Technicals Flashcards
Program Execution: “Walk me through a complex program you managed end-to-end” (3)
- COP Phase III (data-heavy, shitstorm) if asked for key milestones and tracking progress toward them!
- Venture Basecamp (lack of data)
- UNGC reorg (lack of data)
Lack of data (4)
- UNGC reorg
- Gram Vaani
- Commonwealth
- Venture Basecamp
“Too much” or “poor “ data (2)
- COP Phase II (disaggregated and needed cleaning)
- USPS
Tell me about a time when “everything went wrong on a project” and “when a program you were leading was behind schedule” (2)
- COP Phase II (tight deadline, understaffed, messy data)
- Commonwealth (survey disaster)
Try to reference the Assess framework if possible!
Improved a process (3 int, 1 ext) or behind schedule!
- Commonwealth (survey disaster; worklflow optimization)
- COP Phase II (data automation & workflow optimization)
- Unitus Ventures (transparency & task management improvements with Asana)
- External: UNGC reorg
Poor data (2)
- COP Phase II (disaggregated and needed cleaning)
- USPS
Failure (5)
- Commonwealth (survey)
- Unitus Ventures (cross-functional misalignment due to lack of transparency)
- Unitus Ventures (redefine MVP)
- COP Phase II (operational failure missing internal deadlines)
- Gram Vaani
Communication & Influence: Need to convince senior stakeholders when met with resistance (4) and non-senior stakeholders (1)
Be sure to ask whether they’d prefer an example in real-time or long-term persuasion!
- LT: Gram Vaani (leadership / lack of data / internal)
- RT & high stakes: UNGC reorg (rec-first vs. issue first / lack of data / internal but external also possible)
- LT: UNGC delisting (cross-functional / external)
- Commonwealth survey
- RT: Unitus Ventures (redefine MVP / internal team / not as high stakes)
Example of a time you had to adopt the view of someone you didn’t agree with (3)
- Unitus Ventures (redefine MVP)
- Gram Vaani (adopting a leadership perspective because you realized his concerns were valid)
- UNGC Delisting (building consensus on a highly contested issue)
Stakeholder Management (2)
- Commonwealth (management)
- UNGC delisting (alignment)
Risk Management (4)
COP Phase II
PIPE interdependencies
FHI Ventures
Commonwealth survey timeline risk
Managing Multiple Projects
Managing competiting priorities
Working cross-functionally
(2)
- PIPE
- FHI Ventures
How you define the success of a program? Provide examples.
- Financial: 22x returns on an edtech startup; cost optimization by 10%
- Strategic: Venture Basecamp positioned VC to have more ecosystem partners, number of new members complying with CoP standards YOY
- Operational: improve variance between ACT vs. ECT, % of time on planned tasks, APCR rate, vacancy rate
CS: Where is “How to measure success”
Blue, bottom
CS: To improve sales by value chain
CS: GTM framework vs GTM Steps
CS: GNG
CS: How to engage with stakeholders
CS: E2E product develoment or feature development
CS: How to motivate team
CS: How to align
CS: Dealing with unresponsiveness
CS: Indirect workplan disruption (broader, change management)
CS: Direct workplan disruption
CS: Risk management
CS: Risk types
CS: Software vs. Hardware Integration Challenges
CS: Prioritization of a feature or a product
CS: How to prioritize risk
Describe a time you had to adapt a program / reallocate resources due to changing business priorities
Commonwealth (adapt mission and core focus areas of each department to tie into the overarching new mission and focus areas of the executive committee who initially was not going to update their mission and focus areas)
COP Phase II (adapt execution strategy to meet the deadline)
UNGC COP focusing on participation rather than quality of data and their ability to demonstrate improvement YOY
Gram Vaani
Describe a time when you had to align multiple teams with competing priorities (3)
UNGC Delisting (different views)
PIPE (competing priorities with interdependencies)
COP Phase II (resource restraints and conflicting priorities)
Tell me about a time you had to mitigate a significant risk
COP Phase II (data and resourcing risks threatening delivery)
Unitus Ventures (MVP at risk due to engineer bandwidth issues)
Commonwealth (survey design)
Give an example of when you had to make a difficult trade-off decision (3)
Redefine MVP (quantity vs. quality)
COP Phase II (identifying best and most relevant data to use to stay speedy vs. boiling the ocean)
Commonwealth (had to decide between keeping rich qualitative responses (which slowed down analysis) or shifting to structured responses (which would limit insights). Solution was to develop a hybrid survey design with optional qualitative follow-ups, leverage AI, and create automated reporting templates
How do you ensure continuous improvement in program execution?
How do you ensure a program stays on track and meets deadlines?
FT. OLA
- Establish feedback loops
- Track performance & KPIs
- Optimize processes and remove bottlenecks
- Foster a culture of learning, iteration, experimentation, refining deliverables
- Leverage automation & tech
CS: What’s your approach to balancing structured processes with flexibility in execution?
Describe a time when you had to upskill or mentor a team on program management best practices (1)
Commonwealth - teaching good survey design
CS: What’s your approach to breaking down an ambiguous project into an actionable execution plan?
Describe a time when you faced resistance to implementing a new process. How did you overcome it? (1)
Survey Design - piloted two different types of surveys
CS: Managing scope creep or “how do you ensure programs remained aligned with business objectives over time?”
CS: Handling pressure to deliver results on an unrealistic timeline
CS: How do you drive alignment between technical and non-technical teams?
CS: “How do you ensure transparency and accountability in large programs?”
Same as “manage dependencies”
Tell me about a time you had to influence a team without direct authority
COP Phase II
Gram Vaani
CS: “How do you manage dependencies across different teams to ensure program success?”
Same as “ensure transparency and accountability”
Give an example of a time you had to communicate a difficult message to stakeholders (3)
UNGC reorganization (MDP, BS)
UNGC (limited value without a delisting policy)
Gram Vaani
CS: “How do you tailor your communication when dealing with different stakeholder groups”?
Look at Engaging with Stakeholders! Blue, lower left
Give an example of how you managed stakeholder expectations in a high-visibility program.
Commonwealth stakeholders
Tell me about a time when a stakeholder blocked progress on a project. How did you handle it?
UNGC Delisting
Gram Vaani
Unitus (lead developer)
Unitus (redefine MVP)
-
Potentially UNGC reorg with MDP BS but not necessarily
CS: How do you ensure strong communication across globally distributed teams?
Tell me about a time when you had to ESCALATE an issue to leadership.
COP Phase II (resources)
Commonwealth survey to get permission to go heads down
USPS
CS: What strategies do you use to build trust with stakeholders?
How do you approach working with external partners or vendors in a program?
CS: How do you approach working with external partners or vendors in a program?
CS: What strategies do you use to build trust with stakeholders?
CS: How do you prioritize projects when multiple are going on at the same time?
CS: How do you balance strategic initiaitves with day-to-day execution?
CS: How do you define program success at the start of a project?
Have you ever managed a program where qualitative success was just as important as quantitative success? How did you measure it? (1)
Commonwealth - needed teams to be bought in and feel good about the strategies in addition to the outputs themselves
CS: How do you set OKRs/KPIs for a program?
Have you ever had to sunset a program? How did you decide and execute the phase-out? (1)
Gram Vaani
CS: What tools and frameworks do you use for program management?
CS: How do you identify risks in a program? What frameworks do you use?
SMART acronym
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-bound
RAID Logs acronym
Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies
Define Eisenhower Matrix
Balances LT goals with ST execution needs by looking at importance and urgency
Example of different working styles
Commonwealth
