Election-Year Product Sense: Designing for the 2020 Presidential Race

You are a product manager asked to create a product that people would use in the 2020 presidential election. Decide who the product is for and which election problem it solves for them, propose and prioritize what to build, and explain how you would judge whether it succeeded. ```hint Walk the election timeline List everyone who takes part in an election and what each must get done, from before the vote through counting and results, then look for the step where the most people get stuck or where a failure costs the most. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Is this the US presidential election, and does "used in" cover the whole cycle (registration, campaigning, voting, counting and results) or only Election Day? - Who should the product serve: voters, campaigns, election officials and poll workers, or journalists? - Is it something Google builds into Search, Maps or YouTube, or a stand-alone product? - Must the product stay strictly nonpartisan, and what limits apply to using people's location or political data? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A goal for the product that reflects the conditions of the 2020 election, and why that goal matters - Election participants compared as segments, with one chosen and the reason - Pain points drawn from that segment's path through the election, ranked by severity - Solutions prioritized against explicit criteria, including accuracy of election information, neutrality, privacy and the fixed Election Day deadline - A primary metric with guardrails, and the main risks with mitigations ### Follow-up Questions - A court ruling changes one state's ballot deadline two weeks before Election Day: how does your product respond? - How would you show both parties and the public that the product is nonpartisan? - What happens to the product after the election is over?