IITM

PRODUCT
CASEBOOK THE FIRST ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE

2024-25
CASEBOOK WITH CASES FROM TOP FIRMS
HIRING PMs/APMs

30 INDUSTRY STANDARD INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS

TO HELP YOU ACE YOUR NEXT CASE INTERVIEW
 ISSUE DETAILS
All rights reserved by Case Club, IIT Madras.
ISBN : In Progress
First Published : October 2022
Revised edition : November 2024

No attempts can and should be made to transmit the information, store, retrieve and copy any part of the book by any
means (digital, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise) prior to the permission of the authors.

DISCLAIMER
→ The cases collected in the book are purely based on memory of candidates post their interviews. Hence certain
discontinuities / derailment can be expected from the actual interview.

→ In order to maintain a continuous flow of conversation in the multiple cases, certain parts have been modified with respect
to the actual cases we collected. The said action was also taken at certain places to ensure a steep learning curve for the
reader.

→ For the above reasons, the cases are not to be taken as a word-by-word transcript of the interview but rather a resource
to get an idea of type of cases and difficulty level an engineering undergraduate can expect in their placement interviews for
product management profiles.
 PREFACE

This book has been prepared by the Case Club, IIT Madras. We saw a gap in the case preparation that
students from IITs do every year. There seemed to be lack of a book that satisfies both the criteria - provides
cases at undergrad level and focuses on cases that engineers can expect. Due to the steep rise in the variety
and complexity of products, the demand for product managers who streamline the process of bringing a product
to market across industries has surged up.

This casebook happens to be the first casebook at an engineering undergrad level and IIT Madras is the first IIT
to develop this. It contains a set of 30 case interview transcripts, collected from the on-campus placement
season ‘23 & ‘22 along with a few practice cases. The cases are supposed to give an exact flavor to candidates
for the type and difficulty level they can expect.

The Case Club of IITM (including heads, strategist and associates) has put its heart and soul behind collecting,
writing and perfecting each case for the benefit of the problem solving culture, not only at IITM but across all
colleges in the country. Do go through this and try to share with anyone you feel would benefit from this.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We have received support from several people on the way and we would love to thank each one of them for all
the help they provided in return for absolutely nothing :

IITM Graduates (APMs at present) :

It wouldn't have been possible without y’all giving us the cases with utmost patience that you displayed.
Rinkle Sebastian (Media.net), Aayush Raghuraman (Media.net), Aayush Rajesh (Groww), Mohammed Shamvil
(Hilabs), Aman (Flipkart), and Megha Gooty Agraharam (Flipkart)

IITM Administration :
We would like to thank Prof. Chakravarthy Balaji, Chairman, Library Advisory Committee ‘21, ‘22, ‘23 & ‘24 for
all the support provided. A special mention needs to be given to the Academic Affairs Secretary - Lakshya Singh
(2024-25) for the help and more importantly the faith shown in a relatively new club for this major responsibility.

Decode and Conquer, Cracking PM interview, PM interview cracked, Preparing for Product Interviews:
We would like to thank the authors of above mentioned casebooks to develop the amazing casebooks which
motivated us to go ahead and build one of our own for engineering undergraduates. The clarity in their
casebooks really helped us take some major decisions about how should we go ahead and write the cases.
 GUIDE TO USE THE BOOK
→ Form a case group among your friends.
→ Practice the cases in your group. The interviewer needs to keep an open mind - grill when interviewee is making
absurd assumptions, help when they’re off track and most importantly be open to new approaches.
→ Have a positive feedback session post the case. Do not hesitate in sharing negative feedback. Help each other
improve, it’s your responsibility!
→ It’s a casebook. It’s intended to look perfect. The actual interviews however are full of hiccups, unusual
conversations & the interviewer constantly trying to keep candidate on track. Don’t get thrown away if your solution does
not follow the flow in the cases here. Rather have confidence in your approach and reinforce positive learnings from here
in your own case solving.

ABOUT CASE CLUB, IIT MADRAS

Case Club, IIT Madras was started in 2021 with an aim to improve the problem solving culture in IITM. The founders
realised that problem solving and structured thought process are tools not just relevant to Product Management but
rather to every industry. In fact it’s an efficient skill to solve any problem one faces in life.

With excellent initiatives executed just within its 3 years of existence - Consult 101, Guesstimate Premier League,
Product and Consult Casebooks, case competitions like The Big Biz Theory, Case Club has received a lot of traction and
appreciation and is full geared up with its brand new set of activities which are even more fun and engaging for the
students. Stay Tuned!
NOTE FROM A CURRENT APM TO THE
FUTURE ONES
After wrapping a fun and competitive placements process, there were some important learnings, that I wish to summarise
and pass along to everyone. I hope these tips benefit you as they did to me! All the best!

→ The key to this role is to show empathy towards our potential users and trying to fix their problems. Listen to what the users
and your team members say, be open and receptive of their ideas, and use all this information to make your product better.

→ Make certain that your personal biases don't influence your quest for an impactful product statement, solutioning, or idea
generation. Give the highest priority to the comprehensive understanding of problems before diving into solutions or
brainstorming ideas.

→ During the course of your product interviews and the preparation for the same, don't solely rely on predefined frameworks;
instead, rely on logical reasoning and your common sense :)

→ All these things totally depends on how much effort you put on developing your product sense and how rigorous and
formative your case prep is. So make sure that you practice well with your peers.

Abhishek Kumar (Product @ Tata Cliq)

 MEET THE AUTHORS

C.N.K. Adithi, Associate Diya Gupta, Associate Mohammed Fawaz, Associate Hemsainath Reddy, Associate

Karthik Menon, Associate Muskan Chandani, Associate Nandini Shyam, Associate Surya Prakash, Associate

Sanjeev SS, Associate Vaibhav K E, Associate Kinshuk Kandpal, Associate

 MEET THE AUTHORS

Anbarasi P, Strategist Behjad Yasar, Strategist Shivansh Gupta, Strategist

Nidan Ali Basheer, Head Vansh Jain, Head

CLICK ON A CASE TO MOVE QUICKLY! PAGE NUMBERS SAME AS PDF PAGES :)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
S.NO NAME DIFFICULTY COMPANY PAGE

A. FAVORITE PRODUCT 12
1 LISTEN TO SPOTIFY EASY KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK 13
2 SIMPLIFYING PAYTM EASY KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK 16
3 SPOTIFY AGAIN !! EASY MEDIANET 19
4 MEDITATION IS THE KEY MODERATE GROWW 22
55 CALENDAR
CALENDAR QUEST
QUEST MODERATE
MODERATE HILABS
HILABS 26
26
56 CALENDAR
LET’S RIDE!QUEST MODERATE
MODERATE HILABS
SPRINKLR 26
28
B. PRODUCT DESIGN 31
1 THE PUZZLING SHIFT EASY GROWW 32
2 SMART WALKING STICK EASY MEDIANET 36
3 INSTAGRAM REVENUE EASY MEDIANET 39
4 WARDROBE WHIZ EASY MEDIANET 42
5 WANDERLUST MODERATE HILABS 45
6 VENUE MEETS TALENT MODERATE FLIPKART 49
7 DREAM11 BUZZ MODERATE HILABS 53
8 ELIMINATING FAKE DIFFICULT FLIPKART 56
C. PRODUCT IMPROVEMENT 62
1 MADE IN WHATSAPP EASY FLIPKART 63
2 PAY WITH GPAY MODERATE KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK 67

3 RIDE SOLO DIFFICULT GROWW 71

CLICK ON A CASE TO MOVE QUICKLY! PAGE NUMBERS SAME AS PDF PAGES :)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
S.NO NAME DIFFICULTY COMPANY PAGE

D. ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS 76

1 PHARMEASY IS NOT EASY EASY GROWW 77
2 DORA THE EXPLORER EASY GROWW 80

3 WHERE’S MY PIZZA MODERATE HILABS 83

4 METRICS ARE EVERYTHING MODERATE GROWW 86

E. PRODUCT METRIC 90
1 YOUTUBE WORKING? MODERATE FLIPKART 91
2 SHOW ME THE MONEY MODERATE ATHER 94
3 WHAT THE METRICS DIFFICULT GROWW 97

F. GUESSTIMATES 100
1 BHEL IN JUHU MODERATE ATHER 101
2 EMAILING TIME MODERATE MEDIANET 105
3 MONEY MATTERS MODERATE HLABS 109
4 BALLPARK BOARDING MODERATE MEDIANET 112
5 CRACKING THE WHATSAPP CODE MODERATE MEDIANET 115

G. UNCONVENTIONAL 119
1 CONTROVERSY ON SCREEN MODERATE FLIPKART 120

FEEDBACK 124
FAVORITE PRODUCT
 LISTEN TO SPOTIFY

Hi, let us start with the case. What is your favorite digital product?
COMPANY
Spotify is my favourite digital product. It is a digital music, podcast, and video service platform that gives you access to
millions of songs and other content from creators all over the world.

Great. So, let’s say that the conversion rate for people to buy spotify premium is 30%. How do you plan to increase
it?

ROUND Okay, so first I will state the reasons why users do not purchase Spotify Premium
● Spotify charges more compared to a lot of other music applications like Jio Music and Amazon Music,
SENIOR PM ● People who specifically want to listen to podcasts that’s exclusively on Spotify only tend to buy premium- the
population of people who listen to Spotify podcasts is very less in India
● One main problem with Spotify without Premium is the Ads- users could use cracked APK or use ad blockers/Brave
to solve this

Now, we can dive into measures we can take to convince these people to buy Spotify Premium
TYPE
● Connect with friends: Spotify has this one feature only on its web application wherein you can connect with your
FAV PRODUCT friends and have access to their playlists and everything they are listening to.
● Sync spotify with discord: users can know which song their friends are listening to and if they have premium, together
they can listen to the same music at the same time.
● Spotify Blend: This feature of automatically creating playlists that has blended user’s and his/her friends’ music taste
● Free downloads & offline listening with high audio quality: enables users to listen on multiple devices without internet
DIFFICULTY
and download their favorite tunes of higher quality
Some of the above features are only there on Spotify web and since around 75% of the people use Spotify on phones, if we
EASY
can have the friends activity and listen along feature on the mobile version, then possibly we can increase our premium
subscribers on spotify.
 LISTEN TO SPOTIFY

Okay. So why do you think people will use to spotify to connect with others as there are already other platforms in
COMPANY
the market like instagram?

There are a lot of people who make friends through online platforms but want to remain anonymous. This is the reason why
discord was started. If we add this feature wherein we can listen to a song with one of our connections on spotify then this
would be beneficial for a lot of socially inactive people who want to bond with others..

ROUND That sounds good. We can close the discussion now.

SENIOR
ROUND
Round PM
11

TYPE

FAV PRODUCT

DIFFICULTY

EASY
 LISTEN TO SPOTIFY

COMPANY
SPOTIFY

Reason for
ROUND Not Buying Suggestions
premium
SENIOR PM

Charge is Connect with

more friends
compared to
TYPE competitors
Sync spotify
FAV PRODUCT Podcasts with Discord
viewers are
very less in
India Spotify blend
DIFFICULTY
Use cracked
Free
APK or use ad
EASY download with
blockers/Brav
good audio
e
Quality.
 SIMPLIFYING PAYTM

COMPANY Hi! Take up any any existing digital product and let me know what you think are the limitations in it? We can then
discuss how can you improve it

Before I start, I would like to know I can choose any digital product or should it be about something related to banking?

We want something related to banking.

Should the product be some app or some banking platform like website netbanking? Or should it be some other product like
ROUND the debit cards or credit cards?

You can go for the mobile banking app.

PM
Okay, then shall I take up Paytm?

Sure, go ahead.

TYPE In my opinion, the current UX and aesthetic of Paytm has some issues like:
● Cluttered Interface:
Product
FAV Design
PRODUCT There are too many features on the landing page which makes it look cluttered and it can be overwhelming visually.
This can make it difficult for users to find what they are looking for quickly
● Information Overload:
Too many elements on the homepage can result in information overload. Users might feel bombarded with information,
making it challenging to process and prioritize the content
DIFFICULTY ● Poor Feature Discoverability:
The cluttered interface makes it difficult for users to find specific features or functions they need. This can lead to
frustration and a poor user experience as users struggle to navigate the app
EASY
● Limited Accessibility for Older Users:
While the younger generation or tech enthusiasts can navigate the app with more ease, it may not be as accessible or
user-friendly for older generations. This can alienate a significant portion of potential users
 SIMPLIFYING PAYTM

COMPANY What do you think Paytm can do to solve this?

Paytm can keep the more frequently used, essential features like the pay option, scan QR option, pay to your contacts, bank
transfers etc. in the homepage. It can introduce separate sections for its other features like book flight tickets, book movies,
refer your friends and such. This will help eliminate confusion and enable the users to access the essential elements with more
ease and navigate faster.

Sounds good. We can close the discussion now.

