All People Tasks 6 and 7 Flashcards
All of the following could potentially be considered an obstacle or impediment to project progress except for which of the following?
A. The team cannot move forward until you get FDA approval
B. The team cannot start until you get a permit
C. The Product Owner is adding additional requirements half-way through the release
D. The stakeholders cannot come to a decision regarding the functionality of the product
Answer: C
People - Task 7 - Remove Obstacles
Since this option states Product Owner, this implies this is an Agile project and in Agile it is expected that new requirements (user stories) will be added through the project. All of the others could potentially be an obstacle or impediment. PMI Authorized PMP Exam Prep Student Guide / Page 221
As the project manager, you and the SME team have devised the preliminary approach to your project implementation. You are now ready to onboard the project staff needed for the next series of deliverables. As you are begin assembling the project team, you want to make sure you follow proper project processes. Which of the following would be an appropriate output from the Acquire Resources process?
A. Resource Management Plan
B. Project team assignments
C. RAM
D. Organizational chart
Answer: B
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
Project team assignments are one of the outputs to the Acquire Resources process.
You and your project leadership team have devised the preliminary approach to your project implementation and are now ready to onboard some of the specialists and SMEs who will be building the primary scope items. As you are begin assembling the project team, which of the following would not be used during the Acquire Resources process?
A. Personnel administration policies
B. Resource Management Plan
C. Information about competency levels and prior experience
D. Project team assignments
Answer: D
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
The correct answer is D. Project team assignments are an output of the Acquire Resources process.
You are the project manager for a new team on a high-profile project. All of your team members are new hires to the organization, but are highly skilled in project management. While creating deliverables there have been a few conflicts in regard to scope and cost. During a review meeting with your sponsor, she states you should focus on developing the team. As the project manager, how should you proceed?
A. Focus your efforts on creating an environment of open communications, team building opportunities and trust
B. Develop a team charter and an approach to counseling subordinates
C. Counsel team members about project performance improvement in order to provide direction to the team
D. Control and monitor to compare planned vs. actual performance of scope and cost
Answer: A
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
As a project manager, you are expected to have certain knowledge, skills, and abilities; these must include the use of open and effective communication, creating team building opportunities, developing and maintaining trust among team members, managing conflict and encouraging collaborative decision making. These create a cohesive team environment. You may have selected answer B, but the question states, During a review meeting with your sponsor, she states you should focus on developing the team. Developing a team charter is done in planning and the assumption is one already exists, since the project is underway.
Your agile project team has hit several delays due to unexpected impediments in completing the work. Root-cause analysis shows these were caused by interdependencies between tasks that were discovered but not adequately communicated to team members. What could be used to help the team visualize the workflow, bottlenecks, blockers, and overall status?
A. Crashing or Fast Tracking depending on the organization’s appetite for risk.
B. Kanban Board
C. FPIF contracts could be used to speed up the work.
D. The point of total assumption
Answer: B
People - Task 7 - Remove Obstacles
Kanban boards provide clear insight into workflow, bottlenecks, blockers and overall status. Agile Practice Guide p. 105
Which of the following is false about Manage Project Knowledge?
A. It resides in the Project Integration Management Knowledge area
B. It updates Organizational Process Assets
C. It is conducted as part of Monitoring and Controlling
D. The Lessons learned register is an input to this process
Answer: C
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
Answer choice C is false. Manage Project Knowledge is an Executing Process (although the Lessons learned register is often updated while working in the Monitoring & Controlling process group). While the Lessons learned register is an output of this process, it can also be an input, especially when this process is being performed after the project has begun.
Srinivasa has worked long hours to devise an accurate and detailed Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) using RACI for his global multi-year project. He brings the RAM to his sponsor but is surprised to hear that he must now construct a histogram because the RAM does not show the information the sponsor requires. What would a resource histogram show that a RACI matrix would not?
A. The person in charge of each activity
B. Time
C. Activity
D. Interrelationships
Answer: B
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
The RACI matrix shows the relationship between resources and work packages. A resource histogram shows resource utilization over time.
You have just received authorization to assign resources to project activities. What inputs were considered during this process?
A. Contract, project charter, and business case
B. Project Charter, enterprise environmental factors, and organizational process assets
C. Project SOW, business case, and organizational process assets
D. Agreement, business case, enterprise environmental factors, and organizational process assets
Answer: D
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
The process described is Develop Project Charter, which has four inputs, and they are business documents (the business case), agreements, enterprise environmental factors, and organizational process assets.
