Re:Ask HN: How to pass a “Product Sense” interview?
by idoh on Monday July 25, 2022 @12:13PM
(#32226486)
I happen to be really good at passing the product sense part of PM interviews. There's a bit too much to cram into a single comment, but the general outline is:
A - make sure to really understand the question, the constraints. Write down the question, and ask about every word. Have a cheat sheet of questions to ask. E.g. what's the timeline, what's the target OS, what's the goal, etc.
B - segment the different possible users. Use MECE for this. The more insight the better.
C - pick a segment and explain why, e.g. not well served by the market. As a bit of a trick pick a community that's generally not well served. Never segment on age, that's boring.
D - segment their pain points, again using MECE.
E - pick a pain point, describe why.
F - brainstorm solutions, pick one, explain why. Make sure to only pick one!
G - talk about how you'd measure success.
... and there you go. There are lots of online services that can give you practice. I used Exponent, seemed reasonable. It's not crazy to spend $50-100 bucks to get better at this given the return.
A - make sure to really understand the question, the constraints. Write down the question, and ask about every word. Have a cheat sheet of questions to ask. E.g. what's the timeline, what's the target OS, what's the goal, etc.
B - segment the different possible users. Use MECE for this. The more insight the better.
C - pick a segment and explain why, e.g. not well served by the market. As a bit of a trick pick a community that's generally not well served. Never segment on age, that's boring.
D - segment their pain points, again using MECE.
E - pick a pain point, describe why.
F - brainstorm solutions, pick one, explain why. Make sure to only pick one!
G - talk about how you'd measure success.
... and there you go. There are lots of online services that can give you practice. I used Exponent, seemed reasonable. It's not crazy to spend $50-100 bucks to get better at this given the return.