The doc nobody opens

A root cause analysis question from a product manager interview, set at Draftmere, a fictional productivity saas / docs and wiki company.

The question

Skills this case tests

A starting metric tree

Weekly doc opens = active users × docs opened per user; split by plan, region and where the open starts

How to approach this case

Leadership already has a theory, so treat it as a hypothesis to test, not a fact. Start by clarifying what counts as an open, why the company tracks it and what it stands for: value delivered, or retention. Confirm the shape of the drop over time. If people were leaving for a competitor, what else would you expect to fall? Check those signals before planning any retention push. Then break opens down by plan, region, platform and where the open starts. Ask what shipped recently and which paths it touched, and look for a holdout or plan that did not get it. Size each candidate cause with simple arithmetic before accepting it. A strong close says plainly what is happening, whether a retention plan is needed, and what you would change next.

The full method for root cause analysis 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.