How to Answer: Please describe your experience managing agile projects.
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Microsoft job interview.
15. Please describe your experience managing agile projects.
Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
Many technical projects at Microsoft are managed using various agile methodologies. Many teams have taken best practices from several agile methodologies and blended them into hybrid models that are customized to support the efficient development of Microsoft products. Candidates are asked this question to determine their relative level of experience managing agile projects and programs.
Written by Karrie Day on May 9th, 2022
Remember To
Remember to provide a sense of scale for the agile efforts you were responsible for. Microsoft group program managers have responsibility for several projects at a time, and interviewers value candidates that have experience coordinating complex initiatives in a scaled agile environment.
Written by Karrie Day on May 9th, 2022
Answer Example
"My agile leadership experience began when I was a senior engineer and served as a scrum master for my team. We were a relatively small team that consisted of a scrum master, a product owner, four engineers, and a tester. I worked directly with a program manager and regularly reported our team's progress to the PMO. I managed our team's burndown charts, removed roadblocks, and gave guidance as needed. I ensured we were working in the right way, and I partnered closely with our product owner to ensure we were focused on the right work.
That role inspired me to transition into technical program management. I was promoted into a role in which I was responsible for several scrum teams and kanban teams at once. We built data integration solutions for medical scheduling and billing SaaS solutions. The solution development teams used scrum, and our support and maintenance teams followed kanban.
I bridged these teams together and held regular meetings to coordinate work, discuss progress, handle conflicts and develop release strategies. We were not a SAFe organization, but I served in a capacity similar to a release train engineer in a scaled agile framework environment."
Written by Karrie Day on May 9th, 2022