Master the Classic Question: “What Does a Dip in the Metrics Mean?”

How I answer this data analytics and product execution interview question. With In-N-Out hamburgers 🍔

This graph started going up and to the right … and then it went down and to the left!? Source: Unsplash

It’s the classic data analytics question:

Your boss noticed a significant dip in an important business metric, and they asked you to look into it. How would you investigate?

I was once asked it this way:

You own a chain of burger restaurants across the city and you’ve noticed that sales are down this week. How would you get to the bottom of it?

It’s fair game for data analysts, product managers, and any tech role where you look at graphs.

This question falls in the category of “product execution” interview questions. Product execution can includes a few other kinds of questions, but I’ll address them at the end of this article or direct you to search online.

For this article I’ll focus just on the “dip in the metric” question with the burger restaurants as the example.

My goal is to give you some tips for your next product execution interview. Also to prove to myself and future employers that I can answer this question, though admittedly with the luxury of time.

Here’s the outline:

1. Ask clarifying…