Imagine that the engineers on your product development team consistently delivered poor quality deliverables. What steps would you take to address the issue?

Remember to include a process for gathering information prior to discussing the quality issues directly with team members. Individuals often take work quality related feedback personally. A data-driven approach can help a team focus on the impact of the issue versus the people who created it.

Also, remember to demonstrate that improving the quality of any product is a team effort. Interviewers appreciate candidates that inspire others to improve while collectively owning the process and the end result.

"The first step I would take is to research the quality of similar products. I would want to have benchmark information available before discussing the issue as a team. I would also analyze the time and money spent on rework. I would perform an impact analysis to help demonstrate the result of the quality issues. If appropriate, I might run the scenario by an engineering lead or architect on another team to get some perspective and ensure that my quality assessment is fair.

Once I had the data necessary for the discussion, I would facilitate a meeting with the engineers and their leadership. I would ensure that the feedback was not offered personally, and that we stay focused on the business impact of poor quality work.

I would begin by reminding everyone of the vision and the level of quality we are striving for. I would offer the results of my analysis and work with the group to define a reasonable expectation for improvement. I would then ask for their thoughts on how we could improve the process to create higher quality deliverables. Once a plan was established, I would ask for a commitment from everyone and set a clear timeline to reflect upon the changes and whether or not they achieved the desired results."