Tell me about a time when you had to sacrifice quality due to budgetary, resource, or time constraints?

Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
What to Avoid
Remember To
Answer Example

Interviewers understand constraints and the need to make concessions when delivering technology solutions. They ask this question to determine how a candidate ensures that the sacrifices made are intelligently selected based on need and value.

Avoid examples where entire projects or programs of work are shut down indefinitely. An interviewer may interpret results like these as a gap in your strategic planning skills or inability to properly assess threats.

Include the details of how you supported a client through a difficult situation due to constraints. Interviewers understand that the outcome of the situation was less than optimal, but are interested in hiring candidates that add value and offer excellent customer service even when options are limited.

"I developed a strategy for a phased approach to improving the data entry and calculation for a multi-step workflow that had too many touch-points that resulted in errors. I implemented the first round of improvements based on their frequency of use and the impact they had on the business overall when the manual pieces of the process were handled incorrectly.

My team and I delivered several successful features and then the executive management within the business paused the project to shift resources to a need they perceived as more important. This change in direction left a portion of my users leveraging a half-developed solution that was painful and not what was originally promised. I worked with their management to shift resources to provide additional support during peak business times. Eventually, our development team was able to circle back around and deliver the entire solution as it was originally designed."