Estimation and Scheduling Questions
Estimating effort and building realistic schedules: estimation techniques, task sequencing, critical-path analysis, timeline development, and dependency mapping. Covers handling estimation uncertainty, schedule compression, and defending a timeline against optimism bias.
Explain how you would map dependencies for a feature that requires database schema changes, backend API updates, mobile client updates, and analytics pipeline changes. What artifacts or tools would you use (e.g., dependency graph, ticket links, swimlane diagrams), and how would you maintain and update the dependency map as the project evolves?
Create a Responsibility Assignment (RACI) matrix for a small feature release (add user profile pages). Stakeholders: product manager, frontend engineer, backend engineer, QA, DevOps, legal. Define R, A, C, I for Requirements, Implementation, Testing, Deployment, and Post-launch Monitoring and justify one or two non-obvious assignments.
List the essential elements of a cutover plan for migrating a customer database to a new schema with minimal downtime. Include pre-cutover checks, a step-by-step cutover runbook for the cutover window, immediate post-cutover validation checks, rollback criteria, and who is responsible for each step.
A key engineer becomes unavailable two weeks before launch. Re-map dependencies and apply resource leveling to preserve the critical path. Explain which tasks you'd re-sequence, which you might outsource or reduce scope for, timeline impact, and how you would communicate the change and new expectations to stakeholders.
Scope buffering: As an engineering manager you want a formula to create a 'scope buffer' that reduces sprint overruns. Propose a quantitative method to compute buffer size, how to present it to product partners, governance rules for using the buffer, and mechanisms to prevent its abuse by teams.
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