Whiteboard System Design Interview Language Collocations
Practise the standard verbs for structuring a whiteboard system design answer.
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Fill in: 'We ___ the requirements out loud with the interviewer first, before drawing a single box, so we're not designing a solution to the wrong problem.'
We 'clarify requirements' — the standard, simple collocation for confirming scope before starting a system design answer. The other options are less idiomatic here.
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Fill in: 'Jumping straight to a detailed database schema before discussing scale can ___ the whole answer stuck on one component while the clock quietly runs out.'
We say premature detail will 'leave' the answer stuck on one part — the standard, natural collocation for the resulting time trap. The other options aren't idiomatic here.
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Fill in: 'We ___ the high-level architecture on the board first, boxes and arrows only, before drilling into any single component in detail.'
We 'sketch an architecture' — the standard, simple collocation for drawing a rough system overview before refining it. The other options are less idiomatic here.
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Fill in: 'We ___ a trade-off explicitly whenever we pick one approach over another, since naming the alternative we rejected shows deliberate reasoning, not luck.'
We 'state a trade-off' — the standard, simple collocation for explicitly naming the cost of a design decision. The other options are less idiomatic here.
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Fill in: 'We ___ the design against a realistic scale figure, ideally one the interviewer gave us, rather than designing for a number nobody actually asked for.'
We 'validate a design' — the standard, simple collocation for checking a proposal against stated constraints. The other options are less idiomatic here.