ROUND

PM

TYPE

Product
FAV Design
PRODUCT

DIFFICULTY

EASY
 SIMPLIFYING PAYTM

COMPANY
Paytm

ROUND Limitations Improvements

Pay option
PM

Cluttered Scan QR
Homepage
interface

TYPE Pay your

Information contacts
Product Design overload
FAV PRODUCT
Bank transfers
Poor feature
discoverability
Book flight
DIFFICULTY tickets
Limited Other features
EASY accessibility
for older users Book movies
 SPOTIFY AGAIN !!

COMPANY Hi.So let’s start with the case. What is your favourite product?

I would say Spotify.

What makes it your favourite product?

I’ve been a premium user for a while now, and I love how personalized the experience is, from discover weekly to curated
playlists.
ROUND
Interesting! Let’s say the CEO of Spotify asks you to build a daily dashboard with relevant metrics. What would you
PM include?

For a CEO level dashboard, I’d focus on metrics that give a high-level view of Spotify’s strategic performance across the user
journey. Here’s how I’d break it down :

● USER ENGAGEMENT
TYPE ○ Daily active users
○ Monthly active users
FAV PRODUCT ○ Time spent per user

● CONTENT PERFORMANCE
○ Most played songs/artists/Playlists
○ Number of Playlists created by users
DIFFICULTY
● SUBSCRIPTION METRICS
EASY ○ Premium Subscriptions growth
○ Churn rate
 SPOTIFY AGAIN !!

COMPANY ● FINANCIAL METRICS

○ Revenue from Premium subscriptions
○ Revenue from advertisements
○ Artists/Labels/Podcast Revenues

● EMERGING GENRES OR ARTISTS

○ User adoption of new features

ROUND ● PLATFORM REACH

○ Geographical distribution
○ Device distribution (Mobile vs. Desktop)
PM
○ User Satisfaction

Great! So these metrics give a solid overview. Anything else you’d add like customer satisfaction?

I’d also keep an eye on customer support metrics, like response time and ticket volume. If users experience issues and those
TYPE aren’t addressed quickly, it can directly impact retention and satisfaction.

FAV PRODUCT Looks good. We’ll close the discussion now.

DIFFICULTY

EASY
 SPOTIFY AGAIN !!

COMPANY

Metrics

ROUND
Content Subscription
PM User Engagement Financial metrics Platform Reach
Performance Metrics

Most played
Daily user songs/artists/ Revenue from Geographical
Churn rate
TYPE activity playlists advertisements distribution

FAV PRODUCT
Monthly user Number of playlists Premium Artists/Labels/
created by users Device distribution
activity subscription Podcast revenues
rate

DIFFICULTY Time spent per Revenue from User satisfaction

user premium subscription

EASY
 MEDITATION IS THE KEY

COMPANY Tell me about your favorite tech product. If that product wishes to launch into India, what strategies will you use
(GMT) and what new features would you introduce for the Indian market?

Okay. Before we begin with the case, I have a question in mind.

Please go ahead.

What is the type of industry that we are looking into?

ROUND
There is no restriction to it. We can go ahead with any industry of your choice.
SENIOR PM
Okay. So let’s assume we consider a meditation app and solve the case for it.

My approach would be as follows :

TYPE 1. To identify the target audience

2. To figure out all the pain points
Product
FAV Design
PRODUCT 3. To find out all the possible solutions

That sounds good. Please go ahead.

The target audience for this product can be segregated into three different groups based on their age:
DIFFICULTY 1. Students (15 - 25 years): Do meditation as a hobby and to stay fit and healthy
2. Working Professionals(25 to 50 years): Do meditation for stress release and calmness
MODERATE 3. Elderly people(50+ years old): Do yoga / meditation for healthy life or social gathering

Are we going well?

 MEDITATION IS THE KEY

COMPANY Yes, this is a good approach. Which segment would you want to focus on?

We can focus on working professionals because of the large market size and paying capacity. Let us identify the pain
points:
1. Less time due to busy schedule
2. Same monotonous meditation every time
3. Nothing visibly rewarding to sustain the habit

ROUND Possible Solutions :

1. A feature in which a person can select how much time he has for meditation today and fills in how
SENIOR PM he / she is feeling. We will recommend meditation to him/ her accordingly.
2. Uber for meditation - A new expert will be connected to the user every time he/ she opts to meditate, who will
guide you through meditation and listen to your feelings post meditation like a therapist.
Moreover, this can be monetised like the Onlyfan business model, where you can subscribe to whichever teacher
you like.
3. Creating a group feature where a user can meditate with his / her friends. This can serve as a reward. I used
TYPE
cue-action-rewards framework here.

Product
PRODUCT
FAV Design
PRODUCT
DESIGN This is great! What pain points can you think of for the students segment?

The possible pain points are:

1. Boredom: Students are used to a dynamic lifestyle and might not appreciate the essence of Yoga or Meditation.
2. Not fancy enough: This age group likes putting all their activities on social media and might not consider yoga to
DIFFICULTY be cool enough for that. In fact they might view this as something old people do.

MODERATE
EASY Good. Do you have any solutions for these problems?
 MEDITATION IS THE KEY

COMPANY Sure, here are 2 solutions :

1. Gamification of Yoga where the instructor teaches yoga/meditation in a fun way or with some nice
music. We can have specific courses for this age group.
2. We can have a social media campaign where youngsters post their daily fitness goals as
instagram stories with unique hashtags and tagging us along. This will provide them incentive to
do yoga daily and improve the perception among other students as well.
ROUND
Yes. We can close the case. You did well.
SENIOR PM

Gamification
Boredom
Of Yoga
TYPE

Product
PRODUCT
FAV Design
PRODUCT
DESIGN Students Pain Points Solutions
(15-25 yrs)

DIFFICULTY Not fancy Social media

enough campaign
MODERATE
EASY
 MEDITATION IS THE KEY

COMPANY

Approach
Meditation app

ROUND

SENIOR PM Target Audience Pain Points Possible Solutions

Students Customised
Monotonous
TYPE (15-25 yrs) recommendation

Product
PRODUCT
FAV Design
PRODUCT
DESIGN
Working Less time due
Uber for
professionals to busy
meditation
(25-50 yrs) schedule

DIFFICULTY
Elderly People No rewards Group Feature
(50+ yrs)
MODERATE
EASY
 CALENDAR QUEST

COMPANY What is your favorite software tool?

Notion. I use it almost every day!

Great! What is the reason for it being your favorite tool?

Notion is my favorite tool because it effectively helps me in two primary areas:

ROUND 1. Scheduling my day-to-day tasks

2. Documenting my progress
PM
It offers a structured and flexible workspace that allows me to organize my tasks efficiently while keeping track of my personal
and professional growth.

Can you suggest one improvement for the tool?

TYPE
What type of improvement are you looking for? Should it be related to user engagement, product improvement, or business
FAV PRODUCT growth?

Give an improvement for the user experience.

DIFFICULTY One key feature missing in Notion is its integration with calendar functionalities. Currently, Notion excels at organizing tasks,
but there is no direct way to access or synchronize scheduled meetings within a calendar format. Integrating a calendar
MODERATE system would be highly beneficial, as it would allow users to not only schedule tasks but also manage meetings and other
time-bound commitments directly from the platform.
 CALENDAR QUEST

COMPANY There is one more thing missing in the calendar, what is it?

Another important aspect that’s missing is the ability to track whether scheduled meetings have been attended or not. While
we can schedule meetings, there’s no feedback loop that allows users to track attendance or mark if a meeting was missed.
Adding a tracking feature could improve accountability and help users manage their time more effectively. Moreover,
integrating an automatic rescheduling feature for missed meetings would provide even more convenience, enabling users to
quickly reorganize their schedules without additional manual steps.
ROUND
That sounds good. We can close the discussion now.
PM

scheduling my
day-to-day tasks
TYPE Fav product?
Reason? Improvement type? Improvement? Synchronise
User Experience scheduled
FAV PRODUCT Notion
meetings

documenting my
progress One more Improvement?

DIFFICULTY Track missed

meetings
MODERATE
 LET’S RIDE !

COMPANY Hi, let us start with the case. What is your favourite product?

My favourite product is Rapido.

Okay. What are the biggest competitors for Rapido in terms of service and offerings?

Are we including indirect competitors as well?

ROUND
No, focus only on the direct competitors.
PM ROUND
As of today, Ola and Uber are the biggest players in the market along with Rapido.

What made Rapido your favourite product over Uber and Ola, who offer similar products? What factors did you
TYPE consider to differentiate Rapido?

Some of the factors that make Rapido stand out are affordability, convenience in traffic, wider reach in tier 2 & tier 3 cities,
FAV PRODUCT
and faster ride availability.

● Affordability: Rapido offers bike taxi services at much lower rates than car services like Uber or Ola, making it ideal
for budget-conscious customers.
DIFFICULTY ● Convenience in Traffic: Bikes can get through heavy traffic easily, resulting in shorter travel times in peak hours.
● Wider Reach in Tier 2 & Tier 3 Cities: Rapido has a strong presence in smaller cities where four-wheeler services
MODERATE might not be efficient.
.
 LET’S RIDE !

COMPANY
● Faster Ride Availability: Since two-wheelers are more in number than cars, Rapido often has a shorter waiting time
Uber and Ola are also very good in terms of products and services but they don’t have an established bike service network,
comparatively higher prices and longer waiting times during peak hours.

That is good enough. You have mentioned about the ease of travelling through traffic when using rapido, but the
safety of driver is under concern, what can we do to ensure the overall safety of the ride?
ROUND
Yes. To ensure that driver always has safety in his/her mind, we must can make the driver aware of the problem, and equip
PM ROUND for any accident and reward for safe ride completions.
● Driver safety training: Implement training and awareness programs, do periodic safety checks on vehicles and
provide every driver with first-aid kits.
● Helmets and safety gear: Provide high-quality helmets and safety gear to the driver and passenger, we can check
its usage through the passengers.
TYPE ● Speed monitoring: Tracking and identifying drivers who are driving above the speed limits to make them undergo
training or give penalties.
FAV PRODUCT ● Incentives for safe driving: Maintain records of customer feedback, driving speed and number of safe and on-time
raids, to offer incentives like bonuses and certificates

The suggestions seem feasible. We can close the discussion now.

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
 LET’S RIDE !

COMPANY
Rapido

Convenience in
Affordability Availability Wider reach
traffic
ROUND

PM ROUND

Awareness Equipment Rewards

TYPE

FAV PRODUCT Training sessions Helmets, safety gear

Bonuses, vouchers
and awareness and speed
and certificates
programs monitoring

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
PRODUCT DESIGN
 THE PUZZLING SHIFT

Hello, let’s get started with the case. Imagine that you are a PM for Swiggy. You have seen a decrease in the order
COMPANY
rates. Find out what went wrong.

Okay, let me get clarity on some things before going into the case.

Alright, ask me anything you want to know.

What does order rate mean here? Has the absolute number of orders decreased or has the number of orders per user has
ROUND decreased?

Both metrics have declined

PM
Have we observed a decline in the number of users?

No

TYPE Did this happen suddenly or over a longer period of time?

PRODUCT DESIGN This started about a month ago.

Fine. Are our competitors facing similar problems?

No, there has been no report of something like that happening.

DIFFICULTY
Okay I feel I have enough information to get started. We can categorize the problem as internal (in the app) and external
factors. Did any social events or external factors occur during this time that are encouraging people to eat at home?
EASY
Sure, that classification sounds good, but what do external factors mean?
 THE PUZZLING SHIFT

Let's say a famous restaurant closed or there has been some event that is pushing people to eat healthy. That can decrease
COMPANY
the order rates.

Fine, no such external things were observed. We can focus on the app and its usage.

Okay. Did the app undergo an update recently?

Yes, we have updated the app around the same time as the decline started. Can you do an in-depth analysis of
ROUND what triggered the decline?

We can divide the app into UI and UX, what has been changed after the update?
PM
We made some changes to the UX side of the app.

Okay, let us trace the journey of a user on the app.

TYPE open the application -> search for an item/restaurant -> scroll through the options -> add food items to cart -> go to checkout
-> payment.
PRODUCT DESIGN
Where do you think there has been a decrease from the previous section?

We have seen a decrease in the number of people adding items to the cart and going to the checkout section.

DIFFICULTY Alright, users may not be proceeding due to the following reasons
1. They are willingly choosing to exit before clicking the checkout button
2. The checkout button is not visible
EASY
3. They are not able to locate the checkout button
4. They are not able to click the checkout button
5. The checkout page is not loading
 THE PUZZLING SHIFT

Do we know which part of these has seen an issue in the recent update?
COMPANY
We have seen that the user is not able to locate the checkout button.

Alright, this can be due to three factors:

1. The size of the button might be too small
2. The colour of the button might not be distinct enough
3. The location of the button is in an unfamiliar location
ROUND
Have any of these changed?
PM Yes, you are right, we have moved the checkout icon to the top-left, which is an unconventional space. We can stop
the case here.

TYPE

PRODUCT DESIGN

DIFFICULTY

EASY
 THE PUZZLING SHIFT

COMPANY
Decrease in Order
Yes rates No

Internal to the app External to the app

No Yes

ROUND
UI UX
PM

No change Searching for No change Scrolling through

TYPE Opening the app
item/restaurant options

PRODUCT DESIGN No change

Payment Proceed to checkout Add items to cart

No change Users
DIFFICULTY decreased

EASY
 SMART WALKING STICK

COMPANY Hi, Let’s start the case. You are tasked with designing a smart walking stick for visually impaired people, what
features will you consider?

