questions / system design
system design questions
01 Design Instagram's system.How to answer the Instagram system design question as a PM: social graph tradeoffs, hybrid fan-out, 2026 recommendation architecture, viable/lovable framing. hard → 02 Design Netflix's system.How PMs answer "design Netflix's system" at the right depth: Open Connect, recommendation architecture, and the viable/lovable lens for 2026. hard → 03 Design a notification system.How to answer the notification system design question as a PM, covering channel tradeoffs, frequency controls, and the 2026 AI-agent angle. hard → 04 Design a rate limiter.How to answer "design a rate limiter" as a PM. Covers algorithm tradeoffs, distributed state, 429 UX, pricing tiers, and 2026 AI token-budget problems. hard → 05 Design TikTok's system.How to answer the TikTok system design question as a PM: FYP pipeline, cold-start tradeoffs, 2026 signal hierarchy, and the creator-consumer flywheel. hard → 06 Design Twitter's tweet feed and timeline system.What PMs are evaluated on in the Twitter/X system design interview. Trade-offs, the celebrity problem, and the For You vs. Following tension. hard → 07 Design Uber's ride-matching system.What PMs are actually evaluated on in the Uber system design interview. Dispatch, surge, marketplace dynamics, and the 2026 AI layer. hard → 08 Design a URL shortener.How to answer "design a URL shortener" as a PM, not an engineer. Covers user types, the analytics business model, 301 vs 302, and 2026 abuse risks. standard → 09 Design WhatsApp.What PM interviewers actually score in this question, covering E2E encryption tradeoffs, delivery guarantees, and the AI-in-chat tension. hard → 10 Design YouTube.How PMs answer "design YouTube" at the right altitude: clarifying questions, CDN trade-offs, recommendation architecture, and the creator-viewer tension. hard → 11 Walk me through a system you designed. What were the tradeoffs?What Stripe actually evaluates in this round, how to pick the right system, and what separates a pass from a fail on failure-mode reasoning. hard →