"I've recently worked closely with a product that had both the best and worst performing teams.
The situation is that one team is struggling to deliver within a reasonable timeframe, a few stronger members of the team are carrying the weaker. Work is taking a long time. They aren't listening to each other. They aren't helping each other to get work over the line. They are getting stuck down rabbit holes. They aren't continually improving their processes. They are getting frustrated and at risk o"
James W. - "I've recently worked closely with a product that had both the best and worst performing teams.
The situation is that one team is struggling to deliver within a reasonable timeframe, a few stronger members of the team are carrying the weaker. Work is taking a long time. They aren't listening to each other. They aren't helping each other to get work over the line. They are getting stuck down rabbit holes. They aren't continually improving their processes. They are getting frustrated and at risk o"See full answer
"C : Okay. So I would want to start with knowing what is the product for which we have to build a recommendation system.
I : This is a photo sharing product.
C : Okay. So is this something on the lines of Instagram?
I : Yes
C : Okay. And are we a new product co or we have some current product built already?
I : You can assume yourself.
C : Okay. Is there any demography or country we are targeting?
I : No, this is a global product
C : Okay. So, the biggest goal of any product recommendation system"
Kartikeya N. - "C : Okay. So I would want to start with knowing what is the product for which we have to build a recommendation system.
I : This is a photo sharing product.
C : Okay. So is this something on the lines of Instagram?
I : Yes
C : Okay. And are we a new product co or we have some current product built already?
I : You can assume yourself.
C : Okay. Is there any demography or country we are targeting?
I : No, this is a global product
C : Okay. So, the biggest goal of any product recommendation system"See full answer
"One time at Lifetime Fitness 2019, One student was throwing a lot of towels in the counter which made things very disorganized, then I made a compromise with my coworker to put 2 towels at a time and then it worked well because it made the workspace very organized."
Amparo L. - "One time at Lifetime Fitness 2019, One student was throwing a lot of towels in the counter which made things very disorganized, then I made a compromise with my coworker to put 2 towels at a time and then it worked well because it made the workspace very organized."See full answer
"In a recent implementation of a large core banking project where we were breaking away from monolithic architecture to microservice based one we faced a situation where customer wanted to have a single repository of user and role management.
Since Micro service based architecture talks about individual entities for multiple product suite it was mandatory to maintain individual user base.
Based on the customer feedback, we had to come up with an unique design of single user base and replicating"
Snehangsu B. - "In a recent implementation of a large core banking project where we were breaking away from monolithic architecture to microservice based one we faced a situation where customer wanted to have a single repository of user and role management.
Since Micro service based architecture talks about individual entities for multiple product suite it was mandatory to maintain individual user base.
Based on the customer feedback, we had to come up with an unique design of single user base and replicating"See full answer
Product Manager
Behavioral
+1 more
🧠 Want an expert answer to a question? Saving questions lets us know what content to make next.
"This question can be answered in two different ways:
a. Strategic
b. Product Sense
Since , the question is which product you would work upon , it is likely a product strategy question , where interviewer is trying to find about how would you go about selecting the product to solve for.
Another approach would be to clarify on the two approaches from the Interviewer. Can ask your hierarchy in PM role [ APM/PM/ Sr. PM / GPM ] and then approach this.
Candidate : Do you have any specific goal"
Vivek S. - "This question can be answered in two different ways:
a. Strategic
b. Product Sense
Since , the question is which product you would work upon , it is likely a product strategy question , where interviewer is trying to find about how would you go about selecting the product to solve for.
Another approach would be to clarify on the two approaches from the Interviewer. Can ask your hierarchy in PM role [ APM/PM/ Sr. PM / GPM ] and then approach this.
Candidate : Do you have any specific goal"See full answer
"Roadblocks or obstacles are common when working on projects. It's essential to navigate them and quickly find solutions to ensure timely delivery and success of your projects. Steps to handle roadblocks or obstacles:
Gauge the potential imapct and decide if it's something that needs immediate solution or something that can be handled later.
If it needs urgent solutions, try to understand the rootcause of the roadblock or obstacle and dig deep.
If it's a already seen problem before, try"
Anonymous Stork - "Roadblocks or obstacles are common when working on projects. It's essential to navigate them and quickly find solutions to ensure timely delivery and success of your projects. Steps to handle roadblocks or obstacles:
Gauge the potential imapct and decide if it's something that needs immediate solution or something that can be handled later.
If it needs urgent solutions, try to understand the rootcause of the roadblock or obstacle and dig deep.
If it's a already seen problem before, try"See full answer
"Thanks Hozefa for your insights on this. I see that hozefa talks about giving used cases. It would be very helpful if there was an example provided with STAR framework."
