Assignment (that took 12+ hours):
Much of the day to day of the product team here at Clipboard Health is making adjustments to the marketplace we run, usually via product features. We do this via Working Backwards Documents, a device popularized by Amazon. Here’s our internal guide to writing a working backwards document. We are so excited to work on this challenge with you because it's an accurate simulation of what it's like to work together both for you and for us. You’ll write a Working Backwards Document, and your next conversation or two as part of this process will be a Working Backwards Doc Review (just like how we do it internally). That’s it: there’s nothing else to our interview process. We hope to have great conversations as a result of this challenge, and hope that you have a lot of fun.
Context & Summary
Last-minute cancellations place a huge burden on the marketplace, whether it’s a healthcare facility cancelling on a healthcare professional or vice versa. These cancellations create a negative experience for the user and often lead to churn. The user doesn’t place the blame on the facility or the healthcare professional that cancelled; they place the blame on us, and rightly so. It is our responsibility to ensure that bookings are reliable 100% of the time; so, how do we get there?
Please write a working backwards document (WBD) outlining your proposal on how we can eliminate last minute cancellations. Although our solutions to this problem are already in production, we are excited to see what you come up with and also encourage you to think from first principles! Try to keep it to roughly 4-6 pages and remember that this document would be what engineering uses to implement your proposal, so it needs to be detailed enough for that.
What You’ll Need
You’ll likely want to know more about how the marketplace is currently operating to form your mental model. Here’s some high-level insights:
The most damaging type of cancellation for the HCF is one in which the HCP does what we call a “No Call No Show”; this means they cancelled the shift after the shift started or otherwise did not show up to the shift and did not inform Clipboard or the facility of their absence
The most damaging type of cancellation for the HCP is one in which they show up to the facility and are then sent home, after having made the commute
The top reasons why HCPs cancel shifts last minute are: sick, family emergency, transportation issue (e.g. car broke down), facility issue
The top reasons why HCFs cancel shifts last minute are: staffed in house, low census
From interviews, the most important things to HCPs are: will there be shifts that fit my erratic schedule, that are close enough to home, that pay enough, and that pay on time?
We’ve pulled some shift data for one of the metropolitan statistical areas in which we have a presence (link redacted)
Here is the list of healthcare professionals (HCPs) who performed some type of action or actions on those shifts (link redacted)
And a list of the healthcare facilities (HCFs) who performed an action or actions on those shifts: (link redacted)
As well as a list of cancellation logs for those same shifts that were created in October: (link redacted)