I spent the first few minutes trying to figure out whether they wanted a PM-style answer or an actual architecture breakdown.
Start by clarifying the scope and goals of the ticket selling system, then structure your answer around key components like user flows, inventory management, and scalability. Focus on product trade-offs and how you would prioritize features to balance user experience with business needs.
Pro tip: Emphasize the importance of handling high-concurrency scenarios and preventing overselling, as these are critical for ticket systems and demonstrate deep product thinking. Also, tie your design decisions back to user trust and fairness, which are paramount in ticketing.
Ask questions to understand the scale, user types (e.g., event organizers, attendees), and key features like seat selection, payment, and anti-fraud measures. Define success metrics such as sell-through rate and user satisfaction.
Map out the end-to-end journey for buyers and organizers, including browsing events, selecting tickets, checkout, and post-purchase actions. Identify pain points and opportunities for differentiation.
Propose high-level architecture covering inventory management, payment processing, and scalability. Discuss trade-offs between consistency and availability, and how to handle peak loads.
Consider scenarios like bots, scalping, payment failures, and refunds. Explain how your design mitigates these risks and ensures fairness.
Suggest an MVP and a roadmap for future enhancements based on user feedback and business impact. Highlight metrics to track and iterate upon.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.