PMP Practice Exam Questions Flashcards
Domain and Task Listed for each Answer
The atmosphere is tense in the sprint planning review. The agile team members are visibly unhappy—one of them kicks a chair and shouts at the product owner, “That just doesn’t make sense!”
Which two actions should the project manager take in this situation? (Choose TWO.)
A. Remind the team of the product owner’s responsibilities and authority.
B. Calm all present by asking them to call on their emotional intelligence.
C. Intervene, giving one uninterrupted minute to each person present to state their case.
D. Reprimand the member who kicked the chair with a warning.
E. Facilitate by asking the team to suggest ways to resolve the points of dispute.
C,E The project manager is addressing the conflict with a collaborate/problem approach, first ensuring all viewpoints are expressed and then inviting suggestions on how to resolve the dispute. If you remind the team about one person’s authority and/or reprimand the protesting member, you are using a force/direct approach, which is not compatible with agile principles, and which is, in any case, a last resort. On the other hand, if you only calm or placate, then you may NOT reach a compromise, which is the goal.
Domain.Task I.6
An efficient, empowered agile innovation team does NOT understand why required approvals from the legal department are allowed to delay their progress. Eventually, the team confronts the product owner in a heated exchange. The product owner replies that the approvals are needed to check for existing patents, which would block the product from going to market.
How should a project manager prevent such conflicts?
A. Require that supporting department stakeholders attend the daily meetings to report progress.
B. Ensure that the product owner can be easily approached to respond to team questions and concerns.
C. Require the team to move a story to the Kanban blocked column if they have concerns about progress.
D. Ensure that the product owner presents the team the rationale behind the refinement work flow.
B The source of this conflict is a lack of communication, as well as inaction to prevent delay. The most comprehensive response is to ensure constant communication between the team and product owner.
Domain.Task I.6
A Scrum innovation team is funded at varying levels by six (6) market units. Four (4) niche market units complain they are neglected because the team prioritizes mainstream unit goals. The marketing director suggests devoting a constant 40% of the team effort to the four (4) niche units in a balanced way.
How can the team support this request?
A. Group stories by unit; select 40% of niche stories to work on at each sprint.
B. Split stories into mainstream or niche groups; plan 40% of niche story points at each sprint
C. Group stories by unit; plan 10% of story points per niche unit at each sprint
D. Split stories into mainstream or niche groups, plan 10% of mainstream stories at each sprint .
C The requirement is to devote 40% of effort (story points) to each of the four (4) niche units at every iteration.
Group by unit: 4 niche + 6 mainstream
40% story points / 4 units = 10%
Domain.Task I.6
An R&D executive, who is a project stakeholder, occasionally visits the agile team’s work area to give instructions about urgent feature work. The team begins work. During sprint reviews, the product owner becomes upset that the team worked on the requested features.
How should the team address the problem?
A. Escalate to ensure that the executive no longer interferes with the team.
B. Meet with the executive and product owner to agree on a work flow.
C. Require that the executive issues change requests for new items.
D. Give the executive access to add new items to the backlog.
B In this case, the R&D executive stakeholder is bypassing the product owner and creating disruption. A working agreement between the executive and the product owner is needed to restore order.
Domain.Task I.6
A project manager needs stakeholder involvement in order to identify strategic and operational assumptions and constraints. Unfortunately, the project manager is having difficulty obtaining consistent input due to lack of participation.
In which two ways can the project manager encourage the stakeholder to participate and collaborate? (Choose TWO.)
A. Use political awareness techniques.
B. Be a servant leader.
C. Timebox meetings.
D. Use effective facilitation techniques.
B,D Facilitation is the ability to effectively guide a group event to a successful decision, solution, or conclusion. A facilitator ensures effective participation, so that participants achieve a mutual understanding, that all contributions are considered, that conclusions or results have full buy-in according to the decision process established for the project, and that the actions and agreements achieved are appropriately dealt with afterward.
Domain.Task I.6
A project team is small, and the team members have known each other for a long time. The team’s project is in the execution stage. Recently, a team member told the new project manager that another team member has been complaining about how the project is being managed.
How should this new project manager respond?
A. Review the current stakeholder engagement plan to identify how to resolve this difficulty.
B. Schedule a team meeting to discuss the current team charter and ground rules, especially around communication and teamwork expectations.
C. Hold a team morale-building event to improve team culture.
D. Speak to the team members individually and ask them how they would like to deal with the situation.
B A team meeting is the best solution because it encourages every team member to participate and results in a clear set of guidelines for the team.
Domain.Task I.6
A project manager is working on multiple projects. One project has new team members and is in early stages. The other projects are in various states of execution for the next few weeks.
How can the project manager develop the new project team over the next few weeks?
A. Help team members create a set of agreed rules for working, or social contract, that encourages team cohesion.
B. Suggest that the team engage in multiple team-building events to normalize the team.
C. Keep the team informed by sending short daily project status updates.
D. Engage in face-to-face personal conversations with each team member to build relationships.
A Creating a social contract—or a set of agreed rules for working—will allow the team to normalize and be self-servicing when you are unavailable. The other choices do NOT encourage the team members to develop independently and as a team.
Domain.Task I.6
A new project team is setting early priorities, and they plan to gain the customer’s trust by delivering value as quickly as possible. Team member C mentions that they have worked with the project sponsor on other projects.
How should the project manager connect these two facts and create an advantage for the project team?
A. Make team member C the project leader since they already know the sponsor.
B. Ask team member C to tell the whole team everything they know about the sponsor so that the team can work better.
C. Explore how team member C can use personal influence with the sponsor to increase the project’s potential for benefits realization.
D. Discuss whether team member C has a conflict of interest in order to maintain an ethical standard.
C Personal influence is a leadership skill that enables project teams and individuals to use existing relationships, building on them to further project activities and goals. In this case, team member C has an existing relationship that may help the project team to understand more quickly the needs of the project sponsor.
Domain.Task I.6
A project’s daily standup meetings are long, often lasting more than two hours. The project team uses the standup meetings for extended discussions about solutions to project obstacles.
What should the project manager do to improve the daily standup meetings?
A. Allow the meetings to remain long but ensure that the time is productive by using an agenda and recording minutes.
B. Timebox each speaker using a stopwatch in standup meetings.
C. Nominate a team member to manage obstacles and schedule meetings to discuss possible solutions.
D. Coach team members towards shortening standup meetings to 10-15 minutes and improve their method for identifying solutions.
D Daily standups are important meetings for agile teams. The project manager should coach the team in how a daily standup meeting is run and what is discussed. Teams run their own standups, and when run well, they can be very useful. Daily standups are typically 10-15 mins and three questions are answered: 1) What did you do since the last standup? 2) What will you do today? 3) Are there any impediments or roadblocks? Hold separate meetings to discuss the blockers and find the solutions.
Domain.Task I.6
Leaders of high-performing project teams __________ team members’ skills and knowledge and keep team members __________ throughout the project.
Fill in the blanks with the correct set of responses.
A. nurture, motivated
B. reward, scheduled
C. identify, aware
D. leverage, rewarded
A The primary goal of a project manager in relation to supporting a high-performing project team is to ensure that the team has the right skills and knowledge to complete the work and to keep them motivated to do their best work. These actions potentially optimize project outcomes.
Domain.Task I.6
A project manager is having difficulty obtaining consistent input from stakeholders and needs their input to identify assumptions and constraints.
How can the project manager improve stakeholder engagement?
A. Use political awareness techniques.
B. Institute checklist policies.
C. Research effective meeting management techniques.
D. Make use of effective facilitation techniques.
D Facilitation is the ability to effectively guide a group event to a successful decision, solution, or conclusion. A facilitator ensures effective participation, that participants achieve a mutual understanding, that all contributions are considered, that conclusions or results have full buy-in according to the decision process established for the project, and that the actions and agreements achieved are appropriately dealt with afterward.
Domain.Task I.6
The agile team is composed of highly skilled product design engineers. Their reputation for quality and speed has earned them new duties in concept development for new products, but team output in this new role has fallen steeply compared to their design work.
Which two measures are most effective to improve team productivity in this case? (Choose TWO.)
A. Plan a creativity spike in the next iteration.
B. Seek creative thinkers to mentor the team.
C. Prolong the iterations to adjust to new tasks.
D. Hire more T-shaped profiles into the team.
E. Boost motivation with a team building event.
B,D The key problem of the team is that specialists are outside of their comfort zone. Mentoring and diversifying the team so that it is more cross-functional is the most efficient measure. Relying on the team’s existing skill set to perform a spike or boosting their motivation or prolonging iterations will NOT address the root problem of specialization.
Domain.Task I.6
The agile team excels at solving technical problems, but when the product owner requests creative or business-related ideas, the team falls silent.
Is this a problem?
A. Yes, specialist teams are prone to higher error rates.
B. No, specialist teams are more effective than generalists.
C. Yes, lack of diversity will limit the team’s adaptability.
D. No, the team performs better without useless distractions.
C T-shaped skills are desirable in agile team members. Having a broad set of skills enables people to work more independently and with greater ability to adapt to changing needs.
Domain.Task I.6
A project manager experienced in predictive methods is taking on an agile project for the first time. To help in making a successful transition, the project manager makes a list of situations that may arise from inadequate action as a servant leader.
Which three situations would be on this list? (Choose THREE.)
A. Team members avoid taking on challenging tasks.
B. Team members avoid direct communication with other departments.
C. Team members raise impediments they are unable to eliminate.
D. High performers in the team move to more senior positions.
E. Project stakeholders’ express skepticism of agile methods.
A,B,E Servant leaders must promote professional development through challenges and help team members build bridges with external groups. They also educate stakeholders on the business value of agile methodology.
Domain.Task I.6
An agile team needs to decide who should represent them in the Scrum of Scrums.
Which criteria should a project manager use to select the best-suited team member?
A. How well the member knows the work in the other teams
B. How well the member applies their depth of expertise
C. How convincing the member is as a public speaker?
D. How long they have been working with Agile methods
A The most important factor to effectively collaborate between teams in a Scrum of Scrums is to understand the work across all teams. This knowledge promotes effective coordination to identify and resolve dependencies and impediments. The other qualities are mainly important within the team (expertise and influence).
Domain.Task I.6
While monitoring progress of the agile team, the project manager notices that an expert member’s output is much lower compared with that of junior team members. This is a surprise, as the expert works diligently on the most complex tasks and always produces defect-free results.
Which is the most likely explanation for the developer’s low output?
A. The expert works faster and reports fewer hours than the junior members.
B. Younger team members are normally more productive.
C. The story point estimates on the expert’s work are consistently too low.
D. The expert runs more tests and therefore completes fewer stories.
C Story point estimates would be used measure progress in an agile project, and actual hours worked would NOT be apparent unless readjusted. However, as an important note, an agile team is self-organized and the emphasis is on team output, NOT individual effort.
Domain.Task I.12
The Project Management Office wants to offer constant reporting across the dozens of agile projects running concurrently. They want to use information radiators to share progress status and key lessons learned.
How can this best be achieved?
A. Place monitors displaying combined feature burn-up charts and a digest of retrospectives.
B. Use fishbowl windows to show all project teams’ Kanban boards and charts in real time.
C. Place webcams to broadcast all Kanban boards and cycle the images sequentially on the radiator.
D. Set up an internal Wiki page which all agile teams update in real time and users consult on demand.
A The feature burn-up chart can be used as a common measure of progress, and lessons learned are recorded in retrospectives. Information radiators are physical displays used to share up-to-date information across the organization. They are NOT live cams exclusively (fishbowl and webcam distractors) and the information is NOT on demand (Wiki page).
Domain.Task I.12
The last three agile iterations showed a trend of increasingly prolonged test work.
Which activity should the project manager plan to address the root cause?
A. Adopt test automation tools.
B. Plan an iteration of testing only.
C. Practice a paired testing policy.
D. Plan more backlog refinement.
D Overly complex stories can cause prolonged periods of testing. Backlog refinement is used to break down complex stories into smaller packages.
Domain.Task I.12
After three agile iterations showed a trend of increasingly prolonged test work, the team performed an intensive backlog refinement.
What metrics would show that the problem was effectively addressed?
A. Increase in value per story
B. Speed of impediment resolution
C. Stories completed per iteration
D. Decrease in backlog item count
C Refinement results in smaller, less complex stories, which allows the team to complete them faster.
Domain.Task I.12
The project manager receives a progress report showing that the agile project is NOT on track. Since all work was deliberately selected and sequenced to meet higher-level objectives, the project manager is surprised by the report.
In the future, how can the project manager prevent this type of miscommunication?
A. Support self-organization for the project team and help them provide buy-in for the project.
B. Ensure that there is a contingency reserve to cover these issues.
C. Ensure that the team is trained to use the agile process reporting system.
D. Provide early training and ongoing mentoring about the agile approach for the project team.
A For agile projects, rather than a project manager selecting and sequencing work, higher-level objectives are explained, and the team members are empowered to self-organize specific tasks as a group to best meet those objectives. This leads to the creation of practical plans with high levels of buy-in from the team members.
Domain.Task I.12
Project team members are concerned that a new resource does NOT seem suitable for an assigned task.
How should the project manager respond to this concern?
A. Contact senior management to discuss the possibility of reassigning the new resource to a different project.
B. Schedule time to chat with the new resource to re-assess their skills and understand their strength level.
C. Ask the team members to document task-related deficiencies displayed by the resource.
D. Contact the project sponsor to highlight these concerns and decide on an appropriate response.
B The project manager should talk to the new member to re-assess their skills and understand their strengths, to see if they meet the needs for the project. The opinions of other team members, even if correct, is NOT a direct cause for action.
Domain.Task I.12
A cross-functional team on Project B reports a delay in developing a prototype. The project manager believes that the cause is lack of knowledge in a specific, required skill on the team.
In which three ways can the project manager prevent this situation on future projects? (Choose THREE.)
A. Ask the team leader to recommend a solution.
B. Identify required skills and organize the team based on the strength of those skills.
C. Make a list of required, specific skills for the project.
D. Outsource the task to a skilled expert.
E. Identify the skill deficiency as a project risk.
B,C,D Developing the team and proactively strengthening individual team members’ skills is an important part of servant leadership. This means that the project manager needs to know the required strengths and skill sets needed for a project and recruit or be able to outsource the work to a resource with that skill.
Domain.Task I.12
A project manager notices that team member A seems more unhappy after every team meeting. After looking into the situation, the project manager finds out that team member A is not making progress on a key activity. This has an impact on the critical path. Team member A also feels that they are NOT in the correct role within the project team.
What should the project manager do?
A. Reassure team member A about their abilities by reminding them that they were chosen for a reason.
B. Meet with team member A to discuss where they can contribute, based on their strengths.
C. Enroll team member A in targeted training to acquire the needed skills for their assigned role.
D. Reassign team member A to a more appropriate role in another project.
B Meeting with team member A to find out if they are correctly placed in a project role is the best response. The individual may be right. As a servant leader, you can help them find the correct role. The other responses may be helpful, but they miss addressing the team member’s concern.
Domain.Task I.12
A customer requests a change in the technical approach for a product in development. The project manager learns about this request during a recurring project review.
How should the project manager respond?
A. Work with team members to immediately implement the new approach.
B. Let the team decide on the appropriate approach, giving them authority to implement and validate their decision in talks with stakeholders.
C. Discuss the pros and cons of the proposed approach with stakeholders, then select the approach that is best for the team and notify team members.
D. In order to obtain sponsor buy-in, allow the team to benchmark the approach.
B As this is a technical issue, the project manager should discuss the request with the team and empower them to assess and select the best options to solve the customer’s request and communicate it with them.
Domain.Task I.12
A project manager receives complaints from a project sponsor because of a delay in developing a prototype. The project manager consults the resource management plan and responds that the delay was due to a lack of knowledge in a specific skill that was needed by the cross-functional project team.
How can the project manager perform this task better in the future?
A. Create training sessions at the start of the project, so all necessary skills are learned.
B. List required skills for the project and organize the project team based on those skills.
C. Consult with the project sponsor to add training once the lack of a specific skill becomes apparent.
D. Empower team members to problem solve where skills may be lacking, using the skills they do have.
B Develop the resource management plan by defining the roles and responsibilities of the project team members to create a project organizational structure and provide guidance regarding how resources will be assigned and managed.
Domain.Task I.12
Most of an agile team’s members are away for a month, but the project needs to make progress. The project manager outsources the work to overseas contractors to work remotely on the stories. In their first sprint, the overseas team did NOT understand certain usability requirements, but still managed to complete five (5) stories that were previously blocked because the original team could NOT handle the algorithmic complexity of the work.
What should the project manager do in this situation to make progress on the project?
A. Engage an interpreter to translate all the requirements
B. Assign all the usability stories to the remaining local team member
C. Reprioritize the backlog to match the remote team’s skills
D. Find another remote team with better linguistic skills.
C The project manager should notice that the remote team has a higher specialist skill level and seek to leverage their talent. This action fills the skill gaps of the local team.
Domain.Task I.12
A project manager wants to know whether an agile team possesses a good combination of T-shaped skills.
What can the project manager measure to determine this?
A. Decrease in detected defects
B. Reduction in reassigned tasks
C. Less internal knowledge sharing
D. More collaboration with SMEs
B By including T-shaped members, teams can collaborate better to complete work, and members will NOT need to reassign tasks to others.
Domain.Task I.10.
An agile team member solved a problem that had blocked work for several weeks. After release of the software, it appears that the solution caused a function to fail. The quality director demands an explanation.
In which two ways should the project manager react? (Choose TWO.)
A. Ask the team member to present his rationale and lessons learned.
B. Work with the team to identify gaps in the Definition of Done.
C. Issue a warning to the team member about NOT taking risky initiatives.
D. Work with the team to identify gaps in the Definition of Ready.
E. Respond to the director that mistakes are inevitable but will be remedied.
A,B Agile teams must have accountability for the results of their work. In this case, valuable lessons learned and context of error are shared. The team will have to collaborate on ways to prevent the problem by updating the Definition of Done—for example, adding checks on external conditions.
Domain.Task I.10.
A recently formed agile team is exhausted after working 12-hour days to fulfill sprint commitments.
Who has NOT properly performed their duties in this situation?
A. Project manager
B. Team members
C. Product owner
D. Scrum master
D The Scrum master has the role of ensuring that the team’s working conditions, including workload, are appropriate and sustainable.
Domain.Task I.10.
The product owner’s schedule is very busy, and he wishes to delegate some of his tasks to the experienced agile team.
Which task is suitable to delegate to the agile team?
A. Prioritize items to the backlog according to size.
B. Initiate and run backlog refinement sessions.
C. Select prioritized items for the sprint backlog.
D. Add items to the backlog before prioritization.
D The product owner typically has sole authority to prioritize and plan the backlog according to business needs. Refinement also requires prioritization. Adding items can be delegated, and the product owner would prioritize at a later time.
Domain.Task I.10.
A project is in the execution stage, and a change in the market pushes stakeholders to make the due date earlier. The project manager rapidly assigns skilled resources to build and establish the team.
Which of the following would NOT be included in the project manager’s next steps?
A. Assess required skills for the project.
B. Plan suitable interactions for the team.
C. Train the new team.
D. Create a project schedule.
A Skill assessment for the project precedes resource assignment. Once the project team is established, the project manager can start developing them. Develop Team is the process of improving competencies, team member interaction, and overall team environment to enhance project performance.
Domain.Task I.8
Project A is experiencing schedule performance issues. After assessing the issues, the project manager determines that project resources have low expertise levels.
Specifically, a few of the senior-level resources perform irrelevant work, and some inexperienced resources take too much time to complete tasks.
Which action should the project manager take to enhance team performance?
A. Implement training where necessary and make work requirements more visible for all team members.
B. Reassign the senior-level resources as coaches and mentors to the inexperienced ones.
C. Give the junior team members incentives to work faster; send an email to the senior-level resources.
D. Remind the entire team of project goals, schedules, roles, and timelines during the next team meeting.
A The project manager must ensure the junior members are properly trained and ensure that all team members are doing the work that they are supposed to be doing. Implementing training and keeping everyone’s work visible is the most comprehensive option to achieve both goals.
