Product Execution

Tell me about a time when you broke a complex problem into simple sub-parts?

Product Manager

Shopify

Amazon

Intuit

PayPal

Robinhood

Visa

Did you come across this question in an interview?

Answers

Anonymous

5 months ago
4Strong
When working a scam case:
- First, I learn about the customer’s story, what happened at the time. I will call the customer if I need to clarify anything.
- Then I investigate customer’s account and identify is the payments were out of character. To be able to identify this, I will need to understand customer’s behaviour and how they manage their account.
- I will also need to investigate if we took any steps to stop the payments. This could be a call to the customer challenging the transfer.
- After this, I need to investigate if there are any newspaper articles, court orders, or anything related to the case. After this, and taking all this information into consideration, I would make an informed decision and communicate to the customer.

Anonymous

5 months ago
4.4Exceptional
In a previous role, I was tasked with improving the user experience for a complex eCommerce platform. The main challenge was that the platform had numerous features and touchpoints, making it difficult to pinpoint where users were encountering problems.
Here's how I broke down the complex problem:
  1. Identify the Key Areas: I started by mapping out the entire user journey, from landing on the site to completing a purchase. This helped me identify key touchpoints and areas where users might be facing issues.
  2. Analyze User Feedback: I collected and categorized user feedback into different themes, such as navigation issues, checkout problems, or product search difficulties. This allowed me to focus on specific areas that needed improvement.
  3. Prioritize Issues: I ranked the issues based on their impact on user experience and frequency of occurrence. For example, if many users were abandoning their carts during checkout, this would be a high-priority issue.
  4. Develop Solutions for Each Sub-Part: For each identified issue, I created targeted solutions. For the checkout problem, I might have streamlined the checkout process, simplified form fields, or added progress indicators.
  5. Implement and Test: I implemented the solutions in phases, starting with the most critical issues. After each phase, I tested the changes to ensure they resolved the problems without introducing new ones.
  6. Iterate Based on Feedback: After implementing changes, I continued to gather user feedback and made adjustments as needed.
By breaking down the complex problem into manageable parts and addressing each one systematically, I was able to improve the overall user experience effectively.

Anonymous

7 months ago
3.4Strong
First I learn about market trends, competition, what is the customer value and needs about the work, who is waiting for feature. then I try to break it down into meaningful parts, for a feature I try to brean it down to functional requirements than not functional, like security data localization, control, separation, HA, performance, scalability. then I walk through it again to break down into independent activities, and try to collect activity into the MVP to go to market to users to try. 

Anonymous

7 months ago
2.8Fair
I step back and look at the problem . I would create a priority  list, tackle  one thing  at the time. That really worked  for me to stay focused  

Anonymous

8 months ago
3Strong
- Defining the problem
- Looking for alternative solutions or problem solving
- Evaluate solutions
- Choose a solution or problem solving
- Implement solution options
- Monitor progress and make adjustments
  • Can you give me an example of a time when you broke down a complex problem into simple parts?
  • Could you share an example of breaking down a complex issue into smaller parts?
  • Could you tell me a time when you broke down something complex into simple parts?
  • Have you ever broken down a complex problem into simple steps?
  • How did you break a complex problem down into simple sub-parts?
  • How did you resolve a complex problem by breaking it down into smaller components?
  • Is there a time you broke a complex problem down into simpler portions?
  • Tell me about a time when you broke a complex problem into simple sub-parts?
  • Tell me about a time when you broke down a complicated problem into simple parts?
  • Would you mind telling me about a time you simplified a complex problem into its simple parts?

Interview question asked to Product Managers interviewing at TELUS, Myntra, T-Mobile and others: Tell me about a time when you broke a complex problem into simple sub-parts?.