Microsoft Technical Program Manager Interview Questions

Jane D. - "My approach to dealing with difficult stakeholders has always been: Engage - Directly engage with the stakeholder, meet or chat Listen - Listen to what they have to say, patiently. Understand - Understand their POV, even if it is impossible at some times Ask - Ask clarifying questions. Why? When? What? Engage again - Keep them in the loop until there is closure For example, we were in the final stages of a very important, strategic project for our organization. I was leading th"See full answer

Sreenisha S. - "Let me tell you about a time where a website I managed suddenly showed slow performance and the mistake on our side was it was unnoticed until a user reported the issue to management. As a PM for that project, I took full responsibility of the situation and worked with the engineering team to quickly resolve it. This mistake taught me the importance of focusing and monitoring non functional requirements as well in addition to new feature development /adoption where I was mostly spending my time"See full answer

Aabid S. - "We had a huge launch on September 1st of this year where we completely redesigned our application from the grounds up and also migrated to a new platform (React.JS). This project took us 8 months and the launch was a huge deal for the team. Unfortunately the launch wasn't as smooth as we expected and despite doing multiple rounds of QA, some major issues cropped up in the core part of the app right after launch and our client was quite upset since it was disrupting their day-to-day workflow. "See full answer

Aabid S. - "I work at a startup that makes software for Law Enforcement and the FBI. Our product analyzes calls being made by prison inmates and "listens" for predictors of violence and criminal behavior. Our clients are some of the top state prisons in the country. Recently one of the largest states in the country decided to evaluate our product for their prison system. I demo'd the product to the officers and they seemed to like everything. During the presentation they asked us if the product was ADA com"See full answer

Bipin R. - "As you know, this is the most important question for any interview. Here is a structure I like to follow, Start with 'I'm currently a SDE/PM/TPM etc with XYZ company.... ' Mention how you got into PM/TPM/SDE field (explaining your journey) Mention 1 or 2 accomplishments Mention what you do outside work (blogging, volunteer etc) Share why are you looking for a new role Ask the interviewer if they have any questions or will like to dive deep into any of your experience"See full answer

Malay K. - "For any project based questions, it is important to structure your response clearly, showcasing your thought process, technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and how your work added value. Besides the STAR method, you can also use this kind of framework: 1. Start by selecting a relevant project (related to the role) Give the project background and what specific problem it solved. 2. Align the project's objective and your role Be specific about your role: were you the le"See full answer

Saket S. - "I will divide my answer in 2 parts: Process I use for managing risks in any Project I will explain a real life situation where a Risk occurred and how I managed it Process for Risk Management can be broken down into 3 parts: Risk Identification: Risk identification is a team effort and is an ongoing process that happens throughout the Project. Technical Risks are usually identified during design/build/testing stage. I maintain a Risk register document to capture all the risks identified"See full answer

Pramod V. - "Referring to https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/03/23/15-strategies-for-balancing-competing-stakeholder-priorities/?sh=7c82aa68262f Understand the conflicting priorities and align it with the goal/ objectives and the company mission. Start with the Least Common Denominator between the conflicting priorities to come to a commonality and start from there to objectively approach the next imp priority Always keep communication on and be transparent with 'equality' an"See full answer

Hamzeh J. - "Evaluate how much the issue affects the sprint goal and timeline. If it blocks the main goal, it needs to be prioritized. Discuss the issue with the team. Analyze the root cause of the issue. Is it because of unclear requirements or a design flaw? You may need to re-prioritize tasks. If the issue is serious enough to delay or change the sprint goal, communicate the updates to stakeholders and manage their expectations. Keep an eye on the solution’s progress and adjust your plans a"See full answer

Aswath B. - "basic drew the diagram"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

Amit A. - "When I look to join a company, I think of long term association. Hence, I put a lot of focus on the team that I am going to work with, the culture, the value that I will add to the company & the opportunities for me to learn & grow. Microsoft is one of the pioneers in the tech industry touching the lives of many corporate and consumer clients and helping them to achieve more. To answer your question specifically, i would say -: Microsoft will provide me a platform to work with some of the sma"See full answer

Alfredo M. - "First, I'd like to ask some clarifying questions and try to narrow down the scope of this question. Among them I would like to ask: Are we looking to optimize for a specific goal or metric? Eg: we want more users/queries or are we looking to increase revenue? Are we testing over a specific aspect of Bing? EG: UI, search quality results, recommendation engine, etc. Duration and size of the test. Available resources or constraints (teams, technology, budget) Now, to ass"See full answer

Sagrika S. - "The biggest factor that excites me about technology is its ever changing and dynamic trend. In my life, I have seen the transition from landlines to simple mobile to smartphones, from Cathode tube desktop screen to super slim TFT and many more. I think technology has now (with time) become integral part of human life and getting in-sync with it is like a normal and very cool phenomena."See full answer

DM - "Situation - I had 2 projects in hand. 1st - My primary project under my direct line manager, and 2nd - Under a dotted line manager. I committed to my 2nd project based on my assumptions and planning of the primary project's scope & timelines. For both these projects, I was the key resource. Unfortunately, we got some new findings in my first project, and it happened to be a case where management made an overcommitment to our business without gauging the assumptions correctly. This put pressu"See full answer

Priti S. - "T launch the Copilot Plus feature for Surface, follow these steps: Define Value Proposition: Highlight AI-driven enhancements for productivity, creativity, and collaboration tailored to Surface users. Target Audience: Focus on professionals, creators, and students with specific use cases. Product Development: Ensure seamless integration with Surface hardware (touchscreen, Pen) and leverage Azure AI for unique functionalities. Marketing Strategy: Build excitement with teasers, influencer partner"See full answer

Anonymous Impala - "Understand who will use the kitchen is the first step"See full answer