Tell me about a time you got a group that did not report to you to hit a date.

How to answer

Palantir’s company-wide “Getting Hired” page says onsite interviewers ask how you have motivated others; the page does not describe the FDE loop specifically. ^[1]Source 1Getting Hired - Palantir CareersPublisherPalantir TechnologiesSource typecompany hiring page This version adds two conditions: you had no authority over the group, and there was a date. The interviewer wants to hear why the group chose to hit it.

1. The date and who held the work. One sentence each: what was due, what depended on it, and which team owned the piece that was late. Name their reporting line so the lack of authority is plain.
2. Why they weren’t moving. Their competing priority, in their terms. “They were slow” is not a reason; “their own regulatory filing was due the same month” is.
3. The move that made the date theirs. The link you found between your date and something already on their list, the work you took off them and the credit you made sure they got. Quote what you said.
4. How you kept it moving. A tracker they owned, a check-in they ran, and how you handled the wobble without escalating.
5. The result, and what happened next time. Whether the date held and what it unblocked, plus one sign the goal stayed theirs, such as the team doing the next one without you.

Have two things ready for the follow-ups: what your own side gave up, and the fallback you and their lead agreed in advance if the date slipped.

The sentence to say out loud is what the group got from hitting the date. If you can’t name it, you have a pressure story.

The trap is exactly that: copying their manager, chasing daily or doing their work without asking so it stops being theirs. Taking work off them counts only when they choose what you take and they sign off on it.