Imagine the deadline is in 3 days and your backend lead just quit. What do you do?

Short answer: First, I quickly assess project status and critical tasks the lead was handling. I reassign urgent responsibilities to senior team members and ramp up communication with the team. Next, I engage with stakeholders immediately to set realistic expectations—maybe negotiate a small deadline extension if possible. Meanwhile, I support the team with resources and prioritize stabilization over new features to minimize risk.

Real-world example (ShopNest)

If a release is at risk, you cut scope (ship COD first, UPI next sprint) instead of silent overtime and a broken prod deploy.

Say this in the interview

1. Define — one clear sentence (the short answer above).
2. Example — relate it to a project like ShopNest or your real work.
3. Trade-off — when you would not use it.