usage running through enterprise.

  • LinkedIn Learning is a way to learn professional skills, entered as a business in 2015
  • It grew out of the Lynda acquisition and is one of the biggest enterprise learning products
  • LinkedIn runs two large film studios (Europe and Santa Barbara) with makeup artists and script writers
  • The pitch: take an expert who lacks time or on-camera polish and produce a great course
  • The vast majority of usage comes through company/enterprise access

“we entered the business in 2015 and the thesis was it's kind of we think about as a marketplace again.”

Hari Srinivasan · 43:30
#linkedin-learning#education#marketplace#enterprise

Story· 4

Story16:30

The COVID Moment That Sparked Skills-First Hiring

Watching COVID hit in March 2020, LinkedIn saw people losing jobs in hard-hit areas like hospitality while fields like customer service couldn't hire enough, yet the marketplace wasn't rebalancing. The reason: people search by job titles and don't realize their experience translates. LinkedIn's answer was skills-first hiring, translating experience into skills, and it has stuck.

  • Hospitality workers were losing jobs while customer service roles went unfilled
  • The marketplace stalled because people search by title, not by transferable skills
  • Skills-first hiring translates experience into a set of skills to rebalance the market
  • People in hospitality already have ~70% of the skills for customer service; the rest can be trained
  • Roughly 47% of recruiters now explicitly use skills when searching for candidates
  • A parallel shift: people searching for jobs by values, purpose, or interest via collections

“And you find a lot of people in hospitality have about 70% of the skills needed for customer service, and of course, you could train…”

Hari Srinivasan · 17:30

“And at this point, roughly 47% of our recruiters will come in and explicitly use skills when they start looking for candidates.”

Hari Srinivasan · 18:00
#hiring#skills#covid#job-market
Story20:30

How Open To Work Fought the Stigma of Job Hunting

Before Open to Work, people jerry-rigged posts to signal they were job hunting, and there was a stigma that anyone available must not be good. Hari traces the feature's phases: it started as a secret signal to recruiters, then became public around COVID when the stigma of unemployment shifted. He predicts an internal version will follow the same journey.

  • Early on, Open to Work was a secret signal visible only to recruiters
  • It became public around COVID as the stigma of unemployment changed
  • A stigma existed that being open to work meant you weren't good enough
  • LinkedIn is now testing open to internal work, which carries even more stigma with a current manager

“And there's always this sense that if you're open to work, you're not as good cuz why would you be amazing and open to work…”

Lenny Rachitsky · 20:30

“you could say you're open to work, but it was a secret signal to recruiters, if you will.”

Hari Srinivasan · 20:30
#open-to-work#job-seekers#linkedin#product
Story28:30

Getting Destroyed in His First Product Review at LinkedIn

Hari joined LinkedIn through a small acquisition, having never been a PM, and got destroyed in his first product review by then-CEO Jeff Weiner. He drove home thinking he might be fired. Given another shot, he threw out the borrowed advice and built from a single conviction, that the most important thing is connecting people to opportunity, and it went well.

  • Hari had never been a PM and leaned on borrowed advice for his first review
  • Jeff Weiner kindly told him it didn't make any sense; Hari thought he might be fired
  • On his second attempt, he built from the conviction of connecting people to opportunity
  • The story illustrates how LinkedIn's North Star cuts through complex decisions

“And and and I just remember driving home and kind of calling my wife and I got to think I might be fired.”

Hari Srinivasan · 29:00

“I do think it's a lot of repeat, repeat, repeat. I do think that's it.”

Hari Srinivasan · 31:30
#leadership#north-star#career#linkedin
Story53:30

The Homemade Gummy Bear That's 40% Sugar, Not 80%

On his side-project site mindofharri.com, Hari makes homemade gummy bears out of frustration with all the sugar around his kids. He shares a tidbit: something like a Twizzler is about 80% sugar because it's optimized for shelf life. His version is around 40% sugar, has five ingredients, and uses honey as the sweetener.

  • Twizzler-type candy is ~80% sugar, optimized for shelf life and store storage
  • Hari's gummy bears are ~40% sugar with just five ingredients
  • Honey is the sweetener because he didn't want alternative sweeteners for his kids
  • They're produced in a small commercial kitchen and stocked seasonally

“like a Twizzler or one of those, about 80% of what's in there is sugar because they're optimizing for shelf life, right?”

