Product Manager Interview: Design an Audio Product for Meta
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- čas přidán 30. 06. 2024
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Watch our mock product manager interview with Kevin and Bala Sahitya Vadlamani (Meta PM). Bala walks through how to design an audio product for Meta.
Chapters -
00:00 - Introduction
01:27 - Clarifying questions
03:21 - Answer
05:30 - Mission
07:27 - Types of users
11:54 - Pain Points
16:56 - Vision
17:38 - Potential solutions
26:10 - Risks
27:05 - Interview feedback
28:57 - Tips
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Hii
I think this is a really strong product sense interview. Not having a framework is bad, having a framework is good but sticking to it to the t is boring and annoying for interviewers who watch 100s of candidates do this over and over again. Having a framework but making it flow and sound like a conversation around ideas/topics is what separates the great from good/ok interviews! Love how conversational and free-flowing this is. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah i have to say this interview is super refreshing and engaging to watch because of the context she provides, it really sounds like a conversation
I would’ve clarified where in the audio space the interviewer wants me to focus on. Is it audio chatrooms like Clubhouse or even an assistant for visually impaired peope? I think audio is such a broad domain that it needs to be narrowed down earlier on in the interview
i actually thought of this, it is a really wide spectrum
Yes very relevant question.
She just assumed the entertainment segment.
This is such a good point, thanks for pointing it out!
Yeah, i was thinking about this too
This lady did really good. Better than most other PM interviews I have seen so far! Thanks for sharing.
Nicely done! I found it very helpful and took notes. I'll definitely be applying learnings to my interviews.
The framework used by the interviewee:
The Why
Tie to Mission of Meta
Customer Segmentation
Painpoints
Product Vision
Solutions
Design of prioritized solution
Risks
Hey Ron, I'm also prepping for PM interviews. Would you be interested to practice together? My email's in the About section of my channel. Looking forward! 🙂
This is one of the best product sense interviews I have seen so far. While interviewing candidates, I am most focussed on understanding their thought process, and if they're asking me the right questions and taking me along. I see this done really well here. I like the solution as well. As a podcast listener, I would find it helpful if implemented.
Glad to hear it!
Nailed it, too much insights can be drawn from this 30 mins video to make the discussion free flowing and ease the whole interview exp. Preparedness, having structure of thoughts by taking short gap, aligning & sticking with framework and binding things with mission & vision etc all are definitely making her stand out... Thanks for sharing !!
One of the well structured describing the solutions, painpoints, user segmentation and integration with 3rd party tools; is one the best interview I've seen..... Thank You!
The highlights of this interview were the beginning and the end. Loved how the interviewee took the time to lay out why Meta might want to explore building a product in the audio domain, tying it to the events in the world, changing lifestyles of people during and post covid and citing supporting data. Definitely the mark of a great interview and great PM. She then does an excellent job explaining how audio consumption aligns with the mission of Meta. Towards the end she lays out a product vision before solutioning and uses that vision to prioritize among solutions. Overall, amazing work! Thanks for sharing!
Hey Air, I'm also prepping for PM interviews. Would you be interested to practice together? My email's in the About section of my channel. Looking forward! 🙂
Loved the clarity in thought. I'd have loved to hear from someone who hasn't been in this space.
Really good interview.. I loved how she revisited Meta's vision now and then and stuck to the vision with all her ideas.. that's one thing we often forget
One of the best Product Sense Interviews! A must-watch for all the PM job aspirants!
I liked her analytical thinking however "audio" is not a product it is a domain.I honestly feel even before the WHY the first question should've WHAT product portfolio of Meta needs this and what problem are we trying to solve by building this product. Other Exponent interviews are specific like, Design Spotify or Design Tinder but this one was pretty generic. But still there is so much to learn from her. Thank you.
One of the best product design questions I have seen! Thanks for sharing
the interviewee is so well spoken!
I mean audio product is a very broad concept, it includes hardware products like microphone, speaker, radio, etc. software products like software tools, websites, apps, etc. by content it includes podcast, music streaming, social audio, etc. we cannot explore users or solutions without defining what product it is. i would pick a social audio app to focus based on Meta's strength. In the opening talk about the competitors like clubhouse and alternative solutions like people talking offline in group. It's not a good idea to segment user by demographics (pain points are the same) or content (users overlapping). Just to segment by frequency of use. For growth purpose i'd pick heavy use one. They should be active users in FB. Then pain points 1,2,3, use criteria to pick one, then solutions 1,2,3, use criteria to pick one. Give a short term and long term goal, metrics.
It's such an insgithful video for me, the value in this video is immeasurable , i'm looking forward to watching more and more
Super impressive, thank you for this.
I usually try to come up with products that heavily impact the end user. A product that I had in my mind while watching the video : Build a clubhouse (or twitter space) style solution for FB. It's a community driven and highly engaging product. So a learning for me - Irrespective of the scale & Impact, I should focus more on minor products as well.
Hey Darshan! Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts.
Just curious to know how much focus you will put on these minor products as compared to the "major" products. Perhaps re-evaluating how we categorise products is the key to prevent neglecting great products? Love to hear your thoughts!
Love these interviews.
Glad to hear it!
Sorry to say but very avg interview; She definitely did the structure part good but as a listener I am really not sure about the feature/product she is looking to build and ignoring the content creation part was a big mistake. I am just not sure what is this audio product? is it a podcast?
