Table driven forms 1. Describe a situation where you wish you had acted differently with someone at work.

What did you do? What happened as a result? 2. 2. What is your style of management?

2. Describe about yourself. I have been working a project manager with polaris management partners for past 4 years. I have worked with multiple projects and clients like genentech, astellas, forest, roche etc. most of these projects range from simple data migration, ETL, to multi-million dollar projects. Before that I have worked with 2 different clients with Accenture as lead and project manager. I have worked with Aon insurance as project manager managing client and development team. As a lead, I worked with state government of Wisconsin, Wyoming etc on their election management project on which I started as a senior developer and promoted to lead. Before that I was working with state government of Texas as developer. I am result oriented person who interacts well with people. I like to set goals and keep them. I have extensive experience dealing with developers onshore and offshore.

3. Why are you leaving the company? I have worked with Polaris management partners for past 4 years and gained a lot of experience. We have worked on extensive schedules working 15 hour days almost daily for a long time. I think it's time for me to take my experience and use it. I have enjoyed all companies I worked for. I have learned the power of team work here.

4. Why are you interested in our company? I have worked with state government projects before and after reading the job description, I know that I can definitely fit in the job.

5. Why are you interested in this particular job? I am pursuing this opportunity because my experience and interests very closely match the job description, requirements and the company. I am positive that I will be successful at this position as I have the skill you are looking for. I can not only do the job, but will enjoy doing it.

6. What are your strengths? I work well with people, am self-starter and find ways to get the job done. My experience helped me gain my knowledge about different individuals and how to deal with them in different situations. For Eg, how to deal with sensitive subjects such as minority subjects etc.

7. My weakness? With more hours into project management, I am losing my touch with new technologies. Coming from the development background, I try really hard to keep in touch with latest technologies.

8. Tell about a problem you encountered while managing a project and how did you deal with it. When dealing with clients projects we encounter a lot issues. Usually all the pharmaceutical clients are time restricted and demanding. Based on the technology and design of the system, some of the requirements might take longer and some might be a small one. In Polaris, We have started our new and ambitious project using latest technologies. As a project manager on this, my job is to ensure completion of the project on time. Since our first client is Genentech, we have designed and completed core modules and Genentech requirements for genentech rollout. Another person is handling the Genetech rollout with the client while I was in charge of the overall internal project. Soon Genentech project had issues as the PM handling Genentech could not determine exact timelines for further reqs and enhancements. So I was handed the Genentech project too. As a developer before, I understand the design and requirements and I was able to handle the issues by talking to the client about the requirements and the timelines and by making a critical path needed for the success of the project. Also, I was able to offer them different alternatives for those requirements which can be completed on time. After the client meeting, I created a MS Project and had a detailed meeting with the development team and made them understand how important the client and the timelines. With help from the dev team and the client, we delivered the product to the client. a. define the problem b. gather information until enough data has been gathered or it is not practical to find out more c. identify the solution and alternatives d. Evaluate each alternative e. choose a solution f. implement the solution.

follow up questions: a. Are deadlines set in stone here?

9. How to handle disruptive team members? Throughout my career, I have handled disruptive team members. Actually, if the team does not have disruptive members, there will be no need for people like who solve them like me. For Eg: I had a African American in my team who always thinks other team members and upper management look down on her, just because she is African American. She always complained about it. I sat down with her and explained and also reminded her that her accomplishments are always appreciated by the team and her inner feeling has to change. I mentioned to her that her concerns are important and she also need look at a different perspective with the team members. I also had a chat with other team members and mentioned her concerns and requested them not to make comments knowingly or unknowingly. I have continued to have regular talks with her have seen progress in her work which made the team members and upper management happy. More examples, I had one of my offshore team members always complaining about the project and not getting enough attention for his work and his role of the project. I had a private chat with him over the video conference. He is getting recognitions for his work from the team, but his offshore manager is not aware of these recognitions. Also he has issues with other team members coming onshore and not him. I have explained to him that his language should improve and suggested taking English courses. Also, I have started including his managers in all the recognition emails and started have quarterly progress meeting with the offshore manager. Always, I meet one-on-one with the team member and discuss the disruptive behavior in on personal terms. I go to lengths discussing the behavior, not the person. I listen for any clear indication of where the problem might lie. I start by stating the behavior and the impact on the project and suggest specific changes. If the behavior still continues, I outline the consequences of not changing and obtain a commitment to eliminate or reduce the behavior. If the commitment is not obtained, I evaluate the need to escalate the issue. My last course of action would be removal of the team member from the project because as a PM, my main responsibility us to get the job done. Main reasons for this behavior a. Lack of skills in the job b. Personal problems outside the job c. Low motivation d. Lack of job structure

e. Incompatibility between team members f. Inadequate supervision g. immatuarity h. poor health conditions.

