Behavioral

Tell me about a time when you struggled to meet a deadline.

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Answers

Anonymous

10 months ago
4.3Exceptional
When faced with a challenge, I stay calm, assess the situation, and create a plan to address it. For example, last semester, I was part of a group project where we struggled with coordinating and meeting deadlines because everyone had different class schedules and commitments. Specifically, we found it hard to find common times to meet, which delayed our progress and caused confusion about task responsibilities.

To tackle this, I set up a shared online calendar where each member could input their availability, which made it easier to schedule meetings. Additionally, I organized virtual meetings and assigned tasks with clear deadlines, ensuring everyone knew their responsibilities. Regular updates through a group chat kept everyone informed and allowed us to address any issues promptly.

By improving our coordination and communication, we managed to stay on track and completed the project successfully and on time. This experience taught me the importance of proactive planning, effective communication, and leadership in overcoming challenges.

Anonymous

10 months ago
4.2Exceptional
At XYZ , while in the middle of the a crucuial migration project, a key resource on my team left the company.
This immediately put the project in Red, I communicated about the change with key resource holders and my manager. I also informed them about next steps.
a) I talked to my manager about the contingency plan
b) There was a senior eng. on my other team, I collobrated with other project PM to get his buyin to reshcuffle the resource.
c) During the 2 week notice period, I negotiated that the exiting resource did Knowledge Transfer
d) I knew that we would not be able to handle all the committed task, so I went an negotiated with PMs to reduce the scope a little to reduce the risk.
By doing all these steps I could meet the timeline with minimal impact. Lesson I learnt was to always have a contingency plan in place. In the end we delivered 90% of the committed tasks.
  • I want to know about a time when you struggled to meet a deadline.
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  • Can you describe a time when you had a difficult time meeting a deadline?
  • Have you ever found it difficult to meet a deadline? If so, can you give an example?
  • What's an instance where you struggled to meet a deadline, and what did you do about it?
  • Tell me about a time when you faced a challenge in meeting a deadline. How did you handle it?
  • Have you ever had a deadline that you struggled to meet? Can you tell me what happened and how you overcame it?
  • Describe a situation in which you had to overcome a tough deadline. What was your approach?
  • Have you ever missed a deadline? If so, can you walk me through what happened?
  • Can you share an experience where you had trouble meeting a deadline and how you managed to complete the task?
  • Tell me about a project where you faced a tight deadline. How did you go about completing it?
  • Can you provide an example of a time when you were not able to meet a deadline? What did you learn from that experience?
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Interview question asked to Frontend Engineers, Program Managers, Backend Engineers and other roles interviewing at Dropbox, Superhuman, Arm and others: Tell me about a time when you struggled to meet a deadline..