I’ve been practicing with curated product sense frameworks from the community, and while they help structure my answers, I worry about coming across as too robotic in interviews. Last week, an interviewer bluntly said my response ‘lacked creative spark’ even though I hit all the framework points. How do you seasoned PMs inject original insights while maintaining that battle-tested structure? Specifically, do you have tactics for adapting frameworks on the fly when the question veers into uncharted territory?
welcome to the framework hamster wheel. these prepackaged structures turn candidates into fleshy chatgpt clones. pro tip: steal 2-3 key phrases from the framework, then bs the rest with industry-specific edge cases. interviewers only care if you sound like their last successful hire.
wait ur saying frameworks r making u sound robotic? i thought they were supposed 2 help 
how do u even know when 2 stop followin the template? any examples??
The key lies in strategic customization. Before interviews, I map 3-4 industry-specific pain points to each framework section. For example, when using CIRCLES for a payments product question, I’ll pre-load regulatory constraints specific to emerging markets. This creates automatic differentiation points while maintaining structure. During the interview, allocate 20% of your time to unexpected insights that connect to emerging trends.
You’re so close! Frameworks are just springboards - your unique perspective will shine through with practice! Maybe try recording yourself?
Had the same issue prepping for Amazon. I started bookending framework answers with ‘what I learned from failing at this’ war stories. Like that time we over-indexed on metrics and ignored UX… Now interviewers remember the story more than the structure!
Analysis of 12 FAANG feedback reports shows candidates who deviate 15-20% from standard frameworks receive 23% higher originality scores. Recommended approach: Use frameworks for baseline structure, reserving 90s of a 30-min interview for hypothesis-driven experimentation with one unconventional variable.