Tell me about a time you had to make a decision with incomplete information. How did you make it and what was the outcome?

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Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Due to a scheduled power outage, we lost our 4C sample fridge and didn't know
until the next morning around 7:00 AM. The only thing we knew was that
everything in it needed to be removed, facilities needed to be called, and that
everyone needed to be told what was going on. Being the only one around at the
time, I had to prioritize recruiting facilities help, how to efficiently move
the samples, and communicate with the team the situation while they came into
work. So, I first told my PI and Lab manager about the situation and, at the
same time, delegated a task to the first graduate student I saw to call
facilities while I assessed alternatives for sample storage. Thankfully, we had
a group 4C fridge available to us across the hall and so I gathered all of the
available styrofoam containers from our lab space and stacked/organized the
shelves by box to maintain organization. As more members of the team came in, I
was able to direct them to the available storage and organization tools which
freed me up to discuss troubleshooting with the facilities team when they came
in. Because of my quick action, we salvaged several important samples for
graduate students that would go on to help them in their dissertation defense
and also got some necessary cleaning done as members evaluated their things.

Anonymous · Answer

We had to decide whether or not to keep investing in, or sunset a feature that
came out of a hackathon project. The feature itself was well-coded, and the
design was created by a designer, and functionally it worked. However, it was
built on an untested assumption that customers would actually get value from
automating and thus losing some control over a fairly sensitive and infrequent
workflow. That meant that the feature was launched as quickly as possible due to
the hackathon nature, and (i) confused customers, as it wasn't in our public
roadmap or well packaged in the app, and (ii) led to low adoption and thus no
meaningful testing feedback to further develop the feature. While there were
hypotheses that an adapted version of the feature could be more valuable (and
verified during sales demos) for a new, larger customer segment - we decided to
instead deprecate the feature as it was a distraction, and not a high impact
investment at the time given other priorities.

Learning: 
- Have a product person leading any new feature, so that there is a clear value
hypothesis and alignment with GTM functions to launch and communicate the
feature successfully to customers 
- Do not assume that customers will want to adopt something just because they
mention it 
- Well coded, designed feature without a clear value prop is still without
value

Anonymous · Answer

One instance stands out when I was writing a recommendation letter for a
colleague. I lacked comprehensive knowledge of their performance in certain
areas. To tackle this, I focused on aspects I knew well, like their
communication skills and reliability. I highlighted their strengths, drawing
from past interactions and feedback from others. However, I acknowledged the
gaps in my knowledge, stating that I couldn't comment on certain aspects.
Honesty was crucial. As a result, I made the decision to emphasize what I could
confidently endorse, rather than speculating on areas I wasn't familiar with.
The letter was well-received, as it provided valuable insights into the
individual's strengths while transparently addressing the limitations of my
perspective. It emphasized the importance of leveraging available information
effectively and being forthright about uncertainties.

Anonymous · Answer

as a fresher i didn't get any experience about own decision making . but if i
had a chance to take any decision i crucial time without proper information
about the topic . i would prefer to take other opinion on the process and try to
set back everything and give best out of few things gathered

Tell me about a time you had to make a decision with incomplete information. How did you make it and what was the outcome?

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