Health Tech Product Manager Interview: Doctor Search

Summary

In this mock product management interview, Eliza, a product manager with a passion for education and healthcare, discusses strategies to improve the process of finding doctors, particularly for young adults transitioning to adult care. She identifies key user groups, including patients, doctors, caregivers, and insurance companies, and zeroes in on the challenges faced by young adults seeking medical care. Eliza proposes solutions focusing on community engagement, leveraging personal identity to foster relevant and supportive networks, and emphasizes the importance of privacy and security in health data management.

Takeaways

• 😀 The mock interview is focused on improving the process of how people find doctors, specifically in the U.S. region.
• 🔎 The interviewee, Eliza, is a product manager with experience in education and startups, currently studying at Stanford and advising early-stage companies.
• 📝 The discussion begins with clarifying questions to ensure a shared understanding of the problem scope, including the type of doctors and the target audience.
• 🎯 Success metrics proposed include booking an appointment and the rate of second appointments, indicating patient satisfaction and fit with the doctor.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The user segments considered are patients, doctors, caregivers, and insurance companies, with a decision to focus primarily on patients.
• 🏥 The patient behavioral buckets identified are those who have moved, have new health needs, are seeking their first adult doctor, and those unhappy with their current doctor.
• 🚑 The pain points discussed include the awkwardness of asking for recommendations, the isolation of researching online, and the passivity of accepting a doctor's office's assignment.
• 💡 Proposed solutions include an affiliation-based database, a personal identity-based community, and a location-based nudging system possibly integrated with smart devices.
• 🔒 Risks and concerns highlighted are related to privacy, security, and the need to maintain trust and confidentiality in the health data shared.
• 🔄 The importance of considering integration with insurance providers and doctors' offices for data sharing to enhance the usefulness of the tool.
• 📈 The interview concludes with self-reflection on the solution presentation, emphasizing the need for clarity, brevity, and connection to success metrics and vision.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the mock interview with Eliza?

The main topic of the mock interview is to discuss potential solutions for improving how people find doctors, particularly in a non-emergency situation within the U.S. region.

What is Eliza's background according to the interview?

Eliza is a product manager who has worked on products that help students and empower people in learning and creativity. She has experience working as a PM and head of product at a startup called Mentor Collective, and she is currently a student at Stanford Graduate School of Business while advising early-stage startups on product and go-to-market strategies.

What are the success metrics proposed by Eliza to measure the effectiveness of a solution for finding doctors?

Eliza proposes two success metrics: the immediate booking of an appointment with a doctor, indicating that the patient has found someone they want to meet with, and the rate of second appointments, which measures the rate of return to the same doctor, suggesting that the doctor was the right choice for the patient.

How does Eliza segment the users in the context of finding doctors?

Eliza segments the users into four main groups: the patient, the doctors, caregivers, and insurance companies. She focuses on patients and further divides them into behavioral buckets based on why they are looking for a doctor, such as having moved to a new place, having new health needs, aging out of pediatric care, or simply not liking their current doctor.

What is the primary user group Eliza decides to focus on and why?

Eliza decides to focus on the group of young adults who are finding their first adult doctor after aging out of pediatric care. She believes this group represents a large user base and that building good habits of going to the doctor early in their adult life can have significant societal benefits.

What are some of the existing solutions Eliza identifies for finding a doctor and their associated pain points?

Eliza identifies several existing solutions such as asking people for recommendations, using the internet or doctor aggregator websites like ZocDocs, and continuing with a doctor's office recommendation. The pain points associated with these solutions include awkwardness, isolation, feeling overwhelmed by information, and a lack of empowerment in the process.

What are the three potential solutions Eliza proposes to address the pain points of finding a doctor?

Eliza proposes an affiliation-based database that partners with colleges or employers, a personal identity-based community for information sharing about doctors, and a location-based nudging system that integrates with smart devices to alert users when they are near a doctor's office.

How does the affiliation-based database solution work and what are its potential downsides?

The affiliation-based database solution works by partnering with institutions like colleges or employers to provide a database of anonymous reviews about doctors. Users can search through the database to find information provided by people with the same affiliation. A potential downside is that it might not cover everyone, especially if the user has moved away from the city where their alma mater or company is located.

What is the concept behind the personal identity-based community solution and how does it aim to address the pain points?

The personal identity-based community solution is a platform where users can access information and reviews based on their personal identity, such as being a queer person of color. It aims to address the pain points of isolation and relevance by creating a supportive community where users can share experiences and recommendations, thus making the process less daunting and more personalized.

What are some risks associated with the personal identity-based community solution and how might they be mitigated?

Some risks include the potential loss of personal connection due to anonymity and privacy concerns. These could be mitigated by requiring users to create anonymized profiles with some identifying information, ensuring transparency about data handling and privacy regulations, and possibly integrating data from insurance providers and doctors' offices with user consent.

