I get drenched on my way to work. How will you help me?

Interviewer (I1): I get drenched on my way to work. My colleagues laugh at me. I’m hiring your service to help me. I need a solution in our next meeting.

We’ll do this as a role play, where I am a prospect and Interviewer 2 (I2) here would represent all the other collaborators that you may have as part of your team.

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What might seem pretty absurd and an almost funny question at first, is in fact a great layered way to assess the problem-solving skills of a PM candidate. The problem might not necessarily be product based but requires the same analytical thinking and user empathy to reach a solution. We also need to remember that such role plays will be a test of your cross-functional communication skills as well.

Here’s why we love such questions :

a. You’re not confined by a said product’s behavior.

b. You get a chance to think out of the box and be creative with your answers.

c. Interviewers get a preview of how you interact with stakeholders during the process of finding a solution.

What are we trying to do? 

The problem statement is vague and seemingly simple (we’ll see about that). The goal of this exercise is to brainstorm in a structured way and then come up with a few plausible solutions. The process matters more than the solution here. Here’s a way to structure your thoughts and go about this problem:

Where do we start?

Refine the problem statement by asking questions. You obviously take a minute to gather your thoughts. In this particular case, you could ask the following clarifying questions :

Interviewer (I1) : I get drenched on my way to work. My colleagues laugh at me. I’m hiring your services to help me. I need a solution in our next meeting.

C : Thanks for this question. I’m really sorry to hear that. In order to come up with an effective solution, I need to ask a few clarifying questions. 

I1 : Sure, go ahead.

C : Where are you based and how do you travel to work? Do you have any preferences, like commuting light or working remotely occasionally?

I1 : I’m based in Berlin, Germany. I live near the subway station and I take a train to work, followed by a 20 mins walk to my office space. And yes, I like to keep my hands free while travelling. Based on my mood, I end up taking a taxi sometimes. And my organization does have a WFH policy but I like to go to work every day.  I might consider working from home if I knew it’s going to rain if I step out.

C: Alright, that’s great - and do you use a smartphone or any other gadgets ? or watch the weather forecast on TV?

I1: No I’m allergic to smartphones. And I don’t have a TV at home. So I never know if it’ll rain or not. I’m old school and I only have a landline phone at home. 

(While this may sound absurd again, please take note of this input and move on)

C: Noted, also would you say your commute hours are generally fixed or flexible?

I1: Oh I am known for my punctuality, I leave home by 8.30 am sharp and leave work at 4.30 in the evening.

C: How often would you say it rains in Berlin and you have to face this issue? 

I1: I don’t know. I just know that I’m okay when it drizzles, but with heavy rains I get drenched and I am very embarrassed in front of my colleagues. They make fun of me.

C: I can imagine this is very uncomfortable situation for you. I’m going to assume this happens rather frequently in a week. If I may ask, what do you think is the reason for your co-workers to behave the way the do?

I1: Because I turn up drenched literally every time and sit in my wet clothes through the day!

C: This must be a very difficult situation for you, and this is also a health hazard. We’ll surely try our best to help you with this. One last question, do you have any budgetary constraints for us to work with?

I1: No I don’t have any budgetary constraints, just know that I don’t like to keep raincoats at home, the water dripping from them makes me sick. Let’s meet tomorrow (in 15mins), I’m hopeful you’ll have a solution for me. 

C: Thanks for all your inputs. Let me brainstorm with my team and meet you tomorrow with our findings.

(I1 turns off their video or moves back to the corner of the room to spectate your process)

Please note : In your next meeting, you should be able to explain your thought process and that’s key. If you find an agreeable solution or not, is only based on the discussion you have with the prospect.

What’s the problem?

Here’s what to do next - Take a few minutes to synthesize this information before you summarize the problem statement. You can always request breaks for a few minutes to gather your thoughts before moving forward.

(I2 enters the room)

I2 : Hey C, I saw your meeting notes and the recording of your call. (Notice how they’re helping you with the fact that they’ve the context of the requirement)

C: Hey, thanks for going through it, any first thoughts? What did you think of the call? 

