Product Sense Framework & Questions
Product Sense:
Product sense is the ability to consistently design or modify existing products in a way that impacts the
users. Having an understanding of user needs is what makes a product great. Product judgment and
intuition are other names for product sense. As a PM, we get a sixth sense. It understands the causes of
a product’s success or failure. We don’t necessarily need to be born with product sense. Like any other
PM ability, it can be learned. Product sense, along with product strategies and execution, is among the
most important PM skills. And in interviews, this skill is assessed and has much focus on. Therefore, the
product sense interview acts as a stand-in and mostly focuses on how we approach user problems and
translate them into tangible products (s).
Understanding product is the first step to developing product sense. We define it as the capacity to
choose wisely despite being presented with a great deal of ambiguity.
Product sense is considered to have three essential components.
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Developing empathy is the capacity to mimic the thought processes of many personas that are
not like us. To assert, "Well, in this circumstance, this kind of user will behave this way."
Alternatively, we may claim that our business partners or competitors will view this decision
that way. One essential component of product sense is the ability understand how individuals
use the product to solve their problem.
Domain expertise: The best and most accurate ideas about what to construct and how to build it
will come naturally if we deeply understand our industry. To be more precise, we recommend
concentrating on understanding users' and customers' needs, the competition and what they
are doing, and technological constraints or opportunities.
o Enhancing creativity: Being able to think creatively and generate fresh solutions for a
given circumstance or issue is product sense's most elusive but significant component.
How to improve your creativity? Try Scamper’s framework. Discover innovative product
thinkers. Be observant of advancements in technology and your industry.
Traits that the Interviewer is looking for in a Product Sense Interview are:
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Can you clearly state a complex issue?
Are you able to divide the issue into small iterative steps?
Are you thoughtfully addressing a fundamental problem for the users?
Are you able to rationally consider each option along the way?
Are those valid justifications for the product to approve or reject?
Frameworks are steps that can be used to break down a difficult, ambiguous problem into small pieces.
At the start of the interview, we’re given a problem statement related to building a product, improving a
specific product, or talking about our favorite product.
Your objective is to build conversation by asking questions. The interviewer will test your ability to think
outside the box, prioritize, put ourselves in our users' shoes, and be creative, all while developing an
engaging narrative.
An important note on the question – spend a few minutes framing the right questions. That will make all
the difference in your interview. How do you do that?
Find your Eigenquestions.
Eigenquestion is borrowed from eigenvectors, which represents the most discriminating vector in a
multidimensional space. Concept Credit: Founders of Coda.io
When you answer an Eigenquestion, you answer all the subsequent questions that support your
decision-making.
Train yourself to identify eigenquestion for your important decisions.
The most important question. Once you have identified the core question, the eigenquestion, You want
to focus on discovery of the Problem Statement.
Sometimes, you get the problem statement. Sometimes you must formulate it based on an ambiguous
high-level question. As soon as you’ve been provided a problem statement, the important thing is to be
on the same page as the interviewer to ensure that you understand the question. You can also tell the
interviewer about the assumptions you’ll be making and give the interviewer a preview of what you’ll
talk about.
Let’s look at an example.
Step 1: Clarify the question and state your assumptions:
Let’s assume that the interviewer asked you to design a brand-new product to launch a section of
‘Instagram Travel’ through which people can book hotels and flights and give reviews. First, you’ll grasp
the problem statement and state your assumptions. For instance, The ‘Instagram Travel’ section will
only be available for American users, and this section will be a part of the ‘Instagram’ app and not a
standalone app named ‘Instagram Travel.’ You’re also assuming that you’ve got a timeframe of 1 year
to build this product.
After stating assumptions, you’ll give the preview that you’ll talk about business goals, identifying
customers, their needs, and requirements, designing the features important to the company, evaluating
them, listing all the possible solutions, and measuring success.
Step 2: Identify business goals and mission
You want to start out by defining the goals of the product, company, and the constraints related to that.