Dheeraj D. - "Thanks Hozefa for your insights on this. I see that hozefa talks about giving used cases. It would be very helpful if there was an example provided with STAR framework."See full answer
"Assumptions:
Part of the core FB product and not standalone app/
Education for children in 13-18 range
Goal: To improve the education of children while building stronger social networks with their family/friends and thus further the mission of the company of bringing the world together and offering tools to form communities.
Key user segments:
Students (middle and high school)
Teachers
Parents
For the purpose of this exercise, I would like to focus on the student user gr"
P K. - "Assumptions:
Part of the core FB product and not standalone app/
Education for children in 13-18 range
Goal: To improve the education of children while building stronger social networks with their family/friends and thus further the mission of the company of bringing the world together and offering tools to form communities.
Key user segments:
Students (middle and high school)
Teachers
Parents
For the purpose of this exercise, I would like to focus on the student user gr"See full answer
"For a mature product, I would do the following -
Review the list of backlog items
Meet with stakeholders and business owners to verify the relevance (are they still valid? esp. for new feature request)
Break down the backlog list by a. Product improvements b. New features c. Operational Resiliency
Do a 70-30 split with New features+Product Imp =70%, Resiliency =30%
Prioritize by impact/scale and effort (team's capacity) by quarter
Revisit Quarterly
For a new product -
Start"
Amishr - "For a mature product, I would do the following -
Review the list of backlog items
Meet with stakeholders and business owners to verify the relevance (are they still valid? esp. for new feature request)
Break down the backlog list by a. Product improvements b. New features c. Operational Resiliency
Do a 70-30 split with New features+Product Imp =70%, Resiliency =30%
Prioritize by impact/scale and effort (team's capacity) by quarter
Revisit Quarterly
For a new product -
Start"See full answer
"goal of whatsapp: to connect people at no cost associated to it, over internet, with complete privacy and 100% encryption
clarify
improve means?
increase # of users
increase revenues?
increase # of countries its used in ?
increase features ?
who are the customer personas of whatsapp:
students
working professionals
families
individuals
SMEs
current features of whatsapp :
communication: video/audio calls, messages
document sh"
Janakiram P. - "goal of whatsapp: to connect people at no cost associated to it, over internet, with complete privacy and 100% encryption
clarify
improve means?
increase # of users
increase revenues?
increase # of countries its used in ?
increase features ?
who are the customer personas of whatsapp:
students
working professionals
families
individuals
SMEs
current features of whatsapp :
communication: video/audio calls, messages
document sh"See full answer
"I would like to ask a few clarifying questions
Lyft for kids: Does this mean we want to design a ride sharing app for kids? (Assuming yes)
Do we have any existing features catered to kids? (Assuming no)
Lyft has a lot of features. I am going to assume basic table stake features which Lyft already has as:
Ability to call for a ride
Ride tracking
Are there any goals that we would like to achieve with this feature?
If we look at current market conditions, Lyft has biggest threat f"
Unicorn 2. - "I would like to ask a few clarifying questions
Lyft for kids: Does this mean we want to design a ride sharing app for kids? (Assuming yes)
Do we have any existing features catered to kids? (Assuming no)
Lyft has a lot of features. I am going to assume basic table stake features which Lyft already has as:
Ability to call for a ride
Ride tracking
Are there any goals that we would like to achieve with this feature?
If we look at current market conditions, Lyft has biggest threat f"See full answer
"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
"I will interpret the question as "focus on the next 5 years". I will also give a high-level helicopter view since I’m supposed to imagine I’m CEO of Shopify.
The mission of Shopify has always been to enable merchants and lessen the frictions in conducting commerce. Shopify is not an eCommerce company like Amazon, but a Tools and Infrastructure company like Stripe. Building tools and services for merchants are our core competencies.
When we think about the main problems that Merchants have"
Shen A. - "I will interpret the question as "focus on the next 5 years". I will also give a high-level helicopter view since I’m supposed to imagine I’m CEO of Shopify.
The mission of Shopify has always been to enable merchants and lessen the frictions in conducting commerce. Shopify is not an eCommerce company like Amazon, but a Tools and Infrastructure company like Stripe. Building tools and services for merchants are our core competencies.
When we think about the main problems that Merchants have"See full answer
"Questions:
Is "Facebook Search" referring to the overall search bar at the top where users can search across multiple facebook products (people, events, groups, marketplace, etc.)
Interview (I): Assume it is for the overall search experience
What's the current goal for Facebook as a company? How does Facebook search fit into the current company goal?
