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

Question

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

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 · Answer

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 · Answer

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 · Answer

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 · Answer

- 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

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

Did you come across this question in an interview?

Answers