Rethinking Google Photos around the needs of West African users

You are a product manager at Google, asked how you would design Google Photos for people in West Africa. Set a goal for the product in the region, choose whom to design for, identify their needs and the conditions that shape how they take, keep and share photos, and propose, prioritize and measure what you would build. ```hint Start from daily life Picture how the users you chose take, receive, keep and share photos today, and what in their circumstances makes each step harder than in the markets the product was first built for. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Is this a new product built for the region, or changes to the existing Google Photos for users there? - Is success new users adopting Google Photos, more engagement from existing users, or revenue from paid storage? - West Africa spans many countries, languages and income levels: should we start with one or two countries, and if so which? - Should the design assume each person owns a smartphone, or also cover people who share one with family? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A goal for the region and why it matters to Google - The conditions that shape photo habits in the region, stated as labeled assumptions rather than invented statistics, and how they differ across countries - User segments compared, with one chosen and the reason - Pain points and solutions prioritized against explicit criteria - A primary metric with guardrails, a plan to validate assumptions and pilot, and the main risks ### Follow-up Questions - How would you validate your assumptions about these users before building, with little data from the region? - How would your plan change if the goal were paid storage revenue rather than adoption? - Which parts of your design would you bring to the global product, and why?