Domain.Task I.8
Several new members are added to an ongoing project. Although all original team members received basic training on the specifics of the business operation that the project supports, the new members do NOT have the same basic understanding. This lack of understanding results in decreased productivity.
How should the project manager respond to this issue?
A. Ask the original team members to provide support and training and schedule a second kick-off meeting for new team members.
B. Assure all new team members that they should feel comfortable asking for help from both the long-term members and project manager.
C. Revise the team, so that the newer resources are moved to other projects and resources with relevant experience are added, then log lessons learned.
D. Recognize that this is a common occurrence when teams experience changes and revise the schedule to allow for the slight decrease in productivity.
B It is the project manager’s responsibility to make sure that the new members are adequately trained. This approach provides that training.
Domain.Task I.8
A team decides that an agile approach fits the needs of the next phase in their project. Unfortunately, some team members have NOT had the appropriate agile training.
How should the project manager respond to the lack of agile training?
A. Transition some of these team members to other teams and replace them with resources with agile training.
B. Ensure the project’s contingency reserve can cover agile training for all team members.
C. Create virtual training sessions for key team members, covering the main agile topics.
D. Identify and implement the most cost-effective agile training for the team members.
D Training for project team members can result in added skills that could be useful for future phases or projects. The project manager should identify and implement agile training for team members. Training lessons and related costs should be evaluated and included in the resource management plan and cost and schedule baselines.
Domain.Task I.8
A project team has been efficiently delivering results. The product upgrade they are working on must be released in three months or else a competitor’s new product will make theirs obsolete. Citing this reason, the product owner makes a sudden request for a feature revision. However, no one on the project team is capable of doing the work. The project sponsor is willing to extend the budget but CANNOT extend the schedule.
What should the project manager do?
A. Meet the new demand by adding new resources with the required skills.
B. Recommend suspending the project until a firm decision can be made.
C. Discuss options with the project sponsor and choose the best one.
D. Challenge the request and initiate customer research to determine whether the new feature is desirable.
A In situations with time constraints, the most efficient option is expanding the team to include skilled resources. Training is also an option if resources have the capability to learn within the timeframe. The project sponsor has already made their request, so it is up to the project manager to realize it. Agile projects are designed to function in highly complex and unpredictable environments, so suspending or cancelling the project hardly ever is an option.
Domain.Task I.8
Some agile approaches have recently been added to an infrastructure company’s predictive processes. The team is NOT completing the planned story points, and they are becoming passive. The project manager is concerned and wants to improve productivity.
Which two actions should the project manager take? (Choose TWO.)
A. Provide team training, so the team can do a better job of estimating story points.
B. Speed up the project by reducing the backlog.
C. Gain the needed time for story point completion by adding more iterations to the project.
D. Use burndown and burnup charts to evaluate team performance and show story points completion.
A,D Training can be a great way to empower team members to grow their skillsets. This would also create consistency in story point estimation techniques. Burndown charts show the remaining story points and burnup charts show story point completion.
Domain.Task I.8
An agile approach is required during the final phase in a team’s project. As the team discusses the phase, some team members disclose that they have NOT worked with agile before. The deadline is approaching soon.
How should the project manager respond?
A. File a change request that addresses the agile training that members lack.
B. Escalate this as an issue to the project sponsor, as it is a company-wide issue and a blocker for this project.
C. Ask the team members who have worked with agile to mentor the others.
D. Identify and provide the most cost-effective agile training for team members.
D Providing training to project team members can result in added skills that can be useful for future phases or projects. Training lessons and related costs could be evaluated to be included in the resource management and cost management plans. Mentoring is a good idea, but with a firm schedule, you may NOT have enough time to transfer skills while getting project work done. Finally, this is the project manager’s issue to deal with, NOT the project sponsors.
Domain.Task I.8
A project has the following characteristics:
- Schedule performance issues occur due to low expertise levels of project resources.
- Junior-level resources are NOT completing tasks in a timely manner.
- Highly-experienced resources report that their junior colleagues are performing unnecessary tasks.
In what two ways can the project manager enhance the performance of this team? (Choose TWO.)
A. Meet with the team leader to discuss the situation and decide if escalation to the project sponsor is necessary.
B. Implement a whole-team training program to address efficient working and task completion.
C. Work collaboratively with the team to design training and a checklist for task completion aligned with project goals.
D. Design a checklist for all team members.
E. Set up mentoring sessions within the team so that the experienced resources can coach the junior resources and work collaboratively.
C,E Project managers should attempt to resolve issues using the tools and techniques available to them prior to changing the plan or escalating the issue. Providing training to those who need it will improve team performance and implementing a checklist ensures each team member is checking only what needs to be checked.
Domain.Task I.8
During Project A’s kickoff phase, the project manager provided training for the entire team regarding the specifics of the company operations that the project supports.
A year later, project productivity is suffering because members who were added later in the project do NOT have the same level of understanding.
How should the project manager respond to this challenge?
A. Tell the newer team members to ask for help from the long-term members when they run into things they do not understand.
B. Ask current team members to provide training and support and hold a second kick-off meeting for new team members.
C. Add new members who have the relevant experience, reassign the newer team members, and log turnover issues in the lessons learned register.
D. Recognize that this is a natural project progression and revise the schedule to allow for the slight decrease in productivity.
B It is the project manager’s responsibility to make sure that the new members are adequately trained. This approach provides that training.
Domain.Task I.8
A technology development project has the following characteristics:
It requires a highly skilled resource that is unavailable locally.
The project manager has identified a resource who can do the work, but the resource lives in a different country and requires a work visa.
The work visa process is taking more time than anticipated.
What should the project manager do?
A. Assign the existing team overtime work.
B. Reduce the project scope.
C. Delay the project by an equivalent duration.
D. Request that the resource work remotely.
D The use of virtual teams creates new possibilities when acquiring project team members. Virtual teams can be defined as groups of people with a shared goal who fulfill their roles with little or no time spent meeting face to face. The availability of communication technology such as email, audio conferencing, social media, web-based meetings, and video conferencing has made virtual teams feasible.
Domain.Task I.8
A key team member is asked to move to another project during the middle of a technical project. The team believes this is an unwise move and expresses concern.
Which action will help to resolve the issue?
A. Discuss the conflict with the project sponsor and formulate a response.
B. Use coaching tools and techniques to motivate the project team.
C. Replace the key team member with a new resource who has the same skills.
D. Acknowledge the team’s concern and analyze the impact to the project.
D The project manager should know how to handle key personnel changes and keep the team motivated and productive.
Domain.Task I.8
A project manager is working on a small project that is critical for a larger program milestone. A new resource has been assigned to replace a key resource who had to leave the project. Unfortunately, an outside stakeholder claims that the person who assigned the new resource sent their weakest team member.
How should the project manager approach this rumor?
A. Assess the new resource’s ability to perform the necessary work by testing their communication skills with the current project team.
B. Evaluate the skills of the new resource to see how the resource can provide value to the project.
C. File a request with the project management office (PMO) manager in order to obtain a better resource.
D. Address the rumor with the new resource’s functional manager to mitigate any conflict within the project team.
B Without seeing performance first-hand, the rumor has no validity. In general, any third-party information—hearsay or rumors, for example—is a danger to relationships in a project, as it may create strained relationships. Always investigate any suspected problems and find out the facts.
Domain.Task I.4
A project manager in an organization that uses traditional project management is assigned to an ongoing project. Recently, the organization has started to use agile methodologies for projects. The project manager hears that some team members think key subject matter expertise is missing and that the team does NOT collaborate enough.
How should the project manager respond to these team members’ concerns?
A. Employ third-party specialists to fill the knowledge gap.
B. At the next standup meeting, emphasize the importance of collaboration to the entire team.
C. Add cross-functional internal resources and explain their value to the team.
D. Start using Kanban boards instead of Gantt charts so that work co-dependencies become obvious to everyone.
C Agile projects require “T” shaped team members. That is, individuals who are cross-functional and understand the importance and value of collaboration across functional areas. In this case, the team needs the addition of skilled resources and people who collaborate.
Domain.Task I.4
During a technical project, a well-liked project member is reassigned to a different project. The team has expressed disapproval regarding the reassignment.
What action can help mitigate the team’s disapproval?
A. Notify the project sponsor regarding the team’s disapproval and brainstorm a response.
B. Employ leadership and emotional intelligence tools and techniques to inspire the team to continue working.
C. Add a resource with the same skills to replace the key team member.
D. Schedule a team-building day to keep the team happy.
B The project manager should know how to handle key personnel changes and keep the team motivated and productive.
Domain.Task I.4
A new resource joins a working project team and is assigned to a small project that is critical to a larger program milestone. Unfortunately, the new resource is under-skilled and very nervous. The team dynamic has become awkward, and work has slowed on the small project.
Which are two possible ways for the project manager to handle this situation? (Choose TWO).
A. Assess the new resource’s communication skills to evaluate their ability to perform acceptably as part of the project team.
B. Talk with the new resource about their skills and then determine how they can contribute to the project.
C. Privately ask the project management office (PMO) to assign a different resource with better skills.
D. Meet with the functional manager of the new resource to understand their background better.
E. Solicit the team about integrating and coaching the new team member.
B,E Without seeing performance first-hand, there is no available proof to the hearsay. Therefore, meet with the new resource to learn about their qualifications for work and introduce them to the team as you would with any other new resource.
Domain.Task I.4
On an agile team, staff members from various organizational departments rotate in and out, to augment the team.
How can the project manager help shield the permanent team members from disruption?
A. Give them authority to assign tasks to the rotating members.
B. Ask staff leaving the project to pick members who deserve recognition.
C. Give them higher priority to choose which tasks they work on.
D. Require staff leaving the project to run a knowledge-sharing workshop.
D Loss of skills is one of the most disruptive factors to a team. Knowledge-sharing workshops would mitigate this and help develop the team to be more cross-functional.
Domain.Task I.4
Before the next iteration begins, project team B meets about an unexpected challenge which threatens to delay the current phase. The task in the next iteration CANNOT be completed because of this challenge. Another team within the project is depending on timely completion of Task 1 in order to fulfill their work.
How should the project manager resolve this issue?
A. Meet with both teams separately and ask them to figure out a way to meet the required deadlines and complete the project on time.
B. Meet with the product owner to prioritize the iteration backlog, so that it does NOT impact other teams or obligations.
C. Increase the number of team members for the project team and increase the iteration length, ensuring that the work will be completed according to schedule.
D. Let team members know you want them to do their best under difficult circumstances, and make sure to note the iteration’s challenges in the next retrospective.
B In agile or adaptive environments, the product owner and the team should prioritize and reprioritize tasks they know will or might impact other work. Always consider risk exposure when prioritizing tasks.
Domain.Task I.4
During a meeting, a project manager learns that a business result needs to be delivered in four (4) weeks, although the original schedule stated sixteen (16) weeks. The project manager also hears that there is NO available technical resource. The project manager knows the technical resource manager because they worked together on a previous project.
What is the first thing the project manager should do?
A. Notify the project sponsor about the lack of a technical resource.
B. Immediately escalate the issue to decision makers in the organization.
C. Check with the technical resource manager to see if there is an available technical resource.
D. Hire an outside party to meet the need for a technical resource.
C The project manager should first confirm with the technical resource manager whether a resource is available.
Domain.Task I.4
A project manager in a virtual team realizes, during the third iteration of product development, that the team dashboard that shows progress on work is faulty and is NOT showing updates.
Which action should the project manager take?
A. Keep the team working and send daily email updates to the team.
B. Rank the need to fix the dashboard according to the business value for upcoming iterations.
C. Get the dashboard fixed.
D. Document the issue as a new project risk and propose a solution.
C In an agile virtual team, the project manager needs to keep work visible so that the team can see progress. This is essential. Changing the way the team works together in the middle of a project can be very disruptive. In this case, they are lucky that a problem did NOT arise. The project manager needs to protect the team against impediments and allow them to focus on their work.
Domain.Task I.4
Project D is working virtually because of a recent natural disaster. Several activities are delayed because a project team member has NOT been working for the past week. This impacts the critical path.
How should the project manager respond to this problem?
A. Obtain a new resource to complete the needed tasks until you can speak to the team member directly.
B. Discuss the situation with the team member’s functional manager and enable them to manage the team member.
C. Remind the team member about responsibility and accountability.
D. Ask a team member who knows this person well to try and find the missing team member and report back.
A The team member has been away from work after a natural disaster. In addition to that, the team is working virtually, so communication is already different than when everyone was co-located in the office. Empathy is required here. Take action without being intrusive or asking others to intervene. There could be many reasons for the absence, and while the team member is your responsibility, completing the project work is your first priority.
Domain.Task I.4
During an iteration, a project team working in country B encounters problems that may cause a delay in completion of task B. Teams in country A need task B to be completed on time in order to meet their schedules. These teams work together virtually.
What can the project manager do to resolve this problem?
A. Ask the team in country B to work harder to complete on time, in order to avoid delaying the work of other teams.
B. Ask the teams to collaborate virtually to find a solution to avert the potential delay.
C. Increase the iteration length, and add additional resources to the project team, so that they can meet the appropriate deadlines.
D. Ask team members to perform to the best of their abilities during the iteration and engage in a retrospective after completion of the iteration.
B “May cause a delay” does NOT mean the task completion will be delayed. To improve the probability of success, the team should collaborate and find a solution. They know their work best, and despite working virtually, they should be able to find a solution.
Domain.Task I.5
A new project manager needs to deliver a high-stakes agile project. The vendor working with the team is in another country. Though this vendor has delivered excellent quality work on time in the past, they are currently behind schedule. The team explains to the project manager that their attempts to get the vendor back on schedule have failed. They have sent emails and phoned, but the vendor only gives vague, noncommittal responses. The product owner insists that this vendor is essential to the success of the project and an important partner of the business.
Which action should the project manager take?
A. Contact the vendor and be direct about the consequences of their actions and delays
B. Create a virtual workspace for the team so that everyone is aware of and accountable for their tasks and aware of due dates. Include the product owner.
C. Work with procurement to amend the vendor’s service agreement, with specific terms and conditions for work.
D. Ask the product owner to use personal influence to get the vendor back on schedule.
B Communication in virtual teams can be challenging. Being direct may NOT leave a good first impression and revising a service agreement may be perceived as hostile by the vendor. This vendor is critical to the success of the project and important to the business, and the team may be getting demoralized by their unsuccessful attempts to manage the vendor. Be attentive of these factors using active listening and emotional intelligence. Creating a workspace that enables everyone on the project team to see the project work and be accountable for delivering their work on time is the best option here. Including the product owner in the virtual work space as an informed party is wise.
Domain.Task I.5
A longstanding, key team member in a virtual team has been unmotivated for weeks after the death of a family member. Because of this, several project activities are behind schedule, impacting the project’s critical path.
How should the project manager handle this situation?
A. Replace the team member.
B. Discuss the situation with the team member and work with them to identify a workable solution.
C. Escalate this situation as an HR issue and ask other team members to work overtime.
D. Ask the functional manager for additional support on the project, including assignment of a new resource.
B A project manager is a servant leader. Servant leadership means listening and acting with empathy. Especially in virtual teams, facilitating servant leadership can be a challenge. Replacing the key team member is a unilateral action that project team members and others may perceive as drastic, considering the circumstances. Asking others, such as HR or the functional manager, to intervene is a good idea, but the team member should be consulted first, and asking the team to work overtime is always a gamble. Given all of this, the project is the priority here. Speak with the team member first, using emotional intelligence and empathy, but with a firm approach to completion of work as a priority.
Domain.Task I.5
Several items remain in the Kanban blocked column despite the team’s efforts to resolve the issues. The retrospective reveals that all of the impediments relate to mandatory corporate business processes, which introduce wait times.
What should the project manager do next?
A. Act as a servant leader to resolve the pending business process issues while the team attends a team-building event.
B. Dedicate the next iteration to team training on the business processes to help them work more autonomously.
C. Work with process owners to streamline procedure and secure the team coaching on the processes.
D. Work with the team to increase the story point estimates in the backlog to account for the business process delays.
C The servant leader should work within the organization to simplify processes affecting the team as much as possible. However, large companies typically need internal processes, so these can rarely be eliminated altogether.
Domain.Task I.5
Several items remain in the Kanban blocked column despite the team’s efforts to address them. The retrospective reveals that all the impediments can be traced back to a particular department head. Previously, the project manager has tried to educate this stakeholder, but they still show resistance.
What should the project manager do next?
A. Ask the department head for budgetary compensation proportional to the delays incurred due to lack of cooperation.
B. Use stakeholder analysis to identify an aligned senior stakeholder to influence the department head.
C. Ask the team members to find other stakeholders who can help work around the department head’s barriers.
D. Set up an information radiator, ranking stakeholders according to their active support of the project goals.
B If stakeholders remain resistant despite the project manager’s efforts, then escalation may be required.
Domain.Task I.5
Several unforeseen impediments suddenly appear on the Kanban board in a hybrid project. Each team member has reported one or more different problems relating to a regulatory specification issued by the predictive track.
Which parameter is likely to be highest in the risk assessment?
A. Manageability
B. Dormancy
C. Connectivity
D. Controllability
C The risks are all related to a common source—the specification—so connectivity ranks high per the definition “Where a risk is connected to many other risks, connectivity is high”. Manageability and controllability are INCORRECT because the risk factor depends on an external regulator. Dormancy is low because the risks were detected immediately after the specification was issued.
Domain.Task I.5
A project manager is preparing the charter for a project. The project aims to automate 30 percent of the company’s product testing. The project sponsor advises the project manager to assign senior test engineers to identify the tests that can be automated.
The test department manager, however, is NOT cooperative because they believe that the project will lead to downsizing in their department.
Which two actions are suitable in this scenario? (Choose TWO.)
A. Have a meeting with the test department manager to discuss mutual expectations.
B. Request for the project sponsor to provide a rationale for test automation.
C. Present data-driven, cost-benefit evidence of test automation to the test department manager.
D. Raise the risk that the senior testing engineers will NOT be available for the testing.
E. Work with the project sponsor to create a project charter that the test department manager will NOT perceive as threatening.
A,C In this scenario, the project manager’s first action is to attempt to make the stakeholder cooperative with the project. One way of doing this is presenting the data that supports the business decision.
Domain.Task I.5
Project manager A identifies three critical risks with probability of a high impact on the schedule and budget of project A—this project is producing critical deliverables for the company.
The team meets to devise a solution for the risks and decides that three specific resources will be required to address the risks. However, these resources are already committed to a separate project, which is managed by project manager B.
Which party should the project manager work with first to find a solution?
A. The project team members – to assist in training the new team members quickly so they can complete work on time
B. The project sponsor – to request more funding for the budget in order to hire contractors
C. The three resources – to convince them to join the team or, at least, agree to coach the existing team
D. Project manager B – to negotiate reallocation or sharing of the three required resources
D Project manager B has the authority to reschedule or reallocate the resources, once it will NOT jeopardize project B. Going directly to the resources themselves undermines the functional manager, so this is unethical. The resources have been identified as the solution to the problem, so it is best to attempt to make this solution work first. The other options of the project sponsor and working with project team members would be secondary and tertiary options which would probably NOT work as well.
Domain.Task I.11
A customer is NOT satisfied with the delivered product, saying that it was NOT what they expected. The project manager is surprised, because the agile development team delivered the product several iterations early.
What is one way that the project manager could have avoided this result?
A. Required team sign off for each of the changes to the requirements
B. Set aside more resources for product testing after making changes
C. Ensured that the customer was aware of the value of demos and the approval process for the deliverable
D. Ensured that the development team fully participated in the iteration review, by explaining and answering questions
C The customer was NOT engaged enough in the project. The iteration review is the best mechanism for the team to demonstrate the product and for the customer to give feedback to ensure that expectations are met and that final stakeholder approval will be given.
Domain.Task I.11
A key stakeholder voices a concern during the planning stage about whether the available resources are adequate to meet the objectives of the project. After further discussion about the requirements and the number of resources identified, the project manager is hesitant about the original plan.
Which two steps should the project manager take next? (Choose TWO.)
