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Amazon·Product Manager·Onsite - Product Sense / Strategy·Intermediate

Intermediate
Jun 2026

Summary

Interviewed for a PM role at Amazon and got hit with a product ideation question pretty early on. Not the hardest interview I've done but it made me think more carefully about how I actually articulate my process versus just doing it.

Questions Asked (1)

Q1

Walk me through how you come up with new product ideas. What does your ideation process look like?

Product Sense & IdeationProduct Strategy
Author's notes

I fumbled the opener a bit because I started too abstract, talking about customer empathy and market gaps without grounding it in anything real.

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AI HintsAI Generated

Suggested Approach

Frame your ideation process as a structured, customer-obsessed methodology that starts with deep problem discovery and ends with rapid validation. Emphasize how you prioritize ideas based on impact and feasibility, and how you iterate based on data and feedback. Use a concrete example to illustrate your process in action.

Pro tip: Tie your process to Amazon's leadership principles, especially 'Customer Obsession' and 'Invent and Simplify,' and show how you use mechanisms like working backwards to ensure ideas are grounded in real customer needs.

1. Immerse in Customer Problems

Start by gathering deep insights into customer pain points through data analysis, user research, and direct feedback. Identify unmet needs and underserved segments.

2. Generate Diverse Ideas

Use structured brainstorming techniques (e.g., SCAMPER, brainwriting) and cross-functional input to generate a wide range of potential solutions. Encourage wild ideas and avoid early judgment.

3. Prioritize and Select

Evaluate ideas against criteria like customer impact, strategic fit, feasibility, and potential ROI. Use frameworks like RICE or weighted scoring to prioritize the most promising concepts.

4. Prototype and Validate

Develop low-fidelity prototypes or mockups to test with customers. Gather qualitative and quantitative feedback to validate desirability, viability, and feasibility.

5. Iterate and Scale

Refine the idea based on learnings, and if validated, create a roadmap for development. Continuously measure impact and iterate as needed.

Key Points to Mention

  • Customer Obsession: Grounding ideas in deep customer understanding and working backwards from customer needs.
  • Data-Driven Decision Making: Using metrics and experiments to validate ideas and measure impact.
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Leveraging diverse perspectives from engineering, design, and business teams.
  • Prioritization Frameworks: Applying structured methods like RICE or weighted scoring to focus on high-impact ideas.
  • Rapid Prototyping and Iteration: Emphasizing quick, low-cost experiments to learn and pivot.
  • Amazon Leadership Principles: Aligning with 'Invent and Simplify' and 'Bias for Action' to drive innovation.

AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.