Tell me about a time you've had to change the way you work.

Question

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

During the early days of the pandemic. Shift to WFH. Lots of distractions.
Constant meeting requests, chats & email from co workers made it hard to get
work done. It put me into reactive mode and created more stress. I decided to
manage my time more effectively by setting expectations and sharing with my
team. I set up calendar blocks for focus time during the week,  when I would not
be available. Scheduled tasks to check and respond to emails at two times during
the day.  I also made sure every meeting had an agenda to cover, or else it
would be canceled. This process influenced others on my team to follow suit. And
collaboration & productivity improved for everyone.

Anonymous · Answer

A time I changed my work style was when I acquired a new associate on my team.
 The company united multiple locations which allowed an associate in the buffalo
office work for management in the Melville office. Buffalo office adopted a
process of giving the associate free time of 30 minutes off the phones. Melville
did not follow this process and the associate working for Melville had to follow
Melville guidelines. I acknowledged the associates concern,  explained the
reason Melville did not adopt the process was due to time off the phone results
in low performance results and gained the associates commitment to trusting me.
I reviewed the results one week later which indicated improved proformance.  The
associate was happy I took the time to explain why the office did not follow
that process.

Anonymous · Answer

I'm tried to answer every question when someone come to my position asked. But I
found that there are more question shows up. Finally, I realized I should tell
them how to solve problem instead of giving answer.

Anonymous · Answer

We had a sudden business push to improve revenue from small and medium
advertisers, and the expectation shifted from long-term platform improvements to
immediate impact on retention and activation.

At that time, we were building a longer-term ML-based, real-time recommendation
system, but that wouldn’t have met the urgency. So I consciously shifted the
team to a more tactical approach—introducing rule-based recommendation logic,
using batch processing instead of real-time pipelines, and relying on
high-signal heuristics from historical advertiser behavior.

This allowed us to ship much faster and directly improve net revenue retention
for SMB advertisers within the required timeframe.

The key learning for me was that as an EM, it’s not just about building the most
scalable or elegant system—it’s about balancing strategic and tactical decisions
based on business urgency, and being willing to temporarily trade long-term
optimization for short-term impact when needed.

Anonymous · Answer

"In a previous role, I had to shift from a traditional waterfall approach to an
agile way of working, which required me to change how I planned and delivered
features. Instead of waiting for full requirements, I learned to work
iteratively, break down tasks into smaller increments, and share progress and
blockers in daily stand-ups. At first it felt unfamiliar, but by asking
questions early, collaborating more closely with teammates, and seeking feedback
from a colleague experienced in agile, I adapted quickly and became more
effective at delivering value in shorter cycles."

Anonymous · Answer

l, I initially built automation scripts for trade reconciliations and reporting
using standalone Python and UNIX-based cron jobs. These worked well for smaller
data volumes, but as our operations scaled across global teams in London, Hong
Kong, and the Bahamas, performance and maintainability became a bottleneck.
I realized I needed to adapt my workflow to better support large-scale,
distributed processes. So, I changed how I worked by migrating critical
pipelines from PostgreSQL and flat scripts into a more robust ETL framework
using Databricks and Delta Lake. I restructured batch processes into streaming
jobs and modularized the Python code to be production-grade. I also started
using Kafka and Kubernetes to improve system reliability and orchestration.

Anonymous · Answer

During one of my projects, we transitioned from using a legacy frontend
framework to Angular. This change required me to rethink my approach to
development, as Angular introduced new concepts like TypeScript, reactive
programming, and component-based architecture.
Initially, it was a challenge to shift from a more traditional JavaScript
approach to a strongly typed, modular system. To adapt, I dedicated time to
upskill myself through online courses, documentation, and hands-on practice. I
also encouraged the team to adopt a 'learning-by-doing' approach, where we broke
down complex features into smaller tasks and tackled them as a team.
This shift not only enhanced my technical proficiency but also strengthened my
problem-solving skills. It allowed me to create cleaner, more maintainable code
while also improving performance and scalability. Adapting to Angular’s
architecture ultimately made me more versatile as a developer and better
prepared to work with other modern frontend frameworks like React.

