Tests how a TPM handles a slip they don't control: narrowing the interface, working the option stack, and escalating with data instead of drama.
Interview prompt
A platform team your launch depends on just told you their deliverable is slipping 6 weeks. Your launch is in 8 weeks. What do you do?
What interviewers evaluate
Do you interrogate what exactly slipped instead of taking the headline at face value?
Do you try to narrow the required interface before pulling bigger levers?
Do you work an ordered option stack (stub, descope, lend capacity, escalate, move date)?
Do you escalate with cost-of-delay data and without ambushing the other team?
Do you communicate immediately and add prevention (contracts, integration checkpoints)?
A framework to structure your answer
Interrogate the slip - what exactly slipped? Their deliverable is bigger than your dependency; map your minimal required contract against their revised plan.
Narrow the interface - can you ship against a reduced contract or an earlier internal milestone of theirs?
Stub and parallelize - build against a mock of the agreed contract now; integrate when they land, converting serial delay into overlap.
Descope or re-plan - cut/flag the dependent parts, launch the rest on time, fast-follow.
Escalate with data - cost of your delay vs cost of displacing their other work; never a surprise escalation.
Communicate & prevent - stakeholders hear risk + recovery plan within a day; add dependency contracts and integration checkpoints for next time.
Strong sample answer
Try structuring your own answer first, then reveal a strong worked example.
Common variants
A vendor (external company) just slipped a contractual deliverable. How is your playbook different?
Two of your dependencies slipped at once. How do you triage?
The dependency team disputes that they ever committed to your date. Now what?
Pitfalls to avoid
Accepting the headline slip without decomposing what your launch actually needs from it.
Jumping straight to escalation before working the technical options (interface, stub, descope).
Escalating as an ambush - winning the meeting and losing the relationship.
Hiding the risk from stakeholders while you 'work on it.'
Fixing this slip without adding early-warning mechanisms for the next one.
Likely follow-ups
Leadership escalation fails - their priorities stand. Which option do you execute?
How do you build the cost-of-delay number credibly in a day?
What does a good dependency contract between two internal teams contain?