Decode and Conquer

Start by thinking how these companies make money and the critical drivers to the business. Then, consider how the competition, the new acquisition, or complementary product can affect those particular business drivers.

Attribute method. List all the product attributes. Mix and match to get interesting new combinations.

Of his 10 design principles, I’ve bolded the best ones to cite: innovation, utility, ease of use and sense of honesty. Approach any product design critique by: Revealing your design criteria. Cap it to three principles. Explaining how the product may or may not meet your criteria. Being specific, offering evidence, and contrasting with similar prod

Average revenue per user (ARPU) Average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) Average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU) Lifetime value (LTV) Conversion rate

As part of understanding customer needs, you may have to delve into a customer’s work flow with their existing solutions. To find areas of improvement, you’ll have to understand obstacles they are facing and gaps that existing solutions have left open.

To start the interview, you really just need answers for the four bolded questions: what is it, who is it for, why do they need it, and how does it work? So we’ll call our version the “3W’s and H.”

When it comes to strategy, the most prevalent and satisfying analysis tool is pro/con analysis. As the name implies, it’s satisfying because it feels objective.

Normally, we’d consider business value, customer impact and tech difficulty when prioritizing.

If you want to really impress the interviewer, redesign a web page at home, using your favorite mockup tool whether it’s Balsamiq, Adobe Photoshop, or Microsoft PowerPoint. Bring copies of your visuals to the interview, and subtly introduce your redesign at the beginning of the interview. You can say, “When I was preparing for the interview, I coul