Product sense & strategy questions in PM interviews (part I)

Here's an overview of what to expect in product sense & product strategy questions in product management interviews.
🎥 In this RocketBlocks video, our ex-Googler Founder, Kenton Kivestu, discusses the type of product sense/design questions you'll face and what the interviewers will be evaluating the candidate on. This is a great introduction to product sense and strategy questions that you can expect to face in product management interviews, including 5 tips from an interviewer's mindset.
🎬 Video Sections:
00:00 Intro
01:00 Fundamentals
04:45 Sample question
05:40 (1) Optimization
06:31 (2) Structure
07:18 (3) Traverse the spectrum
08:15 (4) Leverage assets
09:16 (5) 6th sense
10:24 Final thoughts
🚀 Interviewing soon? RocketBlocks has the best concepts, drills, and coaching to get you more offers: www.rocketblocks.me/product-m...
💡 Looking to become familiar with the PM role, the interview process, and how to start preparing? Our free product management guide covers it all: www.rocketblocks.me/guide/pm/...
➡️ Check out part 2 on analytics & execution questions: • Analytics & execution ...
➡️ Here's part 3 on technical questions: • Technical fluency ques...
#productsense #productdesign #productstrategy #PMinterviews #RocketBlocks

[@cibisounder]

Summary:
Usually a mix of both product strategy and design.
Types:
Generic: No industry context. Eg: design new playground.
Company specific: Industry Context. Eg: improve Gmail's mobile app.
Question: Design efficient lost item recovery system for Uber.
Evaluation criteria:
1. Clarify goals and assumptions. Call out what you're optimizing for, for who and why.
2. Have structure. Show a repeatable and clear problem solving approach.
3. Display both 20,000 foot strategy and tactical details. Discuss both high level strategy and color of button.
4. Leverage company assets. Uber has technological and physical assets. Eg: Driver registration centres.
5. Bring special insights to solve the problems at hand. Display the 6th or spidey sense of product.
6. Be engaged, have fun and show passion.

[@zhuliyou1992]

thanks for the recommendation algo to this video. could you provide a sample response followed by your 5 step framework ? that would be really helpful!

[@MrNitintube]

Hugely impactful & bookmarkable content. Appreciate your insights.

[@adambaker8689]

Really nice vid, I liked the nugget at the end regarding enthusiasm in tackling product questions.

[@michaelmuliadi6088]

Recently I decided to take on PM career path, I find this very very useful to prepare for upcoming interviews :) Thanks a lot for the guidance!

[@hadi88955]

Hi Kenton Kivestu, thanks for your great video. This is very helpful!
I am intereseted to more deep dive into structure process to answer the question. Can you give me some example of best practice of structure process to answer this kind of question?

[@NithinNair]

This realy helped, even i had a confusion between product sense, strategy and design how are they realy structured and this video helps to wrap my mind around it.

[@user-kj7xm5bv9v]

got a facebook interview. you got a subscriber

[@rocketblocks]

good luck, definitely check out the FB execution mock interview 🤓

[@9Coronas]

Loved this!

[@laxxai]

I am preparing for an interview at Facebook as a junior product designer, would you say it is worth-while for me to dig a little deeper into the product management world?
Also, I am confused about number 3, why is it important for product managers to be engaged with the look, feel, and pixels of a product? I thought that was the product designer's job?

[@studysmart7533]

How will you prioritize the user group and pain points, please? Any criterial for making the decision?

[@TheMarComplex]

Thank you so much!

[@ashwinkumar675]

Amazing video, thank you Kevin!

[@coacht6793]

Great video, must watch for PMs

[@Codepasta]

Wow this video is very practical to prepare problem solving interview! Thanks a lot

[@rocketblocks]

woot woot!

[@ahagouel]

You mentioned that folks who like to hang out in the higher-level strategy side of the house may want a more nuanced profession. Could you give some examples of jobs that those folks would match well with?

[@rocketblocks]

if you like the high level strategy BUT not the operational grind of PM, something like Strat & BizOps at Google or other big tech cos would be perfect.

[@nusratfatima8536]

Very helpful video. Thank you for breaking down the key points!

[@rocketblocks]

Thanks Nusrat, glad you enjoyed them!

[@MrJayspeaks]

I'm thinking the SUBSCRIBE button should be green not red.

[@y.5353]

Too general and high-level. I expect tips for answering those questions

[@rocketblocks]

What type of specifics do you want, we've got more videos coming? I agree that this video is really an intro on this question type