During a status meeting with your project team, you explain to them that your risk register is only as good as the actions taken to manage the risk. Merely identifying them and recording them will not be helpful if you do not also put the responses into action. Only if _______ give the required level of effort to implementing the responses will the overall risk exposure be managed proactively. You are referring to:
A. The team members themselves
B. Risk managers
C. Risk response owners
D. Risk owners
Answer: D
People - Task 7 - Remove Obstacles
Nominated risk owners are responsible for monitoring the risks and implementing a risk response strategy. Risk managers and risk response owners are not PMBOK Guide terms.
You are the project manager for a new company. Your team is in the Forming stage and you are concerned that the team may not come together as quickly as possible. Who is responsible for organizing the training of the new staff on a project?
A. Functional manager of the team member
B. Project manager
C. Training manager
D. Project sponsor since they have the funding for training
Answer: B
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
The project manager is responsible for arranging any project specific training required to address the project needs.
Your agile project team is looking over a chart that shows defined work, work in progress, work waiting, and work completed. The work itself is represented by color-coded cards that are moved across the board to indicate its current status. During this meeting, team members are discussing the work one card at a time. What is your agile team doing?
A. Gathering voice of the customer data
B. Kanban walking or walking the board
C. Daily Retrospective
D. Validate Scope
Answer: B
People - Task 7 - Remove Obstacles
Agile Practice Guide p. 53. The act of walking the board can be part of a daily standup depending on the agile method selected.
All of the following are true regarding team member development except for which one?
A. Individual development is the foundation of team building, so without it, teams may not function as well as they could.
B. Any training needed for individual development should be completed prior to the assignment of the individuals to the team.
C. Individual development enhances the ability of the team to function as a team.
D. Team development is critical in achieving the goals and objectives of the project. Therefore, individual development is critical to achieving the goals and objectives of the project.
Answer: B
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
Training does not necessarily need to be completed prior to assigning team members. Training can occur during the course of the project.
The responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) is used for what part of planning resources?
A. Role and responsibility assignments as part of the Resource Management Plan
B. It assigns people to the project team
C. To call stakeholder meetings for project
D. Gives responsibility to client
Answer: A
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
A responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) is used to illustrate the connections between work packages or activities and project team members. It is part of the Resource Management Plan output.
You are in the planning stage of a large project that is scheduled to go live 18 months from now. You have determined how many teams must be established and the roles and responsibilities of the team members. The number of team members currently exceeds 100. You are trying to determine the most efficient way to utilize these team members and determine which resources will be needed at which times. Which document will you now be creating and updating to record this?
A. Org Chart
B. WBS
C. Roles and Responsibilities Matrix
D. Resource Management Plan
Answer: D
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
A Resource Management Plan is used, among other things, to document which resources will be used at which times. The organizational chart shows the reporting relationship of team members, the WBS shows the work breakdown (not who is performing the work). The Roles and Responsibilities Matrix shows the Roles, Authority, Responsibilities and Competencies on the project, but would not necessarily address when the resources are needed.
You are the project manager of an agile team that is responsible for developing and deploying a commercial truck fleet servicing point-of-sale (POS) transaction processing system for a client in Mexico. The software engineers are located in Auckland, New Zealand; the operations center is in Dallas, Texas; the POS vendor is in Miami, FL; and the client is in Mexico City, Mexico. You recognize that a team this geographically disbursed will present challenges regarding bonding and team identity. Which of the following will be least helpful with developing an effective virtual team under these circumstances?
A. Finding common time slots for team meetings such as daily standups and end-of-sprint retrospectives.
B. Leveraging technology such as social media, SharePoint for document storage and version control, email, and video conferencing.
C. Temporarily relocating the software engineers from New Zealand to Texas to reduce the number of time zone differences.
D. Ensuring that everyone has proper security accesses and clearances to required systems.
Answer: C
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
While answer C may reduce the number of time zone differences, it does not help promote team unity by imposing a relocation hardship on just the software engineers.
Your team operates as a well-organized unit and this is known throughout the organization. Due to the respect your team has received, you have been identified as the project manager for new project which will give your organization a strategic advantage over the competition. Due to the complexity of the project, you hired an additional team member to assist with planning. What does this mean for the team?
A. You must identify training gaps for the team
B. The team is in the forming stage of team development
C. The team must conduct procurements in accordance with the procurement management plan
D. The team is in a tight matrix organization
Answer: B
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
During the forming stage, the team meets and learns about the project and their formal roles and responsibilities. The addition of a new team member moves the team back to the forming stage.