What feedback does Eliza receive regarding her mock interview performance and how does she reflect on her own performance?

Eliza receives feedback to call out risks proactively while discussing solutions and to be briefer and clearer in her descriptions. She reflects on her performance by acknowledging the need to tighten up her solution descriptions, increase the clarity and conciseness of her responses, and maintain a strong connection to the success metrics and vision throughout her discussion.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introduction to the Mock Interview on Improving Doctor Discovery

The video script begins with an introduction to a mock product management interview featuring Eliza, a product manager with experience in education and startup advising. The focus of the interview is to explore ways to improve the process of how people find doctors, specifically in a non-emergency context within the U.S. region. Kevin, the interviewer, and Eliza establish the scope of the problem, discussing various aspects such as the type of doctors, location specificity, urgency of the situation, and potential success metrics for the solution.

05:03

🤔 Identifying User Groups and Behavioral Segments in Doctor Discovery

Eliza delves into the different user groups involved in the process of finding doctors, including patients, doctors, caregivers, and insurance companies. She decides to focus on patients, particularly those who are transitioning to adulthood and need to find a new doctor. Eliza proposes behavioral segmentation of patients based on their reasons for seeking a doctor, such as moving to a new location, new health needs, aging out of pediatric care, or dissatisfaction with their current doctor. She prioritizes the segment of young adults seeking their first adult doctor due to its broad applicability and potential for significant impact.

10:05

🔍 Exploring Pain Points in the Doctor Discovery Process for Young Adults

The paragraph discusses the pain points faced by young adults when searching for a doctor. Eliza identifies several existing solutions, such as asking for recommendations, using online aggregators, or continuing with a pediatrician's recommendations. She finds these solutions lacking, as they can be awkward, isolating, or not empowering for the individual. The paragraph emphasizes the need for a solution that addresses the feelings of isolation and the challenge of finding relevant doctor recommendations, especially for those who are new to managing their own healthcare.

15:05

💡 Brainstorming Solutions to Connect and Empower Young Adults in Finding Doctors

Eliza presents potential solutions to make the process of finding doctors less isolating and more relevant for young adults. She suggests creating institutional affiliation-based databases, personal identity-based communities, and location-based nudging systems. The goal is to leverage connections through alumni networks, personal identity groups, and proximity alerts to provide a more guided and supportive experience in finding healthcare providers.

20:07

🤝 Considering the Feasibility and Integration of Solutions with Institutional Affiliations

This paragraph explores the feasibility of the first solution, which involves creating a database of reviews and recommendations based on institutional affiliations such as alma maters or companies. Eliza acknowledges potential limitations, such as the geographic dispersion of alumni, and suggests focusing on cities where alumni clusters exist or expanding the concept to include industry-specific or incubator networks to reach a broader audience.

25:08

🏥 Discussing the Concept of Personal Identity-Based Communities for Healthcare

Eliza envisions a community platform focused on personal identity, where individuals can connect based on shared characteristics such as being a queer person of color. The platform would facilitate discussions, reviews, and advice tailored to the specific needs and experiences of its members. It aims to create a supportive environment where members can learn from each other's experiences with healthcare providers, enhancing confidence and satisfaction in the doctor discovery process.

30:09

👀 Evaluating the Smart Watch Integration for Doctor Discovery

The paragraph discusses the idea of integrating the doctor discovery process with smart devices, such as watches or phones, to provide location-based nudges to users. The concept is to alert users when they are near a doctor's office that might be a good fit for them, making the process more convenient and less daunting. The discussion also touches on the importance of user control over the type and frequency of nudges to avoid invasiveness and maintain privacy.

🛡️ Addressing Risks and Privacy Concerns in the Personal Identity-Based Community

Eliza identifies potential risks associated with the personal identity-based community, such as maintaining confidentiality and anonymity while still providing a relevant and connected experience. She suggests strategies to mitigate these risks, including the use of anonymized profiles and clear communication about data privacy and security regulations. The goal is to build trust and ensure users feel safe and in control of their information.

🔄 Reflecting on the Interview and Identifying Areas for Improvement

In the final paragraph, Eliza provides self-feedback on her performance during the mock interview. She acknowledges the need to be clearer and more concise in her descriptions of solutions and to better connect the solutions to the success metrics and vision. She also suggests proactively addressing potential risks as part of the solution discussion to provide a more comprehensive and transparent overview of the proposed ideas.

Keywords

💡Product Manager

A product manager is a professional responsible for guiding the development of a product, from its initial concept to its delivery to customers. In the video, both Kevin and Eliza identify themselves as product managers, emphasizing the importance of this role in understanding and addressing user needs within the context of improving how people find doctors.

💡Mock Interview

A mock interview is a simulated job interview conducted to practice and prepare for a real one. In the script, the session between Kevin and Eliza is framed as a mock product management interview, which serves as a teaching tool to demonstrate how to approach problem-solving in a PM role.

