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Ian McAllister (Uber, Amazon, Airbnb)20 November 2022

What it takes to become a top 1% PM

7Frameworks
15Insights

Episode overview

Lenny Rachitsky interviews Ian McAllister about the skills distinguishing exceptional product managers, with communication, prioritization, and execution emphasized for newer PMs. For senior PMs, Ian highlights thinking bigger, earning trust, and orienting daily work around business impact rather than promotion. They also unpack Amazon's working-backwards process, explaining that its essence is beginning with a genuine customer problem and using press releases, FAQs, and reviews as mechanisms to test the proposed solution and plan.

Key ideas

  • New product managers should concentrate first on communication, prioritization, and execution.
  • Clear communication means answering the question directly before explaining and continuously reviewing how each interaction could improve.
  • Strong prioritization can generate dramatically more impact by focusing limited team resources on the highest-leverage work.
  • Senior product managers should think beyond their formal functional boundaries, earn trust by repeatedly meeting expectations, and optimize for impact rather than promotion.
  • Trust grows through honesty, reliable delivery, ownership of mistakes, and genuine alignment with partner organizations.
  • Working backwards starts with a compelling customer problem; attaching a problem after choosing a technology or solution is not genuine working backwards.
  • Amazon's internal press release and FAQ are mechanisms for enforcing customer-first thinking, while the FAQ tests whether there is a legitimate plan to succeed.
  • A proposed investment should represent a big idea, fit what the company should do, and have a legitimate plan to succeed.

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

Frameworks in this episode

Strategy4 steps

Bezos's Three Tests for a New Bet

Big idea, right owner, legitimate plan — an idea needs all three or it dies

Read →
Leadership5 steps

The Career-Stage PM Skill Stack

Master three skills as a junior PM, three different ones as a senior — not all twelve at once

Read →
Leadership5 steps

The Cascading Metrics Review

One hour a week of public metric probing that forces every leader to actually know their business

Read →
Communication6 steps

The Operator's Manual (Answer First)

Answer the question, then explain — or shut up. The tactical checklist for PM communication

Read →
Innovation4 steps

The Pantry Test

If the idea starts with the ingredients you already have, you are not working backwards

Read →
Influence5 steps

Trust as Currency

Trust is built by repeatedly setting and meeting expectations — and it buys you resources

Read →
Innovation5 steps

Working Backwards (Problem-First Product Development)

Start from the customer problem, not the ingredients you happen to have in the pantry

Read →

People & resources mentioned

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

People · 18

  • Ian McAllisterMentionsIan has managed over 100 product managers in his career he spent 12 years at Amazon where he built Amazon smile

    “today my guest is Ian McAllister”

    ▶ Watch at ~0:00approx.
  • 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 I'm Lenny and my goal here is to help you get better at the craft of building and growing products”

    ▶ Watch at ~0:00approx.
  • Ian McAllisterMentionsIan has managed over 100 product managers in his career he spent 12 years at Amazon where he built Amazon smile

    “now he's at Uber leading Global product for the vehicles platform”

    ▶ Watch at ~0:30approx.
  • Lex FridmanMentionsthis reminds me of a story I just listened to on Lex Friedman's podcast

    “I've been hearing about eg-1 on basically every podcast that I listened to like Tim Ferriss and Lex Friedman”

    ▶ Watch at ~2:00approx.
  • Tim FerrissMentionsCited for his fear-setting framework and as an influence on Paul Millerd's five-episode podcast experiment.

    “I've been hearing about eg-1 on basically every podcast that I listened to like Tim Ferriss and Lex Friedman”

    ▶ Watch at ~2:00approx.
  • Ernest HemingwayMentionsThe Sun Alter Rises by Ernest Hemingway

    “there's this quote that is probably falsely attributed to Mark Twain and Hemingway often”

    ▶ Watch at ~7:00approx.
  • Mark TwainMentionsmentioned

    “there's this quote that is probably falsely attributed to Mark Twain and Hemingway often”

    ▶ Watch at ~7:00approx.
  • Kim RachmelerMentionsshe was Amazon's first TPM

    “when I went to Amazon I worked for Kim rackmuller”

    ▶ Watch at ~16:00approx.
  • Warren BuffettMentionsWarren Buffett who's outstanding arguable genius

    “there was a phrase I think Warren Buffett in the Berkshire Hathaway letter used at some point”

    ▶ Watch at ~23:00approx.
  • Sarah McAllisterMentionsmy wife Sarah is a is a product manager at AWS

    “my wife Sarah is a is a product manager at AWS”

