Use this bank to probe decision quality: problem framing, evidence, trade‑offs, risk, speed, alignment, and learning loops. Each section includes prompts and cues for strong answers.

Philosophy & Frameworks

• What does a high‑quality decision look like?
  Good answers: Clear objective, explicit options, evidence, risks, owners, timeline, and review point.
• What frameworks do you use?
  Good answers: DACI/RACI, decision trees, expected value, reversible/irreversible calls, pre‑mortem/post‑mortem.
• How do you separate strategy decisions from execution decisions?
  Good answers: Criteria by scope/irreversibility; decision rights defined.
• When do you push decisions down vs. keep them central?
  Good answers: Proximity to info, risk level, and speed needs; clear guardrails.

Problem Framing & Options

• How do you reframe a poorly defined ask?
  Good answers: Restate objective, constraints, success metrics, and decision deadline.
• How do you generate options beyond the obvious?
  Good answers: Divergent/convergent phases, criteria upfront, at least A/B/C with no‑go.
• Tell me about a time reframing changed the call.
  Good answers: Before/after framing, impact on options and outcome.
• What assumptions underlie the default option?
  Good answers: Surfaced and tested assumptions with quick evidence.

Evidence, Data & Judgment

• How do you decide you have “enough” data?
  Good answers: Decision deadlines, reversibility, cost of delay; ranges/sensitivity.
• A time evidence changed your mind.
  Good answers: Disconfirming data, updated prior, communicated change.
• How do you judge data quality?
  Good answers: Definitions, sampling, reproducibility, triangulation.
• How do you blend expert input with data?
  Good answers: Track records, calibrated confidence, and explicit weights.

Speed, Risk & Reversibility

• How do you balance speed and quality?
  Good answers: Fast for reversible calls with small blast radius; slow for high‑stakes irreversible ones.
• Describe a decision you made under time pressure.
  Good answers: Timebox, minimal viable evidence, contingency plan, outcome.
• What’s your risk register for major decisions?
  Good answers: Likelihood × impact, triggers, owners, mitigations, and rollback.
• When is waiting the right call?
  Good answers: Option value, information arrival, and irreversibility.

Biases & Debiasing

• Which biases do you watch for?
  Good answers: Confirmation, sunk cost, anchoring, recency; specific antidotes (red‑team, base rates).
• Tell me about a time you overturned a HiPPO.
  Good answers: Evidence, respectful challenge, pilot, measurable result.
• How do you prevent groupthink?
  Good answers: Anonymous inputs, criteria first, separate generate vs. decide.
• How do you set decision pre‑commit rules?
  Good answers: Success/fail thresholds, timeframe, and owner; avoids hindsight bias.

Stakeholder Alignment & Communication

• How do you align conflicting stakeholders?
  Good answers: Decision narrative, options/trade‑offs, criteria, and decider clarity.
• What artifacts do you use?
  Good answers: One‑pager memo, decision log, FAQs, and pre‑reads.
• How do you communicate a decision people dislike?
  Good answers: Rationale, fairness, mitigations, and space for questions.
• What’s your escalation philosophy?
  Good answers: Clear thresholds, timelines, and who decides by when.

Scenario Planning & Contingencies

• Walk me through your scenario table.
  Good answers: Down/base/up with triggers, probabilities, and actions.
• How do you use sensitivity analysis?
  Good answers: Identify key drivers, ranges, and breakpoints.
• Tell me about a successful contingency plan.
  Good answers: Triggered response, minimized downside, learning captured.
• When do you set hard stop/kill criteria?
  Good answers: Before launch; objective metrics; governance owner.

Execution, Follow‑Through & Learning

• How do you ensure decisions turn into action?
  Good answers: Owners, milestones, comms plan, and review cadence.
• What’s your post‑decision review?
  Good answers: Compare outcomes vs. expectations; capture lessons; update playbooks.
• Share a decision you’d make differently today.
  Good answers: What changed (info or values), learning, and new rule of thumb.
• How do you avoid decision thrash?
  Good answers: Lock periods, change control, and evidence threshold for reversals.

Ethics & Compliance

• Describe a time ethics trumped speed or revenue.
  Good answers: Red lines, stakeholders impacted, alternative path.
• How do you include privacy, security, or safety early?
  Good answers: Checklists, consultations, and approvals ahead of time.
• What’s your policy on conflicts of interest?
  Good answers: Disclosure, recusal, independent review.
• How do you prevent unfair outcomes?
  Good answers: Equity impact checks, diverse reviewers, and guardrails.

Case Study Exercises

• Pricing change: Choose between options A/B/C; present decision memo with EV and risks.
• Incident response: Make a P1 call in 30 minutes; outline criteria, comms, and rollback.
• Market entry: Pick one of three countries with a scenario table and triggers.
• Roadmap trade‑off: Allocate 20 eng weeks across 5 bets; defend cut decisions.
• Vendor selection: Create a decision matrix and recommend with sensitivity analysis.

Tip: Look for explicit assumptions, clear options, calibrated confidence, and disciplined follow‑through. Great decision‑makers change outcomes and learn fast.