A. Review the bounds of the negotiations for stakeholder agreement.
B. Determine the project’s ultimate objectives after carefully evaluating project priorities.
C. Engage in negotiations for more resources.
D. Ensure that the impact of the shortage of required resources is fully documented.
E. Re-evaluate the project objectives, review the planned activities, and recalculate the resource needs.
C,E In this case, the stakeholder’s concern should be researched before any action is taken. Once the project manager has determined the correct number and type of resources for the project, then they should use negotiation skills to achieve the proper support for the work of the project and its outcome.
Domain.Task I.11
A contractor has sent an email request for urgent payment of their last invoice on a project that is going through a long execution stage with multiple contractors.
How should the project manager respond to this contractor’s request?
A. Negotiate payment terms through a meeting with procurement and the contractor.
B. Authorize the payment by notifying accounts payable and follow up to ensure it was made.
C. Act according to the agreed-upon commitments in the procurement management plan and the signed agreement/contract.
D. Authorize payment only after reviewing forecast spend versus actual spend to see if the actual status allows it.
C Even an inexperienced project manager should understand that terms and conditions should be agreed before engaging a contractor to actually do project work. The procurement plan and the agreement/contract hold all data reference contracts and are the sources to guide payment activities.
Domain.Task I.11
The sales and marketing director at company A reports a 40% drop in revenue and significant increase in returns for Widget version 6.0. Customers are complaining directly to customer service and the social media teams report a high rate of negative feedback.
The project team is already working on Widget version 6.1., which is a small set of upgrades and bug fixes. The director gets in touch with the team, requesting a full disclosure of the version 6.0 and 6.1 requirements.
How should the project manager interact with this stakeholder?
A. Remind them that they were consulted about the agreed product requirements for versions 6.0 and 6.1; also remind the stakeholder and that the responsible and accountable stakeholders approved version 6.0 before release.
B. Review the customer and market research—both qualitative and quantitative—that supported the business case for the 6.0 project. Begin by discussing the stakeholder’s role in the research.
C. Let them know that you also are disappointed, but this risk was documented and listed as a probable customer/market reaction for a major version release.
D. Ask the team to perform the final demo for version 6.0 again for the director’s information.
B The director is understandably concerned, given the negative performance of version 6.0 in the customer market. Base your interactions in a shared sense of responsibility for the failure, whether it is a real failure, whether it was predicted or probable, or whether it is a temporary or unexpected event. Avoid performing actions again that your team already made; likewise, avoid being defensive by reminding them that they had a role in approving a failed product. Neither of these will help the company achieve its strategic goals—which is what both parties are supposed to be committed to doing.
Domain.Task I.11
A project has a quality management plan in place.
This plan states that project deliverables must be reviewed for quality at least five (5) business days before the deadline. Four deliverables have failed the quality requirement.
What should the project manager do?
A. Generate a cause-and-effect diagram for analysis.
B. Rewrite relevant portions of the quality management plan.
C. Inquire regarding the feasibility of an internal audit of the project.
D. Contact the project sponsor and request advice.
A Cause-and-effect diagrams break down the causes of the problem into discrete branches, helping to identify the main or root cause.
Domain.Task I.11
The project sponsor is NOT convinced that an agile track should be used in a new R&D project because the company needs to be certain that specific features will be ready for mass production by a specific date.
Which three agile methods can ensure that the sponsor’s needs can be fulfilled in a hybrid project approach? (Choose THREE.)
A. A product roadmap can provide a detailed breakdown
B. Requirement priorities are confirmed at each iteration
C. Incremental development reduces risk of quality delays
D. Impact mapping can be used to group related stories
E. Stories can be broken down into granular epics
B,C,D Valid agile methods to secure on-time delivery include backlog reprioritization at every sprint, impact mapping for feature-level view, and incremental testing to secure progressive development. Roadmaps and epics are high-level, NOT detailed views—so these will NOT work.
Domain.Task I.11
A project manager observes that team members are in a low mood after demos. Feedback from stakeholders is constantly causing concern for the team. As a result, the team rushes through product demos, and the interaction between the team and stakeholders is minimal.
Which action should the project manager take?
A. Meet with the stakeholders and find out the root cause of their feedback. Work with the stakeholders to rectify the problems.
B. Verify that the project requirements are suitable and that the team members can do the work.
C. Coach the team to be more confident in their work and communicate properly with the stakeholders.
D. Consult the stakeholder matrix and identify whether any of these people are known to be difficult.
C Leading the team means understanding how they can best be successful. In this case, they are NOT communicating well with project stakeholders and risk becoming demoralized. You should perceive this behavior as a risk to the project, caused by poor communication. You will already have verified the requirements and determined that your resources are adequate. Whether or not a stakeholder is difficult, your team needs to be able to perform. If you choose to work directly with the stakeholders, then you are undermining your team. Coach the team members on how to work better with the stakeholders.
Domain.Task I.11
The IT department of a glassware manufacturer enthusiastically approved the agile team’s mid-project demo of quality-checking software for assembly line workers. However, the final product was considered UNUSABLE because the workers’ gloves are too thick to press the machinery’s small buttons.
What should the project manager do to avoid this kind of failure in the future?
A. Contract directly with the customer department that defines the product requirements.
B. Ensure that all software releases include adjustable accessibility features.
C. Create a realistic simulation of end-user conditions for developers testing the software.
D. Plan for end users to test prototypes and incremental releases in their production environments.
D Requirements and feedback from actual end users CANNOT be replaced by organizational structures, simulations, or generalized feature sets (accessibility). Contracting with the end-user department would NOT be appropriate either, as they would NOT have expertise, norms, and assets relating to how the software integrates into the larger IT environment.
Domain.Task I.11
The agile team sometimes has idle periods while awaiting a product director to inform the product owner on new goals. The decisions depend on analysis of market research.
Which measure could reconcile the needs of the director and the agile team?
A. Plan team training events to coincide with the anticipated idle periods.
B. Run market research spikes to update the director after clearing the backlog.
C. Eliminate slack by reducing the team size to smooth the output curve.
D. Run team brainstorming sessions on new goals to suggest to the director.
B Running market research spikes supports the product director and helps build and diversify team skills. If the team is idle, it means they are NOT working on stories/features in the backlog. Reducing output means negative productivity, and the team’s ideas would NOT provide market facts needed to make informed product development decisions.
Domain.Task I.11
An agile development team changes a design element in a project. Testing results improve dramatically over the next two iterations. At the third iteration retrospective, the product owner is unhappy to learn about the change to the original design and asks the team to redo the work based on the original design.
How can the project manager prevent such situations?
A. Set out all decision path conditions in the ground rules and correct any deviations as early as possible.
B. Request additional funding from the product owner for re-work due to lack of collaboration with the team.
C. Ensure regular engagement with the product owner and run catch-up meetings if necessary.
D. As servant leader, help the team to focus by removing all impediments.
C The product owner has ultimate authority on the scope of the product. Thus, product owner engagement is critical when considering scope changes or any changes that may have an impact on the scope.
Domain.Task I.9
A product owner repeatedly complains, saying that a function developed by the development team does NOT seem to align with the original design.
What will help to solve this issue?
A. Ask the product owner to explain his point of view clearly to the team.
B. Ask the quality assurance team to identify any mismatches in functionality compared to the initial design.
C. Ask the development team to rewrite the function so that it matches with the project scope.
D. Update the product owner twice per week on product development.
D The product owner has already explained the requirements in the original design. The solution here is to keep the product owner updated on development so that the team can adjust their work if it goes out of scope.
Domain.Task I.9
During a challenging stakeholder meeting, one stakeholder indicates that they will reject an iteration’s deliverable.
What should the project manager do?
A. Send a request to the project sponsor, asking them to update the project charter then reassign the responsibilities and authorities.
B. Meet with the project team to add new and improved features to replace the features that were rejected.
C. Work with that stakeholder to understand their concerns and address these together with the team.
D. Request a private meeting with the stakeholder and a member of the project team to try and defuse the situation.
C The project manager and the team should work with the customer to identify the reasons for rejecting the deliverable. Iteration reviews are designed to show the customer what the team has produced in that iteration. This is a perfect opportunity for the customer to raise their concerns, ask questions, and request changes. However, when this is NOT possible, as in this case, then seek a deeper understanding of the objection or concern and address it with all parties.
Domain.Task I.9
A team misunderstood one product functionality documented in an earlier stage of the project. During the current iteration, the functionality has NOT yet been developed, but a business representative has mentioned the deficiency.
How should the project manager proceed?
A. The functionality was formally approved, so initiate the change management process
B. Schedule a meeting to discuss and brainstorm the functionality with the project team and business representative.
C. Ensure that the issue is addressed by escalating it to the project sponsor, who should discuss it with the representative.
D. Continue with the current sprint, recognizing that the issue will be identified during the testing phase.
B As the functionality has NOT been built, the project manager should facilitate building common understanding and empowering the team to evaluate the impact of a possible change, thus avoiding re-work.
Domain.Task I.9
A project team is working with an overseas contractor based in a country that has three official languages, and every contractor on the team is multilingual. Team meetings continue to be held in the commonly shared language, but during project work meetings, contractors speak to each other in a different language.
When the project manager brings this up in the next team meeting, the contractors express regret, but they explain that they work better when they can communicate freely with each other.
How should the project manager respond first?
A. Require everyone to speak the same language all of the time, even though this will slow the pace of work.
B. Escalate this as an issue to the human resources department.
C. Obtain formal training or translation services.
D. Let the team discuss language requirements and make ground rules for team communication.
D In this case, forcing the contractors to work less efficiently may jeopardize the project.Work with the whole team to find the best solution that will NOT jeopardize the project. Escalation is NOT required unless the team is unable to find a solution.Teams need to acknowledge the diversity of its members and promote an environment of inclusiveness. Each team is unique in its character, makeup, and tolerance levels, but the high-performing teams are self-aware. Commonly agreed ground rules always make together easier, especially in heterogeneous groups.
Domain.Task I.9
A project manager with limited experience managing globally distributed team members is appointed to a project with team members who are all from another country and speak a different native language.
To successfully manage this project, the project manager needs to have cultural sensitivity.
What of the following actions should the project manager NOT take?
A. Read books about cultural sensitivity in leadership.
B. Hire a professional coach to learn how to be a more successful leader.
C. Request a different assignment, citing the language barrier as an obstacle.
D. Enroll in language and culture lessons to learn about this country.
C Great leaders have a growth mindset. Always aim to capitalize on cultural differences, focus on developing and sustaining the project team throughout the project life cycle, and promote working together interdependently in a climate of mutual trust. In this case, you can NOT assume that there is a language barrier, as the team members may be bilingual.This answer also does NOT demonstrate a growth mindset.
Domain.Task I.9
A governmental anti-money laundering software project needs a solution to collaborate with a remote agile team of four (4) people in another country. Spontaneous verbal communication between the teams must be supported. All the remote team’s workstations and Kanban boards must be visible at all times.
Which virtual team collaboration solution is most appropriate?
A. Information radiator monitors
B. On-demand video conferencing
C. Workstation screen mirroring
D. Always-on fishbowl windows
D This is a project where confidentiality and security are critical—thus, permanent monitoring of remote resources is necessary. Only the fishbowl window solution would have the required field of view on a permanent basis. Radiators only display content, on-demand video conferencing would NOT be a permanent video feed, and mirroring only displays one (1) computer screen, NOT the environment.
Domain.Task I.9
A financial software company serves stock markets worldwide. An experimental quality assurance project has agile teams working in three company offices: Seattle, Tokyo, and London. The teams work in two shifts in each location at the following times in each time zone:
Shift 1: 08:00h to 16:00h
Shift 2: 16:00h – 0:00h
Which collaboration method would ensure the fastest “follow-the-sun” problem resolution?
A. Conduct Scrum-of-Scrum meetings daily in order:
1 Tokyo Shift 2 with London Shift 1
2 London Shift 2 with Seattle Shift 1
3 Seattle Shift 2 with Tokyo Shift 1
B. Run fishbowl windows during the overlapping shifts:
- London Shift 1 with Tokyo Shift 2
- Seattle Shift 1 with London Shift 2
- Tokyo Shift 1 with Seattle Shift 2
C. Conduct Scrum-of-Scrum meetings daily in order:
1 Seattle Shift 2 with London Shift 1
2 London Shift 2 -Tokyo Shift 1
3 Tokyo Shift 2 -Seattle Shift 1
D. Run fishbowl windows during the overlapping shifts:
- Tokyo Shift 2 with Seattle Shift 1
- London Shift 1 with Seattle Shift 2
- Tokyo Shift 1 with London Shift 2
B The fishbowl window solution allows teams to interact in real time, thus allowing faster coordination and handling of issues. The shifts overlap in follow-the-sun order: Tokyo 2-London 1, London 2-Seattle 1, Seattle 2-Tokyo 1
Domain.Task I.9
Members of a virtual agile team are separated by seven (7) time zones. Daily meetings are too long, and the problem is made worse when laptop cameras switch between the speaking members.
Which two measures should the project manager take to achieve shorter, more efficient daily meetings? (Choose TWO).
A. Use the iteration reviews to discuss the Kanban board.
B. Require all members to stand during the full meeting.
C. Place a single webcam to face the Kanban boards and teams.
D. Ask the team members to raise blockers off-line.
E. Limit speakers to only members who have made progress.
B,C, Standing meetings limited to one webcam per group have been shown to reduce meeting times without losing efficiency.
Domain.Task I.2
A company is constructing recycling plants in fifteen (15) countries around the world. The lead in the project management office (PMO) wants more timely progress reporting and experience sharing between project managers in each of the geographically distant projects.
Which two agile methods might the PMO use to fulfill this need? (Choose TWO).
A. Definition of Done
B. Electronic Kanban board
C. Backlog refinement
D. Virtual daily standup meetings
E. 2-week retrospective
B,E A Kanban board would provide timely progress reporting, and bi-weekly retrospective calls would be a forum for sharing recent experiences and lessons for improvement. The Definition of Done is wrong because it focusses only on completion criteria, while backlog refinement and Scrum of Scrums would only be valid if all PMs are working on a common product.
Domain.Task I.2
A planned task in a sprint was nearly NOT completed because of an issue that appeared three (3) days prior but was NOT resolved. The team resolved it in the next daily standup meeting, but the project manager wants to prevent this type of situation in the future.
What should the project manager do?
A. During the retrospective, examine the issue.
B. In the demo, address the issue.
C. During the next iteration planning meeting, discuss the issue.
D. Send an email to the team.
E.
A A retrospective is a great opportunity to talk about what went right, what went wrong, lessons learned, and what to improve for next time.
Domain.Task I.2
A project manager went on a vacation and returned to discord. According to two stakeholders, stakeholder C is causing problems. Every day for the last two (2) weeks, stakeholder C sent an email to the team, checking progress and giving new instructions. The team ignored the emails and continued working, but the other stakeholders are concerned about stakeholder C’s behavior.
What should the project manager do?
A. Instruct the two stakeholders to ignore stakeholder C, just as the team did.
B. Invite everyone to a meeting and work through the communication issue.
C. Initiate a private conversation with stakeholder C and resolve this problem.
D. Investigate the problem to find the root cause.
E.
D Conflict situations require a cool, rational approach. Before you approach any party, aim to understand the facts and what is causing the problem.
Domain.Task I.7
A frustrated agile team member approaches the project manager to complain that a senior team member is claiming all the “interesting” backlog items and leaving the tedious activities for everyone else.
How should the project manager address the complaint?
A. Encourage the complaining member to take assertiveness training.
B. Discuss the importance of fairness with the senior team member.
C. Define a new rule so members can select an item on a rotating basis.
D. Ask the team to define new ground rules for work distribution.
E.
D The conflict, based on a misunderstanding or an unstated assumption, is a sign that the team ground rules are incomplete. Agile teams should self-organize and collaborate to determine their own ways of working, so situations like this should really NOT arise often.
Domain.Task I.7
The company has hired a new Architectural Excellence board with a mission to promote new programming paradigms. The agile team continues to work on new and existing software products.
How should the project manager deal with this new development?
A. Inform the agile team that resulting changes will be postponed as long as possible.
B. Be patient and wait until the board gives the team explicit instructions, then decide.
C. Speak with the product owner to add this change to the backlog.
D. Negotiate a quiet period with the board to prevent disruption to the team’s work
E.
C An action needs to be taken in this scenario, NOT a deferral of any kind. The product owner needs to be involved, and this change needs to be added to the backlog. Backlog refinement is controlled by the product owner but requires a team effort. The product owner also can change the Definition of Done or include the changes in the acceptance criteria.
Domain.Task I.7
A project manager develops a project management plan and schedule based on an agreed-upon project lifecycle of 16 months. Later, due to changing business requirements, the project sponsor requests completion within nine (9) months.
How should the project manager respond to this proposed change?
A. Perform an impact evaluation of this change request and evaluate the change in scope.
B. Work with key stakeholders and project team members to discuss the business requirements.
C. Modify the original project schedule to meet the revised deadline.
D. Meet individually with project team members to discuss which aspects of the project can be removed from the scope.
E.
A To execute the project more quickly, the project team should discuss with the stakeholders if there can be any reduction of scope and find out the way to complete activities at the individual level within a shorter time, if possible.
Domain.Task I.7
A project manager needs to ensure that the team delivers business value within the required timelines. The project manager recently learned that key stakeholders are worried that the current release plan will NOT meet urgent business needs.
How can the project manager effectively respond to stakeholder concerns?
A. Renegotiate scope with the project sponsor after examining the work breakdown structure (WBS).
B. Consult with the stakeholders and team members to identify the minimum viable product (MVP) needed for launch.
C. Determine the schedule performance index (SPI), then escalate the schedule risk to the project sponsor.
D. Monitor progress using a burndown chart after modifying the schedule baseline to meet stakeholder requirements.
E.
B Defining the minimum viable product would allow the team to release business value within timelines by focusing only on the must-have items that the business stakeholders need.
Domain.Task I.3
A customer indicates that they would like to add a functionality to a product in development. Although this request is made during the execution stage of the project, the project manager determines that the cost for the addition would be small. The additional functionality, if successful, would increase the opportunity for profit.
What should the project manager do next?
A. Acknowledge that the functionality would offer a great opportunity but determine that the proposed addition is out of scope.
B. Submit a change request and then evaluate the impact to the project.
C. Move forward, using the project’s management reserve to add the requested functionality.
D. Identify an already-developed feature that could be combined with the new functionality and use the combination to meet the customer’s request.
E.
B If the customer asks the project manager to make a change, regardless of how small or little impact, the change needs to go through Perform Integrated Change Control. The first step would be to submit a change request and then analyze the impact.
Domain.Task I.3
During one daily standup meeting, team members suggest that rework is being caused because there seems to be too much work.
How should the project manager respond to this?
A. Try using a Kanban board for reviews.
B. Request that team members explicitly implement time boxing or spikes.
C. Replace the under-performing team members.
D. Investigate to determine whether this is a time or quality issue.
E.
D Rework can often be caused by trying to do too much in too little time—or it can be an issue of the quality of work. If time is the issue, then time boxing or spikes are great techniques to focus work efforts. If quality is the issue, then you need to assess resources, materials, skill level, and so on. But you need to understand what is causing the rework first.
Domain.Task I.3
A project manager for a construction firm meets with stakeholders. All stakeholders agree on a 20-month lifecycle for a project. After work has begun, the project manager learns that stakeholders would like project completion within no more than 16 months.
Which step should the project manager NOT take?
A. Negotiate with stakeholders to reduce project requirements.
B. Add team members to work more quickly. .
C. Reduce the scope and crash the schedule.
D. Advise against modifying the timeline.
E.
C If it is possible to reduce the requirements for a project with the sponsor and key stakeholders, this is preferred over crashing, fast-tracking, change-control, and other methods which will most likely increase risk and create issues with a shortened timeframe.
Domain.Task I.3
A travel company wants to create smartphone applications for their users. Competitors are racing to do the same. The product owner’s vision describes several versions of the app: Basic, Basic Ad-free, Pro, and Premium.
Which project approach is best suited to the company’s needs?
A. Waterfall
B. Incremental
C. Predictive
D. Iterative
E.
B The product bundling goes from least number of features (Basic) to the highest (Premium). An incremental approach allows to release the Basic product quickly to mitigate competitive time pressure, and gradually release each bundle by adding the next set of features.
