How To Ace The Product Design Interview And Product Management Case Interview With Sample Answers

The product manager design interview and the product manager case interview are incredibly challenging, and practicing to ace these cases can be extremely time-consuming. Without the right guidance and resources, your chances of landing your dream job are slim. While there's no doubt that the process is difficult, if you know what to expect, you can go into your interview with confidence. That's why we've put together six proven steps taken from Dr. Nancy Li’s exclusive framework to review beforehand, which will take the fear out of the process and help position you for success. Using these exact steps she’s helped 1000+ product managers land their dream PM job offers in FAANG companies and unicorn startups.

Knowing Where to Start

The key to preparing for your product manager case interview is knowing the type of questions the interviewer will ask and understanding how they want you to answer. For this example, we'll use the prompt, "Design an Uber app for people with disabilities." Whenever you hear people talking about product sense or product design for a case interview, there's a similar format where you're given a question and forty-five minutes to solve it. 

To start, you should always clarify what the interviewer is asking to ensure you're both on the same page. From there, you can show them the following six steps that you'll use, implementing problem-solving and critical thinking skills, to develop your conclusion. What does this process look like? You could say something along the lines of, 

"Thank you for this case. To develop an answer, I'll start by understanding the mission and the why so I can better understand the user's pain points and develop a solution." 

Starting this way shows the interviewer that you process information at a very high level. Now, let's get into the steps you'll use to solve this case.

The Six Steps for Acing Your Product Manager Case Interview

Step 1 - Mission and Why?

Start by addressing why this is an important problem to solve and how it aligns with the company's mission. For example, when discussing people with disabilities, you can show empathy by stating how hard it must be for them to use the app, get their information, and even get into the vehicle. These individuals need help, but most enterprise companies don't prioritize their apps for those with disabilities. 

That makes this an incredibly critical problem that must be solved. Now, you need to align the company's mission with the problem, but you can't do that if you don't know what their mission is. Before your interview, do a bit of research to discover their mission statement. Once you know what that is, you can ask the interviewer clarifying questions that help you better understand the case. They could be " Is there anything I missed?" or "Why" questions, like the ones in this download. 

Step 2 - User Segmentation

The goal of this case isn't to design a broad, generalized app for everyone. You need to put the customers into segments since each group has its own unique needs. For this case, you could do this in the following ways:

• The Rider - Breaking those with disabilities into subcategories, i.e., blind riders, deaf riders, mentally disabled riders, and handicapped riders. 
• The Driver - Handicapped access and non-handicapped access.

The key here is to show empathy for the customer and why they're put into each segment. Now, you can prioritize the customers and tell the interviewer which ones you're designing the solution for. This step allows you to create a prioritization framework, including the impact of the market size, the urgency of the customer's needs, etc. To see this process in action, check out this product mock interview.

Step 3 - Pain Points

Next, you'll want to show the top three pain points for each of your customer segments. It's important to talk about all of the end user's pain points, including the driver, so you can show a broad understanding of the overall problem. Think about what issues the riders and driver could face, including communication, loading, seating, and app interaction. Again, one of the most important parts is showing empathy toward the end user, using specifics. Your goal is to fall in love with your customers and truly want to solve their problems.

Step 4 - Prioritization

Now it's time to prioritize which pain point you're going to solve in this case study since you only have 45 minutes. To do this, consider:

• The impact of the pain point
• The problems urgency
• The size of the market and the problem

Choosing the issue that you think resonates most with customers and the company will help you select the most important pain point to focus on.

Step 5 - Solutions

During your interview, you'll want to come up with three solutions that are the most strategic for the problem. You'll want to come up with:

• An okay idea
• Your best idea
• Moonshot idea 

A moonshot solution is something that's really hard to achieve and pushes the boundaries of what the company may think it can do. To create an A+ answer, you'll want a combination of all three types of ideas.

Step 6 - Trade Off

Once you have your solutions, it's time to show the interviewer which ones you'd trade off and which ones you'd prioritize for the final solution. To determine this, you can use the following framework:

• The solution's effectiveness
• The engineering complexities
• Implementation and adoption 

Of course, you can add other prioritizations, but these are three excellent starting points. With these three solutions, you can show the interviewer how you prioritize the solution and give them a score. You can also discuss how you came to your decision, which saves you time during the interview.

Practicing the Framework

Now that you know the six steps to use to help you ace your product design interview, it's time to practice with your peers. Here are a few common questions that FANG companies to help you prepare. 

• Design a solution for a family to have a safe digital experience.
• Build a grocery shopping app.
• How would you design a new music experience for Facebook?
• How will you improve Twitter/X?

Build a mobile app that takes a picture of a resume and recommends jobs based on that.

Proper preparation is the key to completing your product design interview and becoming a product manager. Following these six steps, you can go into your interview with confidence. Don't forget to check out the FREE Top 10 Clarifying Questions to Ask a Product Management Interviewer Download and learn how to make the most out of your next interview.

Commonly Asked Questions During a Product Design Interview

Below are some questions that are commonly asked during the product design interview process. Dr. Nancy Li spent countless hours researching the interview process in the top FAANG companies and was able to develop a comprehensive list of questions you can expect at your interview. Here are a few examples:

• How would you measure success for IG stories?
• What goals would you set for growth for Facebook Lite?
• Design a refrigerator for the blind
• Improve the in-store grocery experience
• Tell me about the challenge you had with your co-workers and how you handled it
• How would you increase revenue for MS PowerPoint?
• How would you design a new music experience for Facebook?

Dr. Nancy Li is proud to provide comprehensive information to help product managers succeed. With her proven methodologies, you can land your dream job and reach your career goals!