Pandemic-Era Care Finder: Product Design for Locating an Available Doctor
Company: Meta
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
Design a product that helps people find a doctor while a pandemic is under way. Explain who the product serves, what it does for them, what you would build first, and how you would measure whether it succeeds.
```hint What the pandemic changes
Ask how looking for care differs while an infectious disease is spreading, both for the people seeking care and for the clinics and doctors providing it, and design for the moment where that difference hurts most.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Is the product for people who may have the pandemic illness, for people whose ordinary care has been disrupted by it, or both?
- Should it be a standalone product, or part of an app many people already use, such as one of Meta's apps?
- Which country and health system are we designing for: does finding a doctor depend on insurance networks, or on a public system's registration and referral rules?
- Does the product only help people find and book a doctor, or should it also deliver care itself through video visits?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- What a pandemic changes about getting care (infection risk in waiting rooms, overloaded or reduced clinics, the shift to video visits) and a goal that follows from it.
- Both sides of the product: a chosen patient segment with its pain points, and the clinics and doctors whose up-to-date availability the product depends on.
- A prioritized first version that connects deciding what kind of care is needed, finding an available doctor, and booking.
- Metrics built around getting people to appropriate care quickly, with guardrails on medical safety, data accuracy and privacy.
- Risks specific to health care: liability, regulation, trust in whoever holds the health data, and access for older or less connected people.
### Follow-up Questions
- Clinic availability shown in your product is often out of date. How would you get providers to keep it current?
- How would you keep the product useful once the pandemic is over?
- How would you serve older or rural patients who cannot or will not use video visits?
Overview: A product sense question asking how to design a product that helps people find a doctor during a pandemic. It tests understanding what a pandemic changes about getting care, serving both patients and clinics, prioritizing a first version, and setting metrics with safety, accuracy and privacy guardrails.