I2 : It’s an interesting problem but they’re quite demanding, and moody I must say. 

C : Yeah which makes it challenging, anyway, let’s see how we can best help them. 

I2 : Sure!

TIP : Make sure you pass on all the context to your collaborators and factor in their opinion. In case there’s no collaborator, still mention how you’d work with a team to reach a conclusion eventually.

C: Let’s take a step back, break down the problem and understand the issues here:

(Start a whiteboard session, you could use Miro, Excalidraw, the native whiteboard in Google meet or any other tool of your choice)

TIP : A simple way to move forward is to think which parts of the problem are actionable, For instance, Can you stop the rain? No. Can you provide more info to prevent the drenching and the humiliation caused thereby - Yes!

I2: So our goal is to basically prevent this person from getting drenched when it rains?

C: Yes, that’s right. and IMO we need these 3 components to make that possible - 

1. The prior information of

2. The prevention from and

3. The emotional collateral caused by rains.

We also need to be mindful of a few constraints : 

1. They travel light, would not like to carry anything in their hands.

2. They don’t use a smartphone or TV, so they might not have access to weather forecast, or booking a cab service etc. 

3. The colleagues are mean, if we can find a way to turn this situation around and help this person be popular with their co-workers it’d be the cherry on the cake.

I2: Yes, perfectly summed up, how to we proceed now?

How can we solve it collaboratively?

C: Before we begin to solution, it’s important to prioritise the elements that we need to focus on. Broadly, this is what we’re looking at:

Now, I’d say the first two components on Information & Prevention are a must to solve the core problem, the third one about the emotional boost, would be a good to have.  By solving for the first two, we are already preventing the user from being in that situation where their colleagues laugh at them. With the third, if we’re able to enable camaraderie in some way, it’d add to the user delight.

I2 : Interesting, given the time constraint, let’s talk about the first two. 

C: Sure. we can park the third element for now, it can be part of an iteration in the future.

I2: Let’s spend a few minutes focusing on these :

C: First things first, since the prospect doesn’t use a smartphone or TV, how can we solve the problem of information? 

I2: I don’t know, do they read the newspaper?

C : That’s a good point, we can assume that they do considering they’re old school, and we could manage sending a newspaper / daily weather forecast.  

I2 : Yeah, it’s economical, and we can manage that. 

C : What about a wearable device?

I2 : I like that idea. But we must not forget the the user is old school and allergic to smartphones?

C: Yes, I’m suggesting more of a pure wearable device that is not a smart device but a very basic band that only does two things - a) notifies the user of the latest weather situation (Imagine it vibrating every morning at 7.30 am as our user’s office going hours are fixed) and b) takes their input on next actions. This way, we ensure that they don’t feel overwhelmed by the band. 

I2: I2: That sounds like something I1 can get on board with

C:  Once we have a way to notify them about the weather situation, we would then need to figure out how to prevent them from getting drenched.

I2: Or they could also stay at home. 

C: Yes, that is a possibility too. Let me note that down.

I2 : Now let’s list down a few ways that prevent drenching :

An umbrella - since they don’t prefer to carry it, this might be a less desired answer

A raincoat - probably, we’ll analyze

Using a cab service on rainy days - possible, we’ll analyze

Keeping a spare change of clothes in office - quite possible and practical.

C: Is there a way to avoid the dripping bit but still keep raincoats as an option? Like disposable raincoats?

I2 : Yes, we did something similar in the past. The R&D team can check that once we get a go ahead. 

C: Great, so we keep it as an option. And let’s make sure these disposable raincoats are made of biodegradable material and are environment friendly. 

I2: Good point, will make note of this. We have only 5 more mins to go before we meet with the customer with a solution.

C: Thanks for the time check, to roughly summarize our user journey with both the options :  

OPTION 1

Step 1 - The wearable device notifies them of the weather everyday

Step 2 - Assuming it’s going to rain on a certain day, it can present them with 3 simple options - 

a. Book a cab for you

b. Get a disposable raincoat at your doorstep 

c. None needed (In case they decide to wfh or take a day off)

Step 3 - When they make the choice, we take it forward from there. If they choose option a or b, we already know their fixed timings so we need to manage logistics and make that happen. 

