CASE

FRAMEWORKS
AN INTRODUCTION
BY PRODUCT AND
OPERATIONS SOCIETY
PM vs Consultants
• PMs are generalists and wear • Consultants are in the business
different hats in order to connect the of advising people in a specific
dots. field.
• A typical day as a PM may entail • Clients hire consultants when
discussing design decisions, weighing their businesses require
pros and cons of various features to assistance achieving a desired
build with engineering, or meeting with goal (eg. implement an internal
users to better understand their needs. system to save time and effort).
• PMs live and breathe their product • Want to increase revenue by xx%?
as they work iteratively to improve There may be a consultant out
the experience for the end user. there who can help.
Typical PM Interview
Product Design/ Product Improvement: May ask the interviewee to design a new product , improve
an existing product . Ex. Improve google maps, design a vending machine for blind person

Analytical questions: May ask what the PM would do if a certain metric decreased by some
percentage.

Estimation: tend to be a little more rare nowadays, but may ask one to intelligently guess how
many golf balls can fit inside of a vehicle.

Behavioral: Behavioral questions test one's ability to clearly communicate his/her past
experiences.
What are product
design questions?
Product design questions test your
product design ability. Interviewers
are assessing your ability to:

• Define an objective for the

product improvement
• Choose and identify the most
appropriate target customer
• Empathize with the target customer
• Articulate use cases (pain points)
• Prioritize those use cases
• Brainstorm creative ideas
• Make a logical recommendation
 Comprehend the
Situation
You’re allowed to ask the interviewer
clarifying questions, regarding the
product. Here’s a list of probable
queries (5Ws and 1 H)
• What is it?
• Who is it for?(Scope)

• Why do they need it? (Goal)

• When is it required?(Constraints)

• Where should it available? (Scope)

• How does it work?
 To propose an amazing product, not a
mediocre one, focus and empathize with a
few customer segments or persona.

By putting yourself in the customer’s shoes,

you will more likely design a solution that
resolves their specific needs. List down
potential customer personas.
Sometimes, a user persona could be targeted

Identify Think in terms of user behavior, age,

geographies, user needs and goals!
the Tip: Avoid age ranges, Focus on
characteristics-life stage, occupation,
Customer disabilities
 Cut, Through
Prioritization
• The prioritization step mimics the real-world
development process. There's a big backlog of use
cases, but one is limited by constraints, like time,
money, and labor.
• This is an opportunity to showcase your ability to
prioritize, assess tradeoffs and make decisions. Here
is a sample prioritization matrix:
User Story Revenue Customer Ease of
Satisfaction Implementation
A 1 1 2
B 2 2 1
 Report the Customer’s
Needs

• This refers to the user needs, user requirements, or use

cases. The use case format is a popular way to capture
user needs.
• A user story conveys what the end user wants to do in
normal everyday language. It does not describe how
the solution works. Here’s the user story template:
As a <role>, I want <goal/desire> so that <benefit>
• Example: As a travelling blogger, I want to write 500
words a day so that I can publish my memoir.
 List the Solutions
Once the use cases or needs
are defined, finds ways to
provide consumers the right
experience. A few tips to
avoid designers' block:
• Reversal method - Think about the
exact pain point being addressed
and reverse engineer the solution
• Attribute method - Ponder over
product attributes and design
an appropriate solution
• Why Method- Challenge the status
quo.
 Evaluate Tradeoffs

• Define your tradeoff criteria. Criteria could include

1) customer satisfaction, implementation difficulty,
and revenue potential.
2) Feasibility, Viability, Desirability
3) Impact vs Effort, etc.
It’ll keep your response organized and easier to
follow.
Things to consider: The goal, choose the ones which
solve the pain points faster, feasibility and time
Summarize Your
Recommendation
Summarize with this three-step
approach:

• Tell the interviewer which

product or feature you’d
recommend.
• Recap on what it is and why it’s
beneficial to the user and/or
company.
• Explain why you preferred this
solution vs. others.
 The Pirate Framework AARRR
Acquisition: where / what channels do users come from?
(e.g. # of app downloads, click-through rate from pay-per-click ads)

Activation: what % of users have a “happy” initial experience?

(e.g. Sign-up rate, subscription rate)

Retention: do they come back over time?

(e.g. Monthly active users)

Referral: do they like it enough to tell their friends?

(e.g. # of new sign up through referral)

Revenue: can you monetize any of this behavior?

(e.g. Conversation rate)
 HEART framework
• Happiness: How people feel about your product?
(E.g. Use the survey to track Satisfaction and Ease of
use)
• Engagement: How people are using your product?
(E.g. # of 7-day active users, # users starts a new search
per day)
• Adoption: New users
(E.g. # of accounts created in the last 7 days)
• Retention: Existing users
(E.g. % of users who use the feature again)
• Task Success: Complete actions
(E.g. # of users who can accomplish a task)
USE
DESIGN
THINKING
 • Conduct research in order to develop
knowledge about what your users do,
say, think, and feel.
• Imagine your goal is to improve an
onboarding experience for new users. In
this phase, you talk to a range of actual
users. Directly observe what they do, how
they think, and what they want, asking
yourself things like ‘what motivates or
discourages users?’ or ‘where do they
experience frustration?’ The goal is to
gather enough observations that you can
EMPATHISE truly begin to empathize with your users
and their perspectives.
 • Combine all your research and
observe where your users’
problems exist. In pinpointing your
users’ needs, begin to highlight
opportunities for innovation.
• Consider the onboarding example
again. In the define phase, use the
data gathered in the empathize phase
to glean insights. Organize all your
observations and draw parallels across
Define your users’ current experiences. Is
there a common pain point across
many different users? Identify unmet
user needs.
 • Brainstorm a range of crazy,
creative ideas that address the
unmet user needs identified in
the define phase. Give yourself
and your team total freedom; no
idea is too far- fetched, and
quantity supersedes quality.
• At this phase, bring your team
members together and sketch out
many different ideas. Then, have
them share ideas with one
Ideate another, mixing and remixing,
building on others' ideas.
 • Build real, tactile representations for a
subset of your ideas. The goal of this
phase is to understand what components
of your ideas work, and which do not. In
this phase you begin to weigh the impact
vs. feasibility of your ideas through
feedback on your prototypes.
• Make your ideas tactile. If it is a new
landing page, draw out a wireframe
and get feedback internally. Change it
based on feedback, then prototype it
again in quick and dirty code. Then,
Prototype share it with another group of people.
 • Return to your users for feedback.
Ask yourself ‘Does this solution
meet users’ needs?’ and ‘Has it
improved how they feel, think, or
do their tasks?’
• Put your prototype in front of real
customers and verify that it
achieves your goals. Has the
users’ perspective during
onboarding improved?
Does the new landing page
Test increase time or money spent
on your site?
As you are executing your
vision, continue to test along
the way.
 • Put the vision into effect. Ensure
that your solution is materialized
and touches the lives of your end
users.
• Design thinking does not free you
from the actual design doing. It’s
not magic.
As impactful as design thinking can
be for an organization, it only
Implement leads to true innovation if the
vision is
executed.
• The success of design thinking lies
in its ability to transform an
aspect of the end user’s life. This
sixth step — implement — is
 YOU ARE
USER'S
ADVOCATE
 Now that you have a fair
idea, here are a few
questions:
• Design a customer
application for a bike
Sample sharing business
• Design a web search
Question engine for children below
s 14 years of age
• Describe one feature that
you would like to improve
in the Amazon app
THANK YOU
Case Practice : Vending Machine for Blind/Alarm
Clock for Deaf