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The recent years have seen the realm of product management witnessing a
remarkable surge in demand, reflecting the critical role the product managers play in
shaping innovative products that meet evolving market needs. This trend underscores
the importance and need for a comprehensive guide tailored to equip the aspirants
with the knowledge and skills needed to excel in this role. It is against this backdrop
that the Product Management Club at BITSoM embarked on this journey of creating
this Product Management Handbook, a testament to our commitment to fostering
excellence in this field.

Our appreciation goes out to every member of the PM Club, both class of 2024 and
2025, for their invaluable contributions. The class of 2025 has demonstrated
remarkable initiative in creating content and ensuring its relevance and coherence,
while the class of 2024 has enriched this handbook with insightful inputs, meticulous
proofreading, and substantive improvements, ensuring the content meets the highest
standards of excellence. We also extend our deepest gratitude to our beloved
institution, BITSoM for providing the club with the platform and the necessary support
and opportunity to embark on such a significant project. This initiative would not have
been possible without their support.

Lastly, but most importantly, we thank you, our readers, for your interest in and
engagement with this handbook. Your keen interest and dedication to the field of
product management are what inspire us to push the boundaries of what this
handbook can achieve. We sincerely hope this handbook becomes a valuable tool on
your journey, helping you to develop an excellent grasp of the concepts and equip you
to seize the opportunities in this field with beaming confidence.

Product Management Club

BITSoM | BITS School of Management
This is a moment of immense pride and satisfaction, to see the fruition of our collective
efforts, as we inaugurate the First Edition of our Product Management Handbook
2023-24. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to every single one of the PM
Club members involved, in making this happen.

We've built this material after extensive research, and pruned it down to the absolute
essentials, trying to give a comprehensive understanding to the reader. We truly hope
it reaches great many PM aspirants and prove to be a priceless knowledge resource.

Cheers and best wishes for your preparation.

Ravi Shankar
President
Product Management Club
BITS School of Management | BITSoM
PRESIDENT CO’25 GEN SECRETARY CO’25
CO’25
SHREYAS AKSHARA GUPTA
LAKSHMINARAYANAN B.Tech in CSE
B.Tech in CSE PES University, Bangalore
S.R.M Institute of Science
and Technology

AARON PACHECO AKSHAT GUPTA

B.E. in ETC B.Tech in CSE
Goa University S.R.M. Institute of Science
and Technology

AKSHITA GUPTA GAURAV SARAWGI

B. Tech CSE B.Tech in CSE
Mody University MIT, Pune

GIRIDHAR AKASH M HIMANSU SEKHAR

B.E. ECE B.Tech in Ceramic Eng.
Meenakshi Sundararajan National Institute of
Engineering College Technology, Rourkela
KALALI ROHITH GOUD PALRIKA MOHAN
B.Tech in ECE B.E Computer Science
CMR College of Engineering Army Institute of Technology
& Technology

PRANAY NUNNA RANJITH DVL

B.E in Information Technology B.Tech in ECE
Vasavi College of Engineering Vellore Institute of Technology

SANSKRITI KAPOOR
BMM in Advertising VIKHYATH RAI
Wilson College, University of B.Tech in CSE
Mumbai GITAM University, Hyderabad
 PRESIDENT CO’24

TREASURER CO’24
RAVI SHANKAR HEMENDU BAGCHI

ABINAASH AKASH BINDU H S

MURALIDHARAN JUNNARKAR

DEEPIKA RAMGOPAL S SATAMITRA

VALLURI GHOSHDASTIDAR

SHUBHI SRUTHI SREE R M SUYASH GUPTA

BAJPAI

THANVI REDDY VANDAN SHAH

 Table of Contents

S.No. Topic Page

I Introduction to PM 11
1 What is Product Management ……………………………………………… 12
2 Key Terms and Methods …………………………………………………….. 19
II Industry Primers 26
1 E-Commerce …………………………………………………………………… 27
2 Ride Tech ………………………………………………………………………. 29
3 Food Tech …………………………………………………………………...... 31
4 Travel Tech…………………………………………………………………….. 33
5 Health Tech ……………………………………………………………………. 35
6 Ed Tech …………………………………………………………………………. 37
7 Ad Tech ………………………………………………………………………… 39
III Structure of PM CV 41
1 CV Structure …………………………………………………………………… 42
2 Resume Guidelines …..………………………………………………………. 44
3 Certifications ………………………………………………………………….. 46
IV Important Frameworks 47
1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 48
2 Prioritization Frameworks …………………………………………………… 49
3 Product Design Frameworks ………………………………………………… 51
4 Data Frameworks ……………………………………………………………… 53
5 Design Thinking Framework …………………………………………………. 54
6 User Journey Framework ……………………………………………………. 55
V Key Metrics 56
1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 57
2 Important Metrics ……………………………………………………………. 58
VI Product Teardowns 62
1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 63
2 Zepto …………………………………………………………………………… 65
3 PhonePe ……………………………………………………………………….. 68
4 Spotify ………………………………………………………………………….. 71
5 Groww ………………………………………………………………………….. 75
VII New Product Design 79
1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 80
2 Wearable device for chronic illnesses …………………………………….. 82
3 Improve Google Docs ………………………………………………………… 86
4 Google Pay for credit cards …………………………………………………. 88
5 Gardening product for Meta ……………………………………………….. 91
6 Audio Product for Meta …………………………………………………….. 93
7 Google Maps for Seniors ……………………………………………………. 95
8 Theme Park Application ……………………………………………………..
Page 9 98
 Table of Contents

S.No. Topic Page

VIII Root Cause Analysis 101
1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………… 102
2 RCA 1 – Nykaa order cancellation …..…………………………………… 106
3 RCA 2 – Grocery app sales ………………………………………………… 108
4 RCA 3 – Flipkart cart decline ……………………………………………… 111
5 RCA 4 – Facebook friend requests down …………….………………… 114
6 RCA 5 – Gpay payments decrease …………….………………………… 117
7 RCA 6 – Lyft cancellations ………………………………………………… 121
IX Guesstimates 123
1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………… 124
2 Guesstimates 1 – Google Drive ..………………………………………… 127
3 Guesstimates 2 - Hotels …………………..……………………………… 128
4 Guesstimates 3 – Google queries …………………..…………………… 129
5 Guesstimates 4 – Driverless Cars ………………………………………… 130
6 Guesstimates 5 – Uber Drivers …………………………………………… 132
7 Guesstimates - 6 – Mobiles ….…………………………………………… 134
The realm of product management has witnessed a remarkable surge in demand, reflecting
8 Guesstimates 7 – Zoom Meetings ………………………………….…… 136
9 product
the critical role managers
Guesstimates ….…………………………………………………
8 - ATMs play 137 meet evolving
in shaping innovative products that
10 Guesstimates 9 – Smartphones ..…………………………………………138
market needs. This trend preparation
X Interview underscores the importance of a comprehensive guide tailored to
139
1 Interview Guide ……………………………………………………………. 140
the intricacies of the product management industry. It is against this backdrop that the
XI References 147
BITSoM PM Club embarked on the journey of creating this Product Management Handbook,

a testament to our commitment to fostering excellence in this dynamic field.

Our appreciation goes out to every member of the PM Club, both class of 2024 and 2025, for

their invaluable contributions. The class of 2025 has demonstrated remarkable initiative in

gathering content and ensuring its relevance and coherence, while the class of 2024 has

enriched this handbook with insightful inputs, meticulous proofreading, and substantive

Page 10
Page 11
asdas

1.1 What is Product Management? adjustments to keep the product

competitive and successful.
Product management is about making sure
Crucially, product managers define what
a product does well by bringing together
success means for a product, set its
different teams and planning out its
strategic direction, and illustrate how it
journey. It's the business side of creating,
impacts both customers and the
launching, and taking care of a product or
company's objectives. Their role as the
service from start to finish.
voice of the product owner enables teams
Product managers make sure the product to navigate the varied interests of large and
matches what customers want and fits into small enterprises.
the company's plans. They guide the Overall, product management plays a vital
product through every step of its life cycle. role in the development and prosperity of a
1.2 Importance of Product company's products, ultimately driving the
company's growth and profitability. It
Management
stands as an essential element of any
Product management acts as the bridge
successful product strategy, supported by
between different departments, ensuring
effective product management tools.
that a product is created and brought to
market in a way that satisfies customer 1.3 Product Management
needs and aligns with the company's Lifecycle
overarching strategy and objectives. This
involves conducting market research, Developing and sustaining a successful
understanding customer preferences, new product isn't just a linear progression.
establishing product strategies, mapping By adopting the agile methodology, it can
out product development plans, and be cyclically revisited through a sequence
collaborating with diverse teams to bring of steps. Throughout the product lifecycle,
the product to fruition. various developments such as new feature
suggestions, user requests, or emerging
Product managers are responsible for user segments may surface, which
introducing new user experiences by
linking user experience (UX) teams,
technical teams, and business leaders to
the product's vision. They continuously
monitor performance and make necessary

Page 12
 Source: ProductFocus Link
necessitates the product's adaptation and before determining the readiness to
responsiveness. release a feature to customers.
Innovation Stage: Generating and Go-to-Market Stage: The company
collating new ideas, then prioritizing the prepares for launch by conducting trials,
most intriguing ones, and envisioning the refining the proposition, and ensuring
potential customer value proposition. This readiness for product sales. For firms
phase is akin to a 'discovery' stage. If an developing high-risk products in sectors
idea appears promising, a determination is like healthcare or aerospace, this process
made to allocate resources for further might extend over several months.
investigation. Conversely, for companies offering online
web-based products, this phase could be
Analysis Stage: Confirming the existence
completed in minutes, given the
of a market demand, outlining the
continuous release of new functionalities.
overarching requirements, and
substantiating the investment. In numerous In-life Stage: The emphasis lies on sales,
large corporations, this effort culminates in performance tracking, and resolving any
a business case that necessitates approval issues. Throughout the product's lifespan,
from senior management prior to numerous versions may emerge, each
commencing development. having undergone phases of innovation,
analysis, development, and go-to-market
Development Stage: The product
planning.
undergoes design, construction, and
testing phases. In Agile software End-of-life Stage: At a certain juncture,
development, this constitutes an iterative when the product becomes obsolete, it is
journey, often comprising multiple sprints. phased out. Throughout the entire process,
Each sprint is typically preceded by product management must monitor market
additional client exploration and analysis dynamics and adapt to any shifts.
Continuous evaluation of the product is

Page 13
essential to respond to market changes, In essence, Product Lifecycle
not only by introducing new products but Management (PLM) serves four primary
also by enhancing existing ones to lower purposes:
costs, enhance durability, and
• Enhancing Financial Performance
consequently boost profits.
• Reducing Time-to-Market
Therefore, the aim of the product lifecycle • Improving Quality
is to fulfill various business objectives such • Driving Business Advancement
as augmenting product revenues,
optimizing the product portfolio, cutting Additionally, PLM can be conceptualized in
production or associated costs, and terms of its impact on Sales-Time,
ultimately increasing shareholder returns illustrating how it influences the sales
while ensuring customer satisfaction. trajectory over the lifespan of a product.

Source: AnnounceKit Link

1.4 Product Manager vs Project

Manager
Product managers and project managers In contrast, project managers focus on the
often have overlapping roles, leading to development phase. They define the
misconceptions. Product managers have a project scope, break down tasks, create a
comprehensive responsibility throughout roadmap, and oversee implementation.
the product's lifecycle. In the conceptual
Product managers supervise the product
stage, they conduct market research,
management lifecycle and typically step in
generate the original product concept, and
only when project managers encounter
advocate for it internally. They rely on
difficulties. Traditionally, a project
support from decision-makers and secure
manager's role was fulfilled once the
development funds. Product managers
product was ready, allowing marketing and
handle product marketing, launch
sales teams to reap the rewards.
activities, and ensure optimal user
experience through product discovery and
development.

Page 14
1.5 Role and Characteristics of a clarity, successful product management is
Product Manager unattainable.

PMs conduct thorough research on their

Product Managers bring vision, design,
product's strengths and weaknesses, as
and user experience expertise to the table,
well as those of competitors, ensuring
thriving at the intersection of user
alignment with real customer needs.
experience, product development, and
Effective communication of these insights
business. A key aspect of their role is to
to design and production teams enables
advocate for the user's perspective amidst
the delivery of innovative, high-quality
the project's myriad stakeholders, including
products poised for success. Ultimately,
engineers, marketers, salespeople, and
the goal of the Product Manager is to drive
upper management. PMs champion the
successful product innovation and sales.
customer's needs and concerns,
integrating them into the product's design
Successful Product Managers often come
process through methods like interviews,
from diverse backgrounds, as their
surveys, testing, and social media
responsibilities encompass various stages
engagement.
of the product lifecycle. Their involvement
spans visioning, research, design,
For PMs, it's crucial to have a clear
development, marketing, sales, launch,
understanding of the problem their product
support, and eventual product wind-down.
aims to solve and how it offers a unique
solution. They must articulate the product's
distinctive value proposition, especially in a
competitive market landscape. Without this

1.6 Ideal Workflow of a Product

Manager

Product Managers often employ several • How do they prefer to access

best practices such as: information?
a. Consumer Research:
• Compile detailed information about
The initial phase of product management this persona and approach it as if it
involves comprehending your target were a real individual.
consumer and the market you aim to enter,
b. Identify the problem:
encompassing its dimensions,
competitors, and prevailing trends. Start by Discovering a problem often serves as a
crafting your ideal buyer persona. Pose catalyst for innovative ideas, particularly in
questions such as: product management, where the focus is
on identifying challenges that impact your
• Who is your ideal consumer?
target market and devising solutions. By
• What are their likes and dislikes?

Page 15
scrutinizing your buyer persona and posing robust direction for the organization. This
questions like the following, you can can involve selecting a standout idea from
uncover pain points: one source or integrating elements from
various themes. Subsequently, review the
• What matters most to them? product specifications to ascertain what
• What questions do they typically should be encompassed in the proposed
search for online? product. Develop a document that
• Are there recurring issues among addresses the following questions:
them?
• Is this problem exclusive to them? • What form will the product adopt?
• Is there a viable solution to address • How does it address the identified
this problem? issue?
• What features and components are
Product managers can inspire other essential for the final product?
stakeholders to collaborate on finding a
• How will the company assess the
solution by leveraging the clearly defined
product's effectiveness?
problem as a starting point.
Product managers are tasked with either
c. Brainstorm:
directly building products or providing
Product managers have the opportunity to guidance and recommendations on them.
collaborate with engineers, marketers, and
e. Establish a Product Roadmap:
customers to generate ideas. Conduct
interviews with potential consumers, A product roadmap delineates every stage
delving into their product experiences of the development and launch process. It
within your business. Pose insightful incorporates dates, objectives, and Key
follow-up questions, probing into the Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure
reasons behind their feelings or beliefs. the project stays on course. Your product
roadmap should encompass the following
Leverage the problem identified in the
elements:
previous stage to engage with internal
stakeholders. The goal is to demonstrate to • Concrete dates and deadlines for
potential clients that your company achieving each milestone
possesses the capability to address their • Tasks delineating how each
issues with a product. Customer interviews contributes to the product's success
can also facilitate these discussions. • Designation of individuals responsible
for meeting specified milestones
Encourage internal teams and
stakeholders to share their ideas openly, • Metrics utilized to gauge the success of
without judgment. It's important to the project
remember that even seemingly bad ideas f. Prioritize features:
can spark innovation. Document these
ideas for future reference and use them as Feature prioritization becomes essential
inspiration during the product once you've established high-level goals in
conceptualization phase. your roadmap, determining how much
effort to allocate to developing different
d. Build the Concept: features. Consider each feature's
Once all relevant input has been collected, contribution to the final product, its
it's crucial to narrow down to a single, effectiveness in addressing user needs,

Page 16
and the resources required to implement it. Digital product manager: They
If a feature with a lower impact demands spearhead the strategy for web-based
significant time and resources but offers products, overseeing applications,
minimal enhancement to user experience, websites, and digital services to ensure
it may be preferable to prioritize a feature seamless user experiences. Amidst the
with greater impact, even if it takes longer ever-evolving digital landscape, Digital
to complete. Product Managers (DPMs) adapt by
continually optimizing products to align
g. Implement the plan:
with shifting online behaviours.
Once a roadmap is established and
Key skills: Understanding user
features are prioritized, the product
behaviour, UX/UI principles, A/B testing,
manager can proceed to issue instructions.
product strategy, and data analytics.
Alternatively, product managers with strong
technical skills may take on hands-on
responsibilities, assisting programmers in
Product marketing manager: Product
product creation.
marketing managers, true storytellers at
Two commonly employed delivery models heart, specialize in crafting narratives and
are Agile and waterfall. Agile methodology defining brand voices. They dive deep into
involves iterative product releases, market research to ensure that products
integrating consumer feedback with each resonate with target customers. Beyond
release. Conversely, the waterfall process merely identifying market trends, these
follows a more rigorously controlled product managers orchestrate the go-to-
approach, with products distributed only market (GTM) plan, ensuring the
after receiving final approval. successful launch and promotion of
products.
h. Rapid Prototyping and Testing:
Key skills: Market segmentation, GTM
Following the release, the product
strategies, buyer persona development,
management process persists. Product
managers evaluate the product's achieving product-market fit (PMF), and
performance and pinpoint areas for sculpting product vision.
enhancement. They engage with users to
gather feedback, addressing any issues or
questions they may have regarding the Growth product manager: These
product. Additionally, product managers professionals specialize in leveraging
collaborate with internal stakeholders, product features as sales tools to drive
communicating critiques and business expansion. They primarily
recommendations for improvement. This operate within product-led growth (PLG)
ongoing feedback loop ensures continuous businesses, where the product itself acts
refinement and optimization of the product.
as the catalyst for growth. By closely
analysing user behaviours and pinpointing
1.7 Types of Product Managers areas of growth, growth product managers
collaboratively enhance metrics to facilitate
Apart from generalist Product Managers,
business growth.
specialized roles are tailored to unique
strengths and interests. These roles Key skills: User behaviour analysis,
encompass nine distinct types of Product cross-functional team collaboration, A/B
Managers.

Page 17
testing, data-driven decisions, and product Product owner: Strategically aligned with
strategy. the product manager, they ensure that daily
tasks are in sync with the broader
objectives. Grounded in the Scrum
Technical product manager: Where framework, they prioritize and synchronize
Software meets strategy, these individuals tasks with overarching goals. Individuals
are entrusted with managing niche who excel in pragmatic decision-making
products tailored for developers and tech often find themselves drawn to this role.
enthusiasts. They seamlessly blend
Key skills: Scrum framework knowledge,
technical expertise with a clear product
strategic alignment, user story creation,
vision, ensuring that technology not only
backlog management, and collaboration.
operates smoothly but also captivates its
specialized audience.
Key skills: Deep technical understanding, Platform product manager: Beyond
product vision, collaboration with individual products lies the realm of the
engineers, and feedback loop platform product manager. They prioritize
establishment. tasks and uphold a unified user experience
by fostering synergy across various
products. Their comprehensive viewpoint
AI product manager: If algorithms and allows them to perceive products from a
neural networks are your playground, you holistic perspective, frequently addressing
might want to explore the relatively new internal technical obstacles.
field of AI product management. This role
Key skills: Tech stack understanding,
involves striking a balance between
cross-product strategy, internal
technical AI expertise and product strategy
stakeholder management, build vs. buy
to ensure that AI-powered products are not
decisions, and scalability.
only intelligent but also profitable.
Key skills: AI expertise, data analysis,
product-market fit (PMF), monetization Product operations manager: These play
strategies, and customer-centric design. a vital role in supporting the entire product
team, cultivating an efficient environment
for product managers to excel. Unlike
Product analyst: Diving into vast pools of traditional PMs who focus primarily on
data, product analysts transform numbers users, the main clientele for POMs is the
into compelling narratives. Focused on product team itself. Their essential
data-driven insights, they propose product responsibilities include optimizing systems
adjustments and oversee ongoing and processes, promoting transparent
enhancements. Through deciphering communication, and leveraging data
patterns and offering informed insights to support product management
recommendations, they play a pivotal role efforts.
in the creation of superior products.
Key skills: Systems optimization, clear
Key skills: Data analysis, A/B testing, communication, data synthesis, task
pattern recognition, user behaviour delegation, and cross-functional
understanding, and product strategy collaboration.
insights.

Page 18
2.1 Design Thinking understanding of the product's objectives
and requirements among team members.
Design Thinking is a structured approach
that assists product managers in Experimentation: Embracing a culture of
generating innovative solutions to experimentation, rapid prototyping, and
challenges. It recognizes the importance of testing enables teams to quickly validate
design in effective product management. ideas, gather feedback, and refine their
By collaborating closely with designers, product offerings iteratively.
product managers can develop products
that are not only functional but also visually Iterative process: Design Thinking follows
appealing. an iterative, non-linear approach, allowing
teams to revisit previous stages and refine
At its core, Design Thinking emphasizes
their understanding, ideas, or prototypes
three main principles: collaboration,
based on new insights or feedback. This
empathy, and experimentation.
iterative nature promotes continuous
Collaboration entails involving all
improvement and refinement throughout
stakeholders in the design process from
the product development lifecycle.
the outset, ensuring that everyone's input
is considered and the project's objectives
Product Thinking vs Design Thinking:
are well-understood.
The fundamental principles of Product Design Thinking prioritizes understanding
Design thinking are: user needs and generating creative
solutions through an iterative process. It's
Empathy: Product managers gain insight commonly applied in the initial stages of
into users' needs, motivations, and development to ensure that products or
challenges, fostering empathy and services are focused on the user.
enabling the creation of products that
effectively address user needs and provide In contrast, Product Thinking places a
value. greater focus on business objectives and
strategy. It strives to address problems that
Collaboration: Encouraging diverse align with both user needs and business
perspectives and cross-functional goals across the entire product lifecycle,
teamwork fosters the generation of spanning from idea generation to launch
innovative ideas and ensures a shared and beyond.

Page 19
2.2 User Persona and User Creating a user story is a valuable step
Journey when you're designing your product. It
helps ensure that you're tackling the
A user persona is like a made-up important problems your users might
character that represents your typical encounter. Think of user stories as a
customer, based on real data or your ideal checklist to guide your design process.
customer. You create personas by talking Now, a user journey is the path a user
to users and sorting them by things like takes to accomplish a specific goal. It's built
age, interests, and behaviours. This helps upon the persona and user stories. User
you understand your customers better and journeys are crucial because they help you
improve how you market your product. understand and empathize with your users'
experiences. A journey map is like a visual
User personas are super important for
representation of this path, showing each
businesses because they show you how
step a user goes through to achieve their
real people search for, buy, and use
goal.
products. By focusing on these personas,
you can make your product better suited to Using a user journey map helps counteract
your customers' needs and preferences. designer bias, which is when designers
unintentionally design based on their own
A user story, on the other hand, is a short preferences rather than the users' needs.
sentence that tells a fictional story from the By documenting the entire sequence of
perspective of one of your personas. It events and interactions in a user journey
helps guide design decisions by map, you can focus on understanding how
highlighting what the user wants or needs your persona thinks and feels at each
from your product. A typical user story is stage of their journey, rather than just
structured like this: relying on your own perspective. This
ensures that your product meets the needs
of your users effectively.