Your team continues to make the same mistakes again and again lessons are not being learned or archived. What Agile Practice should the project manager implement to fix this problem?
A. Sprint review
B. The closeout meetings
C. Retrospectives
D. Daily Standups
Answer: C
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
Sprint reviews focus on the acceptance of the deliverable completed during that time period. The Product Owner, Sponsor & customer may participate in the Sprint Review. Close-out meetings are done at the end of a phase or the end of the project, overall. Daily standup meetings are intended to be a quick touchpoint to identify current work in progress and, especially, to identify blockers to progress. Ideally, the Scrum Master works to resolve these blockers, freeing the team resources to focus on completion of story points for the iteration. Agile Practices are in the Agile Practice Guide p 50-57.
When negotiating with functional managers for resources, you should consider personal characteristics, competency levels, and availability of the potential team members. Which of the following processes describes negotiations accurately?
A. A tool and technique of Acquire Resources
B. A tool and technique of Plan Resource Management
C. A tool and technique of Develop Team
D. A tool and technique of Management of Resources
Answer: A
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
Negotiations are a tool and technique of the Acquire Resources process. The resource management plan will help you with the negotiations, because you should consider things such as competency levels, availability, and personal characteristics when negotiating with functional managers for resources.
You are a Team Facilitator and your team has completed two sprints and you now are planning the third. However, you have noticed that a couple of team members have been struggling somewhat and their performance has been lacking. They have been asking basic questions, and the standard of their work has been quite poor. You are concerned that if this continues, this may hinder progress on your project. As a Team Facilitator, what should you do next?
A. Bring in an Agile Coach to train these low performing team members.
B. Replace the low performing team members since this might hinder project progress.
C. Arrange for these team members to go on training improve their skills .
D. Identify the skill gap
Answer: D
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
Although all of the options given would be appropriate in the right situation, the keyword in the question is “next.” You need to remove impediments, but you first need to identify the impediment. In this case, the first thing to do is identify the gap in their skill sets. Then you can work with the team to identify the best way to fill that gap (such as mentoring, training, Agile coaching). Replacing the team members would be the last extreme resort if all else fails. PMI Authorized PMP Exam Prep Student Guide / Page 10
You are interviewing candidates for the position of project manager in your company. What is the most important characteristic you should be looking for?
A. Technical knowledge about the business
B. Negotiating and convincing skills
C. Communication skills
D. Experience in your organization
Answer: C
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
Communication skills are the most important trait in a project manager, and it is estimated that a project manager will spend 90% of her time communicating with others.
Your team continues to underperform. You are looking at the amount of work completed in the last sprints to determine the average amount of work completed by the team per sprint. What are you calculating?
A. Definition of Done
B. Velocity
C. Retrospectives trend analysis
D. Spike
Answer: B
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
Agile Practices Guide discusses velocity on pages 64 and 67
You recently took over a project with a team who has been together for three years. You notice the team has multiple conflicts about technical decisions. As the project manager you know this must be dealt with in a proactive manner. With regard to team development, how should you proceed?
A. Identify the team is in the storming stage and create team building events
B. Identify the team is in the forming stage and create team building events
C. Identify the team is in the norming stage and begin execution
D. Identify the team is focusing on conflict and using reconciliation techniques to address their issues
Answer: B
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
You are a new project manager to the team. The addition of a new team member moves the group back to forming regardless of who the new team member may be. Team building events will help the project manager move the team from forming to norming.
One of your team members has told you that the team is a little behind schedule and one of the reasons is that the daily standup meetings are taking way too long. You attend the next daily standup meeting and notice that every single team member is discussing what they accomplished the day before, what they plan in accomplishing today which then leads to a detailed discussion of their issues and risks. What advice would you give to the Team Facilitator?
A. Regarding risks and issues, the daily standups should be limited to identifying them only, any discussion of resolution should be taken off-line.
B. The meeting should be more structured so they can be conducted more efficiently.
C. Advise the team facilitator that not all team members need to give their updates. If only team members with issues give updates, then the meeting will be much more efficient.
D. The Team Facilitator is performing fine. If there are issues and problems, then these need to be discussed and fixed.
Answer: A
People - Task 7 - Remove Obstacles
The daily standups should be attended by all team members and address what work was accomplished yesterday, what is going to be worked on today and what impediments there are. These impediments should be taken offline, not discussed at the meeting itself. The standup should be no more than 15 minutes.
