Product mindset to crack a case-based PM interview
Curiosity fuels the product mindset of a Product Manager (PM). A product mindset is about uniquely solving customer problems by understanding the core issue thoroughly. Precisely, a PM role is well beyond executing tasks like writing user stories, managing Jira and backlog grooming, whereas it majorly displays a tactical approach to meet the company’s and user’s goals through a product.
A PM plays various roles like a collaborator, influencer, change enabler, thought-leader, critical think, UX expert or at times a marketer. Therefore, a product mindset helps connect dots across all these roles a PM plays that help him/her thrive in this role.
An objective of any product is to enable customers to get their Jobs done. The likeability of the product on a scale of 0 to 1 can be measured in two ways- either the product allows users to finish the jobs easily & or in a complex way, the latter is not good as it falls behind on the likeability scale. To enable a product mindset, it is necessary to think critically and analyze the problems or a product that comes across. It also inculcates the habit of critical thinking and problem-solving.
It is important to have an intuitive nature to tackle the product execution, building and defining strategy as a pro. There is no right or wrong way to build a product, all is needed is to have a mindset that is an equivocal thinker. The other trick is to enable product mindset to keep oneself in the 3Ws (What, Why, Who).
Example :
Imagin a podcaster plans to launch a new season dedicated to women leaders. The best place to invite women leaders/entrepreneurs to show is through Linkedin networking. This user is unable to filter connections by “gender type=women” as Linkedin doesn’t have a “gender type” filter for filtering the connections. Like this archetype, there must be marketers or recruiters who want to target the specific gender on Linkedin connects. The point to ponder is that If LinkedIn ads can be targeted as per the gender demography then why can’t a user filter out the connection by gender type (refer to image1)? Although there could be some issues related to legal, customer data security and control or compliance but analyzing critically support product mindset. This was a simple example of adopting the skills of 3Ws.
In nutshell, a product mindset analyzes the problems, introspects and counter feeds with its analogy. Trust me that is fun. Building product is one aspect, another aspect is to assess the product through business and market strategy that exhibits the tactical approach of a PM and desirable aspect to demonstrate in the interview.
I have collected some cases generally asked in any product management interview. Normally, 3 types of case-based interviews take place- execution/process-based, strategy-based, problem-solving, UX and design-based. It depends on the role, position and product you have been invited for an interview, and one of these types is used by the interviewer.
P.S: Any case can be solved in multiple ways. What interviewers want to see is different kinds of responses should converge in the expected direction.
Case 1: How would you improve product/feature X (where X is something that the company is currently working on or selling)?
Category: Tactical, prioritization skills and Metrics knowledge check.
Answer Type 1:
The expected response of a candidate: I would prefer run experiments, and validate the features before pushing the changes in the product backlogs for the release sprint. It allows me to test the effectiveness of the changes. Some common ways to run and test experiments are — A/B testing, CSAT for features and NPS score. The approach may vary as per B2B and B2C product types. In the case of B2C, CSAT, A/B Testing and NPS all fit perfectly. In the case of B2B clickable prototypes, NPS are quick methods to get buyer and external stakeholders feedback for the proposed feature.
Answer Type 2:
The expected response of a candidate: I would prefer to collaborate with design and dev frequently to revisit the customer’s product journey. This helps in analyzing the pain points at each touchpoint based on customer’s feedback, CRM, Marketing/Sales data insights. I’ll work with design and test the solutions through A/B testing, NPS score before developing them.
Answer Type 3:
Expected response of a candidate: In case it is a well-established product in the market, I would look at the metrics e.g the product usability, overall financials measures, performance success measures, and improve the product features wherever the success measures are not met. Further, I would prioritize the feature change based on its business value and team effort to ensure we get enough scope to change the course of action quickly in case the changed feature doesn’t meet end goals.
P.S: All three answer responses have similarities as candidates talk about metrics, experiments and prioritization in all these responses.
Interviewer: Cost, time and effort are important to look after, and we can’t keep running experiments for every feature in our roadmap, but we still want to improve the feature/product. How would you make this possible?