Domain.Task I.3
An efficient agile team in a large corporation generated ideas and added innovative features to the backlog. After the additional features are tested and complete, the portfolio owner rejects all of them.
What is the most likely reason this situation happened?
A. The team did NOT make use of the normal quality control processes.
B. The portfolio owner refuses to pay for the team’s unplanned work.
C. The team would be entitled to intellectual property rights on the features.
D. The product owner did NOT sufficiently align the ideas with the portfolio product owner.
E.
D The product owner is responsible for ensuring that the product meets business objectives, which could be set by a portfolio product owner.
Domain.Task I.3
The marketing director wants to be first-to-market, to launch a version of a smartphone shopping application for retired people, and has asked the agile team to develop it.
What should the project manager do to begin the development process?
A. Work with the product owners and SMEs to break the requirements down into stories.
B. Meet with product owner, team, and SMEs to identify risks and risk responses.
C. Ask the team to estimate the effort and build the business case accordingly.
D. Meet with product owner, team, and SMEs to define the minimum viable product (MVP).
E.
D The requirement to be first to market implies use of an MVP, which will then be enhanced with feature requirements as quickly as possible after launch.
Domain.Task I.1
A company is losing market share to competitors with new business models. The agile team is asked to restrict the number of features of a product and release a version more quickly to the market.
How will this request impact the planning?
A. The backlog will be prioritized to deliver basic functionality in small increments.
B. The product vision will be updated to reflect a user-driven release roadmap.
C. The sprint backlog will be reprioritized to work on the smallest and simplest stories first.
D. The increments will be reduced to enable faster product releases
E.
A Releasing a more basic version of a product early enables the company to obtain value from the work more quickly. With regard to planning, the team needs to figure out how to prioritize the backlog so that a product with basic functionality—and which also represents value to the customer—can enter the market.
Domain.Task I.1
The pandemic has caused delays which will make it very difficult to launch the new product on time. Television ads for the launch date are already purchased, so the CEO has asked the project manager to find a way to launch the product even if some minor features are NOT included.
Which measure would be the most effective step toward a successful and timely product launch?
A. Double the size of the test team to ensure that any defects will be detected and corrected as early as possible.
B. Ask the team to remove product tests most likely to fail at first attempt and de-scope requirements relating to those tests.
C. Fast-track the schedule and establish new test and readiness milestones as close as possible to the planned launch date.
D. Plan a parallel iterative track to develop requirements for a minimum viable product (MVP) and de-scope unnecessary predictive tasks.
E.
D The MVP is specifically intended to increase product success through customer feedback while accelerating development through minimizing effort. Schedule compression or scope reduction alone may be based on unneeded requirements.
Domain.Task I.1
A complex project with high security protocols has key stakeholders located in the United States, France, and China.
A senior manager requests confidential project information to be shared with a project partner.
Which step should the project manager take next?
A. Report this breach of ethics to the project governance committee.
B. Supply the requested information but keep a record of the manager’s request.
C. Supply the project information but ensure the sensitive parts are redacted.
D. Check the communications management plan to verify whether the request is allowable.
E.
D A communications management plan is developed to ensure that the appropriate messages are communicated to stakeholders in various formats and various means as defined by the communication strategy. Even in a project with high security protocols, provisions may be in place to share information.
Domain.Task I.13
A project is delayed because the deliverables are NOT of acceptable quality. A change is required.
First, the project manager issues a formal change request and communicates the change to all stakeholders. The stakeholders are NOT satisfied with this. They want a more detailed report about the nature of the delay.
What should the project manager do next?
A. Review the communications management plan and stakeholder engagement plan.
B. Provide a change request to include stakeholder expectations in the project management plan.
C. Organize a meeting with the project sponsor to better understand stakeholder expectations.
D. Review the communications management plan, follow it, and issue a status report.
E.
A The Monitor Communications and stakeholder engagement processes can trigger an iteration of the Plan Communications Management and/or Manage Communications processes to improve effectiveness of communication through additional and possibly amended communications plans and activities. Such iterations illustrate the continuous nature of the Communications Management and stakeholder engagement processes. Issues or key performance indicators, risks, or conflicts may trigger immediate revisions.
Domain.Task II.1
The initial draft of a project management plan is completed.
The project manager plans to show the draft to stakeholders for approval. The project manager has limited time to gain approval, the project management plan is lengthy, and stakeholders are located all over the world.
The project manager needs to ensure that the review of the plan is completed on time.
Which action should the project manager take?
A. Send the plan for the stakeholders to review and then meet with all of them to discuss it.
B. Ask each stakeholder to review the plan individually, add their comments, and then update the document accordingly.
C. Ask select stakeholders to review particular sections of the plan based on their areas of expertise.
D. Organize individual meetings with the stakeholders who are available during this time frame.
E.
A The best approach is to send the draft of the project management plan in advance to the entire stakeholder team and then have a meeting to gain approval. Gaining approval from some, but not all, stakeholders, or getting approval of parts of the plan is less ideal.
Domain.Task II.1
A project’s single sponsor has been replaced by a steering committee due to a significant increase in project size.
How should the project manager approach this change?
A. Tailor communications to the new steering committee, recognizing that there has been a change in stakeholder structure.
B. Follow the initial project plan, recognizing that the sponsor is the key stakeholder and the new committee members work in a lesser capacity.
C. Schedule a low-key introductory meeting with the new steering committee and the team, while continuing to follow the initial project plan.
D. Ensure that the new steering committee members receive the project’s current status report.
E.
A The project manager needs to be proactive and respond to this change. The same communication that was planned for a single sponsor will NOT necessarily work for this steering committee.
Domain.Task II.1
In response to slippage on some scheduled tasks, the project manager reprioritized a number of subsequent tasks to try to fix the problem.
This did NOT work, so the project manager needs to escalate the issue.
Which two (2) items will the project manager need to consult? (Choose TWO).
A. Change management plan
B. Stakeholder engagement plan
C. Communications management plan
D. Risk management plan
E. Configuration management plan
B,C,D The slippage risk has become an issue, so now you need to handle the issue by escalation. The stakeholder engagement plan will tell you how to engage stakeholders, and the communications management plan helps to ensure that your messages are communicated to stakeholders in various formats and various means as defined by the communication strategy.
Domain.Task II.1
A governmental agency becomes a key stakeholder on a complex project due to regulatory changes. In light of the change, the project manager needs to develop an understanding of this new stakeholder and identify any new high-level risks that may result from the change.
Which two options should the project manager use? (Choose TWO).
A. Schedule meetings with the new stakeholders.
B. Update the assumption log.
C. Revise the stakeholder engagement plan.
D. Check the risk management plan.
E. Update the project charter.
A,C Meetings are used to develop an understanding of project stakeholders. Since there is a new stakeholder on the project, the stakeholder engagement plan should be reviewed and revised to include them.
Domain.Task II.1
An informal and unofficial blog was set up to enhance communication and morale among project team members.
The project manager was NOT previously aware of the blog but has discovered that team members are using it inappropriately. It has caused some offense.
What should the project manager do?
A. Review the blog and assess the communications management plan.
B. Reprimand all individuals involved and report the issue to the compliance office.
C. Close down the blog, as it is NOT part of the communications management plan.
D. Identify an administrator who can monitor communications on the blog.
E.
A Communications outside of those covered by the communications management plan can lead to additional risks and issues. However, since the team seemed to have a need for it, the project manager should assess the communications management plan for any gaps. The project manager should also establish ground rules with the team for the blog.
Domain.Task II.1
A project team has set up an unofficial online communications platform to enhance communication.
The project manager was NOT aware that this platform existed until recently, after learning that its use has facilitated some activity that a stakeholder finds concerning.
Which action should the project manager take?
A. Advise the project team to stop using the platform and review the communications management plan.
B. Log the issue and remind the individuals involved to use only authorized communications channels.
C. Since it is NOT part of the communications management plan, terminate the platform.
D. Delegate an administrator to monitor communications on this platform.
E.
A Since this platform was NOT part of the original communications plan, it should NOT be used unless it can be added. However, you need to understand the stakeholder’s concern to evaluate whether it is valid. You also need to understand the reason why the team is communicating on an outside platform instead of the “approved” ones. Evaluate this use and the communication plan. If the team needs this, or a similar communication channel, in order to do their work, then you should find one that can offer the benefits they need.
Domain.Task II.1
Project A is developing a customer service prototype for a company’s marketing department. The customer stakeholder group includes franchise owners and direct customers of the company. The prototype scores 95% on fulfilment of the functional requirements defined in the scope, which is a passing score in the project’s agreed quality metrics.
The franchise group is unwilling to approve the prototype since it does NOT fulfill a particular functional requirement, but the direct customer group gives approval.
How can the project manager handle communication with this diverse stakeholder group?
A. Send a survey to each group asking for specific feedback on the prototype.
B. Thank the customers for their approval; review the WBS and verify the requirements documentation with the franchise group.
C. Hold a consultation with the franchise group, show them the direct customer approval, and negotiate for the approval.
D. Check the RACI matrix for which group’s approval is needed and if still unclear, ask an executive stakeholder to make the final decision.
E.
B At this phase of a project, the project team and stakeholders should benefit from good communications. Working directly with each stakeholder group—in this case thanking the direct customers and using project data to show the franchise group that the prototype fulfils both requirements and agreed quality metrics.
Domain.Task II.1
After a project delay, the project manager determines that a change is needed to the product deliverables in order to ensure quality. The project manager takes the following steps:
1. Issues a formal change request.
2. Communicates the change to all stakeholders.
3. Receives feedback that the communications approach did NOT meet stakeholders’ expectations.
What should the project manager do next?
A. Refer to the communications management plan and issue a status report.
B. Ensure stakeholders’ expectations are included in the project management plan by issuing a change request.
C. Hold a meeting with the project sponsor to better understand stakeholders’ expectations.
D. Review the communications management and stakeholder engagement plans to see if the processes were followed. An update to one or both plans might be warranted.
E.
D The project manager should first verify if the processes were followed in communicating project changes to stakeholders. If they were, then the project manager should revise the communications and/or the stakeholder engagement plans based on stakeholder needs. These two plans help establish how communication will be managed and how the stakeholders will be engaged.
Domain.Task II.1
As a result of multiple regulatory changes, a governmental agency is added as a key stakeholder on a complex project. The project manager wants to develop an understanding of this new stakeholder and identify any new high-level risks that may result from the change.
What should the project manager do?
A. Review the stakeholder engagement plan and verify the strategy for this change before meeting with the new stakeholder.
B. Appoint an existing team member to lead compliance strategy and to liaise with this new stakeholder.
C. Consult the change management plan to understand the next step in accepting this change.
D. Check with the project sponsor to discuss how this new regulation and stakeholder might change the scope and budget for the project.
E.
A Before meeting with the new stakeholder, you should review the stakeholder engagement plan and communication plan to verify the strategy for the change. The change includes a compliance issue, which you will need to understand and incorporate into project strategy. You need to do this first before allowing a team member to help. Finally, once you understand the change and talk with the new stakeholder, then you will know if a change to scope or budget is required.
Domain.Task II.1
A security-classified, agile software project requires outside expertise and delivery to add a module based on machine learning. An approved supplier asks the project manager to join the daily meeting with the supplier’s agile team, but the project manager’s schedule is too full with internal meetings.
How could the two teams synchronize interactively but somewhat less frequently?
A. Set up fishbowl windows at each site.
B. Add and execute a Scrum of Scrums layer.
C. Align iterations for common retrospectives.
D. Share a common electronic Kanban.
E.
B The Scrum of Scrums allows both teams to have their own daily meetings while adding a more targeted meeting between them at a less frequent pace.
Domain.Task II.2
The latest software build for a virtual reality headset release did NOT include urgent change requests already implemented by the electronics workstream. The product owner informed the software team about the change during a daily meeting, but NO ONE recorded it.
What should the project manager do to avoid this problem in the future?
A. Refine the product backlog with the team and product owner before the next iteration.
B. Increase the frequency of backlog refinement meetings and note the change in the retrospective.
C. Run an ad-hoc retrospective and add the agreed urgent change process to the team charter.
D. Privately remind the team lead that the role requires fast and proactive problem solving.
E.
C In this case, iterative agile change handling is NOT fast enough. Continuous improvement in agile is achieved through retrospectives, and work processes are in the team charter. If you wait until the next iteration, it will be too late to catch the change; more frequent backlog refinements violate the principle of “maximizing work not done”; and servant leaders would NOT impose on a team member to improvise.
Domain.Task II.2
A smart grid project combines predictive and agile tracks. The agile team detected a major software defect after its release and began working on a correction. But the defective release was deployed by the predictive track, and this caused a field test to fail.
Which measure would be most effective to prevent similar problems in the future?
A. Run the same unit tests in the agile lab and in the field sites.
B. Send project-wide issue log updates via instant messaging.
C. Ensure that retrospectives are shared with the predictive team.
D. Replan the software track into the predictive schedule
E.
B The root problem is that impactful information in the agile team was NOT passed to the predictive team quickly enough to prevent the test failure. Instant messaging of issue log updates can reach the full project immediately after the issue is logged, and act as an alert.
Domain.Task II.2
A project is at the planning stage. The project manager realizes that producing a complex, multi-functional application is NOT feasible with the current number of resources and decides to hire more resources for the production of the application. The project manager identifies and contracts temporary resources.
Which risk response strategy does this scenario exemplify?
A. Mitigate
B. Transfer
C. Accept
D. Avoid
E.
A The risk to the project was posed by insufficient resources. The risk was mitigated by hiring additional resources.
Domain.Task II.2
A project is started with an approved scope.
As the team implements the project design, a team member states that the product will NOT meet the requirements in certain situations. Correcting the issue increases both scope and costs, and the project will also miss the deadline.
The project sponsors do NOT have additional funding to support the project.
What should the project manager do first?
A. Perform risk management analysis.
B. Follow the Perform Integrated Change Control process.
C. Crash the schedule.
D. Contact the customer and negotiate for risk acceptance.
E.
A The project manager must perform a full risk management analysis. This action includes all the processes for risk analysis—i.e. perform qualitative risk analysis, plan risk responses, implement risk responses, and monitor risk—and all are recorded in the risk register. The risk register exists for the project team and stakeholders to understand potential problems with the project. Once they all understand the problems, you can seek resolution.
Domain.Task II.2
A project is being planned in a remote area with limited access to vehicles and equipment. Additionally, the road to the site goes through a protected area, and the government has required the company to sign a contract that they will protect the environment and road from damage.
The project manager decides the best way to manage this risk is to deliver all heavy equipment themselves, despite the significant added expense.
What type of risk response is the project manager demonstrating?
A. Transfer
B. Mitigate
C. Accept
D. Avoid
E.
B The project manager is mitigating the risk of violating the contract by including the delivery work in the scope and increasing budget to mitigate the risk of difficult access.
Domain.Task II.2
A project manager works for a company that is preparing to develop a new product. The new product will require skills that are NOT currently available.
To initiate this project, what should the project manager do?
A. Develop detailed project requirements
B. Focus on quality control
C. Document the risk in the project charter
D. Develop a competitor analysis
E.
C If you plan to deliver a product and the team does NOT possess the skills required, this is a risk. The risk should be documented in the project charter so its impact can be analyzed before project initiation.
Domain.Task II.2
A project is being implemented.
The research and development department communicates to the project manager that the product’s requirements have changed. These changes were NOT anticipated, may significantly influence potential sales numbers, and could impact project scope.
Which action should the project manager take?
A. Review the risk management plan to understand identify risk responses.
B. Plan to use the contingency reserve and update the risk mitigation plan.
C. Revisit the project charter.
D. Evaluate the impacts to cost, stakeholders, quality, and risk using the Perform Integrated Change Control process.
E.
D These new requirements will impact the project in various ways, as well as pose additional risks. These impacts and risks need to be identified and assessed and then the appropriate responses need to be identified.
Domain.Task II.2
A project sponsor is risk averse and is therefore concerned about negative impacts on the project. To help with this concern, the project team identifies four (4) project risks and then evaluates both the probability of occurrence and the impact of the risk if it occurs. The team uses a 1-5 scale (1 is the lowest and 5 is the highest).
RISK PROBABILITY IMPACT
A 1 5
B 4 4
C 2 5
D 2 2
Based on the table in what order should the project manager rank these risks for risk management purposes?
A. B, A, D, C
B. B, C, A, D
C. B, A, C, D
D. C, D, A, B
E.
B Risk severity is calculated by multiplying probability and impact. For example, Risk A has a probability of 1 and an impact of 5 (1 x 5 = 5). The higher the value, the higher the risk is rated.
Domain.Task II.2
Prior to preparing a monthly project status report, a project team brings three risks to the project manager’s attention.
The project manager wants to reference additional information before presenting this as new risk information.
Where can the project manager look to evaluate these risks?
A. Issue log
B. Risk register
C. Risk management plan
D. Lessons learned repository
E.
B The project manager must check the risk register to verify if these three risks are new and then to verify if action was already planned to address them.
Domain.Task II.2
Although the sponsor and project team say that the new project has an adequate budget and realistic schedule, the project manager worries that unplanned events could threaten the project’s success.
What should the project manager do first?
A. Engage in identification of project risks, then assess those risks.
B. Ask the project sponsor for additional funding to cover project planning.
C. Schedule a meeting with the functional manager to address the potential impact of unplanned risks.
D. Execute the project as planned and handle any risks as they arise.
E.
A The project manager needs to be proactive and familiar with as many project risks as possible. The risk assessment needs to occur before the risk is encountered.
Domain.Task II.2
A company wants to reduce future operating costs by installing solar panels on the facility being built by using a local government subsidy for energy-efficient projects. They have NOT yet applied for the subsidy.
Before the project starts, the project manager is describing project risks.
Which statement best describes the risk to the project if the application is NOT successful?
A. Loss of energy efficiency rating
B. Loss of funding for the project
C. Increase in scope
D. Increased total cost
E.
D The risk described here is a loss of potential subsidy that would reduce the cost of the project. So, this risk amounts to the project requiring much more in future operating costs.
Domain.Task II.2
The project sponsor requires a project team composed of resources that live in four (4) different time zones, working in four (4) different locations. The project sponsor did NOT consider the challenges created by this requirement and believes that the dispersion will provide an ideal project team that will save costs.
Where should the project manager document this in the project charter?
A. As part of high-level requirements
B. In the key stakeholder list
C. In the overall project risks
D. As part of the resource management plan
E.
C Having a dispersed project team does NOT come without risks. These risks need to be identified in the charter, even if only at a high level.
Domain.Task II.2
A project manager implemented an approved change to manage a risk. Three (3) months after the implemented change, the project manager learns that the change did NOT produce the desired result, instead producing negative consequences.
How can the project manager avoid this problem on future projects?
A. Update the probability and impact matrix after assessing any new risks.
B. Revisit or change existing assumptions after reviewing the assumption log.
C. Update the lessons learned register with the risk information.
D. Update the list on the risk register with the risk.
E.
D New projects should utilize organizational process assets such as lessons learned so they do NOT repeat the same mistakes. Updating the list on the risk register with this risk will leave a trail of useful information for future projects.
Domain.Task II.2
During a conversation with a friend, a project manager hears that union action may occur within the next two (2) weeks. The project manager knows that at this stage of the project, any project delays could cause substantial harm to both budget and schedule, and any union action will affect the project team.
Earlier, the probability of a union action was considered minimal. Thus, it was unanticipated. Also, the project manager has worked successfully in the past with the union.
How should the project manager respond to this issue?
A. Get more information through informal discussion channels and use that information to decide on next steps.
B. Update the risk in the risk register with this new information and notify relevant stakeholders.
C. Plan to reward those who do NOT participate and identify possible disciplinary actions for those who do participate.
D. Schedule a meeting with the union’s leader and use personal influence to attempt to resolve the problem.
E.
D The project manager needs to use a proactive and decisive, informed approach. This risk was previously added to the risk register and considered a low risk. Since the project manager already has a successful relationship with the union stakeholder, finding a solution through positive leadership is possible. If a resolution CANNOT be found, then you should update the risk register and communicate with the appropriate stakeholders, so that the team will be able to devise an appropriate risk response.
