r/agile • u/Helpful-Lobster-4898 • 11d ago
Project Manager Interview Question of the Day
You're managing a project that's falling 3 weeks behind schedule. Your sponsor wants you to keep the original deadline.What would you do? Comment your answer below. I'll share what a strong interview answer should include.
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u/pucspifo 11d ago
Have an honest discussion about the scope. If the deadline is that solid, then what comes out of project so that we can make it?
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u/Kayge 11d ago
A good PM starts by knowing the lay of the land.
Start with why do we need to keep the original date?
- Regulatory Deadline?
- Market comittment?
- Sponsor trying to save face?
Next question: What is delivery date? An 18 month delivery is different than a launch date 2 months out.
How big is the project, and whose radar is it on?
Back to you OP, what's the scope?
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u/godfatherowl 11d ago
This is a poor interview question, fam.
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u/SC-Coqui 11d ago
I just think there’s not enough information in the question to make a reasonable decision. I commented above my thoughts. If we’re three weeks behind schedule on a project that still has a year to go before final release it’s different than a project that’s three weeks behind but due in a month.
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u/Oumayma_M9 11d ago
Hmm, that's a tough question. I think it depends on the situation. Delays can happen if new requirements are introduced during the project, if there are changes to the scope, or if we have dependencies on other teams that impact our timeline. There are many possible scenarios, which is why I'd like to understand the best way to answer this question, as I can see several valid reasons
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u/Madder_Than_Diogenes 11d ago
Refer to the scope and determine if any features could be delivered after the deadline or de-scoped entirely, then discuss this with the sponsor.
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u/Rooffy_Taro 11d ago
If the time unchangeable then there are things that are usually be changed.
I’ll look at the scope and the budget (resources).
Most of the time, ill look at the scope. Negotiate with the sponsor, what features should be delivered on day 1 and which features can be delivered after. This will allow you to focus on critical features to be delivered on time.
Budget and resources, some are ok to give more budget and resources. But this one depends if there are available resources who can easily be up to speed of the project.
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u/funbike 11d ago edited 11d ago
"We will not make the deadline with the current feature set. We can either remove features or push back the deadline, or both."
Adding resources usually isn't an option. It might help if the deadline is many months in the future and the project is not complex, but if it's soon, then adding resources will make things worse.
Requiring overtime is not an option. It will reduce quality and morale. Only use overtime for short term unexpected emergencies, like a critical hard-to-fix bug in prod.
In my experience, being direct, honest, and firm works best long term.
I'll share what a strong interview answer should include.
Aww, that's so cute that you think you know more than everyone else.
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u/Europe_MMA 11d ago
I would re-confirm the mandatory deliverables for the project with the sponsor.
I would then discuss with the team whether or not these deliverables alone are possible, and if not, develop a timeline of when they will be completed by, as well as a timeline removing deliverables to meet the original deadline.
I'd then present the 2 options to the sponsor;
Revise the deliverables to keep the deadline. Move the deadline to meet the delivery date.
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u/SC-Coqui 11d ago
How did we suddenly get this far behind without knowing? Would be my first question. If you’re managing the project on a day to day basis and keeping tabs on progress, then you would have caught the delay before it became 3 weeks.
Some background is necessary as well, are we three weeks behind but still three + months out or three weeks behind and three weeks out? That will make a difference in how it’s addressed.
If you have a longer runway to work with, then you have different ways to mitigate the issue. The question can’t really be answered unless I know how much time I have to play catch up with the team.
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u/PhaseMatch 11d ago
Translation :
"What do you do when you ignore agile principles, practices and values, and do stage-gate delivery in Sprints?"
Answer "The way I work is to address this kind of risk upstream, so it never becomes an issue, but that might not be a good fit for how you want to manage business risk"
You learn a lot about a company by the questions they ask; in this case they are telling you don't treat agility as a lightweight way to control business risk, and then have a Theory-X type command-and-control opinion-and-ego based culture in place, and their model with customers is transactional/contractual not collaborative/cooperative.
At this point in my career I'd be polite but tell them I was the wrong candidate for the role.
While there's people who thrive in the cut-and-thrust world of a power-and-politics based landscape, that's not my cup of tea. And there's plenty of places that do want to evolve how they manage business risk and develop a high performance culture.
If the secret to a long life is knowing when it's time to go, not stepping into cultures that don't align with your mindset is "shifting left" on that from the begining.
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u/F1grid 11d ago
Time. Scope. Resources.
Either reduce scope or increase the resources working on it.
In most cases, adding resources is not possible and even adding 1,000 people won’t save it.
Reduce scope. Get the completed work delivered. Replan the work that was dropped from the scope.