Behavioral

Tell me about a time when you made an unpopular decision

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Anonymous

4.6Exceptional
My team was preparing for a critical release of a new feature in our SDK, 
which was crucial for upcoming business use cases involving personally identifiable information (PII). 
Shortly before the release, a partner team reported a high-priority production incident: their application instance was crashing due to high memory usage, which they attributed to our SDK.

Despite our investigation revealing no inherent issues with our SDK, 
the VPs and other senior leaders were concerned about the stability of our software. 
My manager decided to delay the planned release due to the recent incident, a decision supported by most of the team who were wary of further issues.

I reviewed the incident details and suggested that restarting the partner team's application instance might alleviate the problem. 
This recommendation was implemented during the incident call, and it resolved the issue, 
indicating that the problem was not with our SDK but potentially with the partner’s application.

Understanding the urgency of the release, I presented a case to the VPs highlighting that the release was fully developed, tested, and ready. 
I emphasized its importance for business use cases and the fact that customer expectations were high.
 I proposed a controlled rollout approach to mitigate any risk, where we would monitor the release closely 
 and be prepared to address any unforeseen issues promptly.

Despite initial resistance, my recommendation to proceed with the release was accepted. 
The deployment went smoothly, and the new feature was well-received by customers, significantly advancing our business objectives related to PII. 
The decision to proceed, even amidst the recent concerns, demonstrated our commitment to delivering value while managing risk effectively. 
It also reinforced the team’s confidence in balancing operational stability with strategic priorities.
Expert Answer

Anonymous

5Exceptional
At Acutance, when I joined the team, I noticed that our legacy code was lacking unit tests, which was a significant gap in our development process. Recognizing the importance of maintaining high-quality code, I decided to set a goal for our team to incorporate unit tests into all our microservice projects.
This decision was initially met with resistance, particularly from long-standing team members who were accustomed to the existing workflow and didn't see the value in implementing unit tests. Despite this pushback, I was convinced that introducing unit tests was essential for improving our code quality and reducing future maintenance issues.
To address the resistance, I took a strategic approach. I identified the newer developers on the team, who were more open to adopting new practices. I tasked them with implementing unit tests as part of their development work. Over the course of one to two sprints, we gathered empirical data showing the benefits of this approach, including increased code reliability and easier debugging processes.
The turning point came when the results became evident to the entire team. The initial skeptics saw firsthand how unit tests helped catch errors early and made the codebase more robust. This empirical evidence convinced even the most resistant team members to embrace the new approach.
The lesson I learned from this experience is that sometimes, leading by example and demonstrating tangible benefits can be more effective than theoretical arguments. Showing concrete results helped build consensus and drive the team toward a higher standard of code quality.

Anonymous

4.2Exceptional
Was working as a Product Manager at Uber. We were working on the driver app and trying to make it easy to see total payouts post-Uber's commission. We had received bad coverage in the news recently, regarding our cut and it was urgent to roll out transparency as quickly as possible. Last-minute, we realized that our changes, while delivered the intended impact, also violated several SLAs in terms of app loading time when someone visited this section. This was so bad that for 0.5% of all drivers, it could also crash the app. It was also a risky call since any fix would require users to update their app, something we can't really guarantee. So some users might stay exposed to bad app performance even beyond our usual 2 week rollout period. 

I made the decision to go ahead with the rollout knowingly, inspite of being aware of the loading issue. The engineers and EM in my team were quite unhappy with my call since they disagreed with the compromise and also felt it would reflect poorly in their craft assessments. My decision was driven by the urgency of resolving our burgeoning PR issues though. So while I pushed through my POV, I also understood where the engineers were coming from.

I also tried to mitigate the negative effects of my decision, both by trying to provide them shielding and accepting ownership of the decision and its consequences. I also went out of my way to ensure senior stakeholders were aware of the consequences and had a chance to "veto" my decision before we went ahead.

Anonymous

4Strong
Whilst conducting an operation on drug trafficking there was a possibility that a team would need to be deployed outside of sociable hours. This wasn't an unpopular decision with some team members due to various reasons such as having young children.

To overcome the issues, I explained the reasoning behind why this was required, where the main suspects were moving large amounts of contraband from London to the north of England.

To ensure that  team were not recalled for a false alert, I made representations to have a tracker placed on the car and should it pass a certain point on the outskirts of north London we can assume a trip is being made triggering a call in to follow
Additionally, all team members with childcare issues were exempt from the call up. This was to ensure no additional burden was placed in staff with children.

The actions taken came to fruition, where as expected the suspect travelled up north and the precautions taken ensured that only available staff were deployed and able to evidence the movement of contraband, which was eventually able to be used in the conviction of the suspect.