Domain.Task II.3
Due to resource challenges, a contractor is late with a critical project deliverable, even though the work is nearly complete. The project must be delivered on time because the next projects depend on on-time completion of this one.
There is a 22% buffer in the project budget for cost overruns, but only three (3) weeks left in the schedule.
How can the project manager resolve this issue?
A. Hire a new vendor to replace the current vendor.
B. Use the buffer to look into alternative vendors that can assist with project deliverables and make use of the buffer.
C. Hold a discussion with the vendor regarding the contractual implications of this slippage and negotiate for on-time completion.
D. Escalate this issue to the project sponsor immediately.
E.
C With three weeks left and most of the work done, hiring a new vendor is NOT ideal. Since project delivery is the prime focus as well as budget for cost overruns, the project manager needs to assess alternatives without concern for the potential budget impact. Once a viable alternative is identified, they can present their case to the sponsor for a decision—but immediate escalation is NOT warranted.
Domain.Task II.3
A customer’s end users have NOT completed the required training. The project manager must consider the risk it poses to the timely completion of the project. End user training is a required project deliverable.
Which action should the project manager perform?
A. Update the risk register to document the concerns and then develop a plan to ensure the end users complete their training.
B. Revise the risk register and discuss it at the next project status meeting.
C. Dedicate additional post-implementation support to mitigate the risk.
D. Modify the project schedule to account for the training delay.
E.
A The project manager should document the risk and then work with the stakeholder to address this risk. They are probably aware of it and need help to complete the step.
Domain.Task II.3
A retiring project manager hands over all materials to a new project manager. The project appears to be running smoothly, until a critical component fails during testing.
What is the appropriate first step when responding to this issue?
A. Review the risk management plan to identify whether this risk and accompanying response strategies have been captured.
B. Check with other local team project managers to see how they would respond to the issue.
C. Revise the timeline to account for slippage due to the additional time needed to implement mitigation.
D. Communicate with stakeholders, describing the issue, proposed costs, and potential changes to delivery dates related to the project.
E.
A Risk responses to identified risks should be outlined as part of the risk management plan.
Domain.Task II.3
A team member has taken unplanned leave during the execution of a project, causing the project team to reschedule some tasks. As a result, critical activities are now occurring at the same time.
What is the first thing the project manager should do?
A. Assess the newly introduced risks with the project team.
B. Mitigate risks by reverting to the original schedule.
C. Revise the risk register and then rank the project’s risks.
D. Identify suitable responses for the newly introduced risks.
E.
A The project manager and the project team should evaluate the newly discovered risk. The project manager should also update the risk register, analyze and prioritize the risk, and plan the response.
Domain.Task II.3
A project sponsor is risk averse and is therefore concerned about negative impacts on the project. To help with this concern, the project team identifies four (4) project risks and then evaluates both the probability of occurrence and the impact of the risk if it occurs. The team uses a 1-5 scale (1 is the lowest and 5 is the highest).
RISK PROBABILITY IMPACT
A 3 5
B 4 2
C 3 3
D 2 2
Based on the above information, in what order should the project manager rank these risks for risk management purposes?
A. A, C, B, D
B. B, A, D, C
C. C, D, A, B
D. D, A, C, B
E.
A The risk ranking is devised by multiplying the probability with the impact factors. Larger numbers indicate higher risks. Therefore, these risks are ranked in the following order: A, C, B, D.
Domain.Task II.3
While a project manager is preparing the monthly project status report, four (4) new risks are identified. These four (4) risks could affect key milestones.
What should the project manager do before presenting this new risk information?
A. Review the risk report and lessons learned repository.
B. Review the organizational process assets and risk register.
C. Refer to the risk management plan and the risk report.
D. Add risks to the risk register, analyze them for impact to the project, and identify response plans.
E.
D The first step is to update the risk register and then analyze the new risks. This information can then be presented to stakeholders who will help determine a response plan for each risk.
Domain.Task II.3
Project C is a partnership between a major city and a government contractor. Each of these entities have a different risk threshold, so it is the project manager’s role to ensure a risk approach that will satisfy both parties. Project C has a realistic schedule and an adequate budget; however, the project manager worries that unplanned events could threaten the project’s success and cause the city sponsor to be concerned.
How should the project manager handle this situation?
A. Focus on the original project plan and focus on completing the plan on schedule.
B. Ask the city sponsor for additional funding to uncover additional unplanned risks during planning.
C. Work with representatives from both sides of the partnership to address the potential impact of unplanned risks.
D. List and assess any project risks and present them to the city sponsor.
E.
C The project manager needs to be proactive and work with both partners to identify risks and their mitigation strategies. Even when one party has a higher risk threshold than the other, because they are in a partnership, both parties should be consulted.
Domain.Task II.3
After the start of a project, the project manager learns that an expected governmental subsidy may NOT be available.
How should the project manager address this issue?
A. Log the risk.
B. Raise the project’s risk level.
C. Make up any project deficit using the contingency reserve.
D. Make a change request.
E.
A While this is NOT an issue yet, it is a risk that should be entered in the risk log and managed appropriately.
Domain.Task II.3
In order to speed the completion of project Z, a project sponsor requisitions a project team that can work a full 24-hour day, in three (3) shifts, in hazardous conditions.
- Team A: 02:00h – 10:00h
- Team B: 10:00h – 18:00h
- Team C: 18:00 – 02:00h
In order to work nighttime hours safely, teams A and C will need to receive overtime pay and the company will need to increase security measures and their insurance coverage.
Where should the project manager document this request in the project charter?
A. Key stakeholder list
B. Overall project risks
C. High-level requirements
D. Work exclusions
E.
B Speeding up a project does NOT come without risks. In this case, work may be completed much more quickly, but these risks need to be identified in the risk log for the project.
Domain.Task II.3
After missing two (2) consecutive major deadlines because of delayed glass deliveries, a manufacturing company changes its glass supplier to meet production deadlines. Three (3) months later, production reports quality problems with the new glass. The project manager determines that the supplier change caused quality problems.
How should the project manager avoid this issue in the future?
A. Update the risk information to the lessons learned register.
B. Review the assumption log to revisit or change current assumptions.
C. Confirm that an implemented risk response is effective.
D. Evaluate new risks and update the probability and impact matrix.
E.
C In this case, the risk was missed deadlines, and the response to the risk was to change suppliers. Part of an effective risk management strategy is making sure that the risk response is effective—in this case, that the replacement supplier would supply quality glass on time. The Monitor Risks process uses performance information generated during project execution to determine if the response was effective. In this case, the response was NOT effective.
Domain.Task II.3
A project manager realizes that stakeholder interests will conflict on a project and decides to utilize a stakeholder engagement assessment matrix.
The matrix pinpoints an influential stakeholder who is resistant to the project. The project manager needs to align this stakeholder’s expectations with the goals of the project.
How can the project manager accomplish this goal?
A. Produce a stakeholder engagement plan.
B. Convey the stakeholder engagement plan.
C. Gain consensus on project objectives by meeting with all stakeholders.
D. Ensure that the stakeholder register is complete and updated.
E.
A Plan Stakeholder Engagement is the process of developing approaches to involve project stakeholders based on their needs, expectations, interests, and potential impact on the project. The key benefit is that it provides an actionable plan to interact effectively with stakeholders.
Domain.Task II.3
How can a project manager gain a stakeholder’s approval, if the stakeholder believes a project’s deliverables were NOT achieved?
A. Review the project scope while analyzing the stakeholder’s needs and expectations.
B. Review the project charter thoroughly with this stakeholder on a conference call.
C. Ensure that the stakeholder understands the quality management plan.
D. Perform a risk analysis after obtaining the stakeholder’s new requirements.
E.
A Project leaders stay updated with stakeholders’ needs and expectations and ensure that they are aligned with the project’s overall goals and desired outcomes. Monitor Stakeholder Engagement is the process of monitoring project stakeholder relationships and tailoring strategies for engaging stakeholders through modification of engagement strategies and plans. The key benefit of this process is maintaining or increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of stakeholder engagement activities as the project evolves and its environment changes. You should perform this process throughout the project.
Domain.Task II.3
A project has the following characteristics:
- A functional manager is also a project stakeholder.
- The functional manager has time constraints and delegates project responsibilities to someone else on the functional team. This person becomes a new stakeholder.
- The new stakeholder is NOT attending meetings.
How should the project manager engage this new stakeholder?
A. Examine the stakeholder engagement plan with the new stakeholder and assess their level of engagement.
B. Present the project schedule and the specific, assigned tasks to the new stakeholder.
C. Request that the functional manager brief this new stakeholder and ask that they send them to all relevant meetings.
D. Ask the new stakeholder to pair with a more experienced stakeholder to learn responsibilities.
E.
A The first version of the stakeholder engagement plan is developed after the initial stakeholder community has been identified by the Identify Stakeholder process. The stakeholder engagement plan is updated regularly to reflect changes to the stakeholder community.
Domain.Task II.3
A project manager is working with three (3) key stakeholders. Each has a different vision regarding the project and its goal. They each feel strongly about their opinion.
How should the project manager obtain approval of the project charter?
A. Conduct a stakeholder analysis.
B. Use facilitation and conflict management techniques to help the three (3) stakeholders find consensus.
C. Request that the project sponsor resolve the conflict.
D. Use the project kick-off meeting to settle the project goals.
E.
B To facilitate timely, productive discussion and decision making, the project manager should use their facilitation skills as well as conflict management to help the stakeholders agree on a shared vision of the project goals.
Domain.Task II.3
A small group of users complains during a project’s user acceptance stage, stating that their expectations are NOT met.
Which action could help avoid this issue on future projects?
A. Send more frequent updates to stakeholders.
B. Engage in risk assessments throughout the project.
C. Make use of conflict management techniques.
D. Make use of stakeholder feedback during the project.
E.
D Managing stakeholder engagement helps to ensure that stakeholders clearly understand the project goals, objectives, benefits, and risks for the project, as well as how their contribution will enhance project success. Listening to their feedback is an important part of this engagement.
Domain.Task II.3
A global organization sponsors a project that involves six (6) different companies. When the project is partially complete, the project manager learns that one stakeholder is ill and needs to decrease their level of involvement.
What should the project manager do?
A. Update the stakeholder register and then the stakeholder engagement plan.
B. Revise the project charter with the new stakeholder information.
C. Ask the project sponsor to replace the stakeholder.
D. Update the stakeholder engagement plan.
E.
A Both the stakeholder register and the stakeholder engagement plan need updating. The stakeholder register identifies all stakeholders and their involvement in the project. The stakeholder engagement plan is updated to reflect any processes, procedures, tools, or techniques that affect the engagement of stakeholders in project decisions and execution.
Domain.Task II.3
A project manager is creating an agenda and presentation materials for a kick-off meeting that will involve stakeholders across the globe.
How can the project manager facilitate and optimize stakeholder engagement?
A. Create slides for the kick-off meeting to address stakeholder involvement.
B. Survey stakeholders’ preferred meeting dates and times to accommodate the teams in different time zones.
C. Verify that all required participants or their delegates will be available to attend.
D. Review the kick-off meeting agenda and materials for overall clarity and concision.
E.
B Assuming a particular solution does NOT empower the team. Surveying the team and finding common consensus is a key part of servant leadership.
Domain.Task II.3
During work on a government project, stakeholders exert pressure on the project manager to comply with their preferred actions because they have extremely complex regulations and constraints.
The project manager wants to build a successful relationship with these stakeholders because the company hopes to win more contracts with the government.
Which two approaches should the project manager take? (Choose TWO).
A. Assess and categorize these stakeholders using the Salience model.
B. Invite these stakeholders to team meetings to assure them that the project team takes their work seriously.
C. Send a questionnaire out to this stakeholder group, asking about their needs.
D. Use servant leadership to build a relationship based on stakeholder needs.
E. Share the stakeholder engagement matrix with the team.
A,D Both leadership and analytical project management tools are important in this scenario. The stakeholders need to earn trust in your team, but you—NOT the team—are the main point of contact. The best choice to facilitate trust is an effective leadership style that emphasizes the needs of your stakeholders. Since the project has started, you should already know their needs, so a questionnaire is NOT helpful. However, you need information about the stakeholders. In a complex environment such as this one, the salience model of categorization is a good choice, as it helps leaders navigate frequently changing, complex relationships that involve several parties.
Domain.Task II.3
Two (2) users complain during the project’s user acceptance stage, saying that their expectations were NOT met.
How could the project manager avoid this issue in the future?
A. Enable efficient stakeholder management
B. Assess risks more thoroughly
C. Employ conflict management techniques
D. Nurture a professional relationship with the users
E.
A A professional relationship with end users is assumed, so that option is assumed to be in place already. However, managing stakeholder engagement efficiently is key to ensuring that stakeholders clearly understand the project goals, objectives, benefits, and risks for the project, as well as how their contribution will enhance project success. Listening to their feedback is an important part of this engagement.
Domain.Task II.3
A project involves six different companies, and the project sponsor is a global organization. At the midpoint of the project, the project manager learns that one stakeholder is experiencing difficulties and CANNOT provide their former level of involvement.
The project manager needs to __________ and then __________. (Fill in the blanks with the correct pair of answers.)
A. avoid the risk; update the stakeholder engagement plan
B. avoid the risk; update the stakeholder register
C. mitigate the risk; update the stakeholder engagement plan
D. mitigate the risk; update the stakeholder register
E.
C The first step is mitigating the risk presented by the stakeholder’s diminished involvement. Then, the stakeholder engagement plan is updated to reflect any processes, procedures, tools, or techniques that affect the engagement of stakeholders in project decisions and execution.
Domain.Task II.3
A company is struggling to define the scope of a new project that has multiple phases with a high level of dependency between the phases.
How should the project manager approach this challenge?
A. Contract with a third-party consultant that specializes in helping businesses define scope of work on large projects.
B. Work with project stakeholders to recommend an iterative approach that will then help to define the project’s scope.
C. Review the project management plan to ensure that it provides extra time within the schedule, then revise the scope of work.
D. Move forward with the project but keep a daily check on the schedule to prioritize the dependency issues.
E.
B A corrective action, such as the iterative approach, is required here. Introducing adaptive steps in a heavily predictive environment is never easy and the stakeholders should be involved in this process.
Domain.Task II.3
A product owner in an agile project complains of too many meetings in their monthly schedule. There is NOT enough time for project work. They instruct the project manager to prioritize some meetings and decrease the frequency of others.
Which two of the product owner’s meetings could the project manager deprioritize so that they attend less frequently? (Choose TWO).
A. Sprint retrospectives
B. Product SME consultations
C. Daily standup meetings
D. Team performance reviews
E. End-user feedback sessions
C,D In agile projects, the customer is the highest priority, because this leads to end-user satisfaction and focus on delivery; administrative processes such as performance reviews are a lower priority. The product owner is NOT needed at every daily meeting.
Domain.Task II.3
A deliverable on the project’s critical path is behind schedule.
The cost performance index (CPI) is 1.3. The project manager is able to put the project back on schedule.
Which three results are the most likely for this project? (Choose THREE).
A. Activities will be performed in parallel.
B. Project scope will be revised.
C. Associated risks will increase.
D. Costs will increase.
E. The team should expect rework.
A,C,D The cost performance index (CPI) is above 1; therefore, the project is spending money at a rate lower than planned. Since the project is behind schedule, its schedule performance index (SPI) is less than 1. In order to increase the SPI to 1, there will most likely be an increase in costs, perhaps from crashing activities on the critical path that will lower the CPI towards 1. This will most likely increase risks associated with the project when trying to do more in a shorter time.
Domain.Task II.4
A project that should have been 90% complete by now is only 65% complete. The total project budget is US$120,000 and the actual cost spent to date (AC) is US$80,000.
What is the scheduled performance index (SPI) and cost performance index (CPI) of this project?
A. The SPI is 0.72, and the CPI is 0.98.
B. The SPI is 1.38, and the CPI is 1.2.
C. The SPI is 0.94, and the CPI is 1.04.
D. The SPI is 0.80, and the CPI is 0.91.
E.
A EV = % complete * budget: 65% * $120,000 = $78,000,
AC = $80,000.
CPI = EV/AC = $78,000/80,000 = 0.975 or 0.98
A CPI less than 1 means the project is over budget.
PV = % complete * budget: 90% * $120,000 = $108,000,
SPI = EV/PV = $78,000/108,000 = 0.72
An SPI less than 1 means the project is behind schedule.
Domain.Task II.4
A project is 7 months into execution. The project manager determines that the cost performance index (CPI) is .80.
According to a trend analysis, the CPI has a downward trend.
What should the project manager do next?
A. Issue a change request to redo the cost baseline.
B. Ask for additional resources.
C. Crash the project schedule.
D. Utilize the management reserve.
E.
A Since the project is over budget and the trend analysis shows that this will continue, the best course of action is to redo the cost baseline of the project and manage it.
Domain.Task II.4
A project has the following characteristics:
- US$3 million budget
- Planned value of US$630,000
- Actual cost of US$650,000
- Earned value of US$540,000
Which statement is true about the current status of the project?
A. The project is ahead of schedule and under budget.
B. The project is behind schedule and over budget.
C. The project is ahead of schedule and over budget.
D. The project is behind schedule and under budget.
E.
B CV = EV - AC: 540 - 650 = -110 (negative cost variance)
SV = EV - PV: 540 - 630 = -90 (negative schedule variance)
Negative cost variance means the project is over budget.
Negative schedule variance means project is behind schedule.
Domain.Task II.4
The project manager learns that one team member needs to complete a critical task that is outside of the project, resulting in a scheduling risk for the project.
How can the project manager eliminate this risk?
A. Meet with the team member’s manager and negotiate for an alternative time to complete the other task.
B. Ask the team member to focus on the critical task and obtain an additional resource from another department.
C. Send a report to the project sponsor, documenting noncompliance from the member’s manager.
D. Tell the team member’s manger to release the team member from outside activities until the scheduled project activity is complete.
E.
A The resource management plan is used to help determine how resources allocated to agreed-upon risk responses will be coordinated with other project resources. This will provide guidance as to how the project manager can negotiate with the resource’s manager.
Domain.Task II.4
A project that should have been 70% complete by now is only 55% complete. The total project budget is US$210,000, and the actual cost spent to date is US$162,000.
What is the scheduled performance index (SPI) and cost performance index (CPI) of this project?
A. The SPI is 0.79, and the CPI is 0.71.
B. The SPI is 1.27, and the CPI is 0.98.
C. The SPI is 0.82, and the CPI is 1.05.
D. The SPI is 0.99, and the CPI is 0.96.
E.
A EV = Actual% * BAC = 0.55$210,000 = $115,500
PV = Plan% * BAC = 0.70$210,000 = $147,000
AC = $162,000 (given)
SPI = EV/PV = $115,500/$147,000 = 0.785 or 0.79
CPI = EV/AC = $115,500/$162,000 = 0.71
Domain.Task II.4
A project that should have been 90% complete by now is only 84% complete. The total project budget is US$110,000 and the actual cost to date is US$82,000.
What is the schedule performance index (SPI) and cost performance index (CPI) for this project?
A. The SPI is 0.93, and the CPI is 1.13.
B. The SPI is 1.07, and the CPI is 0.99.
C. The SPI is 1.15, and the CPI of 0.93.
D. The SPI is 0.96, and the CPI is 1.18.
E.
A EV = Actual% * BAC = 0.84$110,000 = $92,400
PV = Plan% * BAC = 0.90$110,000 = $99,000
AC = $82,000 (given)
SPI = EV/PV = $92,400/$99,000 = 0.93
CPI = EV/AC = $92,400/$82,000 = 1.126 or 1.13
Domain.Task II.4
Over the past six months, the cost per story in agile project A has risen by more than 250% due to a faulty platform which is no longer supported. The project will exceed the budget increment threshold at the next iteration.
Who should decide if the project should be cancelled?
A. The head of business control
B. The product owner
C. The procurement manager
D. The project manager
E.
B The product owner acts as the sponsor in agile projects and therefore has the authority to decide if conditions warrant termination of a project.
Domain.Task II.4
A new product development project has the following characteristics:
- There are three (3) main tasks.
