Mastering the Product Sense Interview
In the competitive landscape of Product Management interviews, few challenges are as daunting as the product sense interview.
This critical component separates good candidates from exceptional ones, testing not just your knowledge, but your intuition, strategic thinking, and problem-solving abilities.
Not every company incorporates these interviews, but they’re becoming increasingly common.
Why Product Sense Matters
Product sense interviews evaluate your ability to think strategically about user needs, business requirements, and technical constraints.
Here’s what interviewers are looking for:
Structured thinking: Can you break down complex problems methodically?
User empathy: Do you truly understand user pain points and motivations?
Business acumen: Can you align product decisions with business objectives?
Creativity: Are you able to generate innovative solutions?
Prioritisation skills: Can you make tough decisions about what to build first?
While behavioural interviews remain the most common form of interview, product sense interviews are here to stay, too. Overlooking them in your interview preparation can be costly, as product sense interviews can mean the difference between success and failure.
Types of Product Sense Prompts
I reviewed over 2,000 prompts given to Product Managers in interviews by the likes of Meta, AirBNB, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Stripe, and many more. I didn’t ask AI to do this, I did it manually by myself—line by line, question by question.
I cleaned up the data, I got rid of duplicates, and I grouped them.
These are the 5 types of product sense prompts you can encounter:
1. Product Improvement
This is the most common type, and the prompts are usually very simple. In particular, hundreds of Product Managers have been asked this prompt:
What is your favourite product, and how would you improve it?
2. Product Strategy
These tend to be the most challenging type, and the prompts have a wide range of topics. This is where most Product Managers will fail if they don’t properly prepare. Here’s one Google likes to ask:
Come up with a new product or market that Google could enter
3. Product Design
My favourite, and possibly the most fun, are when you get to create something from scratch. These prompts are all about going from 0→1. In particular, Meta likes to ask:
Design a travel product for Instagram
4. Problem Solving
Another tricky prompt involves root cause analysis. You’re given a scenario, and you have to walk through how you would solve it. Some companies, like Revolut, are purposefully withholding information when they ask:
Imagine you are the PO of Trading. Profit dropped below zero for the first time in the history. What is the reason? How would you solve it?
5. Metrics
And finally, no Product Manager’s role is complete without the need to define metrics. Here’s one Coinbase asks candidates about another well-known tech product:
You're a PM at Spotify Podcasts. What goals and success metrics would you set for the product?
Where candidates fail
In my years of coaching product managers, I've identified several recurring struggles:
Completely failing to prepare for these
Rushing to solutions without proper problem discovery
Missing critical user considerations
Overlooking business context and constraints
Failing to structure your thoughts coherently
These challenges are completely normal, but overcoming them requires deliberate practice—with the right frameworks.
Product Sense Interview Templates
I’ve spent a lot of time looking around for good resources to point you to, but all I found were YouTube videos, impractical graphics claiming to be the “ultimate cheat sheet”, and articles—none of these gave Product Managers something tangible or practical.
What are you supposed to do with this?
What are you supposed to do with this?
So I built something.
Product Sense Interview Templates
Product Sense Interview Templates
Templates you can actually use
My Product Sense Interview Templates are a comprehensive resource designed to help you ace your product sense interviews with confidence. They’re built in Notion and can help you prepare by getting in the reps.
These templates provide:
Proven frameworks for tackling any product sense question
Step-by-step guidance that ensures you never miss critical components
Real interview examples with detailed annotations
A question bank with over 1,600 real prompts you can use
Whether you're interviewing at tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Meta, or at fast-growing startups, these templates will equip you with the structure and confidence to showcase your product thinking at its best.
What customers are saying
"Your product sense templates completely transformed my interview performance. After struggling with three previous interviews, I used your frameworks and landed my very next role."
"The structured approach in these templates helped me organize my thoughts under pressure."
“I had my own worksheet but had no idea if I was covering the right stuff. With your templates, I have a structure to follow that covers the right information, no matter the prompt.”
Limited Time Offer
My 1:1 clients and members of the Product Sphere community get these templates for free.
Just one of the 5 templates you get
For you, my readers, I’m offering a special discount of £10 off the templates.
Here’s just one of the 5 templates
Get the templates for just £19 (save £10) with code NEWSLETTER.
Remember, product sense isn't just about passing interviews—it's about developing a mindset that will serve you throughout your product career.
Here's to your success,
James
P.S. Do you have a specific product sense question that's giving you trouble? Reply with your challenge, and I'll address it in a future newsletter!