Mock Interview: Design a brand new product

Product Design Question (Walkthrough)

One of the most crucial skills tested during a Product Management (PM) interview—especially at leading tech companies and startups—is your ability to effectively approach product design questions. These scenarios test your capacity to empathize with users, analyze their needs, brainstorm practical solutions, and structure your problem-solving clearly.

There are few flavors of this question with the top two being: 1) Design a type of product for a specific user base and 2) Build a type of product for an existing company.

In today’s blog, we’ll provide a complete, step-by-step walkthrough of the first type of question. Stay tunes for part 2.

"How would you design a ride-sharing app specifically for elderly users?"

There are a few different frameworks that can be used to answer this question. In this write up, we will use the CIRCLES framework, a structured, widely-used method for answering product design questions in PM interviews.

What is the CIRCLES Framework?

The CIRCLES framework is designed to organize your thoughts, provide clarity, and ensure comprehensive coverage of essential areas in your product design responses. It stands for:

C: Comprehend the Situation
I: Identify the Customer
R: Report Customer Needs
C: Cut, Through Prioritization
L: List Solutions
E: Evaluate Trade-offs
S: Summarize Your Recommendation

Let’s now apply this framework to our scenario of designing a ride-sharing app for elderly users.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Step 1: Comprehend the Situation (C)

Start by clarifying the problem. This ensures you’re addressing the correct issue and helps frame your response effectively.

Sample Questions to Interviewer:

“What is our primary goal—user growth, retention, ease-of-use?”
“Are we designing for urban or rural elderly users, or both?”
“Is this an MVP or a comprehensive product launch?”

Interviewer Response: Sometimes interviewers will give you pointed guidance similar to this answer: "We aim to launch an MVP focused primarily on ease-of-use and rapid adoption in urban and suburban areas." In other cases they will want you to pick the goals.

Step 2: Identify the Customer (I)

Define your target audience clearly. Understanding and empathizing with your user is key.

Our Customer:

Elderly adults (65+ years)
May have mobility challenges or vision impairment
Possibly less tech-savvy, requiring intuitive interfaces
Urban/suburban residents

Showing user empathy at this stage will resonate strongly with interviewers, as it reflects essential product management skills.

Step 3: Report Customer Needs (R)

Clearly list out the key needs and pain points of elderly users:

Simplicity & Accessibility: Easy-to-read text, simple navigation, intuitive interfaces.
Safety & Reliability: Reliable drivers, safe interactions, immediate customer support.
Physical Assistance: Assistance entering/exiting vehicles, accommodating mobility devices.
Comfort & Trust: Ability to select familiar or highly rated drivers, building ongoing trust.

Step 4: Cut, Through Prioritization (C)

Prioritizing user needs is essential, especially for an MVP. A structured prioritization framework involves assessing each feature by three criteria:

Impact: How much the feature improves user experience.
Frequency: How often users will encounter this need.
Alignment: How directly it supports our primary goal of ease-of-use and adoption.

Here’s how our needs rank:

Feature	Impact (1-5)	Frequency (1-5)	Goal Alignment (1-5)	Total Score
Simplicity & Accessibility	5	5	5	15
Safety & Reliability	5	4	5	14
Physical Assistance	4	3	4	11
Comfort & Trust	3	3	3	9

Using this clear scoring method:

Primary focus for MVP: Simplicity & Accessibility and Safety & Reliability.
Future iterations: Physical Assistance and Comfort & Trust enhancements.

This explicit prioritization demonstrates your structured decision-making and ability to balance user needs against product constraints.

Step 5: List Solutions (L)

Brainstorm solutions aligned with your prioritized features:

Simplified Interface: Large fonts/buttons, minimal screens, voice-controlled booking.
Driver Certification: Specially trained, background-checked drivers familiar with elder care.
Immediate Support: Easy-to-find support button connecting users directly to customer service.
Personalized Preferences: Users or caregivers can store preferred locations and drivers (secondary feature for later release).

Step 6: Evaluate Trade-offs (E)

Analyze each solution’s pros and cons, recognizing potential trade-offs clearly:

Simplified Interface:
- ✅Easy adoption, immediate impact on usability
- ⚠️ May limit features initially, potential future development constraints
Driver Certification:
- ✅ Significantly boosts trust, safety perception, adoption rate
- ⚠️ Higher onboarding cost, slower driver scale-up
Immediate Support:
- ✅ Increases reliability, provides reassurance
- ⚠️ Potentially high operational cost at scale

In the MVP context, choosing Simplified Interface and Driver Certification best aligns with our primary goals, despite higher initial costs. Immediate support and deeper personalization can follow once the MVP validates market fit.