Hmmm. I was a bit unimpressed with this interview as an example. Some things that felt missing:
- understanding of existing facebook (+ other social) audio products and integrations
- defining user classes (listeners, creators, and platforms) took until 7:30...
- the final presented product ideas felt scattered and undefined
This interview example/critique as an educational asset might be aided by sharing context for the interviewer's evaluation (i.e. framing, product sense, problem discovery/validation, collaboration, user research, risk analysis, presentation, etc.). Possibly including a rubric in the description might bring that context for the video watcher.
While my feedback would mirror the interviewer's, I would probably coach the candidate to strengthen the connection between the vision, ROI, and user experience. Understanding how the product connects back to Meta's overall vision should be essential. Getting to an "aha!" inspiration moment for the user perspective should be possible for a product design interview. Neither were clear by the end.
Punice
This was insightful, thanks for sharing .
Glad it was helpful!
Having watched almost half i think the interview could have been more structured. It felt like a conversation around topics. The natural trajectory that i was expecting was being focussed on ideas and moving out to next also focussing on product strategy to achieve those goals. I think the interviewer should have nudged the interviewee to form a better structure.
Insightful!
The interview started really well with a specific framework and she described "why" of the product really well. But I think it kind of derailed when it came to user pain-points. those pain points are either very intrinsic human behaviour for the mode or came directly from research papers she referred. those didn't related to current ecosystem of digital audio products. Overall a decent mock session.
It seems as if Bala knows the music market really well. How should I act whenever I am asked about a market I am not that familiar with? does making assumptions ok?
These types of questions are important because they test "how" you think, not what the actual answer is. They want you to understand all of the questions you should be asking before launching a new product. How big is the market? Who will use it? What kinds of features should it have to appeal to that user group?
Even if you don't know much about audio products or the music business, you could make some assumptions based on your own listening habits or your friends. Your interviewer wants you to explain how you think about the problem more than they want you to come up with a "working prototype" for a specific field.
The principles of knowing what questions to ask and when to ask them could help you build anything from a new aircraft to a new audio player.
exactly. it is unrealistic to just know certain trends like podcasts eating into music consumption shares or that 86% of young adults listen to audio actively. these arent facts people pull out of thin air, she was given the question ahead of time. and i appreciate her structure, but this sets unrealistic expectations for people who are just answering this type of question on the fly when they dont happen to have random insights and trends in a specific market stored in their brain. stop posting videos of people who clearly rehearsed this and while attempting to look natural and thinking spontaneously are way too polished. again, the unrealistic expectations as a byproduct are frustrating.
Asking the meta pm who's worked in audio in the past about a meta audio product?
Holy shit I love audio
Very useful mock interview but the interviewee had already worked in this area which allowed for existing knowledge of domain statistics and market data. This won't be applicable to a general interviewee.
Pain points were not well thought out. Communal listening is something that already exists for Spotify.
What are some good newsletters to keep up with trends?
Meta had similar project and pull the plug 2 years ago 😢
The framework is certainly good. But does it make sense to have interaction with listeners during an audio experience? I would think that’s very disturbing. Also do we really have user demand for listening together? I would think a product to bring ppl to listen together doesn’t have much market. Want to know how this instinct is factored into the interview, since it’s called product sense, and these two user cases just don’t seem intuitive.
As an interviewer who does real PM interviews, it takes only 5 mins for me to reject this candidate for not having a repeatable process of solving problems. There is absolutely no structure and she doesn’t stop to check with the interviewer if she’s on the right track. It’s more like a speech rather than an interview.
Missing strategic thinking and blabbering user segments, pain points without user journey, solutions without providing any criteria on why is she going with the choice.
Overall to me an extremely verbose yet weak response and I would have rejected the candidate a 100%
Well Honestly speaking Spotify solves all the pains points highlighted by her .
If there’s already a market leader in a space solving all the customer needs , why do you want to build the same thing unless you’re changing (improving Experience, providing new features that users actually need)the way how customers gonna consume that product .
Podcasts on CZcams can also be consumed as Audio Podcasts through Ytube subscription.
I don’t think users would be first arranging a meeting to listen to same audio or msging live while listening. They can do so but what’s the point in this unless they want to make reaction videos out of it…..
Do we need to put that kind of fake short smiles so often? That's looks weird and turns off if I'm an interviewer
I don't know why this sounds more like rumours and speculation
Not a pass for me. Business impacts were not considered
I found this video really helpful.
Btw, Bala is cute.
Hey there, I'm also prepping for PM interviews. Would you be interested to practice together? My email's in the About section of my channel. Looking forward! 🙂
Poor solutions and lack of clarity on the business goal. Meta is struggling to keep user engaged and tetention. Facebook is already outdated and boeing. Watch or listen together can't change its fate at all.
There is no way you can take 30 minutes to answer one question in a 45 minute interview. I mean Bruh 💀
lmao just whips out the 86% of young adults consume audio for 2 hours every day and on average 16 hours a week. Enough of the pre-rehearsed questions. she could try to come off as natural but shes reading off a script and you're doing a disservice to interviewers and interviewees who arent able to deduce that people thinking on the fly arent so well versed on a random market's trends. they will think this is how every candidate should answer a product design case study bec of the fake bar being established in rehearsed interviews like this one. its so frustrating.
Very sad video. I went through 70% of this video and I have no clue on what exactly this person is trying to build. Also on one side we are saying people consumed 2 hrs of audio and then we are moving to low attention span among people? I mean what r u sayinnng??? Also quoting random research and numbers ? Big No. Very Disappointed.