User Journey Map

Source: CodeAcademy Link

Page 20
2.3 Minimum Viable Product One of the main benefits of having a PRD
(MVP) is that it reduces misunderstandings and
disagreements among team members
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a basic during development. It ensures everyone is
version of a product created to test a new on the same page regarding what's
idea or solution without spending a lot of necessary for a successful product.
money or time. It's stripped down to its Additionally, it keeps all stakeholders
essentials but still capable of meeting its informed about the features and functions
goals. that should be incorporated into the final
product.
The purpose of an MVP is to gather
feedback from your target audience 2.5 Product Roadmap
promptly. This feedback helps assess how
well your concept performs and whether A product roadmap is like a blueprint for
there's demand for it. By doing so, you can how a product will develop and be released
decide whether to keep refining the product over time. It's essential for managers to
or change course if needed. grasp the product's direction and delivery
to customers. It guides decisions on which
2.4 Product Requirements features to include, which to remove, and
Document (PRD) when new versions should roll out.
The cornerstone of a solid product
A Product Requirements Document (PRD) roadmap is predictability. It should be
is a detailed document that outlines the understandable to all involved in its
important features, functions, and needs of creation yet adaptable to changes. This
a planned product. It's crucial for defining means regularly updating it as new
the scope of work required to build the information emerges and documenting any
product and estimating the effort needed. alterations made to the original plan.

2.6 Agile Methodologies

Source: TheProductManager Link

Agile is a project management philosophy cycles. This allows teams to quickly adapt
that breaks down goals into smaller, to changes, address issues, and reduce
manageable tasks, delivered in short costs and inefficiencies.

Page 21
Using Agile brings several benefits: faster chance of introducing unexpected bugs,
delivery times, cost reduction, improved making development smoother.
communication and teamwork, and better
Continuous Deployment (CD) takes this
flexibility in responding to changes.
further, automatically releasing updates
In Agile product development, the focus is frequently without manual intervention.
on efficiently transitioning from planning to This keeps products current and available
execution. This enables teams to receive to users, minimizing errors and meeting
feedback sooner and make adjustments user needs promptly. CD relies on
more frequently, resulting in smoother automated testing, deployment, and
progress and higher-quality products. version control systems to achieve
seamless updates.
Scrum, a specific Agile methodology, is
tailored for environments prone to change.
It operates in short delivery cycles known
as "sprints," typically lasting one to four 2.8 UI/UX Design Methodologies
weeks. Work is incremental, building upon
Design methodologies are models that
previous efforts. Scrum teams are small,
provide a definite structure to solve
comprising a Scrum Master, a product
problems and come up with innovative
owner, and developers. Communication is
solutions in the design process.
consistent to ensure continuous feedback
and prompt adjustments.
Key similarities between Scrum and Agile
include short-term development cycles,
emphasis on collaboration and
communication, and the ability to adapt to
changes and feedback.
However, Scrum differs from other Agile
methodologies in several ways: it
organizes work into sprints, maintains a
product backlog, assigns specific roles
(Scrum Master, product owner, 5 Elements of UX Design
development team), and conducts daily Source: CodeAcademy Link
Scrum meetings for updates.
User interface (UI) design is
a design discipline focused on the visual
2.7 Continuous Integration & design of the interface through which users
Deployment (CICD) interact with a product or system. UI design
considerations include:
Continuous Integration (CI) is a software
Layout: Where do elements appear on the
development approach that ensures every
screen?
code change is quickly tested and merged
into the main codebase. This prevents Colours: What palette is used and what
issues like "integration hell" where multiple emotions do those colours evoke?
changes conflict, making it hard to track
Typography: What typefaces are used
what caused problems. CI also reduces the
and what do they communicate?
Page 22
Interaction design: How do elements A Gantt chart is a visual tool used in project
respond to user interaction? management to plan and monitor task
progress. It's widely utilized in product
Brand identity: How do all of the visual
management to manage deadlines and
elements come together to represent the
ensure timely task completion.
brand’s vision?
Responsiveness and usability: Is the This chart displays time frames, typically
interface easy to use across different organized by days, months, or years, with
devices? each column representing a specific task or
project stage. The bars within the chart
Accessibility and inclusivity: Does the represent the duration allocated for each
interface work for everyone? task, while different colours denote various
Front-end development: What is the stages of completion.
technical backbone powering the
interface?
2.10 Key Performance Indicators
(KPIs)
User experience (UX) design is a human-
centred design discipline that deals with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are
the holistic experience around a product or metrics used to gauge the success of a
service, taking into consideration the user, product or service by measuring progress
system, and context. against specific goals. KPIs are
User experience (UX) design focuses on: distinguished based on four aspects

User journey: The entire process Timeliness: Ensures project activities are
surrounding the use of a product, from the completed on schedule, allowing for
problem to be solved through the impact of estimation of completion dates if behind
the solution. schedule.
User research: Qualitative and Quality: Evaluates the quality of work done
quantitative research to put the user at the and the project team's benefit from the
centre of the design process. development process.
Deliverables: Documents that define the Budget: Determines the amount of funding
users, user experience, workflows, and allocated for the project and monitors if it
features of a product or design exceeds the budget.
2.9 Gantt Chart Effectiveness: Monitors resource
allocation and usage to ensure efficient
utilization.
There are many different types of KPIs, but
some common examples include:
Conversion rate: Measures the
percentage of website visitors or
whitepaper downloaders who become
paying customers.

Page 23
Customer satisfaction rate: Assesses Kano Model - Classifies customer needs
customer happiness with the product or into basic, performance, and delight
service based on feedback. categories.

Net promoter score: Evaluates customer Story Mapping - Organizes features

loyalty and engagement by asking their hierarchically to illustrate dependencies.
likelihood of recommending the product to
others. MoSCoW Method - The MoSCoW Method
is a prioritization framework that
2.11 Feature Prioritization categorizes features into four priorities:
Feature prioritization is the method of • MUST features are top priority and
arranging and ranking product features need to be implemented as soon as
according to factors like customer benefit, possible because they are critical to the
business objectives, time and cost product's success.
requirements, and technical feasibility.
• SHOULD are important but can be
Product managers rely on feature
implemented after the MUST features.
prioritization frameworks to avoid being
They are necessary for the product's
overwhelmed and making suboptimal
overall functionality and value.
decisions. These frameworks enable
managers to assess the value of various
features, aiding in deciding which ones to • COULD features are less critical and
focus on initially. Moreover, they assist in can be implemented if time and
handling customer feedback and ensuring resources allow. They are considered
team alignment. optional and can enhance the product if
included.
Several feature prioritization frameworks
include: • WON'T features do not add value and
Weighted Scoring - Assigns scores to should not be implemented.
features based on importance and user
needs, then ranks them by total score. Cost Of Delay - Prioritizes features by
RICE Method – considering business value, delay risks,
and user experience impact.
R: Reachability - How many users can
benefit from the feature? 2.12 Kano Model

I: Impact - How significant is the feature's

impact?

C: Confidence – How certain are we about

the impact?

E: Effort - How much effort is required to

implement the feature?

Value Vs Effort - Compares the benefits of

a feature against the effort needed for
implementation. Source: TheProductManager Link

Page 24
The Kano Model is a tool used by product 2.14 Go-To-Market (GTM) Strategy
managers to prioritize features and create
a roadmap for their products. It The go-to-market strategy (GTM) is a
acknowledges that different types of comprehensive plan product managers
product features have varying impacts on use to introduce new products to the
customer satisfaction. market. It involves steps like creating a
business case, designing the product,
The model aims to guide product crafting marketing and sales strategies,
managers in striking a balance between and finally launching the product.
what features they offer and how they
deliver them, ensuring that their products When developing a GTM strategy, product
are successful and align with the needs of managers must consider various factors,
their target audience. By understanding the such as customer needs, competition,
strengths and weaknesses of each type of market conditions, and budget limitations.
product feature, managers can make The objective is to identify the most
informed decisions to meet customer effective and efficient approach to reach
expectations effectively. the target market while ensuring
profitability.
2.13 A/B Testing
A/B Testing is a method to evaluate the
effectiveness of different versions of a
product or service before its official launch.
The aim of beta testing is to identify and
address any issues or bugs before the
product or service is made available to the
public. This ensures that the final release is
as flawless as possible.

Various approaches can be used for A/B

testing, such as comparing different
versions on a small scale, offering early
access to a select group of users, or
conducting a controlled beta test with a
specific customer group. These methods
help gather valuable feedback and insights
to refine the product or service before its
full-scale release.

Page 25
Page 26
WHAT IS E-COMMERCE? Home Screen: The initial landing page on
mobile or web applications, offering a brief
E-commerce (electronic commerce) overview of available categories.
involves the buying and selling of goods
and services over an electronic network, Product Listing Page: Allows users to
primarily the Internet. filter and sort products based on various
parameters for a streamlined selection
In an e-commerce company, the process.
'product'—the primary reason customers
engage with your brand and exchange Product Description Page: Provides
money for interacting with it—isn't just the detailed information about the product,
app. It's the overall experience, including pricing, customer ratings, and
encompassing browsing, ordering, and suggestions for similar products.
receiving a package at your doorstep.
Below are 6 Types of E-Commerce: Cart Page: Lists all products added to the
cart, allowing users to modify selections.
The total cart price, along with available
offers, is displayed for easy reference.
Payment Page: Involves delivery address
USER PERSONAS selection, customer details, and various
payment options.
In the context of e-commerce platforms,
the typical set of users includes: Order Tracking Page: Displays delivery
status, invoice details, estimated delivery
time, and provides customer service
options.

PLATFORM STRUCTURE USER JOURNEY

The platform can be divided into key 1. Customer Acquisition – 3 Primary
screens that serve as important landing Channels:
points, facilitating a better understanding a. Direct: Users land directly on the
of the customer journey. The main screens app by entering the URL.
b. Organic: Arrive via a search engine.
include:
c. Paid: Arrive through advertisements
for which the platform paid.

Page 27
 2. Product Search: 1. Augmented Reality Enhancing the
a. Typing in the search bar. Shopping Experience: Providing a
b. Menu navigation. better feel for items without the need
c. Home page recommendations. for in-person viewing.
d. Category listings. 2. AI and ML Personalization: Enabling
e. Sponsored products. customers to have a personalized
f. Landing through a search engine. experience by continuously collecting
3. Select Customizations and Add to data on their shopping patterns.
Cart. 3. Increasing Chatbot Technology:
4. Scheduling – Location, Date, Time. Replicating the in-store sales
5. Payment – Mode of Payment, Offers. associate with advanced technology to
6. Place Order and Track for Arrival. assist in product selection and
7. Delivery of Product (Offline or Online). troubleshooting.
8. Returns and Replacement if Needed. 4. Growing Prevalence of Voice
Search: Optimized for multiple
LEADING TRENDS IN languages.
E-COMMERCE 5. Subscription Models on the Rise:
Keeping customers loyal and
The E-Commerce industry is continually providing added benefits for increased
evolving to meet customer needs and satisfaction.
provide a satisfying user experience. 6. Personalized Advertising: Utilizing
online tracking technologies and
Some of the biggest trends include: machine learning to deliver
advertisements tailored to customer
preferences.

USER JOURNEY OF AMAZON

Home Screen Search Screen Product Screen

Popular deals, Price, Ratings, Delivery date, All specifications of a
Category listings, colour options listed here. product. Each product
Previously Contains sponsored variation listed below with
viewed items, products in between. price.
and
recommendation
s from behaviour

Customer Cart Screen Confirmation

Reviews Lists all options added to Confirmation of purchase
cart with option to directly with estimated delivery
AI generated add quantities. Can save for time. Option to track order
customer later and view delivery and edit if needed.
review prompt options.
and major
keywords
extracted with
a review.

Page 28
WHAT IS RIDE-HAIL TECH? which provide a competitive advantage
over the traditional apps. Few of them
Ride-hailing involves customers ordering a include:
personalized ride through a platform that
acts as a mediator between the driver and
the passenger. Ride technology has TO PASSENGERS:
evolved significantly, primarily driven by
increased transparency for both drivers
and passengers. This heightened
transparency has led to a surge in app
usage, transforming these services into a
modern-day necessity.

USER PERSONAS
The major user personas opting for ride-
hailing apps include:

1. Individuals without personal vehicles.

2. Those seeking affordable transportation
options.
3. Non-drivers who rely on alternative TO DRIVERS:
transportation.
4. Individuals in need of premium ride
services.
5. Travelers who are visiting and do not
have their own transportation.
6. Regular commuters choosing to avoid
the daily hassle of driving.

VALUE PROPOSITIONS
The Ride hailing apps have different value
propositions to Customers and Drivers

Page 29
 USER JOURNEY 7. Contact the driver by calling or
1. Enter your current location and the messaging.
destination address. 8. Share the One-Time Password (OTP)
2. Browse and choose from various car for authentication purposes.
ride options by comparing their prices. 9. Throughout your travel journey - track
3. Avail any available offers to optimize the movement of the cab, utilize in-car
your ride experience. features, or complete the payment.
4. Choose a suitable payment method. 10. Upon reaching your destination,
5. Confirm your ride and await the driver's make the final payment.
acceptance. 11. Rate both the driver and the overall
6. Once your ride is confirmed, receive the service received.
details and track arrival for the estimated
time of arrival.

USER JOURNEY OF UBER

Home Screen Search Screen Ride Options

Contains Select source and
frequently Select from available ride
destination. Option to book
travelled options. Price and promotions
for self or others, schedule
locations, are listed. Payment option
pick up time and book 1 way
suggestions for also selected here
or 2 way
mode of
transport and
pending
payments

Ride Ride Completion

Start Ride
confirmed Ride details are shared
To start ride, OTP is shared.
On assigning a During ride, location tracking with payment receipt.
driver, vehicle can be done. Safety options Option to receive any
number and available. help related to ride.
driver number
available. Rider
can message or
call driver.

Page 30
 • No need for cooking; convenient
WHAT IS FOOD TECH? for users.
• Example: Daily Harvest, Freshly
Food tech industry offering online food
4. Recipe Discovery and Instructions:
delivery and restaurant discovery services.
They operate as on-demand delivery • Provides platforms for
platforms connecting users with a diverse discovering new recipes.
range of restaurants and also provide a • Offers step-by-step instructions
comprehensive food-tech ecosystem • Example: TasteMade.
encompassing restaurant reviews, online 5. Personalized Nutrition:
table reservations, and food delivery. Their • Creates individualized diet plans
success highlights the transformative based on preferences and goals.
impact of technology on the food and • Eg: InsideTracker
restaurant sector, providing convenience
and choice to users while reshaping COST STREAMS
traditional dining experiences.

DIFFERENT BUSINESS MODELS

This industry constitutes of many business
models including the following major ones.
1. Restaurant Aggregator:
REVENUE STREAMS
• Hosts a variety of nearby restaurants
on a single platform.
• Examples: Swiggy, Zomato.
2. On-Demand Food:
• Owns centralized kitchens for
efficient food preparation.
• Takes orders directly through their
websites or apps.
• Example: Freshmenu.
3. Ready-to-Heat Food (Subscription
Models):
• Delivers pre-prepared meals that
can be heated and consumed

Page 31
 USER JOURNEY
1. App Download and Registration 5. Adding to Cart and Checkout:
2. Location and Cuisine Selection: • Add selected items to cart.
• Users input their delivery address 6. Delivery and Payment Options:
• Browse through a variety of • Users choose preferred delivery
cuisines time
3. Restaurant and Menu Exploration: • Users select a payment method
• Users explore different 7. Order Confirmation:
restaurants • Receive an estimated delivery
• View restaurant ratings and may time.
filter their search • Users can track the real-time
4. Menu Item Selection: status
• Users select individual items or 8. Delivery and Feedback:
meals • Users receive the order and may
provide feedback or reorder

USER JOURNEY OF ZOMATO

Dining Home Order Home Restaurant Screen

Screen Screen
Personalised picks based on
Recommended options
Occasion based previous orders. Option to
based on past orders. List of
personalised screen. filter with many criteria.
offers and deals. Categories
Contains list of Menu with categories
of dishes to ease choice.
categories and
cuisines. Option to
book table.

Augmented Order Screen Order Complete

Reality Track order after placement Details of delivery with
Few restaurants with driver details. Lot of option to rate, tip, report
allow to view few offers provided here. Ad fraud and check on time
dishes in AR on a placement also done. delivery guarantee
table. Helps in
making decisions
if confused

Page 32
 USER PERSONAS
WHAT IS TRAVEL TECH?
Solo Travelers: Use travel tech to plan
It is the application of IT and e-commerce trips, find accommodations, and
solutions in tourism, travel, and hospitality navigate new destinations with or
to automate travel, save time, reduce without other groups.
costs, and create a seamless travel Friends: Utilize travel tech to coordinate
experience for consumers, including trip planning, share itineraries, and find
before, during, and after a trip. group-friendly activities.
Couples: Use travel tech to find
EFFECT OF THE PANDEMIC romantic getaways and discover couple-
friendly activities or dining options.
This industry was hit severely because of Families: Benefit from travel tech for
the pandemic which was affected in: booking group accommodations, finding
child-friendly activities, and ensuring
Drastic Reduction in Travel Demand: family safety during travel.
caused a sharp decline in bookings,
leading to substantial financial losses for VALUE PROPOSITION
the travel tech industry. Bookings: Hassle-free bookings for
flights, hotels, and activities, providing a
Financial Strain and Refund seamless and efficient process for user
Challenges: Companies faced financial travel needs.
strain due to widespread cancellations and Compare Prices: Empower user
refund requests. choices with price comparisons across
various providers.
Job Losses and Layoffs: The industry Services Provided: Comprehensive
witnessed significant job losses as travel suite of travel services, including car
tech companies implemented cost-cutting rentals, airport transfers, and travel
measures to cope with economic insurance, all in one place for a
downturns. convenient and integrated travel
experience.
Operational Challenges and Discounts: Exclusive discounts and
Uncertainty: They had to adapt to new special offers to maximize savings.
regulations and manage plans amidst Itinerary Drafting: Access detailed
uncertainty and volatility. information about destinations and
streamline travel plans.

Page 33
 CUSTOMER JOURNEY NEW TECH IN TRAVEL

AI and ML: Personalized

recommendations based on past
behaviour and preferences.
Augmented Reality and Virtual
Reality: Enable users to explore
destinations before making a booking,
providing immersive experiences.
Voice Search and Natural Language
Processing: Integrated voice search
capabilities ensure easy accessibility of
the platform.
Chatbot Features: Assist users in
queries and facilitate the booking
process.

USER JOURNEY OF MAKEMYTRIP

Home Screen Flight Fare Calendar Flight Finder

List of all flights with trip details.
List of all Feature to find the best flight Options to filter based on
options of fares across all dates of the year multiple criteria and lock price for
services future.
available for
booking from
travel to stay.
Promotional
offers listed

Booking Confirmation Post booking service

Voice Chat Booking confirmation screen Post booking, whatsapp
Voice assistant after payment completed. messages to aid in easier travel
to aid booking Option to do check-in if open experience with hotel and ride
with option of bookings with offers
multiple
languages

Page 34
WHAT IS HEALTH TECH?
Pharmacy Medicine Distribution: Enable
Health tech applications are becoming the ordering and delivery of prescription
increasingly popular for consulting and medications through online platforms.
other services in the healthcare industry. Wearable Health Tracking: Connect with
These applications leverage technology to and collect data from wearable devices to
improve healthcare delivery, enhance monitor and analyze users' health metrics.
communication between healthcare
providers and patients, and streamline Symptom Assessment Applications:
various processes. Assist users in assessing their symptoms,
providing initial information and
WHAT SERVICES ARE recommendations.
PROVIDED? Nutritional Guidance Apps: Offer
nutritional advice, track dietary habits, and
This industry has witnessed a
provide information on the nutritional
transformative wave driven by
content of food.
technological advancements, giving rise to
innovative solutions such as: Sleep Monitoring Applications: Monitor
and analyse users' sleep patterns,
Telemedicine Platforms: Enable remote
providing insights and recommendations
consultations between healthcare
for improvement.
providers and patients through video,
voice, or chat. Meditation Apps: Offer guided meditation
sessions, mindfulness exercises, and
Electronic Health Record (EHR)
stress-relief techniques to promote mental
Systems: Store and manage patient
well-being.
health records digitally.
Health Chatbots: Provide instant health SEGMENTS OF USERS
information, answer queries, and offer
preliminary medical advice.
Lab Test Booking: Facilitate the
scheduling and management of laboratory
tests.

Page 35
 REVENUE MODEL 5. Choose the type of consultation
needed.
Main sources of revenue include: 6. View profiles, qualifications, and
1. Commissions on Bookings reviews of available healthcare
2. Subscription Plans providers.
3. Delivery Charges 7. Select a specific healthcare provider.
4. Paid Services 8. See the availability of the chosen
5. Advertising healthcare provider.
6. Data Licensing and Analytics 9. Choose a convenient date and time
7. In-App Purchases slot for the consultation.
10. Confirm the booking and provide
USER JOURNEY additional details or payment if
necessary.
1. Sign In or Register with necessary
11. Receive confirmation with details of
details.
the scheduled consultation.
2. Land on the home screen with
12. Access the app at the scheduled
featured services and
time for the virtual consultation.
recommendations.
13. Provide feedback and rate the
3. Navigation to Consultation Section:
healthcare provider after the
4. Browse through available services
consultation.
like general health or specialists.

USER JOURNEY OF PRACTO

Home Screen Find Doctors Doctor Listings

Provides features All Specialities listed to help List of all doctors with
for appointments, select category of doctor. rating, reviews, speciality,
tests, medicines, Conditions listed to direct to experience and availability
consultations, concerned doctor for booking visit
medical records,
etc

Booking Screen Confirmation Online consultation

Confirmation done on whatsapp Online consultation can be done
Appointment
as well with details of the doctor on chat, call or video call to get
details and
and clinic the required assistance
payment
option to
apply coupons
and confirm
visit without
payment

Page 36
WHAT IS EDTECH?
TEST PREPARATION PLATFORMS: Offers free
EdTech, short for Educational Technology,
test preparation resources for standardized
refers to the use of technology to enhance
tests like SAT, ACT, and more.
and support education. It encompasses a
wide range of tools, software, hardware, Eg: Udemy, Career Launcher
and educational methodologies that
leverage technology to facilitate learning EXECUTIVE EDUCATION PLATFORMS: Allows
and teaching processes. In the context of companies to access online courses and
online learning, various online platforms specializations to train their employees in
are used to deliver educational content and various professional skills, degrees, etc.
enable virtual teaching. Eg: HBS Online, INSEAD Online

TYPES OF ONLINE PLATFORMS DISTANCE LEARNING PLATFORMS: Offers

Some commonly used online platforms in online courses from universities and
the field of EdTech include: institutions worldwide, covering a broad
range of subjects.
LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS:
A centralized hub for educators to organize Eg: edX
and deliver content, manage assessments,
and track student progress. USER PERSONAS
Eg: Google Classroom These platforms are used by people of
different ages for a variety of different
VIDEO CONFERENCING TOOLS: Enable real-
reasons and goals. These are a few
time virtual communication between
notable ones:
teachers and students. These tools are
essential for conducting online classes, Elementary School Student:
virtual meetings, and collaborative
Tuitions: Enhance academic performance
discussions.
through online tutoring for subjects like
Eg: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google math and science.
Meet
High School Student:
ONLINE COURSE PLATFORMS: Offer a wide
Test Practice: Prepare for college
range of online courses and educational
entrance exams (SAT/ACT) to secure
content created by experts.
admission to a preferred university.
Eg: Coursera, edX, and Khan Academy

Page 37
 College Student: USER JOURNEY
Skill Upgrade: Improve coding skills and Assume this user is a college student who
gain practical knowledge through online wants to enhance her coding skills through
courses. the platform.
Senior Learner:
Digital Literacy: Acquire basic digital
literacy skills to stay connected with family,
friends, and access online services.
Professional:
Executive Education: Pursue an
executive education program to develop
leadership and strategic management
skills for career advancement.
Parent:
Monitoring Child's Education: Monitor
child’s progress in online test preparation
courses and provide support when
needed.
Distance Learner:
University Degree: Pursue a degree
through online learning in another state or
country.

