Ian McAllister
Senior Director of Product at Uber
Senior Director of Product at Uber leading the vehicles platform, previously 12 years at Amazon where he built Amazon Smile, led Alexa International, and wrote the iconic Quora answer on what separates a top 1% PM from a top 10% PM that became one of the most widely shared pieces on product management.
Dimension Profile
Key Themes
Episode Summary
Ian McAllister unpacks his famous answer on what separates a top 1% PM from a top 10% PM, explaining that the core difference is an impact-focused mindset where shipping is a means not an end. Drawing on 12 years at Amazon building products like Amazon Smile and leading Alexa International, he details how the working backwards PR/FAQ process forces clarity before investment and why customer obsession only works when backed by actual mechanisms, not just slogans.
Leadership Principles
- → Top 1% PMs think about the impact their product has and what they do to move the needle — they define what shipping means and what success looks like before building
- → A top 10% PM ships a great feature, a top 1% PM changes the trajectory of the business — the difference is in how they define and communicate what matters
- → Working backwards from the customer press release forces clarity on who you're building for and why — it exposes weak thinking before you invest engineering resources
Notable Quotes
"A top 10% PM ships a great feature. A top 1% PM changes the trajectory of the business."
— On the fundamental difference between good and great product managers
"Shipping is a means, not an end. The best PMs think about impact, not output."
— On why focusing on shipping velocity misses the point
"The working backwards process forces you to articulate who the customer is and why they care before you write a single line of code."
— On Amazon's PR/FAQ process for product development
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