Before stating the objective, think about the big picture. Why is the issue important, what solutions are
available, and why should the business be concerned? This demonstrates how you can take a broad
view before getting more specific. To determine the user needs, map out user journeys. As the user
progresses toward a solution without your product, put yourself in their position. Being able to connect
these dots will help you demonstrate your strategic thinking skills.
For example, share your thoughts on how people ask each other for recommendations and share their
travel experiences. And how Instagram Travel and Instagram’s goal is to bring people closer and build
user engagement. Besides that, talk about how people can be brought together through this product
feature. Tell the interviewer how this product can add value to people’s lives and create business
value for Instagram.
Step 3: Identify customer segment
The next step is to define our customer segment. Which demographic and psychographic traits of the
users will make your ideal customer segment for this feature? This involves doing user research and
market research. Consider how people you know utilize the product or find solutions to problems.
Maintain a unified structure for prioritization throughout. Once you have identified a few user segments
that you may want to consider for your product, provide a short analysis on pros/con of each segment
and how it would impact your product and company goals. Interviewees frequently utilize various
criteria to rank user segments, user needs, and solutions. You want to create a coherence in your
narrative for the user need, your feature idea, overall business mission, and the user segment. These
components should align to form a compelling product story.
For example, state the different sides of the market for your product – for ‘Instagram travel,’ we have
two types of users, Travelers and Travel service providers. This is really important. Don’t just focus on
the end users. You have to consider all the sides of your market to make sure you demonstrate your
understanding of the entire ecosystem.
Let’s say you chose travelers as your main audience. Then you’ll explain to the interviewer that you
chose travelers as your main user segment because you want to ensure that your product focuses on
the consumers and provides them with a meaningful experience.
Define customer persona Step 4: Identify use cases
The next step is to identify the pain points of your targeted users. In our example of Instagram travel,
you may identify the pain point of lack of reliable sources for users and how they struggle with finding
scenic non-touristy travel spots, and how the large community of Instagram can help people to visit
secret beautiful places that are less explored. Identify the use cases for the user segment that you
have chosen to serve the product. Focusing on identifying the ways in which the user segment intends
to use the product would help you clearly identify user needs; Report customer needs as use-cases – As
a <role>, I want <goal/desire> so that <benefit>. That’s one use-case. Other use case could be around
identifying luxury travel destinations. Other use case could be around identifying adventurous travel
destinations. As you can see, there are several ways to go about identifying the use case depending on
the user segment and their needs.
User story – As a <role>, I want <goal/desire> so that <benefit>
Use cases
✓ discovering scenic non-touristy travel spots
✓ discovering luxury travel destinations
✓ discovering adventurous travel destinations
Once you have listed a few pain-points and identified the use cases, it’s time to choose one of the use
cases. The approach for how you choose one of the use cases should be made transparent – you can
prioritize based on revenue potential, user need, or business mission. In our example of Instagram
Travel, we can claim that the use case of finding scenic non-touristy travel spots serves both the
business mission and user needs. Articulating the behind your choice of the use case would help you
score points with the interviewer.
Why scenic non-touristy travel spots - increasing revenue, gain new customers, retain existing
customers, increase engagement
User story – As a <role>, I want <goal/desire> so that <benefit>
Step 5: Gaps in existing solutions
When developing a new product or service, it is critical to assess what need it will fill and what your
competitors are offering. This so-called gap in the market could be the difference between an
astounding product launch or an equally impressive product flop. Identifying gaps helps companies
understand what needs are not being met by current offerings. Solving an existing gap will endear you
to consumers and cause your products to practically sell themselves. In addition, identifying gaps in
existing products allows a company to differentiate their offering and position it as a unique solution to
a problem.
A product or service gap has one of the following attributes
✓ It’s something unique. It’s brand new, and there’s nothing else like it on the market; is there a
pain point which no body is solving?
✓ It already exists, but it could be improved; How could you deliver an existing product or service
differently and more effectively?
✓ It exists, but could also appeal to a new, untapped market; focus on a new demographic
Instagram mission - Allowing people to capture and share moments of their life.
