During tech interviews I play a deranged product owner. No technical knowledge, unlimited opinions. The brief begins as “build me a platform for cat pictures” and escalates — comments, stars, real-time events, a mobile version, maybe a blockchain, why not.
Most candidates start designing. Frantically. They want to show they can handle complexity, so they handle the complexity I invented on the spot.
By the time we’re done, most have given the deranged PO a full system architecture — frontend, backend, database, cloud. What I was looking for was a pushback.
The good ones slow down. They ask what problem we’re actually solving. Who’s the user. Is there any evidence people want this. What happens if we build it and nobody uses it. How to test the market.
The best ones conclude there’s no new software needed. There is WordPress with some plugins — so why bother writing a new one?
The deranged product owner is barely a caricature. The people who build everything without asking enough questions — those are real. I know, I used to be one of them.
