Behavioral question
Is consensus among the stakeholders always a good thing?
- Ola
- Behavioral
- Hard
Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.
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What this question tests
Judgment about decision making processes, testing whether the candidate can see past 'consensus is good' to when it actually harms outcomes.
How to approach it
- State your view directly: consensus is valuable for buy in but not always the right decision process.
- Give an example where seeking full consensus slowed down or watered down a good decision.
- Explain when consensus is appropriate, such as decisions affecting team culture or process.
- Explain when a single accountable owner should decide instead, such as urgent or highly technical calls.
- State how you personally decide which mode to use for a given decision.
What a strong answer includes
- Takes a clear position rather than dodging with 'it depends' and no further reasoning.
- Gives a concrete example where forced consensus led to a diluted, worse outcome.
- Distinguishes decision types, cultural versus urgent technical, that call for different processes.
Common mistakes
- Gives a purely theoretical answer with no real example.
- Answers only 'yes consensus is good' without engaging with the question's actual premise.
Likely follow-up questions
- How do you handle a stakeholder who feels excluded when you skip consensus?
- Give an example where consensus was clearly the right call.
- How do you decide who needs to be part of the decision versus just informed?
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- Some companies don't think they need PMs. Even Google didn't have one for a while. They think they don't need them. What's your opinion?Google · Behavioral · Hard
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- How do you define and track leading vs lagging indicators in product strategy?Paytm · Behavioral · Hard
More questions from Ola
Learn the skill behind it
Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.
- Chapter 13: Lead the room: staff moves, forward-deployed PM, and the portfolio
- Chapter 14: Get the job: the AI PM interview loop