After a few project meetings, you're finding that there aren't any concrete steps from stakeholders, just a lot of ideas. How will you manage execution?
It's the PM's job to paint a realistic picture of the project's needs and requirements. With this question, the interviewer is gauging your ability to devise an implementation plan amidst a sea of ideas. To answer this question successfully, outline how you would trim down to the essentials without discouraging stakeholders from sharing their ideas. Ultimately you will want to demonstrate how you can come out with an actionable plan.
"My first step would be to meet with each stakeholder. In these meetings, I will use a whiteboard to visualize the plan and list deliverables. I'll ask for specific steps, owners, and targets to complete each deliverable. Let's say the plan is to build a relationship with small business owners in the state. So, if the first task is to obtain a list of small business owners, then we need to identify to whom we assign the research and create the criteria for entry. Then, we need to set a target date for getting this list together. After that, we can establish a target percentage of businesses to contact. In my experience, visualizing a project plan with all the requirements and time involved will force the bad ideas out. Each stakeholder will realize which actions align with the goal, and which are not."
