Product Sense Case: Users, Pain Points, Features and Metrics for a Smart Building

You are asked to design a smart building as a product. Decide what kind of building it is and whom the product serves, identify their most important problems, propose and prioritize features, and explain how you would measure success. ```hint Pick the building, then the person "Smart building" can mean an office, an apartment block, a hospital or a campus; settle on one, then walk through a day for the person whose problems you will solve. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - What kind of building is it: an office, an apartment block, a hospital, or a school or campus? - Who pays for the product, and who uses it every day: the owner or operator, the tenants, or the people who live or work inside? - Is it new construction, or a retrofit of an existing building with older systems? - What matters most: lower energy and operating costs, a better experience for occupants, safety, or sustainability reporting? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A scoped building type and a stated goal for the product - User groups compared, with one chosen as the focus and the reason for the choice - Pain points drawn from that group's day, ranked by severity - Features prioritized by impact, cost and feasibility, with a clear first version - Success metrics with guardrails, and risks such as privacy, security and failures of connected systems ### Follow-up Questions - Occupancy sensors could be used to identify individuals. How would you design the product so occupants trust it? - What should the building do when the network or a sensor fails? - How would you convince the owner of an existing building to pay for a retrofit?