Design More Accurate Live Order Tracking and Arrival Estimates for DoorDash

You are a product manager at DoorDash. Design a feature that helps customers follow their orders in real time with better accuracy. Explain which customers and which moments of an order you would focus on, what you would build, how you would prioritize it, and how you would measure success. ```hint Compare the screen with reality Walk an order from checkout to handoff. At each stage, ask what the customer sees, what is actually happening, and whether the restaurant, the Dasher or DoorDash's own systems hold the missing information. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Does "more accurate" mean a better arrival estimate, a truer picture of the order's current status and the Dasher's location, or both? - Which orders are in scope: restaurant delivery only, or also grocery and convenience orders, and orders a Dasher carries together with another delivery? - Can the solution ask restaurants and Dashers to do something new, such as confirming that food is ready, or must it rely on data DoorDash already collects? - Is the main business goal fewer support contacts about late orders, fewer cancellations, or higher reorder rates? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A definition of tracking accuracy (arrival-estimate error, status freshness, location fidelity) and the business goal it serves - A walk through the order lifecycle that locates where tracking fails today, including restaurant preparation and the final handoff - Solutions that involve customers, Dashers and merchants, with a prioritized first version and a reason for the order - Metrics for estimate accuracy and customer trust, with guardrails for checkout conversion, Dasher efficiency and merchant effort - Risks such as wider time windows lowering conversion, Dasher location privacy, and customer messages that blame merchants or Dashers ### Follow-up Questions - If a more honest arrival estimate lowers checkout conversion, would you ship it, and how would you decide? - How would tracking work when a Dasher picks up another customer's order on the way to yours? - How would you get reliable preparation signals from busy restaurants that may not update an order's status?