How would you design a kitchen? - uno
I've received a few notes from friends to explain the my template for answering a design question in further detail, so let's use one of the cliche interview questions to walk through my approach of answering design questions in Product/Program manager interviews.
"How would you design a kitchen?" is tantamount to "How would you move Mt. Fuji?". Several PM interviewers are known to have asked this (in fact I was asked this twice - once in my campus interviews long time ago and then during a full-day interview - again several years ago.) As an interviewee, the key is to know that the "question" really does not matter. The approach does and the same approach can be successfully applied to ansewering a technical question like - "How would you design an object model for an instant messaging client?"
Before we start answering the question, let me share as to why I believe this template and more importantly "writing/scribbling/drawing your answer on the whiteboard" works. There are three strategic advantages of using the whiteboard in answering any design questions. The whiteboard helps in:
1. Taking notes and not having to worry about remembering them: As you'll see, the key in answering such questions to the interviewer's satisfaction is to ensure that you ask about every requirement and constraint before starting to answer the question - more the merrier. Writing down all requirements on the whiteboard and having them available during later stage in the interview can be really helpful...
More at original post: http://www.kintya.com/blog/2008/08/how-would-you-d.html
-Kintan
