You have 12 months to deliver on a project. After 6 months you released during a meeting that another team is working on the same project. What would you do ?

This question is essentially assessing your problem-solving skills, communication ability, and your capacity to adapt and respond wisely to unplanned scenarios. The interviewer wants to understand how you would manage a situation where resources are being wasted due to a lack of coordination or communication within an organization. They are looking to see if you can handle conflicts professionally, how you ensure productive collaboration, whether you are action-oriented, and if you are proactive to straighten things out. Key points to focus on are: addressing the issue promptly, communicating with the concerned teams and management, analyzing the situation, and finding a solution that is in the best interests of the organization.

If I discovered that another team is working on the same project, I would firstly approach the team to confirm my understanding. Once I have the factual information, I would then review the objectives, scope, and progress of both the projects to see if any work can be combined thus optimizing the resources. I would then promptly communicate these findings with all the stakeholders, including both teams and senior management. I would propose a meeting with the other team and management to understand how we could potentially merge our efforts and resources to enhance efficiency if it’s feasible, or suggest the best way to divide the work if it isn't. This is definitely a situation that would require open communication, cooperation, and a positive attitude to rectify, and I would lead my team with these principles.

Firstly, I would gather as much information as possible about the situation. After all, they might be working on a related project and not necessarily a duplicate one. If it’s confirmed that it's the same project, I would immediately bring the issue to the attention of my manager or project director. Among the first steps would include setting up a meeting with the other team and their manager to discuss the objectives, scope, progress and a potential way forward for both projects. One possibility could be merging both projects while redistributing some team members to other projects in need of additional resources. Another could be defining clear boundaries and responsibilities for each team to prevent future overlap, depending on the advantages and downsides of each approach. Ultimately, finding a solution that benefits the company would be my priority in such a situation.