Top Technical Program Manager Interview Questions

Ekta M. - "I would start with some clarifying questions like: Is there a deadline when all these needs to be updated by? Do we have upgrade scripts ready? When do we have change freeze? Once I have these few clarifying answers I would start planning: I would meet with all the teams involved in the upgrades Document any resources downtime during the upgrade create a risk registry along with mitigation plan Roll back plan create a phased rollout plan based on deadline Post upgrade get a"See full answer

Anthony F. - "Asked clarifying questions to know if this was a program already in existence, how long the problem had been, causes and how the problem was brought to attention. Using that information, went through a framework (provided generally below): Making sure to review documentation/existing contracts/vendors/plans. Review budget and timeline for the program. Review resources available. Review the data (or gather) and the scope of the project (city center, suburbs, few blocks, whole city, etc). Set mee"See full answer

Nilanjan D. - "I think we can analyse the data that's collected especially the users who are requesting it.if we find that there are set of users who regularly use this service then we may cache the data for those users to speed up processing and better the experience. The fresh data (which will be a delta on the cached data can only be calculated) and the stale data can be left out thereby updating the cache"See full answer

Nithesh S. - "First, let us start with the mission of Amazon: “We strive to offer our customers the lowest possible prices, the best available selection, and the utmost convenience.” Alignment of recommendations system with Amazon's mission: Suggesting recommendations to the users would be a part of this mission as it would allow users to buy things on their mind for the lowest cost in market (may or may not be true). They might get better prices if they order adjacent items together. For example, i"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

Arshia I. - "General response: Apple’s approach to delivering seamless, personalized experiences through data, while upholding a strong ethical commitment to privacy, resonates with my own values. I want to contribute to projects that optimize user engagement and create meaningful interactions on a large scale, and I believe Apple is the ideal place to make that impact. Tailored to the team: Talk about the product, its impact internally, and the customer."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

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

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

Graig - "Yes to peer manager from stackholder team the problem was every time she wanted say something she used to have three way connect with me and my manager"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

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

Hmj V. - "Designed and framework to conduct risk and control assessment of applications that are prone to fraud risk and designed a target roadmap of overarching controls that further mitigates the risk. I explained how I took incharge of coming up with the framework for the assessment and held sessions. Role played with my team to think all the use cases possible and explained the accomplishments and takeaways."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

Oriole O. - "Situation : During my time in my previous company, I was leading a program which involved a cross-functional team. The project was to migrate all the legacy servers to Azure and had a tight deadline of 4 months. Each team had distinct goals and responsibilites to be delivered Task : My task was to collaborate with the multi regional team and ensure a smooth delivery within the defined budget and schedule. Action : I believe communication is the key to handle a cross-functional team"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

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

Gomathi S. - "I product manage customer care - while I belong to the ecommerce platform team. customer care is not a direct contributor for revenue and the feedback i received during my career progression was unless i contribute to revenue i cannot be on promotion track. this is difficult feedback to act on as its not by job responsibility. worked with my manager on 2 fronts - 1) create a succession plan so i can take on additional responsibility that contributes to revenue and 2) create a plan on how care ca"See full answer

Adarsh S. - "Thanks for the question! This is one of my favourite topics because it’s at the core of what we do as PMs DAILY: making the complex simple to drive alignment. I’ve got a structured way to approach this, and I’ll use it to explain payment aggregators - like Plaid - and how they enable Open Banking, with a twist about a technical hiccup I’ve seen in practice. Let’s dive in. I start by assessing the audience. Say I’m talking to a marketing manager at Transak - someone sharp but not techni"See full answer

Anonymous Crayfish - "Let me tell you about a time when I solved a problem at my previous company (one of the top 10 Fortune 500 companies). This was an internship and I was coming with almost 2 years of experience and 2 semesters of my graduate program. My experiences have mostly been theoretical or with startups. I've never solved problems at scale. The first week at this team was slow and relaxed, it was just onboarding. The real work started from the 2nd week when I felt like I was pushed into the ocean with n"See full answer