2 min lesson
Run it the way the real round runs: out loud
Take "Run it the way the real round runs: out loud" step by step, then finish with the result that proves it worked.
Step 1 of 3
Run it the way the real round runs: out loud. Narrate every assumption and every branch or write as you go in a doc you can replay. Record the session. You will catch things on the playback that you were blind to in the moment, especially the exact second you stopped scoping and started solving.
Interactive diagram. Step through it with the Next and Previous controls below, or Tab to a region to read its detail.
Two gates decide the round: clarifying before you design and ending on a thin, shippable slice.
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Full explanation
Full explanation
The single fastest way to fail this round is to skip the clarify phase and start architecting the solution to the stated problem. Halving review time might mean fixing a CI queue, not generating AI summaries. If you build the summary bot and the bottleneck was queue time, you shipped the wrong thing beautifully.
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Advanced table
Score your own tape
Score your own tapeSelf-rubric
- Dimension
- Clarified first
- Pass looks like
- Two-plus questions that change the design before any solution
- Red flag
- Jumped straight to “here's what I'd build”
- Dimension
- Named metrics
- Pass looks like
- A baseline, a target and the measurement method
- Red flag
- “Make it faster” with no number
- Dimension
- Mapped inputs
- Pass looks like
- Concrete data sources, surfaces and the gaps
- Red flag
- Assumed clean data and full access
- Dimension
- Decomposed
- Pass looks like
- Independently shippable slices, sequenced by value
- Red flag
- One monolithic “the system” with no seams
- Dimension
- Walking skeleton
- Pass looks like
- Thin end-to-end slice, demoable on one repo in days
- Red flag
- A six-month roadmap as the first answer
| Dimension | Pass looks like | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Clarified first | Two-plus questions that change the design before any solution | Jumped straight to “here's what I'd build” |
| Named metrics | A baseline, a target and the measurement method | “Make it faster” with no number |
| Mapped inputs | Concrete data sources, surfaces and the gaps | Assumed clean data and full access |
| Decomposed | Independently shippable slices, sequenced by value | One monolithic “the system” with no seams |
| Walking skeleton | Thin end-to-end slice, demoable on one repo in days | A six-month roadmap as the first answer |
Watch the recording with this open. Mark the timestamp of any red flag.
Then run it again. Same length, fresh brief, but this time apply the framework on purpose: clarify, stakeholders, metrics, inputs, decompose, skeleton. Compare the two recordings. The gap between your instinct and your deliberate pass is exactly the muscle this round grades.
QIn a timed decomposition on “cut PR-review time in half,” what is your single highest-value first move and why?