Establish where the understanding diverged before deciding who is right. Go back to the written requirement and the acceptance criteria: if they were ambiguous, that is on the specification; if they were clear, it is a build issue. Fix the immediate gap, then close the process hole that let it reach delivery without anyone catching it earlier.
Why interviewers ask this
Interviewers want accountability without blame shifting. They listen for going to the written artifact first, for owning specification ambiguity when it is yours, and crucially for fixing the process rather than just the defect, since something reaching delivery unnoticed means a review step failed. Candidates who reach immediately for the specification as proof they were right miss the point of the question.
How to structure your answer
- Go to the written requirement and criteria before assigning fault.
- Own the ambiguity if the specification was unclear.
- Agree the immediate fix and its priority with the business.
- Find the missing review step and close it.
- Add earlier checkpoints such as demos or walkthroughs.
Example answer
First I go and read what was actually written, before anyone starts arguing, because the answer is usually right there. If the criteria were ambiguous, that is mine and I say so quickly, because getting defensive about a specification wastes a day and costs you goodwill you will need later. If they were clear and it was still built differently, that is a different conversation and a much easier one. Either way we agree the fix and where it sits against everything else. The part I care about more is why it got all the way to delivery without anyone noticing, because that means a review step is missing or being skipped. On one project the answer was that the business had stopped attending the sprint demos, so nothing was seen until acceptance testing. We changed that to a fifteen minute walkthrough with the actual users mid sprint, and that class of problem largely stopped.
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See how it worksFollow-up questions to expect
- How do you rebuild trust with the business after something like that?
- What review steps do you consider non negotiable?
- How do you handle it when the business changed its mind but says it did not?
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