10. How do we handle not productive team members? Each member of the team as different skill level. Project manager should be well aware of each team member skill set. Based on the skill set, I will assign work to each member. In polaris, we follow 3 week scrum plans. I always establish weekly touch base sessions and at the end of scrum plan. If the team member is not performing to the standards, I will talk to see if he or she needs any help on the skill set and take every action possible to minimize the lag. If the lag continues, I will have one-on-one meeting with the team member. As a project manager, my goal to identify the source of non-performance and get the resource back on track as soon as possible. Reasons for nonperformance a. lack of knowledge of the standard excepted b. lack of skills c. Morale, motivation and personal issues.

11. How to handle burnt out situation? Please get burnt for different reasons like overworking, low motivation, dissatisfaction with the work environment or low skill set for the job. If I come into a project where I see burnt out situation, my first step is to identify the reasons. Based on the reasons, I will try to find the solutions. Motivating the team members plays a key role in a successful project. Every person is different and it's important to know what motivates each of the team members. There are several things I do to motivate my team members. I create a positive work environment by recognizing their achievement and escalating them to upper management whenever necessary, involving the team members in decision-making when their input is needed, coaching for new skills, celebrating together after the project success, occasional lunch, team outings also help to an extent. I have also introduced developer time, in which a one developer a month is given 2 free days to come up solution that will help the team or company or research a new technology and later discuss it with the team. This helps the team member to motivated beyond his horizons.

12. How do you handle personal problems? I will listen actively to them understanding that I am not a counselor. I will try to ask questions and help them develop solutions themselves. I will ask if they need counselor help or some time off to deal with the issues. I will try my best within my authority to help them and leave the serious problems to professional counselors.

13. How do you coordinate work with other departments? There should be a careful communication while coordinating work with other departments. Usually, the project sponsor or I will initiate the request. Once the request is accepted, I will coordinate with the individual's supervisor with the requirements and timelines and obtain commitments. In all the follow up's with the individual, his supervisor is also copied.

14. Tell me how would you react to a situation where there is more than one way to accomplish the task and there are very strong feeling on both ends? Firstly, if possible compromise a solution that uses both suggestions. I will have the team agree on a method to evaluate the benefits of each solution and compare alternatives on agreed evaluation method. In this way it will not be personal and ego will bruised. For Eg: When we started developing RMS version 2, we wanted to use 3 party tools for objects. Some suggested Silverlight and some suggested RAD tools. After initial hot discussions, I have asked both teams to come up pros for their tools and cons for the other tools keeping in mind our product and company. I have developed a matrix and we went through all the pros and cons. In the end everyone decided that RAD tools work best for us given our timelines, ease of use, budget, code compatibility etc.

15. What do you look when you hire people? a. Skills specific to the job. b. Fits into organization culture c. flexibility, high energy levels and the desire to move up in the organization.

15. Give me an example of leadership involvement where teamwork played an important role?

I was the first person to join Polaris Development Group. All the code has been out sourced. I joined Polaris to build the internal development team. When the initial developers came in, they were assigned projects based on the availability. No processes were in place for the development team. When Version 2 started, it led to issues. So the whole dev team came together under my supervision to come up with processes. Each team member contributed and we came up with a solid set of processes that led to team for successful completion of our project. Some of the processes include setting up team foundation server for source control, use TFS task items to set goals for team members for each scrum, identifying dev QA, using use case scenarios for requirements etc, introducing knowledge transfer session, introducing code drilling sessions, code reviews etc. Follow up QA how are teams created here?

16. How do you start a project? a. Identify the project sponsors b. Identifying the resources for the project c. Create a project chart with initial timelines d. Create a short term plan and get initial activities scheduled. e. Proceed to complete the first version of the project. As a project manager, I learnt to not jump into the project and get everyone involved immediately. My initial activities include scheduling requirement gathering session with the client, requesting dev resources based on their schedules, identifying any interdepartmental dependencies, discussing requirements with dev leads. All of these give me a good base to create my detailed project plan. Follow up QA: how are projects officially started here?

