Rubric for Product Design Interviews

Note: For more detail on how Exponent's interview rubrics work, check out this lesson.

Now that you know how to answer product design questions, let's look at how they're scored.

Core Skills to Show in Product Design Interviews

Product design questions generally assess product skills, critical thinking and culture fit. Companies often use a scoring system with five options ranging from "missing" or "very weak" to "very strong." Interviewers score core qualities on this five-point scale during each round, and take turns sharing their feedback during the hiring discussion.

Product skills include basic business acumen (do you have a mind for business?), user-centricity (are you user-focused?), and product vision (can you articulate a future vision for the product, and the steps to get there?)

Critical thinking skills include asking clarifying questions and discussing tradeoffs and possible errors.

Culture fit signals include passion and creativity, communication, and collaboration.

Let's dive into each.

Business Acumen

Big tech PMs' major responsibility is growing a product. To do that intelligently, you have to understand how your product fits into larger business goals. Interviewers want to see your product design align with the company's mission - otherwise, your design isn't sustainable.

• Very Weak or Missing: Failed to show an understanding of the context of the business.
• Weak: Struggled to tie back to business goals or company mission.
• Neutral: Discussion around business goals was unclear or flawed.
• Strong: Clearly discussed business goals, positioning, industry trends.
• Very Strong: Nuanced understanding of the landscape, insightful arguments, logical assumptions.

User-Centricity

One anchor point for good PM work is the company's business goals. The other is the end-users. Interviewers want to see you orient yourself to these two poles throughout - but at the end of the day, you can't lose by focusing on the customer.

• Very Weak or Missing: Failed to consider the end-user.
• Weak: Struggled to anchor answer on end-users despite guidance.
• Neutral: Attempted user-centric design, but missed key points.
• Strong: Discussed pain points and opportunities, prioritized appropriately.
• Very Strong: Analyzed users accurately and completely, prioritized effectively, and tied back to users throughout.

Product Vision

It's not enough to design a good product - good PMs play the long game because competitors move fast, and the landscape will always change. Interviewers look for you to articulate your vision for the product one, five, maybe even ten years into the future.

• Very Weak or Missing: Failed to discuss the future of the product.
• Weak: Struggled to articulate a vision for the future.
• Neutral: Laid out a possible future with some minor errors.
• Strong: Displayed thoughtfulness and intuition in articulating the product vision.
• Very Strong: Exemplary product intuition; strong perspective, compelling arguments backed by data and strongly tied to UX.

Clarifying Questions

Designing a product is a problem-solving exercise. What problem are you trying to solve? To get at the root, you have to ask good questions.

• Very Weak or Missing: Failed to ask questions and/or interact with the interviewer.
• Weak: Struggled to ask the right questions and/or made assumptions without clarifying.
• Neutral: Asked good clarifying questions, but missed key points.
• Strong: Asked insightful questions, adapted design to fit.
• Very Strong: Asked surprising and insightful questions, came up with high-quality, novel design(s).

Ability to Discuss Tradeoffs and Possible Errors

There will always be many possible opportunities to chase. The best way to arrive at a plan logically is to think through the tradeoffs of your decision -- and constantly check yourself for possible assumptions and errors. This will earn you big points in traditionally creative product design interviews.

• Very Weak or Missing: Failed to mention tradeoffs and possible errors.
• Weak: Mentioned tradeoffs, but failed to justify decisions when pressed and/or made incorrect judgment calls.
• Neutral: Covered possible errors and tradeoffs, but could have made better choices.
• Strong: Logical tradeoff discussion, correctly identified possible errors.
• Very Strong: Deep knowledge and intuition around tradeoffs; alternatives offered, pros and cons neatly summarized.

Passion and Creativity

Product questions are some of your best opportunities to show your culture fit. How? Get excited about the product! Interviewers want to see your passion for their company, and how you'll use that passion to fuel your creativity.

• Very Weak or Missing: Failed to show enthusiasm or creative thinking.
• Weak: Solutions were bland, and/or the candidate didn't show interest in the problem.
• Neutral: Displayed interest and reasonable insight, but nothing exceptional.
• Strong: Extensive knowledge, enthusiasm, and creativity on display throughout the interview.
• Very Strong: Gave inspired answers; showed clear passion.

Communication

Communication is assessed in every interview.

• Very Weak or Missing: Failed to communicate clearly despite repeated prompts.
• Weak: Poor communication throughout; interviewer had trouble following despite prompts.
• Neutral: Communication varied. Clear in some areas but vague / incomplete in others.
• Strong: Good communication skills; articulated thought process clearly and consistently.
• Very Strong: Clear, proactive communication; anticipated questions, articulated reasons for decision, "checked-in" throughout.

Collaboration

Product design interviews are a great opportunity to collaborate as your interviewer has the context that you need in order to make good decision. Some interviews can turn into a collaborative problem-solving exercise; be sure to lead, ask good questions, check assumptions, and check-in, and you can't go wrong.

• Very Weak or Missing: Failed to take the lead, didn't respond to guidance.
• Weak: Struggled to stay on track without guidance.
• Neutral: Took the lead and performed well, but may have needed redirects or hints.
• Strong: Effectively led the discussion and involved the interviewer throughout.
• Very Strong: Took the lead and made exceptional use of the interviewer, the discussion was more collaboration than interview.