USER JOURNEY OF VEDANTU

Select study goal Class Listings

Based on class selection, All available subjects listed
Registration related goals listed to craft with topics for watching
Enter student personalised learning plans videos for offline learning
details on
registration
screen

Assignments Doubt Clearing

Doubt clearing can be
Scheduling Students have to take done by uploading an
classes assignments for the image of a question. They
enrolled subjects and will be cleared by others or
For live classes
performance is tracked teachers.
student can
schedule class and
it will get added to
their calendar

Page 38
 AD TECH

WHAT IS ADTECH pixels, to gather user interaction data and

preferences.
AdTech, short for Advertising Technology,
refers to the use of technology to create, Measurement and Analysis Report: The
manage, and optimize advertising generation of insightful reports to evaluate
campaigns. It encompasses a wide range the performance of advertising campaigns
of tools, platforms, and software solutions by utilizing analytics tools and applying
designed to improve the efficiency and attribution models, they track key
effectiveness of digital advertising. AdTech performance indicators (KPIs)
plays a crucial role in the online advertising Billing: AdTech specialists are responsible
ecosystem by automating and streamlining for developing and implementing
various processes, targeting specific transparent billing processes. They ensure
audiences, and providing detailed analytics accuracy by employing billing systems that
to measure campaign performance. track and bill for ad impressions, clicks, or
other specified metrics.

RESPONSIBILITIES
Targeting Specific Audiences: AdTech WHO IS AN ADVERTISER AND
professionals are responsible for PUBLISHER
employing sophisticated targeting
strategies, utilizing Data Management
Platforms (DMPs) to identify and
categorize specific user segments based
on demographics, behaviours, and
interests.
Responsive Ad Display: Ensuring a
seamless user experience across various
devices and platforms is a key
responsibility of AdTech professionals.
Data Collection on User and
Preferences: AdTech specialists are
tasked with implementing robust data
collection mechanisms, such as cookies or

Page 39
BASIC TERMINOLOGIES WHAT IS PROGRAMMATIC
Ad Slot: A designated space on a
ADVERTISING
webpage or app where an advertisement
can be displayed. Programmatic advertising is an automated
process of buying and selling digital
Ad Space: The physical or digital area advertising space in real-time auctions.
within a digital platform where an
advertisement is shown. Demand-Side Platform (DSP):
Advertisers use DSPs to bid on and
Inventory Space: The total advertising purchase ad inventory in real-time.
opportunities available for sale on a Supply-Side Platform (SSP): Publishers
publisher's platform. use SSPs to manage and optimize the sale
Impression: A metric representing each of their ad inventory.
instance an ad is viewed by a user. Ad Exchange: Acts as intermediary that
facilitates the buying and selling of ad
Click: An interaction with an ad that occurs inventory by connecting DSPs and SSPs to
when a user selects or taps on it. create a marketplace.
Conversion: The achievement of a
desired action by a user, such as making a Interaction process when ad is to be
purchase or filling out a form, after clicking displayed:
on an ad. 1. When a user visits a website or app, the
ad space becomes available for
TYPES OF ADS
auction.
Contextual Ads: Tailored to match the 2. The SSP notifies the ad exchange
content of a website, ensuring relevance to about the available ad impression.
the user's interests and the overall theme 3. DSPs submit bids in real-time auctions
of the webpage. on behalf of advertisers.
4. The winning bid is determined, and the
Display Ads: Often in the form of banner ad exchange communicates this to the
ads, utilize visual content to capture SSP.
attention and convey promotional 5. The SSP informs the winning DSP, and
messages. the chosen ad is displayed to the user
Native Ads: Seamlessly blend into the in real-time.
content of a platform, resembling the
surrounding material to provide a less
intrusive user experience.

Page 40
Page 41
Header Section and delivering projects within strict
timelines and budgets."
Full Name: Ensure your name stands out
prominently at the top of the document, Work Experience
using a larger font or bold formatting.
Content: List your work history in reverse-
Contact Information: Include essential chronological order (latest experience
contact details: first).
Phone Number: Use a professional and Details: Include job titles, company
reachable number. names, locations, and employment dates
(month and year).
Email Address: Provide a professional
email address that you actively monitor. Description: Outline your key
responsibilities, notable achievements,
Location: City and State (or country if
and project outcomes using bullet points.
applicable).
Example: "Senior Project Manager | ABC
LinkedIn Profile (Optional): If your
Company, City, State | Jan 2018 - Present:
LinkedIn profile is up-to-date and
professionally relevant, include the URL. Successfully managed a portfolio of
projects, leading a cross-functional team of
Professional Summary or 20 members across different locations,
Objective resulting in a 30% increase in project
completion rates within the first year."
Purpose: A brief, compelling introduction
summarizing your expertise, Skills and Competencies
accomplishments, and career objectives
as a Project Manager. Technical Skills: List your technical
competencies related to project
Content: Highlight your relevant skills, management software (e.g., MS Project,
years of experience, industry knowledge, JIRA), methodologies (Agile, Scrum,
and key career achievements. Waterfall), data analysis tools, etc.
Example: "Dedicated and results-driven Soft Skills: Highlight essential soft skills
Project Manager with over a decade of such as leadership, communication,
experience leading complex IT projects for problem-solving, negotiation, adaptability,
multinational corporations. Skilled in Agile and time management.
methodologies, stakeholder management,

Page 42
Certifications: Include relevant Examples: Mention awards for
certifications or accreditations (PMP, exceptional project delivery, team
PRINCE2, CAPM, etc.) and their leadership, cost-saving initiatives, or
respective issuing bodies and dates of successful project completions.
certification.
Professional Affiliations and
Education Memberships
Details: List your educational background Affiliations: Include memberships in
in reverse-chronological order. professional organizations or associations
Information: Mention degrees earned, related to project management (PMI,
institution names, majors, graduation IPMA, etc.).
dates, and any relevant coursework or Active Participation: Highlight your active
additional certifications related to project involvement, contributions, or roles within
management. these organizations, if applicable.
Professional Certifications and Languages (Optional)
Training
Language Skills: Indicate any additional
Certifications: Highlight any professional languages you speak and your proficiency
certifications or specialized training level if relevant to the job or if applying for
relevant to project management. international roles.
Details: Specify the certification name, Interests or Hobbies (Optional)
issuing organization, and the date of
completion or certification. Personal Interests: Briefly mention
interests or hobbies that showcase
Professional Achievements and relevant skills (e.g., teamwork in sports,
Awards leadership roles in volunteer
organizations).
Highlights: Include notable awards,
recognitions, or significant achievements in
the field of project management.

Page 43
Content and Formatting Highlighting Specific Skills
Quantify your achievements: Use Technical skills: Showcase your
numbers and data to showcase the impact proficiency in project management
of your work. How much did you improve methodologies, software tools (e.g., Jira,
project metrics? How much budget did you Asana, Trello), and any relevant
save? Use percentages, dollar figures, or technologies.
specific numbers to make your
Soft skills: Don't underestimate the
achievements tangible.
importance of soft skills like
Focus on action verbs: Start your bullet communication, leadership, problem-
points with strong action verbs like solving, and teamwork. Use specific
"spearheaded," "implemented," examples to demonstrate how you've used
"optimized," or "delivered." This makes these skills to achieve success.
your CV more dynamic and grabs the
Industry knowledge: If you have
reader's attention.
experience in a specific industry, highlight
Use keywords: Include relevant keywords it on your CV. This shows that you
from the job description throughout your understand the challenges and
CV. This will help your CV get past opportunities in that field.
applicant tracking systems (ATS) and into
the hands of the hiring manager. Structure and Formatting
Use a clear and concise format: Choose Keep it concise and clear: Aim for 1-2
a professional font, use clear headings, pages maximum. Recruiters spend mere
and maintain consistent spacing. Make seconds scanning each CV, so make sure
sure your CV is easy to read and scan. yours is easy to read and understand.

Proofread carefully: Typos and Use a professional format: Choose a

grammatical errors can make a bad clean and readable font, consistent
impression. Proofread your CV carefully spacing, and clear headings. Avoid using
before submitting it. fancy fonts or colours that might distract
from the content.

Page 44
Highlight Achievements through Quantify Achievements
the STAR Method
Whenever possible, include quantifiable
Situation: Briefly set the context. What metrics or numbers to illustrate the impact
problem were you facing or opportunity did of your work. For example:
you identify?
"Increased product revenue by 30% within
Task: Explain your role and responsibilities six months."
in the situation.
"Launched three successful products
Action: Describe the specific actions you resulting in a 20% market share growth."
took to address the situation. Use strong
action verbs like "led," "developed," "Reduced time-to-market by implementing
"implemented," or "streamlined." efficient processes, resulting in a 25%
faster product delivery."
Result: Quantify the impact of your
actions. Use metrics, data, and Examples
percentages to showcase the positive
outcomes you achieved. Highlighting Achievements:

Showcase Leadership and Impact Led UX overhaul, boosting mobile app

retention by 30% and engagement by 25%.
Go beyond individual contributions and
Pioneered new subscription model,
emphasize how you led cross-functional
surpassing revenue targets by 15% in first
teams, influenced strategic decisions, and
year.
drove significant change.
Streamlined procurement process,
Quantify your leadership impact. Did you
slashing production costs by 10% and
increase team productivity? Improve
boosting profitability.
communication or collaboration? Quantify
these contributions. Showcasing Leadership:

Connect to Business Acumen Mentored junior PMs, resulting in 20%

productivity increase and improved team
morale.
Use business terminology that
demonstrates your understanding of key Championed Agile adoption, accelerating
concepts like market analysis, competitive development by 40% and enhancing
landscapes, financial performance, and product quality.
ROI.
Negotiated key vendor contracts, securing
Show how your actions contributed to 15% cost reduction, and securing vital
broader business goals like revenue materials.
growth, cost reduction, or market share
expansion. Connecting to Business Acumen:

Analysed competitor landscape, identifying

strategic opportunity for market share
expansion.

Page 45
• Developed data-driven marketing
campaign, achieving 20% lead generation
increase and exceeding ROI.

Foundational Data Analysis

Certified Product Manager (CPM) by the
Product Management Institute (PMI) Programming languages: Python, SQL, R

Certified Agile Product Owner (CAPO) by Data visualization tools: Tableau, Power
the Scrum Alliance BI, QlikView

Product School Graduation Certificate Statistical analysis: Hypothesis testing,

regression analysis, A/B testing
Advanced
Data mining and modelling: Machine
learning basics, predictive analytics
Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) by the
Scrum Alliance
Project Management
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 5 Agilist
certification Agile methodologies: Scrum, Kanban,
Lean
Google Analytics Individual Qualification
(IQ) Project management tools: Asana, Trello,
Jira, Microsoft Project
Tech
Product roadmaps: Prioritization &
Google Cloud Professional Certifications resource allocation
(e.g., Architect, Security Engineer)
Design & Prototyping
AWS Certified Solutions Architect -
Associate
Wireframing and prototyping tools: Figma,
Microsoft Azure Certifications Sketch, Adobe XD

Additional Certifications User interface (UI) and user experience

(UX) principles: Design thinking,
Lean Product & Agile certifications for accessibility, usability testing
iterative development methodologies
Basic graphic design tools: Photoshop,
Design Thinking certifications for user- Illustrator
centric product development

Page 46
Page 47
Why do we need frameworks? Product Development Framework: An
everyday Framework! Product
Structured ways of tackling complicated development frameworks guide teams
challenges, making informed decisions, through the ideation, prototyping, testing,
and driving successful outcomes are all and iteration phases of the process,
made attainable via the use of frameworks, promoting creativity and effectiveness in
these serve as important tools in the ever- product development cycles.
changing business environment of product
management. Data Framework: The backbone of every
enterprise, Data. It’s important for a
This enables them to navigate through product manager to understand the data
uncertainty, identify critical challenges, and that goes behind the entire product. These
design strategic solutions, which provide a frameworks help gather, analyse, and
systematic manner to assess, organise, understand data to guide the creation of
and prioritise information. When it comes to new products and achieve organisational
identifying consumer demands, analysing goals.
market prospects, or optimising product
development processes, frameworks offer Design Thinking Frameworks: One of
a common vocabulary and approach that the most crucial yet underrated phases of
enables product teams to successfully the product lifecycle are the design thinking
cooperate with one another and coordinate process. To incorporate this, certain
their efforts towards the achievement of frameworks help establish a human-
business objectives. centred method for generating original
ideas and resolving issues.
Types of Frameworks
User Journey Framework: Customer is
Prioritisation Frameworks: Product king! These frameworks outline the
managers usually have a plethora of tasks customer's journey, pointing out important
to deal, they rely heavily on prioritisation points of contact and areas that should be
frameworks to help them decide which improved. Centred on comprehending
features, activities, or projects to human behaviour, preferences, and pain
concentrate on. These frameworks points, make it easier to create user-centric
balance conflicting goals and maximise the products by utilising methods like
value provided to users and the company. personas, journey mapping, and usability
testing.

Page 48
Moscow Method
Must Have
Categorize tasks as Must-have, Should Have,
M Project cannot do without them. Could-have, and Won’t have.
Should Have Formula: Assign M=100, S=50, C=25 and W=0 to
S Must-haves over the long run.
each task. Calculate the total score for prioritization.
Could Have Example: While building a budgeting app, “ Security”
C Low-Cost Tweaking.
would be a Must-have, “Social Media Integration” a
Won’t Have should-have, “Dark Mode” a could-have, and
W Get back to them at better days.
“Gaming Feature” a Won’t-have.

Eisenhower Matrix Prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance.

Urgent Not Urgent
Formula: Rank tasks as High/Low in Urgency and
Importance, then tackle high-high tasks.
Important

Do First Do Later Example: Urgent and Important tasks include

“Critical Bug Fixes”, while important but not urgent
tasks could be “User Research”.
Not Important

Delegate Eliminate

Buy-a-feature Let Stakeholders “Buy” features with limited

resources.
Formula: Features with highest “purchase” gets
prioritised.
Example: Shareholders allocate 100 points to buy
features, and the most “bought” features make it to
Source: ThirdRock Techkno Link
the development roadmap.
Page 49
RICE Scoring Model Reach: How many people will this feature affect within
the given period?
Impact: How much will this impact individual users?
Confidence, How confident are we about the impact
and reach scores?
Effort: How much of a time investment will this
initiative require from product, design and
development?
Formula:
Score = ( Reach X Impact X Confidence) / Effort
Example: A feature with a Reach of 4, Impact of 5,
Confidence of 3 and an effort of 6. The score will come
out to be 10.

Kano Model
Classify features into Must-be, Performance and
Excitement categories.
Formula: Customer Satisfaction varies based on
feature types.
Example: Users expect a “Functional Search”
(Basic), appreciate “Faster Processing”
(Performance), and get excited about “Augmented
Reality” (Excitement).

Source: Artstrategies Link

WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First)

Prioritize tasks by considering cost of delay and Job

Size.
Formula: WSJF = CoD / Job Size
Example: A project with a cost of delay of $20,000
and a job size of 40 points would have a WSJF score
of 500 (20,000/40).

Page 50
 CIRCLES Method

Source: Pranjal Shukla, Bootcamp Link

C - Clarify and try to frame the problem by getting more information on the main problem statement.
Some follow-up questions would be: Why do we want to this? What's the reason we decided to do
this now?
I - Identify your end user and their environment or their context to the problem statement.
R - Report end user pain points / needs so that you get a list of all potential problems you'd need to
solution via technology.
C - Cut through the list of pain points i.e. to prioritise what you want to solve first basis impact, and
how big certain pain points are over others.
L - List all solutions connecting to the pain points you listed in the previous step.
E - Evaluate the pros and cons of each solution to pick the right one.
S - Summarise your recommendation so that the Interviewer is clear on your approach and
suggestions clearly.
Page 51
 BUS Method

Solution

User Problem
U

Business Problem
B

Business Problem - This stage focuses on understanding the why behind the product.
Example: What are the overall business goals this product aims to achieve? What problem are we
trying to solve for the company? How will success be measured?

User Problem- This stage shifts the focus to the who and what. It delves into understanding the
users' needs and pain points.
Example: Who are the target users for this product? What are their specific problems and unmet
needs? How will our product improve their lives or solve their problems?

Solution- This stage brings the first two stages together to develop the how. It involves brainstorming
and validating potential solutions.
Example: What features and functionalities will address the user problems and achieve the business
goals? How can we ensure the solution is feasible and desirable for both the users and the business?
What are the different options for implementing the solution, and which one is the most effective?

Page 52
VRIO Framework

Source: PM School Link

Value (V) - Resources must add value to the product or service. They should contribute to the
firm's ability to exploit opportunities or defend against threats in the market.
Example: A cutting-edge technology used in a smartphone that offers unique features, enhancing
the overall user experience.
Rarity (R) - Resources should be rare or unique. If a resource is widely available, it is less likely
to provide a sustainable competitive advantage.
Example: Exclusive access to a rare and specialized talent pool in data analytics, giving a
company a competitive edge in deriving insights from complex datasets.
Imitability (I) - Resources should be difficult to imitate or replicate by competitors. This involves
factors like legal protection, unique processes, or complex know-how.
Example: A patented manufacturing process that allows a company to produce a product more
efficiently, making it challenging for competitors to replicate.
Organization (O) - The firm must be organized to exploit the resource effectively. This involves
having the right processes and culture to leverage the resource for competitive advantage.
Example: A well-established and agile project management system that allows a company to
rapidly adapt to market changes and implement innovative ideas.

Page 53
 Source: PM School Link

Empathize: This stage is about understanding the needs and challenges of your target users. You
can do this through user research, such as interviews, surveys, and observations.
Example: You might interview and observe people who use similar apps to understand their pain
points and needs.
Define: Based on your empathy research, you define the core problem or opportunity you will be
addressing. This problem statement should be clear, concise, and user centred.
Example: You might define the problem as "People find it difficult to stay organized and on top of their
tasks."
Ideate: You might come up with ideas for a new app that uses gamification, artificial intelligence, or
personalized to-do lists to help people stay organized.
Example: You might come up with ideas for a new chair that is adjustable, made from sustainable
materials, or has built-in features like massage or heat.
Prototype: You might create a paper prototype of your app to test the basic functionality with users.
Example: You might create a rough model of your chair out of cardboard or foam to test the basic
ergonomics with users.
Test: You might give your prototype to a small group of users to try out and get feedback on what
works and what doesn't.
Example: You might ask a group of people to sit in your prototype chair and give you feedback on its
comfort, style, and functionality.

Page 54
 The AARRR Framework (Pirate Metrics)
A
A
R
R
R

Acquisition: This is the phase where customers first discover and visit your product.
Example: Users download the social media app from the app store, sign up, and start exploring the
platform.
Activation: Refers to the point where users have their first positive experience with your product. It
could be the completion of a key action or the use of a core feature.
Example: The user completes their profile, follows a few friends, and posts their first status update or
photo.
Retention: The goal is to keep users engaged and encourage them to continue using the product over
time.
Example: The app utilizes notifications and personalized content to keep users engaged, prompting
them to visit the platform regularly.
Revenue: This stage focuses on how the product generates revenue. It could involve one-time
purchases, subscription fees, or any other monetization strategy.
Example: The social media platform may generate revenue through targeted advertising based on
user preferences and behaviour.
Referral: Customers become advocates and refer others to your product, helping in organic growth.
Example: The app encourages users to invite friends to join by offering incentives or creating features
that promote sharing, such as tagging friends or sharing posts.

Page 55
Page 56
 KPI (Key Performance
What are Metrics?
Indicators)
Metrics are quantifiable values that help
businesses measure and track the Specific
performance of a product or an activity.
Relevant
However, not every metric can tell you
how successful your product is, and Measurable

some metrics are irrelevant or Performance

misleading. You need to choose the right Evaluation
metrics based on your business goals
and your industry.
You should also be able to define and A set of metrics that are aligned with your
use the metrics in a way that shows the key business goals is called a Key
health and impact of your product or Performance Indicator (KPI). A KPI is a
feature. Metrics are often asked in quantifiable indicator of how well your
interviews. For example, an interviewer product or business is performing over
might ask you, “How would you measure time. KPIs are used for strategic decision-
the success of the new edit feature on making. KPIs are different from metrics in
Instagram?” that they are specifically designed to
To answer such questions, you need to communicate your progress towards
know how to deal with metric changes. your goals, while metrics are more
Metric changes are when a key product general and can be used to monitor
metric (such as traffic, revenue, various aspects or processes of your
engagement, etc.) fluctuates product or business.
unexpectedly. The interviewer wants to Here are some reasons why you need
see how you approach the problem and KPIs:
find the root cause behind the issue. A
common mistake candidates make is to 1. To monitor your company’s health and
give an unstructured answer. To avoid success.
this, you need to understand the metrics 2. To analyse trends and patterns over
well. time in the industry.
3. To solve problems and seize
opportunities.
4. To compare against your current
performance.
5. To boost employee morale.

Page 57
Customer Acquisition Cost
(CAC)
CAC represents the expenditure incurred
to acquire a new customer. This metric is
determined by dividing the total sales and
marketing expenses by the nuber of
customers acquired within a specific
period.

CAC helps you understand if your

current strategy is sustainable and
profitable when acquiring new
customers.

A high CAC is only justified if the

customer lifetime value (CLV) is also
high. If you are spending a lot of money
on marketing for customers that have a Source: Survey Sensum Link
low CLV, you need to find other ways to
attract new users. Customer Retention Rate
(CRR)
It means how well you keep your
existing customers from leaving your
product by calculating the percentage
of customers who remain at the end of
the given period.

A low CRR means that your product is

not delivering what it promises or
meeting the customer’s needs.

A high CRR means that you have loyal

Source: Gautam Sachdeva Link
and satisfied customers who generate
recurring revenue and provide
opportunities for upselling and cross-
selling.

Page 58
Feature-Usage Metric

Feature usage is a type of engagement This metric will help you learn about
metric that shows how users interact user behaviour and how you can meet
with a specific feature of a product, user needs better.
rather than the whole product.
Conversion can have different
It tracks the frequency and the mode of meanings depending on your goal, for
use of a certain feature by the users. example, the number of users who
contacted you or booked a demo after
visiting your website would also be a
conversion.
Customer Conversion Rate

Source: Seobility Link

Conversion rate is a key metric that
quantifies the percentage of users who A low Customer Conversion Rate
successfully complete a desired action indicates that your app/ website or your
out of the total number of users features are not meeting your visitor’s
engaging with your product or service. expectations or needs.

Conversion rate can be calculated as: To improve your Customer Conversion

Rate, you need to identify and fix the
Conversion Rate=Total number of new issues that are causing your visitors to
users / Number of new users who made drop off or not use your features.
a payment

Page 59
A/B Testing

A/B testing is a method of comparing

the effectiveness of two alternatives or
variations of something. It is used to
find out which option works better.

This metric lets you test different

versions of a new feature, design, or
other product element by showing them
to a random sample of your users and
measuring which one they like more.
Monthly / Annual Recurring
Revenue (M/ARR)

These numbers show the amount of

revenue that you can expect to receive
every month and every year from your
customers.

This metric helps you monitor your

company’s financial performance and
growth.

Customer Feedback Analysis

Customer Interviews are a powerful way
to connect with customers, understand
their needs, and discover what they
want.

Customer Interviews can help us learn

about their experience with a particular
feature or the whole product.

The key is to ask open-ended

questions that begin with who, what,
when, where, why, or how. This will
prompt people to share more insights
and details.

Interviews are a great way to collect

direct feedback from users on
product’s usability, value, and potential
for growth.

Page 60
Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Source: CheckMarket Link

Net Promoter Score (NPS)
How to calculate NPS:
NPS is a metric that many companies
use to measure how satisfied their Conduct a survey of your existing
customers are with their products. customers, asking them to rate your
product on a scale of 1 to 10.
The principal NPS question is,
“How likely are you to recommend this Divide them into 3 groups, based on
product or service to a friend or their ratings.
colleague?”
1. Detractors: Customers who give a
NPS is calculated as the difference rating of 1 to 6. They are unhappy or
between the percentage of promoters dissatisfied with your product and
and the percentage of detractors. may spread negative word-of-
mouth.

