Strategy question
A top researcher needs a bespoke data-collection workflow in 2 weeks for an upcoming training run, but engineering believes the same need may recur across several teams next quarter. How would you decide whether to ship a one-off tool, extend the current platform, or invest in reusable infrastructure? Walk through the criteria, stakeholders, and how you’d manage platform debt.
- Anthropic
- Strategy
- Hard
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What this question tests
Tests judgment on when to build a one off tool versus reusable platform infrastructure under real time pressure and uncertain recurrence.
How to approach it
- Clarify the urgency, a two week deadline tied to a training run, versus the uncertainty of whether the need truly recurs next quarter.
- Talk to the teams engineering thinks might need this later to test whether the recurrence claim is real or speculative.
- Decide with a simple test, if a one off with a thin reusable core can hit the deadline, build that instead of either extreme.
- Ship the one off now to meet the researcher's deadline, but design its interfaces so pieces can be extracted into shared infrastructure later.
- Set a concrete trigger for revisiting platform investment, such as a second team requesting the same workflow within the quarter.
What a strong answer includes
- Rejects the false binary, proposing a one off with just enough structure to be extracted later rather than choosing purely fast or reusable.
- Validates the recurrence claim with real conversations with other teams instead of taking engineering's prediction at face value.
- Sets an explicit, observable trigger for platform investment, such as a second real request, so debt decisions are evidence based.
- Names the tradeoff directly, accepting some rework cost later in exchange for meeting the immediate research deadline.
Common mistakes
- Defaulting to building reusable infrastructure immediately, which risks missing the two week deadline for a need that may not actually recur.
- Building a pure one off with no thought to future reuse, creating throwaway work if the recurrence prediction turns out true.
Likely follow-up questions
- What would you do if the deadline could not be hit with a thin reusable core?
- How would you decide who owns the platform investment if it does recur?
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Learn the skill behind it
Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.
- Chapter 4: Discovery and strategy for AI products
- Chapter 9: Prove it paid off: outcomes, economics, and pricing
- Chapter 14: Get the job: the AI PM interview loop