How do you generate insights?
Question Explain
This question is an opportunity for the interviewer to understand how you approach problem-solving, data analysis, and formulating insights based on the information gathered. It's essentially a way for them to gauge your analytical skills, critical thinking, and creativity. A good answer would involve explaining a clear process of how you accumulate data, your approach to data analysis, and deriving insights or generating solutions based on that analysis. An emphasis on a systematic and logical process that ensures robust, impactful, and actionable insights is essential.
Answer Example 1
In my role as a data analyst, my approach to generating insights starts with having good data. First, I identify the question or problem that needs to be answered. Then, I gather relevant data from reliable sources, clean it and conduct a thorough analysis using statistical tools. Once I have the results, I don't just stop at the obvious findings; I dive deeper by asking why those results occur. I view the data from different angles, analyze trends, patterns and outliers. This typically leads me to insightful and often surprising findings.
After that, it's all about communication. I communicate my insights to relevant stakeholders in a clear and concise manner, using data visualization tools to support my points. I also provide actionable recommendations based on my insights. I consistently use this approach to deliver insights that help drive strategic decision-making and produce positive outcomes for the business.
Answer Example 2
My process to generate insights starts with understanding the bigger picture. What is the problem we are trying to solve or the question we want to answer? This helps in crafting the right analytical approach. I collect relevant data ensuring its accuracy and reliability, and then I swim into the analysis, using an appropriate mix of tools and techniques.
Inspired by the scientific method, I hypothesize first, test with available data, and learn from the results, revising my hypotheses as needed. A key part of my process is iterative exploration; querying findings, and digging deeper. I pay close attention to outliers and anomalies as these can be sources of valuable insights.
Once I have derived the underlying patterns or trends in the data, I convert it into a narrative form. Storytelling, in my opinion, is a very powerful tool to communicate insights because it gives context and makes the data more incomprehensible. Finally, I link my findings to strategic recommendations that are feasible and have a tangible impact on the business.
More Questions
- As a Google PM, how will you design a solution to help people with financial savviness?
- You're a PM for Instagram. You notice the Month - on - Month retention is down by 20%. What might be happening?
- Given an input string (s) and a pattern (p), implement wildcard pattern matching with support for '?' and '*' where: '?' Matches any single character. '*' Matches any sequence of characters (including the empty sequence). The matching should cover the entire input string (not partial).
- How would you mitigate negative experiences on Opentable?
- How would you measure the success of improvements made to Uber's referral system?