I believe the smart walking stick should have several essential features. First, an Obstacle detection, Recognition, and
Warning system is crucial. This system should utilize sensors to identify obstacles in user’s path and provide alerts through
audio or tactile feedback.

Do you want me to go in depth on obstacle detection?

ROUND
Yeah sure, what aspects would you consider?
PM
I’ll consider the range the sensors should cover to effectively detect obstacles, and how sensitive they should be and also the
system should be able to differentiate between types of obstacles like low objects vs high objects.

Yeah, looks good. Continue with the features.

TYPE I suggest having navigation assistance warning like traffic light detection, the system could be programmed to recognize traffic
light changes at pedestrian crossings.
PRODUCT DESIGN
How would you convey these warnings to the user?

Through audio warnings, when the light turns green, the user can receive a voice prompt like “safe to cross”, and when it turns
red, the system could warn “do not cross”.
DIFFICULTY
What about the situations where audio interface is not practical like noisy environments?
EASY
In situations where audio interface is not practical, vibrations could signal a green light with one type of vibration and a red
light with another.
 SMART WALKING STICK

COMPANY Okay, how do you plan to make the stick user-friendly in terms of portability?

A compact and lightweight built is necessary for portability. The stick should be easy to carry and store, making it practical for
daily use. Also I’d suggest a contrasting color scheme, like a bright white frame, to enhance visibility and identification.

Great ! Now give just the outlines of all the other features you will consider.

I would implement:
ROUND ● A feedback mechanism through the app, allowing users to share their experiences and suggestions for improvement.
● Adjustable height feature to accommodate various users. Additionally, an ergonomic design with a comfortable grip is
vital, ensuring ease of use on different terrains.
PM
● Incorporating Smart connectivity features, allowing the stick to connect to smartphones.

Can you mention a few success metrics for the app?

I’ll consider:
TYPE 1. User engagement rate
2. Feedback submission rate
PRODUCT DESIGN 3. User satisfaction score
4. Feedback response time

Cool. We’ll conclude the case here.

DIFFICULTY

EASY
 SMART WALKING STICK

COMPANY
Features

Feedback Obstacle
Navigation Adjustable Smart
mechanism Portability detection/
assistance height feature connectivity
ROUND through app recognition/
warning system
PM User
engagement Traffic light
Compact
detection Sensors
rate

Feedback Through audio

Light weight warnings
submission Provide alerts
TYPE rate
Through
User Easy to carry
vibrational Range of
PRODUCT DESIGN satisfaction and store
warnings sensors
score

Feedback Contrasting Differentiate

response time color scheme objects
DIFFICULTY
Identify
obstacles
EASY
 INSTAGRAM REVENUE

COMPANY Let’s start. So which application do you use the most in your phone.

The application which I use the most is Instagram.

Okay. Suppose you are a product manager at Instagram. You have been told to design a dashboard for the CEO of
Instagram.

For a CEO’s dashboard I would like to add the following insights:

ROUND ● User Growth and Engagement
● Content Performance
● Revenue and Monetization
PM
● User Demographics
● Customer Support and Satisfaction
● Competitive Landscape

Okay. Elaborate every point.

TYPE
● User growth and engagement: Basically this should include some data such as,
PRODUCT DESIGN ○ Monthly Active Users (MAU’s): To track the total number of monthly users, with trends over time.
○ Daily Active Users (DAU’s): To provide real-time data on DAU’s .
○ User Growth Rate: To track the percentage change in the user growth over different timeframes.
○ Engagement Rate: To measure average likes, comments, share and saves per users.

DIFFICULTY ● Content performance:

○ Top-performing posts: Highlight posts with the highest engagement across categories.
○ Reels performance: To display the growth of reels and the impact on engagement.
EASY
○ Content consumption patterns: Breakdown of content types users are consuming.
○ Trend analysis: Show the most used and highest performing hashtags and trends.
 INSTAGRAM REVENUE

● Revenue and Monetization:

COMPANY
○ Ad-Revenue: Overview of revenue from advertisements on the platform.
○ Click-Through Rate (CTR): Track the number of times ads are seen and the rate of users clicking through.
○ Revenue Growth Rate: Quarterly or annual growth in monetization channels.

● User Demographics
○ Geographical Distribution: Breakdown of users by region, country and key markets.
○ Age and Gender Distribution: Insights into the demographic makeup of Instagram users.
ROUND
● Customer support and Satisfaction
○ Support Tickets: Number of active, resolved and pending support tickets.
PM
● Competitive Landscape
○ Benchmarking Against Competitors: Compare Instagram’s growth, user engagement and revenue metrics to
competitors like TikTok, Snapchat or Youtube.
○ Market Share: Insights into Instagram’s position in the social media market globally and regionally.
TYPE
Okay, this sounds good. I think we can close the discussion now.
PRODUCT DESIGN

DIFFICULTY

EASY
 INSTAGRAM REVENUE

COMPANY
Insights

User growth Customer

Content Revenue and User Competitive
and Support and
Performance Monetization Demographics Landscape
ROUND Engagement Satisfaction

Benchmarking
PM Top Performing Ad Geographical Support Against
MAU’s Posts Revenue Distribution Tickets Competition

Age and
Reels Click-Throug
DAU’s Performance
Gender Market Share
h Rate (CTR) Distribution
TYPE
Content Platform
User Growth Revenue
Consumption Usage by
Rate Patterns Growth Rate Device
PRODUCT DESIGN
Engagement Trend Analysis
Rate

DIFFICULTY

EASY
 WARDROBE WHIZ

COMPANY Hi, let’s start with the case. So you are asked to design a wardrobe app, what features would you consider? And how
would it work?

Can I get few things clarified before we dive into the case?

Yes, go ahead.

ROUND Does the concept of wardrobe app revolved around personalizing your fashion and helping you choose or is it more of a fashion
industry update app?
PM
You may add additional features, but the core concept is a quick fashion app to choose fashions you can create.

Great! Delving into the case, I would like to identify two pain points that motivate the users to use our product
1. The lack of time to think of new styles and lack of interest to experiment on trends
2. Keeping track to know what’s there in their wardrobe to utilize it
TYPE May I proceed with these factors?

PRODUCT DESIGN Sure, you may.

Alright. Taking into account the above requirements, here are the features I would include in the application:
1. Cataloging the users clothes: Allows users to add the pictures of their clothes.
DIFFICULTY 2. Outfit of the day suggestions: Mix and match outfits on a daily basis; according to the mood of the user for the day.
3. Seasonal suggestions: According to the season, outfit suggestions would be provided.
EASY 4. Wardrobe search: Search seamlessly through the wardrobe based on different filters- type/color.
5. Top style trends:Show a variety of top styles in the country, including where to find them in the location that they live in.
 WARDROBE WHIZ

COMPANY 6. Wishlist Notifications: Users can add items they want to buy later in the wishlist and they will be notified when
these items are on sale or are back in stock.
7. Virtual Assistant: Users can seek help from the digital assistant feature.
8. Virtual Try-On Features: This could be a great feature to help the user virtually try on the clothing before deciding the
outfit.

That sounds good. How do you think the app should work, right from starting the app?
ROUND
So on starting the application, the user would be required to fill in their personal details, email id, and their location for
PM
personalised recommendations. Then they would be asked to catalogue their clothes; the app will automatically categorize
them. It would provide a varied number of outfit suggestions for the day based on the user’s mood. Top trends, Seasonal
suggestions, search through the wardrobe would be some of the other functional icons in the app.

TYPE Great. So these are all the free features that you would provide the user. Now how would you monetize it?

PRODUCT DESIGN So here are some of the features to monetize the app:
1. Integration with online retailers: I suggest that we connect with online retailers. Users can thus buy the styles that they
are recommended.
2. Subscriptions: Offering a subscription model for accessing some of the features like virtual try-on etc.
3. Advertising: Generating income through ads on a platform or website or collaborating with influencers.
DIFFICULTY
4. Brand deals: Partnering with brands to promote their products or services.

EASY
Cool. We can close the case now.
 WARDROBE WHIZ

COMPANY

Wardrobe App
ROUND

PM

Cataloging Outfit of Seasonal Virtual Top

TYPE Wardrobe Virtual Wishlist
user’s
the day Suggestions Search Try-on assistant Notifications Styles
clothes
PRODUCT DESIGN

DIFFICULTY

EASY
 WANDERLUST

COMPANY Hey! Let’s say you are a PM, can you build a product which enable tourists to travel around a particular city?

Alright. I have some questions before I start. Should I focus on any specific city or country?

Yes, you can focus on Indian cities in general.

Are we looking to generate profits or user acquisition and growth?

ROUND
We are focused on growing our user base.
SENIOR PM
Is there any financial constraint on building and developing the product?

No, you can use as many resources as you need.

TYPE Finally, is the product being built by a startup or an established company?

Product Design
PRODUCT DESIGN It’s an already established company.

So, this is how I will approach this: First, I will develop user profiles for different types of tourists. I will focus mainly on personal
travellers because business travellers mostly have a sponsored tour with a guide or other alternatives.
DIFFICULTY
Sounds fair.
MODERATE
Then, I would like to categorize places-of-interest in a city into categories like adventure, romance, tourism, historical etc.
 WANDERLUST

COMPANY Can you use a different classification?

Alright.I will focus on the concept of a foreigner travelling within the city in India. Since they are the people who will most likely
be using this app.

Okay, go ahead.

ROUND These might be the problems faced by the tourists:

● Mode of transportation.
SENIOR
PM PM ● Language barrier.
● Currency issue.
● Time constraint.
● Can include money constraint too according to the user persona.

TYPE We can solve these problems by adding these features:

● Transportation:
Product Design
PRODUCT DESIGN - In-App Transit Info: Include maps and schedules.
- Real-Time Tracker: Track buses and trains and provide information on bicycles mode of transportation if available..
- Transportation Packages: Offer discounts and ticket booking.
● Language:
DIFFICULTY - Language Tools: Translation and phrase guide.
- Multilingual Maps: Info in different languages.
MODERATE
EASY - Chat Support: Instant translation assistance.
 WANDERLUST

● Currency:
COMPANY - Currency Converter: Real-time rates.
- Card Payments: Highlight businesses accepting cards.
● Time:
- Quick Tours: Pre-planned itineraries to avoid last minute plans
- Tour Scheduler: Customized schedules according to time and convenience
- Smart Notifications: To keep users on track with the schedule
ROUND ● Money:
- Deals & Discounts: Display the special offers available
- Free Activities: Offer budget-friendly options.
SENIOR
PM PM
- Budget Dining: Provide affordable food choices.

Next, we can design a user friendly interface and change background themes and colours according to the history of the
place/some fun fact related to the place, say for Jaipur, display changes into pink colour because it is the Pink city of India.
TYPE This would keep the users engaged.

Product Design
PRODUCT DESIGN Okay, great! We can close the discussion now.

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
EASY
 WANDERLUST

COMPANY
Problems faced by tourists

ROUND Transportation Language Money Time Currency

SENIOR
PM PM

In-App Language Deals & Currency

Quick Tours
Transit Info Tools Discounts Converter

TYPE
Real-Time Multilingual Free Tour Card
Product Design
PRODUCT DESIGN Tracker Maps Activities Scheduler Payments

Transportatio Chat Budget Smart

n Packages Support Dining Notifications
DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
EASY
 VENUE MEETS TALENT

Let's move into the product design round. Say you are product manager of a startup and you are asked to design an
COMPANY app working to connect musicians and venues.

Sure! I would like to clarify a few points like

● Are we focusing just on musicians, or are venue owners also considered users – to find performers?
● Are we focused on maximizing bookings, increasing user engagement, or something else?

Good question. The platform will cater to both musicians and venue owners. Since this is an early-stage product, we’ll
ROUND leave it up to you as the product manager to decide what to prioritize. We’re aiming to go live within 2 to 6 months.

Got it. I believe I have the required context. My plan is to start by categorizing the platform users into musicians and venues.
PM Then, we can identify the challenges they face, devise solutions for these issues and prioritize the features of our platform
accordingly – user research and UX design.
For musicians, I see three key segments:
1. Upcoming musicians: These are musicians who are just starting out. They might not have much experience or
a portfolio of gigs. They need more visibility, easier booking processes, and validation of venue legitimacy.
TYPE
2. Mid-level musicians: Artists who have some established following, have performed at various venues, and are
Root Cause DESIGN
Analysis looking for more regular bookings. They want clarity on payment, equipment at the venue, and whether the gig
PRODUCT
fits their style and schedule.
3. Established musicians: Those who are well-known, probably have dedicated booking systems already, and
may not be our immediate focus initially.
DIFFICULTY
Visibility Financial Transparency
MODERATE Upcoming
Venue Legitimacy
Mid-level
Equipment Available
Musicians Musicians
Easier Booking Schedule Coordination
 VENUE MEETS TALENT

- On the venue side, I would segment it into:

COMPANY
1. Primary venues: These are venues whose primary business revolves around live performances, like music bars
or concert halls. They are usually more experienced in booking and may focus on more advanced features like
filtering musicians by reputation or performance style (genre).
2. Secondary venues: Places like restaurants or cafes where live performances are a value addition rather than
the main attraction. They especially need a faster way to find and filter performers who are the right fit (the less
popular venues might struggle with attracting musicians who fit their brand or vibe with other factors like location,
ROUND budget, genre, availability etc)

PM That seems like a logical categorization. You can move onto the features you would include in this app.