    ▶ Watch at ~33:00approx.
  • Jeff WilkeMentionshe was sort of the consummate like operator

    “what did you learn from folks like Jeff Bezos and Jeff Wilkie about Building Product leadership company building”

    ▶ Watch at ~39:30approx.
  • Jeff BezosMentionsthe Jeff Bezos thing that like the success of today was set in motion three years ago

    “what did you learn from folks like Jeff Bezos and Jeff Wilkie about Building Product leadership company building”

    ▶ Watch at ~39:30approx.
  • Jeff BezosMentionsthe Jeff Bezos thing that like the success of today was set in motion three years ago

    “remember this process doesn't have to be efficient because the prerequisite for efficiency is knowing where you're going”

    ▶ Watch at ~41:00approx.
  • Jeff WilkeMentionshe was sort of the consummate like operator

    “he was sort of the consummate like operator”

    ▶ Watch at ~42:00approx.
  • Doug HerringtonMentionsmentioned

    “I think Doug Harrington has some of this as well is that the notion of kind of a little bit of tough love”

    ▶ Watch at ~44:30approx.
  • Hugh HoweyCoinedhe's probably my favorite author

    “the wool Trilogy by Hugh Howie he's probably my favorite author and a great series”

    ▶ Watch at ~59:30approx.
  • Vaclav SmilCoinedmentioned

    “energy and Civilization by vac love smell so it might not be on the best seller list but I thought it was interesting”

    ▶ Watch at ~59:30approx.
  • Gibson BiddleRecommendsGibson Biddle has this really simple framework of gem where you can basically purchase one of three things growth engagement or monetization

    “I said Gibson Biddle I think that he is one just tremendous amount of product experience”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:02:30approx.

Resources · 32

  • AirbnbMentionscompany · Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk

    “he also worked at Airbnb with me”

    ▶ Watch at ~0:30approx.
  • AmazonMentionscompany · Jeff Bezos

    “he spent 12 years at Amazon where he built Amazon smile and led the team responsible for growing Alexa internationally”

    ▶ Watch at ~0:30approx.
  • AmazonSmileCoinedproduct · Amazon

    “he spent 12 years at Amazon where he built Amazon smile”

    ▶ Watch at ~0:30approx.
  • AlexaUsessoftware · Amazon

    “led the team responsible for growing Alexa internationally”

    ▶ Watch at ~0:30approx.
  • UberMentionscompany · Uber

    “now he's at Uber leading Global product for the vehicles platform”

    ▶ Watch at ~0:30approx.
  • MixpanelRecommendssoftware · Mixpanel

    “see what mixpanel can do for you at mixpanel.com”

    ▶ Watch at ~2:00approx.
  • AG1Usesproduct · Athletic Greens

    “I finally gave it a shot earlier this year and it has quickly become a core part of my morning routine”

    ▶ Watch at ~2:30approx.
  • QuoraUseswebsite

    “I said lurk on core at the time and then I was just kind of having fun reading things and answering some questions”

    ▶ Watch at ~4:30approx.
  • What Separates the Top 1% of Product Managers from the Top 10%?Recommendsother · Ian McAllister

    “we'll link to it and you can check it all out”

    ▶ Watch at ~5:00approx.
  • Amazon Working Backwards processUsesother · Amazon

    “I wrote about the working backwards process which isn't my process I just used it and just described it”

    ▶ Watch at ~5:30approx.
  • MicrosoftMentionscompany · Bill Gates and Paul Allen

    “then moved to Microsoft as a program manager or pretty much a product manager the same thing there”

    ▶ Watch at ~8:30approx.
  • Amazon EchoUsesproduct · Amazon

    “LED Alexa Internationals to sort of scaling Alexa Echo to six more countries”

    ▶ Watch at ~9:00approx.
  • AirbnbMentionscompany · Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk

    “building out the customer support technology platform”

    ▶ Watch at ~10:30approx.
  • The Operator's ManualCoinedother · Ian McAllister

    “wrote a post called the operator's manual I sort of tried to gather all these things together”

    ▶ Watch at ~16:30approx.
  • SpotifyUsessoftware · Spotify

    “the thousands of product LED growth companies like Spotify Loom and callrail are using to infuse AI into their products”

    ▶ Watch at ~32:00approx.
  • CallRailUsessoftware · CallRail

    “the thousands of product LED growth companies like Spotify Loom and callrail are using to infuse AI into their products”

    ▶ Watch at ~32:00approx.
  • LoomUsessoftware · Loom

    “the thousands of product LED growth companies like Spotify Loom and callrail are using to infuse AI into their products”

