In this module9 lessons
System design for PMs
Use nine standard building blocks and the Goal, Path, Pressure, Call method to design a URL shortener at the depth a PM interview expects.
7 min readFull kit
What "PM depth" means
When an engineer gets a system design question, they are expected to go deep: data models, specific technologies, how to handle a failed machine. When a PM gets one, the interviewer wants something different. They want to see that you can:
- sketch the main parts and how data moves between them,
- spot the parts of the design that have product consequences, and
- make sensible calls on those, with reasons tied to users.
You can leave the choice of programming language, the exact database product and server counts to engineers. You cannot leave out the user, the main flow, or the trade-offs.
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