Your Agile release is going well; you have completed two sprints and are planning the third. Based on performance so far, you are trying to identify your team’s strengths and weaknesses, team preferences, and future employment plans of team members. What are you performing?
A. Attitudinal Surveys
B. Updating the RACI chart
C. Team Skill Appraisal
D. SWOT analysis
Answer: C
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
The scenario describes Team Skill Appraisal, which by definition, is identifying strengths and weaknesses, assessing opportunities for improvement, building trust, identifying team preferences, aspirations, and decision-making, amongst others. Although SWOT analysis looks like a decent answer, it is a distractor here since a SWOT will not document the aspirations or preferences of team members.
Eliciting knowledge from team members is something best accomplished through the use of:
A. Interpersonal Skills
B. Documentation Reviews
C. Formal Authority
D. Meetings and Workshops
Answer: A
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
The most important part of knowledge management is creating an atmosphere of trust so that people are motivated to share their knowledge. This environment is best created and maintained through the use of interpersonal skills.
As the project manager you decide to bring the project team to a central location to perform the project activities. What best describes this situation?
A. The project team is dispersed so the team is self-led
B. The project team is dispersed so communication increases
C. The project team is co-located, so their ability to work as a team is enhanced
D. The project team is co-located, so project costs are greatly reduced
Answer: C
People - Task 7 - Remove Obstacles
When a project team is co-located, all of the project team members are in the same physical location in order to increase their ability to work as a team.
What process makes knowledge created by the project to be available to support organizational operations or future projects?
A. Close Project or Phase
B. Organizational Process Assets Updates
C. Manage Project Knowledge
D. Lessons Learned Register
Answer: C
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
Manage Project Knowledge leverages knowledge to produce or improve the project outcomes, and ensures knowledge created by the project is available to support organizational operations and future projects or phases.
You are the project manager in a balanced matrix organization. You continually negotiate with functional managers for resources. You must document resource utilization. Which of the following will show the number of resources used each month?
A. Bar Chart
B. Resource Histogram
C. Responsibility Matrix
D. Resource calendar
Answer: B
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
A Resource Histogram is a bar chart that depicts the resource usage. This would provide the number of resources used each month.
A project manager in your organization has departed and you have been assigned his project. You have reviewed documentation and met with team members and stakeholders. One theme that has become apparent is that some team members and stakeholders are not sure who is performing certain tasks. Which documentation did the prior project manager fail to maintain?
A. WBS
B. RACI
C. RAM
D. Both B and C
Answer: D
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) is a grid that shows the project resources or team members assigned to each work package or task. A RACI chart is one example of a RAM.
You are the project manager for a large consumer electronics company. You are managing a project in which costs are a major concern. Your sponsor, who is extremely conservative when it comes to costs, wants to discuss what types of resources you will require on your project. When would you be in a position to discuss these requirements with her?
A. After the Cost Baseline is created
B. After the project activities are sequenced
C. After the scope statement is completed
D. After the Planning process group is completed
Answer: B
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
Once the project activities are sequenced, activity resource requirements are estimated so that activity durations can then be calculated (all in an effort to create a project schedule). The scope statement would not speak to the resources required, and the Resource plan need not be completed in order to have the resource estimates requested here.
You are the project manager for a large manufacturing company. You are currently managing a project to automate your shipping and receiving department. This is a global project since you have warehouses worldwide. You are working on bringing your team together to accelerate through the stages of the Tuckman model. The primary output from the Develop Team process is ____?
A. Project team assignments
B. Project performance evaluations
C. Team performance assessments
D. Greater employee satisfaction
Answer: C
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
The outputs from the Develop Team process are team performance assessments and enterprise environmental factor updates.
As a project manager on an agile team, no obstacles or roadblocks were identified during the last two days of the project. The team has just concluded its third daily standup meeting this morning, and there are now eight obstacles/roadblocks that have been identified. You know that servant leadership is one of your primary responsibilities, which includes clearing obstacles and roadblocks for the team. You want to work on the most important ones first, so you ask the team to prioritize them. Which of the following techniques is least helpful for doing this?
A. Fist to five
B. Analogous
C. T-shirt sizes
D. Planning poker
Answer: B
People - Task 7 - Remove Obstacles
While all four are valid decision-making or estimating techniques, analogous is used to estimate durations, costs and resources for predictive projects, while the other three are used for determining relative estimates for agile projects. These agile estimating techniques can be repurposed for assigning priorities for obstacles and roadblocks.
The Project Manager is involved in acquiring the project team on a highway expansion project. The Project Manager is presently discussing salary, working hours, travel and benefits. What is the key tool the project manager is utilizing?
