Product Interviews: Root Cause (Analytical Questions)

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If you’re preparing for product manager or data scientist interviews at Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other big tech/FAANG company, you’ll most likely be asked "how would you figure out what caused a drop in metric x?" These are considered "Product Execution" type questions.
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[@diannayau]

🤩Comment below: ✍which part of the root cause question do you struggle with the most? 🥴Struggling with product interviews? 🚀Book 1:1 COACHING @ superpeer.com/dyau

[@e.w.6470]

The flaw here is that it's not explored exhaustively. External factors are missing. Country segment is just one of the dimensions, device or platform specific not mentioned. The key to RCA is to isolate the root cause effectively and efficiently. Keep a balance between dumping your breakdown framework to the interviewer all at once and constantly asking the interviewer the question following the checklist. Based on the specific issue given, quickly eliminate many buckets to explore and make the assumptions. Many failed not because they don't have the framework, it's because they don't customize the framework to the specific questions asked.

[@JohnJFong]

Hi Dianna. I just completed my Product Sense and Product Metrics interview with Meta. My Product Metrics interviewer asked me a root cause analysis question for a theoretical FB Travel product. I was not given additional data about the sudden drop in cancelled trips and was asked to provide a reason. My response was that I needed to dig into the user cancellations to find out whether the cancellations were in a specific geography, user segment, or income level but was not provided with additional data. In hindsight I probably should have asked whether the cancellations originated from users or from the service provider.

[@obiohachijioke4311]

Your videos are great! I've consumed a lot of content but your frameworks in metrics and execution are really making things clearer. The value of your channel is how comprehensive it is across all product disciplines, not design. I'd like to see cross-functional collaboration and craft videos too!

[@jchancalifornia]

I love the fact that the content was crisp and succinct. Thank you for navigating through the framework and thought process!

[@padedoyin5448]

you deserve so much more subscribers - one of the best accounts when it comes to product management interview preparation. Thank you for the work you put into this! Hopefully I come back here with an offer announcement!

[@diannayau]

I’m cheering you on to get that offer! And yess please let us know when you get it :)

[@raochaudhriIT]

Excellent content - thank you much Dianna for such a smooth and yet crisp explanation about do's and don'ts around the Product Execution theme. Brilliantly conveyed!!

[@diannayau]

Glad it’s helpful Rao! Keep watching, I’m planning to release a new video next week

[@LovelyisYOURstory]

I can’t thank you enough for all of your tips and for you taking the time to teach and prepare me for the FB interviews! I’m so excited to say that I got a FB offer and I certainly credit it to you. Thank you for your personal sessions with me and creating relevant and real content that can’t be copied. I love your authenticity and your passion to help others excel.

[@sergiomacias1957]

This content was incredibly helpful, thanks for the comparisons, please keep doing this!

[@DG-yr1tk]

I debug product related issues as part of my job. Your content for the first time helped me understand how to structure my answer during an interview. Thank you so much. Great content!

[@sharathreddy4938]

Your videos have been extremely helpful in getting me through. Thanks and keep them coming.

[@diannayau]

yess! let me know what other content could be useful

[@felipefajardo176]

Awesome video, thanks Dianna!

[@vinaykadam7633]

Excellent framework with reasoning and I really like your comparison between what not to do and what’s recommended

[@diannayau]

So glad to hear seeing what not to do helps!! I have a few other videos on dos and don’ts so check those out!

[@amirfakhim7797]

Diana, i have watched lots of videos. The way you structure the case is awesome. Thank you for sharing. I noticed that end of the video, it doesn't say the action items and where to put the focus., recommendations. Many thanks and great videos. Thank you.

[@jaidevnitc]

Great video, Dianne!

[@akshitabhalla1711]

Very Helpful video! thanks a lot for the information which is not as generic as most!

[@diannayau]

Thanks Akshita for the support! I'm curious, what has the content been most helpful for? Are you currently interviewing for a role in product management

[@wulanm9696]

Thank you diana. Your video become my guidance to do product manager assessment 🙏🏻

[@diannayau]

so glad they've been helpful!

[@oluwaseyialao1146]

Wish you can do Product sense questions as well, it would be nice to have look at the way you would approach it differently from major frameworks. Very good content on the execution questions and framework.

[@diannayau]

here's the product sense video! :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/boLck6p6f9Bje80

[@junqichen6241]

As a data scientist looking to interview with tech companies, I found this video super helpful!

[@diannayau]

Great to hear this is useful for data scientist interviews too! I didn’t realize and then asked some data scientists and it seems like you guys get asked “setting goals” questions too

[@junqichen6241]

@@diannayau Yes, especially for DS in product analytics track. That’s why I think your channel can benefit a broader audience:)

[@kevinf7707]

Your contents needs to get seen more Diana! this is awesome.

[@diannayau]

Really appreciate all the support Kevin! Feel free to share! I'm curious, what has the content been most helpful for? Are you currently interviewing?

[@kevinf7707]

@@diannayau most helpful for me has me 1) super easy framework 2) how To give the outstanding 20% answer (most lessons imo set you up for the 80%). Also, yes I'm currently prepping for interviews.

[@samw2066]

Exceptional job contrasting bad v. good candidate responses.

[@inspired784]

brilliant content

[@umangjain3592]

Such a informative video this was. Could you please upload some content on MVP like what structure and flow should one follow while dealing with questions on MVP. Thank you for producing great content!

[@diannayau]

Thanks for all the support! When you say MVP did you mean product design/sense questions? If so here's a video that covers that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/boLck6p6f9Bje80 If that's not what you meant by MVP, please share what you mean

[@jaxw885]

Hi Dianna, I've been watching your content a lot! Love all the videos and really appreciate you putting them out with so much insight and guidance. I do have a quick question that I think maybe a lot of people also want to know, is it important the interviewee eventually gets to the right answer the interviewer has in mind or is it more important that the interviewee shows they can make data-driven hypotheses but cannot get to the right answer for some reason?