17. What are the basic components of a project plan? Project Charter Project management approach Scope statement Work Breakdown structure Responsibility Assignments Network Diagram

Major Millstones Budgets Schedule Resources Change Control Plan Performance Measurement baselines Management Plans

18. What are ropes of new project manager? Project Charter, Commitments from project sponsors, keeping close eye on communications, risk management, issue management and scope. Key documents like project charter, project plan, project schedule and final signoff.

19. What are the key artifacts needed in the project? Project Charter, Project Plan, Work BreakDown Structure, Activity Responsibility matrix, Status Report, Issue List, Risk Tracking, Change Plan Control, Final SignOff

20. How do you manage change? Control changes are changes that are requested after the signoff by the stake holders on that document. Its not only requirements doc, even changes to project charter is change control. In any project, change control will be there. So I always keep time for change control. Once the change control is requested, I will quickly analyze the impact on the project and make necessary changes. The change can be made or sometimes denied based on the impact on the project. By planning and setting up process for change control ahead, changes do not derail the project.

21. How do you manage conflict in the team? There are several different conflicts happen in the project. Do you have any specific conflict in mind? Conflicts occur in the project and as a project manager, its my role to resolve and further eliminate them. If the conflict occurs between two team members, firstly, I will isolate the issue from rest of the

team members and have a one-to-one with each of the two team members. I will hear on both sides and try to find out a win-win situation for both of them. Sometimes it might be otherwise based on the circumstances. Once I had issue with 2 of team members. Each of them had ego issues and it started showing in the team meetings and also on the project. I had private chat with each of them and realized that ego issues between which can be worked out. I had them sit down and requested them to keep the ego to a side and talk to each other which worked out perfectly. Also, there will be conflicts between team members when one who is same position gets promoted and other is not. He needs to understand that everybody cannot be promoted, and based on seniority and skill level, they would get their promotions. Its up to the project manager to make them understand.

22. How do we deal with difficult team members? As I mentioned earlier, each team member is different. Some are more difficult. As a project manager, its our job to handle the situation. One of my team members in Accenture, he is very skilled and does an amazing job what was assigned to him, but would not talk much to rest of the team members or share any information he has even if helpful to the team. I always tried to engage him into conversation purposefully, asked to voice his opinions in the meetings, invited to lunch with team members and appreciating his work and sharing it with everyone. Gradually he changed and started sharing work, talking more to other. As a project manager you should always tackle the behavior, not the person.

23. Qualification required being an effective Project Manager? Be Organized I have everything in its place. Self-Starter - I plan activities and coordinate events well. good Communication I have good communication skill and maintain good conversations. I also communicate ideas to upper management and my team, good listener When the team needs me, I will be there. I will listen patiently and try to resolve issues within my area of influence. pay attention to detail I am good at proof reading the documents.

24. Your 3 month contract is to exceed the budget in the first month. What precautions are to be taken? First, inform the stake holders about the situation. Next step is to examine the cause of the overrun, evaluate alternatives and present them to the management.

25. You are assigned a project and team members are already chosen before you. What do you do to increase effectiveness of the team? As a project manager, I need to know all the strengths and weaknesses of my team members. I will have a one on one chat with each of my team member and know about their goals and interests before I assign work and timelines to the team. Then I will assign the project goals aligned with the goals of the team member. This will help me build assurance of the team.

26. What is the difference between the project plan and project schedule? Project plan is the collection of official documents like project charter, requirements, document signoff etc. Project Schedule is a MS Project which has plans and tasks, timings and resources assigned.

27. How do you track the project ? 44

28. Risks in your previous project? I usually track risks in google docs and give read only access to my team members so that everyone is aware of the open risks and risks assigned to them. Every Risk should have an owner responsible for it. Risks are excepted in a project and its up to the project manager to tackle them. In my last projects, due to client timelines, some of the modules are done taking an alternate route which propagated risks into the project. This was made aware to the client, but the during the time of delivery these risks should be

29. Difference between quality management and quality control? 49

30. How do you make sure outside companies meet the deadlines? 51

31. What are the reasons for a project to fail? Not enough requirements, low skill set, scope creep, 32. Tell me about a tough decision you have to make.

Some times as a project manager, you have to take tough decisions. This will affect some people on the team, but its up to the project manager to them understand. They are 2 developers in my team. They are in same position and both excelled in their work. But I was allowed to promote only one person from that category. I had to go by seniority of the person to the company. Other developer was quite taken by this. I sat with him and explained that he is no less and since only one was to be promoted, it was taken on seniority. I actually made sure that both of them would get same percentage of bonus. So money wise it not a difference, but the promotion came only after six months.