Syllabus

The Google Program has a multi-milestone course with coach and group support. The course is made up a small bite-size modules that are re-enforced weekly with group mocks and 1:1 time with Wendy-Lynn.

To learn more about each topic area, expand and see the outline.

Product Design

Milestone 1: Product Design Orientation

• Process vs IRL Product Management

• Learn Product Design Framework

• The Rule of Three

• Google vs Facebook/Meta

• Interview Structures: Phone to Onsite

• Think Like An Interviewer

• Mocks & Drills: Question Design

• Coach’s Mock

Intro: Design Insights

• Strategy for Product Design Case

• Google vs Facebook/Meta

• Coach's Drill: Strategic setup for 3 different prompts

Milestone 2: Clarifying Questions

• Human Bias: Why your questions matter

• Different Schools of Thought

• 5 Rules of Clarifying Questions

• Clarify: Don't Fish

• Diagraming Prompts

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach's Drill: Clarifying Questions

• Coach's Mock

Milestone 3: Insights, Missions & Goals

• Case Study: Netflix

• Goals vs Category of Metrics

• Sounding like a PM not an MBA

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach's Drill: Mission & Goal Setups

Milestone 4: Design & Strategic Insights

• User Trends

• Tech Trends

• Aha Moments

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach's Drill Strategic Insights

Milestone 5: Stakeholders and Users

• Stakeholders vs Users

• Watch out. Don't sound too frameworky.

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach’s Drill: Stakeholders

Milestone 6: Ambiguous Prompts

• What do they look like?

• How to tackle them?

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach's Drill: Use Case Narrowing

Review: Strategic Insights

• Verbosity

• Confusing Prompts

• Prompts with no strategy component

• Compound Questions

• Pure Strategy vs Design Strategic Insights

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach's Mock

USERS

Intro: Users

• Users for Product Design Case

• The Core of the Interview: Why getting it wrong sets you up for flat solutions

• Google vs Facebook/Meta

• Coach’s Mock

Milestone 7: User Segmentation

• User State of Mind

• Does and Don't of User Segmentation

• Continuum of Pain

• The Venn Diagram Test

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach’s Drill: User Segmentation

Milestone 8: User Prioritization

• How to prioritize

• Google vs Facebook/Meta

• Does and Don't of User Prioritization

• Drills & Mocks

• Coach’s Drill: User Prioritization

Milestone 9: User Journey

• Good vs Bad User Journeys

• User Journey >> Pain Points

• Prioritizing Pain Points 

• Google vs Facebook/Meta

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach’s Drill: User Journeys

Review: Users

• Review key learnings around users

• Review mindset approach

• Don't forget to review goal

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach’s Mock

Intro: Solutions

• MVP to Moonshoot

• Rule of Three Reviewed

• Clear Communication is Key

• Google vs Facebook/Meta

• Coach’s Mock

Milestone 10: Solutions

• Thinkertoys

• Thinking Big

• Prioritization: Impact vs Effort

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach’s Drill: Solutions/Features

Milestone 11: Verbal Wireframes & Review

• Heart of Design Question

• Timing Notes

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach’s Mock

Milestone 12: Metrics for Success

• Link to Goal

• Metric Pitfalls

• Rule of Three

• Three Parts of A Metric

• Google vs Facebook/Meta

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach's Drill

• Coach's Mock

Milestone 13: Metrics for Success

• Why They Ask It

• How to Approach

• What to Avoid

• List of Prompts

• Coach’s Favorite

• Coach’s Mock

Analytics

• Logic & Reasoning

• Range of Question Types

• Phone Screen vs Onsite

• Digital Whiteboards

• Timing

• Fact Sheet

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach's Drill/Mock

Milestone 18: Estimation Qs

• Core Concept: 90% logic; 10% math

• Least Important

• Biz vs Tech Questions

• TAM Questions

• Tech Sizing

• Other Sizing

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach's Drill/Mock

Milestone 19: Success Metrics Qs

• Mission vs Goal

• Goal vs Metrics

• Design vs Standalone Use Cases

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach's Drill/Mock

Milestone 20: Edge Cases

• Behaviorals

• Hypotheticals

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach's Drill/Mock

• Build Confidence

• Most Common Stack: Strategy + Analytics

• Mocks & Drills

• Coach's Drill/Mock

Final Stretch

Milestone 26: Complications of Phone Screen

• What is the deal?

• Timing Issues

• Types of Questions

• Modifying Approach

• A List of Phone Screen Prompts

• Drill

• Coach's Mock

Focus on Weakness

• Everyone has different weaknesses

• The most common ones

• Drills, Drills, Drills

Milestone 27: Getting Ready to Go

• Reduce or Double down

• Scheduling your onsite

• Async Assessments: You were given 6, if you didn't use them all yet, now is the time.

• Private 1:1: If you haven't use yours yet, let the coach give you feedback you need before you book your onsights.