Tell me about a conflict that you had to manage.

So before we shipped our app to production, we will do QA testing phase. We have had multiple squad and QA as well. There were a problem where people from each squad started to give QA APK directly and creating a confusion between QA because sometimes they found some of the feature not working because it is still worked on by other engineer. To takcle this, i created a standard way for all squad to give apk after it is done merging to main branch. I created continues integration and when Pull Review is done, it will run automatically and build apk and send it to the QA through Firebase App Tester.

Identify Problem: I noticed conflicts between M and T during meetings and through lengthy, unresolved PR reviews. M and T were debating over the design of a crucial component for our product integration and data integrity.

Action: To understand their perspectives, I spoke with M and T separately. M was frustrated because T made significant design changes without team consultation, believing his original design was sufficient. T, on the other hand, felt M’s design lacked thorough research and documentation, posing risks to the project’s success.

Solution: I brought them together for a discussion, emphasizing the importance of focusing on the issue rather than personal grievances. During the meeting, I encouraged both to consider stakeholders' needs and facilitated a structured brainstorming session. We identified several key points:

Stakeholder Meetings: They agreed to meet with stakeholders to understand their use cases and system integration requirements.

Design Session: They planned a detailed design session where they would present and compare proposals, including the pros and cons of each alternative.

Seek feedback: They presented the proposal to  an architecture commit for feedback

Decision Commitment: They committed to agreeing on a final design decision based on the analysis and feedback.

Follow-Up: To ensure progress, I scheduled follow-up meetings to monitor their collaboration and offer support. 

This approach not only resolved the conflict but also improved their working relationship and communication. Ultimately, the team successfully designed the component, got buy-ins from the bigger organization,  ensuring robust product integration and data integrity.