Hari Srinivasan · 54:00
#side-projects#building#food#mindofharri

Q&A· 2

Q&A22:30

PM Hiring Is Down ~50% Year Over Year, Plus How to Stand Out

Asked how PM hiring is changing, Hari shares that tech hiring is down about 50% year over year based on LinkedIn's public economic graph, with PM roles trending even slightly below software engineers. His three tips: build relationships, attach real evidence and credentials to your skills, and lean on relevant industry experience to differentiate.

  • Tech hiring is down about 50% year over year per LinkedIn's public economic graph data
  • PM hiring appears to be trending slightly below software engineers
  • Tip 1: form and develop relationships across LinkedIn
  • Tip 2: add credentials, work products, and recommendations as evidence against each skill
  • Tip 3: use relevant industry experience (e.g. automotive knowledge for automotive tech) to differentiate

“If you're having a hard time finding a PM role let's start with this you're probably not alone.”

Hari Srinivasan · 22:00

“But if you look at tech it's down about 50% year over year”

Hari Srinivasan · 22:30
#product-management#hiring#job-search#career
Q&A58:00

His Favorite Interview Question: The Most Complex Thing You've Built

Hari's favorite interview question is asking what the most complex thing someone ever built was. He's looking for two signals: whether the person gravitates toward genuinely hard, interconnected problems, and whether they can then simplify and explain the system, including the cause-and-effect and levers they used, or at least understand why they couldn't crack it.

  • The question surfaces whether a candidate is drawn to hard, complex problems
  • The hardest problems (connection, healthcare, education) are where the world improves most
  • The second signal is whether they can simplify and model what they built
  • Truly special people can explain the levers and cause-and-effect, even when non-linear

“I do like to ask people what kind of the most complex thing they ever built was.”

Hari Srinivasan · 58:00
#interviewing#hiring#complex-systems#product-management

Tool· 1

Tool55:00

Hari's Book Recommendations: Thinking in Systems and More

In the lightning round, Hari recommends three books. Thinking in Systems is the one he gives his team for its concrete detail on how to intervene at different points of a system. He also praises the novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and is currently enjoying An Immense World, about how animals sense the world differently than we do.

  • Thinking in Systems, the book he gives his team, is practical on intervening in systems
  • Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, a novel he found very well done
  • An Immense World, about animal senses and the limits of human perception

“The first one is called Thinking in Systems. It's the one I give kind of the team every now and then”

Hari Srinivasan · 55:00
#books#systems-thinking#recommendations

Takeaway· 2

Takeaway59:30

Great Products Turn a Moment of Annoyance Into Joy

Hari's favorite recent product is a $10 baby-shark toothbrush that turns two minutes of brushing into a game where his kid collects prizes. His son went from hating brushing to loving it. To Hari, that's what all great products do: they don't just solve the pain point, they convert a moment of annoyance into a moment of joy.

  • A ~$10 gamified toothbrush turned his son's brushing from a chore into something he loves
  • It doesn't just solve the pain point, it creates an unreasonable, delightful experience
  • Hari's product principle: turn a moment of annoyance into a moment of joy

“What I loved about it because I think it's what all great products do. They turns a moment of like annoyance to a moment of…”

Hari Srinivasan · 1:00:00
#product-design#delight#products#parenting
Takeaway1:00:30

Orange/Red Priorities and Shrinking Reviews to 15 Minutes

Hari regularly tweaks two areas of his process. For planning, he flips the usual bottom-up approach with orange and red priorities, naming the big rocks up front and honestly so teams plan around them. For reviews, he keeps shortening them, currently testing 15-minute reviews instead of an hour, because long-running review processes get institutionalized and bloated.

  • Orange and red priorities name the big rocks up front instead of planning bottom-up
  • This adds honesty and relieves friction in planning
  • Product review processes get institutionalized and document-heavy if kept too long
  • He's testing 15-minute reviews instead of an hour to reach clarity faster

“We said these are the big rocks we got to get done. We're going to get those things done first.”

Hari Srinivasan · 1:01:00

“could we get to like 15 minute reviews basically instead of an hour and see if that kind of alleviates some of this.”

Hari Srinivasan · 1:02:00
#product-process#planning#prioritization#meetings