For the app design, one moonshot idea is to create a system similar to a dating app like Tinder.
- For musicians, especially upcoming ones:
● Tinder-like swipe feature: Musicians can swipe through venue options quickly, choosing ones that fit their
TYPE
preferences like budget, location, and schedule.

Root Cause DESIGN

PRODUCT Analysis ● Filter options: Musicians could filter venues based on size, equipment availability, and payment options. This
helps more experienced musicians find what they need.

- For venues, especially secondary ones:

● Search for musicians by genre or experience level: This helps them quickly filter out musicians who don’t fit
DIFFICULTY
their vibe or budget.
● Profile matching: A recommendation system that automatically suggests musicians based on venue
MODERATE
preferences.
This way, we create a frictionless matching experience where both parties find a suitable fit.
 VENUE MEETS TALENT

That sounds very interesting and innovative approach to stand out. How would you ensure a good user experience?
COMPANY
I’d focus on simplicity and clarity, especially since many users, like upcoming musicians and secondary venues, may not be
tech-savvy.
● For musicians, I’d design clean, intuitive profiles of venues like cards that would display vital information like price
range, location, equipment availability, rating, audience size and payment terms.
● For venues, I’d make sure they can quickly search and filter musicians, with easy-to-read musician profiles highlighting
ROUND their genre, experience level, and reviews from previous venues. The musician is the primary user. The platform should
make it easy for musicians to browse venues.
PM To track the success of out product we can use some metrics and provide some point system to further improve user
experience and loyalty.
● North Star Metric = % of musicians who book a venue and perform through the platform.
● Supporting Metrics, for musicians would be retention rates, time spent on the platform, and booking-to-performance
TYPE ratio and for venues we can have frequency of musician bookings, user feedback on quality, and return bookings.

Root Cause DESIGN

PRODUCT Analysis This design balances the needs of both stakeholders, addresses core pain points, and sets up the app for a strong early-stage
launch.

Excellent! That wraps up the product design round. I like how you structured your approach by focusing on user
DIFFICULTY segmentation and their specific pain points, and you’ve suggested some thoughtful features that prioritize the needs
of both musicians and venues.

MODERATE
 VENUE MEETS TALENT

COMPANY App

Musicians Venue Owners

ROUND
Upcoming Established Mid-level Primary Secondary
PM

Boost Visibility Not our Initial Equipment Reputation of Budget

Target Artists
Easier Booking Financial Genre
TYPE Transparency Genre
Venue Availability
Root Cause DESIGN
PRODUCT Analysis Legitimacy Schedule

Location

DIFFICULTY

Primary factors
MODERATE
to design the
app
 DREAM11 BUZZ

COMPANY Hi , let's start with the case. Your task is develop a product like Dream11 for an alternate sport in India.

The first step would be to identify sports that are popular and have a dedicated user base, similar to cricket.

And what sports do you think would be the best options?

In terms of sports with a strong following in India, I’d look at two key areas:
ROUND
1. Football: With the growing popularity of the Indian Super League (ISL) and the established global fanbase for leagues
like the Premier League and La Liga.
PM
2. Kabaddi: It has deep cultural roots in India ,and the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) has grown significantly in recent
years.

These sports already have established or growing leagues, which are important for the fantasy sports model Dream11
TYPE operates on. However, from these options, football seems like the most logical choice due to its broader appeal and
established international leagues.
PRODUCT DESIGN
Why focus on football leagues in particular?

Leagues are essential for the success of fantasy sports platforms. Dream11 thrives during high-profile tournaments, like the
IPL in cricket. Similarly, we’d need to tap into the excitement around football leagues to to increase user engagement.
DIFFICULTY
● Indian Super League (ISL) is popular and well-marketed domestic football tournament.
MODERATE ● Foreign leagues, like the Premier League, La Liga, and the UEFA Champions, already have a huge following in India.
By including these leagues, we can attract both casual and die-hard football fans.
 DREAM11 BUZZ

Focusing on these leagues allows us to create excitement around tournaments, leading to higher user engagement and more
COMPANY
frequent participation, similar to what Dream11 did with IPL.

That makes sense. How would you design the product around these football leagues?

We would replicate Dream 11's successful model but customize it for football. The core structure remains the same: users
would select a team of 11 players plus substitutes, choosing from a pool of real-life players. However, the scoring system
would be tailored to football-specific events.
ROUND
Forward Midfielder Defenders Goalkeeper
PM
Goal scored - +40 Goal scored - +50 Goal scored - +60 Clean sheets- +20
Assist - +20 Assist- + 30 Intercepts - +4 Save - +6 points
Shots on target - +6 Penalty saved - +50

TYPE Additionally general points

PRODUCT DESIGN Yellow card: -4 points , Red card: -10 points , Own goal :-8 points , Goals conceded:- 2 points , Penalty missed:- 20 points.

This seems fine ,how about the competition

DIFFICULTY Just like with Dream11 cricket, we would host daily and tournament-long fantasy football competitions. These competitions
would be timed around major league fixtures and international tournaments
MODERATE
In addition, we could introduce unique features like captain choices for double points and a "super subs" and multiple 11’s
feature to make the experience even more interactive.
 DREAM11 BUZZ

COMPANY Alright this seems fine we can close the case here,

ROUND

PM

TYPE

PRODUCT DESIGN

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
 ELIMINATING FAKE

COMPANY Now that we have decided to solve the problem. Would you help us highlight the key challenges and some
solutions?

Sure. Before diving into the case, I would like to ask a few clarifying questions

Go ahead

A. Regarding the Company:

ROUND ● What does it do? → Social media company
● What is the Business Model? → Ads and Marketplace
SENIOR PM ● Market share? → Market leader
● Which Geographies are we targeting? → Only India

B. Competitors:
● Market share, Business model? → Standard ones (incumbents + new companies), Ads + marketplace
● Are they facing a similar fake news problem? → Most likely, Industry wide problem
TYPE
C. Product
PRODUCT DESIGN
PRODUCT DESIGN ● Which FB product? → FB app, News Feed
● Objective/vision of this product?
→ Engage people and keep them coming back to FB over and over again. Monetize this with various BMs
● Success metrics of this product → Engagement: Time spent on app per user. Revenue: Ads revenue/ GMV per user
● ‘Fake news’ definition → Misinformation that is spread via social media
DIFFICULTY ● Scale of the fake news problem → Unknown
● For how long have you experienced the fake news problem? → Noticed it a couple of months back
DIFFICULT ● Any metric that got affected due to fake news? → No RCA available readily
 ELIMINATING FAKE

COMPANY D. Objective
● What is the objective?
→ Identify key issues and propose high level solution to solve for fake news in FB india news feed
● Why should we solve this problem? → In previous case

Alright, I think I have a good background knowledge of our client. So now I will break down the PS to get a better overview of
the process.

ROUND Sure, go ahead.

SENIOR PM Actions
Generate Upload
Fake news taken based Consequences Consequence
fake fake news
consumption on fake on society on FB
news on FB
news

The core entity is the Fake news FB posts in the news feed as discussed in the previous case.
TYPE

PRODUCT DESIGN
PRODUCT DESIGN
Fake news Political Medical Scientific Business & Finance

Image Majority
DIFFICULTY
Video

DIFFICULT
EASY Text
 ELIMINATING FAKE

COMPANY Okay so now I will analyse the actors in this ecosystem.

Sure, go ahead.

Source of Fake news → Off Platform

Publisher of Fake news → On platform
Consumer of Fake news → On Platform
Society → Off platform
ROUND There is nothing much we can do to control the off platform actors. So we will focus on the activities of on platform actors

SENIOR PM Fair enough, go ahead.

So this is the basic classification for the publishers and consumers or the on platform actors for our case

Did not look at

TYPE fake news or did
Originators not act on fake
news
PRODUCT DESIGN
PRODUCT DESIGN

DIFFICULTY
Publishers
Customers
DIFFICULT

Spreaders
 ELIMINATING FAKE

COMPANY I will analyze each of these in detail now

Sounds Good.

A. Originators:
● Could be malicious or unintentional originators of fake news on the platform
● Persona:
1. Ground level Party workers
ROUND 2. Polarised opinions
3. Easily manipulated/ brainwashed
SENIOR PM 4. Mid 20s, aspirational
5. Broken english, basic understanding of social media and tech products
B. Spreaders:
1. Politically active and vocal about thoughts
2. Mid 40-50s
3. New to social media
TYPE 4. Victims of confirmation bias
5. Lot of free time on hand
PRODUCT DESIGN
PRODUCT DESIGN Can I move ahead with these assumptions about originators and spreaders of fake news?

Believe Yes Share Yes

Interested about Get ‘fake news’
fake fake Spreader
the topic inputs
news? news?
DIFFICULTY
No No
DIFFICULT
Non Non
spreader spreader
 ELIMINATING FAKE

COMPANY Yes, this is exactly what we are looking at. You can proceed.

Now, I will come up with granular problem statements which can be addressed along with the priority order.

Priority Order Potential Problem statement

1 Prevent political fake news images from getting uploaded

ROUND
2 Prevent political fake news images from getting shared
SENIOR PM
3 Prevent political fake news images from going viral and reaching a lot of eyes

4 Prevent people from believing fake news and images

TYPE I would like to analyse the key issues for addressing these problem statements.

PRODUCT DESIGN
PRODUCT DESIGN Sure, go ahead.

According to me the major key issues would be:

1. Lot of off-platform nuances and variables that control the fake news spreading ecosystem
2. Identifying absolute truth (fake vs real) is difficult
DIFFICULTY 3. Impact prediction of fake news on society and FB is difficult

DIFFICULT
EASY Great, now that you have understood the root cause and the problems to be addressed,
Can you please give some recommendations?
 ELIMINATING FAKE

Sure, so I propose a high level solution:

COMPANY
Yes Yes Yes
Is image upload Has potential
Fake news originator
political & fake in impact on Hard check
persona match?
nature? society?

No No No

ROUND No action No action Soft check

SENIOR PM We should keep a check at each step in this funnel.

A. Fake news originator checks

● Real or fake
● Pages/people followed
TYPE ● Posts liked or shared
● Previous posts history
PRODUCT DESIGN
PRODUCT DESIGN
B. Image political fake news check
● Classification ML model:
1) Inputs - image pixels of posts shared via image medium in the region
2) Output - Fake news or not fake news (basis number of ‘reports’ to the post etc + verified by moderators)
DIFFICULTY
C. Potential Impact on society
● Simple ML model with three classifications: Benign, medium, dangerous
DIFFICULT
EASY
Sounds good, we can close the case here.
PRODUCT IMPROVEMENT
 MADE IN WHATSAPP

Hi ! Let's start with a case. Whatsapp was recently acquired by Facebook. How do you think the experience of
COMPANY
whatsapp can be improved?

Alright, I have a few clarifying questions. Are we looking at a specific timeline?

We can look at one year.

What exactly do we mean by improving experience in Whatsapp?

ROUND
Here, it means improving ease of communication.
PM Are we looking at personal users or business users?

We can look at personal users.

Can I consider it to be a mature product?

TYPE
Yes.
PRODUCT
IMPROVEMENT
DESIGN
I have enough information to start the case now. First, I would like to run you through the basic functionality of Whatsapp to
see if there is any scope of improvement here. The basic features are -
● Texting people
● Putting statuses
DIFFICULTY ● Audio and video calling

Do you think any of these basic functionalities can be improved further?

Difficult
EASY
No, here I don’t see any scope for immediate improvement . All these basic functionalities have been optimised and reached
their saturation point as of now.
 MADE IN WHATSAPP

So, where else can we tap in?

COMPANY
We can look at adjacent features in Facebook and Instagram and include them in Whatsapp to level up the experience.. Some
features I can think as of now are -

→ Talking to people outside one’s contact list

→ Introducing a marketplace.
→ Improving ease of joining communities
ROUND
That’s great. Is there any specific feature you want to focus on and why?
PM I would like to focus on launching a new marketplace because Facebook and Instagram have been experimenting with a similar
model. And given that Whatsapp already has a payment feature, introducing a marketplace can be highly rewarding.

That is a good observation. We can proceed further.

TYPE To proceed further I would like to break this into two interfaces. We can look at the seller and user flows.

PRODUCT
IMPROVEMENT
DESIGN The user flow would be - Scouting for businesses → Looking through the catalogues → Transacting online

So while customers scout for businesses who would appear on the searches?

I would like to make it hyperlocal. We can include a feature of setting up a radius.