    ▶ Watch at ~32:00approx.
  • AssemblyAIRecommendscompany · AssemblyAI

    “visit assemblyai.com to try assembly ai's API for free and start testing their models”

    ▶ Watch at ~32:30approx.
  • AWSMentionscompany · Amazon

    “my wife Sarah is a is a product manager at AWS”

    ▶ Watch at ~33:00approx.
  • Amazon Working Backwards processRecommendsother · Amazon

    “if you don't have that muscle to work backwards already in your team it's a great thing to try”

    ▶ Watch at ~51:00approx.
  • Getting RealRecommendsbook · 37signals

    “I said getting real by 37 signals and it's specifically the chapter on epicenter design I've shared that many many times”

    ▶ Watch at ~59:00approx.
  • 37signalsCoinedcompany · Jason Fried and co-founders

    “I said getting real by 37 signals”

    ▶ Watch at ~59:00approx.link ↗
  • How I Built ThisRecommendspodcast · Guy Raz

    “I think how I built this is really interesting just to kind of decompose how interesting businesses and products came about”

    ▶ Watch at ~59:30approx.
  • Wool TrilogyRecommendsbook · Hugh Howey

    “for fun the wool Trilogy by Hugh Howie he's probably my favorite author and a great series”

    ▶ Watch at ~59:30approx.
  • Energy and CivilizationRecommendsbook · Vaclav Smil

    “for learning just a recent one that I thought be super fascinating was energy and Civilization by vac love smell”

    ▶ Watch at ~59:30approx.
  • EV News DailyRecommendspodcast

    “EV News Daily is kind of a daily digest of what's going on in the electric vehicle space”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:00:00approx.
  • YellowstoneRecommendstv show · Taylor Sheridan and John Linson

    “Yellowstone that's definitely my favorite can't wait for the next season”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:00:00approx.
  • Everything Everywhere All at OnceRecommendsfilm · Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

    “everything everywhere all at once I love movies that are not predictable and I thought that was just very creative”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:00:30approx.
  • YouTubeUseswebsite · Google

    “to be honest YouTube it's like the you know Eighth Wonder of the world”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:01:30approx.
  • YouTubeRecommendswebsite · Google

    “it continues to be this resource and this Jewel that helps me kind of grow and learn about anything”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:01:30approx.
  • Ask GibRecommendsnewsletter · Gibson Biddle

    “he's got a great newsletter ass cubes.substack.com I think”

    ▶ Watch at ~1:03:00approx.
  • Lenny's Podcast websiteRecommendswebsite · 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.

Myth Buster· 1

Myth Buster57:30

The 'Ingredients in the Pantry' Sign You're Not Working Backwards

Ian's tell that a team isn't really working backwards: they talk about the assets they already have, two technologies or services they could combine into something new. That's solution-first, not problem-first. Real working backwards starts from a compelling customer problem that feels painful even before you know the solution, the painkiller-versus-vitamin distinction.

  • Watch for teams describing what they could combine from existing assets
  • Combining technologies because they 'look similar' is not working backwards
  • Big companies fall into this more because they have more ingredients on hand
  • Real working backwards starts from a compelling, painful customer problem

“we have these ingredients we could put them together we could add these two things together and make a meal out of it”

Ian McAllister · 57:30
#working-backwards#product-management#anti-patterns

Hot Take· 1

Hot Take18:00

A Great Prioritizer Delivers 5x the Impact

Ian's strongest claim about the PM job: with identical skill, intelligence, and resources, a PM who's innately great at prioritizing produces roughly 5x the impact of one who isn't. He credits his own early Amazon success not to being smarter or working longer hours, but to hunger for impact and ruthless prioritization that covered for his weaknesses.

  • Prioritization is the number-one key tool of a PM
  • Same skill and resources, a great prioritizer generates 5x the impact
  • Prioritization spans themes, projects, sequencing, scope, and time management
  • Ian says it compensated for a smaller working memory and less technical depth

“a product manager with a great innate ability to prioritize is going to generate 5x the impact of someone without that skill”

Ian McAllister · 18:00
#prioritization#impact#product-management

Explainer· 1

Explainer43:00

How Amazon's Weekly Business Review Built Operators

Ian describes the WBR (later Consumer Business Review), a one-hour meeting Bezos led covering metrics across the entire North American retail business. The pressure to be ready to explain variances and trends in your metric forced every leader to truly know their business, and the effect cascaded down as each leader ran the same drill with their own team.

