Google Behavioral Interview Questions

Review this list of 77 Google behavioral product manager interview questions and answers verified by hiring managers and candidates.
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +79

    "My approach to dealing with difficult stakeholders has always been: Engage - Directly engage with the stakeholder, meet or chat Listen - Listen to what they have to say, patiently. Understand - Understand their POV, even if it is impossible at some times Ask - Ask clarifying questions. Why? When? What? Engage again - Keep them in the loop until there is closure For example, we were in the final stages of a very important, strategic project for our organization. I was leading th"

    Jane D. - "My approach to dealing with difficult stakeholders has always been: Engage - Directly engage with the stakeholder, meet or chat Listen - Listen to what they have to say, patiently. Understand - Understand their POV, even if it is impossible at some times Ask - Ask clarifying questions. Why? When? What? Engage again - Keep them in the loop until there is closure For example, we were in the final stages of a very important, strategic project for our organization. I was leading th"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +8 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Video answer for 'Tell me about a time you made a mistake.'
    +87

    "Let me tell you about a time where a website I managed suddenly showed slow performance and the mistake on our side was it was unnoticed until a user reported the issue to management. As a PM for that project, I took full responsibility of the situation and worked with the engineering team to quickly resolve it. This mistake taught me the importance of focusing and monitoring non functional requirements as well in addition to new feature development /adoption where I was mostly spending my time"

    Sreenisha S. - "Let me tell you about a time where a website I managed suddenly showed slow performance and the mistake on our side was it was unnoticed until a user reported the issue to management. As a PM for that project, I took full responsibility of the situation and worked with the engineering team to quickly resolve it. This mistake taught me the importance of focusing and monitoring non functional requirements as well in addition to new feature development /adoption where I was mostly spending my time"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +6 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +60

    "I most want to communicate a few principals of conflict resolution that I believe were integral in this situation, which are mutual respect, a results orientation, an unwavering focus on the user. To that end, here’s how I’d like to structure this answer: First, I’ll tell you about the project we were working on, to provide some background for you. Second, I’ll describe the disagreement. Third, I’ll describe how we arrived at a solution, and finally, I’ll discuss how those 3 conflict resolut"

    Ross B. - "I most want to communicate a few principals of conflict resolution that I believe were integral in this situation, which are mutual respect, a results orientation, an unwavering focus on the user. To that end, here’s how I’d like to structure this answer: First, I’ll tell you about the project we were working on, to provide some background for you. Second, I’ll describe the disagreement. Third, I’ll describe how we arrived at a solution, and finally, I’ll discuss how those 3 conflict resolut"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +5 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +27

    "We had a huge launch on September 1st of this year where we completely redesigned our application from the grounds up and also migrated to a new platform (React.JS). This project took us 8 months and the launch was a huge deal for the team. Unfortunately the launch wasn't as smooth as we expected and despite doing multiple rounds of QA, some major issues cropped up in the core part of the app right after launch and our client was quite upset since it was disrupting their day-to-day workflow. "

    Aabid S. - "We had a huge launch on September 1st of this year where we completely redesigned our application from the grounds up and also migrated to a new platform (React.JS). This project took us 8 months and the launch was a huge deal for the team. Unfortunately the launch wasn't as smooth as we expected and despite doing multiple rounds of QA, some major issues cropped up in the core part of the app right after launch and our client was quite upset since it was disrupting their day-to-day workflow. "See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +7 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Video answer for 'Tell me about a time when you worked on a project with a tight deadline.'
    +42

    "A clarifying question: Is this question asking about when I met a tight deadline in a project or how did I manage a project that had a tight deadline? The answer uploaded to this question is good, I would also add 'creating a critical path from overall project schedule and then making sure that none of the deliverables in the critical path are sacrificed in order to meet the tight deadline' as an action taken."

    Ushita S. - "A clarifying question: Is this question asking about when I met a tight deadline in a project or how did I manage a project that had a tight deadline? The answer uploaded to this question is good, I would also add 'creating a critical path from overall project schedule and then making sure that none of the deliverables in the critical path are sacrificed in order to meet the tight deadline' as an action taken."See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +5 more
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  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Video answer for 'Tell me about a time when you solved a complex problem and how you went about it.'
    +11

    "I work at a startup that makes software for Law Enforcement and the FBI. Our product analyzes calls being made by prison inmates and "listens" for predictors of violence and criminal behavior. Our clients are some of the top state prisons in the country. Recently one of the largest states in the country decided to evaluate our product for their prison system. I demo'd the product to the officers and they seemed to like everything. During the presentation they asked us if the product was ADA com"

    Aabid S. - "I work at a startup that makes software for Law Enforcement and the FBI. Our product analyzes calls being made by prison inmates and "listens" for predictors of violence and criminal behavior. Our clients are some of the top state prisons in the country. Recently one of the largest states in the country decided to evaluate our product for their prison system. I demo'd the product to the officers and they seemed to like everything. During the presentation they asked us if the product was ADA com"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +5 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +13