DIFFICULTY
Why would you like to keep the feature hyperlocal? Do you think there is any specific benefit?
Difficult
EASY
It acts as a soft power in a way and gives the customer a feel good that the money they are spending is going to elevate local
communities. And I feel given recent talks regarding ONDC this move has great growth potential. On the other hand it is an
extremely cost effective option as well.
 MADE IN WHATSAPP

COMPANY That is a valid argument. Let us move to the sellers side now .

Yes. So, the sellers would include small business owners for example - a baker selling cakes or a small scale fashion
designer selling clothes.
This would include onboarding sellers and ensuring they provide good service.

Since we have a one year timeline what should the focus be on?

ROUND Technology can be built within a month or two after testing and piloting. We need to focus on onboarding verified sellers on
the platform and enabling transactions.
Once we get a basic idea about the traction we can onboard more people and do more pilots and eventually building up a
PM
marketplace from scratch.

Great ! That concludes our case. Thank you.

TYPE

PRODUCT
IMPROVEMENT
DESIGN

DIFFICULTY

EASY
 MADE IN WHATSAPP

COMPANY
Whatsapp

Text messaging Status Updates Voice/Video calling

ROUND Whatsapp’s
marketplace

PM
Seller’s flow User’s flow

TYPE Onboard sellers Scout for businesses

PRODUCT
IMPROVEMENT
DESIGN
Create an verify Go through
business profiles catalogue

DIFFICULTY Upload
Transact Online
products/services
EASY
 PAY WITH GPAY

COMPANY Let’s start with the case. Analyse e-bill payment feature in Gpay and suggest some improvements.

I have not used this feature previously. But, I think it should be a feature that fetches all the bills at a single place, and can
be paid for with GPay.

Yes, You got it right. It is a feature to pay all your bills at a single place, to make your life a bit easier.

Great, Let me ask some clarifying questions so that I can get a hang of the e-bill feature.
ROUND
Sure
SENIOR PM
There are two stages of usage here. First time payment (linking the accounts) and using the feature after linking. Can you
please explain the user steps involved currently in both of these stages?

Yes, For first time setup, the user has to link the account, let’s say electricity account to GPay by entering some
relevant data. Using this information GPay fetches all pending bills under that electricity account. The next step is
TYPE common for both first time user and recursive users. They can just pay the bills with existing GPay payment
methods.
PRODUCT
IMPROVEMENT
DESIGN
Great, So currently the feature works only for paying to an established organisation which has an API to access customer
bill data

Yeah that’s right

DIFFICULTY
Thank you for the inputs, I have got a pretty good idea of the functionality.
MODERATE Let me go through the user journey and try to look for any improvements at each step.

Good, Go Ahead
 PAY WITH GPAY

COMPANY First time payment: Go to Bill section → Select Company/Service → Add Details → Pending bills → Payment

Recurring payment: Go to Bill section → Pending bills → Payment

Now analysing each step in both these user journey,

1,Increasing no. of customers checking bill payment section:

ROUND ● Intimate users about pending/new bills for users who have saved info
● When a user pays with GPay in the electricity website, a pop up message should appear asking permission to store
their data for future use. With this we can migrate users to this feature
SENIOR PM
2.Companies/Services available:
● Adding subscriptions like Netflix, Prime and other platforms
● Adding more options like Kirana store, newspaper, milk payment. A feature where these shopkeepers can send the
bill to their customers, and customers in turn pay them with GPay
TYPE ● Catalogue the services available with respect to location, as each state has their own services.

3.Adding Details:
PRODUCT
IMPROVEMENT
DESIGN
● Important step, as this determines the transaction. Display the customer details before saving the data, so that they
can rectify any typing mistakes.
● OTP / website password to check for authenticity/correctness of data entered
● As suggested before, pop up window in website payment to store data
DIFFICULTY
4. Pending Bills:
● Users should not miss out on payment date, so by default pending bills should be ordered chronologically.
MODERATE
DIFFICULT Additional filter/sorts can be provided to aid users in making financial decisions
 PAY WITH GPAY

5. Payment:
COMPANY
● Users typically pay with debit card, credit card, netbanking, UPI. The edge this feature has over the traditional one is
aggregation and recursiveness. To improve the recursion, we can motivate users to store money in GPay wallet for
transaction in a click or automated transaction.
● New possibility might include creating bank mandate for automated payment. (Not sure of the govt. laws)

These are the list of improvements that will enhance the purpose of the feature. Should I look into any other field or area?

ROUND This is great! Can you prioritise these suggestions? Pick the top 3 suggestions

Sure, I will create a impact vs effort matrix to prioritise them

SENIOR PM
New Feature Impact Effort
● Pending bill reminder Medium (User retention) Low (Addition of notification feature)
● Pop up to store data High (New users) Medium (Collaborate with payment sites)
● Subscription payments High (New users) Medium (APIs for many companies)
TYPE ● Shopkeepers Low (cash/on spot payment) High (Create features to add recipients)
● Catalogue services Low (Just a filter) Low (create filter)
PRODUCT
IMPROVEMENT
DESIGN ● Check page on saving data High (Safety & accuracy) Low (Display details to verify)
● OTP/password on saving data HIgh (Safety & accuracy) Medium (Collaborate with companies)
● Pending bill display order Low (Payment reminder is better) Low (Sorting/order of display)
● Automate transaction High (Only diff. Between other modes) High (Adding new software changes)

DIFFICULTY The top 3 would be

1. Automate Transaction - As it is the key difference between normal UPI & this feature
2. Check page / OTP - As accuracy of data entered is very important
MODERATE
DIFFICULT
3. Pop up to store data - This brings in new customers

Great insights! Let’s end the case here

 PAY WITH GPAY

COMPANY
Gpay - users’ flow

First time payment Recurring payment

ROUND
Go to bill section Go to bill section
SENIOR PM

Select company or
Pending bills
service

TYPE
Add details Payment
PRODUCT
IMPROVEMENT
DESIGN

Pending bills

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
DIFFICULT Payment
 RIDE SOLO

COMPANY Imagine you're working at Rapido, you've noticed a high rate of ride cancellations because there aren't enough
drivers available. You have two potential solutions to address this issue:
1. Increase the range for driver requests: Currently, requests are sent to drivers within a 3km radius, but you're
considering expanding it to a 5km radius.
2. Provide drivers with hotspot information: Show the drivers the areas where the most ride requests are
coming from to help them better position themselves.
Which solution do you think is a better approach to tackle the problem?

ROUND Firstly, i have a few clarifying questions to ask.

Yes please go ahead.

PM
Are the cancellations only due to lack of drivers or is there any other reason observed?

Yes, it’s only because there aren’t enough drivers available.

TYPE Okay, how is the radius calculated? Is it the road distance or just the displacement?

IMPROVEMENT So, the radius is just the displacement from a particular customer.

Okay, I would like to begin by identifying the root cause of the problem. Once I understand the underlying issue, I can then
decide on the most appropriate solution. I’ll break down the problem and its potential solutions. Will that be ok?

DIFFICULTY Great. Go ahead..

DIFFICULT To find the root cause, I would like to analyze the following:
 RIDE SOLO

1. Driver Onboarding and Retention: Investigate if there are issues with recruiting and retaining drivers. Are drivers
COMPANY
leaving the platform due to dissatisfaction with earnings or working conditions?
2. Market Demand and Supply: Analyze if the demand for rides exceeds the supply of drivers in certain areas or during
specific times. Is there a seasonal or time-of-day variation in driver availability?
3. Competition: Assess if there are other ride-sharing services operating in the same areas, potentially drawing the drivers
away from Rapido.
4. Incentives: Examine the effectiveness of driver incentives. Are they sufficient to encourage drivers to accept more
rides?
ROUND 5. Workload: Consider if drivers are experiencing excessive workload, leading to fatigue and reduced availability.

I like your approach.. it is pretty exhaustive, but do you think the choice may differ depending on the root cause?
PM
Yes, the choice between expanding the rider request radius and showing hotspot areas to drivers depends on the specific
circumstances and root causes of the driver shortage.

In order to prevent further complexities let’s assume that the root cause is market demand and supply.
TYPE
Okay then.. Now can I proceed with analysing the pros and cons of the given solutions?
IMPROVEMENT
Sure go ahead.

Solution 1 - Expanding the rider request radius from 3km to 5km:

Pros:
DIFFICULTY ● Increased Driver Availability: Expanding the radius could make more drivers available for ride requests, especially in
areas with lower driver density.
● Reduced Cancellations: With a larger radius, riders may have more available drivers to choose from, reducing the
DIFFICULT
MEDIUM
likelihood of cancellations due to driver unavailability or if the driver has a lower rating.
 RIDE SOLO

COMPANY Cons:
● Longer Pickup Times: Extending the radius may result in longer pickup times for riders, as drivers would need to travel
greater distances to reach them.
● Driver Workload: Drivers may have to cover larger areas, potentially increasing their workload and leading to driver
fatigue or reduced service quality.
● May Not Address the Root Cause: While this solution can mitigate cancellations, it doesn't directly address the
underlying issue of market demand and supply imbalance.

ROUND Okay I like your approach, now what are the pros and cons of the second solution?

Solution 2: Showing drivers the areas with the highest number of ride requests (hotspot areas):
PM
Pros:
● Optimized Driver Deployment: This solution can help drivers make informed decisions about where to position
themselves, optimizing driver deployment to meet demand.
● Reduced Cancellations: By guiding drivers to areas with high demand, the likelihood of ride cancellations due to driver
unavailability can be reduced.
TYPE ● Improved Driver Earnings: Drivers can potentially earn more by focusing on high-demand areas, which can lead to
higher driver satisfaction.
Product
.. Design
IMPROVEMENT
FAV PRODUCT Cons:
● Increased Competition: Drivers may flock to hotspot areas, leading to oversaturation and increased competition for
rides. This could result in reduced earnings for some drivers.
● Doesn't Address Overall Supply: While it optimizes existing driver supply, it doesn't directly address the issue of an
overall shortage of drivers.
DIFFICULTY
Can you sum up the advantages and disadvantages of both solutions quickly?
MODERATE
DIFFICULT
MEDIUM
Yeah sure,
● Expanding the rider request radius can increase driver availability and reduce cancellations but may lead to longer
pickup times and potential driver workload concerns.
 RIDE SOLO

COMPANY ● Showing drivers hotspot areas can optimize driver deployment and reduce cancellations but may result in increased
competition among drivers.

Okay now, given the root cause of ride cancellations is a mismatch between market demand and supply, what would
be the recommended solution?

The solution I would recommend would be, showing drivers the areas with the highest number of ride requests, that is the
hotspot areas.
ROUND
Can you sum up why this is the better solution.
PM
● It assists drivers in making informed decisions about their positioning to improve the alignment between supply and
demand in the ride-sharing service.
● By guiding drivers to strategic locations, we minimize cancellations due to driver unavailability.This enhances the
overall reliability of our service, ensuring that customers experience fewer ride cancellations and delays.
● Drivers can potentially earn more by positioning themselves in areas with higher ride demand, leading to improved
TYPE income opportunities.
● By optimizing driver choices and earnings, we boost driver satisfaction and motivation.
Product.. Design
PRODUCT
IMPROVEMENT DESIGN ● This strategy creates a win-win situation for both drivers and customers, as it improves service quality and driver
income simultaneously.

That’s an excellent analysis. We can close the discussion now

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
DIFFICULT
MEDIUM
 Root Cause of the Problem

Driver Onboarding Market Demand and Competition Incentives Workload

and Retention Supply

Expanding Rider Request from 3 to 5 km Showing Driver Hotspot Areas

Increased Driver Longer Pickup Optimized Driver Increased

Availability time Deployment Competition

Cons
Pros

Cons

Pros
Reduced Driver Workload Reduced Does not address
Cancellations Cancellations overall supply

May not address Improved Driver

the root cause Earnings

Better Solution
ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
 PHARMEASY IS NOT EASY

Hi, let us start with the case. So let’s say you are a PM at Pharmeasy and you are seeing a decline in the number of
COMPANY
sales. Can you find out what the exact issue is?

Sure.So, I want to know certain things before diving into the case.

Yeah sure, shoot.

ROUND Are we considering the decline in orders placed through our website, app or both?

ROUND
Round
PM 11 Take the decline in the orders placed through both our app and website.

Ok. Can I ask a few questions to come up to the root cause for the decline?

Sure, feel free to ask any type of questions.

TYPE
Is there a decline in the number of customers visiting our app/website or is there a decline in just the number of orders
RCA placed?

It can be said that there is a decline in number of orders placed.

DIFFICULTY Are we the only one facing this problem or is this observed across the E-Pharma industry?

EASY No, only we are seeing the decline in sales.

 PHARMEASY IS NOT EASY

Are there any new competitors in the market?

COMPANY
No, there has been no new entry in the market recently

Ok in that case have the existing competitors changed or are have we changed in any way?

We haven’t undergone any changes in our daily operations or supply chain. I don’t know about our competitors
ROUND
So based on the discussion we had, I think our competitors are doing something better than us or have a better visibility
ROUND
Round
PM 11 compared to us. This can be a possible reason affecting our sales

Yes, the reason you gave sounds nice and the way you approached the conclusion was also good. Now, can u tell
me how can we overcome this problem.