I: Your call
**What's the goal for this improvement for Facebook Search? Are we aiming to drive engagement overall?"
Mark - "Questions:
Is "Facebook Search" referring to the overall search bar at the top where users can search across multiple facebook products (people, events, groups, marketplace, etc.)
Interview (I): Assume it is for the overall search experience
What's the current goal for Facebook as a company? How does Facebook search fit into the current company goal?
I: Your call
**What's the goal for this improvement for Facebook Search? Are we aiming to drive engagement overall?"See full answer
"Clarification:
What types of jobs are we targeting? Are we talking about a broad market (like Indeed) or more focused—white-collar (LinkedIn-style) or blue-collar (gigs and tasks)?
Where are we launching the marketplace—U.S. or globally? Let’s assume U.S. for now.
Is this a standalone product or integrated within one of Meta’s existing platforms (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram)? Let’s assume it’s integrated into Facebook.
Overview:
Meta’s Mission: Why would Meta want to launch a"
Kat - "Clarification:
What types of jobs are we targeting? Are we talking about a broad market (like Indeed) or more focused—white-collar (LinkedIn-style) or blue-collar (gigs and tasks)?
Where are we launching the marketplace—U.S. or globally? Let’s assume U.S. for now.
Is this a standalone product or integrated within one of Meta’s existing platforms (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram)? Let’s assume it’s integrated into Facebook.
Overview:
Meta’s Mission: Why would Meta want to launch a"See full answer
"Approach:
1) clarify and communicate baseline assumptions.
2) communicate how solving for this will align to FB's mission.
3) define the user groups we are solving for
4) Define the user journey pre/during/after natural disasters
4.a) pick a user group we want to go with
5) identify the painpoints for this user groups user journey
6) think about solutions
7) prioritize and elaborate
1) clarify and communicate baseline assumptions.
Q: Can you tell me why FB is interesting in building"
dan - "Approach:
1) clarify and communicate baseline assumptions.
2) communicate how solving for this will align to FB's mission.
3) define the user groups we are solving for
4) Define the user journey pre/during/after natural disasters
4.a) pick a user group we want to go with
5) identify the painpoints for this user groups user journey
6) think about solutions
7) prioritize and elaborate
1) clarify and communicate baseline assumptions.
Q: Can you tell me why FB is interesting in building"See full answer
"Situation:
Was given negative feedback about an aspect of my communications. The person said it made them worried because of the brevity and the format of some messages. (Their worry was that a longer negative message was coming)
Task(s):
Reflected on feedback about my communication style.
Acknowledged the point.
Assumed best intentions on the part of the person giving the feedback
Saw things from the other person's point of view
Action(s):
In private - Apologised to the person wh"
Hans - "Situation:
Was given negative feedback about an aspect of my communications. The person said it made them worried because of the brevity and the format of some messages. (Their worry was that a longer negative message was coming)
Task(s):
Reflected on feedback about my communication style.
Acknowledged the point.
Assumed best intentions on the part of the person giving the feedback
Saw things from the other person's point of view
Action(s):
In private - Apologised to the person wh"See full answer
"Clarifying questions
Target market: parents
Geo: USA
Key value proposition: help people in parenting
Target market assessment
Reach: Every year, millions of people become parents and they need to take majority of decisions for their children till the child is 18.
Frequency: The decision making and guidance is needed on almost every aspect of the child's life - so the frequency is high
Importance: Making decision and managing children is one of the most important aspect of people"
Rahul J. - "Clarifying questions
Target market: parents
Geo: USA
Key value proposition: help people in parenting
Target market assessment
Reach: Every year, millions of people become parents and they need to take majority of decisions for their children till the child is 18.
Frequency: The decision making and guidance is needed on almost every aspect of the child's life - so the frequency is high
Importance: Making decision and managing children is one of the most important aspect of people"See full answer
"I am assuming current situation where public transport have restarted but uber pool is yet to start. Assuming it's Bay Area = I am considering internet penetration to be 100% .
pop = 8 million (2M per age group)
age group that would use uber (20-80 , under 18s can't ride) x age group that can afford uber ( low:mid:high income = 20:50:30 meaning 80% of each qualifying age group can afford uber) x people per household in need of transportation (3 people per household, 2 cars on average per househ"
Ananya M. - "I am assuming current situation where public transport have restarted but uber pool is yet to start. Assuming it's Bay Area = I am considering internet penetration to be 100% .
pop = 8 million (2M per age group)
age group that would use uber (20-80 , under 18s can't ride) x age group that can afford uber ( low:mid:high income = 20:50:30 meaning 80% of each qualifying age group can afford uber) x people per household in need of transportation (3 people per household, 2 cars on average per househ"See full answer