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Common Questions for Senior and Lead Developers

Soft Skills

Release tomorrow, but someone doesn't want to merge changes

  1. Identify reasons for resistance to merge:
    • Technical issues
    • Code quality concerns
    • Personal conflicts
  2. Conduct urgent code review
  3. Assess risks:
    • Possibility of postponing release
    • Criticality of changes
  4. Find compromise:
    • Agree on post-release improvements
    • Separate critical and non-critical changes
  5. Escalate to team lead/manager if necessary

Feature without requirements - how to proceed?

  1. Organize stakeholder meeting
  2. Create list of questions and assumptions
  3. Draft requirements document
  4. Align requirements with stakeholders
  5. Iteratively refine requirements during development

Subordinate is late with multiple tasks

  1. Conduct one-on-one meeting:
    • Understand reasons for delays
    • Identify needed support
  2. Help with task prioritization
  3. Offer additional resources
  4. Set intermediate checkpoints
  5. Adjust estimates and deadlines

What to do if task is blocked?

  1. Clearly identify blocking cause
  2. Look for workarounds
  3. Escalate issue to appropriate people
  4. Switch to other tasks
  5. Regularly check blocking status

Where Agile is not suitable?

  1. Projects with fixed budget and timeline
  2. Mission-critical systems (healthcare, aviation)
  3. Projects with strict regulatory requirements
  4. Small simple projects
  5. Teams with geographically distributed members

Handling failed key feature

  1. Quickly assess failure causes
  2. Inform stakeholders
  3. Propose alternative solutions
  4. Create recovery plan
  5. Extract lessons for future projects

Documentation resistance

  1. Explain documentation importance:
    • For new team members
    • For project maintenance
    • For knowledge transfer
  2. Implement simple tools
  3. Start small - document key points
  4. Automate documentation generation
  5. Make documentation part of development process

Conflict resolution

  1. Listen to all sides of conflict
  2. Identify root cause
  3. Seek compromise solution
  4. Establish clear interaction rules
  5. Monitor agreement compliance

Technology selection

  1. Define requirements and constraints:
    • Performance
    • Scalability
    • Security
  2. Evaluate existing technologies
  3. Conduct POC (proof of concept)
  4. Consider long-term implications
  5. Align choice with team

Technical Leadership

How to handle technical debt?

  1. Regular monitoring:
    • Code quality metrics
    • Performance
    • Test coverage
  2. Prioritize critical issues
  3. Allocate time for refactoring
  4. Document known issues
  5. Balance new features and improvements

Managing team growth

  1. Clear onboarding process:
    • Documentation
    • Mentoring
    • Training
  2. Document processes and knowledge
  3. Assign mentors
  4. Regular 1-on-1 meetings
  5. Gradual increase in responsibility

Handling production incidents

  1. Establish escalation process
  2. Have recovery plan:
    • Rollback procedures
    • Backup systems
  3. Maintain incident log
  4. Conduct post-mortem analysis
  5. Improve monitoring and alerting

Team motivation

  1. Clear goals and expectations
  2. Recognition of achievements
  3. Growth opportunities:
    • Learning
    • Conferences
    • New technologies
  4. Decision-making autonomy
  5. Healthy work-life balance

Project estimation

  1. Use historical data
  2. Consider risks and uncertainties
  3. Involve team in estimation
  4. Add buffer for contingencies
  5. Regularly reassess progress

Development Process

How to organize code review?

  1. Establish clear review criteria:
    • Code quality
    • Test coverage
    • Documentation
  2. Automate checks
  3. Provide constructive feedback
  4. Conduct timely reviews
  5. Use code review for learning

Working with large tasks

  1. Break into subtasks
  2. Identify critical path
  3. Set intermediate goals
  4. Regularly track progress
  5. Be ready for adjustments

Implementing process changes

  1. Start small
  2. Gather feedback
  3. Measure results
  4. Adjust based on experience
  5. Scale successful practices

Scrum and Agile

Core Scrum roles

  1. Product Owner:
    • Responsible for product
    • Manages backlog
    • Sets priorities
  2. Scrum Master:
    • Facilitates processes
    • Removes impediments
    • Helps team
  3. Development Team:
    • Develops product
    • Self-organizing
    • Cross-functional

Scrum disadvantages

  1. Time estimation complexity
  2. Team availability dependency
  3. Need for constant communication
  4. Difficulty with fixed deadlines
  5. Requires team maturity

Scrum vs Kanban differences

  1. Scrum:
    • Fixed sprints
    • Defined roles
    • Story point estimation
  2. Kanban:
    • Continuous flow
    • Flexible roles
    • Focus on cycle time
  3. Choice depends on:
    • Project type
    • Team maturity
    • Business requirements

Management and Leadership

Crisis Management

  1. Immediate Response:
    • Assess situation severity
    • Form crisis response team
    • Establish communication channels
  2. Action Plan:
    • Define immediate steps
    • Allocate resources
    • Set clear responsibilities
  3. Communication:
    • Keep stakeholders informed
    • Provide regular updates
    • Be transparent about issues
  4. Resolution:
    • Implement solutions
    • Monitor progress
    • Document lessons learned
  5. Prevention:
    • Update processes
    • Improve monitoring
    • Enhance training

Strategic Planning

  1. Vision and Goals:
    • Align with business objectives
    • Set measurable targets
    • Define success criteria
  2. Resource Planning:
    • Team capacity assessment
    • Skill gap analysis
    • Training needs identification
  3. Risk Management:
    • Identify potential risks
    • Develop mitigation strategies
    • Create contingency plans
  4. Implementation:
    • Break down into phases
    • Set milestones
    • Track progress
  5. Review and Adjust:
    • Regular assessments
    • Feedback incorporation
    • Strategy refinement

Mentoring Program

  1. Program Structure:
    • Clear objectives
    • Timeline definition
    • Success metrics
  2. Mentor Selection:
    • Experience requirements
    • Communication skills
    • Time commitment
  3. Mentee Development:
    • Skill assessment
    • Learning path creation
    • Progress tracking
  4. Knowledge Transfer:
    • Technical skills
    • Soft skills
    • Company culture
  5. Program Evaluation:
    • Regular feedback
    • Effectiveness measurement
    • Continuous improvement

Technical Excellence

Code Quality Management

  1. Standards Implementation:
    • Coding guidelines
    • Review processes
    • Automated checks
  2. Quality Metrics:
    • Code coverage
    • Complexity measures
    • Performance indicators
  3. Continuous Improvement:
    • Regular assessments
    • Team feedback
    • Process refinement
  4. Tools and Automation:
    • Linting setup
    • CI/CD pipeline
    • Testing framework
  5. Knowledge Sharing:
    • Documentation
    • Team workshops
    • Best practices

Architecture Design

  1. System Design:
    • Scalability considerations
    • Performance requirements
    • Security aspects
  2. Technology Selection:
    • Stack evaluation
    • Tool assessment
    • Framework choice
  3. Implementation Strategy:
    • Phasing plan
    • Migration approach
    • Risk mitigation
  4. Quality Assurance:
    • Testing strategy
    • Performance monitoring
    • Security audits
  5. Maintenance Plan:
    • Update procedures
    • Backup strategies
    • Disaster recovery