Asana Product Manager Interview

Interview Guide Last updated: 18 Apr 2024

The role of an Asana Product Manager

Asana stands out as a premier project management solution, trusted by global leaders like Amazon and Google. At Asana, it's not managing tasks alone but orchestrating entire workflows and initiatives.

Asana is on the lookout for PMs who have a deep understanding of enterprise-level needs as well as a knack for navigating complex systems. As a PM, your focus will be on refining the text editing experience across all Asana platforms, enhancing collaboration, usability, and releasing advanced features—especially for subtasks, which is a critical aspect for users. Asana thrives on cross-functional collaboration, so be prepared to collaborate closely with teams across engineering, design, user research, and more.

The compensation package is impressive, averaging $301,119, with a base salary of $190,925 and a substantial annual stock grant of $110,194.

Asana Product Manager Interview Guide

The interview process for the Product Manager role at Asana involves 3 main rounds:

  • Introductory Call — with Product Team Member
  • Take-Home Assignment
  • Onsite Round, which further includes
  • A Presentation
  • A Technical Round
  • And Behavioural Round(s) — with team members and stakeholders

And finally, the Offer.

Let's dig deeper into each round.

Take-Home Assignment & Introductory Call (w/ Product Team Member)

Overview

The process kicks off with two main rounds:

  • First up, the Take-Home Assignment. After the initial customary recruiter call, you'll be sent an assignment to tackle. The aim? To gauge your problem-solving approach and potential solutions. The prompt typically revolves around a hypothetical scenario related to product management at Asana. For example, “Imagine you're the PM of Asana's project tracking tool. Propose a feature update that enhances project visibility and accountability among team members. How would you ensure this feature aligns with Asana's mission of facilitating teamwork and productivity?” Typically, this assignment takes a few hours to complete.
  • Next, the Introductory Call will follow where you'll discuss your assignment with a member of the Product Team—basically highlight your proposed solution, thought process, and receive feedback. This is your chance to demonstrate your understanding of product management principles and your ability to communicate your ideas effectively. Following this, the interviewer will delve into further questions.

Interview Questions

  • Tell us about your current role.
  • Describe yourself.
  • What’s your favourite product? Why? How would you enhance it?
  • Propose a new feature for your favourite product and outline how you’d measure its success.
  • If you were the PM for X app and needed to enhance Y, how would you approach it?
  • Imagine you're the PM for (insert company) and you have a hypothesis X. What feature would you develop to test this theory, and why?
  • Which metrics would you prioritise for X product?
  • If X metric decreases by Y%, what steps would you take?

Onsite Round

Overview

During the onsite round for the Product Manager role at Asana, you'll encounter three distinct stages: Presentation, Technical, and Behavioural Rounds. Here's a breakdown of what to expect:

  • Presentation (45 mins): You'll be tasked with presenting a project you've previously worked on, specifically one closely aligned with the position you're applying for. This is your chance to showcase your expertise and experience in action, highlighting relevant skills and accomplishments.
  • Technical (30 minutes): Here, you'll face targeted questions spanning product, design, and analytics, along with in-depth behavioural inquiries. You will chat with an Engineering Manager who will focus on technical challenges within the team and how you would approach and navigate them. Be prepared to demonstrate your problem-solving abilities and technical acumen.
  • Behavioural (30 mins): This is another chat with the Hiring Manager that involves delving deeper into behavioural questions. They're interested in your soft skills—how you handle teamwork, conflict resolution, what your leadership style is like, and so on. Consider it an opportunity to show them how well you fit into Asana's unique culture (make sure to brush up on that in advance.

It's best to practise both the technical presentation and hiring manager interviews with a product manager or a senior manager personnel at Asana to get an accurate picture of what these interviews are really like. It would help you brace yourself for what you're up against, what is expected of you, what buzzwords you should hit, and so on. Prepfully has a bunch of PMs with a ton of experience who can coach you in this regard. Book a 1:1 mock session with them directly here.


Interview Questions

  • Design a washing machine for kids.
  • How would you design an Uber for laundry?
  • You work at a refrigeration company. How would you expand into the business market?
  • You've recently joined an e-commerce company, and the development team has created a Product Recommendation section. Would you launch the feature? If yes, how would you measure its success?
  • Explain your approach to defining requirements and developing a product to compete with YouTube.
  • How would you reimagine the office fridge?

Asana Product Manager Roles and Responsibilities

Following are the roles and responsibilities of a Asana Product Manager:

  • You'll be expected to define and deliver a roadmap that adds value for enterprise customers.
  • You'll be responsible for collaborating with Product Design to make enterprise software user-friendly.
  • You'll need to develop a strategy to balance priorities across customers, product teams, and compliance.
  • You'll be responsible for using data to set clear goals and milestones.
  • You'll need to work with engineering and design teams to execute roadmaps efficiently.

Asana Product Manager Skills and Qualifications

Here are the skills and qualifications that a Asana Product Manager must have:

  • You'll need to have experience as a Product Manager, Technical Product Manager, or equivalent, with a preference for experience in building for complex data models and visualizations, enterprise-focused UX, and B2B platforms.
  • You'll be responsible for conceptualizing valuable connections between work data, necessary actions, and insights to enhance work efficiency.
  • You'll be expected to inspire the company by creating bold and intuitive connections within the platform, tailored to address critical customer issues.
  • You'll need to create, adapt, and promote a roadmap, breaking down projects into Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) and iterative projects to ensure fast delivery and significant business impact.
  • You'll be responsible for analyzing Asana's top customer personas, delving into customer needs, synthesizing research to gain a profound understanding, and defining problems narrowly.
  • You'll need to collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality results, engaging in detailed technical discussions with engineers and collaborating with design on complex user flows.
  • You'll be expected to mentor team members, foster great team morale, and share best practices in product management