Trade Offs Between Metrics and Guardrails Questions
Rarely does a feature improve all metrics simultaneously. Discuss trade-offs: optimizing for engagement might reduce conversion if users spend time but don't buy. Recommend a primary metric (what you're optimizing for) and guardrails (metrics you monitor to avoid unintended consequences). For example: 'Primary metric is checkout conversion rate. Guardrails: average order value shouldn't decline, and page load time shouldn't exceed 3 seconds.' This balanced approach shows mature analytical thinking and prevents tunnel vision.
HardSystem Design
0 practiced
System design: Architect a continuous experimentation platform that can run 100 concurrent experiments, enforce guardrail checks in near-real-time, and support automatic rollback if a guardrail breach is detected. Describe key components, data flows, alerting, and trade-offs (latency vs accuracy). Assume 50M monthly active users and peak 1M requests/minute.
EasyTechnical
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Briefly describe how choosing a primary metric affects sample size and experiment duration in simple, nontechnical terms. Use an intuitive example (e.g., detecting a 2% relative uplift in conversion vs a 10% uplift) and explain why baseline rate matters.
HardTechnical
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You observe a feature that increases short-term purchases but appears to reduce long-term retention. Propose an evaluation framework—both statistical and product-oriented—to quantify net impact on customer lifetime value (LTV). Explain how you'd discount short-term gains against projected long-term losses and the data required.
EasyTechnical
0 practiced
List five guardrails you would monitor when running a pricing experiment that increases price for 10% of users. For each guardrail briefly explain the rationale and which stakeholder (e.g., finance, support) should be notified if the guardrail trips.
EasyTechnical
0 practiced
Define what a guardrail is in the context of product experimentation, then describe three common guardrail categories: business, quality-of-experience, and technical-performance. For each category give two concrete metric examples and explain when each is most relevant.
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