Tell me about a time your team missed a deadline. What did you do?

Summary

Describe the situation honestly, how and when you communicated the slip, how you re-planned with options, how you protected the team, and what you changed in planning afterwards.

Longer Answer

Good answers show early communication with a forecast and options, a blameless retro focused on causes (too much WIP, unplanned work, dependencies), and a concrete change — e.g. planning to real capacity or introducing a support rotation — with evidence it helped next time.

Key Points

• Early, honest communication
• Options and re-planning
• Systemic lesson applied

Deep dive: Planning That Holds

What interviewers look for

Accountability and learning without blame.

Red flags

• Blaming individuals or other teams
• No change afterwards