IT Job Interview

“Depending on the specific situation, I may use different approaches to resolve different conflicts.  First I would try to understand the situation, know what’s going on and analyze the issues.  I would work as a mediator to bring all parties together and talk it out.  I would listen carefully to all of them and help them analyze the pros and cons of their points.  If possible, I would use existing documents and standard to help make decisions.  In many case I would be able to find compromise acceptable by all parties.  Only if when necessary I would bring in upper management to solve the issue.  In general, to avoid possible conflicts, I would encourage effective communication among all team members and enforce documentations.”

That’s a typical question for project manager or project lead.  It does not ask you the experience, so you can talk the talk.  All you need to understand is the project lifecycle.

“First I would get to know all parties involved in the projects, – learn who is the stakeholder?  who is the customer? who is the executive sponsor?  and  who is the key player?  Then I would do a lot of interview with these key players to find out what do they want from this project and what are their expectations. The next step would be to work with users to collect business rules and create requirement documentations.  I would also analyze the scope of the project available resources.  Based on the requirement analysis I would start to create architecture and high level design.  Following that would be detailed design and development, and go on through the development lifecycle.  Basically that’s how I would start a new project.”