Tell Me About a Time You Set the Technical Direction for an Area Shared by Several Teams
Behavioral and LeadershipStrategic ThinkingAsked atStaffPrincipalUpdated
They're checking whether you can give several teams a shared answer to the technical questions they keep facing. Strong answers show a written direction, the input that shaped it, and decisions it actually changed.
Rubric by Level
Junior
- Followed a team convention and can explain why it exists.
- Raised a case where the convention fit poorly, with an example.
- Names how the guidance made your work faster or safer.
Mid
- Proposed a convention for your team, like an error-handling pattern or a module layout.
- Wrote it down with examples and got the team to agree.
- Shows it turned up in later code reviews.
Senior
- Set direction for your team's system, with a target state and the steps toward it.
- Collected input from the people who would live with it before finalizing.
- Names the tradeoffs the direction accepted and why.
- Shows designs and reviews that used it.
Principal
- Set direction for a domain that spans the company, tied to where the business is heading.
- Built a mechanism that keeps direction current, like an architecture forum or a decision record practice.
- Shows how you handled a senior leader whose plans conflicted with it.
Red Flags
- A direction document nobody referenced after it was published.
- Set the direction alone and announced it to the teams.
- Can't name a decision the direction actually changed.
Follow-Ups to Expect
- Which team disagreed with the direction, and how did that resolve?
- How did you keep it current as the area changed?
- What did the direction deliberately leave open?
A Story Shape That Holds Up
The Drift
How the area was evolving and what that was costing.
The Direction
What you wrote down and the decisions it settled.
The Input
Who shaped it, and what changed because of them.
The Effect
Decisions it changed, and how you know teams followed it.