An extension of this could be that even if the forecast is not up to the mark but it starts raining, they could use an on-demand service and we deliver the raincoat / arrange a pickup on the go. 

I2: Thanks for summarizing, and on-the-move part may not be part of the first iteration, but it can be an enhancement for sure. 

What else?

C: Here’s the alternative.

OPTION 2

Our system checks the weather forecast for them. 

An automated phone call is made to their landline number

Depending on their response, we arrange for a pick up or send them a disposable raincoat at their doorstep. 

I2: Nice and simple. We’d need a backup customer rep, in case they want to not choose any option but speak with them. 

C: Yes, good point. We’d also have to think of cases where they fail to receive the call too! In the interest of time, let’s park that for now. Before we conclude, I have two questions for you - 

• Could you quickly tell me in terms of maintenance and efforts how do these option appear to you?

•  Would it be possible to customize and maybe add a little quirk to the raincoat designs, I feel the co-workers would  find it pretty cool and help our customer with the esteem issues at work. 

I2: Both the options are possible, but we’d need to explore them in detail. From the looks of it:

• Option 1 requires more efforts and maintenance, Option 2 in comparatively simpler but not scalable.

• While the design experiment is great suggestion, but you know that we are pressed for bandwidth. If the customer give us time, we can manage that. 

C: Alright, thanks for these inputs. Let’s go meet the prospect. 

TIP : During PM interviews, one can often incline towards thinking of only digital solutions. Don’t fall into that trap.

How to take it forward?

(I1, I2 and C, back together on the call) - 

C: Hello I1, we’re excited to meet you again. And we have two plausible solutions for you. The idea of this meeting will be to get your go ahead as we start exploring one of these solutions in depth. 

I1 : Good news, I can’t wait to hear what you have for me. 

C: In order to prevent you from getting drenched, we need a solution that informs you about the weather timely and also helps you choose what you want to do if it’s going to rain during your commute. Here are the two options our team has come up with. Please note, this is exploratory only and we’d have to do a deeper discovery and run feasibility checks once we get an understanding of your preferred option. 

Here’s option 1: 

You leave your home at 8.30 am

We have a wearable device (this is a simple band, not like a smartphone at all) for you that notifies you of the weather condition an hour prior. This way the information is latest. At the same time, the device also lets you choose what you want to do now that you know it’s going to rain :

a. Book a cab 

b. Get a disposable raincoat at your doorstep. These raincoats can be disposed off after one-use and you wouldn’t have to bother about the dripping.

c. None needed (If you decide to work from home or take a day off)

Basis your choice, we manage the logistics right in time for you to leave for work. The same flow would also work for your commute on your way back from office.

An alternative would be :

Our systems check the forecast for you everyday, and you get a phone call on your home / office landline, depending on your response, we arrange for a pick up or send you the disposable raincoat.

I1 : I like option 1 more, and I don’t mind a wearable device like a watch as far as my hands are free. I’m excited to see disposable raincoats, as it’s a new concept for me. 

C: Great to know. We’d come back to you with a detailed plan and a few design options then. We will try to get some customized raincoat options for you too! 

I1 : I’d like that very much. When will this be available?

C: We can comment on the timelines only once we do a detailed analysis on this. Let me discuss this internally and provide you an update over email. In addition to whatever option you choose, for the interim, you can keep a spare change of clothes at work, to prevent your from falling sick in case you end up getting drenched.

I1 : (Smiles) sure, that works. 

C: Would you like to add anything, I2? 

I2 : Nothing, I’ll ask our teams to get to work then. 

C: Thanks all!

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Here are a few other examples that you can practice with :

1. I fear that my car will be stolen every night I go to sleep, what to do?

2. If you were the CEO of a couch company, how’d you innovate?

3. I hate cooking but love eating, there’s no food delivery service in my area. Can you do something?