- Task A must be delivered four (4) weeks before task C starts.
- Once task B is finished, task C will start.
What is the relationship between tasks A and B?
A. Finish-to-start (FS)
B. Finish-to-finish (FF)
C. Start-to-start (SS)
D. Start-to-finish (SF)
E.
B While there is no direct relationship between A and B, both must be completed before C can start. So, of the choices, the only response that makes sense is FF.
Domain.Task II.4
A company is planning to utilize a new product that leverages innovative technologies and processes.
The project manager has verified that the component work packages have been defined, and constraints for each component have been identified.
Which estimating technique should the project manager use to obtain a precise cost estimate of the project?
A. Analogous
B. Three-point
C. Bottom-up
D. Parametric
E.
C Bottom-up estimating is a method of estimating project duration or cost by aggregating the estimates of the lower-level components of the WBS.
Domain.Task II.4
A project manager is uncertain about the duration of a project for a new product and consults several groups of subject matter experts (SMEs). The first group advises that development can be finished in 40 days. The second group identifies some risks that could make the duration up to 60 days. The third group proposes a new development method that can shorten the time to 20 days.
What is the estimated development duration for the new product?
A. 20 days
B. 40 days
C. 60 days
D. 30 days
E.
B Using three-point estimating (Triangular Estimate) = (Optimistic + Most Likely + Pessimistic)/3 = (20 + 40 + 60)/3 = 120/3 = 40 days
Beta Estimate = (Optimistic + (4 X Most Likely) + Pessimistic)/6 = (20 + (4*40) + 60)/6 = 240/6 = 40 days
Domain.Task II.4
A project manager is uncertain about the duration of a new project and consults several groups of subject matter experts (SMEs). The first group advises that development can be finished in 29 days. The second group identifies some risks that could make the duration up to 46 days. The third group proposes a new development method that can shorten the time to 18 days.
Using the Triangular estimation technique, what is the estimated development duration for the new product?
A. 28 days
B. 31 days
C. 32 days
D. 36 days
E.
B Using a Triangular Estimate = (Optimistic + Most Likely + Pessimistic)/3 = (18 + 29 + 46)/3 = 93/3 = 31 days
Domain.Task II.5
A project manager is uncertain about the duration of a new product development project and consults several groups of subject matter experts (SMEs). The first group advises that development can be finished in 14 days. The second group identifies some risks that could make the duration up to 32 days. The third group proposes a new development method that can shorten the time to 8 days.
What is the estimated development duration for the new product using the Beta estimation technique?
A. 12 days
B. 16 days
C. 14 days
D. 20 days
E.
B Using the Beta Estimate = (Optimistic + (4 X Most Likely) + Pessimistic)/6 = (8 + (4*14) + 32)/6 = 96/6 = 16 days
Domain.Task II.5
A trend of stories is INCOMPLETE, and this becomes apparent at the end of iterations. Several team members worked on these stories and NO blockers were identified.
How can the agile team resolve the situation?
A. Put the stories back into the product backlog and wait for a less intensive iteration to work on them.
B. Use the next iteration for a team spike to determine feasibility of completing the stories.
C. Put the stories in the blocked column and work with the product owner to remove impediments.
D. Work with the product owner to further break down the stories in the backlog and update the Definition of Ready.
E.
D When stories CANNOT be completed within one iteration, it is typically because the story is NOT broken down into small enough goals.
Domain.Task II.5
A project manager is visiting a software supplier’s office. Some of the sights are surprising: two people per workstation, estimations based on a deck of cards, developers forcing their tests to fail, and routines with names such as “traffic cop” and “ringleader”.
What could explain these practices?
A. The servant leader has granted the team a bit too much freedom.
B. The supplier has adopted eXtreme Programming methods.
C. The supplier appears to be conducting “gaming” training sessions.
D. The project manager happened to visit during a team building exercise.
E.
B eXtreme Programming practices include pair programming (2 per workstation), planning poker, test-first programming, and metaphor naming of processes.
Domain.Task II.5
An agile project is structured without timeboxing. Tasks are grouped by high-level goal but CANNOT be predictably scheduled.
In which three ways can the work be distributed for efficient execution? (Choose THREE).
A. Track readiness status to help the team initiate tasks at the right time.
B. Set deadlines to ensure that the team completes the work in acceptable limits.
C. Use a task board to group tasks into rows and track progress across columns.
D. Maintain a to do task pool to limit the number of tasks in progress.
E. Pre-identify blockers to determine the order of execution.
A,C,D Work distribution in a flow-based agile approach can be more efficient if:
- Task triggering is constantly monitored to reduce lag
- The task board displays progress stages in columns, potentially with tasks grouped by rows
- A pool of tasks-to-do limits the number of concurrent tasks in progress
Domain.Task II.5
Two start-up companies have merged, and now more than 100 developers on eight agile teams are working on a common portfolio.
Which agile practice or method can best ensure release coordination between the teams?
A. Scrum of Scrums
B. Mobbing
C. Scrumban
D. Feature-Driven Development
E.
D FDD provides the most complete set of methods specifically for the needs of large software development projects.
Domain.Task II.5
Six months into a strategic agile project, company executives are closely monitoring its progress. The COO expresses frustration that the last weekly burndown charts show the projected completion date significantly moving back and forward several times.
How can the project manager forecast the completion date with more accuracy and certainty?
A. Ensure upcoming backlog items are elaborated in more detail with the team.
B. Educate the executive committee on the flexible nature of agile planning.
C. Plan for variable-size iterations according to story complexity and load.
D. Reduce frequency of the progress reports sent to senior stakeholders.
E.
A Erratic progress curve variations are typical of inconsistent or uninformed story point estimates. Backlog refinement can ensure that overly complex stories are broken down and that past progress informs new story estimates.
Domain.Task II.5
An ongoing agile project is measured as follows:
2-week Stories Stories Actual Earned
Sprint Planned Completed Cost Value
1 15 10 450K 300K
2 20 18 600K 540K
3 20 25 800K 1000K
4 22 25 1100K 1250K \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
Totals 77 78 2950K 3090K =====================================================
According to the table, which two of the following are the project’s metrics? (Choose TWO).
A. SPI = 0.98
B. CPI = 1.05
C. CPI = 1.30
D. SPI = 1.01
E. CPI = 0.95
B,D SPI is calculated as stories completed/stories planned (78/77 = 1.01) and CPI as earned value /actual cost (3090K/2950K = 1.05).
Domain.Task II.5
A start-up has grown quickly, and there are now four (4) agile teams working on interrelated products. All teams have begun to experience impediments and gaps related to work in other teams.
How should the project manager address this problem?
A. Eliminate dependencies between teams.
B. Favor collaboration tools over meetings.
C. Implement a Scrum of Scrums layer.
D. Merge into two large teams to reduce issues.
E.
C Scrum of Scrums is the most effective way to coordinate work between teams working on interrelated products.
Domain.Task II.6
The IT integration team has a major setback in a hybrid project. Testing has confirmed that the hardware does NOT support the target operating system. The agile team’s software releases must now run on a later operating system version.
What should the project manager do next?
A. Meet with the scrum master to determine if the product vision is still valid.
B. Meet with the product owner and team to update the product backlog during the sprint.
C. Work with the agile team to run root cause analysis on why the problem did not surface earlier.
D. Inform the team at the daily meeting and update the Definition of Done and Definition of Ready.
E.
B Changes of frame assumptions during execution requires impact analysis as quickly as possible. Product owner input is required for major scope changes (including rework) which would be reflected as updates to the product backlog.
Reviewing the product vision would give you insight to use cases rather than specific OS versions. Root cause analysis is already performed by the IT team—the agile team must work with the new requirement—and changing the Definition of Done and Definition of Ready would NOT address the impact analysis on work already done.
Domain.Task II.6
A hybrid virtual reality project is running an agile software track and a predictive electronics track. Halfway into the project, delays are accumulating due to misaligned deliverable releases between the two tracks.
Which two elements should the project manager combine to produce a common network diagram? (Choose TWO).
A. Definition of Ready with dependency milestones
B. Epic breakdown with work breakdown structure
C. Product backlog with critical path task sequence
D. Definition of Done with exit criteria
E. Definition of Ready with work breakdown structure
A,D Misalignment is caused by missing dependencies between the tracks. The purpose of the network diagram is to sequence activities based on dependency. The Scrum equivalent of a task start dependency is the Definition of Ready, and the equivalent of the task exit criteria are the Definition of Done.
Domain.Task II.6
A hybrid municipal waste management project combines many brief administrative tasks with small-scale public works. An agile track makes good progress on key objectives, but small tasks are accumulating in the backlog. Most tasks can be done in one day but are dependent on unpredictable triggering events.
Which approach would be most effective to clear out these minor tasks faster?
A. Combine multiple minor tasks to make story sizes consistent with key objectives.
B. Reprioritize the backlog to favor the smallest stories and reassign them daily.
C. Reprioritize the backlog on a daily basis so that recent triggers boost story priority.
D. Integrate the small tasks to either the Definition of Done or acceptance criteria.
E.
D The stories will NOT be considered complete until associated small tasks are triggered and completed.
Domain.Task II.6
A skincare company reports growing customer complaints about an underweight product. A project manager needs to determine if something needs to be changed in the production line.
Which tool or technique can the project manager use for this task?
A. Scatter diagram
B. Affinity diagram
C. Control chart
D. Histogram
E.
C Control charts are used to determine whether or not a process is stable or has predictable performance.
Domain.Task II.6
A project has the following characteristics:
- A quality management plan is in place.
- The quality management plan states that project deliverables must be reviewed, at a minimum, 1.5 weeks before the deadline.
- Four (4) deliverables have missed this quality requirement.
Which step should the project manager take?
A. Reach out to the project sponsor for their input.
B. Modify the quality management plan to conform to project practices.
C. Request that the project undergo an internal audit.
D. Use a cause-and-effect diagram for root cause analysis.
E.
D By understanding the root cause of the issue, the project manager may avoid this type of problem later on in this and other projects.
Domain.Task II.6
A project is in the execution stage. Based on the originally approved blueprint, 1,000 products were developed. The project team randomly chooses 100 products to evaluate against the quality plan.
What is the project team undertaking?
A. Control procurement
B. Statistical sampling
C. Process audit
D. Quality assurance
E.
B Statistical sampling involves choosing part of a population of interest for inspection—for example, selecting 10 engineering drawings at random from a list of 75. The sample is taken to measure controls and verify quality. Sample frequency and sizes should be determined during the Plan Quality Management process.
Domain.Task II.6
The project is overseen by a senior project manager. A new project manager joins the project, and the sponsor asks the new project manager to develop the quality management plan.
How should the new project manager proceed?
A. Meet with the senior project manager to identify established plans and processes. Then, ask for assistance in selecting the appropriate standards.
B. Schedule a meeting with the customer to collect requirements and obtain benchmarking samples.
C. Obtain the necessary benchmarking samples and cost-benefit analyses from the sponsor.
D. Postpone the development of the quality management plan until quality metrics and quality checklists are created.
E.
A The new project manager needs to consult with the senior project manager to find out what practices and processes are already in place.
Domain.Task II.6
Company B is setting up a new agile innovation team with a mission of placing product quality above all other considerations. The initiative comes after a number of high-profile complaints on social media networks about the brand’s diminished quality.
Which option would be most effective to achieve the team’s goals?
A. Raise the product price to fund use of better-quality materials.
B. Benchmark features against competitor products and track defects
C. Create an automated testing bench to eliminate human error.
D. Use Test-Driven Development based on continuous user focus group input.
E.
D TDD ensures a quality standard before development, but continuous user input is the most important to determine the target.
Domain.Task II.6
During sprint planning, some new backlog items are prioritized but NOT estimated. The product owner requires a new set of tests to verify the unique properties of the items.
What should happen before adding it to the sprint backlog?
A. Use analogous estimating based on similar tests on similar stories.
B. The product owner defines a new epic to allow testing in the next sprint.
C. Add the relevant acceptance criteria in the Definition of Ready before estimating.
D. The product owner should provide the initial estimate to be refined by the team.
E.
C Specific acceptance criteria should be defined and checked in the Definition of Ready of any impacted item before estimation to ensure all effort is accounted for.
Domain.Task II.6
A smartphone manufacturer is re-assessing its product development methods in response to a sharp increase in user complaints. Analysis of the complaints indicates that the users try to use some features in ways that designers did NOT anticipate.
Given these findings, which agile practice would most effectively prevent the problem?
A. Acceptance Test-Driven Development
B. Smoke Testing
C. Behavior-Driven Development
D. Red, green, refactor
E.
C Behavior-Driven Development is an extension of Test-Driven Development whereby automated tests and simulations are created before developing the product. Flaws are discovered by forcing the tests to fail before producing the unit in a way that will pass the tests.
Domain.Task II.6
A start-up company needs to quickly expand its product portfolio to meet market demand. Recently, staff members are working on two or three agile teams, each dedicated to a different product line. Output is dropping and defect rates are rising in all teams.
In which two ways can the project manager help the agile teams improve their work? (Choose TWO).
A. Perform root-cause analysis in the next retrospectives.
B. Influence the product owners to right-size their portfolios.
C. Organize dedicated teams to reduce context-switching.
D. Appoint dedicated test teams to offload the agile teams.
E. Train the agile teams to improve time and focus management.
A,C,D The main problem is high context-switching when working on multiple teams, which is resolved by 100% dedicated teams. Root-cause analysis would pinpoint this and other problems to address.
Domain.Task II.6
The agile team surpassed the planned number of stories in the last three agile iterations.
How can the project manager be sure all the work performed is truly complete?
A. Ask the product owner if results are satisfactory.
B. Check results against the Definition of Done.
C. Ask the team to cross-check other members’ work.
D. Check the results of all the tests performed.
E.
B The Definition of Done lists all criteria that must be met to consider a task/story completed.
Domain.Task II.6
A medium-sized company is expanding into a new market. However, the company does NOT have previous experience in that market.
A project manager needs to collect requirements.
Which two tools or techniques should the project manager use? (Choose TWO).
A. Prototypes
B. Expert judgment
C. Product analysis
D. Create requirements traceability matrix
E.
A,B Experts are a source of experience and knowledge. Given the increased risks of a new and potentially complex market, using expert judgement is recommended. Prototypes are an excellent way to gain a better understanding of the product and to gather requirements.
Domain.Task II.6
A client brings a project manager into a project during the project’s execution stage.
The project manager reviews the project scope for cost estimating purposes and notices that some deliverables were missed in the work breakdown structure (WBS).
Which step should the manager take next?
A. Verify with the stakeholders to see if these missed deliverables should be added.
B. Ask that the project management office (PMO) approve additional funds for this work.
C. Include the work in the WBS, per the 100% rule, and recalculate the total project cost.
D. Determine whether these deliverables are necessary by verifying with experts in the field.
E.
C The 100% rule states that any work package in the WBS should consist of 100% of all work for that work package. Since the WBS is a work package itself (the project), and since the WBS should contain only work packages that are in-scope, any missing work packages should be added to the WBS and recalculated.
Domain.Task II.6
Review the following project characteristics:
- A sponsor approves a project.
- The project manager invites selected team members, key stakeholders, and the sponsor to a meeting.
- The primary purpose of the meeting is to create a document that will guide the team in defining the main project deliverables.
What will be the final output of this meeting?
A. Milestone list
B. Work breakdown structure (WBS) dictionary
C. Scope management plan
D. Requirements management plan
E.
C The scope management plan is a component of the project management plan that describes how the scope will be defined, developed, monitored, controlled, and validated.
Domain.Task II.7
A project manager is working with a customer who repeatedly submits requests for new requirements for an existing software product.
The project manager has already provided the completed scope definition for the product’s next version release to stakeholders.
Which step is appropriate for the project manager to take next?
A. Hold a meeting with the product manager to request that the number of new requests be reduced.
B. Define project boundaries immediately with the sponsor.
C. Organize a meeting with the stakeholders to set expectations.
D. Analyze the scope management plan to see how changes in scope are handled.
E.
D The scope management plan documents how the project and product scope will be defined, developed, monitored, controlled, and validated. The key benefit of this document is that it provides guidance and direction on how scope will be managed throughout the project.
Domain.Task II.7
A project manager is working on a software development project.
Two customers are repeatedly submitting new feature requests. The completed scope definition for the product’s next version release has already been provided to stakeholders.
What should the project manager do next?
A. Ask to meet with the product manager, and discuss reducing the number of new requests.
B. Meet with the sponsor immediately to discuss project boundaries.
C. Meet face-to-face with stakeholders to set expectations.
D. Assess the scope management plan to see how changes in scope are managed.
E.
D The scope management plan provides details on how project and product scope will be defined, validated, and controlled. It is needed to help control the scope of the project.
Domain.Task II.7
An empowered agile team showed impressive progress in the first four iterations, but now the product owner has noticed low output in the latest five iterations without any apparent reason.
What could be the cause of this situation?
A. The team worked on low-complexity stories from the backlog in the first four iterations.
B. Technical debt has set in and the team’s output will keep dropping until the cause is eliminated.
C. The team was in the storming stage of the development and now have moved to norming.
D. There is most likely a specific under-performing team member slowing the team down.
E.
A Some agile teams want to favor faster progress by completing less complex stories before more complex ones. Prioritization of backlog should be value-based, not speed-based.
Domain.Task II.7
An agile team is struggling to solve a blocking issue with packaging design. Eventually, they find a solution, but it requires a different product format.
What should the team do before further developing the solution?
A. Create a prototype and demo it to the end customer.
B. Ask the product owner to approve the change.
C. Run a cost/benefit analysis to determine its value.
D. Check if the change is consistent with the product vision.
E.
B This is a case in which basic product characteristics may be affected by the change and might not be captured in the product vision. The product owner is responsible for shaping the product in collaboration with stakeholders.
Domain.Task II.7
A merger of two companies results in combining an agile software project and a predictive electronics project into a single hybrid project. Two months later, requirements have changed in both tracks but NEITHER has a full picture on status or importance of the requirements.
How can the project manager best resolve the problem?
A. Integrate the product backlog into the requirements specification and educate the software team on working with the new document.
B. Create a requirements traceability matrix by combining the product backlog with the requirements specification and define both documents as input.
C. Integrate the requirements specification into the product backlog and educate the electronics team on working with the new document.
D. Integrate the revised work packages and updated product backlog items into a new master WBS for progress tracking.
E.
B The requirements traceability matrix provides a simple, flexible but complete status view of requirements. Both product backlog and requirements specification are needed to ensure smooth continuity in each track.
Domain.Task II.7
A marketing team is developing a new website for an existing product range. The team reads through some customer comments submitted on the current website:
“Too much clicking!”
“More and better please.”
“Make it easier”
Which tool or technique should the marketing team use to identify the target audience’s style preferences?
A. Focus groups
B. Brainstorming
C. Product analysis
D. Benchmarking
E.
A Focus groups bring together prequalified stakeholders and subject matter experts to learn about their expectations and attitudes about a proposed product, service, or result.
Domain.Task II.7
A project has the following characteristics:
- To determine what product should be created, a feasibility study was conducted.
- A change request was approved to develop another product that contradicts the original requirements.
- Data analysis was conducted before the change request was approved.
Which action should the project manager take?
A. Execute the change request.
B. Decline the change request.
C. Ask for a detailed report of the data analysis.
D. Ask for a feasibility study of the new product.
E.
A Approved change requests can require new or revised cost estimates, activity sequences, schedule dates, resource requirements, and/or analysis of risk response alternatives. These changes can require adjustments to the project management plan and other project documents.
Domain.Task II.7
User test results for a prototype release are ready. The test users describe the kind of smoother experience they want, the many missing features they desire, and the ways the product could be more visually appealing.
What conclusions can be drawn from the user’s input?
A. The tests are irrelevant: the prototype design is NOT complete.
B. The tests were a failure: most of the features will need to be re-designed.
C. The tests were a success: the input will ensure a more targeted backlog.
D. The test results are unusable: the users did NOT understand the goals.
E.
C The objective of user tests is to provide the earliest possible input to adjust the product to user needs. Thus, a large amount of negative input is a success because it enables a large amount of improvement faster.
