Two senior executives want your team to work on different priorities this quarter. How do you resolve it?
What the interviewer wants to hear
- Understand each executive goal and reasoning
- Connect both to company strategy and data
- Lay out options and trade-offs clearly
- Bring them together to decide, escalate if needed
- Communicate the final decision widely
Model answer
I would first meet each executive separately to understand what they want, why, and what outcome they expect. Often their goals are both valid, for example one wants growth in a new city and the other wants to reduce churn. I would then gather data on the expected impact, cost and risk of each, and connect both to the company strategy and quarterly goals. Next I would prepare clear options: do A first, do B first, or a smaller version of both, with what each means for timelines and results. I would bring both executives together to decide, because I should not choose between leaders alone. If they still disagree, I would ask for their common manager to decide. Once decided, I communicate it to the team and stakeholders so everyone works on the same plan.
Can you answer it under time pressure?
Take a timed hard round and get scored on every answer.
More hard Product Manager questions
- How would you choose a North Star metric for a two-sided marketplace, like a platform connecting tutors and students?
- Your company wants to launch its product in a new country. How would you approach the product strategy?
- How do you balance shipping fast with maintaining product quality and technical health?
- You join a product with good sign-ups but very low retention. What would you do in your first 90 days?
- Your company wants to add generative AI to its core product. How would you decide what to build and how to launch it responsibly?
- You need to shut down a product that some loyal customers still use. How do you handle it?
- Revenue growth has slowed from 8% to 2% per month over two quarters. How would you find out why and what to do?
- A well-funded competitor launches a feature that your sales team says is costing deals. How do you respond?
- How does product management change when you work in a regulated industry like healthcare or finance?