    "Few clarifying questions here Is the competitor a service and does it have other offerings as well? Is it charging $5 for a service or only email? Is it for a specific platform here? Or does it include all platforms? Does the competitor have a huge market share/or is it a small company? Let's assume it's only for email's The structure I would want to layout for knowing what to do next for Gmail would be the following - Mission, Goals, Google's revenue model, Customer Profiles using Gm"

    Pratik M. - "Few clarifying questions here Is the competitor a service and does it have other offerings as well? Is it charging $5 for a service or only email? Is it for a specific platform here? Or does it include all platforms? Does the competitor have a huge market share/or is it a small company? Let's assume it's only for email's The structure I would want to layout for knowing what to do next for Gmail would be the following - Mission, Goals, Google's revenue model, Customer Profiles using Gm"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Video answer for 'Tell me about yourself.'
    +111

    "As you know, this is the most important question for any interview. Here is a structure I like to follow, Start with 'I'm currently a SDE/PM/TPM etc with XYZ company.... ' Mention how you got into PM/TPM/SDE field (explaining your journey) Mention 1 or 2 accomplishments Mention what you do outside work (blogging, volunteer etc) Share why are you looking for a new role Ask the interviewer if they have any questions or will like to dive deep into any of your experience"

    Bipin R. - "As you know, this is the most important question for any interview. Here is a structure I like to follow, Start with 'I'm currently a SDE/PM/TPM etc with XYZ company.... ' Mention how you got into PM/TPM/SDE field (explaining your journey) Mention 1 or 2 accomplishments Mention what you do outside work (blogging, volunteer etc) Share why are you looking for a new role Ask the interviewer if they have any questions or will like to dive deep into any of your experience"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +9 more
  • "I believe these are the traits of a great PM. I see PM to be somone who is a great manager of customer problems and for that he/she has to be: Be an expert at the one domain and know the customer of the product in that domain and curate experiences for them better than the competition. Be persuasive - Get things done by convincing rather than commanding. Learn how great products are by being an engineer. Be a fearless leader by championing teams ideas all the way to the management la"

    Siddharth P. - "I believe these are the traits of a great PM. I see PM to be somone who is a great manager of customer problems and for that he/she has to be: Be an expert at the one domain and know the customer of the product in that domain and curate experiences for them better than the competition. Be persuasive - Get things done by convincing rather than commanding. Learn how great products are by being an engineer. Be a fearless leader by championing teams ideas all the way to the management la"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +53

    "I follow a variation of the RICE framework when prioritizing how I ship product features. I start by looking at: Reach: Because the customer segmentation across our product portfolio is so similar, I tend to hold a lot of weight on product features that will maximize our customer reach with a minimal LOE. Impact: After establishing which customer segments will benefit from the product feature, I determine the urgency and estimated impact on each customer segment based on customer i"

    Ashley C. - "I follow a variation of the RICE framework when prioritizing how I ship product features. I start by looking at: Reach: Because the customer segmentation across our product portfolio is so similar, I tend to hold a lot of weight on product features that will maximize our customer reach with a minimal LOE. Impact: After establishing which customer segments will benefit from the product feature, I determine the urgency and estimated impact on each customer segment based on customer i"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +8 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Video answer for 'Tell me about a time when you faced technical and people challenges simultaneously.'
    +5

    "How often do we get 15 min to answer a question? Wondering isn't the expectation to answer this in 3-5 min?"

    Anonymous Raven - "How often do we get 15 min to answer a question? Wondering isn't the expectation to answer this in 3-5 min?"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 

    "In our product portfolio there were many teams and we were almost 12 product managers interacting closely to deliver the entire product feature area. Situation was that we were frequently had defects come in which will result in defects pushed back and forth. Goal was to avoid this as SLA of defects was getting impacted immensely there were priority 2 defects which we were sitting for couple of weeks before being looked at. There was a need to establish a triaging process. Along with my leaders"

    Karthik T. - "In our product portfolio there were many teams and we were almost 12 product managers interacting closely to deliver the entire product feature area. Situation was that we were frequently had defects come in which will result in defects pushed back and forth. Goal was to avoid this as SLA of defects was getting impacted immensely there were priority 2 defects which we were sitting for couple of weeks before being looked at. There was a need to establish a triaging process. Along with my leaders"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +8

    "I will divide my answer in 2 parts: Process I use for managing risks in any Project I will explain a real life situation where a Risk occurred and how I managed it Process for Risk Management can be broken down into 3 parts: Risk Identification: Risk identification is a team effort and is an ongoing process that happens throughout the Project. Technical Risks are usually identified during design/build/testing stage. I maintain a Risk register document to capture all the risks identified"

    Saket S. - "I will divide my answer in 2 parts: Process I use for managing risks in any Project I will explain a real life situation where a Risk occurred and how I managed it Process for Risk Management can be broken down into 3 parts: Risk Identification: Risk identification is a team effort and is an ongoing process that happens throughout the Project. Technical Risks are usually identified during design/build/testing stage. I maintain a Risk register document to capture all the risks identified"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +3 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +6

    "I use a data driven approach by ensuring there is a deep-dive on all alternatives. My approach to tradeoffs is around how to achieve the customer experience needed. I ensure there is an immediate path to green for a solution and a follow-up solution addressing the problem rightly."

