What Are We Solving For?

“How will you build an app that does xxxx?”

This is a common question that’s asked in Product Manager interviews; the interviewer wants the candidate to design an app that does something or improve an already existing app. I’ll use this post to suggest how not to answer this question with my personal experience, but first a brief detour.

“What are we solving for?” is the favourite phrase of my line manager and one of the best Product Managers I know. He loves this phrase so much, he used it as his Slack status with a 🤔 emoji. As a PM, this should be your mantra; before you propose a feature/solution, know what the problem to be solved is. Nothing drives home the point of understanding what you’re solving for than being asked how you will build an app in an interview.

Now back to my personal interview story.

Interviewer: “My flatmate, called Kate, is always late. How will you build an app that ensures Kate is never late”.

Me: “The app I will build will have the following features; an alarm so Kate can set a time to wake up. The app will also be able to sync to Kates’s calendar so it can tell her schedule, but the best feature will be seamless integration to a transportation app, so Kate can easily request a ride to work.”

Interviewer: “Thank you, but the problem isn’t that Kate is never early to work, the problem is that she always submits her reports late. I wanted an app that will help her submit her reports earlier.”

Me: “……….”

Safe to say, I didn’t get the job 😃

As a PM, you should always be focused on the problem. Every stakeholder will want a feature and they’ll request you to add it to the product for them. It is your job to know what the problem is before you find solutions. Always be in the problem zone by asking What Are We Solving For?

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