All Frameworks: Product Manager

Interview Questions
Rahul Sikder · Follow
10 min read · Jun 25

199 3

Design Improve Metric Strategy RCA Estimation

ClarifyingQuestions DescribetheProduct ClarifyingQuestions ClarifyingQuestions SystemFactor ClarifyingQuestions
Structure ClarifyingQuestions DescribetheProduct Structure Structure Approach
BusinessObiectiveGoal Structure Structure DescribetheProduct&Company DescribetheProduct Highlevelequation
UserSegment BusinessObjective/Goal BusinessObjective/Goal BusinessObiective/Goal ClarifyingQuestions BreakItDown
UserJourney UserSegment UserJourney ListdownStrategies ExternalFactor Calculate
UserProblems UserProblems ListdownTheMetrics Evaluate&PrioritizeSolutions InternalFactor Finalanswer
Solution Solution Evaluate&PrioritizeSolutions Trade-offs Summary Sanitycheck
Evaluate&PrioritizeSolutionsEvaluate&PrioritizeSolutions Trade-offs SuccessMetrics SolutionStateYourAction
Trade-offs Trade-offs Summary Summary
SuccessMetrics SuccessMetrics
Summary Summary

Framework cheat sheet by Rahul Sikder

Framework 1: Product Design Question

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1. Ask Clarifying Questions

S ometimes what we assume it is not necessary that the interviewer

also thought the same, that is the reason you have to ask a lot of
questions before you provide the solution. If you directly jump into the
solution, then you are a solution-oriented person which is not a good sign
of a great product manager. Adequate diagnosis is the first step towards a
successful outcome. You can ask the following question to the
interviewer in order to be aligned with the interviewer.

· What is the geographical scope of the project? Is it focused on India, USA,

or global implementation?

· Can you provide a timeline for the project? When is the expected launch
date?
· Do we have a preference for a web-based or app-based solution?

· Are we targeting users on both Android and iOS platforms?

· Is this product intended to stand alone, or will it be integrated into an

existing solution or marketplace?

· Are there any competitors in this market, or are we entering a new

market?

· Can you provide insights into the potential market size for this product?

· Could you please clarify the nature of the product if it is not yet apparent?

· Are we a start-up or an established company? This information may

affect the available resources.

· Are there any constraints we should be aware of, such as time, budget, or
technological limitations?

· What is our experience in this field, and do we possess relevant expertise

or knowledge that could guide our approach?

2. Structure and Overview

P rovide an overview how you are going to approach the whole case
so that the interviewer gets an idea about the whole. Interviewer
will be impressed by your structural thinking.

3. Business Objective & Goal

In this section, define the product and set the goal. For instance,
designing a fitness app could have a goal related to engagement,
revenue, acquisition, or any metric derived from the AARRR or HEART
framework.

4. User Segment & Target Persona

F irst think in term of marketplace then provide sub user like below.
Market Place having both Supply side & Demand side. From the
marketplace, chose any group and then prioritize 1–2 users from the
below sub user groups along with reason why you have chosen.

By Rahul Sikder

Sub User

· Age group or live stage (Youth/Elder/Older)

· Type of user (Business/Personal)

· Occupation (Professional/Student)

· Frequency of use (Power/casual/Occasional)

· Ability (Physically challenged or disabilities people (Blind, deaf,

Wheelchair)/Normal people)

· Kids & parents

5. User Journey

O utline the user journey, which encompasses the series of

interactions and experiences users will have with the product,
from initial discovery to final usage. This provides the interviewer with a
clear understanding of how users will navigate through the product.

6. User Problems/Use case

T his is the best part. Identify user pain points to showcase your user
empathy, a critical skill for a product manager. But the good news
is, since it’s a skill, it’d come with practice as you solve more design
problems.

List down the 5–6 user pain-points.

· Prioritize 1–2 user pain points (P1 & P2)

7. Solutions

· Each selected problems (P1 & P2), provide 2–3 solutions (S1, S2, S3)

· Means 2 problems having 2–3 solution each so total solution

P1*2+P2*3=5 Solutions
· Have at least one Moon-shot solution in terms of business goal, revenue,
user goal, sustainability, Innovative, technology, creative and beat
competitors

· Solution may be features also

8. Evaluate & Prioritize Solutions

· Use RICE (Reach, Impact, Confidence & Effort) framework

· Have 2–3 final solution including one moon-shot idea/solution

9. Trade-offs

· Pros and cons of your solutions

· Provide 1–2 only

10. Success Metrics

· Choose at least 5–6 metrics from the goal you have set.