  • One hour covered metrics for the whole North American retail business
  • Leaders had to be ready to explain variances and trends in their key metric
  • ~100 people in the room, each prepared to answer questions
  • The rigor cascaded down as leaders replicated it with their teams

“everyone there might be 100 people in that room prepared to answer questions about your business”

Ian McAllister · 43:30
#amazon#operations#metrics#mechanisms

Story· 4

Story05:30

How One Blog Post Reshaped Ian's Career

Ian wrote his 'top 1% PM' and 'working backwards' posts mostly to organize his own thoughts, not expecting reach. The connections and relationships those posts generated ended up steering his career, including his path to Airbnb. His point: publishing what you're thinking about can compound in ways you can't predict.

  • He wrote to structure his own thinking, not for reach or fame
  • The posts caught on and people still reference them years later
  • Relationships from the writing led to opportunities like Airbnb
  • Simplest way to start writing online: summarize something you've been thinking about

“obviously I'd credit this work and those relationships for me ultimately going there”

Ian McAllister · 06:30
#writing#career#personal-brand#networking
Story34:30

The Airbnb Trust Lesson Ian Still Thinks About

Brought in to build Airbnb's customer support technology platform, Ian went heads-down applying the Amazon playbook: strong analytics, measurement, and prioritization. His regret is not spending enough time forging true alignment and support with the customer support leadership team, so the right strategy risked not landing because the people executing it weren't fully rallied behind it.

  • Ian applied Amazon's analytics-and-prioritization approach at Airbnb
  • He under-invested in partnering with the CS leadership team
  • A correct strategy can fail to land without genuine support to execute it
  • Building relationships is a way to mitigate execution risk

“the right product in the right direction and the right strategy it may not land if you don't have that support that you need”

Ian McAllister · 36:30
#airbnb#trust#leadership#stories
Story41:00

Bezos: The Process Doesn't Have to Be Efficient

Ian recounts recurring meetings with Bezos and Wilkie during the invention of Amazon Smile. Rather than the blow-up reputation, he found Bezos consistently encouraging, once leaving a meeting with the line that the innovation process doesn't have to be efficient, because you can't be efficient until you know where you're going.

  • Ian met with Bezos every couple of months during the Amazon Smile effort
  • He found Bezos encouraging, not the caricature reputation
  • Efficiency's prerequisite is knowing your destination
  • Early innovation is inherently inefficient by design

“remember this process doesn't have to be efficient because the prerequisite for efficiency is knowing where you're going”

Ian McAllister · 41:30
#amazon#bezos#innovation#stories
Story41:30

No Problem Paragraph Means There's No Real Problem

Ian once brought Bezos a press release for a concept that skipped the problem paragraph. Bezos's response, that maybe if there's no problem paragraph there isn't really a problem, exposed that Ian had started with a solution in mind and retrofitted it, rather than genuinely working backwards.

  • Ian skipped the problem paragraph in a press release for Bezos
  • A missing problem paragraph signals you haven't actually worked backwards
  • He had the solution in mind first and skipped over the problem
  • A sharp, specific lesson about honesty in the working-backwards process

“you know what maybe if you don't have a problem paragraph there's not really a problem”

Ian McAllister · 42:00
#amazon#bezos#working-backwards#stories

Tool· 1

Tool59:00

Ian's Book, Podcast, and App Recommendations

In the lightning round Ian shares what he recommends most: Getting Real by 37signals (especially the Epicenter Design chapter), the Wool trilogy by Hugh Howey, and Energy and Civilization by Vaclav Smil. His favorite podcasts are How I Built This and EV News Daily, and his favorite app is YouTube, which he calls the eighth wonder of the world.

  • Getting Real by 37signals, especially the Epicenter Design chapter
  • Wool trilogy by Hugh Howey; Energy and Civilization by Vaclav Smil
  • Podcasts: How I Built This and EV News Daily
  • Favorite app: YouTube, which he taught himself woodworking from

“I said getting real by 37 signals and it's specifically the chapter on epicenter design”

Ian McAllister · 59:30

“to be honest YouTube it's like the you know Eighth Wonder of the world”

Ian McAllister · 1:01:30
#books#podcasts#recommendations#tools

Takeaway· 7

Takeaway07:30

You Can't Communicate Clearly Without Thinking Clearly

Ian credits Amazon's business-writing culture for sharpening him. Writing forces two tests at once: being a clear thinker and a clear communicator. Trying to organize thoughts for an external audience makes both muscles stronger.