TYPE Sure. We can first find out how the competitors are better than us. We can do this by:
● Checking their news updates to see if they have introduced something new
RCA ● Personally using their app/website to see if they have brought in new features
● Talk to our marketing team to check for trends on the user sentiment change, that is have the competitors introduced
new discount rates or something to provide more comfort to users.
Once we know the reason why our competitor is doing better than us, we can take the help of our product design team to
DIFFICULTY come up with a new and innovative solution or feature which will solve the same problem our competitor is solving in a better
and effective way. We can also have regular updates that make the journey of placing orders easier for users.
EASY
Great! We can close the discussion now.
 PHARMEASY IS NOT EASY

COMPANY Decline in Sales Problem

Consider both Decline across

App and Website E-pharma?
YES NO
ROUND

ROUND
Round
PM 11 Decline in # Decline in #
customers? orders placed?

NO YES

Competitors Pharmeasy
TYPE
Change in Operations/
RCA New competitors? Any better changes? Supply Chain?
NO Maybe… NO

New Offers/Deals
DIFFICULTY Research
Updates/News/Market *Case Closed*
Competitors
EASY
User sentiment/UX
 DORA THE EXPLORER

Hi! Hope you’re having a good day so far. Do you use Google maps often while travelling to new places?
COMPANY
Yes, very much. It’s one of the most used apps after I have come to Chennai to study.

Cool. The ratings on Google Maps have been decreasing recently. What are the possible reasons for this decline?

To understand the reasons behind the declining ratings on Google Maps, I would start by asking some preliminary questions.
Could you specify the device where this has been observed? Is it on Android, iOS, or both?
ROUND
The issue seems to be on both Android and iOS platforms.
PM Since when have the ratings been on the decline?

We’ve seen this trend for approximately 3 to 4 weeks. What external factors might be contributing to this issue?

● Launch of a new feature that might be receiving backlash

TYPE ● Negative PR about Google Maps such as a data leak
● Government-imposed mandates or policies against Google Maps
PRODUCT
RCADESIGN
Who are the primary users of Google Maps?

Google Maps users can be categorized into three main sections:

● Regular customers who use it for daily commute
DIFFICULTY ● Tourists who are new to the city
● Ola/Uber drivers
Among these user sections, do we know which contributes to most of the complaints and bad ratings?
EASY
The tourist demographic seems to be consistently providing low ratings. Can you indicate the problems that this
demographic might be facing when utilizing Google Maps?
 DORA THE EXPLORER

Certainly. Tourists typically use Google Maps for :

COMPANY
● Searching local attractions
● Looking for accommodations and other requirements like restaurants and nearest shopping centres
● Navigation assistance during their journey
Among these could you pinpoint the service where we’re receiving low ratings.

It appears that users seem to be most dissatisfied when using Google Maps for navigation during their travels.

ROUND My approach would be to dissect the user journey when using Google Maps for navigation to pinpoint the cause for negative
ratings.The user journey for navigation through Google Maps involves the following steps:
1. App initiation
PM 2. Destination search
3. Route overview, including the estimated time of arrival
4. Commute mode selection
5. Traffic Assessment displaying the level of congestion in the selected route with distinct colours
6. Turn-by-turn assistance with voice guidance
TYPE 7. Final arrival at the destination
I think the main issue is Maps’ inability to indicate traffic zones accurately because the tourist demographic would not know
PRODUCT
RCADESIGN the local routes and the traffic congestion level, causing a high dependency on such an app

That seems fair. How can we confirm the occurrence of the problem related to inaccurate traffic zone indications?

This issue can be verified by comparing the actual duration of the journey with the estimated arrival time provided by Google
DIFFICULTY Maps prior to trip commencement. Consistent exceeding of estimated time of arrival would signal the inaccuracies in Google
Maps’ traffic zone indications.
EASY
Alright. We can close the case
 DORA THE EXPLORER

COMPANY DECLINE IN
RATINGS

Internal External User

ROUND Reasons Reasons Characteristics

PM
Flawed Daily
Feature Commuters

Ola/Uber
Negative PR
Drivers
TYPE
Government
PRODUCT
RCADESIGN Tourists
Mandate

Searching for Finding Navigation

Attractions Lodging Assistance
DIFFICULTY

EASY App Destination Route Commute Traffic Voice

Final Arrival
Initiation Search Overview Mode Assessment Guidance
 WHERE’S MY PIZZA

COMPANY Hi, let us start with the case. Let’s say you are the PM at Dominos and you see that the delivery time is increasing.
Find the Root cause behind this issue.

Can i ask few questions before we dive into the case?

Sure, go ahead

Does the delivery time start from the moment the order is placed or the moment food is picked up from the restaurant.
ROUND
Delivery time is considered only after the order is picked up from the restaurant.
PM
When did this increase in delivery time start?

It started happening around a month back.

TYPE Is it location specific?

RCA No, this is happening all over India.

Is this issue limited only to the app or should external influences be taken into account?

DIFFICULTY Constrain the issue only to the app.

Was there any update launched in the app around the same time?
MODERATE
Yes, there was an update last month.
 WHERE’S MY PIZZA

COMPANY I would like to go through the user journey to analyse the potential problems.

User journey Home page Add food Post order Experience

The home page, food section and post order experience work fine, no problem with them.

Next I would like to analyze the problem from the delivery boy’s side

ROUND The increase in time due to problems in the delivery side could be due to two things:

PM ● Increase in ΔT during travel

● Increase in ΔT while handing over the food or receiving payment from the customer

The delivery time during travel has increased from 40 minutes to 45 minutes.

TYPE Is this a localized issue?

RCA No, this is a nationwide issue

This issue could be attributed to a functionality change due to the update, in either of the following areas:

DIFFICULTY Delivery point set Deciding optimal route Conveying the route

Since this is national issue, human errors in setting the delivery location can be eliminated. This narrows down the issue to
MODERATE
either being the map algorithm being less optimal or map UI not conveying the route properly.

Alright, the issue was with the map API. We can close the case
 WHERE’S MY PIZZA

COMPANY Problem?

Increase in delivery
time

User Journey Delivery journey

ROUND

PM

Home Post order Increase in Increase

TYPE Add food handling / payment time in travel time
page Experience
RCA

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
 METRICS ARE EVERYTHING

COMPANY Hi, let us start with the case. So let’s say you are a PM at a stock-broking app and you are seeing that the
uninstallation rates have gone up by 9% in the last week. Can you find out what the exact issue is?

Sure. So, I want to know certain things before diving into the case.

Yeah sure, go ahead.

ROUND Are we considering that there is any data gathered from PlayStore reviews that can explain an anomaly?

BUDDY Not really, the firm has tried to investigate the same but has not found any relevant reviews.

Ok. Can I ask a few questions to come up to the root cause for the uninstallation rate?

TYPE Sure, feel free to ask any type of questions.

Has the increase in the number of uninstallations been uniform all across platforms or has it been limited to either ios or
RCA
android interface?

It is definite that the increase in uninstallation has been uniform across the devices.

DIFFICULTY Does the app have any mechanism that asks for feedback before uninstallation or is there a way of finding out the last feature
used before uninstalling the app?
MODERATE
No, unfortunately both of these things are not a part of the app. Can you dwell over more reasons?
 METRICS ARE EVERYTHING

COMPANY Just to dwell over the internal changes in the app’s architecture and functioning
● A new feature might have been introduced or an older one could have been modified
● Brokerage fees charged by the app may have been increased

No, there has been no such changes made to the app.

So it will be a safe assumption to think that there has been no change in calculation of the number of uninstallations?
ROUND
Yes, that seems like a valid assumption
BUDDY
So based on the discussion we had, I think internal reasons related to app design have nothing to do with the problem.

Yes, your approach seems to be on track now. Can you think of any other changes in our daily operations or the
TYPE market?

There can be quite a few changes related to our competitors

RCA
● Existing competitors may have changed in any positive way
● There may be new competitors in the market with traction

No, there has been no new entry or changes made by our competitors in the market recently
DIFFICULTY
Ok, in that case has the market in general faced any decline or have we changed our approach to the market?
MODERATE
 METRICS ARE EVERYTHING

COMPANY Very well. It appears that the firm has taken on a new programme which has changed the trends of installation and
uninstallation of our app.

So, focusing on the 9% rise in the uninstallation rate at hand, is it the case that our new approach to the market has either
disappointed old users or is it losing its newly acquired cohort?

The second assertion is correct. We have observed that a campaign had attracted a new category of users, and this
ROUND particular group is playing a significant role in the issue. Can you tell me what category of users may they be?

BUDDY The white collar workers demographic may be the users consistent user base. So, the newly acquired users may be under the
following categories:
● High Income: Retirees and Businessmen
● Low income: Students and Informal Sector workers

You are on the right track. The campaign was geared towards acquiring low income category users. Can you now tell
TYPE what may have caused them to uninstall the app?

RCA In my opinion, it may have something to do with monetary incentives. Either a welcome discount or welcome nominal starting
amount provided by the campaign may have been exhausted.

Great! Your analysis is correct. We can end the case here.

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
 METRICS ARE EVERYTHING

COMPANY
UNINSTALLATION

External User
ROUND Internal Reasons
Reasons Characteristics

BUDDY
Platform- based New Disappointed Lost new
Issues Competitors old users users

Existing
TYPE New Feature
Competitors High Income Low Income

RCA
Modification of Market in
Loss of
features Decline
campaign
incentives
Increased New
DIFFICULTY Brokerage Campaign

MODERATE
Change in
calculation
PRODUCT METRIC
 YOUTUBE WORKING?

COMPANY Hi, let us start with the case. You are the CEO of YouTube. What are the top 8 metrics that a CEO should look at?

Okay. Are there any other constraints that I have to look at for the top 8 metrics of YouTube.

It has to be week over week basis. So, what should the CEO be tracking about the product on a weekly basis?

Ok. So if we look into the current situation of YouTube, we can see that
● It is pretty established and it is already running successfully both in low-income and high-income countries.
ROUND ● It is a go-to destination for both videos and recommendations
● It has competitors like TikTok whose primary form of content is video
● It has content in almost all languages
SENIOR PM
● It is better than Google search for many use uses
By considering all these points, the metrics I would consider are:
● Product metrics -
○ Acquisition
○ Engagement
TYPE ○ Retention
○ Monetisation
PRODUCT
METRICS
METRIC ● Business metrics -
○ Competition
○ Tech and innovation
○ Investor relations
○ Financial management
DIFFICULTY Is this structure fine? Shall I go deeper in this?

Yeah. These metrics are fine. We can go with this.

MODERATE
Okay. Going into the details of these buckets -
 YOUTUBE WORKING?

COMPANY 1. Product metrics -

● Acquiring new users
● Onboarding and engaging users
● Monetising users : It includes revenue from advertisements and lifetime customer value
● Retaining users : We can track the active users of YouTube on a weekly basis in addition the duration of
videos watched
○ YouTube platform comprises two users - creators and viewers
○ The CEO should track the depth of value provided by YouTube to both of these users
ROUND Depth of value = (# of video categories x # of minutes per category) / Total # of minutes

Ok. What will be the main objective for a CEO to do under product metrics?
SENIOR PM
The objective is to make sure viewers get regular video updates

Yeah. Continue with the remaining metrics.

2. Business metrics -
TYPE ● Competition, tech and innovation :
○ We have to track how YouTube is performing with respect to competitors like TikTok, Netflix and other
PRODUCT
METRICS
METRIC subscriber based platforms
○ We should look at user acquisition in platforms like HBO and TikTok vs user acquisition in YouTube
○ We also need to look at market share in advertisements on these platforms
● Investor relations and financial management :
○ We can look at how Google’s stock price adds value to YouTube
DIFFICULTY ○ Leveraging YouTube’s value : As YouTube is pioneering internally, we can provide better
recommendations on the platform and build powerful search engines for YouTube.
So these are the 6 metrics I would consider.
MODERATE
Those sound good. We can close the case.
 YOUTUBE WORKING?

COMPANY
METRICS

Product Business
ROUND Metrics Metrics

SENIOR PM
Investor Financial Tech and
Acquisition Engagement Retention Monetisation Competition
Relations Management Innovation

TYPE

PRODUCT
METRICS
METRIC

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
 SHOW ME THE MONEY

Hi, let us start with a case. Ather is a national electric two-wheeler manufacturer. The firm wants to create a
COMPANY
dashboard to enhance performance. You are tasked with designing the dashboard, and we would like to know the
metrics you would add to the dashboard. What factors to consider and how to implement it?

Okay, I have a few clarifying questions regarding the case.

Sure, feel free to ask anything.

ROUND
Can you elaborate on the type of dashboard you want to design and who it is designed for?

PM Ather is planning to create a new sales dashboard to track sales performance for sales specialists & the business
team. We want to consolidate the sales information and make it easily available to people in different areas to
enhance sales.

Okay, so I agree sales would require a lot of information to make proper decisions, and the number of metrics on the
TYPE dashboard should not be congested. Metrics as a framework are useful for assessing and making decisions.

PRODUCT
METRICS
METRIC You're right, and how would you make sure it's not congested?

