Forward with care

A product case question from a product manager interview, set at Chatterly, a fictional messaging company.

The question

Skills this case tests

A starting metric tree

Harmful reach per DAU = messages forwarded × chats reached per forward; split by forward depth, chat size and account age

How to approach this case

Clarify the goal and the limits before solving. The goal is to cut the spread of false content during the election and give regulators clear answers. The limits are end-to-end encryption and not hurting normal chat. Then ask what Chatterly can actually see without reading messages, such as forward counts, group size, account age and user reports. Use those signals to find where the problem sits. Is it spread across all messaging, or concentrated in certain kinds of messages, groups or accounts? Build options from that answer and rank them by how much reach they cut against how much normal messaging they cost. Be clear about which ideas would break the product's privacy promise. A strong close gives a north star, a guardrail on everyday messaging, a fair way to measure impact during an election, and what you tell regulators.

The full method for mixed diagnose-and-decide questions · A worked example answer

After the mock interview you get scores on five skills, what to fix with quotes from your answers, and the ideal path for this case.