NPS is expressed as a number between 2. Passives: Customers who give a

-100 and 100. For example, if you have rating of 7 or 8. They are neutral or
30% detractors and 45% promoters, indifferent about your product and
your NPS is 15. may switch to a competitor if they
find a better offer.

An NPS score of more than 0 is

3. Promoters: Customers who give a
considered a “desirable” NPS score.
rating of 9 or 10. They are loyal and
enthusiastic about your product and
may refer others to use it.
Calculate the NPS score by subtracting
the % of Promoters by the % of
detractors.

Page 61
Page 62
A product teardown involves a
comprehensive examination and
reverse engineering of a product's
design, functionality, and user
experience. This process entails
dissecting various aspects of the product
to uncover valuable insights into its
strengths, weaknesses, and potential
areas for enhancement. For a Product
Manager, it is essential to introspect and
comprehend the rationale behind the
product's design Competitive Study: Product teardowns
– understanding its objectives and can be considered an ideal framework
identifying existing drawbacks. Product for comprehending competitors. This
teardowns should not be confined to concept aids in grasping their offerings
and their approach to addressing the
competitive applications alone but
same problem statement encountered
should extend to include products from
by your product. Analysing user reviews,
diverse domains. complaints and inputs provide insights
Reasons to perform Product into the pain points experienced by their
customers, offering valuable information
Teardowns about their most acclaimed features.
Deep dive into the nuances of UX:
Gaining profound insights into a product Innovation: During Product Teardowns,
involves a thorough examination of its you may encounter unique solutions or
various interactions, UX flows, architectures that enhance the
notification systems, communication onboarding and engagement experience
channels, and how it handles for both new and repeat users. Embrace
exceptions. Additionally, staying the opportunity to learn from and
informed about the latest design trends integrate such innovative ideas into your
observed in popular apps can provide own product, paving the way for out-
valuable parallels for one's own product, of-the-box solutions that cater to
facilitating quick recognition and customer needs.
identification by customers.

Page 63
Steps for Product Teardowns:

Product Selection: The first step in Scope of Improvements: Post

performing a digital product teardown understanding and analysing, it is vital to
involves the thoughtful selection of a identify areas for improvement. Assess
product for analysis. Irrespective of the the product’s potential areas of
domain it belongs to, choosing a improvements. All of these found
successful product with a significant problems are not important. Pick the
user base is essential, as it yields the problems that are most critical for the
most insightful findings. users and also align with the goals of the
teardown.
Evaluating the Personas and their
User Experience: It is imperative to Brainstorm and prioritize: Once the
identify the user personas as a crucial problems have been identified, the next
step. Subsequently, evaluating the user step is to brainstorm and come up with
experience becomes a critical innovative solutions. This is the phase
component of the teardown process. which requires pushing the creative
Examine the design, user flow, and boundaries and thinking out of the box. A
overall usability of the product. list of solutions must be proposed and
Scrutinize the onboarding process, then the most sensible one must be
pinpointing any notable strengths or prioritized, based on impact and effort
weaknesses in features and required.
functionality.
Summarize: Prepare a comprehensive
In Depth Research: To gain a deeper report summarizing the findings,
comprehension of the product's recommendations, and proposed action
performance, conducting a thorough plan. Communicate the benefits and
research is essential. Activities like rationale.
exploring the company's website, social
media presence, user reviews, and any
media coverage might come handy.
Analyse the product’s marketing strategy
and its position within the market.

Page 64
About the Company

Established in 2021, Zepto is a Mumbai-based instant grocery delivery service that

prioritizes swift and efficient delivery, promising to bring groceries to customers within
10 minutes. Utilizing a network of dark stores and micro-warehouses, the company
emphasizes speed, reliability, and efficiency as its key selling points, steering away
from traditional methods of attracting customers through discounts or offers.

Problem Statement:
Evaluate the “building the cart before purchase” flow of Zepto app and redesign the
experience while identifying opportunities to make usability better for the users age
above 35 years which will lead to increase in average order value and retention.

Probable outcomes of solution

➢ Helps users to maximize each order ensuring they have a seamless experience
which eventually makes them loyal customers.

➢ Upon solving this problem, we can decrease the bounce rate.

➢ A seamless experience and an improved flow for users helps to make more orders.

➢ It will increase the average order value and as the good experience will increase the
customer retention rate.

User Persona

Page 65
User Journey

Identified Flaws

Page 66
Potential Solutions

Page 67
About the Company
PhonePe, a mobile payments application, enables instant money transfers using just the
recipient's mobile number. The objective is to simplify digital payments, ensuring they
are easy, secure, and universally embraced, eliminating the need for carrying physical
cash or cards. The vision is to construct an expansive, scalable, and open transaction
ecosystem that generates significant positive outcomes for all involved parties. As India's
inaugural UPI app, PhonePe has secured its position as the market leader, surpassing
Google Pay, thanks to its user-friendly interface, multilingual support, and investment
assistance.

Problem Statement
Improve PhonePe Mobile App in terms of notifications and overall user
experience.

High-level process

Source: Mohammed KM Link

Page 68
User Personas

Source: Mohammed KM Link

User Journey:

Page 69
 Source: Nikhil Singh Link
Notification system Analysis

Recommendations

Page 70
About the Company

Established in 2006, Spotify is a Swedish audio streaming and media service provider.
It is one of the largest music streaming service providers with over 590 million active
users. It has a vast library consisting of music from global, local, and indie musicians.
Additionally, it also has several podcasts which are exclusive to the app. What makes it
more attractive in addition to the plethora of options it has is the personalized
recommendations and the social features that it offers wherein its users can create
playlists with friends follow other users and listen to what their friends and family are
listening to.

Problem Statement
Evaluate how Spotify can boost user engagement, user retention, and revenue by
strengthening what it currently offers and potential new features.

User Segments
Artists
These are all the music and podcast producers who create the content.

Users
These are the actual end users who listen to the music/podcasts.

Page 71
Value Proposition

Personalized Recommendations Create and share custom playlists Myriad of songs & podcasts to
(Social Feature) choose from

Main Competitors

User Personas

User Journey

Page 72
Home Page

After downloading the app first, a bunch of surveys popup

Source – The Medium Link

The Good The Bad

These surveys are not text-heavy but Even though I have been a user of
have images to reduce cognitive load, Spotify for quite some time, right after
and the users can finish the survey registering using my email instead of
quickly. utilizing the already available data on
me, the app asks me to fill out
preferences again.

Search Page

The Good
The Bad
For the user
Although Spotify gives
Spotify is helping me discover music interesting/relevant categories, topics,
based on what I am doing or my mood. and languages, those are not classified
This is better than just a search. or ordered properly. Hence, finding the
For Spotify
right one might be tough.

The user is going to spend more time on

the app as they are prone to discover
and listen to more than 1 song.

Page 73
Premium Tab

Source – The Medium, https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/spotify-unwrapped-dissecting-a-

product-teardown-8ae32981a876

The Good The Bad

The core music playing tab is present There are a lot of plans available with
across all the tabs which is not texts across the screen. Instead, they
hindering the user from playing or could utilize my data and suggest one
pausing the song. that fits best for me reducing cognitive
load.

Growth Strategy
Current State

Key metrics to measure success

Page 74
 GROWW

About the Company

Groww is a Demat & stock trading app that allows you to open a free Demat account &
trade BSE, NSE listed stocks in the share market at a low brokerage on the stock orders.
It has enabled millions of Indians by providing them with an easier option for managing
their finances. Groww helps users make their investment process easy, fast and
transparent.

Mission Statement
Groww is on a mission to democratize access to financial services for millions of
Indians responsibly.

Values and Principles

Customers First
Every decision we make is centred around our customer’s needs and
convenience.

Simple is Beautiful
Be it our app, website, or services - we strive to keep making things
simpler.

Honesty & Integrity

We want our customers to be completely aware of everything to do with
their investments. Whatever we do is always crystal clear.

Page 75
 User Segments
The end users can be anyone willing to invest in stocks and other mentioned financial
offerings. This could include stock traders, and other people willing to invest.

Value Proposition

Free account opening and

Brokerage-free equity Simple and user-friendly Ability to invest in US
zero annual maintenance
delivery interface stocks, gold, and fixed
charges
deposits.

Main Competitors

User Personas

Source - https://community.producthood.com

User Journey

Page 76
Play Store Download experience

The user can download the app by searching for the Groww app on the play store. It has
50M+ downloads, rated 4.1 by 1M+ users.
Once the user opens the app, they can either login via an existing account, which then
open an OTP page for validation, else create a new account, enter the bank details, get
their e-KYC and land onto the landing page.

Landing Page

Once the user lands on the landing page, they are presented with the options to explore
and search for the different stocks on the market, the most bought stock on Groww in
the recent past, and the available various product tools. The product tools include IPOs,
Futures, and options, etc. On scrolling down, they are presented with the top Gainers
and Losers for the day in large, midcap, and small-cap stocks. The user can also get
visibility on the intraday trading, and stock news further below.

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Mutual Funds

Once the user lands on the landing page, they have the option to
switch to the Mutual Funds Page. In the mutual funds page, the
user has the option to check the top gainers and losers, the
funds with the highest percentage returns over a 1 Yr, 3 Yr, 5Yr
period. The different caps of funds that are available, the most
popular funds that are available, and the SIP options. The app
also offers options to have a separate watchlist, a dashboard to
track the different funds and SIPs that they have opted into.

Pay Page

The user has the option to recharge their mobile phones, check their
account balances, and pay like a UPI app on the pay page. This is a
very small offering in Groww and is not as mature as the stock
trading, and mutual fund offerings.

The Good & The Bad

Source - https://community.producthood.com

Page 78
Page 79
 NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

What is Product Development? Product Conceptualization

While some solutions might be clear-cut,
The term "product development"
encompasses all phases that go into others might be less so. This is the part
creating a product, from conception to where the team works hard and uses
market launch and beyond. To put it imagination to figure out how a product
another way, the whole lifecycle of a could fulfil its needs.
product is included in product
development. Validation of the solution
Before spending too much time
Stages in Product Development designing and experimenting, it is
important to determine whether the
These are the most typical stages that
suggested solution is workable. Of
products usually go through, while there
are numerous steps in this process and course, conceptually, this is still
each organization will follow a different possible. It is still an early test to
path: determine whether the specific product
idea will be rejected or only sporadically
Identifying a need in the market embraced by the target consumer, or if it
Products provide solutions to issues. is worth pursuing further.
Therefore, the first step in this trip should
be to identify a problem that needs to be
Build the product roadmap
solved (or a better manner to be solved).
User research initiatives such as surveys Once a valid product concept has been
and conversations with prospective developed, product managers can
consumers might provide valuable create the product roadmap by
insights for this step. determining which core objectives and
themes should be developed first in
Potential of the market order to address the biggest problems
Not all issues are serious enough to and encourage user acceptance.
require a product-based solution. But
whether or not it's an issue worth solving
and whether or not people are willing to Developing a minimum viable
pay for a solution depends on how much product (MVP)
suffering it causes and how many
individuals or organizations it affects. This initial version of the product needs
just enough functionality to be used by
customers.

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Rolling out the MVP to users The product's main objectives can
be determined after the vision and
Experiments can be used to measure mission statements have been created.
interest, rank marketing messages and Early on, these could be a little hazier,
channels, and start experimenting with like determining product-market fit, but
packaging and price sensitivity. In they can quickly develop into
addition, it initiates the feedback loop, quantifiable KPIs or OKRs. These
which adds concepts, grievances, and
quantifiable goals aid in determining
recommendations to the product
what features, improvements, and
backlog and helps prioritize them.
functionalities the product must have to
Iterations based on user feedback meet them.

Once a product is on the market, Create a roadmap

customer feedback through a variety of
channels will drive improvements, The product team can then create a
expansions, and modifications. The product roadmap, ranking the important
goals the organization sets for this topics to be addressed in order of
product and the lessons learned will be priority, assuming that consumer
considered when the product roadmap research and validation have previously
changes over time. Until the time comes taken place (we'll go into more detail
to sunset a product at the end of its about product roadmaps in the following
lifecycle, this work will never finish. section). Date-based goals and
milestones can be set, but the emphasis
How to Create a Product should be on producing value and
Development Plan? adjusting to the product goals and
A product development plan, which performance against important metrics,
should not be mistaken with a project with the least amount of attention being
plan, covers the entire idea-to-market paid to dates.
path. As many stakeholders as possible
should be included and included in order Implement the roadmap for maximum
to make sure that all of their unique impact
wants, demands, and concerns are
taken into account, if not solved. It's time to get things done after the
product roadmap is approved. It is
Product vision possible for implementation teams to
make timetables, divide important
themes into sprints, and produce
It starts with a product vision that unites
iterations of the product. Customers, the
all parties behind the same goal for this
sales team, and support all provide input
product. A product mission statement,
in this way, highlighting areas that need
which outlines the product's ultimate
to be refined, improved, and expanded
goal as well as its target audience and
as well as presenting fresh potential and
intended use, comes next. In conclusion,
flaws. After then, a cycle of data
it delineates a few guiding concepts for
evaluation, feedback synthesis, and
the subsequent work.
constant product roadmap updating
takes place, along with product backlog
grooming to guarantee that every
development cycle is used to its fullest.
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potential. L ook at a few example cases
t

Case 1: Develop a wearable device that simplifies medication

adherence for patients with chronic illnesses.
Candidate – Could you also please let million people suffering from diabetes
me know what we are trying to achieve worldwide. Most people suffering from
with this product? the disease live in low and low-middle-
income countries. Based on this info we
Interviewer – what do you think? might need to develop a cost-effective
Candidate – Potentially improve the but complete solution. Is my
ease of medicine delivery and make their understanding and structure fine so far?
life easy. Interviewer – Sounds Good, please go
Interviewer – Precisely. ahead!

Candidate – I would like to understand Candidate – These are the potential

the issue a bit more. Is there a specific pain points that people with diabetes are
disease we are talking about? facing –

Interviewer – You are free to assume • Forgetfulness due to busy schedules

that. or cognitive decline.
• Complex medication regimens
Candidate – I would like to focus on involving multiple medications and
Diabetes as that is the new cancer and timing considerations.
requires constant medication and dietary
• Fear of needles or side effects
monitoring. Is there a specific age group
impacting adherence.
that you’d want me to focus on?
• Lack of motivation or understanding
Interviewer – You can consider the 20- of long-term benefits.
60 age range.
The current solutions we have are –
Candidate – great thank you. Are there
• Pillboxes – these are inconvenient
any existing solutions?
and can be easily forgotten. Also, for
Interviewer – There are traditional diabetes pillboxes can’t always come
pillboxes and phone reminders. We don’t in handy as Insulin Injections are
have a complete solution. widely used nowadays.
• Phone reminders – phone
Candidate – Got you, I will try to
reminders are easily missed or
understand the current customer pain
snoozed for a later time which is then
points and look at possible
completely forgotten.
improvements or alternatives to the
existing solution. We have close to 500
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• Existing wearables – don’t address Challenges: Struggles with
glucose monitoring or dietary remembering medication schedules and
integration needs. managing complex regimens. May
forget to log meals or struggle with using
These are potential issues that need to traditional monitoring methods.
be addressed. Is my understanding of
the current scenario fine so far? Needs: Easy-to-use wearable with a
large display and simple interface.
Interviewer – Seems good, please Voice-activated reminders and
proceed. medication prompts. Integration with
Candidate – 3 personas come to my healthcare providers for remote
mind: monitoring and support.

The Busy Working Parent: Am I good to proceed?

Demographics: 30-45 years old, Interviewer – Yes.

juggling work, family, and self-care. Candidate – Of all the issues,
Diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. forgetfulness and complexity of
Challenges: Difficulty finding time for medicine delivery seem to be the biggest
healthy meals and exercise amidst a concerns. I will focus on these aspects
busy schedule. Prone to forgetting to develop solutions.
medication due to distractions. • Integrated glucose monitoring:
Needs: Wearable that integrates with Allow for painless, real-time glucose
meal planning apps and suggests level tracking and personalized
healthy options based on medication dosage adjustments.
needs. Automated reminders with • Meal logging and reminders:
customizable alerts for medication, Integrate nutrition apps for dietary
meals, and activity goals. Gamification tracking, personalized meal
elements and social support features for suggestions, and medication-food
added motivation. interaction alerts.
• Activity tracking: Encourage
The Cost-Conscious Diabetic: physical activity through
Demographics: Limited income relies personalized goals, progress
on public health insurance or medication tracking, and gamification elements.
assistance programs. • Educational resources and
coaching: Provide personalized
Challenges: Difficulty affording educational content and motivational
traditional monitoring devices and messages based on user data and
advanced wearables. May struggle with health goals.
accessing healthy food options. • Social support integration:
Needs: Affordable wearable with Connect diabetics with communities,
essential features like glucose support groups, or healthcare
monitoring and basic medication providers for accountability and
reminders. Integration with free or low- encouragement.
cost educational resources and Are there any time constraints that I
community support groups. Partnerships should consider?
with pharmacies or insurance providers
for subsidized access. Interviewer – Not really.
The Senior Diabetic: Candidate – while focusing on the
solution, I will also be considering the
Demographics: 65+ years old, limited following aspects –
technology experience, living
independently.
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• Hardware design: Consider factors knowledge and educational
like comfort, discreetness, water gaps of the target users.
resistance, long battery life, and • Social support integration: While
seamless integration with glucose positive for long-term adherence, its
monitoring sensors. impact might be gradual, and the
• Software features: Ensure a user- feasibility depends on existing
friendly interface, data security and community infrastructure. Urgency is
privacy compliance, HIPAA moderate unless social isolation
adherence, and seamless integration presents a significant barrier.
with medical apps and services.
• Scalability and sustainability:
Partner with diabetes organizations,
healthcare providers, and insurance
companies for wider adoption and
affordability.
This would be my priority matrix –
Overall
Feature Impact Feasibility Urgency Score
Integrated glucose monitoring High Medium-High High High
Meal logging and reminders Medium-High High Medium High
Activity tracking Medium High Medium Medium
Educational resources and
coaching Medium High Medium Medium
Social support integration Medium Medium Medium Medium

The reason for my priority matrix is:

Based on this framework, integrated
• Integrated glucose monitoring: glucose monitoring and meal logging
Although technically challenging, it with reminders emerge as potential top
offers high impact by providing real- priorities due to their high impact and
time data for informed medication moderate-to-high feasibility. However,
adjustment and improved disease the final decision depends on:
management. Its urgency for some
patients might be even higher if they • Target user group: Their specific
experience frequent blood sugar needs, priorities, and existing access
fluctuations. to technology and support systems.
• Meal logging and reminders: High • Available resources: Budget,
feasibility and impact on dietary development timelines, and technical
adherence, which significantly expertise available for different
affects diabetes control. Urgency features.
might be lower if basic medication • Competitive landscape: Analysing
reminders are already in place. existing solutions and identifying
• Activity tracking: While beneficial where your device can offer unique
for overall health, the direct impact on value.
medication adherence might be Should I focus on the identified solutions
moderate. Its urgency depends on in further detail?
the target population's specific needs
and activity levels. Interviewer – No, this should be good.
• Educational resources and Can you give me the list of metrics that
coaching: Offers moderate impact we would need to measure?
but is highly feasible and scalable. Candidate: Sure, the key metrics to
Urgency depends on the existing measure in this case would be:
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• Percentage of users actively using
the glucose monitoring feature
• Frequency of glucose
measurements taken per day
• Timeliness of response to low or
high glucose alerts
• Percentage of users actively logging
meals
• Completeness of meal information
(time, type, carbohydrates)
• Adherence to personalized meal
suggestions based on glucose and
medication data.
• Reduction in missed medication
doses due to meal reminders.
Interviewer: Thank you. This should be
enough.

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Case 2: How would you improve Google Docs? What are the key
metrics?
Candidate : Let me start by sharing my market, this is why we made Docs (and
understanding of Google Docs. It is a Drive) part of our Cloud offering. This
words processor that's part of Google goal is particularly more important now
Workspaces, the service gives users the that we had a surge in remote work and
tools to write, share and edit documents. learning. I’d like to set a business goal to
Am I missing something? measure market penetration in
enterprise offerings, which means
Interviewer: No, that sounds right to me. focusing on our business customers. An
Candidate: Alright, so to start let me important thing to keep in mind here is
share the outline I'll follow to solve this other players in the space like Microsoft
case. I'll start by thinking of Google Docs and Dropbox. Microsoft has an important
users, this will help me ask clarifying presence will large enterprises, who are
questions and state some assumptions. familiar with the Office suite, including
even schools, and Dropbox has gained
After this, I can define a business goal popularity with smaller companies since
and top-level metrics to define how a it has been offering file sharing services
successful improvement looks like. for a while now. I think and interesting
Then, I will focus on a user segment or a opportunity for Google here is around
user journey that has the biggest small businesses, especially due to our
potential to help us reach our goal. penetration in this area with other
services like Google My Business, so
Then I will brainstorm pain points we can let's narrow down in this segment.
solve for this user segment. Next, I'll list
solutions and I will talk about their trade- With this biz Goal, some of the top-level
offs, and lastly, I will close with my metrics we can measure here are:
recommendation. • # of paying customers
Interviewer: Alright, sounds good. • Market share (%)

Candidate: Ok, let me define Google We can come back to discuss more
Docs users: detailed metrics once we have
discussed a solution.
Consumers: writers, readers,
reviewers, editors, kids, adults, elderly, Interviewer: Alright.
students, teachers, freelancers Candidate : Perfect, let me now
Businesses: small companies, medium brainstorm some of the goals and needs
companies, large companies of enterprise customers. When I think
about SMBs who could need Docs,
Strategically, Google is interested in customers like Small law firms,
winning market share in the enterprise accountants, financial advisors, real-
Page 86
state offices, etc. are the ones I can think Solutions:
of. Here are the pain points and needs I
see: Integrate Google Accounts with Docs to
create an electronic ID to certify identity.
For SMBs:
Integrate Docs with systems used for
They want to share documents with their procedures like immigration, loans, etc.
teams or clients for collaboration/review.
Build a solution to help users keep all
They need to get approvals to do their procedural information together to
something on behalf of a customer re-use in multiple procedures (like the
(signatures or "Looks good to me" old-fashioned thing of keeping files with
confirmations) to complete a process. important docs)
They need to keep copies of I'd prioritize the solution of creating a
approved/processed documents for cyber-ID using Google Accounts to allow
referral purposes. Docs to process official documents. This
product would align with Google's
They need to keep documents safe mission of organizing the worlds
(from cyber-attacks) to protect information and making it useful and
confidential information. available for everyone and will
They need to ensure documents won't differentiate Docs from other offerings.
get lost to avoid re-work or economic Of course, one of the risks would be to
losses. strike a balance with data privacy and
security, but I trust we can solve this
They need to send documents to official leveraging our strengths in these areas.
offices physically or via e-platforms.
For clients of these SMBs:
To recap, my recommendation would be
Prove their identity when providing to develop an electronic ID leveraging
information. Google Accounts that would enable
Often, they need to access systems they users certify identity to collaborate and
are not familiar with and are hard to use. process official documents using Google
Docs. This feature would be available in
They don't trust or find it hard to trust Google Workspaces for customers who
these services. acquire a Business Plan. This would
help us increase the number of
It's quite painful to scan/gather
customers in the SMB market, allowing
information to fill similar forms over and
us to increase our market share in the
over.
space.
I believe one of the most painful use
cases where we could improve Docs for
the SMBs and their customers is sharing
information to complete a process with a
third-party entity such as home-buying
applications, immigration processes,
etc. I also don't think Microsoft or
Dropbox are providing solutions for
these use cases now, so it's a good way
to differentiate and gain market share.
Let me now brainstorm solutions.

