Clarifying Questions

1. What are the goals of the app?  New users, user engagement, revenue, healthier users?   Google

is interested in users being healthier - engagement.   

2. When you say app - what do you mean?  Phone App, Web App, Assistant app, Assistant app

with screen.  Phone app

3. Cooking - any particular type of cooking?   Cooking, Baking, Healthy? Focus on healthy

cooking.  

Constraints - Any constraints I should know about?  None

 Personas 

Single - people who are cooking for one

Family - people that are cooking for families

Professional cooks - want optimize their cooking for their professional business  

Kids - looking to enter the kitchen - sense of accomplishment - hobby

Compare the personas and pick one

When I think about these personas I would like to focus on Single.   I got there by process of

elimination:

Professional cooks are a small user group with specialized needs.

Kids is also a smaller user group both as a segment of the population and by engagement with

cooking. 

Family - most recipes are already geared for family and usually serve 4.   .  

State a Goal or Mission 

Google’s mission is to organize the world's information and make it accessible and useful.  

Google wishes to engage single users with a phone app that helps them cook healthier usually for

one person.   

Pain  points. 

Recipes are designed for 4 

When I look at recipes I never have the right ingredients.  

Because recipes are designed for 4 I always have too many leftovers

Because pantry items are designed for cooking for when I open something I only use a portion of

it. 

The recipes I find are not healthy

The recipes I find don’t use the ingredients I like

Brainstorm ideas for the pain points

 
1. Recipes are designed for 4 

1. Create an app that contains recipes for 1 

2. Create an app that allows you to dial up or down a recipe for the number of people being

fed

3. App that allows you to plan for leftovers in the right amount  

2. I never have the right ingredients

1. App that tells you which pantry staples you should keep to cook most recipes

2. App plans a week worth of cooking and gives you a shopping list for all the needed

ingredients

3. App that tracks your shopping and item usage as you use the item it adds it to a shopping

list

3. I have too many leftovers

1. Create an app that allows you to dial up or down a recipe for the number of people being

fed

2. App that allows you to plan for leftovers in the right amount  

4. Because pantry items are designed for cooking for families when I open something I only use a

portion of it. 

1. App plans a week worth of cooking and gives you a shopping list for all the needed

ingredients

1. Some pantry items will be stored for cooking latter in the week

5. The recipes I find are not healthy

1. App can focus on healthy recipes 

1. App can include recipes rated from one to five carrots of healthy - with five

carrots being the most healthy

6. The recipes I find don’t use the ingredients I like

1. You can preset types of food that you like

2. You can preset type of ingredients you like and don’t like

3. App learns from past used recipes and learns your preference

 
Compare the ideas

Idea impact effort audience  vote 

Lowish - many
recipes are
In light
designed for
of the
Create an app Medium - the families of 4 and
Only works for next
that contains next idea is may have
singles  idea this
recipes for 1  higher ingredients like
is likely
eggs that are
a no
harder to scale
back

Lowish - many
Create an app High - this is recipes are
that allows you higher than just designed for Huge everyone
to dial up or having recipes families of 4 and can get a recipe
down a recipe for one or single may have that fits their Yes
for the number please it ingredients like family size -
of people being broadens the eggs that are including signals 
fed audience harder to scale
back

App that tells Low - it's just a Low Medium - its just a no
you which list.   list of pantry
pantry staples essentials 
you should keep
to cook most
recipes

App plans a
Low  - once you Big - this is
week worth of High - this is big
have  set number different than
cooking and market
of items to cook picking one recipe
gives you a differentiator Yes
building a weekly and some people
shopping list for from existing
shopping list is want want a week
all the needed cooking aps
pretty easy  of planning
ingredients

App that tracks low- requires

High - requires
your shopping users to comply
tracking and
and item usage with tracking
High compliance to No
as you use the likely by adding
know the list of all
item it adds it to and removing
physical items
a shopping list every item.  

App plans a
week of cooking High - this
and uses the combined with Medium - requires Medium 
pantry items the week of the app to connect
throughout the planning allows the recipes This only works if Maybe
week - even the user to shop together for you plan the or v2 
splitting and use the items ingredient week / multiple

ingredients throughout the optimization.   meals.  

across multiple week.  

meals.  
 Low - google can
High - if the goal
Includes healthy analyze the list of Huge - this is core
of the app is
recipes with ingredients and to the target yes
healthier eating
recipies rated  come up with a audience 
this is important 
health rating

Preset Huge - who

Low - organizing
ingredients and doesn't want food
high info is Google yes
foods that you tailored to their
mission
like likes.  

Learn your High - everyone

preferences over High Low  likes yes
time personalization

Summary of product 

Google would like to build a cooking app that focuses on healthy eating.   On evaluation I

identified that cooking for singles was an interesting and underserved market.     I also identified

that a new and interesting twist on the cooking app was the ability to build a weekly menu that

organized all the needed ingredients into a shopping list and split the items across the weekly

menu.  This feature allows a single to buy pantry items and use them across the week of cooking.   

