Anne Hunt of realtor.com: Product Managers Know Their “Why”
Know why you are building your product and ensure that it leads to business success, shared Anne Hunt, VP of Product at realtor.com, for my interview series Austin Voice Of Product. Our interview has been edited for clarity.
Don’t miss the next interview — sign up for the Austin VOP newsletter.
Austin VOP #91
What was your path to product management?
My path to product management was not something I planned or expected. I did a graduate degree in philosophy and, much to my surprise, that led to a position at a small AI company here in Austin. We were working on a type of system that was of interest in Silicon Valley, so I got recruited after about a year and moved to Mountain View, California. I started managing the science and knowledge base teams after about another year and then moved into larger and larger roles in the engineering organization. Eventually, I moved on to Boeing, then Microsoft, and then became VP of Engineering at a startup in Canada. All along the way, I had a great interest in product management, so when the startup needed a VP of Product, I made my transition.
I consider myself an engineering-friendly product leader since I can look at situations with both product and engineering viewpoints.
What advice do you give to aspiring product leaders?
First, make sure you and your engineering partners come to a shared understanding of why you are doing things. The “why” should usually be described using metrics that will change because of your team’s deliverables. Those metrics should have a clear relationship to what the business needs to accomplish, whether it is revenue or more customers or something else. Communicate this relationship widely to your stakeholders, and get feedback.
Second, be aware that the hacks your engineering team does today, because of pressure to deliver on time, become tomorrow’s reason something can’t be delivered at all. Choose wisely, with your team.
Third, pay attention to people. Get diverse people on your team and encourage the safe sharing of ideas. When hiring, go for a smaller, better team rather than a larger, cheaper team. The right team makes the right decisions.
What have you read/watched/listened to that has inspired you lately?
Some very recent favorites related to scaling experimentation: Trustworthy Online Controlled Experiments, a book by Kohavi, Tang, and Xu. A nice YouTube video, Scaling Knowledge, A Look at the Airbnb Data Science Team, presented by Martin Daniel.
Other favorites include Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy — And How to Make Them Work for You, and INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love.
What is exciting about the product you are working on now?
It’s terrific to help consumers find a home. We help consumers rent, buy, and sell, homes, as well as find financing and other services that make life better. At realtor, we have many millions of consumers use our products every week, so the scale is incredible. The amount of data we have to work with gives us so many opportunities to use technology to make people’s lives better. For example, we have teams that use machine learning and associated technologies to understand natural language, to classify images, and to find homes and neighborhoods that meet specific individual needs. We understand the home buying process can be difficult and stressful, and we can make it easier and better.
We are getting organized to further scale our capabilities to better individualize consumers’ experiences so they get timely help throughout the process of finding a home.
How might we build a stronger product community in Austin?
This is a difficult one now that we can no longer meet in person, and especially knowing how busy we all are. For my part, I try to devote some time each month to virtual or phone discussions with others in product, as well as those who would like to be in product. Online events are a great way to connect and learn from our peers as well.
Last question, what is your favorite product?
These days I love products like VRBO, Airbnb, and Outdoorsy, because they give us a way to experience new places without exposing ourselves and others to COVID-19. All are incredibly easy to use. But my very favorite product of all these days is a well-made mask, one that’s comfortable and fits nicely so I’m not tempted to take it off when I shouldn’t. Highly recommended, so we can all go out without risking the health of our friends and neighbors.
Thank you, Anne!
Austin VOP is an interview series with current and future product leaders to build a stronger product community in Austin. Please like, share and tweet this article if you enjoyed it.
Don’t miss the next interview — sign up for the Austin VOP newsletter.
