A short interview script designed to surface — in 30 minutes per role — whether the company is in Catch-Up, Stabilization, or Differentiation. The matrix below tells you which question to ask to whom.
— rows: questions · columns: audiences · cells: ✓ / ✗
| Question | CEO | CPO | C-level | HR | Tech Leads | Tech team | Product leads | Product ops | Customer Care | Sales | Marketing | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Strategic clarity | ||||||||||||
| What's the company's 3-year product ambition, in one sentence? | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Can you name the product's North Star metric and the current value? | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| What's the strategic phase you'd say the product is in: Catch-Up, Stabilization, or Differentiation? | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Where is the biggest competitive gap that hurts us today? | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| B. Process maturity | ||||||||||||
| Is there a documented product process the team actually follows? | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Are OKRs cascaded from the company level down to your squad? | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| How long does it take to go from idea → production for a small feature? | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Is the product roadmap visible and shared beyond the product team? | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| C. Tech health | ||||||||||||
| What's the current production error rate (p95 / p99) on the critical paths? | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Can the team ship to production at any moment, or do you wait for a release cycle? | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| What's the % of dev time spent fixing bugs vs shipping new value, in the last sprint? | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| What's the biggest piece of technical debt blocking new feature work today? | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| D. Customer voice | ||||||||||||
| What are the top 3 user complaints you hear every week? | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Are users asking for features that competitors already have? | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Why did you pick / stay with this product? Why might you switch? | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| What's the current NPS / CSAT and the top reason for the score? | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| What feature, if shipped, would users gladly pay extra for? | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| E. Team health | ||||||||||||
| Are teams working on the right things? If not, what should they drop? | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Has there been recent attrition in product or tech? What were the cited reasons? | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Are cross-team dependencies blocking your squad more than once a sprint? | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Do you see a clear “wow” feature unique to us that you'd point to as our USP? | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Pattern → phase
Catch-Up · vague vision · NSM unknown · multiple unmet basics surfaced by Customer Care & Sales · feature-parity gap is the dominant complaint.
Stabilization · vision exists but execution is fragile · bug load > 30% of dev time · OKRs cascaded but missed often · NPS volatile.
Differentiation · clear NSM moving · the team can name a unique “wow” feature · users cite it as the reason they stayed · less than 20% dev time on bugs · roadmap is forward-looking, not catch-up.