I gave the following prompt to PMs during our last week’s PM learning session:

Check your phone. What is the app that you think is least known: high chance people won’t have it, but something you use often and love.

Take 5 mins to form your thoughts around the following questions.

Then answer the following:

  • Why did you decide to use this app? (50 secs)
    • What need does it fulfill? 
  • How long have you been using this app? (10 secs)
  • If you had to tell someone about this app, how would you explain what it does in one line? (30 secs)
    • We are trying to understand its positioning. See if how you described the app is the same way the developer describes the app.
  • How is this app/company differentiating itself? (1 min)
    • What do you think is different about this app/product/company which sets it apart from other apps in the category?
  • What do you think is the one obvious/ big thing missing from this app? (1 min)
    • Why do you think the dev has not built it yet?

This exercise takes roughly 3.5 minutes to complete. It can be an interesting PM interview question too.

Related read: Product Critique.