    Syed I. - "I use a data driven approach by ensuring there is a deep-dive on all alternatives. My approach to tradeoffs is around how to achieve the customer experience needed. I ensure there is an immediate path to green for a solution and a follow-up solution addressing the problem rightly."See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
  • Google logoAsked at Google 

    "Thanks for the question! This is one of my favourite topics because it’s at the core of what we do as PMs DAILY: making the complex simple to drive alignment. I’ve got a structured way to approach this, and I’ll use it to explain payment aggregators - like Plaid - and how they enable Open Banking, with a twist about a technical hiccup I’ve seen in practice. Let’s dive in. I start by assessing the audience. Say I’m talking to a marketing manager at Transak - someone sharp but not techni"

    Adarsh S. - "Thanks for the question! This is one of my favourite topics because it’s at the core of what we do as PMs DAILY: making the complex simple to drive alignment. I’ve got a structured way to approach this, and I’ll use it to explain payment aggregators - like Plaid - and how they enable Open Banking, with a twist about a technical hiccup I’ve seen in practice. Let’s dive in. I start by assessing the audience. Say I’m talking to a marketing manager at Transak - someone sharp but not techni"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +1

    "Situation - A time I dealt with conflict while on a team was while I was working at Shopify on physical and digital gift card refund point of sale solutions. The situation was that we were dealing with complex technical constraints including not changing particular UI components behavior to act as they should be intended. On the refund screen, the existing design was using a toggle on the same screen to bring up a modal for gift card selection to either select digital or physical options. Thi"

    Ben G. - "Situation - A time I dealt with conflict while on a team was while I was working at Shopify on physical and digital gift card refund point of sale solutions. The situation was that we were dealing with complex technical constraints including not changing particular UI components behavior to act as they should be intended. On the refund screen, the existing design was using a toggle on the same screen to bring up a modal for gift card selection to either select digital or physical options. Thi"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +2 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +4

    "To bring any product to market here are the below steps that I would (did) take: 1.Understand the problem stmt / stakeholder need and asses depth of the problem (qualitatively and then gather metrics to quantify it) 2.Do market study on understanding relatable solutions if any 3.Carve out viable solution/ideation that aligns with overall Business Vision/Goal 4.Get stakeholders buy in on the idea 5.Guesstimate and prioritize high level features, Cost and ROI. 6.Build Business case for Project Le"

    Bk - "To bring any product to market here are the below steps that I would (did) take: 1.Understand the problem stmt / stakeholder need and asses depth of the problem (qualitatively and then gather metrics to quantify it) 2.Do market study on understanding relatable solutions if any 3.Carve out viable solution/ideation that aligns with overall Business Vision/Goal 4.Get stakeholders buy in on the idea 5.Guesstimate and prioritize high level features, Cost and ROI. 6.Build Business case for Project Le"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +3 more
  • +2

    "Referring to https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/03/23/15-strategies-for-balancing-competing-stakeholder-priorities/?sh=7c82aa68262f Understand the conflicting priorities and align it with the goal/ objectives and the company mission. Start with the Least Common Denominator between the conflicting priorities to come to a commonality and start from there to objectively approach the next imp priority Always keep communication on and be transparent with 'equality' an"

    Pramod V. - "Referring to https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/03/23/15-strategies-for-balancing-competing-stakeholder-priorities/?sh=7c82aa68262f Understand the conflicting priorities and align it with the goal/ objectives and the company mission. Start with the Least Common Denominator between the conflicting priorities to come to a commonality and start from there to objectively approach the next imp priority Always keep communication on and be transparent with 'equality' an"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +3 more
  • "While interning at Numerix Analytics, I was working on a campaign analysis project where I used customer engagement data to recommend which email subject lines performed best. Based on open rate data from the past two campaigns, I concluded that short, curiosity-based subject lines were outperforming more direct ones. I recommended using that style for the next major campaign. The marketing team followed my recommendation. However, the open and click-through rates for the next campaign dropped s"

    Dhruv M. - "While interning at Numerix Analytics, I was working on a campaign analysis project where I used customer engagement data to recommend which email subject lines performed best. Based on open rate data from the past two campaigns, I concluded that short, curiosity-based subject lines were outperforming more direct ones. I recommended using that style for the next major campaign. The marketing team followed my recommendation. However, the open and click-through rates for the next campaign dropped s"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +5

    "t"

    Srikhar S. - "t"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +3 more
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