The CIRCLES for Product Design

Comprehend the situation
Identify the customer
Report the customer's need
Cut, through prioritization
List solutions
Evaluate Trade-offs
Summarize your recommendation

Mocked Case Examples and Feedback

"How to improve Facebook Marketplace?"

Structured Answer:

  • C - FB Marketplace is a platform where people discover, buy and sell items with their community (mainly 2nd handed items). Bear in mind that the eventual goal for FB is to grow the social network, increase online user engagement.
  • I - 2 sided market, buyers and sellers, one individual can be both at the same time. Here we exclude those e-commerce merchants
  • R - People need to liquidize their unused items and discover good deals > 1. people want to be efficient and convenient in listing their unused items as well as finding good deals; 2. people want more selections of items; 3. sellers want a bid for a higher price and buyers want to find the lower limit for the price range
  • C - In this case, we're mainly focusing on the 1st in R, since 2nd (more selection) and 3rd (bid system) is based on 1st: efficiency and convenience in listing items can bring more selections and and bid system requires efficiency in finding deals to attrack more potential buyers. Moreover, 1st is directly related to improve user engagement, which is closer to FB ultimate goal.
  • L - Buyer side 1. Provide a price range for each item in their category; 2. Tag how many views for each item; 3. Tag how many 'save for later' for each item; 4. Tag how many contact w/ seller for each item; 5. Recommend other listings under the same seller (so that buyer can get all wanted at once)
  • L - Seller side 6. Provide structured fields to enter item description and provide auto-fill/select feature for certain popular models
  • E - In order to quickly attract existing user interest as well as expand the market share, we can focus on implementations that can happen in a short period: 2, 3, 4, 6.
  • S - Summarize

Metrics

Mocked Case Examples and Feedback

"What's the Top3 metrics to evaluate Google Doodle performance?"

Utilize AAERM model: Acquisition, Activation (sign up), Engagement, Retention & Monetization (Avg Rev per User, ARPPU paying user, ARPDAU, LTV lift time value, Conversion Rate)

  • Click rate = Click on doodle / Views
  • # of search for keywords "Google Doodle", or even meaning behind particular doodle design
  • # of share of design w/ social media
  • Time spent on Doodle home page
  • # of referral landing from other websites (where Google is marketing w/ Doodle)

We will focus on user engagement on the Doodle product, click rate, keyword search and time spent on Doodle home page is more directly related to user engagement on the Doodle design.

Estimation

There are 2 ways to answer estimation questions: Top down and Bottom up.

Prioritization is all about Tradeoffs

Here are some top criterias for determining priorities:

  • Revenue Impact
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • Number of Custoemrs Affected: the magnitude of impact
  • Time to Resolution: thinking about short-term ROI
  • Technical Feasibility

Strategic Opinion

Goals

  • Demonstrate that you comprehend the situation, including appropriate goals, constraints, and risks.
  • Develop a plan or criteria for evaluating the issue
  • Provide analysis
  • Make a recommendation