· Primary success metrics-1 total (North Star Metric)

· Secondary success metrics-4 total

· Have both user metrics and product metrics

11. Summary
Summarize the key points discussed above to provide a concise overview
of the product design question.
Additionally, you may include the following points if desired:

· Create MVP prototype & showcase a mock-up of the design

· Launch into the market and get user feedback and iterate accordingly

· Talk about competitor how you are differentiating from your competitor
and your unique value proposition.

Framework 2: Product Improvement Question

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1. Describe the Product

G enerally, interviewer will ask what is your favorite product and why
it is you favorite product. What would you like to improve on it?

· Now you define the product what it does, how it does and for whom it does,
etc.

· Summarize what exactly it does in 2–3 points.

2. Ask Clarifying Questions

· Same as above product design question

3. Structure & Overview

· Same as above product design question

4. Business Objective & Goal

· Same as above product design question

5. User Segment/ Target Persona

· Same as above product design question

6. List Down User Problems/Use Cases

· Same as above product design question

7. List down Solutions

· Same as above product design question

8. Evaluate & Prioritize Solutions

· Same as above product design question

9. Trade off:
· Same as above product design question
10. Success Metrics
· Same as above product design question

11. Summary
· Same as above product design question

Framework 3: Product Metrics Question

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1. Ask Clarifying Question

2. Define Product & Feature

3. Overview/Structure/Layout

4. Goal/Objective
· Company- Goal, Mission and Vision

· Product- AAAERRR & HEART

· Feature- AAAERRR & HEART

The ultimate main goal of the product and feature should be chosen
based on the

· Mission And Vision

· Product’s Life Cycle

5. Users/Customer

· User Segment

· User Actions/Goals/Objective

· User Journey

· User Flow

6. List down The Metrics Using Framework

· AAAERRR Framework

· HEART (ATERH) Framework

7. Prioritize & Evaluate Metrics

· RICE Framework
8. Trade-offs

9. Summarize

Framework 4: Product Strategy Question

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1. Clarifying Questions
· All aspects of the business, not just product features

2. Structure & Overview

3. Describe Company & Product

· Company Mission And Vision

· What it does? Why is does? How it does? For whom it does?

· Company Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats (SWOT)

· Expertise

· Unique Value Proposition

· Competitors

4. Business Goal/Objective

· AAAERRR

· HEART

5. List down Strategies

· Have 5–6 strategies

6. Evaluate strategies

· RICE Framework

· Prioritize 2–3 main strategies and make roadmap

7. Trade-offs

8. Success Metrics

9. Summary

Framework 5: Estimation Question

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1. Ask clarification questions

· To make sure that you know exactly what number you need to
calculate.

· Narrow down your answer by asking questions and filtering

· You and your interview should be on the same page.

2. Approach

· Top Down or

· Bottom-Up Estimation Method

3. High level equation
· Provide the final equation

4. Break It Down
· For each part of the main equation, construct a sub-equation/groups.

5. Calculate

6. Final Answer

7. Sense-check your results

· Whether your estimation sound real number or not

Framework 6: RCA Question

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1. System Factor

1. What analytics tool, BI tool or dashboard have we employed to

measure the engagement metric? Has the tool been functioning
effectively?

2. In case the analytical tool is third-party software, have we ensured

that they are not experiencing any technical difficulties?

3. Have we modified the definition or calculation formula for the

engagement metric?

2. Structure/Layout

3. Describe the Product

4. Ask Clarify Questions

Metric-

1. Are we talking about the metrics Average Viewing Time, Retention Rate,
Completion Rate, Churn Rate and Search Queries?

2. Are we seeing a corresponding drop in other related metrics?

Timeline- Over what time period did the drop in engagement metrics
occur?

1. Is it sudden, gradual, seasonal, or recurrent?

2. Is it Week over Week or Month over Month?

3. Have you observed any pattern or graph?

Demographic-

1. age, gender, location, etc.) or is it concentrated in a particular group?