Anonymous

4Strong
In 6 months cycle we had received 14-15 product feature requirements from across the teams, which were a mix of big and small tasks.
We had 3 months left for the cycle and I decided to conduct a meeting with the engineering head and the leadership to discuss on which tasks could be picked up next.
I realised that the team was focusing on picking up feature enhancements rather than product development and the impact was not as high leading to delays in delivering higher impact tasks.
I made the difficult decision to temporarily halt additional feature requests and focus solely on delivering the core functionalities that had been promised to our stakeholders.
This decision was initially unpopular among some team members and stakeholders who felt that the additional features were critical for user engagement. To address this, I organized a meeting to explain the rationale behind my decision, backed by data on how the delays were affecting overall project success and client satisfaction. I emphasized our commitment to delivering a high-quality product on time and outlined a plan to revisit the additional features in a future phase after we had successfully launched the initial version.
In the end, the team aligned behind the decision, and we managed to deliver the project on time. Post-launch, we received positive feedback from users, and our ability to focus on quality over quantity strengthened our relationship with stakeholders. This experience taught me the importance of making tough calls for the greater good and communicating effectively to ensure buy-in from the team.

Anonymous

4Strong
Situation: At Zendesk, shortly after we formed a new team focused on user, organization, and group services, I identified a significant gap in our legacy code. Specifically, I noticed that many key features lacked adequate unit and integration tests, which posed a risk to the quality and reliability of our development process.

Task: Understanding the critical need for high-quality code, I felt it was essential to address this issue. I decided to set a goal for our team to incorporate unit tests in all areas where they were missing. I anticipated some resistance, as many team members were eager to focus on feature development rather than refactoring and writing tests for existing code. However, I made a case for the importance of quality assurance and how it would ultimately lead to fewer bugs and a more stable product.

Action: To address the resistance, I took a strategic approach. I identified the newer developers on the team, who were more open to adopting new practices. I tasked them with implementing unit tests as part of their development work. Over the course of one to two sprints, we gathered empirical data showing the benefits of this approach, including increased code reliability and easier debugging processes.

Result: While the decision was initially met with some skepticism, the team gradually recognized the value of implementing comprehensive testing. Over time, we successfully integrated unit tests into the codebase, leading to improved code quality and fewer regressions in future releases. This effort not only bolstered the reliability of our services but also fostered a culture of quality within the team. In retrospect, I’m proud of making that unpopular decision, as it laid a strong foundation for our development process moving forward.

Anonymous

4Strong
One such instance occurred during a navigation redesign where there was a strong divergence of opinions regarding the design direction for the browse navigation item.
Despite differing decisions, I ultimately made the decision to prioritize simplicity and user needs over the opinion of a stakeholder, backed by user research and usability testing. I presented compelling evidence as to why I was making this decision, and I was open and honest about the user feedback we had received. I helped stakeholders understand the rationale behind my decision and the impact it had on users. After implementing the decision, I monitored the user feedback to keep an open mind towards iterating our solution and made sure users were satisfied with the experience.

Anonymous

As a program manager, I faced a divisive choice between prioritizing new features or fixing existing bugs. Despite resistance, I prioritized bug fixes after thorough data analysis and risk assessment. Transparent communication with the team emphasized the long-term benefits of improving product stability and customer satisfaction. Monitoring metrics validated the decision's positive impact over time. Ultimately, the unpopular decision strengthened our product's foundation and enhanced user trust.
  • Tell me about a time when you made an unpopular decision
  • When have you taken a decision that was unpopular
  • If you took an unpopular decision, please tell me about it
  • When did you take an unpopular decision
  • If you ever made an unpopular decision, tell me about that
  • Can you share an example of a time when you made an unpopular decision
  • Tell me about a time where you were unpopular thanks to a decision you imposed on your team
  • I need to know about a time when you faced a situation where you were forced into a decision considered unpopular by your team
  • Tell me about a time where you took an unpopular decision
  • Can you describe a time when you had to make a difficult decision that was not well-received by others?
  • Tell me about a time when you had to make a choice that was unpopular with your team or stakeholders.
  • Can you walk me through a situation where you had to stand firm on a decision that was not the popular choice?
  • Describe a time when you had to take an action that went against the opinions or wishes of others.
  • Tell me about a situation where you had to make a decision that was met with resistance or pushback.
  • Can you discuss an instance where you had to go against the grain to make a tough call?
  • Tell me about a time when you had to take an unpopular stance and how you handled any fallout.
  • Can you describe a time when you had to choose the lesser of two evils, even if it was not the popular choice?
  • Tell me about a time when you had to make a decision that you knew would not be popular, but was the right thing to do.
  • Describe a time when you had to make a choice that was unpopular, but ultimately led to positive outcomes.
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Interview question asked to Quality Assurance Engineers, Technical Program Managers, Data Scientists and other roles interviewing at NerdWallet, Discord, Glassdoor and others: Tell me about a time when you made an unpopular decision.