How I prepared for Meta PM interviews: Product Sense
This is the final note in my series on Product Manager (PM) interview frameworks. You can copy my template from here, and find my previous notes on PM interviews here: Execution and Leadership & Drive.
As a reminder…
PM interviews test for 3 core skills — product sense, execution, and behavioral skills. The format is different for every company but the interviews test for the same core skills. The hard truth is that most interviews require you to think on your feet and respond quickly. Frameworks help with thinking quickly. This note talks about my framework, tips, and common gotchas that helped me get a PM job at Facebook.
Things to keep in mind while using this framework
- Be flexible: Most interview conversations don’t go as planned. Don’t force a framework. Make the interview conversational and let it flow by checking in with the interviewer and pausing frequently.
- Practice! Practice! Practice!: Practice mock interviews with these frameworks, and mold them into what works best for you. Your ideal is not the same as someone else’s.
- Collect your thoughts: As a rule of thumb take a 20 second pause right after the prompt is given to you. It will help you collect your thoughts and decide on which framework to use and how.
First, let’s define product sense
I like how Jules Walter defines product sense in How to develop product sense:
Product sense is the skill of consistently being able to craft products (or make changes to existing products) that have the intended impact on their users.
This is an important PM skill that helps you make strategic choices and steer the product in the right direction. Some PMs choose to become specialists by developing deep product sense in one domain such as platforms, data, or fintech.
So how do product sense interviews test for product sense?
The interview starts with a broad user problem, and your goal is to guide the conversation to build a great product that addresses it, by asking questions and making choices. The interviewer will be testing the boundaries of your thinking, your ability to prioritize, get in your user’s shoes, and be creative, all while building a compelling narrative. Simply put, can you build products that people will love?
The 4 most common prompts for a product sense interview are:
- What is your favorite product and how will you improve it
- Build product X for user Y
- Company X wants to solve problem Y
- Improve product X
Here’s the simple framework that I use
- Clarify: understand the prompt and the status quo experience. Check your assumptions by asking the interviewer.
- Product Mission & Goal: state the goal of the product and how it furthers the company’s mission. For favorite product, why do you like the product and what makes it better than others. For improve product, what job does the product solve and for whom
- User Segmentation: start with listing the broad user segments before prioritizing one segment to focus on. For example, Yelp’s services product has 2 primary users: businesses and customers. Businesses can further be segmented into independent single-person operations, large services company employees, and part-timers.
- User Needs & Pain Points: do a comprehensive exploration of user needs, prioritize one, and discuss the pain points in the user’s journey.
- Solutions: brainstorm multiple product solutions for the prioritized problem and user segment, then prioritize one.
Some tips to tackle common gotchas
- Take your time while clarifying. People rush into answering without aligning with the interviewer on the problem definition. No one is going to penalize you for asking additional thoughtful questions. For example, improving engagement on Google Maps could refer to businesses updating their information or users searching for transit routes.
- Consider the big picture before stating the goal. Why does the problem matter, what alternatives are available to solve the problem, and why should the company care. This highlights your ability to zoom out before diving into specifics.
- Define the product goal in terms of the user problem, not a metric. Metrics are mere quantification of progress, not the motivation for building a product. Products solve people’s problems. For example, Google Maps’s goal is to help people navigate the world, not to increase the number of route searches.
- To segment users, think about how people you know use the product or solve the problem. This will help you to identify the common thread and the key user buckets. For example, we can segment Spotify music users into casual listeners, hardcore fans, and background (listening to music during work or at the gym). The problems and product solutions are different for all 3.
- Map out user journeys to identify the user needs. Put yourself in the user’s shoes and progress with them as they try to solve the problem without your product. This will add structure, help you empathize with the needs better, and make it easier for the interviewer to follow along.
- Use a consistent prioritization framework throughout. Interviewees often prioritize user segments, needs, and product solutions using different criteria that don’t align with the decisions made before. This leads to a product that doesn’t solve for the prioritized goals.
- Every time you prioritize, lay out the framework you’re using for the interviewer. Take the interviewer along the journey with you
You can create a copy of my template to answer product sense prompts
👉🏽 Link to copy template
Further readings
👉🏽 You can find more notes on PM interviews and mock videos on my website: https://www.rohankatyal.com/pm-interviews
Hi, I am Rohan
I am excited about scaling teams and products spanning small businesses, marketplaces, and consumers.
Currently, I am building Super at New Product Experimentation (Meta’s experimental products group) to help creators have a recurring income stream.
Previously, I’ve built products for +200M small businesses at WhatsApp, Instagram, Yelp, and Yahoo.
Always excited to chat about building delightful products.
