Diagnose a Sudden DAU Drop | Dataford Interview Questions

Your question is Diagnose a Sudden DAU Drop. Take a moment with it on the right.

Talk me through your thinking if you like. When you're confident, submit your answer and I'll grade it like a real screen (7/10 or better passes).

Problem

Scenario

You are investigating a consumer social product where DAU fell from 18.4M to 16.9M over the last 7 days, an 8.2% drop versus the prior week. The decline started on Tuesday, one day after a mobile release and a change to event logging for Discord Home and push opens. MAU is flat at 92M, and the drop looks larger on iOS than Android. Leadership wants to know quickly whether this is a real product problem, a measurement issue, or normal seasonality.

Question

How would you investigate whether a drop in DAU is caused by a product issue, a measurement issue, or a seasonal effect?

What matters

Separate true user behavior change from broken instrumentation
Use Discord-specific surfaces like Discord Home, DMs, servers, voice, and push re-entry points
Compare recent movement against release timing and historical seasonal baselines

Your question is Diagnose a Sudden DAU Drop. Take a moment with it on the right.

Talk me through your thinking if you like. When you're confident, submit your answer and I'll grade it like a real screen (7/10 or better passes).

Scenario

Question

How would you investigate whether a drop in DAU is caused by a product issue, a measurement issue, or a seasonal effect?

What matters

Separate true user behavior change from broken instrumentation
Use Discord-specific surfaces like Discord Home, DMs, servers, voice, and push re-entry points
Compare recent movement against release timing and historical seasonal baselines