  • Business writing at Amazon is training for clear thinking
  • Clear communication and clear thinking are two linked tests
  • Writing to share externally forces you to be compact and non-rambling

“you've got to be a clear thinker to be a clear communicator”

Ian McAllister · 07:30
#communication#writing#clarity
Takeaway14:30

The Three Skills Every New PM Should Focus On

Of the dozen-plus attributes on Ian's list, he tells new PMs to focus on just three: communicate, prioritize, and execute. The other skills (think big, technical trade-offs, design) grow in importance as you get more senior, so early-career PMs can worry less about them.

  • New PMs should prioritize communicate, prioritize, execute
  • These three matter no matter where you are in your product career
  • Skills like think big and technical trade-offs become more important later
  • It's often easier to know what NOT to stress about early on

“probably communicate you know prioritize and execute I think those are just the core building blocks”

Ian McAllister · 15:00
#product-management#career#skills#prioritization
Takeaway16:00

Answer First, Then Explain (Or Just Shut Up)

Ian's most tactical communication tip, drawn from the 'Book of Kim' best practices he gathered at Amazon: when asked a question, give the answer first and then explain, rather than rambling through background. Answering a 'when' question with a date and using numbers are concrete habits that compound over a career.

  • Lead with the answer, then explain (or sometimes just stop talking)
  • Avoid weasel words; own your problems
  • Answer a 'when' question with a date
  • Grade yourself after each meeting, doc, or answer and try to improve

“avoid weasel Words Answer First and then explain own your problems”

Ian McAllister · 16:30

“answer and then explain or sometimes answer and then shut up that actually is a tactical thing you can do to get better at communicating”

Ian McAllister · 22:00
#communication#tactics#feedback
Takeaway24:00

Trust Is the Currency of a Product Leader

Ian added 'earn trust' to his list later in his career after realizing how central it is, especially for senior leaders. Trust is what lets you ask for and receive more resources. It's built by repeatedly setting and meeting expectations, telling the truth, and launching what you said you'd launch, and destroyed by evasion, missed launches, and ignored mistakes.

  • Trust is the currency of a product manager and leader
  • It compounds directly into your ability to secure more resources
  • Built by repeatedly setting and meeting expectations
  • Lost by lying, being evasive, missing launches, or repeating mistakes

“trust is just built by repeatedly setting and meeting expectations”

Ian McAllister · 24:30
#trust#leadership#product-management#career
Takeaway25:30

Chase Impact, Not Promotion

Ian argues that if you forget politics and promotion and simply wake up trying to have the biggest impact you can, that becomes your best guiding light and the strongest predictor of promotion anyway. In his first decade at Amazon he never discussed promotion with his manager, just grew his book of business, and the promotions followed as a byproduct.

  • Focus on impact, not promotion or org size
  • Impact is the leading indicator of whether you'll be promoted
  • Ian never raised promotion with his manager for years
  • The net result of chasing impact was being promoted several times anyway

“if you simply wake up every day trying to have the biggest impact you can”

Ian McAllister · 25:30

“I I was promoted several times and I did grow in my role but that wasn't what drove me”

Ian McAllister · 26:00
#impact#career#promotion#motivation
Takeaway45:30

Teach the Why, Not Just the Decision

What Ian most admired in Jeff Wilkie was teaching: instead of just stating the right decision in a meeting, Wilkie would spend even ten seconds explaining the mental model behind it. Abstracting a decision into a transferable lesson has far more lasting effect, because the person can apply it to future situations and is more likely to disagree-and-commit.

  • Wilkie taught the underlying mental model, not just the verdict
  • Even a 10-second explanation of the 'why' has lasting effect
  • Abstracting to a lesson lets people apply it to future situations
  • Ian admits he forgot to do this as he became more experienced

“I think you'll have a lot more lasting effect if you could kind of abstract it to a degree and teach the lesson”

Ian McAllister · 46:00
#leadership#teaching#mentorship#amazon
Takeaway56:00

Bezos's Three Tests for Investing in Something New

Over lunch around 2008, Ian asked Bezos his criteria for backing a new idea. Bezos named three: is it a big idea, is it something Amazon should be doing, and is there a legitimate plan to succeed. You need all three, and Ian maps the 'FAQ' portion of working backwards onto that third legitimacy test.

  • Test 1: is it a big idea
  • Test 2: is it something the company should be doing
  • Test 3: is there a legitimate plan to succeed
  • You need all three; extracting oil from shale might be big but isn't Amazon's to do

“one is it a big idea and then second is it something we should be doing”

Ian McAllister · 56:00

“the third test is their legitimate plan to succeed and you gotta have all three of those things”

Ian McAllister · 56:00
#amazon#bezos#strategy#decision-making