Google Maps Product Manager Mock Interview ft. Microsoft PM

Watch our mock Google Maps product manager (PM) interview. Kevin Wei (Coinbase PM) asks Microsoft PM Nathan Yu a product design question about Google Maps.

Chapters -
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:31 Question
00:00:40 Clarifying questions
00:00:55 Answer
00:02:02 Types of users
00:02:52 Pain points
00:04:56 Potential features
00:12:36 Go-to-market strategy
00:16:04 Risks
00:18:24 Success metrics
00:21:18 Interview analysis

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[bakayariman]

Here are the key takeaways from the video:
* User persona: People planning vacation trips
* Pain points: Difficulty finding information and planning activities for a trip
* Proposed solution: A new feature in Google Maps called "Trips" that allows users to create itineraries by specifying destinations, activities, and lodging.
* Key features:
* Ability to plan the entire trip itinerary including finding places to stay, eat, and things to do.
* Leverage existing Google Maps features like offline maps and recommendations.
* Rollout plan: Start with a small focus group to gather feedback and then do a public beta program.
* Metrics to track success: Number of trips created, number of users who create a second trip, and user satisfaction.
* Potential risks:
* Users may not find the recommendations helpful or may not be interested in planning their entire trip in advance.
* The feature may be cannibalizing engagement from the existing Explore tab in Google Maps.

[WAROFUTUBE]

I would add a feature of sharing this trip with friends and public as template so that they can just reuse this for their trip :)

[NahidMuzammil]

Naming the timestamps the way you have is also great way to also breakdown an answer, thanks for doing that

[Uchechukwu_]

Is Nathan always this calm? this is incredible...

[Testnnn]

The vacationer use case is great, but since it's for big trips, users will only use it for like 1-2 times per year. It would be very low frequency if it's for engagement.

[harshbaranwal]

Fast-forward to May 21' . Google I/O Maps updates-
1) Fuel-efficient routes.
2) Recommendations for tourists.

Great analysis!

[yoyomama]

Another risk I thought of was the potential for wrong data. Especially in small, less frequently visited areas, in my experience it’s not uncommon for google to have outdated information for business hours, phone number, or location.

[anuragkewat]

Another fantastic video. I particularly loved the last part, how Kevin captured the small misses and shared his feedback. Super observation.

[MrMhkazemi]

i will go like this
- Mission
help people to navigate easily
- goals
- product goal: make the app easier to use
- Users
- 6 wheels+ drivers
- 4 wheel drivers
- 2 wheel drives
- no wheel walkers

I assume 86 percent of Americans use their own cars to commute daily ==> 4wheel drivers

- Pain points
lets assume google map already provides best routes to drive on (traffic)
- less battery and network consumption
- less need to look at the app while driving
based on frequency and broader top of funnel in size i will go with ===> less need to look at the app
- Solutions
- activating audio guide
- integrate with car LCD
- design a gadget to integrate or add a head-up display / Bluetooth integrated device

based on LOE + Impact
I choose to add audio guide feature to improve user engagement with the app.

[kritinigam]

also maybe a "share my itinerary" feature w friends and on social media - would make it easy to share it fr a group trip +people tend to ask for itineraries when you post pictures

[salonee]

This was really insightful. Vacationers as potential users definitely has a lot of scope to grow. Thank you sharing 👍

[kritinigam]

id also add "how to get there" so that users can browse through different modes of transportation too - road trip, flights (integrate w google flights)

[kosmickarma]

A lot of trips are usually in groups. I wonder how would this work out in groups.
I think we can extend this feature for groups...like people should be able to add other members to a trip via their Gmail id...then while suggesting things like best times to visit, we can consider calendars of all the group members.

[srishtiunki]

Picking target group of vacationers was pretty good, but I think the pain points weren't called out and which pain point/need was prioritised.

[jermaineconcern]

My first thought is … if a user knows he/she may be traveling to or through areas with potentially shotty cellular coverage.. for me, that’s going in and out of Canada.. the user can pre-download the routes and areas so it will never lag out and say “finding route”

[reshuvarshney]

solution and features were great but I didn't see him talking more about the pain points and which one did he really wanted to prioritize

[almondjoy]

When I zoom into a street - show the damn street name

[elliealley]

I've noticed in a handful of these videos, the Elapsed Time that interviewees take to think about a problem is ~15 seconds. Do you have some advice/recommendation on what an appropriate or common amount of time interviewees take in a real world interview would be? Is 15 seconds standard or realistic?

[priyankmody]

Shouldn’t we talk about the existing user journey for vacationers followed by deeper pain points for them and then eventually coming up with solutions ? Or can we directly start with solutions after prioritising vacationers and selecting them.

[madeleinep]

Awesome mock! Very creative and clear, Nathan is great

Thanks a lot!