Engineering Program Manager Interview Questions

1) I would first evaluate the current demand and see what other non-critical items can be dropped to address this. 2) Drop everything and do what your CEO tells you

First, I will try to figure out how important these 20 extra features, whether some or all of them are 'must have', 'should have','could have' or 'nice to have'. I would totally rule out any 'could have' or 'nice to have'. A project/program manager must have courage and conviction to say 'no'. If some or all of those features are 'must have' or 'should have', then I will see what features in current project/program can be dropped in favor of the new features. use creative project/program planning or use overtime as much as possible without adding extra risk. If none of the above is true, then extra resources or time must be negotiated. Through analysis of the situation and clear communication is key to achieve this objective.

It's always about trade offs. Add the 20 requested features to the list - then sit with stakeholders (marketing, engineering, etc) and sort the list by priority and by ease of implementation. Customer must haves should come first and these hopefully were articulated when the core product was conceived and started. Include in the list the level of completion of the features. Completed ones are done, move them below the line. Review the remaining - which can be completed in remaining time with available resources and which have to be dropped. Be the strong project manager and present to management. If the company only wants yes persons with no critical thinking skills, you probably don't want the job anyway.

If they ask for more features beyond what's in the agreed upon contract SOW and requirements, then you'll have to renegotiate the project cost and schedule. As for you being currently behind schedule, you always have to manage your customer/stakeholder expectations. They should know you are behind schedule, what your doing to get back on track, or why getting back on track is not possible.

Assess what you know about the situation, decide how dire the fallout would be from not implementing, come up with Plan B and execute. Slipping the schedule is NOT an option.

create a use case, flow of logic, provide the high level approach for solution,identify stakeholders

Good leadership. You may need to sit that person down and tell him or her how valued and appreciated they are but they are being held back by some issue. You've also got to find the right person for each role. Square pegs never fit in rounds holes, at least not without a lot of pain.

feedback.

YouTube, Duh!

1. Learn to ride unicycle 2. Learn to juggle 3. Learn to ride unicycle while juggling :-)

Did not know the answer, so fumbled it.