I've given ~50 system design interviews. Personally, I'm looking for a combination of problem solving and collaboration skills. I am not particularly concerne

I've given ~50 system design interviews. Personally, I'm looking for a combination of problem solving and collaboration skills. I am not particularly concerned about the quality of the system they have designed by the end of the interview, I'm more interested in: - whether they understand an issue when I try to "poke a hole" in their design - whether they can quickly synthesize that problem into a possible solution (even if it isn't the best solution) and what the tradeoffs of the solution are - how easy it is for me to understand the solution as they're explaining it Essentially, I am testing their ability to contribute in a technical design discussion while remaining humble and open minded. I admit it would also be nice to test their ability to actually design a good system, but rating someone on their ability to do that in a reasonable time frame seems far too fraught with biases around what "good" is or the degree of familiarity with the domain.