Step 6: Identify features to bridge these gaps
Once you have identified the key gaps in the market or existing product, you can build the new products
or prioritize the development of new features that address these needs and add value for your
customers. In addition to building new features, it can also be helpful to consider how you can improve
existing features to better meet the needs of your customers. This could involve simplifying or
streamlining a process, adding new functionality, or improving the user experience. It is important to
involve all relevant stakeholders in this process, including product development, marketing, and sales
teams, to ensure that the new features align with the overall goals and direction of the company. By
continuously improving existing features or building new features you can ensure that your product
remains competitive in the market and meets the changing needs of your customers.
Your new products or features can address one of the three identified gaps
✓ A new product; building a product which addresses a pain point which no body is currently
solving
✓ Improving an existing product; can you build features into an existing product which provide
more value (convenience, quicker, easier, cheaper, higher quality, etc) to your customers?
Remember this doesn’t necessarily have to be a product improvement, it could be to do with
the marketing, sales, suppliers, manufacture or delivery
✓ Taking an existing product to an untapped market; making necessary adjustments to your
product to better meet the needs of the new market, designing marketing and sales strategy
that speaks to the specific needs of new customer segment
Example:
Let’s say in ‘Instagram Travel’ you choose revenue as your main priority, and as Instagram has a special
connection and trusting relation with its users, so, as ‘Instagram Travel’ will be collecting many data
points from the users. It could be private data to keep the service of high value. So, you’ve to ensure
you’re not overstepping the boundary. You also have to mention how you’ll test it beforehand to ensure
that you maintain the boundary.
Estimation in Product Management:
Estimation is a vital Product skill that helps estimate or project the cost and time required to complete
project deliverables. Estimation tasks assess your abilities to listen and solve problems. These questions
test your quantitative reasoning as well as your capacity to efficiently break down a challenging
problem and reach a viable solution.
Top-Down:
By starting with the final deliverable (the project goal), you can break it down into smaller, more
manageable tasks using the top-down project management method. These duties can be further divided
into smaller tasks, which is very helpful and then given to specific teams or team members within that
team.
For instance, you worked on a client’s website, and now that website's Q&A section needs to be
updated. Your team has already accomplished this work in the past. The subtasks are simple, the
schedule is specified, and the scope is apparent. A good time to use a straightforward, top-down
strategy.
Bottom-Up:
To accomplish that end objective, you should start by brainstorming potential solutions, known as the
bottom-up method to project management. In other words, you are aware of the project's objective but
unsure how to get there. A bottom-up strategy involves the team collaborating to identify the tasks
required to achieve that goal.
Example: You are developing a new product based on user feedback. Since you have never gone
through this procedure before, you need the opinions of the entire team. In this case, a bottom-up
strategy is the most effective.
Estimation Use Case:
Estimate the amount spent on petrol/gas in the UK.
Top-Down Approach:
Money Spent
on Gas/petrol
No. of Gallons
Price per gallon
Miles per
gallon
No. of Miles
No. of
households
Miles per
household
Money spent on gas= price per gallon * (No. of miles per Gallon / (No of households * No. of miles per
household))
Minimum Lovable Product (MLP)
Today's consumers have multiple options. Particularly about technology, their relationship is very
transactional. Customers will rapidly go on to something better if their interaction with your product
leaves them feeling dissatisfied, unheard, or undervalued. Customers want to be thrilled in addition to
having their requirements addressed. They want to like your product as much as they want to utilize it.
Example:
Consider going to a bakery for a cupcake because you are in the mood for something sweet. They deliver
a typical cupcake to you without frosting.
Is it your desire that your sweet tooth is removed? Yes.
But will it make you happy? Most likely not. You won't remember this experience and weren't be
delighted by it either.
The shopkeeper would have known enough about your tastes to make you happy if they had asked you
what you liked rather than what you wanted.
How does the concept of MVP, MMP, and MLP vary from each other?
MVP:
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) aims of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is to reduce your concept to
its simplest form so that you may test your website or app idea on a small group of consumers. Avoid
the mistake of developing your entire notion at a time. An MVP should be used to launch a project fast
and affordably. You don't want to invest too much too quickly, after all. Think of an MVP as a learning
tool to test your idea rather than the first version of your website or idea.
