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Investigate Causes of Increased Driver Wait Time

DoorDashData Scientist · Technical Screen
MediumData ScientistTechnical ScreenAnalytics & Experimentation

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This interview question evaluates metric design, causal reasoning, experiment setup, diagnostics, SQL/statistical checks, and recommendations in a realistic interview setting. A strong answer for Investigate Causes of Increased Driver Wait Time states assumptions, handles edge cases, explains trade-offs, and shows how to validate the result clearly.

Scenario

DoorDash noticed driver wait time at restaurants spiked last week compared with the previous week.

Question

Walk me through how you would debug the increase in driver wait time. What metrics, segments, and analyses would you examine to find the root cause? If you confirm restaurant understaffing is responsible, what actions or experiments should DoorDash run to solve the problem?

Hints

Decompose the end-to-end latency funnel, slice by restaurant, region, time of day, and order mix; compare staffing schedules vs. order volume; propose A/B or operational tests to cut wait.