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Introduction to Craft and Execution Questions

"While keeping the user in mind, Google’s Product Managers have the ability to strike a balance between level of detail, prioritization, and execution by being intentional." - Google’s PM Interview Prep Guide, 2022

Traditional execution questions assessed your ability to set goals, diagnose problems, test hypotheses, and tweak your product strategy as needed.

Google's new craft and execution interview acknowledges that there is no one-size-fits all response to typical PM challenges. Success hinges on your ability to correctly assess what’s needed, and respond efficiently.

Sample questions include:

  • "Pick a product of your choice. What are the goals of the product? What’s in your monthly business review deck for the leadership team?"
  • "Imagine I'm a VC, offering you $20M to build any technology-enabled product/service you'd like. Please walk me through how you would get started? (Problem, Solution, User, Monetize, TAM)"

You’ll still be asked questions on goal-setting, metrics, problem diagnosis & testing, but you’ll have more nuanced context to work with. Google expects you to use your knowledge of the product lifecycle, basic marketing funnels, product skills, and strategic insight to answer big questions.

What are interviewers looking for?

Above all, interviewers are looking for PMs who can make good decisions in real-time, when information is missing or unreliable, and the way forward isn’t always clear.

Aim to show:

  • Intentionality when making decisions, taking into account business objectives, urgency, and stakeholders affected.
  • Efficiency in assessing situations and a bias for action.
  • Classic execution skills like problem diagnosis, goal-setting, and choosing metrics.

To give a quality answer, it helps to demonstrate knowledge and experience with the product lifecycle, including important KPIs to track, product goals, close collaborators, and deliverables. We’ll review these in a later lesson.

Note that the sample questions above all have analytical, strategic, and product elements. Don’t let that scare you. Instead, use the craft and execution round to show that you’re the whole package – you’ve mastered the craft of product management.

Let’s go through a framework for responding to craft and execution questions.

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