Page 87
Case 3: You are a PM at Google Pay. Design a feature for paying
credit card bills.
Candidate: I would like to begin by consumers for now since companies
asking "Why?" These days, the majority have their own payment and financial
of consumers pay for delivery, retail procedures.
purchases, and some recurring bills—
like internet bills—using Google Pay. Interviewer: Yes, this will be a
consumer first approach in this case.
Because credit card holders are a group
deemed to have more purchasing Candidate: Should I be mindful of any
power, it is reasonable to charge more time or resource constraints?
for their eyes. Setting up Google Pay as
the default payment option for all Interviewer: None.
transactions is the aim of this
functionality. A user is more likely to stick Let me now summarize the problem
with a platform if they can complete statement:
transactions more easily. The above
tendency appears accurate, given the Candidate: I want to concentrate on the
annual growth in credit card holders and objective of getting more individuals to
the growing popularity of services like use Google Pay to pay their credit card
BNPL. Is this what I understand bills by using the platform. To keep users
correctly? glued to the site, it should be easy,
insightful, and reliable to pay credit card
Interviewer: Yeah bills. One day, this interaction might be
profitable.
Candidate: I would like to restrict the
scope to India as a nation because this Now that we know what we want to
is a service that is mainly provided there, accomplish, let's examine the user
though it may be extended to other personas in terms of their
nations in the future. characteristics, actions, manner of using
our product, and timing. This is
Interviewer: Alright. significant because the context in which
a product is used creates value.
Candidate: Is it reasonable to presume
that people with existing Google Pay I can think of the following personas:
accounts would be able to use this
feature on their phones?
Rohan, 34, has a very hectic schedule
Interviewer: Yeah let’s start there. and travels frequently for his job as an
Candidate: While merchants do utilize investment bank employee. He
Google Pay, let's keep the focus on possesses two credit cards with varying
benefits. He receives daily travel
Page 88
allowances for which he is eligible for • It is time-consuming and
repayment. leaves users unaware of the exact
amount they must pay up front
because the statements are
Preeti, a 28-year-old dietitian, enjoys generated via email or in separate
shopping. She is continuously making accounts. This results in feeling
purchases online and developing a strapped for cash at the end of the
YouTube channel. Her favourite feature month and not having saved enough
is the EMI one. Even in situations where to cover all of your bills.
she is a little tight on cash, credit cards
allow her to spend freely. • Users are also unaware of any
additional fees or interest that may be
assessed.
To assist his daughter in paying for her
international college applications, 50-
• Typically, the statements consist only
year-old father Naresh obtained a credit
of transaction lines that are not
card. He now pays for some of his bills,
clearly categorised. Sometimes the
such as petrol and airline tickets, with the
retailer isn't even mentioned in the
card. He is very diligent with the bill
text explicitly, forcing the user to go
payment.
back and find out where they spent
that money.
In the given context I would like
to prioritize the personas: • Individuals start accruing excessive
debt when they use credit cards to
exceed their budgets. Since the
Living in a Tier 1 city where Google Pay funds are not currently taken out of
is widely used, Rahul and Preeti are both their bank accounts, the thrill of
youthful, active people. Since money making purchases takes precedence
management is a notion that is never over the dangers of debt.
taught, it appears that these young
people would benefit most from this • There is insufficient incentive for
product. I therefore want to give these users to make full, on-time payments
two identities priority. So far, are you with to foster positive reinforcement.
me? Are you with me so far?

Interviewer: Indeed. Solutions:

Let's now examine the user journey and

identify some of the difficulties that • The Google Pay app needs to allow
people have paying their credit card users to register their credit cards.
bills. With the scan card feature, it only
requires two clicks. All of the main
banks are currently integrated with
• It can be challenging to remember Google Pay to streamline
the multiple dates for each card's transactions. To receive information
payment due. The majority of about transactions, due dates, and
individuals prefer to pay on the last other details, they must collaborate
day, which makes them either forget with credit card firms such as Visa
to pay on time or check the date and Mastercard. In the beginning,
obsessively. this would require some incentive

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 because UPI has damaged its time a user achieves their
reputation in the payments industry. objective, serving as a visual cue.

• To help customers plan their budget, • After paying the payment, customers
consumers can be shown the total may receive rewards and have
amount of dues at the beginning of access to extremely alluring offers
each month. The Google Pay app is based on user data that Google ad
frequently opened by users, services possess. These offers may
providing an opportunity to display include Google storage, credits, or
the due date of their bills. Three days other benefits.
before to the deadline, it can show up
as a banner T-3. The banner might • Credit card payments over one lakh
illustrate how much interest the user should be possible for users.
will avoid by making timely, full
payments. To receive reminders
regarding the due date, the user can The next step is to prioritize these
easily integrate with Google solutions on a roadmap. I would like
Calendar. to use the RICE framework to do the
same.
• The user should always be prodded
to make full payments when they are
ready to do so. They ought should be To enable credit card payments,
allowed to if they selected for partial features #1, #2, and #7 are bare
payments to find out how much more minimum requirements. Differentiation is
they would be required to pay in produced by the capability to process
interest. Making it clear will enable several card payments on a single
people to see why, financially platform. Because rewards are already
speaking, it is a poor choice over in place for previous UPI transactions,
time. It is also possible to specifically #6 incentivizes customers to use Google
alert users to any hidden fees. Pay to pay their bills. This requires
minimal work on their part. Later on, this
• Receiving transaction data from feature's personalization may change.
credit card issuers can offer users a Obtaining the necessary APIs may take
few fascinating insights. Users may some work, but #4 will be a fantastic way
be presented with a summary of their to differentiate your product. The third
most frequent transactions, their example demonstrates genuine
credit score, the category in which customer obsession, which is likely to
they spend the most money, and the boost platform trust. For those users who
merchants they patronize. The user have chosen to establish that aim for
might also be prodded if expenditure themselves, #5 may be a very personal
on things other than necessities decision; hence, it may be included in
increases. Data requests may be the next version.
made even in cases when entire
transaction data is not readily
available. To put it briefly, we should begin
working in parallel to obtain the
transaction data from #1, #2, #3, #7,
• To limit their expenditure, consumers
and #4. #5 might be accepted as V2.
can create monthly budgets. They
might be advised to use their money
carefully when they get closer to the
cap. A saving tree may enlarge each
Page 90
Case 4: Design a gardening product for Meta
Candidate: are we building it for any Passionist: people who have a hobby
specific country? and passion for gardening we can
identify them as people who plant on
Interviewer: Let’s say India only. pots or make a small garden at their
Candidate: are we building it for any home.
specific platform e.g. mobile/web? Commercial user: people who do
Interviewer: Only mobile. planting and then sell them for money.
For now, I would like to focus on the
Candidate: This app will be integrated Passionist as the commercial user are
within meta platform or will be a separate already aware of how+what+when to
app? plant.
Interviewer: what do you think? Pain points:
Candidate: FB has billions of users and 1. Don’t know which plant will be suitable
for leveraging that this gardening according to weather/soil quality and
product should be integrated within meta type.
environment.
2. Don’t know how much area is needed
Candidate: What is the goal behind this for this plant.
product?
3. Don’t know how the plant will look like
Interviewer: what do you think? in future.
Candidate: The goal of this product is to 4. Don’t know how many times and how
help people who have a passion towards much watering is needed.
gardening and shows how meta cares
about the nature thus very well aligned 5. Often forget to watering.
with the vision of meta to give people the 6. Plant has got some deceases don’t
power to build community and bring the know what to do.
world closer.
7. I want to share it with my friends, and
Candidate: do you have any user they can like/share/comment.
segment for which you want me to focus
on? Solution:
Interviewer: no, you are free to choose. 1. There should be an option where
people can give info about their
Candidate: So, from my perspective the soil/weather temperature, and it will
two popular segments are- suggest plants based on the provided
info.

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2. Show them some images that shows Prioritization: for now, we can
how plant will look like in Future and how focus on pain points 1,2,3,4,5 and 7 and
much area it will cover. their solution 1,2,3,4 and 6 as they are
easy to build and if we get more time and
3. Recommend them how much resources, I would also like to go with
watering is needed and how many times pain point 6 as decease can be a big
according to weather and humidity. issue for the users.
4. Send them on time notification for Success metrics:
watering so that they never forget.
1. # of people who have used it at least
5. Allow them to post the image of their once.
plant and by using some AI/ML
techniques tell them about the decease 2. # of people who posted their
and cure for same. soil+weather info.
6. Provide them an option to share it on 3. # of people who share images of their
meta so that their friends and other can garden or plantation area.
see and get inspire.
4. # of responses(like/share/comment)
per image.

Page 92
Case 5: Design an audio product for Meta

Candidate: I’ll take a couple minutes heavily. Given Meta's strengths with
just to think about it come up with a few respect to the social graph, I think there's
clarifying questions. an opportunity here to help people come
closer together and feel a sense of
Is there a specific app or surface within
community through audio listening
Meta's family of apps and devices that
experiences.
they build that we want this to be a part
of integrated into? Broadly I think the players in the
ecosystem are listeners and creators.
Interviewer: There's certainly a lot of
Platforms like Spotify, Apple
products within Meta’s family I think I’ll
iTunes host audio content. For this
largely leave it up to you and you're
conversation, I want to focus on the
welcome to let me know why you think
listener side because I think ultimately,
that's the best place to start.
they are the consumers and if the
Candidate: I would like to start off with consumers really engage with the
why we even want to build an audio product, then the product is successful.
product and does it make sense to build
Interviewer: Great thoughts, proceed.
an audio product. I will then dig into who
are we building the product for, what Candidate: Further digging into how I
user segments. I'll then go into would want to segment listeners, I
brainstorming a few pain points. Then thought of two ways in which I could do
get into what solutions potentially can be that one is by demographic. I want to
built to alleviate some of those pain segment them by users who are teens
points. and young adults 12 to 34 which is also
the user base that meta heavily wants to
Interviewer: I like the structure; Go
build trust and build engagement and
ahead.
then there's people 35 to 55 and above
Candidate: In general, the audio space 55.
has been booming um over the past two
Another way to segment I think is also
plus years. One quick stat that comes to
based on the type of audio that people
mind is Spotify which is the biggest audio
consume. There's music there's spoken
streaming platform in the world. I think
word which includes podcasts and
they saw a 50 percent increase in their
books. There's also live radio and the
paid subscribers from 2020 march to
reason I segment by type of audio
now: so, there's definitely a trend of
content is that there's been a huge uptick
consumers leaning into audio very

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in podcast consumption specifically with really share. The biggest reason
an audio. being, they are intense pain points
especially as an audio consumer. These
and we've seen that music has been
points play closely into Meta's mission of
losing share to spoken word within audio
allowing people to feel closer to other
consumption.
people while they're doing activities and
For this discussion I want to look at the allowing them to feel them alike.
intersection of users who are teens and
Interviewer: Great points, what kind of
young adults and people who listen to
solutions do you have in mind for the
podcasts. They consume audio actively
same.
and by actively it means at least two
hours of audio every day. I want to Candidate: Proposed solutions are:
quickly jot down a few pain points of this
Communal Listening: Very similar to
user.
the watch together product of meta and
Interviewer: Sure. Take your time. it exists within their messenger product
interface. The user can be on a call with
Candidate: I like to think of pain points
your friend’s family whoever and then
is almost think of it as the user goes
start listening to something together just
through the journey of discovering the
like you can watch something.
product using the product and what they
do after using the product. So, in the Interactive Audio: The user must be
discovery phase I think one of the engaged to say like what happens next.
biggest pain points that stood out to me “Do you want to see Event A to happen
is, I don't get contextual or proactive or Event B and then that drives what
recommendations for what to listen to or happens next on the show. So, I think
what to consume so the discovery something similar would be great
process itself is a lot of work for me and especially for the pain point around you
to find the right content. know feeling bored. On top of this we
can layer questions uh once every 20
Once people are consuming audio, I
minutes or so within an audiobook
think for me personally at least as an
listening session or a podcast.
audio consumer one of my biggest pain
points is it's a very isolating experience Immersive Audio: Integrating Oculus
listening to audio today. I tend to get headset with the audio podcast, allowing
bored and lose focus very quickly when users to be transported to a different
I’m in the middle of listening to a podcast dimension or back in time while listening
or listening to book. historic content. The theme of the
podcast or the audiobook that the user is
Another one would be, after I finish
listening to.
listening to a podcast or an audiobook, I
currently don't have an easy way to Considering the success of various OTT
share clips or snippets from the content platforms on communal content
I just consumed. Not the whole content consumption, we have a fare idea that
but just clips that really inspired me. I the communal listening feature will have
would like to share with my network with a greater possibility of success. So, this
my friends and family. can be a vital addition to the MVP for the
short run.
I would prioritize the pain point the boring
listening experience and the inability to
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Case 6: Design Google Maps for Senior Citizens

Candidate: I think 60 is no longer the number of times elderly citizens use

retirement age (senior citizen age), Google Maps to go from one location to
given the rise in average life expectancy another. Since the majority of older
of individuals. Do you want me to persons use Android phones and
concentrate on a certain age group, or Google Maps comes pre-installed, I'd
should I consider everyone over 60? guess that they are aware of the
existence of a map software on their
Interviewer: It’s okay to take over 60.
phone. Google Maps is a highly popular
app. Ensuring ease of use for individuals
Candidate: Is there a particular
who are not highly tech-savvy is the an
objective we want to accomplish? Is it
added objective. Are you okay with that?
attracting more elderly adults, increasing
their level of involvement, or both?
Interviewer: Yeah, sounds great.

Candidate: Now that we know what we

Interviewer: Let us consider user want to accomplish, let's examine the user
engagement. personas in terms of their characteristics,
actions, manner of using our product, and
Candidate: Any other constraints that I timing. This is significant because the
should take care of as well? context in which a product is utilized creates
value.
Interviewer: Nothing.
I see three possible user personas:
Candidate: Which platform would you A 60-year-old guy named Ramesh
prefer concentrating on, the website or recently retired and launched a
the app? Is this being rolled out globally wholesaling company. He dislikes being
or just in a certain area or nation? at home and has no health issues. He
needs to go to other states and districts
for his clients, and he is searching for
Interviewer: Let us take an app for manufacturers, collaborators, and other
India, to be specific. resources for his new venture. Because
he worked for the government as an
engineer, he is somewhat tech savvy.
Candidate: Let me summarize the
problem statement based on the
discussion till now: I want to concentrate Chitra, a 65-year-old lady, spent the
on the objective of increasing the majority of her life in a tier 2 city. She
Page 95
would now prefer to relocate closer to seems too difficult. I could become
her son, if not into the same house, who overwhelmed and lose concentration. All
lives in Bangalore. She is self-reliant and I have to do is ask around for directions
energetic. For as long as possible, she and locations.
doesn't want to feel like a burden to
b. It appears crowded, is challenging to
anyone. She uses her phone for
operate, and has more options than I
YouTube videos and WhatsApp, and she
need on the screen.
is quite computer savvy.
c. The voice assistant has an accent, so
Vishnu, who is 78 years old, resides in a when she talks quickly, I have trouble
tier 3 city in the same home as his understanding her.
children. Other than taking daily walks in
the park or visiting the hospital for check- d. In heavy traffic, I prefer not to venture
ups, he doesn't venture out much. When outside. I also tend to forget about
he visits the hospital, a driver is always appointments, which forces me to hurry.
with him, and on special occasions, Therefore, I would rather reschedule the
family members accompany him when appointment or be accompanied by
he goes out to eat lunch or supper. someone.

In light of the above background, I would e. My loved ones and kids don't want me
want to rank the personalities in order of to travel too far by myself.
most usefulness to the segment: Some potential solutions for
Candidate: Older adults who don't go far resolving these issues:
are the type of people who will use Senior folks should be identified by their
Google Maps seldom. There is a small age, in which case a more
subset of people that wish to take straightforward user interface that is
chances and launch a business at that easier to use and less crowded, should
age. However, a lot of elderly people be launched. Some features should
choose to remain independent or include:
relocate closer to their kids. I will give
this segment priority because this (1) Users can avoid needing to view the
persona has a lot of use cases where screen while driving by adjusting the
Google Maps is a useful product. So far, voice assistant's pace to be somewhat
are you with me? slower (which they can choose) and
perhaps utilizing the native English
Interviewer: Great thoughts. What’s accent to pronounce destinations more
next? accurately. In due course, it can also be
translated into several regional tongues.
Candidate: Let's identify some of the
users' pain issues as we proceed (2) Using the AR/VR Kit on mobile
through the user journey. Additionally, devices can improve accessibility to the
we can add to this list some of their routes. Flyover exits and turns can be
widely held ideas about customers that difficult, but an overlay on the map, such
prevent our consumers from interacting as an arrow pointing to the precise street
with our product to the intended degree. or turn, or a change in color at that
entrance point, can help you remember
a. I've never done this before, and locations and follow the correct
looking at a map and driving or walking directions.
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 #3 has to be well tested as well,
(3) Seniors typically visit banks, since we don't want our consumers to be
marketplaces, parks, and hospitals. overloaded with content. For AR to
Contextual alerts can be displayed to function properly, it also needs enough
users based on user behavior that has illumination and an internet connection.
been learnt. Therefore, we may alert the It may be deprioritized, at least from
user to depart at a given time to avoid MVP, while keeping these in mind.
traffic or to arrive on time if we know that
#4 appears to be feasible and along with
they have an appointment or go for an
personalization. We may begin with a
evening stroll. This might be expanded
basic rule engine and refine it over time
even further to display categories
with additional usage. We can provide
according on the user's app launch time.
user-specific categories or suggestions
Therefore, if the app is used between 5-
as the recommendation system
8 am. It is possible to see "Parks" as the
improves.
most noticeable filter.
Therefore to summarise we can focus on
(4) Seniors who have relocated to a new
features (#1, #2, #4) in the beginning
city might desire to visit the surrounding
and keep updating the roadmap from our
areas. They don't need to be inundated
learnings with customers and
with options and shouldn't be able to
stakeholders.
accomplish a lot of things. It is essential
to suggest solutions that are tailored to Interviewer: Ok. Now assume that all
their lifestyle. They prioritize closeness, these features are implemented, how
quality facilities, and safety. Thus, for would you measure the success.
instance, we should only likely present
healthy restaurant alternatives when Candidate: I would go ahead with the
suggesting one. When they want to take following metrics to evaluate success:
them along on a trip, this can prompt
their loved ones to download the app as (a) How many people are clicking on the
well. notifications and returning to the app?
(b) WAU - where active is defined as
Interviewer: Great points. How would coming to the app and searching for a
you prioritize these features? place
(c) How many people are turning the
Candidate: These solutions can be data sharing option on?
ranked as per a release roadmap. I (d) How many people can enter the
would want to use the RICE framework. destination correctly?
Changes to the user interface and (e) How many people can navigate to
speech rate (#1 and #2) appear to be the desired destination in the desired
relatively easy wins in terms of effort. time?
Since this is a significant UI change, the (f) How many people are discovering
prototypes may be evaluated by users to and joining recommended
gather early input. groups (g) 30-day retention rate.
Interviewer: Thank You. I think we can
wrap up now.

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Case 7: Design a theme park application

Interviewer: Build an app for a new park app is to create virality by delivering
theme park in Dubai. a great experience that is monetizable.
How will you go about designing it?
Candidate: I want to first understand The following personas come to
what kind of an amusement park this is. mind:
Is it like a water park or is it like
Disneyland? Parents: Ramesh, an IT professional, is
traveling to Dubai with his wife
Interviewer: It is more like Disneyland and two kids. It is their first international
and very out there as most things are in vacation as a family. Riya is 8 and
Dubai. Rohan is 11. Riya and Rohan haven’t
experienced a theme park before but are
Candidate: Do we have any resources, extremely excited about the Rapunzel
budget, or time constraints for the castle and the water rides.
project?

Interviewer: Not really. The park is Teens: Arjun, 18, is in Dubai with his
almost ready, so we have about 4 family and cousins. It’s his 18th birthday
months to launch the app. and his cousins have decided to
celebrate it at the theme park. Arjun
Candidate: Great, thanks for clarifying. loves thrilling rides, be it a loop coaster
Now that I have these answers in place,
or drop rides. He is already creating a
I’d like to start with what our goals are for
buzz about it on Instagram.
this Theme park app, understand the
different user personas, deep dive into
their pain points, and then create Vendors: Alisha, 30, has been living in
solutions for them. Lastly, I’d like to Dubai for over 12 years and is very
prioritize the solutions we will build that fascinated with how the city has turned
help us achieve our north star metric. itself from a desert into the marvel that it
is. She has translated her passion into a
Interviewer: Sure, let’s go ahead. souvenir shop at the new theme park
where she showcases the most
Candidate: People, especially kids, authentic artifacts. She wants people to
associate Theme parks with happy appreciate the experience and store that
places. It is a place to create memories memory in the form of souvenirs.
and it bears a lot of nostalgia for the
adults. The goal of building the Theme
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 now that it almost feels
overwhelming to anyone who is
managing the others. A cranky child that
With the given context I would like to probably just wants to eat donuts cannot
prioritize the personas: be pacified by Italian food that parents
find in the vicinity.
Both Ramesh and Arjun are tourists who
want to have a memorable experience.
Ramesh would talk all about it and The parks especially during the peak
recommend it to all his other friends who travel months are crammed which
are also parents. Arjun is already translates to long lines everywhere. After
bragging about all the rides he is going spending time trying to find the ride, they
to take to all his friends all over want to take, people spend time
Instagram. Therefore, these two seem standing in lines waiting to
like a perfect fit. Vendors are very experience it. Also, there are details
important to the ecosystem but once we you get to know about the ride probably
have enough traction, we could solve for after experiencing it or just before
them. Are you with me so far? experiencing it, that could have been a
crucial factor in determining whether this
was something you wanted to do or not.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Interviewer: Sounds good. What
Candidate: Now going through the solutions can you provide for such pain
user journey let’s figure out a few points.
pain points that the users experience:
Candidate: The app should have the
basic functionalities of booking a ticket
Theme parks have hundreds of rides online, showcasing a list of all the
and experiences. Users discover them experiences. These are table stakes,
as they navigate through the park. Time and I wouldn’t spend too much time
is short and never feels enough to talking about them. Our north star is
cover everything. That FOMO is virality and a great user experience and
real. But nobody wants to take every therefore I’d like to discuss solutions
ride, they just don’t want to miss out on cantered around it.
the ones that they would love.

1. Create an itinerary for the users:

Theme parks span multiple acres and The app could take in a few
navigation is almost always an issue. parameters like rides they like,
There are digital TV screens tucked in experiences they enjoy, cuisines they
somewhere that need their navigation to prefer, number of people and create
get to. Since the overall process is more a recommended itinerary that is most
exploratory, people spend more ideal for them. The itinerary would
time navigating inefficiently than optimize for time, route, and
experiencing all that the theme park has experiences that feel best at a
to offer. particular time. It could then pre-book
tickets/ slots for rides, and
experiences at that time which saves
Discoverability is yet another challenge. time for the user.
When traveling with family, there are so
many people with different needs

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2. Navigation and discoverability The next step is to prioritize
- The app should offer navigation these solutions on a roadmap. The
around the park, highlighting approach I'd like to take is using the
surrounding places and experiences. RICE prioritization framework.
People could tap on them to get
details on the ride or experience and Feature #2 is table stakes for users to
book tickets. If the rides are crowded, have a great experience.
it could suggest an ETA of how much #4 is a hero feature of the app that not
time it would take to get a ride. The only differentiates but delights. It would
users can choose to do something also boost shareability.
else meanwhile instead of waiting in
line. Users also can explore things #5 would leverage user excitement to
nearby like a coffee shop, further drive word of mouth.
restaurants, or the bathroom. This
would help users discover things #1 and #3 are good to have. Ideally, we
along the route. could wait a couple of months to get
enough data about what people are
3. Realtime Pics: The users could enjoying and then build a good
have their photos taken as they do recommendation engine to plan the
the rides, which could directly be itinerary.
shared on the app. The user could go
through them, select the ones they For #3 There could be concerns around
like, and pay to get them. Initially, this clicking photos without consent and
could be free for a couple of photos tagging them to each user based on their
and then monetized. spots. This is also a hard computer
vision problem that would require quite
4. AR Integrations: Taking inspiration an effort to solve.
from the AR experience at Apple
headquarters, the app can leverage
AR to showcase the cool things In short, we should start with #2, #4,
about rides and experiences as the and #5 with parallel efforts to get data
user overlays the phone’s camera on around experiences people love. #1
them. Things like the tallest and could then come in as V2.
fastest roller coaster in the world.
There could also be spots inside the
park where users could come into the Interviewer: Great points. What metrics
frame with some cool characters. For would you use to gauge the success.
example, This is me singing with
Moana. Candidate:
1. Number of users downloading the app
5. Sharing and Referral: The users and creating an account
could get rewarded for inviting their 2. Average time spent on the app
friends to the app. Users could get between T-3 days and T+1 days
rewarded with free rides or a chance 3. Number of people sharing their photos
to pick up their favorite toy from the on social media
souvenir shop. The rewards feel so 4. Net Promoter Score
tangible that users are more likely to
share and create virality.
Interviewer: Ok, That should be fine.
Thank You!!

