5 Tips for Google Strategy Interview
TL;DR - Read a lot. When answering, start with what you do know rather than get flustered with what you don’t know. The more you read, the more you know.
To prepare for the Google Strategy Interview, you should do the following five things:
Frameworks: Find a framework or series of frameworks you can use.
Read: Read, Read and Read some more
Be Concise: Practice structured communication
Quick Version: Be able to answer questions quickly
Longer Version: Be able to dive in a little deeper
Frameworks:
We recommend the Pros & Cons list based on S.W.O.T. framework. And for pre-work, we suggest the Lean Product Canvas.
Read:
To keep up with trends and to be challenged, you need to read, read, read. We recommend the following thought leaders and tech news outlets or bloggers:
Ben Thompson - Stratechery - Required reading for all PMs.
Robinhood Snacks - I love this short daily email for keeping up with the news.
Pick One or Two of these PM Thought Leaders - Gibson Biddle, Lenny Rachitsky, Andrew Chen, Product Coalition, Ravi Mehta, Sequoia Capital.
Reforge - You have to pay for most of the content but it is worth every penny. Start with the newsletter.
Medium.com - If you follow a few key PM writers, Medium.com will send you a weekly digest that will quickly learn your preferences and send you relevant product articles written by professionals and novices alike.
Candor - Their bread-and-butter is helping candidates with an offer negotiate a fair salary. They truly have their finger on the pulse of tech hiring. I love reading their weekly newsletter on hiring trends in tech. Sign up for it here.
Tech Crunch - Many swear by Tech Crunch.
Quartz Daily Brief - Quick daily read to keep up with the news you need for work. News highlights. Not particularly tech-focused but I have found it helpful for keeping up with trends that fall into the 'user trends' part of strategy questions for Google.
Be Concise
I coach leveraging the Introclusion for interviews and daily practice at work. Keep an eye out for an upcoming article and video on using three methods of the introclusion for behavioral interviews.
Quick Version
A lot of strategy questions were designed to be answered in roughly 5 minutes. Because it is the first question, don’t assume it is a 30-minute case question. We recommend you do drills to distinguish between pure strategy questions, pure design questions, and compound strategy and design questions.
Longer Version
Sometimes the interviewer wants to go deeper; if you master the 5-minute answer, be ready to dive deeper. It could be into the why? Or perhaps the users? Or maybe they will spin it into an analytics question.
