Use this curated, category-based bank to assess structured problem-solving across ambiguity, data, and constraints. Each section includes prompts and cues for what strong answers demonstrate.

Problem Framing & Clarification

• When you’re given a vague goal, what’s your first step?
  Good answers: Clarify the objective, constraints, stakeholders, success metrics, and timeline; restate for alignment.
• Tell me about a poorly framed problem you reframed.
  Good answers: Shifted from solutions to outcomes; defined scope and acceptance criteria; improved results.
• How do you avoid solving the wrong problem?
  Good answers: Validate with quick data points, user interviews, or experiments before deep solutioning.
• What questions do you ask in the first 15 minutes?
  Good answers: Who/what/why/when, impact, constraints, dependencies, prior attempts, and “what happens if we do nothing.”
• Example of narrowing scope to make progress.
  Good answers: MVP, timebox, or pilot that unlocked learning and momentum.

Root Cause Analysis

• Walk me through a defect you traced to the root cause.
  Good answers: Structured method (5 Whys, fishbone), data gathered, true cause vs. symptoms, and prevention.
• How do you separate correlation from causation?
  Good answers: Controlled comparisons, instrumentation, A/B or holdouts, and domain logic checks.
• Describe a time the root cause was process, not people.
  Good answers: Systemic fix (checklists, SOPs, automation) replacing blame.
• What signals tell you you’re at the wrong level of analysis?
  Good answers: Fixes don’t stick, repeated edge cases, conflicting anecdotes; zoom in/out accordingly.
• How do you validate a suspected root cause quickly?
  Good answers: Fast experiment, targeted log, or field test before large work.

Hypothesis & Experimentation

• Explain your hypothesis-to-test workflow.
  Good answers: Hypothesis, measurable prediction, minimal test, success/fail thresholds, and next step rules.
• A time your experiment disproved your belief.
  Good answers: Changed course quickly, shared learning, and updated roadmap.
• How do you choose between precision and speed in testing?
  Good answers: Risk/impact driven, sample size pragmatism, and staged testing.
• What’s your approach to designing guardrail metrics?
  Good answers: Protects user experience/revenue while testing; alerts on regressions.
• How do you ensure experiments lead to decisions?
  Good answers: Pre-registered decision rules, owners, and time-bound calls.

Prioritization & Trade-offs

• You have five fixes but capacity for two. Pick.
  Good answers: Scoring model (impact × confidence ÷ effort), dependencies, risk, and opportunity cost.
• Describe a time you said no to a senior stakeholder.
  Good answers: Clear rationale, alternatives, timeline, and relationship maintained.
• How do you balance short-term patches vs. long-term solutions?
  Good answers: Dual-track plan with explicit criteria to replace the patch.
• When do you stop analysis and act?
  Good answers: Reversibility, cost of delay, and decision deadlines.
• What’s your escalation policy for blocked issues?
  Good answers: Thresholds by impact/time, defined channels, and owner accountability.

Quantitative Thinking & Estimation

• Do a Fermi estimate for our weekly active users.
  Good answers: Stated assumptions, step-by-step math, sanity checks, and ranges.
• How do you validate a surprising metric?
  Good answers: Reproduce query, check definitions, compare cohorts/time, and instrument a second measure.
• What’s your checklist before sharing numbers with execs?
  Good answers: Source, date/version, rounding, definitions, and peer review.
• Explain variance you recently investigated.
  Good answers: Hypotheses, cuts (segment, channel, device), root cause, and fix.
• Cost/benefit example for a proposed solution.
  Good answers: Expected value, sensitivity analysis, and risks.

Creativity & Lateral Thinking

• Describe a non-obvious solution you shipped.
  Good answers: Constraint-driven creativity, prototypes, and learning.
• How do you generate options beyond the first idea?
  Good answers: Divergent/convergent thinking, “crazy 8s,” or analogies from other domains.
• When do you deliberately break a rule?
  Good answers: Risk-aware exceptions with clear reasoning and post-check.
• Tell me about leveraging constraints to innovate.
  Good answers: Simplified scope, reused components, or reframed problem.
• What signals show an idea is elegant vs. clever?
  Good answers: Simplicity, fewer moving parts, resilience, and user delight.

Decision-Making Under Uncertainty

• Share a high-impact call you made with limited data.
  Good answers: Risks, reversibility, pre-mortem, and contingency plan.
• How do you de-bias your decisions?
  Good answers: Red-team, checklists, base rates, and counterfactuals.
• What’s your approach to scenario planning?
  Good answers: Down/base/up cases with triggers and decision rules.
• A time doing nothing was the best choice.
  Good answers: Option value and information arrival outweighted action.
• How do you capture and revisit assumptions?
  Good answers: Assumption log with owners, confidence, and review cadence.

Execution & Iteration

• How do you turn an analysis into action?
  Good answers: Clear owner, next steps, milestones, and success metrics.
• Describe a fast iteration loop you set up.
  Good answers: Telemetry, feedback channels, and weekly review rhythm.
• What do you track post-launch?
  Good answers: Leading indicators, guardrails, and error budgets.
• How do you know when to pivot vs. persevere?
  Good answers: Predefined thresholds and learning milestones.
• Example of removing work to solve a problem.
  Good answers: Stopped doing low-value tasks; simplified process; net impact positive.

Collaboration & Influence

• Tell me about influencing a solution without authority.
  Good answers: Stakeholder map, incentives, artifacts (one-pagers), and pilots.
• How do you handle conflicting opinions on the solution?
  Good answers: Decision framework, DACI/RACI, and time-bound resolution.
• When have you changed your mind from feedback?
  Good answers: Specific example, impact, and credit-sharing.
• What artifacts speed alignment?
  Good answers: Problem statements, acceptance criteria, and visuals.
• How do you keep users in the loop?
  Good answers: Regular updates, release notes, and expectation setting.

Postmortems & Learning

• Walk me through a candid postmortem you led.
  Good answers: Blameless, facts-first, root causes, and action items with owners.
• How do you ensure lessons stick?
  Good answers: Update SOPs, checklists, training, and dashboards.
• What important belief have you changed recently?
  Good answers: Evidence, scope of change, and communication.
• How do you share learnings across teams?
  Good answers: Docs, guilds, demos, internal talks.
• Example of turning a failure into an advantage.
  Good answers: Reframed insight leading to a better approach.

Case Study Prompts

• Capacity bottleneck: Reduce a 10-day cycle time by 30% with minimal spend.
• Churn spike: Diagnose a 2% → 4% monthly churn increase; propose fixes.
• Incident response: Draft a 24-hour plan to mitigate a P1 customer issue.
• Pricing error: You discover mispriced SKUs; contain, correct, and communicate.
• New market: Evaluate entering a niche vertical; define thesis, risks, and 2-quarter plan.

Tip: Look for clear problem statements, explicit assumptions, small experiments, and measurable outcomes. Strong problem-solvers show their work and close the loop.