I would add only 5 metrics. A useful metric that is meaningful, measurable, and movable. These metrics should also be easily
understood. We should only mention the KPIs that affect sales and are critical.
DIFFICULTY
But why have you only taken 5 metrics as it is a really low number, and would it lead to good decision making?
MODERATE
EASY
I would make sure that these metrics encompass everything required. It will also not look congested.
 SHOW ME THE MONEY

Alright, that sounds good. What would the 5 metrics be?

COMPANY
Okay. So we can use revenue, conversion targets, average sales per store, customer satisfaction, and sales specialist reviews
as the key metrics while designing a sales dashboard. Along with a focus on creating a well-organized and easy-to-navigate
dashboard for tracking these metrics.

These are all good metrics. But why have you specifically gone for this set of metrics?

ROUND
When one looks at sales, these 5 metrics should stand out.
1. Customer satisfaction: This would increase the brand reputation and lead to more sales.
PM
2. Average sales per store and revenue: This will provide the business team with stores that perform well.
3. Conversion target and sales specialist review: This will enhance how much the sales specialist acts and give him a
definitive target to work upon.
From the following observations, I feel these five metrics should be included in the dashboard.

TYPE These are excellent metrics. How would you organize them in the dashboard?

PRODUCT
METRICS
METRIC ● Summary section displaying the most critical KPIs like total revenue, conversion rate, and customer satisfaction score.
● Clear visuals like charts and graphs for quick comprehension.
● Intuitive labels and icons allowing users to filter data by date, region, or specific product models for in-depth analysis.
● Proper placement.
● Consistent color scheme throughout the dashboard, with greens for positive indicators, reds for negative indicators, and
DIFFICULTY
neutral colors for neutral information.

MODERATE That was a good analysis. We will take it into consideration while designing such a dashboard and would be happy to
close the case now.
 SHOW ME THE MONEY

COMPANY

ROUND

PM

TYPE

PRODUCT
METRICS
METRIC

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
 WHAT THE METRICS

COMPANY As the Product Manager of WhatsApp, you've recently introduced several new features to enhance the video call
experience. Can you elaborate on the key metrics you can define and track to measure the success and user
engagement of these features? Let's start with the increase in the participant limit from 8 to 32. What are the metrics
associated with this feature?

● There's the user adoption rate. We want to see what percentage of WhatsApp users are actually giving these larger
group video calls a shot since we rolled out the feature
● Secondly, we have to keep an eye on how the increase in participants impacts the average duration of video calls. If
ROUND calls are lasting longer, it could mean people are finding more value in them

Got it. User feedback is also really important. How are you tapping into that with your metrics?
PM
● We have to check user feedback and ratings, both on app marketplaces and through in-app surveys. This helps us
understand how satisfied users are with the larger group video calls and where we might need to tweak things
● Ensuring that our infrastructure can handle the increased load is paramount. We have to keep a close eye on server
performance metrics, including response time and uptime
TYPE
Okay cool. Moving on to the "Share WhatsApp Video Call Link" feature, what metrics have you established for this?
Product
PRODUCT Design
METRICSDESIGN
METRIC
Well, there's link generation rate, which tells us how often users are creating and sharing video call links, whether it's for
planned or impromptu calls.

And how effective is this link-sharing? What's your approach there?

DIFFICULTY
● We have to track the Click-Through Rate (CTR). This metric shows us the percentage of recipients who actually click
DIFFICULT on those shared video call links to join in. It gives us a sense of how well the feature is working in practice.
● Another metric is user acquisition. This metric helps us understand how many new WhatsApp users are acquired
through shared video call links, which gives us insights into the feature's contribution to user growth.
 WHAT THE METRICS

COMPANY Privacy matters to users. What's your plan regarding that aspect?

We have to definitely keep an eye on privacy controls. We want to know how many users are adjusting settings related to
video call links, like who can generate and share them, so we can ensure that privacy concerns are addressed.

Lastly, could you share the metrics associated with the "Rejoin or Re-entry Option"?

● First up, we've got the rejoin rate, which tells us how many users are actually using the rejoin or re-entry option during
ROUND a video call after briefly leaving.
● Also we have to track the rejoin duration. Tracking the average time it takes for users to rejoin a call provides insights
into the usability and efficiency of the feature.
PM
Okay. Staying engaged is key. What's your approach there?

Absolutely, we have to check user engagement after rejoining to see if users who rejoin a call remain active and engaged, or if
there's a drop in participation or interaction.
TYPE
Last but not least, how do you plan to tackle any hiccups that users might encounter?
Product
PRODUCT Design
METRICSDESIGN
METRIC
We have to keep a close eye on user complaints and support requests related to rejoining issues, if any pop up. That way, we
can swiftly address any usability problems and make the feature even better.

Thanks for breaking it all down. We can end the case here.
DIFFICULTY

DIFFICULT
 WHAT THE METRICS

COMPANY
New features

Share Whatsapp
Participant limit Privacy Rejoin the call
video call link

ROUND User adoption rate Link generation rate

Settings adjustment
frequency Rejoin rate

PM
Average duration of
Click through rate User complaints Rejoin duration
the call

User feedback/rating User acquisition Customer support User engagement

TYPE

Product
PRODUCT Design
METRICSDESIGN
METRIC
Server performance

DIFFICULTY

DIFFICULT
GUESSTIMATES
 BHEL IN JUHU

COMPANY Good morning, let us start with a guesstimate. So, I want you to find how much a Bhel puri seller might earn in Juhu
Beach.

So, Juhu beach in Mumbai has a high footfall that is driven by tourists and locals. This significantly boosts bhel puri sales,
making it a prime location for snack vendors I assume.

Certainly, it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state .

ROUND
Okay, to help us arrive at a reasonable estimate, we'll need to consider several factors. Can I ask some clarifying questions?
PM
Sure, feel free to ask.

I would like to know if we are calculating weekly or daily income. Does he sell only Bhel Puri?

TYPE Let’s focus on weekly income. In this case , let us consider that he only sells Bhel Puri?

GUESSTIMATE
Guesstimate
GUESSTIMATE Okay. So, I would like to split the timing into weekend and weekday, as sales will be more during weekends. So, he would work
more time on the weekends than compared to weekday.

Can you explain how it would help in arriving at a solution

DIFFICULTY The sales across weekdays would be more or less similar to each other as it would be floating population. But during the
weekends and friday, the volume would increase.
MODERATE
Medium
Okay, these are fair assumptions. Now can you provide us the number of customers who will buy the dish?
 BHEL IN JUHU

Sure. To estimate the number of customers who will buy Bhel puri, I will approach it from the supply side. We assume that a
COMPANY
typical Bhel Puri vendor starts his work from 4:30 pm and continues until 9:30 pm during weekdays, which are common times
for enjoying such snacks. On the weekends, he begins work at 2:00 pm and operates until 10:00 pm. These working hours are
reasonable for this type of street food vendor.

Yes , that is the typical operating window of such vendors .

ROUND We also assume that the average price per plate of Bhel Puri is approximately Rs.30, which is in line with the average cost of a
typical chaat dish at beaches. Additionally, we assume that this vendor operates as a mobile vendor who moves around and
PM does not have a fixed shop. Finally, we consider that he works seven days a week.

Can you explain the rationale for the various assumptions you have made?

1. Operational Hours: Many street food vendors, especially those selling snacks like Bhel Puri, operate on a daily basis
TYPE
during evening hours, which are popular times for snack consumption.
2. 7 Days a Week: Working seven days a week is common for street vendors who rely on daily income to make a living.
GUESSTIMATE
Guesstimate
GUESSTIMATE
3. Average Price: Street food prices can vary, but assuming an average price of Rs.30 per plate allows for fluctuations in
pricing without getting too specific.
4. Mobile Vendor: It is common for street food vendors to be mobile and move around to different locations to attract
more customers.
DIFFICULTY 5. Production Capacity: We assume that the vendor can make 20 plates of Bhel Puri in an hour based on the data
provided.
MODERATE
Medium
With these assumptions in mind, we can proceed to estimate the total income of the Bhel Puri vendor.
 BHEL IN JUHU

Okay, sounds good.

COMPANY
I think I have collected enough data to solve this Guesstimate.

Yes, go ahead. Can you give me your total estimate

My approach to estimating the snack seller's earnings is as follow

ROUND ● Operates 7 days a week.
● On weekdays, works 5 hours, making 100 plates a day, totaling 500 plates in a week.
PM ● On weekends, works 8 hours, making 160 plates a day, totaling 320 plates on sunday and saturday.

Earnings and Costs:

● Selling price per plate = Rs.30.

TYPE ● Total weekly earnings: No. of plates sold x Revenue per plate i.e 820 plates x Rs 30 = Rs. 24000(Approx)
● Weekly operational charges: Rs.1500 per weekday and Rs. 4000 on weekends, totaling Rs. 11500 [including his
GUESSTIMATE
GUESSTIMATE transportation, cost on puris, vegetables, etc and plates]
● Weekly profit = Earnings - Costs = Rs. 12500

So, the Bhel Puri vendor's estimated weekly earnings, after considering his operational expenses, is Rs.12500 (approx)
DIFFICULTY
That seems reasonable . We will be happy to close the guesstimate at this stage.
MODERATE
 BHEL IN JUHU

COMPANY

ROUND

PM

TYPE

GUESSTIMATE
GUESSTIMATE

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
 EMAILING TIME

Hi let's start with the case, Estimate the number of emails sent through the IITM server.
COMPANY
Before I proceed with the estimation, I have a couple of clarifying questions. Firstly, are we calculating the number of emails
for a single day?

Yes, let's consider in an average day.

Secondly, should I consider only emails sent within the iitm.ac.in domain, or should I include external emails as well?
ROUND
Let’s focus only on internal emails sent within the IITM domain.
PM
Alright, to summarize, we are estimating the number of internal emails sent through the IITM server on an average day, and
we will exclude any external communications.

Yes, that's correct. You can proceed.

TYPE
To estimate it i’m dividing emails into individual(peer-peer) and broadcasting emails .
GUESSTIMATE
The formula i would be using would be

Total Emails Sent Through IITM Server = Total Individual Emails + (number of people in the broadcast list) ×
DIFFICULTY Broadcast Emails

For number of people in broadcasting list I’m assuming it would be same as number of students mailing group
MODERATE
Yeah it’s fine proceed with it
 EMAILING TIME

COMPANY Size of the Mailing List:

○ Undergraduate Students (UG): 7,000

○ Postgraduate Students (PG): 3,000
○ Graduating Students: 3,000 (assuming 1,500 students graduate each year and retain access for 2 years)
○ Total Size of Mailing List: 13,000

ROUND Estimating Individual Emails:

○ Undergraduate Students (UG): 0-1 emails per student (average 0.5)=7,000 × 0.5 = 3,500
PM
○ Postgraduate Students (PG): 2-3 emails per student (average 2.5)=3,000 × 2.5 = 7,500
○ Graduated Students: Assuming graduated students don't use smail for peer-to-peer.
○ Faculty: 2-3 emails per faculty member (average 2.5)
■ Assuming around 500 faculty members.
TYPE ■ Total = 500 × 2.5 = 1,250
○ Office Staff: 1-2 emails per staff member (average 1.5)
GUESSTIMATE ■ Assuming around 200 staff members.
■ Total = 200 × 1.5 = 300
○ Total Individual Emails: 3,500 + 7,500 + 1,250 + 300 = 12,550

Are these assumptions fine shall I proceed with it?

DIFFICULTY
That looks good. How will you estimate the broadcast emails?
MODERATE
 EMAILING TIME

COMPANY That looks good. How will you estimate the broadcast emails?

Broadcast Emails:

○ Departmental Emails: Assuming there would be around 7-8 emails per day from departments.
○ Admin Block: Sending 1-2 emails per day (average 1.5)
○ Clubs/Events: Depending on the week ,the day is in ,the mails by various clubs would vary so we can
ROUND assume on average, 6-7 emails per day from various clubs/events.
○ Therefore Total Broadcast Emails: 7.5+1.5+6.5= 15.5≅16
PM
Now using all the numbers in formula we get ,:

Total Emails Sent Through IITM Server = Total Individual Emails + (number of people in the broadcast list) ×
Broadcast Emails
TYPE
Total Emails Sent Through IITM Server = 12,550 + (13,000) × 16= 2,20,550 ≅ 2-2.5 lakh

GUESSTIMATE The approach and calculations seem reasonable. We can close the case.

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
 EMAILING TIME

COMPANY

ROUND

PM

TYPE

GUESSTIMATE

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
 MONEY MATTERS

COMPANY Hi, let’s solve a case. Estimate the revenue of the HBO channel.

Before defining a structure, what is the period for which the revenue is to be calculated? Are we considering a normal
time or festive time of the year for the calculation?

You may calculate it for one week. The week is a normal week, without any significant festivities.

Okay, moving ahead with the structure, I would like to divide the week into weekdays and weekends and further dividing
ROUND into prime and non-prime hours. Can I continue with this approach.

PM Sure, go ahead.

Consider a weekday, i.e. regular working day. The day can be divided into prime and non-prime hours. Peak viewing
hours typically fall between 6 PM and 10 PM, when the audience is larger, as most people are home from work and
school.

