Thread by @sriramk

Recent PM interview question I've been using: You're the PM at Netflix handling the home screen. How do you determine how shows get promoted editorially vs algorithmically recommended? Walk through metrics/principles/trade-offs and how it impacts various parts of the biz.

P.S I know nothing about how Netflix builds this (but can make some educated guesses). Lots of companies have their own variations of this problem.

No wrong answers but here are some “basic” ones that smart PMs should look beyond quickly ( HT to @44 for suggesting I add these).

“Sort by engagement/CTR alone” - ducks the core question, naive and impractical. Unless there’s a galaxy version of this reflecting deep insight.

@44 Another naive answer: "I'll have a editorial only section and an algorithmic only section" - there are definitely good ideas here but it sidesteps the core issue (you have finite amount of user attention, what do you show them?). The simple version of this is a cop out though.

@44 Some folks I'll tag in who might have opinions 😉: @dantley @JoannaG @umang (who uses a version of this question in his own interviews!) and @RichLightShed

@44 @dantley @JoannaG @umang @RichLightShed @patio11 has some of the best tweets on potential good answers.

@44 @dantley @JoannaG @umang @RichLightShed @patio11 another naive/bad answer: making early value judgements on certain decisions as "good" or "bad". For example - "netflix promoting their own shows is obviously bad". Doesn't reflect first principles thinking on what the objectives are.

@44 @dantley @JoannaG @umang @RichLightShed @patio11 As a lot of you have figured out instantly - this is really a iceberg question. Looks like a simple UX problem but is really about trying to understand Netflix as a system and as a business.

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