The expected response of a candidate: If the feature has a high value and need substantial effort/time to build, I’ll prefer running the experiment to di-risk the impact before building. In case the feature changes are customer delights, repetitive changes or expected experience like contemporary products in the market, I would prioritize the features for the upcoming sprints based on effort vs cost.
Case 2: Ride cancellations increased by X% week-over-week (WoW). How would you investigate what’s going on?
The expected response of a candidate: I will look into this issue categorized by the archetypes-’ Users and drivers, regulatory reasons and product experience.
My investigation approaches would be-
A- On Customers side cancellation investigation points:
- Expected wait time for a ride than promised
- Payment methods compared to competitors
- Better price offerings per kilometre by the competitors
- Ongoing promotions by competitors
- Cancellation pick time
- Average cancellation by localities
B- On Drivers side cancellation investigation points:
1- Estimated distance to cover to pick up the customer
2- Estimated distance cover to drop the customer
3- Competitor price offering to the drivers per k.m.
4- Payment cycle of drivers as compared to drivers
5- Competitors ongoing promotions for drivers
C- App experience investigation :
1- Analyze customer journey on the app for booking, sharing and riding experience by OS types.
2- Any recent patch or tech changes
3- App performance
D- Regulatory reason investigation :
The government imposed a ban on riding by locality/by pick time
E-Marketing/Branding investigation :
1- Bad word of mouth on different channels
2- Ongoing campaigns by company or competitor
Some metrics to analyze during the investigation:
- % of cancellation by User.
- % of cancellation by Drivers.
- % actives users on the app who does some activity e.g booking, sharing rides details, searching location etc.
- % driver who cancelled drive post-call
- % active drivers on the app who does some action activity
P.S: There can be other reasons too across the categories, but these are some no-brainer points that the interviewer expects from a candidate.
Case 3: How will you measure the success of the Netflix recommendation engine?
The expected response of a candidate:
1- User Lifetime value,
2- CSAT
3- NPS is the most important measure for the Netflix recommendation engine.
4- (a)customer watch list vs recommended list, (b)ratings for recommended item
4(a) & 4(b) are worth seeing too as what the recommendation engine suggests to a user is ultimately liked, overlooked, or watched.
The Netflix recommendation engine is a form of “relevance personalization”. My previous post on UX & personalization highlights the objective, strategy and success measures for measuring the personalization experience.
Case 4: How would launch/build an app (X)
This is a very common question. Let’s see the approach to solving this quickly like a pro. Ask a few questions as below (a) &(b)before starting and note down any assumptions the interviewer share.
A- What problem this product is going to solve?
B- What are the target user( personas) and target market?
C- Budget
Pro tips 💡: Unlike real-time virtual/F2F interviews are not based on user research aspect hence your asking some initial questions will help you to get information and build the right product an interviewer expects you.
Later,
1- List down all Jobs to be Done( JTBD) for different types of Persona your app supports.
Pro tips 💡: Think about pain points, gains that can offer that helping in quicky get some JTBD. The user-story format is the best way to jot down the JTBD. JTBD shows the intended outcomes that a user wants to get for an action taken by him.
2- Decompose these JTBD into high-level feature user stories.
3- Define MVP by prioritizing features by Value/impact vs effort.
4- Demonstrate experience & Design skills: Hand sketch some wireframes to display low fidelity prototypes. Also, you can use Balsamiq, mockups, or Figma to design wireframes if a virtual interview.
5- Define success measures that allow you to measure the success/failure of the product faster. Impressive impact if you right them in OKR format as it shows your strategic approach around building something.
6- Build at least 1-year roadmap, for now, next and future.
Pro tips 💡: Now is your MVP features.
7-Define a quick GTM strategy and keep it simple as much as possible so go only for online or offline medium. Also, define strategy/tactics with 1–2 metrics to measure success.
Pro tips 💡: If the interviewer gives you a budget, allocate the budget across your channels too
8- Pretty impressive if you quickly arrive at the estimated market size of the apps for both IOS & Android users and get a 1–2 years estimated projection aligned to the GTM strategy.
Pro tips 💡: Ask questions and ensure to your you assumptions are called out clearly.
In the beginning, just start from these 1 to 8 steps. More we think and analyze any app used in your day-to-day life, it gradually sharpens the skills.
Please share your thoughts in the comments.