Device-

1. Is this happening any particular devices like Mobile/ PC/ Tablet or all?

Platform-

1. Is this happening any particular platform like Android/iOS or

Chrome/Mozilla or App/ website or both all?

Users:

· Is the drop the same across our casual, Core, and power users?

· Are there any notable differences in engagement metrics between new

users and long-term users? If new users have higher drops, then there might
be a problem with the acquisition i.e. we may be acquiring the wrong
traffic.

5. External Factor
Competitor

1. Have there been any recent launches of popular shows or web

 series by our competitors that are not available on our platform?

2. Has there been any change in the subscription fee of our

competitors? Might be lower than us

3. Have our competitors announced any new benefits or additional

services that have caught the attention of our customers?

4. Have our competitors provided any monetary incentives to their

users, such as rewards or coupons, based on their usage patterns?

5. Have our competitors introduced any new user experiences or

features that may have impacted our user engagement?

Social Media Outrages

1. Has there been any recent controversial tweet or fake news related
to our company circulating on social media?

2. Have we faced any backlash on the press or social media that may
have negatively impacted public sentiment towards us?

3. Have there been any negative PR incidents related to our products

or brand authenticity circulating on social media?

4. Has any famous influencer or celebrity recently criticized our

platform, resulting in a decline in their followers and potentially
impacting our engagement metric?

Government Regulatory

1. Have there been any recent changes in government regulations or

laws that may have impacted our business operations and
subsequently affected our user engagement metrics?
2. Have any government authorities issued a ban on our services,
similar to the ban on TikTok and other Chinese-created apps by
the Indian government in 2020?

3. Has the government banned any specific types of content in India,

which may have affected our user engagement metrics?

Other Issues

1. Calamities-Have there been any recent calamities, such as natural

disasters, power shutdowns, or strikes, that may have impacted
our users’ ability to access the platform which impacted in
engagement?

2. Event-Are there any ongoing events in the region, such as the IPL,
football world cup, or cricket world cup, which may be drawing
users’ attention away from the platform and impacting
engagement?

3. 3rd Part app/website-Are there any third-party apps or websites,

such as Google or Bing, that are experiencing issues that may be
impacting our users’ ability to find our products or services?

6. Internal Factor
User Flow

Does the drop occur at a particular stage in the user flow below?

Design

1. Firstly, have there been any recent updates or changes made to the
UI/UX design of the app/website? It is possible that such changes
 may have impacted users’ ability to locate content, particularly for
those who are not tech-savvy.

2. Secondly, has there been any recent feature deployment that could
have caused the decrease in engagement?

3. Lastly, have there been any updates to the version that may have
affected user engagement?

Bugs or Technical glitches

1. Firstly, have there been any instances of downtime, outages, or

delays that could have affected the user experience?

2. Secondly, have we identified any technical glitches or bugs that

may have contributed to this decrease in engagement?

3. Additionally, is there any ongoing A/B testing that could be causing

the issue?

4. Lastly, has there been any significant increase in the size of the
app, such as a change from 50mb to 100mb, that may be impacting
users’ ability to use the app because of space issue?

Data Security

1. Has there been any recent data leak or data security issue that may
have impacted user trust in our platform?
Search Medium Write

2. Have there been any concerns raised by users regarding our data
sharing policies, particularly in relation to sharing data with the
government or other companies?

Price change
1. Any pricing changes for the subscription plan?

7. Summary
Formulate a hypothesis and seek validation from your interviewer to
confirm if it accurately identifies the root cause.

8. Proposed Solution: Outline Your Action Plan

1. Assess the impact of the change on the north star metric and
determine whether it is beneficial or detrimental.

2. Establish acceptable ranges for this change based on predefined

criteria.

3. Develop a set of steps to rectify the metric if the change is deemed

negative, bringing it back on track.

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to share your insights in the
comments section below. For more insights on product management,
I encourage all aspiring PMs to follow me, as I will be regularly
sharing my learnings here. Also you can read the Product Design,
Improve, root cause analysis and Metric question, Product Strategy in
details case studies posts here.

You can connect with me via LinkedIn and email-

rahul.sikder3@gmail.com