💡Success Metrics

Success metrics are the criteria used to measure the achievement of a goal or objective. In the video, Eliza discusses the importance of defining success metrics when tackling the problem of improving the doctor-finding process, suggesting metrics like booking appointments and the rate of second appointments as indicators of success.

💡Pain Points

Pain points refer to the challenges or difficulties that users face when interacting with a product or service. Eliza identifies and discusses various pain points related to finding a doctor, such as the awkwardness of asking for recommendations, the isolation of making decisions based solely on internet research, and the lack of relevance in existing solutions.

💡User Segmentation

User segmentation is the process of dividing a broader user base into groups with similar characteristics. In the script, Eliza segments potential users into patients, doctors, caregivers, and insurance companies, but decides to focus on patients due to their central role in the decision-making process.

💡Behavioral Buckets

Behavioral buckets are categories used to classify users based on their behaviors or actions. Eliza creates behavioral buckets for patients looking for doctors, such as those who have moved, have new health needs, are aging out of pediatric care, or are dissatisfied with their current doctor, to better understand their unique challenges.

💡Institution-based Affiliation

Institution-based affiliation refers to the connection or loyalty individuals feel towards an institution, such as a university or company. Eliza suggests leveraging this affiliation to create a database of reviews and recommendations from people within the same institution, which could help alleviate the pain points of finding a doctor.

💡Personal Identity-based Community

A personal identity-based community is a group formed around shared personal characteristics or identities. Eliza proposes creating a community platform where individuals can connect based on their personal identities to share experiences and recommendations about doctors, aiming to address the pain points of isolation and relevance.

💡Location-based Nudging

Location-based nudging involves using location data to provide users with timely and contextually relevant suggestions or reminders. Eliza's idea involves integrating with smart devices to notify users when they are near a doctor's office, potentially making the process of finding a doctor more seamless and less isolating.

💡Relevance

Relevance, in the context of the video, refers to the extent to which a solution or service meets the specific needs and preferences of the user. Eliza emphasizes the importance of creating solutions that are relevant to the user's personal identity to ensure that they feel understood and supported in their search for a doctor.

💡Engagement

Engagement refers to the level of interest and involvement a user has with a product or service. In the video, Eliza discusses the importance of creating a platform that not only attracts users but also encourages them to participate actively, such as by sharing their experiences and providing reviews.

💡Retention

Retention is the ability of a product or service to continue to meet the user's needs over time, leading to repeated use. Eliza considers retention as a key success metric, focusing on how to design a solution that users will return to, indicating a positive experience and ongoing value.

💡Anonymity

Anonymity is the state of being unidentified or unacknowledged. In the context of the personal identity-based community, Eliza discusses the need to balance relevance with the provision of anonymity to protect users' privacy while still allowing them to share and benefit from the community's insights.

Highlights

Eliza, a product manager passionate about education and creativity, discusses improving the process of finding doctors.

The interview focuses on non-emergency situations and assumes a U.S. regional context for the problem.

Success metrics are proposed, including booking an appointment and the rate of second appointments to measure patient retention.

User roles are identified, including patients, doctors, caregivers, and insurance companies, with a focus on patients.

Behavioral segmentation of patients is discussed, based on reasons for seeking a doctor.

Prioritization of the 'first adult doctor' user group due to its broad impact and potential for societal benefits.

Pain points include awkwardness of asking for recommendations, isolation in online research, and lack of control.

Relevance and isolation are identified as key pain points for young adults seeking doctors.

Solutions are proposed, including affiliation-based databases, personal identity communities, and location-based nudges.

Affiliation-based databases leverage institutional connections like alumni networks for doctor recommendations.

Personal identity communities create a supportive space for sharing medical experiences based on shared identities.

Location-based nudges use smart devices to alert users about nearby doctors, integrating healthcare into daily life.

The importance of addressing privacy and security in healthcare solutions is emphasized.

The risk of anonymizing personal experiences to the point of losing trust is discussed.

Integration with insurance providers and the potential barriers are considered for a comprehensive solution.

Eliza reflects on her performance, noting the need for clearer solution descriptions and stronger connections to success metrics.

Feedback suggests proactively addressing risks during the presentation of solutions.

