Product design question

How do you solve the traffic problem in Seattle?

Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.

What this question tests

Broad civic product design under an ambiguous prompt: can the candidate scope the problem and connect it back to a company's realistic role.

Clarify scope with the interviewer: is this a general civic policy answer or specifically what Microsoft, as a Seattle-area employer, could build or fund.
Identify the users: commuters, many of them Microsoft and tech employees, dealing with congestion on routes like SR-520 and I-405.
Name root causes: heavy single-occupancy commuting tied to fixed office hours, and limited transit coverage to suburban tech campuses.
Propose solutions within Microsoft's realistic influence: expanded flexible and remote work policies, subsidized transit or vanpool programs, and data sharing with city planners on commute patterns.
Prioritize flexible work policy first since it is the lowest cost, fastest lever Microsoft directly controls.
Define success as reduction in peak-hour single-occupancy trips among employees and average commute time.

Scopes the huge prompt down to what Microsoft can actually influence as an employer, rather than pretending to solve city-wide traffic alone.
Names real Seattle-area corridors and dynamics (tech campus commuting, 520 corridor congestion) instead of generic traffic language.
Picks the cheapest, fastest lever, flexible work policy, as the first recommendation before costlier infrastructure asks.

Answering as a city planner instead of tying the solution back to what the company can realistically do.
Proposing only large infrastructure investments that are outside a single company's control or timeline.

How would you measure whether flexible work policy actually reduced congestion?
What would you do if the city was not willing to partner with Microsoft on this?