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Page 101
What is RCA? Problem Solving
RCA is like being a detective for a Involves finding the root cause of a
problem. If something goes wrong, like problem, like a detective.
fewer people using Netflix or Paytm, RCA
helps find the real reason or cause behind If there's a drop in users or transactions,
it. the interviewer wants to see how well you
figure out why.
In job interviews, they might give you a
problem, like "Why are fewer people Structural Thinking &
watching YouTube lately?" and your job is Communication
to figure out the cause by thinking and This is about how well you organize and
using data. express your thoughts.

Why do interviewers ask For example, before jumping into solving

a problem, they might want you to first
about RCA? check if the problem is real.
Imagine you're a detective, and they want Domain Knowledge & Background
to see if you can think like one.
Knowing about the field (domain) you
Interviewers ask these questions to see
are applying for is crucial.
how well you can figure out problems and
come up with good solutions. They might
It's like having the right tools in your
ask about a drop in Paytm transactions or
toolbox to do a job correctly.
less people using Netflix to see if you can
use your brain and data to understand
what's really happening. Remember

Four Major Skills Matter The interviewer is like a coach looking

for these skills.

Product Sense Even if you know a lot about technology,

This is about understanding a product they might be more interested in how
from a big picture view to a detailed level. you think about design and user
experience.
It's like looking at a map from 50,000 feet
in the sky and then zooming in to see the So, focus on giving them what they want
streets. to see. Ask questions to understand
what they are looking for. Tailor your
answers to match what they’re
interested in.
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Examples of problems Considering External Factors:

"Netflix subscriptions dropped by half." Explore factors outside of the app:

• Check for any new government rules
"Paytm transactions are down 50%." or regulations.
• Look for social media issues or
"Fewer people are watching YouTube public concerns.
each month." • Investigate if competitors are
running special campaigns.
• Consider any specific events that
Clarification Questions in RCA might have affected the app.

Understanding the Problem Approach

Break Down the Problem: The overall approach entailing a root
If Uber rides have decreased, you'd cause analysis is to breakdown the
ask what exactly "Ride" and problem into smaller groups.
"Decreased" mean.
After the interviewer is done asking the
Clarify the metric, like understanding question, one should make sure to
what kind of measurement is used. reiterate the question from their side to
ensure there are no confusions with their
Details of the Drop understanding.
Figure out if the drop is sudden, gradual,
seasonal, or keeps happening.
Pre-solution requisites
Ask about the time duration of the Next, the interviewer should be asked for
decline. a minute for one to gather and structure
their thoughts, might as well write a few
Segmentation of Customers things on a piece of paper, or make the
Check if the drop is specific to entire flowchart to seamlessly walk
certain customers, like those in a through the approach. One should then
particular area or using a specific iterate the decided approach to the
platform (like Android).
interviewer and seek approval before
diving into the solution. It should be
Exploring Internal Factors
made sure that this process is kept short,
Look at factors within the app itself. for about a minute and half, only to
involve the interviewer into the solution
Check for changes in the customer and increase familiarity.
journey, user experience (UX), or
policies.
Scoping Questions
Investigate technical issues or bugs that
might be causing the problem. The interviewee should now start asking
scoping questions, (by stating to the
See if there were any recent changes in interviewer: “I have a few preliminary
pricing for paid services. questions before diving right into the
solutions, shall I go ahead asking
them?”) no specific order is necessary
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but brownie points if even the scoping add more structure to their solution
questions are bucketed according to and approach, they can bucket all the
different segments. A good tip is to make user related question into a
little notes of the answers to the scoping demographic bucket and ask them after
questions because they can come in the scoping questions section. They can
handy even until the last leg of the start with asking the interviewer if they
solution and might need to refer to them. can proceed with understanding the user
Examples could be about: Geography, better, hence asking some demographic
timeline, which business of the company questions. At this point, the interviewee
is affected (depends on the question), should have enough data to start with
what is the exact impact, which metric is the core solution.
being changed, etc. The scoping
External Issues/Factors:
questions interaction would look like a
game of yes and no. One should not Next, the interviewee should validate
hesitate to ask doubts, although with the interviewer if they can proceed
remaining silent for a long time or not with asking some external issues that
being able to convey thoughts could be a core cause behind the issue.
confidently and structurally can put the Now, these questions are supposed to
interviewee to a negative light. Another be the same question and answer
good tip is to prepare a set of scoping interaction, but the type of questions
questions for different sectors of the tech change here. The external factor
industry to not miss out on asking any questions could include thoughts about
questions. One should improvise any change in economies, COVID effect,
depending on the exact problem governmental factors, questions related
statement, but it is a good practice to to competition or the industry/market in
have a set-in mind always. Once all general, socio-political factors, customer
scoping questions are asked, the reviews/ratings, etc. Basically, anything
interviewee should reaffirm with the that is beyond the control of the
interviewer that they are done with the company facing the issue. If the
preliminary questions and might ask interviewee is lucky, they might find the
anything similar later if needed. solution/cause in this bucket itself.
Although, if the interviewer is still not
Note: One should try to not use the word
satisfied, and no other external factors
“scoping” during the interview, rather,
come to the interviewee’s mind, it is a
“preliminary”.
better approach to move forward with
asking the internal factors. It is not
advisable to take a lot of time thinking of
Demographical questions
questions, hence a set of questions for
Next up is the section or bucket where every bucket should be on the fingertips
the interviewee asks about some of the interviewee to sound confident
demographic factors to understand the and portray complete understanding of
user persona better, such as inquiring the platform/issue.
about the age groups, gender, location,
user preferences, etc. Now, some of
these questions could already be
covered under the scoping questions but
just in case the interviewee would like to

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Internal Issues/Factors with which one. Although this is a
completely optional step as sometimes
Next, the interviewee is expected to ask
this might complicate the case even
questions related to internal factors of
more, hence it depends on situation to
the company in light. These factors
situation. Once a user journey is
include, android v/s iOS platform or
selected, one should ask the interviewer
website v/s mobile app differences,
if it’s okay to break down the journey into
recent feature rollouts, bug fixes, user
3 phases, the initial, middle and end
complaints, etc. This is a crucial point in
phase, depending on the problem, and
the RCA and it is necessary for the
then concentrating on only the selected
interviewee to start including all the
bucket. This is another way of showing a
notes made during the interaction here
structured approach, which can keep
to link issues and possibly reach the
going in a nested structure as long as its
solution/root cause. If the interviewer still
comprehendible. Once a bucket is
does not seem satisfied and would want
chosen, the questions to be asked here
the interviewee to go further, the
would be completely based on the
interviewee should waste no time
problem at hand and the platform but the
thinking of more questions of the internal
interviewee must include the findings
factors bucket and move forward.
from the start of the case to the end to
reach the solution faster. This is a vague
and ambiguous phase of the RCA, and
Understanding which metric is being the interviewee can take any approach
defined needed as long as it is structured, and
Another tip here is to understand which they do not take long pauses and keep
metric is getting affected the most and trying to link issues and show the
how is the metric defined. This is another understanding of the company and the
way to understand where the issue is platform. By this point the interviewer
coming from, and which component is could sometimes help with hints also or
getting affected. This might bring the the interviewee could reach the solution.
interviewee closer to the solution and
leaves a good mark on the interviewer
with the knowledge of metrics and some End Notes
analytical thinking.
There can be unlimited solutions to the
RCA and the interviewer can even
change the solution they were looking for
User Journey initially just to test the interviewee even
The final leg where all the knowledge further.
about the case reconvenes is the user Be confident & have a structured
journey bucket. One must come to this approach.
point when no other bucket or question
could help find the root cause, and which Involve the interviewer in the entire
is totally okay. The interviewee should conversation and do not have long
ask the interviewer here if they can now pauses.
look at the problem from the user journey
Ask questions to know the product even
perspective. There could be multiple
better if required.
user journeys that one can define for the
interviewer and seek approval to ahead
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Case 1: Order cancellation on Nykaa is up by 20%. The order
cancellation window is 24 hours.

Interviewer: We're focusing on Nykaa's Interviewer: No.

beauty products.
Candidate: Could there be an issue with
Candidate: Are we looking into all order our data or analytics tool?
cancellations or just those happening
Interviewer: No.
after 24 hours?
Candidate: Are we running any tests or
Interviewer: We're concerned about
experiments?
cancellations after 24 hours, when
products are ready to ship. Interviewer: No.
Candidate: Are these cancellations Candidate: Are competitors like
mainly for makeup or skincare products? Sephora doing something new or
offering sales?
Interviewer: Mostly makeup.
Interviewer: No.
Candidate: Is this issue on the app,
website, or both? Candidate: Could our prices be higher
than others?
Interviewer: Just the app.
Interviewer: Our prices are competitive.
Candidate: Is it related to how people
pay, like Cash on Delivery or EMI? Candidate: Is this issue specific to a
certain area, maybe due to weather or
Interviewer: No.
health concerns?
Candidate: When did this issue start?
Interviewer: No, this is more significant
Has it been gradual or sudden? Has it
than what we saw during the pandemic.
happened before?
Candidate: Any bad press or social
Interviewer: It started suddenly within a
media backlash?
week and is new to us.
Interviewer: No, nothing like that.
Candidate: Can I start by exploring all
possible reasons before going into Candidate: No new laws affecting us?
details?
Interviewer: Correct, no new
Interviewer: Sure. regulations.
Candidate: Could the way we measure Candidate: Since external factors don't
this have changed? seem to be the cause, let's look
internally, starting with the customer's
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journey from liking a product to receiving Interviewer: No, we're currently
it. having a sale and always announce
them in advance.
Candidate: Did any recent feature
updates affect this journey? Candidate: Any changes in how
customers enter their shipping address?
Interviewer: Yes, we've added some
new features. Interviewer: That's unlikely to be a
widespread issue.
Candidate: Do we know why people are
cancelling from the cancellation form? Candidate: Could negative reviews be
influencing them?
Interviewer: They're saying the product
wasn't what they wanted, but that might Interviewer: We've started showing
not be entirely accurate more positive reviews, which could be an
issue if customers find negative reviews
Candidate: Could the issue be with
elsewhere.
users choosing the wrong product shade
or size? Candidate: Are customers concerned
about product authenticity?
Interviewer: We've introduced a virtual
try-on feature, which should help, but it Interviewer: We removed the
might cause cancellations if users authenticity badge image to speed up
realize they chose wrong after trying it page loading, replacing it with a text
virtually. description, which might be affecting
perceptions of authenticity.
Candidate: Could they be cancelling to
wait for a sale?

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Case 2: A grocery e-commerce app has had 25% lesser sale. Why?

Candidate: Thank you for the question. External Factors

I have a few clarifying questions. Is this
Candidate: For this problem, there could
for the Indian market?
be external reasons or internal reasons.
Interviewer: Yes, you can assume the Let me start by asking questions related
market is the Indian market. to external factors.
Candidate: Since when are you seeing Interviewer: Go ahead, please.
this problem?
Candidate: Did a new competitor enter
Interviewer: From last week. the market in the last week or so?
Candidate: Can I take a few minutes to Interviewer: No major new entrants in
gather my thoughts? the market that we know of.
The Candidate asked for time to put Candidate: Was there a sale/major
some thoughts together which is a great discounts offered by any of the existing
practice in a case interview. customers in the last week? This is like
what Flipkart does in “big billion day”
Typical answers from Candidates are
sale or Amazon does in “Great Indian
lesser cart additions could be because of
Sale”.
different reasons depending on what the
root cause is. Then they go on and list all Interviewer: No sales or offers during
the probable root causes without asking the last week by competitors.
clarifying questions.
Candidate: Any factors that affected the
The question is generic, but the overall sale of groceries last week? Was
expectation is for you to analyse the there anything major that affected the
problem, ask relevant questions, and entire grocery supply chain? For
come to the probable root cause. The example, a strike by truck drivers/ last
Interviewer is not looking for an instant mile delivery drivers.
answer like traditional interviews. This is
Interviewer- None.
not a test of one’s knowledge and facts.
It is a test of one’s ability to deal with a Candidate: Was this 25% reduction in
situation with lots of unknowns. cart additions observed in a particular
geography or demography or segment
or type of products?

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Interviewer: We have not seen a been because of the app update.
particular pattern. The app update might have been a mere
coincidence. If it is indeed because of
Candidate: Are there any other external
the app update, which feature in the app
factors that I might have missed? Or can
is causing this problem? This is
I assume external factors did not impact
something that we need to find.
the problem?
Candidate: Did the update have
Interviewer: For now, please proceed
anything to do with cart additions?
with analysing internal factors. We can
come back to the external factors if Interviewer: We changed a few things in
required. the user flow. Do you have a more
specific question?
Internal Factors
Candidate: There is a famous case
Candidate: There might be a tool that
study of the 300 Million Dollar button. An
collects data on cart additions and other
e-commerce company added the
data that the company uses. Was there
REGISTER button after the add to cart.
an issue with the data-collecting tool?
They saw a significant drop in sales
Interviewer: The data we have been when they did that. When they
receiving has been accurate. The tool is interviewed people, the customers said,
fine. “I am here just to buy some products. I
don't want to share my personal
Candidate: Are you seeing this in the information.” That's when the
mobile app, web app, or both? CONTINUE AS GUEST button was
Interviewer: We see this problem just in invented. Here the company added the
the mobile app. continue button, instead of the register
button. Their sales jumped by 300 Million
Candidate: Was there an increase in Dollars. That's why the button was called
uninstallations in the Android app last the 300 Million Dollar button.
week?
Did the e-commerce company here
Interviewer: Nothing alarming. introduce the register button after the
Candidate: Was there an app update add to cart?
that was released in the last week? Interviewer: No. There is no register
Interviewer: Yes we did have an app button after the add to cart.
update last week. Here the Candidate tells a little story
Candidate: Was this update in Android showing off the knowledge of a famous
or IOS or both? case study. At the same time, the
Candidate has asked a clarifying
Interviewer: This app update was only question. This will leave a good
on the Android app. impression on the Interviewer.
Alright, now we know what the problem Candidate: Did the update have
is because of the app update on the anything to do with the add-to-cart
Android app. Do we know the final root button? Is the add-to-cart button
cause though? It is not a good practice working?
to jump to conclusions without asking
further questions. It may or may not have
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Interviewer: We have not seen a Candidate: Is there a problem
problem with the add-to-cart button. It with paying digitally with a credit card,
works fine. Products get added to the debit card, Wallet, UPI, etc.?
cart.
Interviewer: No. we don't see a problem
Candidate: When a user clicks on the with any of the payment methods above.
cart button, does he/she see the
Candidate: Is this related to the CASH
products added? Does the cart button
ON DELIVERY option?
work fine?
Interviewer: Yes, we did see bugs
Interviewer- Yes the user does see the
related to cash on delivery.
products in his/her cart. No problems
with the CART button. Candidate: I think that the 25% lesser
sale in the e-commerce grocery app is
Candidate: Are there bug reports
related to the cash-on-delivery button in
related to the user being able to make
the payment section of the Android
payments and checkout?
mobile app.
Interviewer: We did see some bug
reports when a user tries to make a
payment.

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Case 3: Flipkart’s decline of about 15% of cart additions to the
additions to the shopping cart in the last three days.

Interviewer: Imagine that we're Interviewer: It does seem like the data
working at Flipkart and we're noticing
coming through is good like there's no
that there's a decline of about 15% of
cart additions to the additions to the issues with logging or analytics that have
shopping cart in the last three days, happened in the last few days.
can you help us diagnose the issue? Candidate: In India especially Flipkart
has a couple of e-commerce giants as
Candidate: Before I jump into sort of competition and so has there been any
finding out what the problem is just new announcement or entry of any
want to understand what do we competitor or any kind of a product
define as cart additions here so that
launch or a big billion sale for Flipkart or
we are on the same page.
any sale that has been announced?
Interviewer: So, cart editions are let's Interviewer: There is low visibility of
imagine a user that's on the Flipkart
something like this right now so it should
app, they add an item to their cart so
not affect.
they may click and there an item
appears in their shopping cart. Candidate: Have we observed if this
has impacted customers from a certain
Candidate: Also Flipkart has both city or a region so is there any impact of
website and mobile app so are we
location on this decline?
looking at a generic 15% decline or has
it been observed only on the mobile or Interviewer: No.
app or the website?

Interviewer: We're noticing it mostly on Candidate: Also has any segment

the mobile app experience. been impacted so let's say females of
age 20 to 30 who were earlier
Candidate: The first question is the cart purchasing a lot of cosmetics have
additions that we are measuring so it's suddenly stopped purchasing that or is
sort of like a metric which might be it again a uniform distribution?
measured using some analytics tool so
have we checked whether this analytics
tool was working well?

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Interviewer: We're not seeing a incidents or bugs report on the app
deviation for any of those sorts of big changes that have been done?
demographic categories that we
typically look at. Interviewer: We are seeing an increase
in some bug reports and it seems like
Candidate: Has Flipkart announced any there's some bug reports that people are
campaign or any other let's say product having issues paying or checking out
or any other sort of subsidiary which their products.
might have taken attention away from
the mobile app? Candidate: I feel that it is something to
do with the process from right from
Interviewer: No. seeing the product and finalizing the
product to the checkout process. But
because we are observing a decline in
Candidate: When the customer will the cart additions, the first and the
open Flipkart or launch the Flipkart app directly attributable feature to that
on their mobiles if they have already would be the add to cart option. The
signed in to the app then they will first point where the customer would
directly see their home page so the first see that button is on the product listing
thing that they will see is the home page page, so it does not necessarily have
versus if they are going to sign in for the to be specifically the page of that
first time the first screen that they will product, but it will be like a generic
see is the login screen versus if they are listing. So, is the button visible there for
a new user they would see a sign up all the products?
screen so this will be the first touch
point for the customer so the next thing Interviewer: You're asking if the button
that I would want to know is have there is visible for all the products for the set
been any upgrades to the mobile app in of users. We can spin up a dev version
the last three days on both iOS and and kind of look at it, and it does look
android? like the button is visible to us. We're not
totally sure if there are other versions
Interviewer: Yes we have had some where the button might not be visible,
major updates recently. but as far as we can tell, it seems like
the button is visible on the platforms
Candidate: Are these updates related to that we’re looking at.
anything in the cart addition or are they
not at all related to that? Candidate: Okay, and once again,
now it comes to the journey from
Interviewer: So we have improved the seeing a list of products to selecting
checkout flow to make it more seamless the product that the customer wants to
in an effort to improve the conversion add to cart and then clicking on the
rate on the checkout experience. button. That particular action or that
click to action translating that product
Candidate: Also have we observed if to show in the customer's cart. So,
this decline is only to iOS customers or what we need to do is to observe if this
only to android customers? flow is getting completed. Have we
logged in the event data, or have we
Interviewer: We are seeing that only on observed the events data wherein the
android customers. add to cart event is transitioning into
the actual product being added in the
Candidate: Have we received any cart? Do we have that information?
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 doesn't seem to be an issue as
Interviewer: Yeah, so when we take well. My bet would be on the add to
a look at the data, we actually see cart button. So we should probably do
that there's been no cart additions on a complete analysis on the event flow
Android in the past few days. We're for every customer on the Android app
actually seeing a huge decline in card to check how many customers are
additions on that specific version of actually clicking on the add to cart
Android that we've launched, a button and not seeing or their products
version of the app on Android. are not being added to the cart. So
that's where the issue seems to be
Candidate: I feel that because we are lying.
not noticing or we don't have any
attributable data to the installs of the
app as such. Also, the product Interviewer: Yeah, you totally got it.
discovery or the product visibility

Page 113
Case 4: You are a PM at Facebook, and friend requests are down
by 10%.

Interviewer: You are a PM at Facebook, Interviewer: Sounds good.

and friend requests are down by 10%,
Candidate: Great. We know it happened
what do you do?
overnight. There's no other time period.
Candidate: Sounds good. Just to get a Do we have any information about what
little feel for the problem, are we looking segmentation in the world,
at a certain period or timeframe that geographically, is experiencing this issue
we're seeing friend requests down, or and any type of platform information like
just across the board? are we seeing this on iOS, Android,
mobile web?
Interviewer: Great question. Let's say
that normally it's at some level and it just Interviewer: Let's say that this is in the
dropped percent overnight. US, it's across both mobile and web.
Candidate: Across all platforms, and
Candidate: Some level happened
we're only seeing it for friend requests,
overnight, sounds good. No specific time
right? Interviewer: Right.
period or any information on that outside
of that, right? Candidate: We've got this drop in friend
requests in the United States across all
Interviewer: Yes, let's just say it was an
platforms, which leads me to have some
overnight drop.
initial thoughts and inklings about where
Candidate: I think for this question, this might go, but I do have some more
approaching it from a root cause questions to ask just to make sure. Is this
analysis type style is going to make the seeing this on any type of seasonal
most sense. So how I kind of approach basis? Does this happen on a weekend
these questions is I like to ask some or is it repetitive on a holiday, or is this
follow-ups to get a little bit deeper on just a one-time thing?
segmentation and where we're seeing
Interviewer: Zooming out, we don't see
the problem and then I've got it bucketed
any sort of seasonality. There's no
by potential root causes. So contextual,
variance that we're concerned about
internal, external, and I just have some
here. It's totally unexpected when we
questions to probe a little bit deeper to
look at the broader trends and historical
see if we can find the issue. Does that
trends.
sound good?
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Candidate: Great. So then, I guess that mentioned that nothing around
would lead me to, if I'm walking in and user behavior caused a sudden drop, but
I'm seeing this as a PM, my first gut I know our big competition right now is
check would be to check our internal TikTok. So maybe did they launch a
systems and make sure nothing broke better feature in terms of connecting with
overnight on our side before digging your friends in the newest update of their
externally to see a little bit more and just app or something similar to that?
check that internal box off. In terms of
Interviewer: Looking at TechCrunch and
that, are we seeing any information
maybe the press releases on some of
about a degrading product or
the TikTok websites, it does look like they
reprioritization of product needs?
themselves are shifting towards being a
Interviewer: Priorities are always more social app rather than just being a
shifting. Facebook is a huge company. content app, so maybe there's
The friend request feature is still very something there.
prominent on the Facebook page. So in
Candidate: That's good to know. So
terms of UI, no, there hasn't been any
TikTok shifting to be social and less
large priority shifts around how we're
content-driven. In terms of regulation
servicing friend requests.
and marketing, we've been in the news
Candidate: Great. And then, does the a lot. Has anything new happened that I
data scientist seem to be aligned with should know about from maybe the
the data that's coming in? Like, is our government or any new laws that have
data quality usually up to par and where changed and kind of changed the way
it is? Have we seen any changes with we're allowed to operate?
our data quality specifically?
Interviewer: Let's say that overnight a
Interviewer: Data quality-wise, we can country in Europe passed a law around
trust this data. It doesn't look like there's data privacy and suddenly we're no
any problems with data quality here. longer able to operate in that area.
Candidate: Okay, great. So then, it Candidate: Just to make sure I have that
sounds like on the internal side of things, right, a country in Europe passed a law
we're a little bit buttoned up there, so that that changes user privacy, execution for
makes me feel better as a PM, and now our platform, and it's preventing us from
we can kind of shift and transition to being able to operate in that country,
looking at maybe some external factors which is preventing operability in that
that could be causing this problem. specific country. I think I kind of have
enough here to make a well-informed
Interviewer: Sure.
conclusion on what the problem might
Candidate: Have we seen any major be. If I miss it based on the notes that I
changes in user behavior? was taking, definitely feel free to hop in
and just kind of direct me to the right way.
Interviewer: No, there isn't anything I'm thinking it's a combination of two
around user behavior that has caused a things: competitors and regulation. One
sudden overnight drop. more question about regulation: did this
Candidate: And then, has anything law apply also to TikTok or all social
changed with the market landscape or media, or was it just kind of targeted
competitor behavior? I know we just towards Facebook specifically?

