Product Design From Your Own Resume: Turn a Past Project Into a New Product Proposal
Company: Microsoft
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
In a Microsoft product manager interview, you are asked to choose a project from your own resume and use it as the starting point for a new product design.
```hint Choose for room to design
The most impressive project on your resume is not always the best one here. Look for one whose users you know firsthand and that left a problem open, then decide how the new design will relate to the original before you start designing.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Should the design extend the project as it was, rebuild it with what you know now, or carry its core idea to a different user or market?
- Should the result be a product or feature design, or would a technical design of how the project would scale also fit?
- How much of the time should go to explaining the original project versus designing the new one?
- Should the design connect to a Microsoft product area, or can it stand on its own?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- A brief recap of the chosen project (users, problem, your role, outcome) and a clear statement of what the new design sets out to achieve
- Target users and pain points grounded in what the original project taught you, with untested assumptions called out
- A solution with a prioritized first version rather than a list of features
- Success metrics, risks and trade-offs, including what fell short in the original project and how the design accounts for it
### Follow-up Questions
- What would you do differently if you rebuilt the original project today?
- If Microsoft built this, which of its products would it belong in, and what would change?
- What is the riskiest assumption in your design, and how would you test it cheaply before building anything?
Overview: A product design prompt from a Microsoft product manager interview that asks the candidate to pick a project from their own resume and use it as the basis for a new product. It tests product sense grounded in real user knowledge, a clear goal, prioritization, success metrics, and honest reflection on the original work.