Senior Candidates Identify the Why

TL;DR - The surest way to get down-leveled is to focus too much on execution and forget why we are solving this problem in the first place.

I spend a lot of time focusing candidates on the strategic why of product case questions. Understanding why this is an important problem to solve is crucially important for senior candidates.

I was mocking with a partner who reminded me that my rambling and lack of focus on why solving X user problem was good for Y company would have gotten me rejected or down-leveled for not being senior or strategic in my approach.

With that said, I have seen the following problems in myself and others when it comes to focusing on the strategic why:

• Spending too much time on the setup

• Focusing on the wrong things for the wrong company

• Thinking too big when you need to be focused

• Being too focused when you need to think big picture

• Too focused on the business when it is a design case

Let’s dive into each one:

1. Too Much Time on Setup

   1. There are soo many things you could address:

      1. Mission & Goal

      2. Marketplace Dynamics

      3. Competition

      4. User Trends

      5. Technology Trends

      6. Narrow down use case

      7. Business Challenge

   2. Improper Indexing: Wrong Things for Wrong Company

      1. Meta needs to know you see the marketplace dynamics at play in most cases.

      2. Google wants to see you get the user insights and often doesn’t focus on marketplace prompts.

      3. DoorDash wants you to focus on executing on user pain points, speneding too much time on the business problems can backfire.

      4. I have seen people talk about stakeholders as if discussing a marketplace prompt when it isn’t relevant.

      5. Know your audience and what they are looking for

   3. Thinking Too Big

      1. Optimization of products is a different exercise than greenfield ideation.

      2. Most people focus on ambiguous prompts and get lost when they have to optimize a product (I admit it happens to me.)

      3. Sometimes it is just about frequency of use not MECE segmentation.

   4. Being Too Focused

      1. The reason to optimize a strong product is often big picture: Think protect the brand or reduce churn.

      2. Don’t jump into users without establishing why we are having this discussion in the first place.

   5. Too Focused on Business

      1. Yes, a senior candidate needs to make observations about the business, but don’t do that so much that you miss the user problem you are discussing.

      2. There is a careful balance. Practice until you have it right.

As we struggle to master the product case prompt, we become focused on the problem and the format of the prompt. Doing so may cause us to be too focused on the execution of the problem and forget why we are solving the problem in the first place.

Note: I have heard more and more about people answering all questions as if they are case prompts. Be careful. Keep the company mission and business in mind but don’t forget that product people focus on solving pain points for users. Listen to what the interviewer is asking, not all interviewers are trying to trip you up.

Practice Advice:

• Try to get to the company mission and goals quickly.

• Don’t ramble. If you do, catch yourself and take a moment to reset.

• Don’t be so focused on the strategic setup that you miss what the interviewer is looking for.

Photo by Jack Sloop on Unsplash