Product manager hiring questions

Independently echoed some of my own concerns about my product - if you're a good PM, you've got a bunch of things that worry you about your own product. Maybe they're UI shortcomings, missing features, or architecture flaws that need to be addressed. They're things you know need to be fixed. At least some of these should be obvious to an intelligent outsider with strong product instincts. I look for that moment in the interview when I smile, nod, and say "yeah, I know - that's been driving us crazy too."

Taught me something new about my product - it could be an obvious improvement that I'd never considered, a new idea for positioning against a competitor, or a problem they encountered that needs to be addressed. When I learn something from a candidate, I know two things: (1) they're not afraid to speak critically, and (2) they're probably smarter than me. I want both in a product manager.

Turned me on to something new and interesting - people with great product instincts tend to notice great products before everyone else. If I'm interviewing a top-notch candidate, I usually walk away having discovered something new and innovative.
Here are some good questions for judging product instincts:

Tell me about a great product you've encountered recently. Why do you like it? [By the way, it drives me crazy when candidates name one of my products in an interview. I had a hard time hiring anybody at Yahoo! who told me the coolest product they'd come across recently was Yahoo! Good grief.]
What's made [insert product here] successful? [I usually pick a popular product, like the iPod or eBay, that's won over consumers handily in a crowded market.]
What do you dislike about my product? How would you improve it?
What problems are we going to encounter in a year? Two years? Ten years?
How do you know a product is well designed?
What's one of the best ideas you've ever had?
What is one of the worst?
How do you know when to cut corners to get a product out the door?
What lessons have you learned about user interface design?
How do you decide what not to build?
What was your biggest product mistake?
What aspects of product management do you find the least interesting and why?
Do you consider yourself creative?

Source: http://heynorton.typepad.com/blog/2005/06/how_to_hire_pro.html