Transcripts

how you would improve how people find

doctors

[Music]

hey everyone i'm kevin way i am a

product manager on ibm's data and ai

team

and today we have a product management

mock interview with eliza

and before we get started eliza for the

folks who haven't seen your other videos

can you tell the audience a little bit

about who you are

sure um so my name is eliza like you

said and i am a product manager

who's worked on i'm excited about

products that help students

and and help empower people in learning

and creativity i was working

as a pm and then as head of product at a

startup called mentor collective

and now i'm a student at stanford grad

school of business and i also work

advising early stage startups on product

and go to market and all that good stuff

perfect thanks for coming back on the

show and so for today's question

i'm i'd like to ask you how you would

improve

how people find doctors

absolutely very cool question um so

before we dive in kevin is it okay if i

ask you a couple of clarifying things

of course great thanks um

so first of all i want to make sure i'm

on the same page about what you mean by

doctors are we talking mainly about

medical doctors are we also interested

in

mental health or other types of care

services

medical doctors cool okay

in terms of location are we thinking u.s

centric

something broader more flexible or do

you have any additional

guidance around that we can assume that

this is for the u.s region yeah

okay great um

one or two other things that occurred to

me so finding a doctor

um i think there's like sort of urgent

care finding a doctor as well as sort of

finding a

a doctor in like a less rushed emergency

situation

i'm inclined to focus on the second one

but do you have a preference there

yeah we can do like a less rush

situation i think for a more emergency

scenario the patient would just call

9-1-1

yes agreed maybe a different different

flow um

and my last thing uh are there any

particular

success metrics that you'd like me to

bear in mind or would you want me to

come up with those on my own

it's totally up to you so just assume

that you're a pm at a tech

company and this is the question posed

to you okay sounds good

um if it's okay with you then i'm gonna

take a minute just to jot down a few

notes

sounds good thanks okay

so i think i'm ready to dive in um

and i maybe would like to start just by

taking a step back and kind of thinking

about what what the situation is so you

just gave me some helpful context

and answered my questions so just to

kind of reiterate so we're looking to

help

users who are trying to find a physician

someone that maybe will stick with them

for a while not an emergency doctor

um and we want to help them get through

the process which might involve

figuring out who to go to who who the

possible doctors are

who do they want to visit how can they

schedule and then making sure they

schedule

so when i think about sort of success

metrics i want to answer my own question

or

propose an answer to my last question

about success metrics just to guide

myself

i think probably some success metrics

would be number one do they book an

appointment

with the doctors that feels like the

most immediate indication of success is

does the

patient find someone they want to meet

with um

short-term but then i think there's also

a long-term

question about was this doctor the right

one once they met

um so maybe we could look at something

like rate of second appointments

something that measures rate of return

to that doctor the second time so we

want to maximize

the percentage of people who are having

one appointment and the percentage of

people who return

maybe at least once in the following say

two years something like that so those

might be my

quantitative metrics to those kind of

makes sense

yeah that makes sense sounds like you're

focusing on engagement and retention

yeah i think that's that's where i'm

inclined to focus and and maybe i'll

that should lead me into thinking a

little bit about the users here um

before i dive in though actually just to

give you a sense of how i'm going to

roadmap this kevin

um i think i do want to so i thought a

little bit about success metrics but i

want to dive into users

next just to make sure those metrics

actually match up against where i want

to focus on the user side

um then i want to think about pain

points specific to whatever users we end

up focusing on

um then we can dive into some potential

solutions to help with whichever pain

point

um sticks out to us as maybe the most

severe the biggest

opportunity does that plan sound all

right yeah the plan sounds great

cool um okay

so this is a really interesting one um

and i mentioned that i've you know

worked in education and i think health

is similar because there's often like a

bunch of different types of users to

think about

um and in this case

i think there are like maybe four user

chunks that i would consider um in terms

of

role and those are um

the first and most obvious i think is

the patient the person who is doing the

finding of the doctor for themselves

um but we can't i don't think forget

about the doctors who are like an

important participant

in this ecosystem or in this transaction

um i think those are the two biggest

there's also though i would note

caregivers so there might be someone

who's looking for a doctor who's not

looking for themselves but maybe for