Page 115
Interviewer: Let's say it was targeted Interviewer: Yes, I think these
towards both TikTok and Facebook and hypotheses sound like there are
any other tech companies that were directions that we can go towards, and
operating in this country in Europe. I'm curious as the PM for this area, what
would you do?
Candidate: So generally maybe any
social media that's operating in Europe. Candidate: Well, first, I would figure out
And then, one more question: have we how we can work around this law, getting
seen anything major regarding together with the privacy team and
marketing campaign efforts on TikTok or lawyers to figure out where exactly does
any competitors, or have we ourselves this law come into effect in terms of our
decreased our marketing budget? own user flow, and then narrowing it
down to that specific point and
Interviewer: Yes, let's say due to budget
brainstorming, ideating, trying to figure
changes, we did decrease some
out different solutions or ways that we
marketing.
could work around it, and then maybe
Candidate: Then, back to the conclusion come up with a newer version or a new
that I was attempting to draw earlier, I UI flow that could be tested later to see
think because of this law, it obviously how it fits with users in a new update.
makes it tough for people in Europe to
friend Americans or people in America to
friend their friends that might be over in
this specific country in Europe. So
generally, that new law that just passed
is going to decrease friend requests
anyway simply because the sheer
amount of volume that just simply can't
execute because of this new law. And
then, in combination with TikTok's new
aim to try to shift to be more social and
less content-driven, that definitely plays
a big role because of just the grip and the
hold that TikTok has on society right now
and users. They are the number one
social media platform at the moment,
and with current trends, it seems that it's
going to stay that way. And then we also
kind of shot ourselves in the foot by
decreasing our own marketing budget
because now that we've got this new
law, we'll probably need to revamp that
up in order to make users feel secure or
find a solution to this new law that's been
passed in Europe. Does that sound
about right?

Page 116
Case 5: Google Pay has had a 10% decrease in payments

Interviewer: Google Pay has had a 10% identified any specific geography or
decrease in their payments. Why do you persona.
think that could have happened?
Candidate: Got it, so no specific
Candidate: Got it. A decrease in demography. So, any particular devices
payments implies people are making that we are seeing this in, because, you
10% less payments using Google Pay. know, certain iPhones and or Android,
Just a quick question first, is this drop any specific drop over there?
like a sudden drop, or have you been
Interviewer: Nothing special, though in
observing this for a couple of days or
India, Android users are more as
weeks? How is this decrease?
compared to iOS, but there's nothing
Interviewer: We've been seeing this special in terms of device type.
decrease over a couple of months, and
Candidate: Got it, okay, so no specific
it's a gradual decrease.
device. Now that I've scoped it out, this
Candidate: The way I want to work with problem is happening over no specific
this problem is I'll identify the factors that demography and no particular iOS or
can cause this decrease. I would Android devices. Let's look at what could
essentially look at some external factors, be other factors that could cause this. Is
and then we can move on to internal there any bar or maybe some campaign
factors. As I ask you some questions, that did not receive well? Did something
we'll be able to find probably what could like this happen recently?
be causing this issue.
Interviewer: No, we haven't done any
Interviewer: Sure, take your time. campaign; it's usual stuff that has been
happening.
Candidate: Just understanding and
further scoping down the problem, is this Candidate: Okay, so it's business as
decrease happening for a specific usual. Any anything related to
demography, let's say younger folks or seasonality? I mean, you know how
all, like any particular city? sometimes when there's like a festive
season, we do shop a lot more which
Interviewer: That's a good point. We are
means they probably are making more
seeing the decrease across all
payments using Google Pay and now
personas, cities; like we haven't
because probably there's not a lot of sale
and things like that. So do you think
Page 117
there's some effect of seasonality or Candidate: Thank you. Got it. And
maybe we can look at numbers like in one thing I forgot to, but this is also part
the previous year, was there a drop like of internal factors, so I could just ask
that last year? here. I know that the data is calculated
correctly, like we can't tag the events
Interviewer: Yeah, so we did look at that
differently this time, and we've not
data, that's a very good point, and we
changed anything there.
couldn't find any seasonality per se. Like
even if that happens, we haven't seen Interviewer: Yes, absolutely, everything
any decrease in the last year or so, it's has been the same in terms of
something that has happened recently. calculation, so no changes.
Candidate: Okay, got it. So no Candidate: Got it, got it. Okay, great.
seasonality. I haven't seen any new Coming to how does a user journey look
player pop up for UPI, right? There's just like when they're trying to use Google
three massive players. I know PhonePe Pay, right? So first, either I go to a store
did some sort of campaign, but again, and I scan the QR code, or not store,
you know, we've probably covered let's say I'm taking an auto and I scan the
something related, but do you think there QR code, that's one way to sort of make
could be any competitor angle here that the payment. Another way that I can
let's say you know there's something think of is when I use something like
coming up any other data or insight that Swiggy, what it does is it opens the
you may have as a business? Google Pay app directly, and the page
requesting payment, so I don't have to
Interviewer: Yeah, so you are right,
think, it just opens, tells me the amount,
PhonePe did do a campaign, so we did
and the only step left is to add the UPI
see a tiny drop in the number of
pin. And the third thing that I can
customers coming to the app, but
remember is, and this happens
obviously, it's a tiny drop compared to
specifically when I try to use Apple Pay
the 10% decrease in payments we are
services. It's not streamlined yet, but you
seeing.
know, I'm on the store, I say I want to pay
Candidate: Got it, and this and I assume through UPI payment, and then it just
that this has been happening before the does that wailing wheel, and then I have
campaign even launched because I to go open Google Pay, and a couple of
think it's pretty recent. times I've seen that there is sometimes
a pop-up, otherwise either there's a
Interviewer: Exactly, exactly. small dot on the Apple-based services,
Candidate: Got it, okay. Now I think I've right? So this is like the three types in
covered most of the external factors, which a user can make payments.
right. I would take a little bit of time to Looking at these as three segments, I've
think about, let's say, you know, I would written them down as three modes, and
love to go through the user journey and then what I want to do is I want to dive
understand if there maybe some bug or into each of these segments and see
something and figure out any other where the potential issue could be. Do
factors that could have caused this. So you also want to pick another use case
just give me like one second. because these are only merchant-
related use cases?
Interviewer: Absolutely.

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Interviewer: Oh yes, I forgot. I wanted to or so the payment but since we are
first bifurcate whether it's a merchant- at a step which was a little before that, I
related or a peer-to-peer related haven't faced any issues when the
payment method as well. That was one merchant directly opens sort of the
of the points, but I forgot. So yeah, payment page. But just to narrow it
sometimes I also transfer money to down, do you think there is a drop on that
another individual, right? And the other page just to know like for sure eliminate
bifurcation is also paying through a bank that case?
account, like I transfer my rent using the
Interviewer: No, that page was like
bank account of my owner. So let's take
pretty much the same conversion rate,
a step back and go over there first.
so all good there.
Candidate: Do you think there is a drop
Candidate: Okay, yeah, and I assume
in peer-to-peer sort of payments or from
that because I feel like it's a very
Google Pay to a bank account sort of
seamless experience as well. So I think
payment, or is there a drop between
the last part where I think there could be
merchants and the user type of
an issue or you know else we'll have to
payment?
move further down the funnel is and I
Interviewer: Yeah, that's a good point. face this a lot of times myself where I'm
We have seen the drop happening in the not getting the pop-up sometimes, or the
merchant use case, and for others like merchant is not in the recent merchants,
bank transfer, they are pretty much the right? So what happens is I'm unable to
same. find that merchant and even if you find
that merchant sometimes if you go to the
Candidate: Okay, interesting. From this
detail page, you don't get that pay wall,
data that you know, while making peer to
what is that called, like the widget that
peer and either through scanning QR
asks you for the request payment, so
codes or phone number, I'm assuming
that doesn't. So just to summarize, there
since that has not dropped in the
are two three things here again as well.
previous cases, I believe that the drop
First would be getting a pop-up, ideally
due to scanning a QR code is pretty
you should all get that pop up, right, so
stable even when trying to pay
that you can directly go into that page, or
merchants via QR. Is my assumption
at least I should be able to find that
fair?
merchant in my recent merchants and
Interviewer: Yes, so it's absolutely also see the pay widget. Now, have we
correct because this happens for both made any changes to this flow
those cases. So fair enough. particularly?

Candidate: Okay, so now there are two Interviewer: Yes, so basically we

things. First is, you know, the merchant recently did a release and earlier there
redirecting me to Google Pay and were no widgets, people used to get
opening the app filled, which is a pretty SMS, but now we have completely
seamless experience, and I feel like removed the SMS and people are
usually I haven't ever myself supposed to receive widgets in the app.
experienced any payment failures. So that's something we introduced
There could be some UPI error issue recently.
that could happen, like when I enter the
pin and maybe Google servers are down
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Candidate: Okay, so by widget, you up and that number is not a
mean the pop-up the moment the pop- healthy number as soon as we did a
ups should appear, right? release. So yeah, that's the issue as we
would think.
Interviewer: Exactly.
Candidate: Okay, got it. So essentially,
Candidate: Okay, so I think I'd first want
our system is firing the pop-up, right, and
to understand or let's see if this feature
we are expecting a user click, but
was rolled out to everybody. I assume it
eventually, that click is not happening
was rolled out as a global, like as a
because people are just not seeing the
complete rollout.
pop-up.
Interviewer: Yes, it was.
Interviewer: Exactly, I think like this is
Candidate: So have we seen, like, can completely spot on because we had
we roll out, have we seen like a drop in recently done a release, and it wasn't
usage of this feature maybe people are happening before, and with this release,
not getting the pop-up because of which we are seeing a drop-off.
they are not able to make the payment
Candidate: Okay, I think we should first
or maybe like seeing people come to the
try to solve this problem, and if we've
Google Pay app multiple times to in
solved this problem and the drop still
order to figure out if they see the pop-up,
persists, then we have to look at other
is there any such behavior?
parts of the funnel, let's say servers are
Interviewer: Yes, so that's exactly what down, etc. But for now, it looks like this is
we've seen. We had an event for how a pop-up issue.
many people are able to click on the pop-

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Case 6: Lyft has seen a 5% uptick in cancel rates

Interviewer: Lyft has observed a Interviewer: The increase is

5% uptick in cancel rates. Your somewhat more pronounced
mission is to unravel this mystery domestically but doesn't single out any
with me as your data scientist. specific locale. And no, it doesn't align
with typical seasonal patterns.
Candidate: Absolutely. Let's clarify
the scope first. We're zeroing in on Candidate: Moving onto technical
driver-initiated cancels, correct? aspects, could recent app updates or
And there's been no recent change system changes on either the driver or
in how we're defining or logging rider side be influencing this uptick?
these cancellations?
Interviewer: No significant platform
Interviewer: Correct, it's about or app version-specific changes
driver cancels, and our metrics and correlate with the rise in cancels. Our
logging methods have remained recent experiment with the app icon
consistent. color also seems unrelated.

Candidate: Understanding the Candidate: Interesting. Diving into

abrupt nature of this change is driver behavior, could the initial phase
crucial. Is it fair to say this issue of the ride, from acceptance to pickup,
sprang up almost overnight, reveal any anomalies? Perhaps
without any prior indication? changes in pickup distances or times
are deterring drivers early on?
Interviewer: Precisely. It's a
relatively sudden shift, noticed Interviewer: Data suggests
primarily over the last couple of cancellations are indeed clustering
weeks. towards the start of that journey, but
there's no evidence of increased
Candidate: To dissect this, I pickup distances or times.
propose we examine several
angles: market dynamics, technical Candidate: That leads us to consider
glitches, driver behavior nuances, external factors. Have there been
and external competitive aggressive competitive moves,
pressures. Let's tackle market particularly from Uber, that might
dynamics first. Could this be a incentivize our drivers to prioritize their
seasonal pattern or maybe rides over Lyft's?
localized to certain regions.
Page 121
Interviewer: Yes, there's been an enhancing driver incentives to
uptick in marketing campaigns from match or exceed those from
competitors targeting drivers, possibly competitors, ensuring our drivers
affecting their behavior. remain committed to our platform.
Additionally, revisiting our
Candidate: This competitive cancellation policies to better
dynamic might be the crux. To balance driver flexibility with platform
counteract, Lyft could explore reliability could mitigate this trend.

Some practice questions to try out

So, you are the product manager of a travel website, like Booking.com. You
have recently seen a decrease in the number of bookings made on hotel stays.
Why?

You are the PM of a Spanish language learning app. You’ve observed that users
on your app have increased but the number of subscribers has remained the
same.

Page 122
Page 123
 They can be applied to a wide range of
Introduction questions, such as "How many trees are
Guesstimates have now become an there in the world?" or "How many pizza
important part of several interview shops are there in New York City?"
processes at B-Schools and B-School
competitions. They are also a lot of fun! Benefits: Being good at making
guesstimates can be a valuable skill, as it
A guesstimate, which is a blend of "guess" helps you to:
and "estimate," is an approximation made
with limited information. It's not about Make quick decisions under pressure: In
reaching a precise answer, but rather many situations, you won't have all the
about using your logical thinking and information you need before you must
available data to come up with a decide. Guesstimates can help you make
reasonable estimate within a reasonable informed choices even when data is
timeframe. limited.

Here are some key points about Think creatively and solve problems:
guesstimates: Coming up with a good guesstimate often
requires creative thinking and a willingness
Focus on the process: The interviewer to make assumptions. This can be a
is often more interested in how you get to valuable skill in any field.
your answer than the actual number itself.
They want to see your ability to break Communicate effectively: When
down a complex problem, make explaining your guesstimate, you need to
assumptions, and use reasoning to arrive be able to communicate your reasoning
at a solution. and assumptions.

The process of solving a guesstimate

Common scenarios: Guesstimates are
problem is simple: Look at the possible
frequently used in job interviews,
parameters that may affect the final
business planning, and market research.
quantity and estimate its numbers.

Page 124
Cheat Sheet

Tips and Tricks

Estimation queries often involve Example: The population of the US was

complex mathematical calculations. approximately 314 million in 2012, but
Whether you possess strong mental it's commonly rounded to 300 million for
arithmetic skills or not, these tips and ease of calculation. Similarly, there are
techniques can simplify your task. typically 8,760 hours in a standard year
(or 8,784 in a leap year), but using
Round Numbers: There are occasions approximations like 9,000 or 10,000 is
when being a perfectionist and overly usually sufficiently accurate.
focused on details is appropriate, but this
isn't one of them. Considering you'll be Rule of 72: Here's a handy and practical
making numerous rough estimates and tip: to calculate the time it takes for
"guesstimates," a little flexibility in your something to double, divide 72 by the
calculations won't significantly impact percentage increase. For instance, an
the outcome. Your goal is simply to investment, population, salary, or any
arrive at a rough approximation. Striving value increasing at x% per year will
for absolute precision won't serve you approximately double after around 72/x
well in this scenario. years. This rule provides reasonably
Page 125
accurate results, typically within 5 or teachers. However, this practice
10% of the actual answer, especially for proves to be invaluable, especially here.
smaller values of x. A common error that candidates make is
becoming confused with their units.
Even for a 100% annual increase They may jot down "4" to represent "4
(doubling within a year), this method meters," but when performing
remains relatively accurate, typically calculations, they may overlook that the
within 30% of the true answer. measurement is not in kilometers.
Unfortunately, rectifying this mistake can
Orders of Magnitude: When multiplying be challenging. By consistently labeling
two large numbers, it's easy to make all values with their respective units,
errors. While small discrepancies in the you'll significantly enhance your
units digit may not be significant, adding accuracy and efficiency in the long run.
an extra zero or omitting a zero could
result in a tenfold or greater deviation. Record Intermediate Steps: Although
This discrepancy is substantial. Hence, some estimation questions are brief,
it's beneficial to ensure that your many are extensive and entail numerous
numbers are roughly in the same order calculations. It's crucial to document
of magnitude as the expected result. your thought process as you proceed.
You may need to revisit your work later
One method to achieve this is as follows: for corrections or to reuse previously
after multiplying numbers a and b to computed values. Record each step
obtain n, the total number of digits in a systematically in a clear and easy-to-
and b should be within one of the total read manner, allowing for easy
number of digits in the result. reference later on. Consider this akin to
"showing your work" to your math
Be Confident: How often have you teacher. If your approach is well-
heard someone say, "Oh, I'm terrible at organized to the extent that another
math" or "Numbers just aren't my thing"? person could feasibly follow it, it will be
Whether these statements are true or much simpler for you to identify any
not, an interview is not the appropriate potential errors.
occasion for such declarations.
Companies seek to hire Product Record Your Assumptions: It's not
Managers who exude confidence—or unusual for your final answer to deviate
who can effectively convey it. Revealing significantly from the expected result. In
feelings of intimidation or admitting to a such instances, there are typically two
lack of proficiency in math during an main reasons: either you made a
interview is not advisable. Self- mathematical error (in which case, being
deprecating remarks are unlikely to work organized will aid in locating it) or one of
in your favor. your assumptions was incorrect.
Therefore, the more straightforward it is
Label Your Units: Many individuals to pinpoint where you made
consider labeling units of measurement assumptions, the easier it will be to
(e.g., "4 meters") as one of those tedious uncover potential issues.
requirements enforced by school

Page 126
Estimate the number of users of Google Drive?
Clarification Questions
1. Understanding of Google Drive
2. Are we looking for personal users,
enterprise users or overall users? [Both]
3. Are we looking for a particular
geography or globally? [Global]
4. Are we looking for daily users, monthly
users, or yearly users? [Daily]

Overall Approach
The total world population is ~7.5 billion
but there are some countries where
Google services are not allowed like
China and some parts of Russia, so we
can eliminate around 1.5 billion people
from our set.
We are looking at around 5 billion people
and approximately people above 15 and Gut check of the final number
less than 60 will be the ones who are
potential Google services users. So we Given the kind of market penetration, it
are looking at around 60% of 5 billion, is okay to have 1 out of every 4 people
that is ~ 3 billion people. all over the world using Google Drive.

We can also think about the internet

penetration around the globe, which is
around 60%, so it will be ~ 1.8 billion
people.
Since there are other services as well,
like OneDrive, Dropbox etc. we can
assume the market share to be 70%, so
around ~1.25 billion users of Google
Drive

Page 127
 GUESSTIMATES - 2

Estimate the number of hotels in the city

Clarification Questions number of hotels in Bangalore will be
around ~800.
1. Is our focus exclusively on hotels or
are we also included Airbnb and lodges?
[Only Hotels]
2. Which city are we talking about?
[Bangalore]

Overall Approach
The area of interest, Bangalore, will be
approximately 600Km².
Given the presence of national parks,
lakes, forests, and wetlands, we
estimate that approximately 50% of this
area is suitable for potential hotel
development.
This translates to approximately 300
square kilometres. We can divide this
area into 3 parts according to the
density, assuming a normal distribution
of 25% highly dense for the hotel, 50%
dense and the rest 25% low dense.
For highly dense that is closely around Gut Check of the Final number
75km², for a Km² we can have 5 hotels,
that is around 375 hotels. Bangalore's population is around 1.5
Crores, and it is also a place where a lot
For mid dense(150Km²), on an average, of business travelers come and people
we have around 2.5Hotels per km², so come for vacations, so safely we can
for mid-dense, it will be around 375 assume that 1 out of every 1000 to be a
hotels. tourist. So, we will be requiring hotels to
For low dense (75 Km²), on average we accommodate around 15K people. On
would have 0.5 Hotels per Km², so we average we can assume that a hotel will
will have around 35 hotels. The total have 20 rooms, so the total number of
rooms would be around 16K.
Page 128
Number of queries answered by Google per second
Candidate: Okay Before I jump onto the Since people can’t use Google in China
solution, I have some questions which I and some countries like Russia where
want to get clarified. When we are Google isn’t very popular. So, I would
estimating the number of search want to consider that as well. Total
queries, are we also taking care of population which we can eliminate ~ 1.5
search queries for Gmail, YouTube, and billion.
Google Maps or is it for Google search
I would like to use the 80–20 rule. 80%
only?
of the Google search will come from the
Interviewer: For now, you can focus top 20% of the Users. I think myself to be
only on the Google search. in the top 20 percentile, on average I do
around 15–20 Google searches per day.
Candidate: Are we estimating the
search query from a particular device
like mobile or desktop or a total number
So, keeping this into account, we can
of search queries?
calculate the Total number of Google
Interviewer: Across all the devices. search queries.
Candidate: Are we focusing on a Total number of Google search Users
particular geography or globally?
= (7.5 - 1.5) * 0.7 * 0.8 ~ 3B (Taking
Interviewer: Globally. around 3 billion)
Candidate: Alright! let me iterate the =80% of the Google Search = 0.2 * 3 *
goal of the problem. We want to estimate 15
the number of search queries per
= 9B search queries per day from the top
second answered by Google search
80% of people.
across all the devices globally.
Total Google search queries per day =
Interviewer: Perfect
9/0.8 ~ 12B Google search queries per
Candidate: Okay let me give the overall day
structure of how I would approach the
Now to calculate the Google search
problem.
queries per second Google search
Global Population is ~7.5 billion, Query per second =12 billion/ 3600 =
Internet penetration is ~ 70% and ~ 140,000 Google search queries per
Google market share is around ~80%. second.