Some important features that we would want to get include

Recipe selection based on present foods and ingredients, refinement based on past user selections.  

The app would calculate health ratings based on the recipe.   

 

While the app is designed for singles, a feature that allows users to dial up or down recipes for

family size would expand the marketability of the app to other personas.   

Metrics 

If the goal is engagement then average daily users would tell us if the app is being used.   This

metric when tracked day over day will show us health and show acquisition trends.  

Engagement would also be measured by frequency of use and avg meals planned per period per

user  

Other supporting metrics could include tracking which meals or ingredients are used most  

Limitations

Users will likely want to access this app from their phone and will also want access to it from

google hubs this will require some cross development.  

 
 Clarifications

 What's the goal for this app? [Make it useful so that we can acquire more users]

 Is this a mobile app, web app or PC app? [Mobile]

 Is there any limitations that I should be aware of? [Nope]

 Who is the target user for this app? [I would like to hear your opinion]

Identify the user

I can think of several potential user personas that might be interested in a cooking app.

 [Learners] users who wish to learn to cook

 [Professionals] users who cooks as a career, like chefs in the restaurant

 [Party organizer] users who need to prepare food for a house party

 [House Cooker] users who usually cook for the family everyday

 [WFH workers] users who stuck at home due to the pandemic and has to cook every meal

I would like to prioritize the personas based on the segment size, potential usage frequency and

user impact

  Size Freq Impact Notes

Learners Low Low High  

Professionals Low High Low Chefs know what they are doing

Party
Med Low High  
Organizer

House Cooker High High Med Over years they already know the stuff

Forced into the business, need the most help

WFH worker High High High
everyday
 Based on the analysis, how about focus on the WFH worker persona. [Sounds good]

Pain points

WFH workers need to cook every meal, often times for the whole family. They are  busy during the

day, relatively free during the evening. They can only go shopping during weekend.  

For WFH workers, I can think of the following pain points.

1. Have to cook every meal, I run short of ideas

2. I only have limited time to cook, especially during lunch time

3. When I'm ready to cook, I found I'm missing ingredients

4. I don't know how to cook

5. I'm getting less exercises WFH, so I would like to eat healthily  

For WFH works, I would like to prioritize the pain points as 2) > 1) >3) > 5) > 4)

Solutions

Here are several ideas to address those pain points

 [Recipe DB]: to establish a collection of cooking receipts, which user can select from.

 [Recipe upload]: to allow user to contribute recipes and allow other users to rate them.

 [X-minute Menu]: to address pain point #1, provide a collection of recipes that can be finished in

5/10/15/etc minutes.

 [Cooking Calendar] to address pain point #2, allow user to plan what they wanna cook for the

whole week, with available receipts. 

 [Shopping list] to address painpoint #3, based on the receipts selected, compose a shopping list so

that users can purchase during the weekend shopping.

 [Plan-ahead]: to address pain point #1, dependent on [cooking calendar] Some recipe only takes 5

min to cook, but need preparations a few hours ahead, like to take the meat out of frig to unfreeze

at least 4 hours before cooking. Insert notification to users calendar with the specific actions.
 [Cooking Instruction]: to address paint point #4, As contrary to cooking videos, the instruction

will  stop at each step and only goes to the next step when user confirms.

 [Recipe filter]: to address pain point #5, also essential to [cooking calendar] and [X-minute

menu] Allow users to filter receipts based on type, calorie and cooking time.

We can prioritize those features based on the effort, feasibility, user impact and dependencies.

Effor Impac
    Feasibility dependencies Note
t t

1 Recipe DB 10 10 10    

Need to build upload

and rating feature.
Recipe Brings concern of
2 8 8 2 1
Upload content quality, which
might impact user
experience.

Need recipe db to
X-minute
3 5 10 8 1 contain cooking time
Menu
information

Cooking
4 5 10 10 1,8  
Calendar

Need to derive shopping

Shopping
5 6 10 10 1,4 item from receipt and
List
calendar selection;

6 Plan Ahead 6 10 9 1,4 Need recipe db to have

 preparation step, need
calendar information to
determine when to
notify.

Need to build step by

step UI, which requires
the recipe db to have
Cooking
7 4 10 4 1 break down instructions.
Instruction
Limited user impact as
compared to a simple
list of steps.

Recipe Essential feature to fully

8 3 10 10 1
Filter utilize Recipe DB

Based on the analysis, I would like to Recipe DB+Recipe Filter+X-minute Menu+cooking

calendar as P0. Then shopping list+Plan Ahead as P1, cooking instructions +Recipe Upload as P2.

The key to success is to build up a large repository of Recipes that contains ingredients, cooking

time, Calorie, instructions. We can consider to partner with companies and institutes who already

have the basic information. 

