Interview Question: Have you ever had to work to an extremely tight deadline? How did you navigate that?

Question forms part of

Civil Service Question Bank
The MOST Common Interview Questions

What the interviewer is looking for by asking this question

Deadlines are a way of life. Like an old project manager once told me, “if we didn’t have deadlines nothing would ever get done”.

It is really that simple; work will always expand to fill the amount of time allotted.

Sometimes though the time that we have been allotted for an activity or project seems fairly short considering the scale of the task at hand.

What do we do in those situations?

Well that is what the interviewer want to know from you, and that is why they ask this question.

They want to see first and foremost are you capable of working to tight deadlines? Are you able to prioritise the important pieces of work over the less important and ensure that your work is delivered on time and to an acceptable quality?

That is the purpose of this question.

The best approach to answering this question

This is a “Have you ever” style question. With questions like this you should always start your answers with a resounding

Yes I have

This is not a trick question. The interviewer is asking if you have experience in the matter at hand because they need someone who has that experience. It is crucial that you say you do.

After you have said “Yes” you can treat the question like any other “Tell me about a time” question, and the best way to answer those questions is to use the B-STAR technique.

Let’s see how that would work out with this question:

B – Belief – Talk about how you feel about deadlines and working toward tight ones. The best answers here will talk about how you feel deadlines are important as they provide structure for your project / activity.

S – Situation – Open by quickly setting the scene of why you were on a tight deadline. Make sure your example is one where the tightness of the deadline was out of your control. Remember that you do not have much time to answer the question so set the scene quickly. Pick an example that is straight forward to understand without long descriptions.

T – Task – What was your role in meeting this deadline? For a good interview answer the job of meeting this deadline should fall squarely on your shoulders.

A – Activity – What steps did you take to meet your deadline? The best answers will talk about how you had to prioritise the list of activities that were required. With such a tight deadline not all goals may be achievable, it is your job (for your answer it should be your job) to ensure the critical activities are completed and delivered on time and to the desired quality.

R – Result – This is an interview so make sure the end result as described is a positive one. You can include any lessons you learned at the end – for example maybe you realised that this tight deadline could have been avoided if X was fixed.

How NOT to answer this question

Do not avoid the question. It is easy to fall into a trap when answering this question. You might think that it would be smart to answer that you never work to tight deadlines because you plan well. Don’t answer like this as it shows you are inexperienced. In the workplace tight deadlines will be thrust upon you and no matter how good a planner you are you feel the squeeze – in fact you might get tight deadlines just because you are a good planner. “Give the work to Mike he’s always squared away he will be able to sort it out”

Do not give an example where you missed the deadline. Your example should be a success. You are trying to show the interviewer that you have had tight deadlines before and you have been able to successfully deliver to them

Do not talk about how you had to sacrifice quality. I think it is obvious that if you are rushing people to a tight deadline that quality might slip, however it is your job to explain to the interviewer how you managed to prevent quality from slipping while also meeting the deadline. A trick here is to say how you looked at the list of requirements for the task and removed items that would not impact quality but would allow you to deliver on time.

Have you ever had to work to an extremely tight deadline? How did you navigate that?

Example answer 1

Indeed, I’ve faced several instances where I’ve had to work to extremely tight deadlines. However, one occasion that particularly stands out was during my tenure as a Lead Software Developer at my previous organization.

We were working on a major product launch, but midway through the project, our client moved the deadline up by a couple of weeks, due to some strategic shifts on their end. This left us with a significant amount of work to complete in a much shorter time frame.

First, I sat down with my team and we re-evaluated our project timeline. It was essential for everyone to understand the situation we were in and the new expectations. We then strategically prioritized the tasks based on their impact on the project, identifying which tasks could be done concurrently and which tasks were dependent on others.

After this, I implemented a more rigorous daily check-in to keep track of the project’s progress. This not only helped in identifying any potential roadblocks early but also ensured that everyone was aligned on the project status and the tasks they were responsible for.

To navigate the increased workload, we discussed and agreed upon putting in some extra hours. I ensured that this was done on a rotational basis to avoid burnout and maintained an open line of communication for any team member to express concerns or issues.

Simultaneously, I kept the client informed of our progress. Transparency was crucial, so we made sure to provide regular updates, reassuring them that we were doing our utmost to meet the revised deadline.

Eventually, we were able to complete the project on time without compromising on the quality of our work. It was a challenging period, but it underscored the importance of effective communication, teamwork, and strategic planning when working under tight deadlines.

Example answer 2

“I don’t think anyone likes deadlines, I know I don’t. But I do appreciate their importance in the workplace in how having a deadline provides structure to how we work.

As a Project Manager deadlines are kind of my thing. Deadlines, Cost and Quality are my primary motivators. I like to ensure that all my projects are properly planned so that there is no stress about the deadlines.

However that is obviously not always possible. There was a recent project that I was handed very last minute. The previous project manager had abruptly left the business and had seemingly let the project run without direction for a number of months prior to this.

I was given control of the project and told the deadline was just 2 months from now. I immediately knew this was not possible given the current status. But I persevered.

First thing I did was re-validate all of the assumptions. I found out that the deadline was not a fixed deadline of 2 months but was told under no uncertain terms could it extend past 3 months. That bought us some respite but not enough.

Next steps was to re-examine the requirements. This was a new product launch and the initial project design was to go live with the full product spec on Day 1. I took this back to the project sponsor and drilled down to which requirements were critical for Day 1 launch and which requirements could be delayed to a subsequent ‘Phase 2’ launch.

With all of this done I had a plan that would get us there. I just needed a motivated project team. I again linked in with the project sponsor for his support in both bringing in new team members (who I had a close working relationship with) and to re-affirm to the remaining project members and all stakeholders the importance of this project and it’s deadline

This seemed to be the spur that everyone needed as we were off to the races so to speak. The project was delivered on time and to the required quality with the remaining non-critical features being added to a month after. I also raised with the PMO team that this situation could have been avoided had there been a requirement on the previous project manager to provide status updated into the project sponsor in a more formal setting.“

Interview Question: Have you ever had to work to an extremely tight deadline? How did you navigate that? – Answer Tips