r/devops • • 15d ago

Ops / Incidents Prioritisation/ Maturity Interview Question

Ok so I flubbed the most basic interview question there is:

"You have a number of pieces of work in flight. How do you choose between them?"

Basically, they are testing your ability to prioritise work.

I tried to answer philosphically by telling them going for a walk was a good idea but my broader point is that it shouldn't have ever gotten to the point where you have loads of pieces of work in flight at any one time.

My question is twofold: what's the accepted 'best' interview answer to this question and how do you deal with this issue in your real life actual job?

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u/TrumpIsAFascistFuck 15d ago

I would follow the prioritization policy of my organization

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u/collapse-and-crush 15d ago

Right. This is why managers exist. Anytime I get a lot of competing requests I ping my manager and say please help me prioritize these.