Choose Your Next App to Uninstall, Justify the Choice, and Improve It

Look at the apps on your phone. Which one do you expect to delete next, and what makes it the next to go? The interviewer then follows up: how would you improve that app? ### Clarifying Questions - Should the app be one I actually have installed, explained from my own usage, or may I reason about a typical user of that app? - Can the app come from any company, Google included? - For the improvement, should I aim to keep users who, like me, are about to delete the app, or to grow the app's business more broadly? ### Part 1 — Choose the app and explain why Name the app you would delete next and give the reasons it is losing its place on your phone. ```hint Weigh what it gives against what it costs Compare the value the app still delivers with what keeping it costs you, and ask what has changed since you installed it. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - Explicit criteria for deciding which app goes next. - The specific reasons this app fails those criteria, traced to an unmet need rather than surface complaints. - Whether the reason is personal or a pattern that many of the app's users share. ### Part 2 — Improve the app Now act as the product manager for that app and explain how you would improve it. ```hint Fix the reason you are leaving Let the root cause from Part 1 and a chosen user segment drive your ideas, rather than starting from a list of features. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - A goal for the improvement and the user segment it targets. - Prioritized pain points, a few concrete solutions, and a reasoned choice among them. - Success metrics with guardrails, plus the main risks. ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A real, specific app rather than a generic list of reasons people delete apps. - A clear thread from the reasons for deleting the app to the improvements proposed. - Empathy for the app's users beyond the candidate's own case, expressed through segmentation. - Prioritized solutions with measurable success criteria and explicit trade-offs. ### Follow-up Questions - How could the app's team spot users like you drifting away before they uninstall, using data it already collects? - Your highest-priority improvement lowers revenue in the short term. How would you make the case for it? - How would you check that your reasons for deleting the app are shared by enough users to justify the work?