Anonymous · Answer

When I lead a team of 4 in my school's annual hackathon, we had agreed upon
roles we would each participate towards our program. When I had noticed my team
had much less experience in coding and using certain tools than I did, I had to
switch from a more independent style of working to a management style role,
where I aided everyone in learning how to use platforms that would increase
their productivity and get them up to date on more important parts of the
project. For example, one teammate was using emacs and his terminal to write and
test all of his code until I brought him up to speed with Github and Vscode.

Anonymous · Answer

Yes when I was working at Vendify, I had to revamp a screen, so when designing
that I focused more on the visual design rather than solving the placing it for
the delivery persons and the retailers when I presented that to my manager he
immediately told me this is not going to work at first I was a little defensive
but then I think through that clearly I again ran a quick usability test with
the stakeholders I got to undesrtand the problem and the pain point that was
actually an eye opennner for me which gave an insight that solving users problem
and the visual design should be in a balanced approach then I iterated the
design quicly and presented it to the stakeholders and got a positive response.

Anonymous · Answer

I think the example I would like to use is my transition, my job at Morgan
Stanley. Here I was managing a very distributed team, and we had all cultures
and nationalities. We had Europeans, Americans, as well as Indian folks. I try
to understand each of these people's working style and adapt my management
approach to suit them. The European team, for example, works very well with very
clear plans. They have great attention to detail, but they don't like off-hour
requests and chaos in general. India is more willing to handle a little bit more
ambiguity and chaos, so I think we all have our strengths. I had to adapt my
management style to each of these teams and also unify them so that we can all
learn from each other and have amazing impact.

Anonymous · Answer

involve gaining a deep understanding of Agile principles and frameworks (e.g.,
Scrum, Kanban). This could involve formal training or self-study, learning how
to work in sprints, run daily standups, facilitate sprint planning and
retrospectives, and use Agile tools (e.g., Jira, Trello).
2. Adapting Communication Style: The TPM would shift from formal project updates
to more frequent, less structured check-ins with the team. Instead of monthly
status reports, communication would become more real-time, with a focus on
blockers and immediate priorities.
3. Collaborating More Closely with Development Teams: Agile demands closer, more
continuous collaboration with engineers, product managers, and designers. The
TPM might now focus on removing obstacles for the team daily, rather than just
managing long-term timelines.
4. Shifting to Short-Term Planning: Instead of planning projects in large
phases, the TPM would now break down work into smaller tasks for each sprint.
The focus would be on delivering features incrementally, gathering feedback, and
iterating based on real-world use.

Anonymous · Answer

A time I had to change the way I worked was when I acquired an associate from
another regional office. In the office where I'm located, the region follows
different criteria for off phone time and assisting and associate with questions
or escalated calls and required goal for a specific metrics that required
upsetting. In my location the goal is to coach to exceed verses meet goals.   I
changed my style to foster trust from the associate as I understand working for
the same company and sitting next to an associate doing the same job with lower
expectations can be frustrating.  I completed the on-boarding process, asked the
associate what motivates them, asked what the needed from me and explained what
I needed of them. I went over the reason  I was going to help them consistently
exceed their goals and advised we will collaborate to create and action plan
that will drive their results.  This allowed me to shift the focus on what
others in their current location was doing to how successful they had become.
The change created trust and the associate appreciated that I took the time out
to explain why things were different and the support I provided.

Anonymous · Answer

During early stage of my career , I did not know how to manage my time and work
more efficiently. Everytime there was a request for a call or my colleagues
needed help I ended up helping them instantly which in trn affected my work
which in turn made me stay late after working hours nearly everyday to finish
off my task . This led to burnout and also affected my worklife balance which
made me very frustrated. So I started speaking out and  asking my collaegues to
wait for some time or that I didn't have enough bandwidth. This helped me manage
my work effciently without being frustrated and after fifnishing off my work I
also helped colleasgues if I had time

Anonymous · Answer

If i get an oppurtunity to change my working style i would be appreciate because
I will get the new experinece. Usually I work for Hospitality industry, meet
with people and handling guest by person (directly) listen their suggestion
about the property and product but if I change it all as a remote worker it
would be a good to me. Very challenging due to I did not know who was my
customer by face to face, who was I am handling too about their preference and
etc. I need more control my abilities of how to speak how to communicate. Thank
you

Tell me about a time you've had to change the way you work.

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