How would you handle pressure to optimize for headline latency only?

Instruction: Explain how you would respond when stakeholders focus too narrowly on one latency number.

Context: Evaluates whether the candidate can communicate judgment, collaboration, and ownership in a real setting. Explain how you would respond when stakeholders focus too narrowly on one latency number.

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I would push back by showing what headline latency misses: tail latency, task completion, degraded behavior, and the possibility that users get faster but less useful answers. Headline numbers are tempting because they are simple, but they often produce one-dimensional optimization.

I would propose a...

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