Behavioral: Taking a Deliberate Bet on a Program and Keeping Its Downside in Check

Explain how you manage risk on the projects you run. Then describe a program where you deliberately took on a significant risk because you judged it necessary for the program to succeed. ```hint Separate the bet from the hazards Be clear which risk you chose to take and which risks simply came with the program, then show how you sized and contained the one you chose. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Should the story come from a program I owned end to end, or is one where I led a single workstream within a larger program acceptable? - Would you like my general approach first and then the story, or the story with the approach shown through it? - Is a risk that did not fully pay off a useful example, or should I pick one where the bet worked? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A repeatable way of finding, ranking and assigning owners to risks throughout a program, not only at kickoff - A specific risk taken on purpose, with what was at stake if it was not taken and what could go wrong if it was - How the downside was bounded before committing: who agreed, which limits or stop criteria were set, and how it was monitored - The outcome backed by evidence, including what the risk cost in time, money or goodwill - What the candidate would repeat or change, and how that lesson shows up in later programs ### Follow-up Questions - At what point would you have reversed the decision, and who had the authority to make that call? - Which stakeholder resisted the risk most, and how did you bring them along? - Tell me about a risk you chose not to take. How did you tell it apart from this one?