TYPE Non-peak hours are generally from 10 AM to 4 PM, when the audience is smaller due to school and work commitments.
Assuming a weekend, the viewership is generally higher, with the maximum viewership estimated between 11AM to 9PM.
GUESSTIMATE Non peak hours are assumed to be neglected in the case of weekends.

That accumulates to an average of around 4 peak hours and 6 non peak hours per weekday and around 10 hours during
the weekend.

DIFFICULTY Great.

For calculating the revenue per hour for the channel, I would like to make the following assumptions:
MODERATE
1. The percentage of time watched during weekdays is higher than weekend.The major source of revenue is from
marketing and ads.
 MONEY MATTERS

COMPANY Sure, go ahead.

From the above numbers, we have 4*6=24 non peak hours and 5*4 + 10*2 =40 peak hours
Now we would want to estimate the revenue per hour for the channel from marketing.
During weekdays, in every 1 hour of show, we can assume a time duration for advertisements.Could you provide a number to
move ahead for this calculation?

Sure, you may assume it to be 8 min for a non-peak hour and 10 min for a peak hour and the ads to be 60 sec.
ROUND
Ok, following the assumption, we have around 6.5 hours of peak and 3.5 hours of non peak ads.
PM Now, we get the final figures by multiplying the amount received per hour through ads. On an average show, we assume it
to be around 3 lakhs per 10 sec.
Hence, calculating the final figures, we get

Total revenue generated= (6.5x60)sec/10 sec x 3 lakhs (for peak hours)

TYPE
(3.5x60)sec/10 sec x 3 lakh ( for non peak hours)

GUESSTIMATE Together the net revenue is around, 180 lakhs per week.

Great!, we can close the case.

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
 MONEY MATTERS

COMPANY
Week

Week days Weekend days

ROUND

PM
Prime hours Non-prime hours Prime hours Non prime hours

Duration of ad in
TYPE Duration of ad in
prime hours of week
non-prime hours of
day
GUESSTIMATE weekday

Total ad duration in a
week
DIFFICULTY

MODERATE Total revenue per

week
 BALLPARK BOARDING

COMPANY Good morning, let us start with a guesstimate. I want you to find out how many balls can be occupied in an
airplane.

I need to estimate the number of balls that can fit in an airplane. Shall I proceed with asking a few clarifying questions?

Yes, go ahead!

First, what type of ball are we considering? Is it a tennis ball, a golf ball, or something else?
ROUND
Let’s go with a tennis ball.
SENIOR PM
Got it. And by "airplane," can we assume a domestic commercial airplane, like an Airbus A320 or Boeing 737, with an average
seating capacity of 180 seats?

Yes, that works.

TYPE One last thing: are we only considering the passenger cabin for the balls, or can we use the cargo space as well?

GUESSTIMATE Include both the passenger cabin and the cargo space.

Alright! I’ll break this down as follows:

1. Estimate the volume of the tennis ball.
2. Estimate the empty space available in the airplane.
DIFFICULTY
# No. of balls = Volume of 1 ball * Volume of total empty space * Packing efficiency
MODERATE
 BALLPARK BOARDING

COMPANY
The diameter of tennis ball is around 6 cm and then the volume of one tennis ball is 4/3*3.14*3^3=113.04 cm^3.

For simplification, is it acceptable to assume the shape inside the airplane as a cuboid?

Yes , It’s Fine.

ROUND So , the domestic So, the domestic flight with 180 seats will have Cabin dimensions as :
Length : For calculating length we can assume that each seat has a length of .6 meter and have a leg space of .3 meter .
SENIOR PM there are 5 seats in a row , so the number of columns will be 180/5= 36 . length of cabin will be (.6+.3)*36= 32.4 meter .

Width : for calculating Width we can assume that each seat has a width of .5 meter and aisle has a width of .7 meter . so
width will be equal to .5*5+.7 = 3.2 meter .

Height : Height will be calculated as summing the height of overhead bins and height above the seat that equals 1 meter
TYPE + 1.5 meters = 2.5 meters .
So , Volume of the cabin = 32.4*3.2*2.5 = 259.2 m^3 .
GUESSTIMATE Does this seem to be fine ?

Yes, go ahead!

Let’s now calculate the volume of Cargo space : we can assume L = 10 meter , W = 3 meter , H = 1.5 meter . So, volume
DIFFICULTY is 10*3*1.5=45 m^3.

MODERATE In Cabin due to seats, overhead bins and other fixtures we have to reduce some space. So we assume about 35 % of the
space is occupied and rest is used for storing tennis balls.
So total available space is 259.2*0.65+45 = 213.48 m^3.
 BALLPARK BOARDING

COMPANY Since the balls won’t fit perfectly due to the spherical shape, we need to apply a packing efficiency factor. The
efficiency for packing spheres is about 65%. So, the effective volume available for the balls is: 213.48*.65 =
138.762 m^3.
Total number of balls that can fit in airplane are 138.762/113.04*10^-6 = 1227 * 10^3 balls.

The number seems fair. We can close the case now!

ROUND

SENIOR PM Number of balls

TYPE
Volume of ball Volume of Empty Space

GUESSTIMATE 65 % 100 %

Cabin Space Cargo Space

DIFFICULTY
65 %
MODERATE Packing Efficiency
 CRACKING THE WHATSAPP CODE

COMPANY Good morning, Let's start with a guesstimate. Can you estimate how many WhatsApp users are there in India?

Good morning! To get a more accurate estimate, can I ask a few clarifying questions before I proceed?

Yes, go ahead.

Are we looking at the entire population of India, or would you like me to focus on a specific demographic or region?

ROUND We’re considering the entire population of India.

SENIOR PM So , I would like to break this down into a structure :

1. Estimate India’s population.

2. Consider internet penetration in both rural and urban areas.
3. Account for demographic factors like income levels.
TYPE 4. Estimate WhatsApp's market share.

GUESSTIMATE Does that structure sound good?

Yes, sounds good. Go ahead!

DIFFICULTY The total population of India is around 1.4 billion.However, not everyone has access to smartphones or the internet, so our
next step would be to break this down by rural and urban populations, where internet penetration differs significantly.
MODERATE
 CRACKING THE WHATSAPP CODE

COMPANY So, a fair assumption would be that to consider 70% people live in rural areas and 30% of them live in urban areas. Internet
penetration is much lower in rural areas compared to urban ones. Rural internet penetration is around 45% and Urban internet
penetration is around 85%.

Now we can calculate the number of internet users in both rural and urban regions: Rural = 1.4*.7*.45 = 441 million people

and Urban = 1.4*.3*.85= 357 million people .

ROUND
Is is fine till now ?

SENIOR PM Yes , go ahead

While WhatsApp is free, the ability to access it depends on smartphone ownership and data affordability, which are influenced
by income levels. The split of income levels is shown in table below :
TYPE

GUESSTIMATE INCOME LEVELS LOW MIDDLE HIGH

RURAL 50% 35% 15%

DIFFICULTY URBAN 35% 45% 20%

MODERATE
 CRACKING THE WHATSAPP CODE

COMPANY We can consider that lower class will not have phones and about 80 % of middle class will have phone and all high
income class will have phones. Does is seems fine ?

Yes!

So , total number of phones in Rural areas = 441*.50*0+441*.35*.80+441*.15*1= 189.63 million phones

total number of phones in Urban areas = 357*.35*0+357*.45*.80+357*.20*1=199.92 million phones.
ROUND
Total number of people having phones 189.63 + 199.92 = 389.55 million people.
SENIOR PM
As per 2024 record Whatsapp’s Market Share is around 95% of all messaging apps.
Number of people using whatsapp 389.55*.95 = 370.07 million people

This Sounds perfect ! Let’s close the guesstimate.

TYPE

GUESSTIMATE

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
 CRACKING THE WHATSAPP CODE

COMPANY

INDIA POPULATION
70 % 30 %

Rural Urban
45 % 95 %
ROUND
Internet No Internet Internet No Internet
SENIOR PM

50 % 35 % 15 % 35 % 45 % 20 %

Low Middle High Low Middle High

TYPE

GUESSTIMATE
95 %

Whatsapp Market
Share
DIFFICULTY

MODERATE
UNCONVENTIONAL
 CONTROVERSY ON SCREEN

COMPANY Let’s say you're the product manager at YouTube. The platform has been dealing with videos flagged as inappropriate
or controversial. How would you decide whether these videos should be taken down or handled in some other way?

Interesting! Before diving into the solution, I'd like to clarify a few things. What is the general approach YouTube has towards
flagging videos? Is there a specific reason this issue is being prioritized now?

Videos flagged by users or automated systems for inappropriate content or controversial topics need attention, and
ROUND there’s growing concern from different stakeholders about how YouTube handles them. It’s up to you to decide the
best approach.
PM
Ok. So, is there any law enforcement kind of situation which makes Youtube to take down the videos or is it upto Youtube’s
discretion to remove them or not?

No, there is no law enforcement and it is up to Youtube to decide.

TYPE
Got it. So, I’ll start by considering the scope of the issue. There could be multiple reasons why a video is flagged, ranging from
controversial topics like politics, hate speech, sexual content, violence or harm, copyright infringement or even misinformation,
Root
UNCONVENTIONAL
Cause Analysis
like during COVID. Is it fair to say that’s the case here?

Yes, those are valid examples.

DIFFICULTY Great. We can breakdown the problem into two parts. First, how do we define what qualifies as "controversial"? Second, what
are the different ways YouTube could handle such videos? For the first part, I’d suggest that controversial videos could either
MODERATE feature certain sensitive topics or show unusual patterns of user engagement, such as a higher-than-average ratio of dislikes or
negative comments, copyright claims etc. Would that be a reasonable way to identify them?
 CONTROVERSY ON SCREEN

COMPANY Yes, that makes sense.

Now, moving to the second part—handling flagged videos—I’ll list out potential approaches YouTube could take. One option is
to remove such videos entirely. The other extreme would be to leave the videos untouched, regardless of the controversy.
Between these extremes, we could flag the content, demonetize the video to reduce incentives, or restrict visibility.

I’d like to first focus on the two extreme options: full removal versus leaving them up without action. Does that sound good?
ROUND
Yes, go ahead.

PM
Taking Down Content Not taking any Action

PROS: This approach would prevent harmful content from PROS: It aligns with YouTube’s philosophy as a platform for
spreading, avoid potential legal issues, and possibly free speech and creativity. Controversial content often
TYPE improve YouTube's image as a responsible platform. drives high engagement, leading to increased ad revenue.

UNCONVENTIONAL
Root Cause Analysis CONS: It could lead to censorship accusations, and CONS: There is risk of losing credibility with users who may
YouTube might lose some user engagement as find the content harmful or misleading. There’s also the
controversial content tends to genera high interaction. potential for long-term damage to YouTube’s brand if it’s
seen as enabling the spread of harmful content.
DIFFICULTY
That’s a good overview of your extremes. So, what are the other options available to us?
MODERATE
 CONTROVERSY ON SCREEN

For the middle-ground options, we could:

COMPANY
● Flag the videos: Inform users before they watch the video that it’s been flagged for controversial content, but leave it up
to them to watch.
● Demonetize the videos: Keep the video but remove its potential for generating revenue, so creators have less incentive
to produce such content.
● Reduce visibility: Use the algorithm to make these videos harder to find but still accessible for those actively searching.

ROUND Each approach has its pros and cons in balancing freedom of expression with content responsibility. Before proceeding, we
should consider YouTube's vision and Google's stance on the matter. YouTube was created as a platform for open content
PM creation, but as it grew, so did its responsibility for shaping public discourse. We must ensure that our approach to controversial
content aligns with the company's long-term vision for its platform while minimizing any negative impact on its business and
upholding its cultural influence in society.

Indeed! The focus should be on building a long-term philosophy rather than deciding on each case individually. How
TYPE would you conclude it?

Root
UNCONVENTIONAL
Cause Analysis I’d look at three main groups of stakeholders - Youtube, Content Creators, Viewers.
● For YouTube as a platform, the main trade-offs are between maintaining its status as a free-speech platform and
protecting its brand image.
● For content creators, taking down videos could reduce their freedom and revenue, but leaving them up allows them to
DIFFICULTY
keep their audience engaged and their revenue intact.

MODERATE ● For viewers, their experience is split between those who prefer to engage with controversial content and those who
might feel harmed or misled by it.
 CONTROVERSY ON SCREEN

Finally, in the middle-ground approach, YouTube could use measures like flagging content, demonetizing it, or reducing its
COMPANY
visibility. This would reduce the incentives for creating such content, while still allowing controversial material to exist on the
platform.

Well done! You’ve covered all the bases well and your conclusion was good. Let’s wrap it up here.

Defining
ROUND Controversy

PM
User Interaction Copyright
Harm / Violence Sensitive Topics
Ratio Infringement

TYPE
Handling
Root
UNCONVENTIONAL
Cause Analysis
Controversy

Demonetize the Completely take Have an Completely take

Flag the content
DIFFICULTY video/topic them down age limit them down

MODERATE
 ALL THE BEST!

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