Google Technical Program Manager Interview Questions

DM - "Clarifying my assumptions first, i.e. "Technical contributions are not just writing or reviewing code". Answer : My contributions to any program I lead as a TPM are as follows : Inputs towards design, architecture review, mapping requirements to the proposed design, reviewing the implementation strategy w.r.t scalable solution, Writing core user-centric test scenarios, Validating proposed design vs implementation estimates vs initial planning. etc... Example : Situation: We are a"See full answer

Shasleen I. - "Clarifying Questions Who are we? Traditional elevator company or a new age tech startup Assumption: New age tech based elevator company Any constraints: Budget, etc. Assumption: No What kind of a skyscraper building: Assumption: Commercial. Includes office spaces as well as others Any particular goal with respect to building this elevator? Design best in class elevator providing the best user experience for passengers User needs - Users have the following needs when"See full answer

Tanu M. - "I always look at the project from three angles, Scope, Schedule, and Cost. To measure the success of the project we also have to look at the other factors, other than the scope, schedule and cost. Here are some of the factors I look at while measuring the success : Metrics : While defining the Goal of the program, we also define the metrics. To assess whether the goal is getting achieved or not, we need to measure the metrics i.e whether the metrics of the program are getting hit or not. For e"See full answer

Scott S. - " Project Overview: Real-Time Risk Management System Objective The goal was to develop a real-time risk management system capable of processing and analyzing large volumes of trading data to provide near-instantaneous risk assessments. This system was crucial for enabling traders to make informed decisions while managing their exposure to various market risks in real-time. Complexity Factors 1. \\Data Volume and Velocity\\ \\High Throughput:\\ The system needed to ha"See full answer

Anonymous Flamingo - "Handling projects out of my expertise: When faced with a project that falls outside of my expertise, I take the following steps: Identify my skills and knowledge gaps: I assess my own strengths and limitations, and determine which areas of the project may be outside of my comfort zone or expertise. Seek guidance and mentorship: I reach out to colleagues or subject matter experts who have relevant knowledge or experience, and ask for their advice and guidance on the project. Learn and adapt"See full answer

James H. - "I broke the vehicles down by regions in the world. Designed a wireless api interface to sync with a database backend that linked to google maps through another service and api."See full answer

Adib M. - "Clarifying question(s) Is the upcoming deadline an internal milestone or is it an external facing deadline (ie. compliance/ product launch / feature release)? What would be the repercussion/Is there any possibility of moving the deadline (if needed)? Do we know any details on the team member, Jane in terms of how long the sick leave is likely to be? Is it a fever or is it something bigger that could have her out for much longer? Situation: Jane taking sick leave and the project has an upcom"See full answer

Prateek S. - "Clarifying questions: Why are we fixing the roads? Is it due to temporary damage or something structural has gone wrong? What is our purpose behind fixing the roads? Increase mobility in an area? Reduce inequality? reduce crime? Assumptions: Roads have had temporary damage due to rain / storm We know the specific roads which are bad and will need to be fixed Want to increase commercial traffic. Want people to visit a specific area which has bad roads and slow moving traffic. W"See full answer

Abdurhman M. - "If you effectively listen and understand their point of view, then take action to address the issue quickly. Don't let too much time slip between the conflict and the resolution. If resolving the concern will take more time, communicate the current status and next steps with the stakeholder."See full answer

Mahesh L. - "Preparing for a significant security compliance change can be overwhelming. The most efficient way to achieve GDPR compliance is through interdepartmental collaboration and the use of technology solutions that automate and validate business needs such as policy compliance, data security and required reporting. As the deadline looms, most organizations should already have started assessing the business impact, devising a company-wide implementation plan and addressing additional resource needs. E"See full answer

Y C. - "One way to develop project metrics is around what problem the project is trying to solve within a particular timeframe, at a cost of x dollars and with y quality Scope: Did the project deliver as per the problem statement - over and beyond Resources metrics: Planned resources were utilized to contribute to the success Budget: Did the cost of the project implementation be under the budget or over? Schedule: In-flight milestones were completed on time or not as per the plan Was the proje"See full answer

Adib M. - "Clarifying question: Do I know of this other team? Have i worked with them before? Do i know the TPM of this team B? 1) Schedule 1-1 TPM of this other team (Team B) with the agenda to better understand Team B project 2) State that you came to know that Team B is working on what sounds like a project similar to your team and you want to understand more about it to see what is common /what is different, what are the objectives and who the stakeholders are and so on. Also, important to know how f"See full answer

Pramod V. - "I would like to ask questions to the interviewer as to if the company or I as TPM have any success history handling this magnitude. Also, I will talk on my behalf to justify my experience and caliber to drive this magnitude of project to success. But, I always follow a flow-chart approach when meeting exec management where I do my home work studying the current state of the project/ pain points/ issues/ blockers and steps we have taken or planning to take next to mitigate it. Now w.r.t the flow"See full answer

S G. - "If it's a product end to end, then there's a lot to say. If it's just a feature on top of a product then I will focus on the complexity and how I break complex tasks into small milestones to partner with XFN teams to nail it. Focus on situation, task, actions and results"See full answer

Adib M. - "Situation: introduced to a new technology that I have never used before. I have used many different packaged software, tools and technologies and I can grasp things quickly. Lets assume this new technology is a Planning tool for TPM (Planr) Target: To get familiar with Planr, its use cases, learn it well enough to be able to use it Action: Here are some of the actions I would take to learn Planr well (1) Find documentation on Planr = various use cases, see screenshots, watch demos,"See full answer

Pm P. - "Since success metrics is a very broad term, to dive deep into WCS - What constitutes success. What is the objective of the company/product, north star/mission of the organization or product? Dependent on the company, market, the industry they play in. As an example: Facebook's mission is now empowerment, bringing the people together and giving them the power to build communities. Every part of its product aligns in one way or other with this goal. Be it, its Web/Mobile platform, Instagram,"See full answer

Arnab R. - "Trying to find the reason for the low utilization. If it is systematic risk, I will down size the team temporarily. If is due to planning try to tweak details in order to bring 50-50 with a 90 days target time."See full answer

Irina L. - "I’ve named Netflix, Acloset, Youtube music. Focused of YouTube music, increasing social interaction of existing users."See full answer