their their child or for an elderly

parent

or maybe even a friend someone else in

their life

might want to think about them and then

lastly and maybe

like more tangentially but i think so

important is insurance companies

um which in my experience play a big

role in who

a patient can see in terms of doctors so

i think we just want to be aware of them

in this ecosystem as well

so that's sort of my high level

segmentation

i am most interested in zeroing in on

the patients and breaking them into some

behavioral

buckets um since i think

they have the most choice in all of this

i think doctors and insurance companies

are like kind of locked into like

large-scale

uh and enterprise sorts of interactions

doctors are tied to doctor's offices and

hospitals it just feels like a much more

complicated place to insert a tool

and i'm not sure that the pain is super

severe folks are doing these jobs

they're getting paid to work as a doctor

an insurance you know person and so i'm

not super inclined

to think their pain is as bad as a

patient who's searching around

for a doctor and caregivers

are also kind of complicated when you

have to you know deliver to

a caregiver but also to a the person

being cared for it's just

again a bit complicated and the end user

that patient may not be the one

it's not the same person feeling the

pain and making the buying decision so

again a little more complex so i think

we can

make the biggest bang for our buck on

the patient's side

um does that make sense yeah and what

were um

did you want to go and slice this data

into different behavioral buckets

yeah i'd love to do some to do some

buckets on the patient

um so some thoughts on the patient

the behavioral slicing i'd like to do is

around why

they're looking for a doctor i think

that might be a good way for us to get

at

different clusters of pain points

so why might you be looking for a doctor

one happened to me very recently which

is that you have moved to a new place

um and you need to find someone who's in

your new region

um something that applies to people who

are who have moved or who you know

for whatever reason i think it's the

people who've moved um

a second one might be uh you have

something has happened to your health

like maybe you got a diagnosis maybe you

got an injury

uh maybe you have some sort of chronic

condition that means that you want to

find a doctor maybe leaning into your

health more than you used to or needing

to invest more in a certain type of

recurring care so like new health

needs would be the second one

a third might be maybe you're someone

who has aged out of

pediatric care so i think everybody kind

of starts life with a doctor that their

parents find for them

um but sometime around your early

twenties

i think everyone kind of gets kicked out

of that pediatrician and needs to

face the adult world with um a different

doctor so that like that's something

that lots of folks go through

um and then the fourth and final thing

that occurs to me is maybe you just

don't like your doctor maybe you're just

looking because you don't like them for

whatever reason and you're looking to

make a switch for that reason

um so i don't forget about the more

mundane

buckets here so just to kind of recap

what those four

were people who have moved

people who have a specific new health

condition

people who are finding their first adult

doctor and people who don't like

their current doctor do those

buckets uh make sense to you yeah these

make sense which one would you

prioritize

yeah so they're all pretty interesting

um some of i'd like to prioritize a

bucket where we can

again make a large impact and reach as

many users as possible

um so some of these i think are a little

bit more niche and they that may

disqualify them so the specific

condition or injury uh not everyone's

going to be

receiving like a large chronic diagnosis

there's a chunk of

people there but i don't think it's

everyone so i might cross that one off

um same goes for people who don't like

their current doctor i think nurse is

pretty powerful

so lots of people just stick with who

they've got you only got to see them

once a month so i think that's another

not a huge group or not quite as big as

i'd like

lots of people move so the group of

people moving to a new location is

decent but i think i'm gonna go with the

first adult

doctor group because every everybody

ages

i just turned 30 so i know this um and

so i like that

because it it is the largest swath of

users and i love

building for younger users because you

can capture them early

you know build their connection to the

product for their lives and i think

there's likely to be significant pain

for the current generation of users

because

i think doctor's uh doctors offices

often have antiquated

um systems and so there may be

particular pain that we can really help

and i think there's a big mission impact

too if we can really help young people

uh build good habits of going to the

doctor there's lots of you know societal

benefits to doing that as well so across

the board i feel pretty good about that

uh user group sounds good

cool um so i'm going to take another

minute kevin if it's okay with you just

to switch now from

uh thinking about the users to thinking

about the pains

yeah go ahead okay

so as i'm thinking about pains i want to

think about like what solutions are

there now

um if i am say i'm a 20 i think when i

did this i was about 21.

