"Last year, my current director came to me with a short notice design that a customer was requesting and they were wanting this within two weeks. Knowing that a typical new design from scratch could take four to six weeks, I immediately started by shifting around my current workload to accommodate and make this project a top priority. The key to success in this design was being organized with my full workload and having the ability to prioritize my work. I ended up delivering the finished design in just 8 working days and my director and the customer were thoroughly impressed. If hired at Boeing, I would bring this same ability to meet tight deadlines while staying focused on my entire workload."

"I currently work for a medium-sized company as an assistant in their finance department. I had never worked in finance previously during budget planning, and I worked on the team that helped each department finalize their budget for the next year. Our CFO wanted everything buttoned up by the end of November, and we were very close to the deadline.

Several groups submitted budgets with requests that were unclear and missing information necessary to prove they were justified. I was asked to work with the financial analysts on my team to compile a collective list of issues and then schedule the meetings to discuss them with the department heads. I had a week to ensure that all of the analysts submitted their lists and schedule the meetings. Several of them waited to submit their piece until the last minute, but I stayed late and completed my part on time.

I learned several things from my time on that initiative that applies to the open financial analyst position at Boeing. First, I learned to anticipate that budgetary requests will lack proper analysis, and I can add value by proactively working with any departments I partner with to ensure they understand the standard required for budgetary approval. Secondly, I learned that frequent communication about the next steps and downstream expectations for any set of deliverables helps all of the members of a team coordinate properly and support each other in meeting tight deadlines."

"The company I currently work for went through a significant round of layoffs last spring. As a senior manager, I was made aware that I would be losing 30% of my staff the week before the layoffs. We had several critical projects in flight and I knew I would need a plan to help the members of my group absorb the shock of the loss of some of their teammates while encouraging them to do their best to meet our production commitments.

I took a day to process the news and lay out my thoughts for a strategic plan. I first identified the projects that could be slowed down without a critical business impact. Next, I identified the most important work my teams had on their roadmaps.

After the news of the layoffs, I met with our program managers to review my analysis and hear their thoughts on how we could shift assignments around and meet as many deadlines as possible. It wasn't easy, but we came up with a solid action plan. I met with all of their teams to listen to employee concerns an reiterate the importance of meeting our deadlines.

The people I have the privilege to lead did an incredible job of stepping up and maintaining our production schedule given the unfortunate circumstances. I even jumped in and took on several project tasks along the way. In the end, we were able to ensure that all of the business critical work was completed on time.

I learned that it is helpful for senior leaders to utilize information they are given in advance of a situation like this to the fullest, even if the news is difficult to process. It helped my team a lot to see how engaged I was and how willing I was to step into the details and figure out a plan that could work for everyone. I would apply the same approach here at Boeing in the event my teams were ever in a tough spot. I would provide direction, offer support, and jump in and help in any way that I could."

"The executive stakeholder for my last major project called me shortly before we were scheduled to deliver a major release and asked me to include a new feature. He had socialized the test version of the solution with his peers and manager, and they offered unexpected feedback that turned into an emergency request for my team.

Everyone on my team had been working hard to prepare for the release and I knew that news of a last minute request was going to be difficult to hear. I asked my stakeholder to outline the benefits of the new feature as well as the risk of not including it so that I could clearly explain the need to my team.

I wasn't sure how the team would respond, but everyone seemed to understand the importance of the request. We met to determine a strategy to finish the release prep work while developing and testing the new feature. I asked my stakeholder if he would provide a subject matter expert from his area to help answer questions on demand, and we partnered to drive out the requirements as soon as possible. The engineering team ran with the design and assigned a senior engineer to develop it. Everyone helped with the new feature and regression testing, and we were able to get it all done before our release date. The new feature led to a sales increase, and our team received recognition from senior leaders for our agility and hard work.

I learned that it is important to fully understand the value of last minute requests. Sometimes, they are critical and it is worth putting in the time to get them done. I would apply the same knowledge here at Boeing. I would ensure that I have a clear understanding of the expected benefits of a request as well as the cost of delay. I would use this information to make informed decisions on behalf of my stakeholders and my teams."

"Our organization has a 'use it or lose it' budget policy that can result in unplanned project requests popping up at the end of the year when department leaders review their actuals at the end of the 3rd quarter. Last year one of the departments I manage projects for had enough left in their budget to redesign a portion of their facilities. The project was medium-sized, but it can be difficult to secure contractors during the holiday season.

I reached out to all of my contacts and quickly put together a plan and hired resources for the job. We were able to add several new offices, and a much needed employee lounge area to their space. It had been a tough year for that group, and making changes to their work environment seemed to give them a boost in morale.

I have learned to anticipate end of the year project requests during my five years in project management. I do my very best to accommodate them because every project has the potential to make a positive impact for the client, a business group, an end user, or for an employee. It is always important to do your best as a project manager to find creative ways to deliver upon the needs of your clients. I would apply the same understanding to my project work here at Boeing."

"Projects with tight deadlines are normal in software engineering. The teams I work on use an agile methodology and we work in three week sprints. While it is acceptable to miss a deadline and carry work over sprint to sprint, it is a best practice to take on a reasonable scope that can be completed within the time allotted.

I noticed that my team was carrying feature work over frequently and it was causing a number of problems. We were having trouble keeping track of exactly which tasks were complete, which features were fully tested, and which were ready to be released. It felt like we were never finished, and I wanted to find a better way forward.

I worked with our product owner and scrum master to tighten up a number of internal processes. We spoke with the team and made it a clear goal to finish our scope for the sprint a day early to ensure there was enough time to test and complete everything prior to the start of the next sprint. We paid close attention to everyone's stand up reports and we made sure that we addressed setbacks or roadblocks more aggressively than we had in the past. We ended up finishing on time and it made a huge difference in our process. We were able to cleanly tie everything up and give our full attention to the next sprint the following week. Several teammates commented on how much better it felt to only be working on one set of features at a time. Ultimately, we reduced our carryover percentage by 46% by making a few minor process and expectation adjustments.

I learned that it is important to speak up on a team when you notice an internal process improvement opportunity. I look forward to working with the teams here at Boeing and reflecting regularly on our work to identify and implement process improvement opportunities."

Prior to your interview, be sure to think about the steps you took to make a short-notice project happen in your past. Provide your interviewer with context, describe your actions, and then describe the results of the work you put in to ensure success under a tight deadline. If you are applying for a leadership role, be sure to describe any actions you took to help your team stay calm and focused while working under stressful conditions.