Should Google sunset a profitable but aging product?
You are tasked with recommending whether to sunset an old, profitable but technologically outdated product (e.g., Google Reader). Outline your evaluation criteria.
Why Interviewers Ask This
Interviewers ask this to evaluate your ability to balance short-term revenue against long-term strategic value and innovation. They specifically test if you can make difficult decisions using data-driven frameworks rather than emotional attachment, while considering user churn, engineering resource allocation, and alignment with Google's 'focus on the user' philosophy.
How to Answer This Question
1. Clarify Objectives: Immediately define what 'sunset' means for stakeholders, including timeline, user communication, and revenue impact targets. 2. Quantify Current State: Analyze the product's profitability trends, maintenance costs (engineering hours), and active user growth rates versus stagnant or declining metrics. 3. Assess Strategic Fit: Evaluate if the technology aligns with Google's core mission or if it distracts from high-growth areas like AI and mobile-first experiences. 4. Model Scenarios: Create a decision matrix comparing the cost of keeping the product running (opportunity cost) against the potential revenue loss and brand sentiment damage from killing it. 5. Propose a Transition Plan: Outline a phased shutdown strategy that includes migration paths for users, preserving data, and reallocating the freed-up engineering talent to more critical initiatives.
Key Points to Cover
- Explicitly calculating the opportunity cost of maintaining legacy engineering resources
- Demonstrating willingness to sacrifice short-term revenue for long-term strategic alignment
- Proposing a concrete user migration strategy to minimize churn and brand damage
- Using specific metrics like engagement decay and maintenance overhead ratios
- Aligning the decision with Google's focus on innovation and technical excellence
Sample Answer
To decide whether to sunset a profitable but aging product like Google Reader, I would apply a framework balancing immediate financial health with long-term strategic opportunity. First, I'd analyze the cost-benefit ratio. While the product generates revenue, if its maintenance consumes disproportionate engineering resources—say, 30% of a team's capacity—it creates a significant opportunity cost by delaying work on higher-impact projects like Cloud AI or Search enhancements. Second, I'd assess user engagement trends. If active usage is flat or declining despite profitability, the product may be a 'zombie' asset draining momentum. Third, I'd evaluate strategic alignment. Does this legacy tech hinder our move toward modern architectures? If yes, sunsetting clears technical debt. My recommendation would be to proceed with a sunset only if the projected efficiency gains from reallocating those engineers exceed the projected revenue loss over 18 months. Crucially, I would propose a migration path for loyal users to newer platforms, ensuring we retain trust. For example, migrating Reader users to an RSS-integrated Google News experience could preserve the utility while modernizing the stack. Ultimately, the goal isn't just profit maximization today, but sustaining a portfolio of products that drive future growth.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Focusing solely on current profitability without mentioning the hidden costs of technical debt
- Making a binary decision without proposing a transition plan for affected users
- Ignoring the strategic fit of the product within the broader Google ecosystem
- Failing to quantify the opportunity cost of the engineering team's time
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