Design Google's books product from scratch: users, pain points, MVP and metrics
Company: Google
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
Suppose Google had never built a books product, and you are the product manager asked to create one from scratch. Decide what the product should be and whom it serves first, identify the problems it solves for those users, choose what ships in the first version, and explain how you would tell whether it is working.
```hint Start from Google's advantage
Google's strength is organizing and searching information at scale. Ask which problems people have with books that strength solves best, and what publishers, authors and libraries would need before agreeing to take part.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Should the product focus on making the contents of books searchable, on selling and lending e-books, or on both?
- Which content can we count on at launch: public-domain works, titles licensed from publishers, library collections, or all three?
- Is the main aim better answers in Google Search, a new revenue line, or more use of Google's apps and devices?
- Do we launch worldwide or in one market first, given that copyright rules differ by country?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- A clear definition of the product and a goal tied to Google's mission of organizing information and to how Google makes money.
- A segmentation of readers, plus the supply side (publishers, authors, libraries), with a reasoned choice of the segment to serve first.
- Pain points mapped to features that draw on Google's strengths, prioritized into a focused first version.
- A content and rights plan: where the books come from, how much of each book users can see, and why rights holders benefit.
- Success metrics with guardrails, and the main risks such as copyright disputes, preview abuse, scan quality and reading privacy.
### Follow-up Questions
- Major publishers refuse to let their in-copyright books be searched because they fear lost sales. How would you change the design to win them over?
- Would you build Google's own e-book store and reading app, or send readers to existing bookstores and libraries? What decides it?
- How would you keep book results from crowding out better web results in Google Search?
Overview: A product sense question asking how you would design a books product for Google if none existed. It tests choosing a target reader segment, mapping their pain points to features built on Google's search strengths, planning content rights with publishers and libraries, and setting success metrics and risks.