A. Staffing management plan
B. Organizational chart
C. Project team directory
D. Negotiations
Answer: D
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
Negotiation is key in acquiring staff for a project. It can include salary, benefits, and job responsibilities. Negotiation is also used in matrixed organizations where the PM must negotiate with a functional manager for the use of a team member. A resource management plan defines the staffing rules for the project, specifically when and how human resource requirements will be met. The project team directory shows who is on the team. The organizational chart shows reporting structures on the project.
Ronaldo is a project manager working on the Resource Management Plan for his project and wants to devise an organization that can perform effectively given some of the geographic constraints within the company. Which of the statements about organization charts & position descriptions is false?
A. All individuals and groups involved must be internal to the organization performing the project.
B. It involves identifying, documenting, and assigning project roles, responsibilities and reporting relationships.
C. It is often closely linked with communications planning.
D. It is usually done in the early phase of a project.
Answer: A
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
The individuals and groups involved may be outside the organization performing the project. Be skeptical of very restrictive terms such as "must," "always," "never," etc. on the exam.
The project is finally baselined, and the leadership group has signed off on the Project Management Plan. To aid in communications about key project processes, your team has helped create various kinds of media, such as handouts, posters, and FAQs, so project team members can get answers to key project process questions they may have. For example, you have a project organizational chart on the wall of your office. Which of the following statements regarding organizational charts is false?
A. An organizational chart can help the project manager identify the relationships between team members in smaller projects.
B. An organizational chart can help the Project Manager identify communication protocols in large projects.
C. An organizational chart is used to determine how work is authorized, to ensure the work is done by the identified organization.
D. An organizational chart can help the project team identify reporting relationships among the project team, key stakeholders, and management.
Answer: C
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
All the options are true except answer choice C, which refers to work authorization systems.
When should the Manage Project Knowledge process be performed?
A. During Closing
B. While the work is ongoing
C. During the development of the charter
D. All of the above
Answer: D
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
All of these answers are correct, as the PMBOK Guide states that this process is performed throughout the project. Lessons learned should be captured iteratively before they are forgotten.
You are the project manager with a large staffing company and are leading the project to implement a new staffing and recruitment database. This is a functional organization and you have borrowed team members from various functional managers. Your team members have very limited project management experience. You need to have your team start to work together as soon as possible. Which of the following inputs to Develop Team would be most helpful?
A. Resource management plan, Enterprise environmental factors, Organizational process assets
B. Project team assignments, Resource management plan, Resource calendars
C. Team performance assessments, Enterprise environmental factors, Organizational process assets
D. Project team assignments, Enterprise environmental factors, Organizational process assets
Answer: B
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
Both answers A and B are included as inputs to the Develop Team process. However, the question is asking which ones would be most helpful (to get the team to start working together as soon as possible.) So, the team assignments (which is a list of the team members themselves), resource calendars (which depicts when they are available) and the resource management plan (which tells us how to do team development) would all be helpful.
You and the Sponsor are doing a walk-through of the construction site, and a conversation about Six Sigma arises. She is not a fan of the Six Sigma methodology but admits she does not know enough to make a true decision. In regards to Six Sigma, what is the best response?
A. Lean Six Sigma strives to eliminate defects and increase efficiency
B. Six Sigma strives to reduce defects and increase efficiency
C. Lean Six Sigma focuses on eliminating six different types of waste
D. Six Sigma focuses on eliminating seven differently types of waste
nswer: B
People - Task 7 - Remove Obstacles
Six Sigma strives to reduce defects to no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities, by eliminating the causes of the defects. This will increase efficiency and productivity within a process. Lean Six Sigma strives to eliminate seven kinds of waste.
__ __ strives to reduce defects to no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities, by eliminating the causes of the defects
Six Sigma strives to reduce defects to no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities, by eliminating the causes of the defects
__ __ __ strives to eliminate seven kinds of waste.
Lean Six Sigma strives to eliminate seven kinds of waste.
When negotiating with functional managers for resources, you should consider personal characteristics, competency levels, and availability of the potential team members. Which of the following processes describes negotiations accurately?
A. A tool and technique of Acquire Resources
B. A tool and technique of Plan Resource Management
C. A tool and technique of Develop Team
D. A tool and technique of Manage Team
Answer: A
People - Task 6 - Build a Team
Negotiations are a conducted as a part of Interpersonal and Team Skills, one of the tools and techniques of the Acquire Resources process.
