# Handle Competing Requests from Colleagues Tell me about a time a colleague asked you to take on work that was outside your current plan or competed with an existing commitment. How did you understand the request, decide what to do, communicate the trade-off, and follow through? Choose a real example with meaningful stakes. The goal is not to show that you always say yes or always protect your roadmap; it is to show sound judgment and collaborative execution. ### Constraints & Assumptions - Make your own authority and obligations clear. - Separate urgency from importance and explain who could legitimately reprioritize the work. - Do not blame the requester or hide the impact on existing commitments. ### Clarifying Questions to Ask - Should the example focus on an urgent incident, planned project work, or cross-team support? - Does the interviewer want an individual-contributor example or one involving team leadership? - How much technical detail is useful for understanding the prioritization? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Discovery of the request's underlying goal, urgency, and cost of delay - Explicit comparison with current commitments and affected stakeholders - A concrete choice: accept, defer, reduce scope, delegate, or escalate - Clear communication, documented ownership, and a closed feedback loop - Reflection on both the outcome and the working relationship ### Follow-up Questions - What would have happened if you had simply accepted the request? - How did you respond if the requester disagreed with your priority call? - What system-level change reduced similar interruptions later? - When should a senior engineer escalate rather than negotiate directly?