Domain.Task II.7
During estimating, the team is discussing an item in the backlog. It becomes clear that the item can be done in different ways, but the best way is NOT obvious.
What should the team do to progress on this item?
A. Add ranked alternatives to the backlog.
B. Select the cheapest alternative to build.
C. Add a new spike item to the backlog.
D. Select the fastest alternative to build
E.
C The spike is correct because items should be sufficiently researched to determine the best way to deliver business value and phrase sufficiently detailed, testable stories.
Domain.Task II.8
The agile team is building a version of a smartphone shopping application suitable for older people. Marketing has not been able to find any volunteer test users fitting the profile.
Which option would be most effective to ensure the best product value is delivered?
A. Examine evaluations of similar competitor products.
B. Ask older relatives about the price point they want.
C. Remove eyeglasses when testing the user interface.
D. Ask the product owner to run friendly tests with older relatives.
E.
D Agile favors obtaining direct and practical/actual user feedback over formal data collection processes or competitor analysis.
Domain.Task II.8
A customer contemplates adding new features to a project deliverable.
Which mandatory step must a project manager take before a project team member can start working on these new features?
A. Verify requirements.
B. Ensure approval from the responsible individual identified in the project management plan.
C. Gain approval from the project sponsor.
D. Ensure key subject matter experts (SMEs) approve.
E.
B Every documented change request needs to be either approved, deferred, or rejected by a responsible individual, usually the project sponsor or project manager. The responsible individual will be identified in the project management plan or by the organizational procedures. When required, the Perform Integrated Change Control process includes a change control board (CCB), which is a formally chartered group responsible for reviewing, evaluating, approving, deferring, or rejecting changes to the project and for recording and communicating such decisions. Customer or sponsor approval may be required for certain change requests after CCB approval, unless they are part of the CCB.
Domain.Task II.8
A client’s employee asks the project manager for an additional, new product feature during a status meeting.
To which document should the project manager first refer to determine who has the authority to approve this request?
A. Change log
B. Change management plan
C. Responsible, accountable, consult, and inform (RACI) matrix
D. Change request document
E.
B The change management plan is a component of the project management plan that establishes the change control board, documents the extent of its authority, and describes how the change control system will be implemented.
Domain.Task II.8
A project is 50% completed. An essential project team member requests two (2) months leave for personal matters.
What should the project manager do first?
A. Check with this team member to see if the leave can be postponed.
B. Discuss the issue with the functional manager and request a replacement.
C. Assess how the leave will impact the project.
D. Refer to the resource management plan.
E.
C The project manager first needs to understand what impact (if any) this absence will have on the project, before taking any action.
Domain.Task II.8
A project sponsor asks the project manager to change production materials because these materials could cause health problems to consumers.
Which step should the project manager take?
A. Follow the Perform Integrated Change Control process and thoroughly investigate the matter.
B. Immediately implement the change and submit a change request for formal documentation.
C. End the current work and enact the change control process.
D. Reject the change because the request is outside of scope.
E.
A You need to analyze and understand impacts of any change to the project before submitting the change to the change control board. A change control board relies on the project manager to provide all available information for effective decision making.
Domain.Task II.8
A team was in the execution stage of the project management plan when three (3) necessary changes were brought to their attention. The team members all have differing opinions regarding how to implement the changes.
What should the project manager do?
A. Hold a meeting with the board and project sponsor to address the issue.
B. Confirm that all team members and stakeholders understand and follow the change management plan.
C. Organize a meeting with team members to review the issues and request changes where needed.
D. Ensure all requested changes are applied to the project and communicate directly with all team members.
E.
B The team and project manager must follow the documented and agreed-upon change management processes.
Domain.Task II.8
A project manager recently joined a new project with the following characteristics:
- Tight deadlines
- Global virtual team
- Fixed budget
During the planning stage, the project manager wants to avoid scope creep and keep the team focused on delivering a product that meets requirements.
The project manager should ensure __________. (Fill in the blank with the correct response.)
A. that any changes to scope go through the formal approval process
B. that daily standups occur, with all development teams
C. that the development team leads generate detailed requirements
D. that stakeholders do NOT directly interact with the development team leads
E.
A Following the formal change control process is the best way to control unnecessary project changes.
Domain.Task II.8
The project sponsor requests that an element of a product will be swapped for the equivalent supplied by a local manufacturer in order to have a more sustainable supply chain.
Which action should the project manager take?
A. Promptly implement the change and submit a change request for formal documentation.
B. Refer to the Perform Integrated Change Control process to examine the issue further.
C. Halt current production and initiate the Perform Integrated Change Control process.
D. Refuse to fulfil the request because it will lead to scope creep.
E.
B Submitting a change request starts the Perform Integrated Change Control process. Once the change request is submitted, the project manager and team analyze the impact of the change to the project and can verify whether an element in the product actually does lead to health issues in customers. Whatever it is, the issue or concern should be investigated first before taking action.
Domain.Task II.9
A worldwide product launch will likely be delayed by the lengthy analysis needed to assess the impact of new European Union (EU) regulations. Perishable ingredients and factory bookings are at risk of being lost. The executive committee decides to postpone the launch in the EU but maintain launch dates in all non-EU countries.
How should the project manager re-plan the project to support both launches?
A. Use the contingency budget to cover sunken costs for the EU launch and adjust plans for the non-EU launch.
B. Replan the project as a fully agile set of iterations and ensure that fixed milestones are documented on the burn-down chart.
C. Plan analysis activities and tollgates for the EU launch and crash the schedule for the non-EU launch.
D. Embed a set of iterations to analyze and develop the EU product, while adjusting plans for the non-EU launch.
E.
D Two (2) launch workstreams will need to run in parallel to avoid delay to the non-EU launch. Lack of known requirements makes it impossible to plan the EU launch with a predictive approach. Existing milestones must be maintained to avoid loss.
Domain.Task II.9
A multi-year, hybrid pharmaceutical project adds new fixed-date activities for the team to run Machine Learning (ML) processing of medical scans. The output from the ML analysis is used by an agile team of doctors to determine next steps in a patient case.
The project manager has updated the scope statement and schedule.
In which three other documents should the project manager record this new process? (Choose THREE).
A. Stakeholder Register
B. Sprint Backlog
C. Definition of Ready
D. Risk Register
E. Resource Management Plan
C,D,E The Definition of Ready is updated to ensure that the ML output triggers the agile team’s analysis.The risk register is updated to plan for risks relating to adapting and learning new technology and ways of working.The resource management plan is updated because the machines running the ML routines are resources necessary to complete the work.
Domain.Task II.9
A project’s workload is increasing significantly, and the resource level is NOT sufficient. In response, management outsources some major tasks to keep the project on schedule.
What should the project manager do in this scenario?
A. Review the communications management plan.
B. Revise the procurement management plan.
C. Escalate to the project sponsor.
D. Revise the organizational chart.
E.
B The procurement management plan needs to be updated, since it captures the process of documenting project procurement decisions, specifying the approach, and identifying potential sellers. The key benefit of this process is determining whether to acquire goods and services from outside the project and, if so, what to acquire as well as how and when to acquire it.
Domain.Task II.9
A textile development project needs a specialized resource to work for 900 hours. The company has decided to outsource these hours. Because of internal policies, all potential service providers must be given the same information about the requirements.
Which action should the project manager take to ensure this?
A. Hold direct negotiations with each service provider.
B. Conduct a bidder conference with the service providers.
C. Ensure the procurement management plan is sent to each service provider.
D. Add each of the service providers to the stakeholder register.
E.
B A bidder conference is a meeting between the buyer and prospective service providers prior to proposal submittal. Conferences ensure that all prospective bidders have a clear and common understanding of the procurement, and NO bidders receive preferential treatment.
Domain.Task II.9
Because a deliverable does NOT meet the agreed-upon quality specifications, it is rejected by the customer. Team members find that the deliverable fails to meet expectations because of a problem with vendor-provided parts.
The vendor says that they will NOT correct the problem.
Before deciding on next steps, what should the project manager do?
A. Check the service level agreement (SLA) established with the vendor.
B. Review the procurement management plan and contract agreements.
C. Check the internal quality assurance reports.
D. Review the resource management plan and document lessons learned.
E.
B A contract is a mutually binding agreement that obligates the seller to provide the specified products, services, or results; obligates the buyer to compensate the seller; and represents a legal relationship that is subject to remedy in the courts.
Domain.Task II.10.
Near the end of a manufacturing project, several team members are transferred to another project. To complete the work, the project manager needs to acquire additional resource support from a new supplier but is concerned about the cost risk of using a new supplier at this advanced stage of the project.
Now, the project manager needs to work with the procurement team to establish specifications and type of contract to be used.
What should be done?
A. Recommend a time and material (TM) contract.
B. Recommend a fixed price incentive fee (FPIF) contract.
C. Recommend a cost plus incentive fee (CPIF) contract.
D. Recommend a firm fixed price (FFP) contract.
E.
B A fixed price incentive fee contract (FPIF) is a type of contract where the buyer pays the seller a set amount (as defined by the contract), and the seller can earn an additional amount if the seller meets defined performance criteria.
Domain.Task II.10.
A deliverable does NOT meet the agreed-upon quality specifications and is rejected by the customer. After investigation, the project team finds a fault with the vendor-provided parts. This fault caused the issue. The vendor says that they CANNOT correct the situation.
What should the project manager review before deciding on next steps?
A. The service level agreement (SLA) established with the vendor
B. The procurement management plan and contract agreements
C. The internal quality assurance reports
D. The resource management plan
E.
B A contract is a mutually binding agreement that obligates the seller to provide the specified products, services, or results; obligates the buyer to compensate the seller; and represents a legal relationship that is subject to remedy in the courts.
Domain.Task II.10.
A hybrid project combines IT integration and software development tasks. The predictive and agile teams seem to be working in silos, resulting in misaligned deliverable scheduling.
Which two measures would most effectively enable the teams to better synchronize their deliveries? (Choose TWO).
A. Alter the story size to ensure more complete integration to the IT build requirements.
B. Use the IT predictive schedule to limit the features the software team starts to develop.
C. Create a common Kanban board to queue and track progress of both teams’ deliverables.
D. Break down IT work packages into more granular tasks to align to the software releases.
E. Define common milestones and an overall dependency network to be used by both teams.
C,E Common visibility of work in progress would enable better aligned work planning. Common milestones and dependency integration across the two tracks will promote synchronized delivery. The other approaches are wrong because story size should always be as low as possible; agile progress should NOT be reduced to match the predictive schedule, otherwise the project would have to be fully predictive; and the nature of a strictly sequential, predictive IT workflow is NOT compatible with software development needs.
Domain.Task II.10.
Company G has a goal of increasing customer satisfaction within four (4) months and initiates a project to meet this goal. The project manager needs to identify best practices.
Which method should the project manager use to accomplish this?
A. Benchmarking
B. Emotional intelligence
C. Facilitation
D. Affinity diagram
E.
A Benchmarking should be used to identify best practices.
Domain.Task II.10.
A project manager begins to prepare the project management plan after receiving the project charter.
There is currently NO historical information in the project management office (PMO).
What next step should the project manager take in this scenario?
A. Utilize analogous estimating.
B. Seek advice from experts in the field.
C. Organize an initial kick-off call.
D. Request that the project sponsor provides input.
E.
B If NO historical information is available, then consulting with subject matter experts is the next best thing a project manager can do to prepare the project plan.
Domain.Task II.10.
Company P’s IT transformation project has three (3) deliverables, and they have the following characteristics, according to the project team:
- Deliverable 2 has strictly scheduled milestones, with no expected variation in the timeline.
- Requirements for deliverables 1 and 3 will change quickly during development.
Which project life cycle should the project manager use for this project?
A. Select a fully agile project model, with a common user story and three-week sprints.
B. Select a waterfall project model for deliverables, with firm milestones and change control procedures.
C. Select a hybrid project model; position deliverable 2 as a single agile sprint embedded in an overall waterfall project.
D. Select a hybrid project model; position deliverable 2 as a single waterfall phase embedded in an overall agile project.
E.
D In this project, two (2) deliverables have unknown durations or changing requirement sets—both of which are appropriate conditions for use of the agile life cycle. Deliverable 2 requires strict schedule control and external dependencies, which require a traditional or waterfall project life cycle.
Domain.Task II.10.
A consultant has advised an IT director to use a development and operations (DevOps) approach to a migration project. The IT director wants to understand how the necessary speed can be achieved in a safe way.
Which two examples could demonstrate how DevOps can reduce incidents and speed up deployment at the same time? {Choose TWO.)
A. Virtualization of all systems and software containers
B. Early collaboration between operations and development
C. Machine Learning-based development and deployment
D. Development testing at deployment sites before operations
E. Automation of operations and development
B, E Development and operations collaboration (early and constant) and automation of both domains is at the heart of DevOps. Virtualization and machine learning are enablers of efficiency but NOT DevOps methods. Development testing on deployment sites is impractical and inefficient.
Domain.Task II.10.
An innovative product fails to satisfy targeted consumers despite significant investments in quality control and marketing campaigns.
Which agile practice would best prevent future failures of this nature?
A. Run continuous consumer usability testing on product releases.
B. Align objectives between the product owner and marketing.
C. Broaden the persona type definition of the target consumer.
D. Add more features and tests to the minimum viable product (MVP).
E.
A Continuous user testing and feedback is the most effective way to align requirements to user needs and integrate them incrementally into product releases.
Domain.Task II.10.
An emergency vaccine roll-out project should be deployed to vaccination centers as soon as confirmed locations are booked. Factors such as delayed batch shipments, safety protocols, and target age groups may block the deployment at the last minute. However, the deployment process does NOT vary after passing the tollgate to begin setup at a new location.
Which project approach would best support the goal to maximize the number of centers deployed?
A. A fully predictive life cycle where each center deployment is a phase subject to dependencies.
B. A set of agile deployment iterations embedded in a predictive set of processes.
C. A set of predictive deployment sequences embedded in a set of agile processes.
D. A fully agile life cycle where dependencies and deployments are combined in each iteration.
E.
C A predictive approach within agile processes is correct because the deployments follow an unchanging sequence. Maximizing deployments would require handling as many parallel deployments as possible given a set of changing conditions processed in an agile way.
Domain.Task II.11
A project to start building an ecology-focused resort complex is planned, and the contract is ready for signature. The client now asks the prime contractor to suspend planned development work on a parcel of land while the team runs a consumer study—the team needs to know what kind of structures to build on the parcel.
What should the prime contractor do to quickly close the deal, given the new client requirements?
A. Subtract the parcel development work from the quoted price and plan the parcel development as agile iterations paid based on time and materials.
B. Add a risk premium to the agreed price of the full works and add a clause to renegotiate the new scope when it is fully defined.
C. Raise a change request to examine the impact on scope and price and close the deal when all information is available.
D. Exclude all work on the parcel from the project plan and pricing and propose a separate contract when the scope becomes clear.
E.
A Iterations based on time and materials is the best approach, because it enables the team to expand the project without delaying the project start. The agile iterations can act as placeholders for an unknown volume of work.
Domain.Task II.11
A new wildlife reserve project will have a staff of approximately 80 experts, builders, and logistics workers with exposure to various safety risks. The project manager wants a scalable approach combining flexibility and team dynamics with traditional safeguards.
Which option could be used to tailor a hybrid project of this nature?
A. Crystal Methods
B. eXtreme Programming (XP)
C. Behavior-Driven Development
D. Monte Carlo Simulation
E.
A Other than XP, which is NOT scalable, Crystal Methods is the only option defined as a hybrid tailoring methodology.
Domain.Task II.11
In a hybrid product design project, the team encounters a 3D printer malfunction resulting in costly losses of titanium supplies. When the production team tells the agile programming team about the problem, it becomes clear that mistranslated data sheets created problems for both teams. However, the agile team resolved their problems a month before the malfunction.
What could the agile team have done to prevent the current malfunction?
A. Deprioritized the stories impacted by information in the data sheets
B. Asked the project sponsor to halt the project pending translation corrections
C. Summarized their retrospective conclusions on information radiators
D. Formally requested a change of equipment supplier for the project
E.
C The root problem is that impactful information in the agile team was NOT passed to the predictive team in time to prevent the malfunction. Broadcasting retrospective lessons learned is the best way to reach the broadest group in a timely way.
Domain.Task II.11
A medical equipment vendor is running a hybrid project which includes some custom software development by an agile team. The team progress is good, but slow customer approval causes unnecessary delays. The customer insists that approval can only be given after repeating all the test cases in the target environment.
How can the project manager accelerate the approvals and build customer trust at the same time?
A. Invite the customer to send representatives to witness the team’s testing to pre-approve the tests.
B. Work out an arrangement with the customer to defer as many tests as possible to the final release.
C. Propose new terms for team members to work aside the customer testers to run tests in their environment.
D. Allow the team to progress at their pace while the customer continues to test and approve earlier builds.
E.
C Agile seeks to maximize transparency between supplier and customer as well as optimizing to remove unnecessary work. Combining teams to remove work duplication is the best option.
Witnessing only would NOT remove duplicated work; deferring tests is always bad practice because defects are NOT detected at the earliest possible point; and unsynchronized progression between the teams would potentially cause rework if defects are found.
Domain.Task II.11
An organizational change program has met with internal resistance, a risk which was previously identified. A logistics manager is particularly affected, due to reduction of the team size and the rate of change driven by an agile planning of the predictive implementation. The manager’s supervisor formally requests the change program to delay implementation for the logistics team.
What should the project manager do next in response to this request?
A. Work with the program sponsor to re-prioritize the program backlog sequence.
B. Request that the sponsor escalate the strategic issue to the executive committee.
C. Perform root-cause analysis on the key factors causing the manager’s resistance.
D. Review the risk register and implement the relevant risk response for the case.
E.
D Stakeholder resistance was anticipated and multiple risk responses are likely to exist, so reviewing the risk register is the correct response. Agile planning would enable frequent retrospectives to refine the risk responses, which could be more flexible than a fully predictive response.
Domain.Task II.12
A project team collected sensitive client data during the early stages of a project to help develop the project management plan. The team is now working on deliverables for the project when the compliance manager discovers a data breach and alerts the team to a compliance issue.
Which document should the project manager review first?
A. Statement of work (SOW)
B. Issue log
C. Business case
D. Risk register
E.
B After a new compliance issue is raised, the issue log should be reviewed and updated, as needed, prior to taking action.
Domain.Task II.13
The team working on Project A has resolved a technical issue, and the project is moving forward. The project manager has been warned that the same issue will probably arise on similar projects in the future.
What should the project manager do first when responding to this warning?
A. Ensure that the issue log is updated and update the lessons learned register.
B. Create a risk report and keep the report current.
C. Notify the project sponsor about the warning.
D. Ensure that the lessons learned register is updated.
E.
A Update the issue log to reflect resolution of the issue. Then update lessons learned register about potential risks for future projects.
Domain.Task II.13
While reviewing the issue log, the project manager notices that tasks assigned to two (2) team members are quite a bit behind schedule.
What should the project manager do?
A. Notify the responsible team members of the need to complete the overdue tasks quickly in order to avoid introducing extra project risks.
B. Document the issue, escalate to the project sponsor, and ask how they would like it resolved.
C. Tell the team members who are behind schedule that they should explain why tasks were delayed and how they will get back on schedule.
D. Work with the relevant team members to review the delayed tasks and decide on strategies for resolution.
E.
D The project manager needs to be proactive and review the activities with the team members and identify resolution strategies.
Domain.Task II.13
Project team members are busier than usual. They indicate that they do NOT have the time to update the lessons learned repository because of other project responsibilities.
How should the project manager respond?
A. Require submission of lessons learned documentation after each project deliverable is accepted by the customer.
B. Ensure there is an agenda item for discussion of lessons learned from project activities as part of all project meetings.
C. File a change request to the project management office (PMO) to change how often lessons learned is collected.
D. Bring in a consultant to assist with collecting lessons learned to help reduce the burden on project team.
E.
B The lessons learned repository must be present throughout the project, using different facilitating techniques.
Domain.Task II.13
A large project includes functional groups in four (4) countries, a steering committee, and a project sponsor. As the project approaches completion, the project manager must prepare the closeout documents.