Metrics

The key metrics to measure success of this app is user engagement. We can monitor

 DAU vs MAU - whether user are using it on daily basis

 # of sessions per user per day - to monitor how many times user engage with the app.

 Volume of Recipe searches

 # of Users who used cooking calendar

 # of Users who used X-minute menu

 # of Users who used planning ahead

Summary

In short, we plan to build a mobile app, which will help WFH workers to avoid scratching their

head of what to cook, save their time in shopping and cooking and help them to eat healthier.
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Apr 28, 2021

Clarification

 when you say cooking what kind of cooking - at home or professionally, Im assuming the former  

 Is this a part of an any existing app or is standalone - assuming the latter

 Is there a specific goal or is it primarily engagement focussed - assuming the latter  

 is this worldwide or for a particular region? Assuming its a global app that should be compatible

with India 

 Android or iOS - given its India we shoud prioritise Android   

Who is the user 

  I feel we can split the user persona depending on the type of cooking involved
o Cook daily/almost on a daily basis: Cook daily mostly out of necessity, the breadth of

dishes is limited/basic in nature hence ingredients are limited.  

o Occasional cooks - Cook on special occasions, may require special ingredients, recipes are

new and need to followed. 

Usually stay alone/in a shared apartment and have people over sometimes 

User journey

 User has an urge to eat something specific/cook something special  

 It can be :
 o A specific dish

o a function of constraints: 

 ingredients or cooking utensils

 facilities available 

 time you have to cook 

 Cuisine 

 Certain dynamic factors :number of people you are cooking for  

 You get the ingredients +utensiles together in line number of people you are cooking for, you

prep them as per instructions

 you cook them as per instruction which can be 

o Time based

o Based on condition of the ingredient (pops or turns a color)

 you may look for video or photo understand what is meant by color or texture

reference 

 you serve basis serving technique 

o you often spend time rewinding in a video to see how to serve it a certain way

 its boring 

Pain  points 

- I don't know what I can cook basis the ingredients or the constraints  

- Often the recipe is for 2 people so i dont how to portion it for 3 or 4 or 1

- Im not aware of certain instructions around color or texture or techniques - I often end up

googling 

- Im not if Ive all the utensiles to cook it 

- Certain ingredients are not part of my vocabulary so im not what it means  

- Certain dishes require super special ingredients or utensiles   which arent availble in india, I

realise that late

- I struggle with keeping track of time/prep of ingredients (I forgot to crush the garlic)

Proposal
 RICE legend:

H - high, M - medium, S-Small

 Dish recommendation generator basis what you have to cook with  or time or both
o Users can specify what they have to cook with and/or  give further filters such as:

 what kind of cuisine they feel like having (including healthy)

 dietary restrictions if any(vegan or veg)

 Time they  have 

o RICE: H H H M

Pick

 Recommended dishes have special utensiles call or ingredient call outs

o Special ingredients or utensils are called out upfront in the recipe as a confirmationto the

user 

 User can see images of utensils to understand what is needed/why

 User can see local terms for special ingredients/ingredients with uncommon

international names for example: okra  

o RICE: M H H H

Pick can be a data moat, not a must have can be a stretch goal

 Allow user to modify recipe by number of people people being cooked for  
o RICE: H H H S

Pick, easy win 

 Detailed video on techniques with voice over instructions on how to check/perform the

technique
o Will cover dish specific techniques with images and videos for example how do you garlic

is fried or onions have been grilled to transparent (what is meant by transparent here)  

RICE: M H H S

Pick, easy win 

 Cooking guide: ingredient prep checklist and cooking timer post check lsit
 o Users can use checklist to prep ingredients and then user timer to cook it easily  

RICE: H H H S 

pick, easy win 

 basics/hygiene:
o bookmark/fav recipes you cook  or browse so you  can come back to it  

o Prev cooked recipes - users can quickly go back to previous cooks  

o custom notes on recipe for reference: use lesser salt than mentioned etc

RICE:  L M M M

not for MVP version 

 Personalised recommendation
o Over  time the app recognises the ingredients usually preferred/time/techniques

o suggests recipes in line with the above under themes  

o RICE: H M M M

Pick as it's a  potential moat/hard to replicate 

assuming this a product that about to be launched I would want to track acquisition/growth and

engagement metrics, listing them below in no particular order  

-  App opens (daily/weekly)

-  Retention(Weeekly)

-  % of users searching for a recipe

-  % of users viewing a recipe

-  % of users cooking a recipe 

- Time spent per user

from a prioritise perspetive I'll want to look at following metrics  

- app opens - this  tells me about growth

- time spent - this tells me about engagement/leading indicator retention  

- % of users daily vieweing a recipe (sub metric  - cook using it)- this tell me how many users are

discovering value/can be a good start for an Aha moment metric

- Retention - this tells me about long term value/growth

Solid answer hitting the steps of a solid framework.   I would like to see a summary at the end. 

As an interviewer you left it to me to pick my way though your picks and visualize your final

answer.  I’m busy I except my team to provide a summary and I would want the same in an

interview – don’t make me work. 

Also don’t boil the ocean after you define the pain points – pick one using criteria and develop

solutions that solve that pain point.