Interviewers test communication and judgment, not "winning arguments."
Framework
1. Clarify the business goal 2. Restate their request in your words 3. Share trade-offs (accuracy, latency, cost, effort) 4. Offer options with recommendation 5. Align on decision and document it
STAR example outline
Situation: Product wanted "real-time" revenue on every click.
Task: Propose a feasible pipeline design.
Action: I asked what decision needed sub-second data. For hourly planning, I recommended micro-batch every 15 minutes (cheaper, simpler) and a separate alert stream only for fraud thresholds. I sketched latency vs cost and showed sample lag.
Result: We shipped 15-minute metrics first; fraud alerts later. Stakeholder got the decision value without overbuilding.
Fresher tip
Use internship/project: "Teammate wanted every column in one wide table. I argued for staged models (raw → staging → mart) so tests and ownership stay clear."
Interview tip: Never mock the stakeholder. Show curiosity + clear trade-offs.