Describe a time when you showed initiative.

Question

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Last year, as part of our ongoing efforts to optimize liquidity management, I
was tasked with monitoring daily liquidity levels. During this process, I
noticed that funds from a high-interest time deposit campaign were being
withdrawn from current accounts just weeks after maturity. This observation
raised concerns about our understanding of 'new liquidity' and prompted me to
investigate further.
To analyze this trend, I developed a simple autoregressive model, using current
account balances as the dependent variable and lagged time deposits as
predictors. One challenge I faced was ensuring the model accounted for seasonal
fluctuations and other external factors influencing liquidity. I addressed this
by incorporating additional variables and conducting robust tests to validate
the model's accuracy.
After gathering the data and analyzing the results, I presented my findings to
my manager, which initiated discussions with Risk Management. My insights
convinced both my manager and the CFO to delve deeper into the issue alongside
colleagues from marketing and finance. This collaboration ultimately led to a
more nuanced understanding of liquidity dynamics and resulted in improved
metrics for measuring and retaining funds from the campaign. My actions
significantly enhanced our approach to liquidity management, ensuring we
accurately assessed the impact of our marketing strategies on overall
liquidity."

Anonymous · Answer

SITUATION:

In my previous role as a Senior Engineering Manager at XYZ Tech, our team was
responsible for maintaining and enhancing a critical component of our company's
flagship product. The component had a growing backlog of feature requests and
bug fixes, and the team was struggling to keep up with the demand while
maintaining high-quality standards.

TASK:

I recognized that our current development process was not scaling effectively to
meet the increasing demands. The team was often bogged down by manual testing,
which was time-consuming and prone to human error. I saw an opportunity to
improve our efficiency and product quality by introducing automated testing and
continuous integration (CI) practices.

ACTION:

1. Research and Planning: I researched best practices in automated testing and
    CI, and identified tools that would fit well with our existing tech stack. I
    created a detailed proposal outlining the benefits, required resources, and
    a phased implementation plan.
 2. Gaining Buy-In: I presented the proposal to senior leadership, highlighting
    how automation could reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks and allow the
    team to focus on more strategic work. I also emphasized the potential for
    catching bugs earlier in the development cycle, improving overall product
    quality.
 3. Pilot Project: With approval, I led a pilot project to implement automated
    unit tests and a CI pipeline for one of our less critical modules. I
    involved key team members in the process to ensure knowledge transfer and
    buy-in from the team.
 4. Training and Implementation: After the successful pilot, I organized
    training sessions to upskill the team on writing automated tests and using
    the CI tools. We then rolled out the automation framework incrementally to
    other parts of the codebase.
 5. Monitoring and Iteration: I set up metrics to track the impact of automation
    on our development process, such as time spent on testing, number of bugs
    detected early, and overall deployment frequency. I used these metrics to
    make continuous improvements to our automation strategy.

RESULT:

* Efficiency Gains: The introduction of automated testing and CI significantly
   reduced the time spent on manual testing. This allowed the team to handle a
   larger volume of feature requests and bug fixes without compromising on
   quality.
 * Improved Quality: The automation framework helped catch bugs earlier in the
   development cycle, leading to fewer issues in production and higher customer
   satisfaction.
 * Team Morale: By eliminating some of the more tedious aspects of the
   development process, the team's morale improved, and they were able to focus
   on more rewarding and strategic work.

REFLECTION:

This initiative demonstrated my ability to identify process inefficiencies,
develop a strategic plan to address them, and lead the team through successful
implementation. It also highlighted the importance of continuous improvement and
the value of investing in automation to drive long-term success.

Describe a time when you showed initiative.

Did you come across this question in an interview?

Answers