Handling an Ambiguous CEO Request to Link Africa and South America by Bridge
Company: Google
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
Your company's CEO wakes up one day set on building a bridge between Africa and South America. The CEO offers nothing beyond that idea, and your interviewer wants to see how you work through a request this ambiguous. How would you design the bridge?
```hint Who crosses, and why?
Before you design anything, pin down what the CEO hopes the bridge will achieve and who would use it. Let those answers shape what you build.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- What does the company do, and what does the CEO hope to gain: new markets, a social mission, or a statement about the brand?
- Does the CEO mean a physical structure across the ocean, or would any strong link between the two continents count?
- Should the bridge mainly move people, goods, information or money?
- What budget and timeline does the CEO have in mind?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- Handling the ambiguity: clarifying the CEO's intent and both the literal and the broader meanings of "bridge" before designing.
- A quick, quantified feasibility check of a physical crossing, with every assumption labeled.
- Users and needs on both continents, and a justified choice of whom to serve first.
- A concrete proposal with a first step, success metrics and risks.
- A clear recommendation back to the CEO, including respectful pushback if the literal idea is not viable.
### Follow-up Questions
- The CEO insists on a physical bridge. How do you respond, and what would you need to learn before any money is committed?
- How would you choose which countries on each side to start with?
- A year after launch, how would you show the CEO that the bridge is working?
Overview: An ambiguity exercise in which a CEO, offering no further detail, wants a bridge built between Africa and South America. It tests clarifying intent, running a quick quantified feasibility check of a physical crossing, reframing toward the underlying need, choosing users, proposing a first step and making a clear recommendation.