Step 7: Summarize Your Recommendation (S)

Deliver a clear, concise recommendation:

“I recommend launching an MVP ride-sharing app tailored for elderly users, emphasizing a simplified and intuitive interface paired with highly trained and certified drivers. This targeted approach directly aligns with our primary goal of ease-of-use and adoption. Additional features like comprehensive physical assistance and personalized driver selection can be strategically added once we achieve initial market validation.”

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Example Answer Dialogue

Interviewer:

"How would you approach designing a ride-sharing app specifically for elderly users?"

Candidate:

"That's an interesting scenario! Before I jump in, I'd like to clarify a few things to ensure I fully understand the situation. Could you share a bit more about our main objectives here—are we prioritizing usability, rapid adoption, or revenue generation? Additionally, are there any constraints I should consider, like geographic focus or timeline?"

Interviewer:

"Good questions. We're aiming to launch an MVP that's primarily optimized for ease-of-use and rapid user adoption. Let's focus initially on elderly users in urban and suburban areas."

Candidate (Step 1 - Comprehend the Situation):

"Perfect. That’s clear. Given your goals, my initial understanding is we’re creating a user-friendly MVP targeting elderly users in urban and suburban settings, emphasizing accessibility and rapid adoption."

Candidate (Step 2 - Identify the Customer):

"Next, let’s define our customer clearly. We’re talking about elderly individuals, likely 65 years and older. They might have physical limitations such as reduced mobility or vision impairments and potentially lower familiarity with technology. This means we must create a product that's intuitive, accessible, and requires minimal technical know-how."

Candidate (Step 3 - Report Customer Needs):

"Based on this, the primary user needs would likely include: Simplicity and Accessibility: The app must be extremely easy to navigate, with large readable text, voice support, and straightforward interactions. Safety and Reliability: Trustworthy drivers and consistent service quality will be critical to ensure users feel safe and secure. Physical Assistance: Some users might need assistance getting in and out of vehicles or handling mobility aids. Comfort and Trust: Over time, building trust through familiar drivers and personalized experiences could become important."

Interviewer:

"Great insights. Now, given that it’s an MVP, how would you prioritize these needs?"

Candidate (Step 4 - Cut, Through Prioritization):

"To prioritize effectively, I'd evaluate each feature based on three criteria: impact on user experience, frequency of use, and alignment with our main goal of rapid adoption and ease-of-use.

For example: Simplicity & Accessibility scores highest across impact, frequency, and alignment. It's crucial for ensuring our target demographic can even use the app. Safety & Reliability is next, because trust is essential to adoption and repeat usage. Physical Assistance and Comfort & Trust are important but lower in immediate priority because they add complexity and might delay an MVP release.

So initially, I'd strongly focus on simplicity, accessibility, and reliability."

Interviewer:

"Makes sense. So, given your priorities, what solutions would you propose?"

Candidate (Step 5 - List Solutions):

"Here are a few targeted solutions:

Simplified UI: Big buttons, minimal steps to book a ride, clear audio and visual instructions, and voice-activated commands for ease of use. Driver Certification Program: Specialized driver onboarding and training focused on elderly care, ensuring drivers are equipped to handle common scenarios comfortably and safely. Instant Support: An easily accessible button to contact customer support for immediate assistance, enhancing trust and reliability. Personalization (future iteration): Features allowing users to request familiar or previously rated drivers, increasing comfort over time."

Interviewer:

"Great. Could you discuss the potential trade-offs of these solutions?"

Candidate (Step 6 - Evaluate Trade-offs):

"Certainly! Every choice has implications:

Simplified UI: Pros: Directly improves ease-of-use, making the app immediately adoptable. Cons: Might initially limit some advanced functionalities that could be useful later. Driver Certification Program: Pros: Builds significant trust, critical for elderly users who value safety. Cons: Could increase initial costs and slow driver acquisition. Instant Support: Pros: Enhances reliability significantly by providing immediate help. Cons: Operationally expensive; not ideal for MVP budgets but a priority for future scaling."

Interviewer:

"Given these trade-offs, how would you proceed?"

Candidate (Step 7 - Summarize Your Recommendation):

"Based on our priorities and these trade-offs, I recommend that we launch an MVP focusing primarily on a simplified, highly accessible interface and a robust driver certification program. These two areas have the strongest immediate impact on usability and adoption among elderly users, clearly aligning with our strategic goals.

Following successful validation of the MVP, we can enhance the product by introducing instant support and personalized features in subsequent releases."

Interviewer: