How to Approach Challenging Questions in a Product Manager Interview

5 Steps to Answering Case Questions and More

Photo by Kaleidico on Unsplash

Product manager interviewers at many leading tech companies are famous for asking challenging and unpredictable questions.

How would you design a new car? How would you bring that car to market? What metrics would you use to measure a successful launch?

These types of questions can be very intimidating. My natural reaction used to be one of panic: I don’t know how to design a car! What does “design” even mean? Isn’t this a software product management role? Why am I being asked this question?

Case questions are meant to measure your ability to structure problems and think critically — demonstrating that a logical thought process is more important than your final answer.

Cases typically take fifteen to forty-five minutes and often include challenging follow ups. Some companies use real problems that they are currently solving, others may ask seemingly unrelated questions (e.g. design a garage door). These questions may seem odd, but they are testing your thought process over domain knowledge.

5 Steps to Answering Every Product Manager Question

I approach the answer to every PM interview question with the following five steps.

Step 1: Determine is this a case question?

Case questions require a different approach than typical behavioral questions, so finding out what type of question you’re dealing with is an important first step.

Not sure if a question is meant to be a case? Ask the interviewer.

How much time were you planning on spending on this question? I want to be conscious of our time.

If it’s a case, they’ll usually say that it is the central question or that most of the interview will focus on this subject. As a rule of thumb, anything five minutes or more can be treated as a case — just be sure to shorten your framework based on time constraints.

Step 2: Whiteboard everything

As soon as you know it’s a case question, get up and write notes on the whiteboard (use a sheet of paper if there isn’t a whiteboard).

Writing on the whiteboard allows you to connect ideas spatially while helping your interviewer follow your thought process. Dedicate some time to practicing using the whiteboard, but don’t worry about your spelling or drawing skills.

Three notes on white-boarding:

1. Write down the question and its key points (I tend to forget these 20 minutes in)
2. Number your framework (see image) — this allows you to connect each step clearly
3. Use different colors to highlight ideas you like or critical points

Step 3: Ask clarifying questions

The purpose of asking clarifying questions is two-fold. These questions can help you:

1. Understand the problem you are supposed to solve
2. Buy time to think about how to attack the case

Your clarifying questions will vary based on the case so I won’t list too many.

Examples of clarifying questions:

• Why are we doing X?
• Who is this for? Why would they use it?
• Who am I in this situation? Google PM? New startup?

Don’t ask more than two or three clarifying questions. Interviewers want to see that you can make decisions based on logical assumptions, so be prepared to answer your own questions (interviewer: “who do you think we should build for?”).

Step 4: Mentally categorize the question

What kind of question is this? Product design? Metrics? Go-to-market? Strategy?

As you ask clarifying questions, you should be determining the case type so that you can align it to an appropriate framework. I separate PM cases into product and business questions.

Product Cases:

1. Design X (for Y): Design a new car (for commuters)
2. Product Sense: Tell me about a product you like. Why do you like it?
3. Metrics for X: What metrics are the most important for Uber?
4. Improve X: Improve Alexa’s response accuracy
5. Launch X: Launch Apple Pay in India

Business Cases:

1. Estimate X: How many miles can an autonomous vehicle drive in a 24 hour shift?
2. Troubleshoot X: Netflix viewership in New York deceased by 15%. Why?
3. Monetize X: How would you monetize WhatsApp?
4. New Product or Market Entry: What new market should Amazon enter?
5. You are CEO of X: What would you do if you were the CEO of Lyft?

Some companies (Google) will also ask technical questions about system design or algorithms. I recommend this Github. Fair warning, if you don’t have a CS background (I don’t), the amount of information here may seem overwhelming. If you’re short on time, skim it for core concepts like SQL vs. No SQL or caching.

Step 5: Apply or design a framework

At this point, you have a clear idea of the problem and the type of question. It’s time to apply an existing framework or create one ad-hoc.

For frameworks, Cracking the PM Interview (McDowell & Bavaro) and Decode and Conquer (Lewis C. Lin) provide some great examples and are well worth a read. Leave a comment on this article if you are interested in a separate post on the frameworks I used.

Pretty much every framework should start with the goal. Don’t worry about writing the perfect goal; use it to clearly define assumptions upfront so you can reference the goal later in your case.

Other Helpful Tips

Moonshots

Strive for at least one “moonshot” in your ideation/solutioning. A moonshot is just a fancy term for a really big idea. It could be applying technologies like AI/ML in a novel way or a simple change to the business model. The FAANG companies love these big ideas, but a good moonshot will make you stand out.

Example of Moonshots (from whiteboard photo): Use facial recognition to check people in, image detection to detect suspicious behavior, Augmented Reality to have TSA inspect bags remotely, or even a service where someone else gets you through security while you sip coffee in the lounge.

Bend, but don’t fold

Your ideas will likely be questioned. Don’t panic or become defensive. Admit the flaws in your thoughts, adjust them if it makes sense, and be okay with being wrong. In the end, companies want PMs that can make tough decisions, so it’s essential to have a point of view.

Summarize often

After each step in a framework, summarize and transition. This is particularly important for phone interviews and when your interviewer is taking copious notes (these notes are often read by others in the hiring process, so make it easy for them to take good ones).

Example: “Now that we have our target user — everyday commuters — let’s talk about the needs of these users.”

Have fun

Treat this process as a fun, problem-solving exercise. If an interviewer throws something new into the mix, take it in stride. Your state of mind should be — “Hmmm, that is interesting. Let’s see how this changes my initial suggestions.”