A Framework for Prioritization Questions

Companies focused on execution and optimization often poke around candidates’ ability to prioritize. The prompts go something like:

• How would you solve for the worst post-booking experience for X?

• How would you prioritize a roadmap for X?

Preparing for some of these interviews, I developed a basic framework.

1. Clarify: Product, Mission, Users, Goal

2. Identify Market Dynamics (typically required but not always)

3. Share Framework (4 points)

   1. Company Mission & Goals

      • Identify the problem space they play in

   2. User Needs/Problems

   3. List of Problems (3 to 5 problems)

   4. Prioritize by Frequency and Severity

      Solutions: If they want, come up with solutions based on the pain point you prioritized, but often that isn’t actually needed.

To practice for these prompts, I like to think through common marketplace products used in these scenarios: Products we use every day.

You can think about the Happy Path for the user. Then think about all the things that would break that Happy Path (think metrics framework). Or you can jump to a list of things that could go wrong. I think mentioning the Happy Path anchors you and your interviewer on why it all matters.

Note: Make sure you think about the user problem, not the known technology failing. For example, notifications not sending is a tech problem, not a fundamental user problem.

Some Examples of Bad Outcomes:

1. Instacart: Think about what could go wrong when you order your groceries.

   • Food never arrives

   • Food arrives at the wrong time (and goes bad because no one is home to put away.)

   • Food arrives damaged (not edible regardless of delivery time)

   • Wrong food arrives (Think: You order Oreos and got Oatmeal cookies.)

   • They picked a substitute and it doesn’t feel appropriate to you

     • Slightly different from completely wrong food because you had agreed to substitute but it didn’t meet your standards

2. OpenTable: What goes wrong from booking to paying the check

   1. Don’t get to eat

   2. You arrive later than expected > knock on effects to others on list

   3. Food (bad) not as expected

   4. Bad service experience (food excellent; server not so much)

   5. Allergic to food

   6. Wait too long (and hunger builds)

   7. forget reservation time

Other Articles on Prioritization

For Behavioral Prioritization Questions

Beachhead (mostly for behavioral)

Photo by Jay Ee on Unsplash