At this point there are only about 15 minutes left and I’m crunched for time. The head of product comes back and says “ok, so what do you got on the board there?”

I say “Well, I started organizing my thoughts using the OGSM model. As I was working on writing down some Goals and Strategies I realized I needed input from the teacher and principal. I identified that the school staff spends about x amount of hours per week managing abrupt calls from parents that is very disruptive to their work. They also mentioned that electronics are not allowed in the classroom and the only device allowed in the room is a laptop that is rarely used so…that is my conduit between the parents and the students in the classroom.

So in order to facilitate that considering the limitations, the webapp will be focused around sending video messages and audio messages managed by the teachers accordingly. I understand this can also be disruptive on the teacher side so we should have a separate design exercise with the teachers about how we can introduce the best solution to facilitate this. We can go through that now unless you want to proceed with the rest of this exercise?”

The head of product was disappointed and looked to the representative of the principal role and said “you guys said that electronics aren’t allowed?”

The principal then (as if pressured) said “I didn’t say that, I just said it’s not something we approve of”

So then I responded and said “I personally thought I had a shot at offering free devices if we can come up with a business model in which the devices were free somehow. However when I asked if you would allow devices in the room even if they were free, you re-iterated no”

She then said “I didn’t say no did i?”

I said “yeah, trust me…providing devices for free around a positive cash flow driven business model is something I’m familiar with. I would’ve found a way to figure that out but I negated it as an option because of the hard no on electronics”

The head of product seemed disappointed in the friction experienced here and let everyone know they can go back to their desks before resuming the interview.

Yep, I clearly messed up. Everyone left and he said:

“Unfortunately it’s not the right time for you to join the team.”

He explained that the purpose of the exercise is to collaborate AS A GROUP on the solutions and strategies and have a group discussion about those details. I explained that I was mindful of the lack of time I had and so I decided to cut a few corners to make sure the group conversation was with the most meat on the bones as possible.

He said he also thought it was a bad choice that I talked to the stakeholders in isolation as opposed to having everyone back in the room. I explained that I asked for the teacher and principal for follow up questions my intent was to get some more notes and have the group discussion. But in the lack of time I decided to do as much as possible with the information given.

His response was that if he was in the room the time management may have been gone smoother and the stakeholder representatives in the room would have likely given me the information I needed much faster to progress through the exercise in the time necessary.

When he said that, I admitted I made a critical mistake blinded by the shot clock.

He nodded yes and said “Sorry, I believe you can work here someday but the timing just isn’t right this time”