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Running a Live Whiteboard Sketching Exercise
In an on-site interview, you're handed a marker and asked: "Sketch the flow for a user booking a one-way flight, right now, on this whiteboard." No further detail is given.
- Describe, step by step, how you'd open this exercise in the first 30 seconds — what you'd say and draw first, and why in that order.
- The prompt doesn't specify whether the user already has an account, is searching from a homepage, or has a specific date in mind. How should you handle that ambiguity live, and why is that approach stronger than either guessing silently or asking to pause until every detail is specified?
- Partway through, the interviewer says "actually, assume the user also wants to add a checked bag." How should you incorporate this without erasing and restarting?
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