i'm a 21 year old i'm around the time of

finishing college

you know the world is exciting and scary

i maybe i'm getting my first apartment

i think i have my first job and i want

to make sure that i'm that i'm

adulting effectively and one of those

things is um

taking care of my health um so what do i

have to do if i want to get that taken

care of in my new

new home maybe in my new city my new

apartment um

you know one easy one is that i could

just ask people

that's like a lo-fi obvious solution but

i think for me

as a 21 year old maybe in a new place

it's not a great solution i think it

feels

um awkward maybe to act like i'm not

going to ask my co-workers i just

started a job that's

sort of personal um i don't really want

to ask my parents because i feel also

like i'm an adult and i'm really trying

to stand on my own here

so that doesn't feel like a fantastic

solution and even if i ask them i'm only

going to find out about a very small

number of

doctor's offices from like just the one

that maybe my dad or my mom or my you

know

person who sits next to me at work knows

about

so that's not a great solution on the

other hand maybe i'm going to start

googling

and just using the internet or maybe

using a tool i think there's a couple at

least one

or two aggregators that exist i think

one is zoc docs

something like that in places that just

like pull together

reviews about doctors so i could go

on there i could just pull up a lot of

tabs i think that's what i did do and

just try and parse all of the

information

so this one is good because it's not

awkward it's i'm very much doing it on

my own

but on the other hand i think it's

pretty overwhelming and

isolating that i'm trying to do this

scary like very important decision

by sifting through the internet by

myself and trying to figure out like are

these the right doctors

uh do they take my insurance are these

good people can i trust them etc so it's

not

it doesn't have the same pain points but

um isolating

stressful and overwhelming um

the other the other sort of existing

solution i think is just to maybe

if you haven't moved you could just

stick with your doctor's office and

maybe

if you had a pediatrician they can just

give you a new doctor like in the same

practice i think sometimes doctors do

that or they can just grandfather you

over

and assign you to someone else that's

much easier

it doesn't have the problems that i

mentioned before but it doesn't have

this empowering feeling of adulthood

it's not like you're getting a fresh

start and really taking charge

of of your life um

so i mean that was i know that was like

not super structured so just to kind of

re-summarize some of the pains

that i mentioned there um you know

there's a trade-off between either the

process is going to be very awkward

and kind of limited if you rely on word

of mouth

or it's very isolating and scary

um if you do it solo on the internet or

it's very

passive and um sort of like continuing

of your child life

if you just kind of stick with whatever

you're given

by your office and it's keeping you in

an old location if you've moved maybe

you have to fly home to

have a doctor's appointment or whatever

it is um

so those are those are sort of the pains

that jump out to me but how does that um

sit with you kevin yeah so it sounds

like you want to reduce the awkwardness

so you want to make it easier to find a

doctor

or more seamless in the isolating pain

point is one that you pointed out

and i think third one that i would think

about if um you know as your co-worker

who's helping you to work on this

product i would say

relevance is a big pain point yeah

it's a really good point yeah i agree

um i think there's something there's

something to if i were to pick out of

these

this list where would i want to focus

the isolation

and relevance feel most

salient to me i i suspect that the

like i think that most people will try

and solve this through internet research

i think the other ones are less common

and so i think those are the pain points

tied to like parsing the giant

internet and all that's available to you

there and so i'd love to think about how

can we build a product

that helps people helps young people

feel like they're not alone in this and

helps them feel like there are other

people here with you

who are going down this road who are

kind of figuring out adulthood just with

you

and and you can find doctors that are

um that are that were useful to them and

and will be useful to you so just

like a like a vision of making people

not feel alone that's i think

what would perhaps be most effective uh

in my mind as a kind of a north star

yeah sounds good so it sounds like we

want to help younger folks maybe like

gen z or

millennial people who are just starting

adulthood and they're having these

problems around

the isolating and like relevance around

finding the right doctors

so let's get into solutioning so then

thinking about how might we solve

these pains of relevance and isolation

for our for our millennial

gen z probably gen z now um sort of

early 20s folks

um i think my frame for thinking about

this or for coming up with ideas

is related to like what different ways

what what things make people feel

connected like what points of connection

are there between our

21 year old user and the um the world

out there of other people searching

for doctors and like what might we use

to help them feel connected

to those folks um and so the first thing

that occurs to me is institutional

affiliation

i know that when i was 21 i was really

connected to the idea of my alma mater

which i had just left

i really identified with my company

which had just hired me

and so i trusted those networks and i

felt a kinship

with the people who were part of those

networks i thought they were pretty

smart i thought they made pretty good

decisions

and so i wonder if we could think about

a tool that partners with

uh colleges or employers to provide

a database that is anonymous

but you know that everyone in the

database and the people in the database

would maybe

review doctor's offices and you could

search

through the base and find information

that was that provided here's what it

was like for this

you know cornell alum to to visit this

office and so i would not

feel the awkwardness of having to call

up a friend and ask her

but i would know that i could trust that

review in a in a certain way

um there's there's some questions about

smaller companies and exactly how that

would work which we can which you can

talk about if we decide we want to go

down this route

but i think this has a nice ability to

kind of weave into onboarding processes

and other things and it's always

you know convenient to reach large

groups of users by partnering with an

institution that can reach them

more organically so that's one one idea

is kind of an affiliation based

database one one suggestion there

another one though and this is a really

personal problem like right trying to

find a doctor is deeply personal

and so i'd want to think about not just

like institutional

affiliation but personal identity um

and so i wonder if maybe we could think

about a sort of identity-based community

for

information sharing about doctors so for

