Spend the first ten minutes on the problem, not the pixels: clarify the user, the goal, the constraints, and what success looks like, and say your assumptions out loud. Then sketch two or three divergent directions quickly, pick one with stated reasoning, and detail the main flow including edge states. Reserve the last five minutes for tradeoffs and what you would test.
Why interviewers ask this
The whiteboard exercise is not about the artifact; it is a live sample of how you think with other people. Interviewers score problem framing, whether you ask questions or assume, whether you diverge before converging, and whether you narrate your reasoning. Candidates who go silent and draw a polished screen usually score worse than candidates with rough sketches and clear thinking.
How to structure your answer
- Budget the time out loud at the start so the interviewer can follow.
- Clarify user, goal, constraints, and success before drawing anything.
- State assumptions explicitly and check them.
- Diverge with quick low-fidelity options before committing to one.
- Narrate tradeoffs and name what you would test next.
Example answer
I would say the plan out loud first, because it lets you redirect me if I am spending time in the wrong place. Roughly ten minutes framing, five diverging, twenty on the chosen flow, and the last ten on edge cases and tradeoffs. In the framing I want to know who this is for, what they do today instead, what constraints exist on platform or timeline, and how we would know it worked. If you cannot answer something, I will state an assumption and write it in the corner so we both know it is load-bearing. Then I sketch two or three genuinely different approaches, ugly boxes, thirty seconds each, and I say why I am picking the one I pick, because the reasoning is the thing being assessed, not the drawing. Then the main flow, screen by screen, talking as I go. And I always leave time for what breaks: the empty state, the permission case, what happens on a phone. If I run out of time, I would rather have a clear flow with honest gaps than a pretty screen I cannot defend.
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See how it worksFollow-up questions to expect
- What would you do if I refused to answer your clarifying questions?
- How do you handle it when the interviewer changes the requirements halfway?
- How do you decide which direction to develop further?
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