Program SenseProgram Management

If you find a very critical bug in software on the day before its scheduled release date, how would you handle this situation?

Technical Program ManagerProgram Manager

TikTok

DoorDash

Uber

Snap

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Grubhub

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Expert Answer

Anonymous

4.4Exceptional
I would first assess the impact of the bug whether it is impacting core functionality, or impacting privacy or security.
I will follow with reproducibility trying to identify the conditions under which the bug is reproducible to assess if a quick fix is feasible.
I would engage stakeholders, quality assurance and developers to discuss the bug and brainstorm potential fixes.
I’ll follow with providing clear options to management: delay the release, implement a quick fix, or a workaround. Those options should include the risks and impact.
The final step is to create a retrospective describing the bug, what went well, what went bad, actions items and lessons learned.
When working at Flutter after implementing the automated code signing process an issue signing the ios libraries was identified a day before a release. I quickly notified the iOS team, stakeholders and management about the bug. At the same we started debugging the problem finding that the path to the library was wrong in the engine configuration files.
After root causing the problem a couple of options were identified: applying a fix potentially delaying the release for a few hours, manually resigning the library bypassing the software security supply chain validations. After presenting the options to management it was decided to take the risk of potentially delaying the release.
The fix was applied in the engine configurations and the artifacts were generated through the regular process and released on time.

Anonymous

4Strong
Work backwards from Customer, if this will impact the 100% of the customers then it is a no-go. I will call a Go/NoGo meeting clearly document the late breaking bug and its impact to our customers. At xyz we followed the following process:
a) First before going to production, do a stage deployment and do an end-end testing
b) If the bug is discovered during Stage, have a go-nogo meeting and state the imapct and vote for no-go, get an estimate from the team for the fix and state that the leadership in the meeting
c) To reduce the blast radius - do a staged release and make sure that Customer impact is minimu
d) Do a post mortem on what went wrong and how it was not caught during dev/test phase and ensure that this does not repeat

Anonymous

3.8Strong
I would first assess the issue on the severity of the bug, identify a fix forward, and have all hands on deck. I would communicate the issue to all stakeholders, including the issue at hand, the potential fix forward, and provide regular updates. I would request for a 48hr delay in launch to 1. get the team onboard, fix the issue, and test before relaunching.

Anonymous

3.6Strong
First, I will try to find the impact of the bug on the application-impacted user groups and the number of users that would be impacted, as well as the impact on the downstream system. If the bug will impact a small set of users or has no downstream impact, I will document it as a known issue under an existing bug in the backlog and proceed with the release. if it's a medium-severity bug that has a manual intervention or roundabout, and I will still document the bug as a high priority item for fixing in the next immediate release and move forward with the release . If its more critical bug that impact more users with the manual workaround then We will discuss with the team and make a choice to stop or proceed with the release . If there is no work around then we will have to stop the release irrespective of weather we a fix for the critical bug or not as the fix in the last minute may introduce anther few set of bugs.

Anonymous

2.8Fair
Have empathy to customers and users that are expecting the release for their softwear or application explain the situation to leader ship and put that on high priority bug list . Check with tech team to see if we can fix the bug and get the release unblocked ,If the bug is critical and affecting mission critical workload then esclate it to leadership and get all the tech and managers involved to decide how to tackle . See if they can find a workaround for the issue and unblock the lunch . Involve the business decision leaders to put the matter on highest priority so you get the visibity to developers that this needs to be addressed ASAP 
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Interview question asked to Technical Program Managers and Program Managers interviewing at Groupon, BuzzFeed, NetEase and others: If you find a very critical bug in software on the day before its scheduled release date, how would you handle this situation?.