example

um a resource where you could say i you

know identify as a

queer woman or as a you know a man of

color working

in boston or whatever it is and just

having different subcategories where

maybe you could go in and learn from

other people with that same affiliation

maybe get questions answered and see

recommendations tailored

to a specific identity and there's

potential to do different types of

engagement there something that's more

of a

personal identity angle

doesn't have the the pulls of like a

large institution but i think maybe

folks would feel a stronger

sense of obligation to those groups

which could be nice for us sustaining

engagement with the community and having

people come back and do things like

write reviews

so that could be an interesting one um

and the last thing that occurs to me i'd

like to kind of

get out of the get out of the sort of

app or web app

space and think about maybe location

as another way to help people feel that

they're getting relevant

and kind of connective

suggestions so i think we might cons

like i remember

um well i said we might consider

something that

maybe an app or something integrates

with like a smart watch

um that tells you when you're near a

doctor's office so when i've got my

first doctor i discovered it was like

right down the street from my office and

i walked by it from the train

every day but didn't know it was there

and when i discovered oh hey it's you

know right on

boylston street i felt like safer and

more confident

and more connected to to to the

community into that doctor's office and

so i wonder if we could

provide that kind of a nudge um and

weave

this doctor identification process a

little bit more into

the daily life of these young people who

also are going to be busy that's not our

primary pain point but just maybe a side

benefit

that taking it out of software and a

little bit more into the um

like smart watch sort of thing could

could be nice so those are three

suggestions just to kind of

recap the affiliation-based

uh database number one the personal

identity-based community

number two and a location-based

nudging physical nudging system of some

kind

like on a smart watcher on an iphone

number three um do those make sense

so when we're talking about affiliation

with alma mater

most students don't work in the same

city that they graduated from so how do

you think this would work

yeah so i think that's a potential

downside to that idea i think it might

so two different things one it might

work in cities where people cluster so

there certainly are

cities where clusters of students go

this does not cover everyone

um but you could sort of say you know

the um

the like cal poly alumni in san

francisco for example or things that are

like

somewhat close could work um but there

could be solutions maybe

you rely more on jobs that you might

assume that most people

either have a job or went to well grad

school we could think about separately

but having jobs and then doing like uh

uh like groups of companies together so

people who are working in

consulting in boston for example so

maybe industry specific could be a way

to cover

um larger swaths of of users or even

like

i worked at a startup that came out of

techstars which is an incubator and

we were a small company and that might

not be so good but

all of the techstars companies combined

could be a pretty large

large group of people so i think it is

it is a fair critique and maybe a reason

to not pursue this one but i think there

are different ways that you could

mitigate that issue too okay

so for that first solution it's really

thinking about how

this identity around their job or alma

mater would provide

we'll partner with them to have some

resources some database to help them

find the doctor the students

and which would de-risk the doctor in

the eyes of these young people yes

because they know that people with that

same affiliation

they could access reviews and and learn

from people with their same affiliation

of whether the doctor had been good for

those folks

or not assuming some relevance through

that affiliation connection

okay and for the second idea which is

saying

around personal community or identity

where for example if you're a queer

person of color

and you want to find a community of

people like yourself

like is this sort of like a subreddit or

like some sort of forum or how do you

envision this

i would envision it it would be so it

would be to be clear be focused on

finding it would be focused on medical

care

and so you would kind of come in and say

here's my identity i want to access the

community

about receiving medical care as you know

a queer woman of color

and then you'd be able to get into that

community and maybe there would be

and it would you know be places where

folks would be chatting about different

maybe common questions that they had

and some answers um maybe different uh

problems or critiques they had the best

maybe the best doctors

in different regions for um for this

maybe tips for visiting the doctor uh

you know as someone with this identity

you could even um

with it could be interesting to involve

doctors with that identity now thinking

about like some of those other user

groups

maybe spotlighting you know a physician

with that identity and kind of how they

think about it

to help maybe those people feel more

confident and

and better informed not only scheduling

appointments but actually going into

those appointments as well

to heart back to our success metrics of

getting them to show up and getting them

to

to keep coming back so it would look

like some sort of online forum board

um yeah i don't know a board to me

implies that it's like a um

that it's all text and i think it would

be great to make this a little bit more

multimedia so maybe there's different

like useful videos or other things but

yes it would be

a resource with information that would

be posted by

um members of the community reviews

uh maybe also doctors and and experts

who who could help

these users feel more confident okay and

your

third solution around the smart watch is

this where i

if i'm walking around my city and i need

a doctor it'll just vibrate

and they'll tell me where the nearest

doctor is yeah and we'd want to dive in

if we wanted to dive into this one more

to think about

exactly what the nudge would be like if

it would be a vibration if it would be a

push notification

i think if we were to go with this one

we'd want to give the user a lot of

feelings of control

so um i think the risk with this one is

that it feels invasive

which is not what we want to create in

terms of an impression when privacy

is an important consideration for health

but if we could have you know

permissions

and options at the outset around like

what kind of nudge do you want how often

do you want it do you want us to keep

bugging you or not you know once you've

walked by a place things like that but

in essence yes it would be a nudge when

you came geographically close to

a potentially a good fit doctor's office

okay so in the beginning we talked about

how we're focusing on engagement and

retention

i'm curious which one you prioritize

yeah

so i think that my instinct would be to