MMP:
Your idea has been validated, and you are sure you have a success. It is time to create a Minimum
Marketable Product (MMP) from your MVP. This is the initial version of your website or application that
can be made available for purchase. Although your MMP still has a few features, it goes a step further
and makes an effort to partially meet the needs of your consumers.
MLP:
The Minimum Loveable Product (MLP) presents a fraction of your bigger idea. An MLP is intended to
create an emotional response from your consumers, whereas an MVP is stripped of everything that isn't
considered functional. It involves grabbing the user's attention by putting equal emphasis on design and
user experience as on functionality. You have to make a solid first impression because the market is
competitive. You may acquire a following, investigate options, and evaluate your idea with aid of an
MLP.
How to Build MLP?
Focus on the problem:
You must understand the issue and never lose sight of it. Yes, you want to create something that users
would love, but not without solving the issue. If a product doesn't solve a pain point effectively, what
good would it do to have a visually appealing design? Consider the cupcake you acquired previously
from a bakery. It would no longer qualify as a "cupcake" if it only came with the frosting and sprinkles
but without the cake.
Work on the lovable:
Focus on features users will love or find enjoyable to use rather than just those required to make the
product successful. Customers should be able to feel engaged by the product. To make a product
lovable, the entire development team must contribute. As a product manager, you must bring your
teams together under the main goal. You will be in a better position to coordinate your team's efforts in
a way that will help you reach your objectives if you can determine what factors make a product lovable.
When consumers enthusiastically recommend these features to others for advantageous reasons, you
know you have a winner.
Think of Agility:
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Make sure to consider ‘Minimum’ in MLP:
Last but not least, adopt a lean and flexible strategy. Be willing to change. Making a minimum product is
necessary to test the market's interest in a few essential features. Don't think that creating something
people would love means giving them anything they could desire. Finding the right balance between
under and over-investing in an MLP takes time and effort. With underinvesting, there are chances of
missing out on new clients, and with overinvesting, you risk missing the goal and wasting resources.
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Do the right research and take feedback from the targeted audience:
Be sure your MLP reaches your target audience and learn more about the product than just how it
worked. Ask them open-ended questions about how they felt after using the product rather than asking
MCQs or Yes/No types of questions.
Test and Iterate:
After testing your MLP first, you build the product and iterate it. Your MLP is still in progress; not your
product’s finished version. It's a useful learning tool that will assist you in learning what your users want,
similar to an MVP. Plan the next step for your product once you've acquired your feedback.
Money Spent
on Gas/petrol
No. of Gallons
Price per gallon
No. of Miles
Miles per
gallon
Misguided flagship feature – You could create a gap when you focus on the wrong feature as the key
one in your product. In this case, you commit a lot of resources to a feature that users don’t want or
consider useful and then focus most of your marketing campaigns on it. A company can create a product
gap by putting a lot of resources and attention into a feature that users don’t find useful. This type of
product gap arises not from failing to include an important feature but instead building the product
around a flagship piece of functionality the market doesn’t want.
Example: Imagine your company built a mobile shopping app that lets users view products from various
vendors side by side before buying. Your research told you consumers are eager for comparisonshopping mobile apps.
Persona mismatch – A feature gap can be created when you build your product for an inapt persona. An
example would be adding a data compliance feature after you noticed a lot of interest in the content
you produced on the topic – but the people reading or viewing your content might not be your main
targets. Another way you can leave a product gap is by positioning your product for the wrong persona.
Example: Let’s say your team decides to add data compliance to the product you offer. To test this idea’s
validity, you produce content—webinars, blog posts, white papers—about how businesses should
handle data compliance. That content campaign generates tremendous attention, so you build the
feature into your product. Then you release it to the market. And despite a big PR and marketing
campaign, you don’t see an uptick in new customers. Your existing users aren’t using the feature either.
Your mistake here was failing to learn about the people engaging with your content on data compliance.
Those were IT and corporate security professionals. But your product’s user personas are database
administrators and data analysts. You created a gap in your product strategy by developing a viable
feature for one persona. However, you’re marketing the product to a different persona entirely.