This is part of a series on how to be a good mock partner and ask the right questions. It is also great for thinking like a hiring manager to better prepare for your pending interviews.

To see the rest of the articles in the series, find the list here.

Tradeoff questions are somewhat unique because they are typically not standalone questions. They come more as a probing question after you have answered a Success Metrics question.

You can ask standalone tradeoff questions, but the best way to ask these questions is to make up something based on your partner’s answer to a success metrics question.

This approach will mimic real interviews more closely. You want to pick a metric they prioritized (or failed to identify) and ask scenario questions like:

• A PM from X product (in the ecosystem) has come to you and says they want to do Y. How do you respond?

How To Grade

• Grace Under Pressure Do they freak out or can they handle their own with your question?

• Goal Can they identify a shared goal or do they pick their goals or the other team’s goals to make the decision?

• Metrics Do they know how to measure this shared goal? Can they pick a metric that adequately measures this new goal?

• Experiment Setup Can they properly setup an experiment?

• Bias All experiments have bias, you have to make imperfect tradeoffs. Can they identify these tradeoffs?

As you can see by the list above, you can’t be passive when mocking for metrics or tradeoff questions. You need to think on your feet and challenge your partner.

Resources

Additional articles on Trade off questions

• Prompts from Meta

• Frameworks for Execution Questions