Product Sense: Choosing a Setting and User for a Better Waste Bin

An interviewer asks you to design a trash can. That is the whole prompt: where it will be used, who it is for and what it may cost are all left for you to clarify or assume. Walk through how you would decide what to build and what the first version would include. ```hint Fix the setting first A kitchen bin, an office bin and a street-corner bin have different buyers, different people who empty them and different ways of failing. Commit to one setting and one primary user before you list any features. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Do you mean a physical bin, and if so, where will it live: a home kitchen, an office, or a public street or park? - Who pays for it and who empties it: the same household, a cleaning or facilities team, or a city sanitation service? - Is there a target price or unit cost, and are powered or connected features such as sensors, batteries or an app in scope? - Must it handle separate waste streams, for example recycling or food scraps? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A chosen setting and primary user with a reason, distinguishing the buyer, the user and the person who empties the bin wherever they differ. - Concrete pain points across the bin's whole life: throwing items away, smell and hygiene, changing the bag, sorting, taking it out and cleaning. - Solutions tied to those pain points and prioritized by impact, cost and effort, ending in a clear first version. - Success measures that fit a physical product bought once, with at least one guardrail such as return or defect rate. - Trade-offs between simple mechanical features and powered or connected ones. ### Follow-up Questions - How would your design change if the customer were a city buying bins for busy downtown streets? - If the unit cost had to drop sharply, which feature would you cut first, and why that one? - How would you test your most important feature before paying for manufacturing molds?