[@diannayau]

Hey Jax, appreciate your support!! So for debugging questions, the interviewer may have a cause in mind for the drop but they also might not. So it’s important to show your thought process behind the hypotheses and how you’d validate and invalidate. Even if you didn’t get the correct answer (for the questions where the interviewer has a cause in mind) if they’re impressed with your thought process, that it’s logical and well thought out, that’s still good enough to pass

[@yanyizhang9455]

The 80% interviewee's answer is totally me now :)

[@waz306]

Super useful ! Love the content

[@diannayau]

Thanks Waz for the support! I'm curious, what has the content been most helpful for? Are you currently interviewing for a role in product management

[@waz306]

@@diannayau yes that’s right , currently interviewing for a role at fb in the UK , so content has really helped with prep

[@OnionKnight541]

this was very helpful (:

[@numtwo1]

Hi Dianna, Thanks for another great video. I wonder if there is any good way to prepare to "debug" questions (except a mock interview with someone)? as this is more of a back and forth with the interviewer (once you reach the more hypothesis and data gathering) I wonder if there is a good way to practice this alone.

[@diannayau]

I actually think the debugging question isn’t always getting to a right answer, rather showing the breadth of thought and understanding levers and how the key metric is driven by a bunch of other metrics. I’d recommend on your own you can brainstorm all possible reasons a metric went down and that’ll help you think more expansively

[@mikepolson7219]

Thanks

[@onepiecehubs]

Is doing a bookmark a post also part of engagement? I saw that you not include it

[@niaokun5407]

Wish you could do more examples of each question type!!

[@diannayau]

Working on it! Check back at the end of this week for a new upload

[@rakeshmohanty7243]

Hey great video Dianna. Very unique and structured way of answering a debugging question.How do you answers a similar question for a product which you have not used before? For example : Let's say someone being asked about snapchat , which he/she never used before.

[@diannayau]

Great question Rakesh! You'd want to spend 2-4 minutes upfront asking the interviewer about the product such as "what does the product help the user accomplish?" "what are the key flows to help users accomplish this." This makes sure you and the interviewer are aligned on the product before diving into metrics and debugging- this is super important to ensure you have enough context.

[@rakeshmohanty7243]

@@diannayau that's helpful Dianna. I was thinking it might give a negative impression but I agree since we can't prepare for hundreds of products, it's better to ask.

[@Glorytogod18]

this was great!!!

[@HDA295]

At around 7:50, How can viewers engage with content. Number 1 should be they can view it, even before like.

[@andreawang3551]

Excellent content! One suggestion, can you make the writing on the left easier to read?

[@diannayau]

Haha sorry for my messy handwriting! You’ll see in the most recent videos they’re typed so hopefully easier!

[@IncidentStory736]

Really really helpful

[@diannayau]

Glad to hear Sanjeet! Stay tuned, I’m planning to release another product execution and metrics video next week

[@puja4079]

Awesome..found you late..wish I had some time to go through all of them …my interview is day after tomorrow..

[@diannayau]

Good luck with the interviews!

[@manikiran6255]

Helpful

[@janeli2487]

Hi Dianna, when you said test the change in content creation flow for validation, do you mean change the button back to old version and do A/B testing?

[@diannayau]

Hey Jane! could you share what timestamp you're referring to?

[@janeli2487]

@@diannayau Hi Dianna, it's about 11:58. when you talked about point b in the validation section.

[@blah4989]

OMG...I just realized that I'm one of the 80% of interviewees!!!!

[@diannayau]

😂😆 you’re not alone!

[@weiyangshi4729]

Hi Dianna, thank you for the great content! One question I have is that should we still use the external and internal factors framework after the clarifying about the product and the metric? It’s hard to structure my answer and make hypothesis without the external and internal factors.

[@diannayau]

I would say for debugging questions e.g. "this product dropped by 10%, what happened" the external and internal factors framework can feel like reading off a checklist which isn't going to impress an interviewer. I'd recommend breaking down the funnel of the product, and then identify reasonable causes for what's going on (some of these which might come from your internal, external factors list)

[@weiyangshi4729]

@@diannayau Yes I absolutely agree. Going down a long checklist is going to sound very robotic. Could you elaborate more the funnel of the product? Do you mean the AARRR funnel?

[@diannayau]

More so the funnel of the product eg if we’re talking about say Airbnb, the first step is going into the Airbnb app > searching based on location > showing search results > clicking into results etc etc. you’d go into the product funnel to identify if the 10% drop happened within any of these steps and then think of reasons why it could have happened there

[@Dammylawalfilms]

@@diannayau This makes a lot of sense. Thank you

[@avantikanehra4693]

Hi Dianna, Should we also provide the solution at the end, that how we must fix the problem??

[@diannayau]

That’s optional! Something to clarify with the interviewer

[@peterlegend]

wow, Dianna's 80% was how I was gonna say because that's what most people said on youtube lol...

[@femiwilliams2014]

Not bad , can be much better 🤨

[@sofiayz7472]

I realized I'm that 80% of candidates 😅

[@diannayau]

Haha at least now you know what you can do to be in the 20% ;)

[@e.w.6470]

That 80% is focusing on the reason itself while 20% is focusing on the process to get there. That's the difference in the mindset.

[@LovelyisYOURstory]

I can’t thank you enough for all of your tips and for you taking the time to teach and prepare me for the FB interviews! I’m so excited to say that I got a FB offer and I certainly credit it to you. Thank you for your personal sessions with me and creating relevant and real content that can’t be copied. I love your authenticity and your passion to help others excel.