How to Ace Your PM Interview with the CIRCLES Method

The CIRCLES method, developed by Lewis C. Lin, is a structured framework designed to help product managers thoughtfully tackle product design questions, particularly in interviews. It aids in understanding and responding to user needs by guiding managers through seven key steps: comprehending the situation, identifying the customer, reporting customer needs, cutting through prioritization, listing solutions, evaluating tradeoffs, and summarizing recommendations. This method helps product managers articulate a clear product vision and prioritize features effectively by considering the full context of design challenges. Besides interviews, the CIRCLES method is useful in various professional scenarios, such as engaging stakeholders, justifying feature decisions, and ensuring development teams focus on tasks that deliver the most value to customers, thus facilitating efficient and goal-oriented product development.