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Introduction to Product Design Questions

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Product design questions ask you to design, improve, or discuss products. Depending on the company, product-focused interviews may be called something like “Product Sense” or “Design Thinking.”

These questions are your best opportunity to show that you can build great products that meet the needs of your users, your company, and the market.

What to expect

Here are the most common types of product design questions:

  • Design a product: “Design a product for users stuck in rush hour traffic.”
  • Design an improvement for an existing product: Improve the birthday experience on Facebook.”
  • Favorite Product: “What’s your favorite product?”
  • Brainstorm ideas for products: “Imagine Google is adding an emotion sensor to Pixel phones. Come up with different ideas for apps that could be built using this sensor.”

In this module, you’ll learn a framework to help you answer product questions by identifying users, defining their pain points, and designing solutions. We’ll help you brainstorm forward-thinking product ideas, come up with a powerful-but-succinct product vision, and ultimately, move beyond frameworks to deliver a design that dovetails with the company’s long-term vision.

What interviewers are looking for

Interviewers ask product questions to assess core PM skills such as:

  • User-centricity and empathy
  • Design skills and product vision
  • Strategic insight and business acumen
  • Ability to prioritize
  • Passion and creativity

To succeed, you’ll need to rely on your product intuition to solve an important user problem in a useful, feasible way.

“Okay” vs. “good” vs. “great” answers

  • An okay answer identifies a user segment and their problems. The answer posits a viable solution for the most important problem. The stated justifications for decisions are reasonable but surface-level.
  • A good answer gives a clear sense of who users are and what they care about. It identifies critical problems, prioritizes the most important one, and provides multiple good solutions. The final product idea is clear and a good fit for the user. A good answer has elements of a great answer, but does not tie everything together. For example, the candidate may demonstrate a deep understanding of users, but a surface-level understanding of why their pain points exist.
  • A great answer demonstrates a deep understanding of users, their goals, and their context. The candidate clearly articulates why users’ pain points and goals exist. Solutions reach the core of immediate user problems while providing long-term strategic value to the business. At least some of the solutions are bold while still feeling viable and concrete. The candidate places the answer within a larger strategic and market context.
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