focus

on the second one the personal identity

based community

um for a couple of reasons um

i think the biggest one is that i

believe that

when we go back to the pain points of

relevance

and isolation personal identity i think

is the deepest

type of relevance that is the type of

affiliation that

is most intrinsic to our users um

and so i think it would be most likely

to attract

their attention um most likely for them

to kind of build a strong connection to

it whereas

institutional affiliation is like sort

of imposed externally to some extent

you've chosen your job yes but like your

company is telling you to use this tool

and geography is almost a little

arbitrary like you like happen to walk

down the street um

it's not totally arbitrary but you could

potentially miss out on some things

whereas i think personal identity you're

very much

getting at something deep about yourself

and um i think the user can feel very

much

in control um to your question about

retention

i think you know we want to keep people

coming back into this tool

i think this one far more than the other

two is likely to generate like a

flywheel

of content coming back into it and

wisdom from the community

because people feel and i know this from

working as a mentor and working on

mentoring projects people want to give

back to their community

and they want to support people who are

kind of learning a thing that they've

already learned and so there's a strong

likelihood

that if you uh asked users of this

community hey remember to come back into

here and

uh like review the doctor after your

visit or to um you know tell us

did the visit go well or to give tips to

the next person who comes along i think

it's very likely

that they will be willing and excited to

do so and they'll get the positive vibes

of maybe having likes there's like a lot

of social functions you can put in to

help make those people feel good

for contributing um

and in turn to the question of like can

we help them build a tool that

increases the likelihood they will

return to this same doctor

i think the more that

users use a tool like this the better

its data will get so the better the

reviews the more accurate the doctor's

reviews will be

the more doctor's reviews that will be

the more offices and cities will be

covered

um that means the site will make better

suggestions and that means that

the um likelihood that like a good fit

doctor is recommended

also increases so i think that this is

going to be the best chance of us both

getting people into the office with a

doctor they feel

confident and comfortable about and then

getting them to that second appointment

because they got a

recommendation that was really um a

strong one and resonates with them

personally

okay so imagine that you're you know you

put yourself in the shoes of a

queer person of color you find this

community that

is also around like uh other people who

are of the same

um ident identity as you and they're

also looking for a doctor

what are some risks that you might see

if you're

using this product and putting yourself

in the shoes of that person

yeah so

i think one risk is that so we're trying

to make it feel

relevant and it makes people feel

connected

um but we're also gonna have to walk the

line of confidentiality and

some amount of anonymity to go back to

the like awkwardness that we were trying

to avoid from that pain point

earlier on so i think there's a risk

that we anonymize the personalness out

of this and this just feels like any

other kind of message board on the

internet

where unlike anonymous people are

commenting and uh

sharing a lot of opinions and you don't

know who you can trust so i think

there's a risk

there um i think we can get around that

risk

in a couple of ways i think it could be

interesting to have people build

put some investment into their profile

it just would be an anonymized profile

so you could build

for example a personalized avatar and

pick a name

and and maybe pick a city and provide

some information about yourself that

um wouldn't that that would weed out

some of the people who might just be

there to troll

just by having people take some time and

also adds a little bit of identifying

information

to um decrease then this is just like a

void of

of people shouting which is sometimes

how the internet overall feels so that's

that's one you know way we might

mitigate that um

other other questions or concerns you

know any feature in this space

i think privacy and security are a big

concern

anything to do with health data

scheduling doctors is just really

sensitive

information and so you know mitigation

there i think would be just investing

and understanding

um the sort of rules and regulations

around this and investing and being

very transparent with the users

throughout the process especially when

they're signing up but what

happens to your data what can other

users see and not see what can your

doctor

see and not see we really want to

maintain trust to the point of like

retaining

the connection between our tool and

these users

um in my mind um

oh just one last one is about um

integrations

i think i mentioned insurance providers

i would want to know more about

both the willingness and the ability of

doctors offices and insurance providers

to

share data with a tool like this it

would be far more useful if that data

were integrated and would want to

dig into that there may be some barriers

there and the tool could be simplified

such that it didn't include that data

but it would be a big opportunity if it

could

cool all right awesome well thanks for

sharing your interview

um solution and before we get into

feedback i'm curious if you have any

self feedback you want to share

definitely i mean i think i i always

need to tighten up my description of

solutions i never

have quite the clarity there that i

would like i think it's potentially a

case where i might want to try and bring

in some visuals or something else just

to keep it really

easy to understand so i think that's one

in general i also

feel like i could be briefer and clearer

so trying to kind of increase the

the snappiness and i think the last

thing

would be really keeping it connected to

the success metrics

and the vision um i sort of picked a

hybrid of two

pain points and then that might have

that could have felt a little clearer

the through line between success metrics

vision and pain point so i think if i

were to do it again i would try and

tighten up

that sort of three-point connection

absolutely

and i think one thing that i would also

do is

is proactively call out risks as you're

going through the solution so you'll

talk about

the community's idea and then you can

call out the risks around security and

privacy and the need for maybe some sort

of anonymity or semi

anonymity and i think that'll be

very powerful if you can do that so a

feedback from my end is that you can

call out risks for your solution

as you're going through so for example

when you're talking about the

communities you can call out risks

proactively about anonymity or

semi-anonymity and the needs for

security

that's it for today's mock pm interview

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