Describe your preferred project discovery process.
Senior program managers often provide leadership to discovery efforts for projects that are large in scope, costly, have time constraints, or have a high level of risk. Interviewers want to be certain that a new hire knows how to approach discovery and what the delivery expectations are at the end of the process.
Remember to outline a process that demonstrates your ability to facilitate the meetings and the creation of the deliverables involved with minimal guidance. Senior program managers are expected to have the experience necessary to quickly drive the discovery in situations where client guidance is limited due to a lack of expertise and/or availability.
"I begin by ensuring the business goals for whatever projects or series of projects I will be working on are clear. In the event they are not clear or defined, the leads within my program and I meet with the stakeholders to drive out the correct level of detail needed to move forward. From there, we meet with the various groups responsible for the processes that will be affected by whatever changes have been proposed. Additionally, we meet with the teams responsible for the current solutions in place to understand their workflows.
The artifacts we create as a result of the discovery process may include context diagrams, workflow documents, market research, and cost analysis. The discovery phase is typically concluded by our giving a presentation that outlines the proposed strategic scope, high-level impact analysis, high-level cost estimates, and tactical next steps."