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 GUESSTIMATES - 4

Estimate the market size for driverless cars in the USA by 2030
Candidate: Ok, before I start solving, I the no. of households who can afford
would like to seek some clarification. luxury cars. We will calculate how many
When we are talking about market of these would be fully automatic
sizing, will it be by revenue or by the total driverless cars from the luxury car
no of users of the product? owners. Using the average lifetime value
of a driverless car, we will find no. of
Interviewer: You can assume it to be
such cars purchased every year. Then
market sizing by no. of users.
we will project the no. of driverless cars
Candidate: Ok, since we are talking for 2030 using the data on the growth
about 2030, is it safe to assume that the rate for driverless cars.
technological advancements and
USA’s population: ~330 million
legalities related to driverless cars will be
ready by then? Average household size: 4
Interviewer: Yes, that’s a fair No of households in the USA: 330
assumption. million/4 = ~ 80 Million
Candidate: When we talk about To afford fully automatic cars, people
driverless cars, will they be fully should belong to the high-income and
automatic or semi-automatic? upper-middle groups.
Interviewer: You can assume it to be Distribution of Luxury cars owned by
fully automatic. USA households:
Candidate: Also, I am assuming the High-income (10%) can afford 2 luxury
driverless cars will be utilized for cars on average.
personal use and not commercial use?
Upper-middle-class income (20%) can
Interviewer: Yes. afford 0.5 luxury cars on an average
Lower middle-class income (30%)
Candidate: I will iterate the goal of the
cannot afford luxury cars.
problem. We want to estimate the
market size based on the no. of users for Low income (40%) cannot afford luxury
fully automatic driverless cars in the USA cars.
by 2030, which are meant for personal
High-income households = 10% of 80
use.
million = 8 Million
Now, talking about the approach, I will
use to solve the problem. Firstly, from
the population of the USA, we will find
Page 130
No of luxury cars owned by High- We are currently in 2022.
income households = 2*8 Million = 16 Assuming that the growth rate of
Million driverless cars will be 20% every year
and the average lifetime value for
Upper-middle-class households =
driverless cars = 5 years
20% of 80 Million = 16 Million
Total number of driverless cars in the
No of luxury cars owned by Upper-
USA/average lifetime value = 24,000/5
middle-class households = 0.5*16
= 4800 = ~5000
Million = 8 Million
Total no. of driverless cars in the USA
Total no. of luxury cars in the USA =
in 2030 = (1.2)⁸*5000 = ~ 20,000
16 Million + 8 Million = 24 Million
~ 20,000 driverless cars in the USA in
I am assuming that out of every 1000
2030
luxury cars, 1 would be a fully automatic
driverless car due to lack of safety and
trust in the driverless car technology.
Total no. of driverless cars in the USA
currently = 24Million/1000 = 24,000

Page 131
Estimate the number of Uber drivers in Bangalore
Candidate: I would like to state the Since smartphone penetration and
assumptions I am making and seek internet penetration are important
some clarification. I am assuming that factors to enable the use of ride-hailing
we are talking about pre-covid times apps, we can take ~ 80% of the people
when offices are functioning and there is as the potential userbase.
no lockdown.
It is safe to assume smartphone
Interviewer: That’s a fair assumption. penetration and internet penetration to
be 80% as the age group of 20 – 50 is
Candidate: Uber has different business
comparatively more tech-savvy.
verticals like Uber rides, Uber eats, Uber
connect etc. It is ok to assume that we Users with smartphone/internet: 0.8*5
are focusing on drivers in the ride-hailing million = 4 million
business driving cabs/autos/bikes etc.
Out of these 4M people, we can assume
Interviewer: Sure, you can focus on the that 25% of people can afford cab
ride-hailing side. services as others might be blue-collar
workers.
Candidate: The way I see this question
is that if we can cover the demand during Potential userbase who can afford
peak hours, we are good to go. If we cab services: 0.25*4 million = 1 million
estimate the drivers driving in peak
Out of these 1M people, again 20%
hours, we can get a fair estimate of the
might book cabs as there are other
demand for rides, and we can find no. of
modes of transport like bus, metro or
drivers in Bangalore.
own cars.
Interviewer: Please go ahead.
Potential userbase who can afford
If the peak hours in Bangalore: 8 am — and use cab services: 0.2*1 million
11 am [3 hours] =0.2 Million ~ 200K
The population of Bangalore: 13 Assuming Uber and Ola to be the major
million players in the Indian market with a
market share of 40% each and other
Assuming people in the age group of 20
players like Rapido, Meru etc. with a
– 50 will be using ride-hailing services
remaining 20%
during peak hours for travelling to the
workplace etc. Potential user base of Uber in
Bangalore during peak hours:
Average life expectancy: 80 years
0.4*200K = 80K
Potential population: 30/80 * 13 million
= 4.8 million ~ 5 Million
Page 132
Normally it will take almost 20 minutes It will take 45 minutes for a driver
for the driver to complete a ride, but in to complete one ride, so approximately 4
peak hours, there is a lot of traffic, so we rides in 3 hours.
can assume that it will take double the
= 0.75 rides/driver/hour
time and the waiting time between rides
will also increase by 5 minutes. So, 25K/0.75 ~ 30K drivers
Time taken in peak hours to complete ~30,000 Uber drivers in Bangalore
a ride: 45 mins.
=> 80K rides in 3 hours ~ 25K rides/hour

Page 133
How many pixel phones are sold in every month?
Candidate: Alright, before that I want to calculate the potential buyer of luxury
clarify some questions, my first question phone and by calculating the market
is which geography are we going to share, we will be able to calculate the
consider, or we want to calculate globally. number of pixel sold in year (keeping in
the mind the average length of a mobile
Interviewer: For this you can consider
phone)
India.
Total Population of India ~ 1.3 Billion.
Candidate: My second question is , are
Out of which people who are 16+ and 60-
looking into specific category of pixel
are the ones who will be having phones.
phone or overall?
We can estimate their number to be
Interviewer: High end pixel phones. around 60%.

Candidate: Are we going considering Total Indians who have phones = ~

sell from specific channel like online or 800 Million.
offline or both? I am also assuming that
Out of this 800 Million, we can divide it
we are not going to consider any
into 10% higher class, 20% upper middle
reselling or second-hand phone, we are
class, 30% middle class and 40% lower
only thinking about the first buy.
or lower middle class.
Interviewer: Yes, we want to calculate
So, we are thinking ~ 80 million higher
the total pixel phone bought for the first
class people, ~160 million upper middle
time.
class, ~240 middle class and ~320 lower
Candidate: Okay let me reiterate the middle class.
problem we are trying to calculate; we
Since Pixel phone are the ones coming
are trying to calculate the number of pixel
under luxury, so I will neglect the middle
phones sold in India for the first time.
and lower middle class, because not
Interviewer: Yes, go ahead. many people in that class would be
buying that phone.
Candidate: Okay the way I would like to
go about it is, first we can think of the total Out of 80 million high class people, let's
population of India, then can think about assume 50% will be buying luxurious
the potential phone buyers by eliminating phones and out of 160 million upper
the children and senior citizens. After middle-class people, around 20% will be
that, we can divide the segment buying luxurious phones. Also assume
according to their income. Later we can that if some people buy multiple phones,

Page 134
they are buying 1 luxurious phone, so we India, but if I do empirical
are looking around total of 70 million estimation from my family, friends’
luxurious phones in India. acquaintances.
Out of 100 people only 1 is having pixel
phones, so I am assuming a market
If we think a phones last on average 3
share of 1%.
years, ~25 million luxurious phones sold
every year in India, I don’t know the exact So we are looking at ~2.5L pixel phones
market share of Google pixel phones in sold per year in India.

Page 135
Estimate how many Zoom meetings take place over the course of the
average week
We will take a top-down approach for around 60% users are normal users
this question. using calling apps 2 times a day (coders,
developers, QA etc.), and around 10%
We assume that the main consumer
users don’t have the need to use calling
segment of Zoom users is private sector
apps in their jobs (back-office workers,
companies’ employees. We assume that
traders etc). So total number of calls per
users don’t use Zoom for their personal
day -
calls (use WhatsApp video call instead)
and no other segment is the target 3 billion * 40% * 70% = 840 million
segment for Zoom.
840 million * 0.3 * 6 ≈ 1.5 billion
There are approximately 3 billion
840 million * 0.6 * 2 ≈ 1 billion
people employed on planet earth.
Considering 60% of these people are in
government sector/construction site
managers (or workers)/NGO So total number of calls taking place
workers/public sector/or any employees each day ≈ 2.5 billion
who don’t have to use calling in their Now, there are 4 applications that
jobs. capture most of the market — Zoom,
This leaves us with 40% of the workers Google Meet, Webex, and Microsoft
who work in organizations that have Teams. Let’s assume these applications
meetings daily. capture 92% of the market with 23%
each, then the number of calls placed
Out of these 40% employees, let’s each day on Zoom -
assume around 30% of the employees
are working from the office and don’t 2.5 billion * 0.23 = 575 million
need a calling application because they Assuming 5 days work week, we get 575
have these meetings offline, so only 70% million * 5 = 2.8 billion
of these need a calling application.
So the number of Zoom calls (big and
Out of these 40% employees — around small) taking place per week is around
30% are power users who use calling 2.8 billion.
apps at an average of 6 times per day
(Managers, Sales, and Support teams),
Page 136
Estimate the number of ATMs in India
The population of India - 1.3 Billion Now, let’s assume -
Assumption – In Urban, let say 10% of household has
2 ATMs and rest of the 90% has 1 ATM,
Let the Rural: Urban split be 70:30% of
the total population. = (10% * 90M) * 2 + (90% * 90M) * 1=
18 + 81 M = ~ 100M ATM users
Therefore, the population split
approximately comes to, In Rural, let say 100% of household has
1 ATMs
Rural = 900 million
= (100% * 160M) * 1 = 160 M ATM users
Urban = 400 million
Now Assuming,
Next, we will calculate the number of
Households in India, 1 ATM is mapped to ~500 users in the
Urban area & ~2000 users in Rural area
Assuming there are 4 people in a
household for both urban and rural, Total number of ATMs in Urban + Rural
India =
(Ideally, we would assume, 3 for Urban
and 5 for Rural) = 100M/500 + 160M/2000
Household split comes to, = 2,00,000 + 80,000
Rural = (900 Million / 4) = 230 Million = 2,80,000 ATMs are there in India.
Urban = (400 Million / 4) = 100 Million
Next, let’s estimate the total number of
ATM cardholders in India.
Assuming,
• 70% of Rural household has ATM cards
and,
• 90% of Urban Households has ATM
cards This comes down to, (70% of 230
Million)
= 160 Million ATM cards in Rural and
(90% of 100 Million)
= 90 Million ATM cards in Urban.

Page 137
Estimate the number of smartphones sold in India per year
Population of India: 1200 million Urban Mobile Penetration: 265 Mn
Population above poverty line: 70% = Assuming that a new mobile is bought
~ 840 million once in 1.5 years.
Population below 14 years: 30% Hence new mobiles in the current year-
176 Mn
Hence, proxy figure: 588 million.
Total New Mobiles: 231 million
Rural Population (70%): 410 million
Rural Households: 82 million Assuming 3 out of 10 new mobiles are
smartphones
Rural Mobile Penetration: Average 2
per household- 164 million No. of smartphones sold=70 Million
In rural areas assume that a new mobile
is bought once in 3 years.
Hence, new mobiles bought in the
current year-
55 million Urban (30%):176 million
Assume the average number of Mobiles
per person: 1.5

Page 138
Page 139
This section serves as a reference for changes and deliver value in short
prepping for a product management development cycles."
interview by reviewing scenarios and
What is the role of a Product Owner in
example structures commonly
Agile, and how does it differ from
encountered in such interviews. Utilize
other roles in the development team?
the given sample answers to help
structure and formulate your own - "The Product Owner plays a crucial
responses. role in Agile by owning and prioritizing
the product backlog. They work closely
These are just examples, and it's
with stakeholders, ensuring that the
important to tailor your responses
team delivers features aligned with
based on your unique experiences
business goals. This role differs from
and achievements. Be sure to
others as it requires a deep
highlight specific results and quantify
understanding of both customer needs
your impact whenever possible.
and business objectives."
Technical Interview Questions How do you prioritize features in an
Can you explain the principles of Agile environment?
Agile development? - "Prioritizing features involves a
- "Agile development is guided by holistic approach. We consider user
principles such as prioritizing individuals feedback, business goals, and technical
and interactions, responding to change, dependencies. I often use the MoSCoW
and delivering a working product. It method to categorize features into Must-
emphasizes collaboration, flexibility, and haves, Should-haves, Could-haves, and
customer satisfaction through iterative Won't-haves, ensuring the team focuses
development cycles." on delivering the highest value."

How do you implement Agile in your What is the importance of user stories
product development process? in Agile development?

- "In our product development process, - "User stories are crucial in Agile as
we follow the Scrum framework. We they provide a user-centric perspective
conduct regular sprint planning on features. They serve as a
meetings, daily stand-ups to foster communication tool, helping the team
communication, sprint reviews for understand and deliver what the end-
feedback, and retrospectives for users truly need. User stories contribute
continuous improvement. This Agile to transparency and alignment within the
approach allows us to respond quickly to
Page 140
team and guide development efforts in - "One challenge was resistance
the right direction." to change. To address this, we
conducted training sessions to help the
How do you handle changes in
team understand the benefits of Agile.
requirements during a sprint?
Another challenge was adapting to
- "Flexibility is key when dealing with rapidly changing requirements. We
changes in requirements during a sprint. mitigated this by fostering a culture of
We maintain open communication open communication and incorporating
channels within the team and with flexibility into our planning processes."
stakeholders. If changes are significant,
Describe a situation where you had to
we evaluate their impact on the sprint
reprioritize tasks within a sprint.
goals, and if necessary, adjust priorities
or sprint scope. The goal is to be - "In a recent sprint, a critical bug
adaptive while ensuring minimal surfaced that required immediate
disruption to the team's workflow." attention. Although it wasn't initially in the
sprint backlog, we reprioritized tasks to
What is a sprint review, and why is it
address the bug promptly. This decision
important?
involved discussing the impact on the
- "A sprint review is a collaborative sprint goals with the team, informing
session where the team showcases the stakeholders, and adjusting our sprint
work completed during the sprint to plan to ensure we met our commitments
stakeholders. It's crucial for gathering while addressing the urgent issue."
feedback, validating assumptions, and
Describe a situation where you had to
ensuring alignment with project goals.
manage changes in requirements
The review promotes transparency, and
during a sprint. How did you handle
the feedback received helps us refine
it?
and enhance the product backlog."
- "In a recent sprint, a critical
How do you measure the success of
requirement change emerged due to
an Agile project?
shifting market demands. We conducted
- "We measure the success of an Agile an emergency backlog refinement
project through various KPIs, including session, assessed the impact on the
velocity, cycle time, and customer sprint goal, and reprioritized tasks.
satisfaction scores. Regular Effective communication with the team
retrospectives allow us to identify areas and stakeholders ensured a smooth
for improvement, ensuring that we not adaptation to the changes without
only meet project goals but also compromising the sprint".
continuously enhance our development
Can you explain the software
processes."
development life cycle (SDLC) and its
Following 3 questions could be asked importance in product management?
if you already have any product
-"The SDLC is a systematic process
management related experience:
for planning, creating, testing, and
What challenges have you faced deploying software. It provides a
when implementing Agile, and how framework for managing the entire
did you overcome them? lifecycle of a product. Understanding the
SDLC is crucial for a product manager
Page 141
as it facilitates effective coordination How would you balance short-
between development teams, ensures term product goals with long-term
quality, and enables the delivery of a strategic objectives?
successful product."
-"Balancing short-term and long-term
How do you approach user interface goals requires aligning immediate tasks
(UI) and user experience (UX) design with the overarching product vision. I
in the product management process? break down long-term objectives into
manageable milestones and prioritize
-"I prioritize a user-centric approach by
short-term goals that contribute to these
conducting user research, usability
milestones. Regularly reassessing
testing, and collaborating closely with
priorities ensures that daily tasks align
UI/UX designers. Iterative design,
with the broader strategic vision."
incorporating user feedback, helps
create an intuitive and enjoyable user Discuss a project where you had to
experience. Regularly analyzing metrics collaborate with cross-functional
and user behavior guides ongoing UI/UX teams. What challenges did you face,
improvements." and how did you ensure effective
communication?
-"Leading a cross-functional project,
General Product Related communication challenges arose due to
Questions different team perspectives. I
implemented regular cross-functional
Can you give an example of a product
meetings, emphasizing open
you've managed where user feedback
communication. Additionally, utilizing
significantly influenced the design
project management tools and creating
and features?
a shared document for updates ensured
-"In a previous role, user feedback led everyone stayed informed and aligned
to a major redesign of our mobile app's throughout the project."
navigation. We conducted user
Explain how you would handle
interviews, analyzed feedback, and
conflicting opinions within a team
discovered navigation pain points.
when making product-related
Implementing a new menu structure
decisions.
based on user preferences resulted in a
20% increase in user satisfaction." -"When faced with conflicting opinions,
I encourage open discussions to
What are the key considerations
understand different perspectives. I
when defining the minimum viable
facilitate brainstorming sessions,
product (MVP) for a new product?
ensuring each team member feels
-"When defining an MVP, I focus on heard. Ultimately, I aim to reach a
core functionalities that address the consensus, but if that's not possible, I
primary user needs. This involves make decisions based on data, user
prioritizing features based on their feedback, and alignment with the
impact on the user experience and the product strategy."
product's value proposition. By
launching with essential features, we
gather valuable feedback early, enabling
rapid iteration and improvement."
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Product Management - "Design Thinking involves
Frameworks empathy, ideation, and iteration. In a
previous project, we conducted user
Can you explain the Lean Startup interviews (empathy), brainstormed
framework and how it applies to creative solutions (ideation), and
product management? iteratively prototyped based on user
feedback. This approach led to a product
- "The Lean Startup framework
that not only met user needs but
emphasizes a build-measure-learn
exceeded their expectations."
feedback loop to quickly validate or
invalidate assumptions. In product Explain the GIST framework (Goals,
management, it encourages iterative Ideas, Step-Projects, and Tasks) and
development, minimizing waste by its role in product planning and
focusing on the most critical features, execution.
and adapting based on user feedback."
- "GIST is a comprehensive framework
Describe the Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) that aligns high-level goals with specific
framework and how you might use it tasks. It ensures clarity by breaking
in product development. down goals into actionable steps,
fostering a structured and goal-oriented
- "The Jobs-to-be-Done framework approach to product planning and
centers around understanding the execution. This framework facilitates
underlying needs and motivations of effective communication and execution
users. By identifying the 'jobs' customers across teams.”
hire a product to do, we can create
solutions that address their specific pain
points and deliver value beyond surface- Product Metrics
level features."
What key performance indicators
What is the Kano Model, and how can (KPIs) do you consider when
it be beneficial in prioritizing product measuring the success of a product?
features?
- "Key performance indicators vary
- "The Kano Model categorizes based on product goals, but common
features into basic, performance, and KPIs include user acquisition, retention
delight factors. It helps prioritize by rates, conversion rates, and customer
understanding which features are satisfaction. Additionally, monitoring
expected, which enhance satisfaction, revenue metrics, such as customer
and which provide unexpected delight. lifetime value and average revenue per
This approach ensures a balanced user, provides insights into the product's
feature set that aligns with customer financial success."
expectations."
How do you use AARRR metrics
How do you incorporate Design (Acquisition, Activation, Retention,
Thinking into your product Referral, Revenue) in the context of
management process? Can you product management?
provide an example from your
experience? - "AARRR metrics help track the user
journey. For example, focusing on
Activation metrics ensures users have a
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positive initial experience, while Behavioural, Frameworks
Retention metrics gauge long-term & Metrics:
engagement. By analyzing these
metrics, we can identify areas for When faced with conflicting
improvement and optimize the entire priorities, how do you use the RICE
user lifecycle." framework (Reach, Impact,
Confidence, Effort) to prioritize
Describe how you track and analyse features or projects?
user engagement metrics. Which
metrics do you find most valuable in - "The RICE framework helps
understanding user behaviour? prioritize by assessing the Reach,
Impact, Confidence, and Effort of each
- "User engagement metrics, such as feature. By assigning scores to these
time spent in the app, click-through factors, we can objectively prioritize
rates, and feature adoption, provide features that have the highest potential
insights into user behavior. Retention impact and align with overall product
metrics are particularly valuable, goals."
indicating the product's ability to keep
users over time. Analyzing these metrics Explain how the Pirate Metrics
helps refine the user experience and (AARRR + L - Acquisition, Activation,
prioritize feature development." Retention, Referral, Revenue, and
Lifetime Value) contribute to overall
Can you discuss the concept of North product success.
Star Metrics and how you determine
them for a product? - "Pirate Metrics provide a holistic
view of the user journey, from acquisition
- "North Star Metrics are the key to revenue generation and long-term
indicators of a product's core value. value. By focusing on each stage
Determining them involves (AARRR + L), we create a well-rounded
understanding the primary benefit the strategy that not only attracts and
product delivers to users. For a social activates users but also retains and
media platform, the North Star Metric monetizes them for sustained product
might be daily active users. It serves as success."
a guiding metric aligning the team with
the overarching product strategy." In the context of the HEART
framework (Happiness, Engagement,
How do you measure and improve the Adoption, Retention, Task Success),
user onboarding experience? how do you assess and improve user
- "Measuring user onboarding experience?
involves tracking metrics like time to first - "HEART is a user-centered
value, completion rates of onboarding framework that assesses various
tasks, and user drop-off rates. To aspects of user experience. For
improve the experience, I conduct example, measuring task success rates,
usability tests, gather user feedback, tracking user engagement, and
and iterate on onboarding flows to make analyzing retention metrics contribute to
them more intuitive and efficient." understanding user satisfaction. By
identifying pain points and successes,
we can iteratively enhance the overall
user experience."
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Describe a situation where you used Describe a successful product
the Build-Measure-Learn loop from you've managed in the past. What
the Lean Startup methodology to was your role?
iterate on a product.
- "In my previous role at XYZ
- "In a recent project, we applied the Company, I led the development of a
Build-Measure-Learn loop by quickly mobile app that increased user
developing a minimum viable product engagement by 30%. My role involved
(MVP), measuring its performance defining the product strategy, conducting
through user testing and analytics, and market research, and collaborating with
learning from the gathered insights. the development team to ensure timely
Iterative cycles allowed us to refine the delivery. The success was attributed to
product, ensuring it aligned closely with our focus on user feedback and iterative
user needs and expectations." improvements."
How do you determine the right How do you prioritize features for a
balance between qualitative and product?
quantitative data when making
- "I prioritize features based on a
product decisions?
combination of user needs, business
- "Balancing qualitative and goals, and technical feasibility. I use
quantitative data involves using techniques like impact vs. effort analysis
qualitative insights for context and and regularly gather input from
understanding, while quantitative data stakeholders. This ensures that the
provides measurable indicators. For features we prioritize align with the
instance, qualitative user interviews may overall product strategy and provide
uncover pain points, and quantitative maximum value to our users."
data, such as user behavior analytics,
How do you gather customer
validates these findings. The right
feedback?
balance ensures well-informed, data-
driven decisions." - "I employ a multi-faceted approach to
gather customer feedback, including
surveys, usability testing, and direct user
Mock Interview: interviews. This not only helps in
understanding user needs but also
Tell me about yourself. establishes a continuous feedback loop,
Open ended answer allowing us to iterate and improve the
product throughout its lifecycle."
Why do you want to be a product
manager? Can you explain the Agile/Scrum
methodology?
- "I am passionate about solving real-
world problems through innovative - "Certainly. Agile/Scrum is a
solutions. As a product manager, I can collaborative project management
drive the entire product lifecycle, from methodology that promotes iterative
ideation to delivery, which excites me. I development. It involves breaking down
thrive in dynamic environments where I the project into short development
can collaborate with cross-functional cycles called sprints, usually two to four
teams to create impactful products." weeks long. Daily stand-up meetings,
sprint planning, and retrospectives are
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integral to this methodology, ensuring with the sales and marketing
flexibility, adaptability, and continuous teams to gather valuable insights. This
improvement." comprehensive approach ensures that
our product remains competitive and
How do you handle competing
aligned with market demands."
priorities and tight deadlines?
Which app do you like the most &
- "I am adept at managing competing
why?
priorities by first understanding the
critical path and focusing on high-impact When responding to the above
tasks. I prioritize based on urgency and question, the following structure can
importance, and I'm not afraid to be employed: Express your
delegate tasks when necessary. appreciation for innovation, select a
Additionally, effective communication product that has demonstrated value
with the team is crucial to manage and aligns with the industry or
expectations and ensure everyone is domain relevant to the position.
aligned on priorities." Discuss its features, user experience,
and the impact it brings to users and
What steps do you take to understand
the market. Explore how the product
the market and competition for a
introduced innovative strategies or
product?
features as its entry product, catered
- "To understand the market and to retaining customers, and
competition, I conduct thorough market attempted upselling later.
research, analysing industry trends,
competitor products, and customer
reviews. I also engage in discussions

Page 146
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