Design a product for government to improve the voting process. [Product Management Interview Question]

 Interviewer:  Design a product for the government to improve the voting process. 

Image Source - https://www.computerworld.com/

Priyanka: I would like to ask a few questions to understand the problem in a better way. 
Interviewer:  Sure, please go ahead. 

 

Priyanka: Firstly, I would like to understand who we are. Are we a tech company that was been given this project by the government? Have we had similar capabilities in the past or is it the first time we are working on a government project? 

Interviewer: Yes, we are a private company, but we have collaborated with the government on similar projects. 

Priyanka: That’s interesting. Now I would like to understand what a product means here. Is it a hardware product or a software product? I would like to assume that we are building an app [software product] for the government. Building a software product would be scalable as well. As we dissect the question further, I will discuss more about the product. 

Interviewer: Okay, that’s a fair assumption. 

Priyanka: When we talk about improving the voting process, there can be several types of improvement. Are we referring to making the voters more engaged, making the process more hassle-free, or increasing the voter turnout? I believe all of this is tied together and should contribute to increasing voter turnout during elections.  

Interviewer: I am aligned. 

 

Priyanka:  Is there any specific geography for which we are designing this app? I am asking this question because the voting process is different in different regions and geography 

Interviewer:  You can focus on India although the app can be used wherever the voting process is the same. 

 

Priyanka: Now I am trying to think why the government would need such a product. I am assuming that there are a lot of people who are not aware of the voting process. Even if they are aware of the process, they don't realize the importance of how every vote counts. Every year the contesting party spends a lot of money on election campaigns but are still not able to get a huge voter turnout. As people spend a lot of time on their phones these days, having a software product might help here. 

Interviewer: That is true. 

 

Priyanka: Is there any time/resource constraint that I should consider? This will help me decide on ding the product roadmap later in terms of future use cases. 
Interviewer: Yes, the state elections are happening in mid-2023, so we want the product by then. 

 

Priyanka: Just to recap what we have discussed till now; we would like to design an app for the Indian government by mid-2023 to increase voter turnout. As the state elections are two quarters away, we should be able to get more user adoption also. 
Interviewer: That is well-summarised. 

 

Priyanka: Okay, the way I would like to proceed here is, we will discuss the user segments and then prioritize one of them. We will think through the pain points they face. We will find out solutions to some of the most pressing pain points. Post that, we will talk about the metrics to track whether our goal is being achieved or not. Are we aligned on this? 
Interviewer: Yes 

 

User segment:

Priyanka: There can be several user segments like elderly people, young millennials, mid-age adults, etc. but to ensure they are distinctly separate and not overlapping I am using the following approach. 

1. High knowledge, High motivation - Those who are fully aware of the process, have a deep interest in politics, actively read the political manifesto, and vote during the elections. 
2. Low knowledge, Low motivation - Those who are neither much aware of the process nor have the motivation to vote. They sometimes hear political news from their friends or read WhatsApp forwards. They usually rely on others to accompany them to the voting booths but would not go by themselves. 
3. No knowledge, No motivation – Those who don’t know about the political situation and don’t realize the importance of voting. 

Prioritization of User segment:  

High knowledge, High motivation[1] do not need special attention while No knowledge, No motivation[3] can be difficult to convert. We can focus on Low knowledge, Low motivation[2] as this segment has the potential to convert easily and form a majority of the people. It is important to make this segment aware of the importance of politics as the ruling party decides the country's future growth & development, employment opportunities, etc. 

User Journey of Voter: 

Find Information about contesting party -> Decide which party to vote -> Locate voting center -> Travel to the voting center -> Follow the process -> Cast the vote -> Exit 

Pain Points of User segment: 

• Not aware of contestants and their manifesto: As a voter, I don't have much knowledge of which party to vote for. I usually rely on what my family/friends are saying. I am not aware of the politics and might have a negative connotation regarding that.
• Lots of fake information: I am not aware of authentic information sources to know about the contesting party. There is a lot of fake information, WhatsApp forwards, or biased news present in social media. 
• Lack of motivation: I don't realize what is the importance of my vote. I think my voting will not make any difference. As a voter, even if I have voted for a political party I haven't been able to track what development has happened so far.
• Cumbersome process: As a voter, I find the voting process quite hassled. It is difficult to find out how I can reach my voting center and what all documents to carry.  

Prioritization of Pain Points: 

Priyanka: Now, let’s prioritize the different pain points. Here I would like to analyze the impact and criticality of the pain point. I believe solving pain points #1 and #4 would have a high impact as making information readily available and making the process simpler can push people to vote. I want to prioritize pain points #1 and #4. Are we aligned on this?  
Interviewer: Yes, we are aligned. 

Solutions:  

[Solution to pain point 1] 

1. Stats on Contesting party: We can provide voters with information about the parties. They can access the profile history of the candidates and their work experience and gauge how they have fared in the previous elections. There will be data available on the members of the party, what development projects they have done previously, what their current election manifesto is etc. The challenge is maintaining the authenticity of the information. We can have a crowd-sourcing model or editor who would build the profile still we cannot ensure 100% non-biased information. 

2. Open chat with contestants: The voters can communicate their problems/issues on the app which the contestants can reply to. The government can also broadcast information to the voters through the app. This would be a cost-effective way of campaigning. They can also upload short video clips or stories to interact with the voters. 

3. 
   

[Solution to pain point 4] 

2. Digi Locker to store voting documents: The government can provide voters with a Digi Locker to store documents like Voting cards within the app. This will reduce the tension of forgetting to carry relevant documents to the voting center.

3. Smart Voting Buddy: The Smart Voting Buddy can serve the following purposes-

• Voters could easily locate their voting center. The government can also send them notifications and reminders closer to the voting date, so they don’t miss out on the process.
• The voters can also find out real-time queues at the center so that they can decide what time to go.
• The government can partner with ride-hailing platforms to help people travel to the booths. 

2. 
   

Metrics: 

To gauge the success of our app, we can track the following metrics: 

• App downloads
• %increase in the Voting turnout of the users on this app
• App Stickiness during the voting period (App Stickiness = DAU/MAU)
• Adoption of Digi Locker 
• App Uninstall after the voting period

Priyanka: To summarise, the problem statement was to design an app for the Indian government by mid-2023 to increase voter turnout. We discussed how there is a lack of awareness and motivation among voters and how our app can fill the gap. We identified our user segment to be those who have low knowledge and low motivation. We discussed how our app can address those issues by providing them better information about politics as well as making the process easy for them. Lastly, we identified metrics that will help us track whether our goal was accomplished. 

Interviewer: It is well-summarised. Thank you.