How should the project manager obtain appropriate signoff on the acceptance of project deliverables?
A. The project sponsor should be asked to sign off.
B. The steering committee should be asked to sign off.
C. The four managers from the four countries should be asked to sign off.
D. All of the parties involved should be asked to sign off.
E.
A Since the sponsor provided the resources for the project, it is their responsibility to officially sign off on the project deliverables.
Domain.Task II.13
After six (6) iterations, significant variations have occurred to project scope and schedule. These are due to the customer’s technology regulations and security policies, which are regularly reviewed. The project manager suggests taking a new approach to the next iteration to avoid possible delays.
What should the project manager do first?
A. Rank the importance of each improvement item, then implement actions identified during the last retrospective.
B. Engage in a cost-benefit analysis that can help predict the profits that could be realized through the use of new technology for the next phase.
C. Research new technology trends and management tools that have been successful on similar projects.
D. Use a backlog refinement meeting and include the customer’s change requests in the discussion.
E.
A The retrospective is used to review lessons learned and suggest corrective actions for the next iterations.
Domain.Task II.13
A project manager has completed the following steps:
- Finished a major IT deployment project
- Confirmed with the release manager that all systems are working
- Confirmed that functionality has been verified by the quality assurance team
- Informed the customer
Which next step should the project manager take?
A. Add the lessons learned to the organization knowledge base.
B. Update the risk register, stakeholders, and team members.
C. Ensure that the procurement plan is closed out.
D. Review, verify, and complete the release documentation.
E.
A During project close out, lessons learned and knowledge gained throughout the project are transferred to the lessons learned repository for use by future projects.
Domain.Task II.13
Review the following steps.
- A project has been successfully delivered.
- The project manager is executing formal closure.
- ______________________________________.
What is step 3?
A. The project manager should update the bid documents.
B. The project manager should obtain stakeholder acceptance.
C. The project manager should reassign the project team.
D. The project manager should reallocate the unused funds.
E.
B Accepted deliverables that were formally signed off by the customer or sponsor during scope validation are then forwarded to the Close Project or Phase process. Formal documentation is then signed by the customer or sponsor acknowledging final acceptance of the project’s deliverables.
Domain.Task II.13
Review the following project characteristics:
- The project is in the initiation phase.
- Due to lack of funding, the project is terminated.
- The project manager must close the project.
What is the first action the project manager should take?
A. Rely on the communications management plan to properly inform all stakeholders.
B. Examine the organization’s project closure guidelines.
C. Determine the potential impact of terminating the project by performing a risk analysis.
D. Close all project procurement processes.
E.
B Project closure guidelines or requirements will contain the organization’s procedures to follow.
Domain.Task II.13
After a project ends, the project manager and project team members are still being asked to do the following:
- Evaluate new requirements
- Make minor modifications
- Solve technical issues
The project manager wants to ensure the product or service developed by the project now has operational support.
What should the project manager do?
A. Complete the hand-off of the project.
B. Review the acceptance criteria and get acceptance.
C. Formally disband the project team and find a new project.
D. Continue to fulfil the requests as the product is still being developed.
E.
A Project closure and hand-off will ensure knowledge transfer to production and/or operations.
Domain.Task II.13
Project team members are spending a lot of time helping maintenance and operations staff with a recently commissioned project component.
The project manager needs to validate that the component was signed off and ownership transferred.
Which three (3) documents should the project manager use for this decision?
A. Final report, organizational process assets updates, and procurement agreements
B. Procurement agreements, project document updates, and organizational process assets updates
C. Procurement agreements, stakeholder engagement plan, and organizational process assets updates
D. Final report, project document updates, and organizational process assets updates
E.
D When closing the project, the project manager reviews the project management plan to ensure that all project work is completed and that the project has met its objectives. The project documents are updated accordingly. In this case, those documents are the final report, project document updates, and organizational process assets updates.
Domain.Task II.13
A project is completed, but the project manager and project team members are being asked to do the following:
- Troubleshoot and resolve technical issues
- Evaluate new requirements
- Make minor adjustments
The project manager needs to ensure that the product developed by the project now has operational support.
What should the project manager do?
A. Since the product is still under development, continue to fulfil the requests.
B. Procure project acceptance.
C. Contact the project team, dismiss them from the project, and find a new project.
D. Execute the project hand-off.
E.
D In the Close Project or Phase process, the project team formally transitions the final product, service, or result to the production support team. The receiving group signs documentation, agreeing to accept the final product, service, or result. Once signed, the owner is responsible for changes, adjustments and resolving technical issues.
Domain.Task II.15
At the end of an agile project, all stories are completed on schedule and all tests passed, but the customer does NOT consider the product a success.
Which is the most effective way to prevent this outcome in future projects?
A. Ensure that the product vision is approved by the customer before developing the backlog.
B. Agree with the customer on success criteria to be included in the Definition of Done.
C. Collect customer feedback on incremental release demos and user tests.
D. Ensure that the test plan includes non-functional requirements in the backlog.
E.
C Continuous and incremental customer/user feedback is the best way to ensure that the product addresses identified and non-identified needs throughout its development.
Domain.Task II.15
An energy infrastructure vendor is delivering a complex solution proof of concept to a new strategic customer. The predictive project should be completed in 10 weeks, but there will be a long list of outstanding items, and some are dependent on external events with uncertain scheduling.
How should the project manager handle the outstanding items?
A. Transfer the outstanding items to the next project with the customer.
B. Plan five agile iterations to complete the tasks as soon as conditions allow.
C. Descope the outstanding tasks and remove them from the invoice.
D. Add resources and crash the schedule to complete outstanding tasks.
E.
B Five (5) sprints can cover the ten (10) week window, and flexibility gives the best chance to complete work in an ad-hoc manner.
Domain.Task II.15
A project has the following characteristics:
- It is in the execution stage.
- A new law requires immediate compliance.
- This law will impact the project’s scope, schedule, and cost.
What are three possible actions to ensure compliance? (Choose three)
A. Initiate avoidance of the risk.
B. Ensure the project management plan is updated.
C. Escalate the issue to senior management.
D. Update the issue log.
E. Begin the change request process.
C,D,E Since compliance is mandatory and it impacts scope, schedule, and cost, a change request needs to be submitted. Other possible actions are updating the issue log and escalating the issue to senior management to find a timely workaround, which could eventually be resolved as a change. Because compliance is required by law, the risk CANNOT be avoided. At this stage, updating the project management plan is NOT a corrective action.
Domain.Task II.17
A new law is expected within the next 6 months that will affect a business’ product line. The next product is launching and should be completed within 3 months. Unfortunately, the new product will NOT meet the requirements of the proposed law.
How should the project manager respond to this potential problem?
A. Schedule a meeting with the sponsor and key stakeholders to discuss risks. Then, using the results of the meeting, revise the assumption log and project charter.
B. Revise the risk management plan. Then, move ahead with planning the project.
C. Move ahead with the project, following the plan. Then ensure on-time completion, so that the product will NOT be affected by any possible rule change.
D. Schedule a meeting with the sponsor and key stakeholders to warn them about the law. Then advise them to cancel the project until the legislation is finalized.
E.
A This new law can have a profound effect on the project. It will certainly lead to new potential risks, new assumptions, and a possible charter change.
Domain.Task II.17
Project N is a business merger in a highly regulated industry. The project sponsor and a high-level executive have asked for changes that appear to disregard legal requirements.
What should be the first step in the project manager’s response?
A. Immediately schedule a meeting with the stakeholders to review the situation.
B. Send the change control board (CCB) a change request.
C. Check with the organization’s relevant legal practitioner for guidance
D. Review the organization’s lessons learned database for precedents and direction.
E.
C Checking with your trusted legal representative is the best first step before going to the CCB, because the project is in a highly regulated industry.
Domain.Task II.17
A project manager needs to ensure that all data security requirements are covered during a data warehouse development project’s execution phase. Each of the databases created during different project phases will have a specific data security policy to comply with governmental data security laws.
How should the project manager plan to meet these requirements?
A. Plan a database development specification, then regularly check to ensure the work aligns with the specification.
B. Arrange for review of the data security status on a quarterly basis, and recommend remedial steps if noncompliance is found.
C. Tell the database developer to submit documentation of data security items and the steps they need to take to correct items that do NOT meet specifications.
D. Add a quality assurance specialist resource to the project team, who will be responsible for monitoring the data security quality of the project.
E.
B Clearly documenting how key requirements have been met is a great way to ensure quality and identify any gaps that need to be addressed.
Domain.Task II.17
A project team learns about a new compliance requirement from an international entity that may impact the baseline business case for the project. They learn this right after the project charter is completed and the project sponsor has signed.
How should the project manager proceed?
A. Research the requirement and possible consequences, then give the sponsor a recommendation.
B. Address the requirement through the creation of a quality management plan.
C. Ignore the issue, as the new requirement is NOT part of the project’s documented scope.
D. Ensure that the requirement is documented in the risk register, then ask for further guidance from all stakeholders.
E.
A The context of this scenario requires the project manager to influence the organization (sponsor) and recommend next steps after reviewing and understanding compliance requirements and consequences.
Domain.Task II.17
A Canadian start-up company announces to the press its imminent launch in the European Union (EU) and Latin America. Soon afterward, the compliance team recommends delaying the launch by 6 months to avoid substantial penalties related to a new set of EU regulations.
Which approach could the project manager take to advance the launch project while preparing the compliance measures?
A. Run a SWOT analysis to weigh priorities between compliance and consumer needs, and resume project if the result favors consumers.
B. Estimate impact of penalties on the project, increase the contingency reserve accordingly and resume project as planned.
C. Replan the predictive project as a Large-Scale Scrum life cycle, and use story points to estimate approval milestones.
D. Split work affected by the regulations into an agile track and replan unaffected work in the predictive schedule.
E.
D The agile track is correct because a launch project would include time-sensitive milestones, thus the work is more suited to waterfall. However, the compliance work should run concurrently with gathering more information to support the launch.
Domain.Task II.17
Two (2) months into a 3-year mobile telecom roll-out, the project manager discovers that approximately fifteen percent (15%) of the equipment is prohibited for delivery because of an embargo. The procurement contract does NOT cover the embargo case, but the company could incur severe penalties for incomplete delivery.
What is the appropriate solution for the situation?
A. Add an agile track to explore and plan delivery of alternative equipment.
B. Explore insurance and contingency options to cover the cost of the risk.
C. Compare the penalty costs of delivering or not delivering and choose the lower one.
D. Accept the client’s penalties, close the project, and cease business in the country.
E.
A The project has contractually committed to deliver infrastructure to the customer. Failure to account for the embargo is the fault of the vendor, NOT the client. Adding an agile track is the only choice which can fulfil the committed deliverables. Accepting penalties without attempting to fulfil commitments is bad business practice; adding layers of insurance or contingency to mitigate risk will lead to further cost penalties.
Domain.Task II.17
The legal team informs the product owner that another company owns a patent for an innovation used in the agile team’s product, which is now 75% complete.
What should the product owner do to determine the appropriate way forward?
A. Work with the legal department to find markets where the patent is NOT registered.
B. Perform marginal economics analysis and identify minimum releasable features.
C. Terminate the project immediately to prevent any further sunken costs.
D. Continue work on the product after removing the patented component.
E.
B A foundational assumption to release the product has become a “show-stopper”. Marginal economic analysis determines if there is a viable way forward. Identifying minimal releasable features can mitigate the economic loss.
Domain.Task II.17
A new regulation requires consumer warnings on labels, but a company’s product package is too small to fit the additional information. The regulatory specification does NOT provide a solution, so the agile team decides to solve the problem by displaying the information on a fold-out flap. The start of mass production of the new labels, the project’s next milestone, is scheduled to begin in five days.
What should the agile team do next?
A. Update the sprint backlog to reflect the additional product label requirement.
B. Contact the compliance team to determine validity of the selected format.
C. Develop a prototype and submit it to the label manufacturer for approval.
D. Develop a prototype and submit it to the label manufacturer for approval.
E.
B Without validating compliance of the solution before developing it, the team would waste effort at best, and at worst, put the organization at risk of non-compliance penalties. NOT initially seeking approval from the steering committee is in line with agile practices of communicating directly between units rather than through management layers.
Domain.Task II.17
A project manager leaves the company and is replaced. The new project manager is excited to start guiding the team toward project success.
What should the new project manager do first?
A. Review the project charter to identify goals and deliverables.
B. Review the project diary and look for notes made by the former project manager.
C. Modify the project schedule, adding a new activity related to the knowledge transfer process.
D. Revisit the project budget and schedule to determine if extra time is required.
E.
A The project charter is one of the most important project documents. It defines many aspects of the project which are critical to the new project manager’s understanding of the project strategy, as well as the tactical execution. Any actions taken before reading the official project charter will NOT be informed with this critical information.
Domain.Task II.17
A project manager receives the following for a new project:
- Assumptions
- Restrictions
- Preliminary scope
After receiving this information, what should the project manager do first?
A. Review and understand the business case and project goals.
B. Put together the project team and assign project tasks.
C. Build the project schedule and determine the critical path.
D. Ensure project charter approval is obtained from the sponsor.
E.
A The business case and project goals need to be understood first before a charter can be written. Building a team and a schedule come later in the process.
Domain.Task II.17
A week prior to the project kick-off call, a project manager meets with a key project resource to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of the project deliverables.
The resource expresses concern and worry regarding the deliverables.
How can the project manager ensure that the deliverables are realistic?
A. Perform a feasibility study, and then assess the results.
B. Discuss the resource’s concerns with the sponsor, and modify the project charter.
C. Note the concerns in the issue log to review at a later date.
D. Identify threats and preventive actions by conducting a risk assessment.
E.
A To ensure that the deliverables are realistic, the project manager needs to conduct a feasibility study and then evaluate the results. NONE of the other choices will ensure realistic deliverables.
Domain.Task III.1
A key project resource is discussing the complexity of project deliverables with the project manager 2 weeks before the kickoff call. The resource expresses nervousness and concern regarding the deliverables.
The project manager wants to ensure that the deliverables are realistic.
What is the appropriate action to take?
A. Implement a feasibility study, and then assess and review the results.
B. Hold a meeting with the project sponsor to discuss the resource’s concerns and revise the project charter.
C. Ensure that the concerns are documented in the issue log for later review.
D. Start to identify threats and preventive actions by performing a risk assessment.
E.
A The feasibility study will support the business case to begin a new project.
Domain.Task III.1
During user testing, a client agrees to the final product. One day later, the client indicates that the final product MAY NOT be acceptable.
What should be the project manager’s first step for resolving this issue?
A. Discuss concerns with the client and consult the project’s acceptance criteria.
B. Review the project’s quality management plan.
C. Review the project’s requirements documentation.
D. Refer to the project charter and lessons learned register.
E.
A The client says the final product MAY NOT be acceptable, so, the project manager should review the acceptance criteria with the client to see if anything was missed and to get an understanding of why the client thinks the product MAY NOT be acceptable. Satisfying all acceptance criteria implies the needs of the stakeholder have been met.
Domain.Task III.1
A new product development project is to be initiated in a difficult business context. Competition is driving prices down, and supply costs are rising.
Why would an agile incremental project approach be the safest choice in this context?
A. It ensures that the project can be cancelled at any time without loss.
B. It accelerates delivery of business value and minimizes risk of irrelevancy.
C. It reduces the team size and eliminates communication bottlenecks.
D. It provides stringent methods to reduce cost of quality and conformity.
E.
B Accelerated business value and better targeting are results of incremental deliveries because smaller releases can go to market faster and benefit from earlier user input.
Domain.Task III.1
The marketing director is displeased that the agile innovation team is producing too many novelty products with too little business value.
Which two approaches should the project manager take to correct the team’s approach? (Choose TWO).
A. Work with the product owners to tighten value criteria in the Definition of Ready.
B. Ask the team to take a training course on direct response marketing.
C. Increase the story sizes to integrate more valuable features.
D. Survey end users and integrate resulting value rank into the product backlog.
E. Add a process so the marketing director can approve each story.
A,D The Definition of Ready and user value ranking in the backlog address the root problem, which is that the team is NOT focusing on value.
Domain.Task III.1
An agile innovation team is highly productive. However, the Head of Operations informs the product owner that the company is NOT getting sustainable return on investment from the team’s work.
How should the product owner address the problem?
A. Define a minimum viable product (MVP) with the team and prioritize relevant backlog items.
B. Reduce the number of team members as necessary to guarantee a positive return on investment.
C. Identify minimum marketable features (MMF) and prioritize relevant backlog items.
D. Work with the project manager to run a retrospective and perform project cancellation.
E.
C Frequent release of smaller incremental products is the fastest way to get return on investment. MMFs are ready for public launch, whereas MVPs are releases that are just able to function. Reducing the team would NOT enable acceleration of value, as is required in this case.
Domain.Task III.1
The success of an ongoing agile project is measured as follows:
2-week Stories Stories Planned Earned
Sprint Planned Completed Value Value
1 15 10 450K 300K
2 20 18 600K 540K
3 20 25 800K 1000K
4 22 25 1100K 1250K
What two (2) conclusions can be drawn from these figures? (Choose two)
A. The team worked less efficiently over time.
B. The team kept a steady rate of efficiency.
C. The backlog was NOT prioritized for time to value.
D. The backlog was prioritized for time to value.
E. The team worked more efficiently over time.
C,E The table shows that value increases over time (meaning late time to value) when dividing planned value/stories planned. The SPI above 1 (stories completed/stories planned) shows that the team completed more stories faster over time.
Domain.Task III.1
A company is losing market share to disruptive competitors with new business models. A cross-functional agile team has been formed to recommend ways to recover market share.
How can the team increase their chance of producing successful recommendations?
A. Gain a deep understanding of why customers are disappointed by the company’s products.
B. Focus on enabling profitable delivery of unique, high-quality, and innovative products.
C. Understand how the competitors’ business models can reach more consumers at a lower cost.
D. Focus on understanding the value consumers seek and the value competitors offer.
E.
D The first principle of the Agile Manifesto focuses on value: “Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.” Markets are driven by the value consumers attribute to the offerings. The team needs to focus on understanding the value consumers seek and the value competitors offer in order to product successful recommendations.
Domain.Task III.1
Over the past six months, the development cost per story has risen by more than 250% due to a faulty platform which is NO longer supported. The product vision highlights unique features of the platform as a pre-requisite for the product.
What should the project manager do to determine next steps?
A. Cancel the project due to exceeding the budget constraint.
B. Ask the product owner to select an alternative platform.
C. Cancel the project as the product vision CANNOT be fulfilled.
D. Run what-if cost impact scenarios with the product owner.
E.
D Foundational assumptions for the product can no longer be fulfilled in an economically sustainable way. The product owner will need analysis of the possible scenarios to determine if the project can be continued.
Domain.Task III.1
The agile team will take over from another supplier to maintain a client’s website. The team notices that recent browser changes imply that most of the website’s existing content would now require users to install a plug-in.
How should the agile team move forward?
A. Inform the client and propose an impact analysis.
B. Update all pre-existing code to remove plug-in dependencies.
C. Inform the client about the previous supplier’s negligence.
D. Deliver the code updates as defined in the contract
E.
A In this case, the client needs to be aware of the impact of the recent plug-in issue on business and costs.
Domain.Task III.2
The quarterly results show that competitors are driving prices down. The company is losing market share and midway into a product development project, it appears the sponsoring unit is not likely to get return on their investment.
Which two actions should the project manager take to adapt the project to these new conditions? (Choose TWO).
A. Incrementally replace local staff with outside expert staff who can work at half the hourly rate or less.
B. Re-scope the project to deliver the same features as the competitors to match their pricing.
C. Make a cost/benefit analysis of deliverables to optimize delivery cost and speed.
D. Fast-track the remainder of the project to deliver the intended scope with lower overhead costs.
E. Create an agile track to incrementally maximize value within a fixed budget.
C, E Cost/benefit analysis and fixed-budget incremental development are correct because they address the loss of profitability without disruption to business.
Domain.Task III.2
A pharmaceutical project includes an agile team of doctors who analyze human tissue scans from drug trial patients. The CEO wants to leverage Machine Learning (ML) technology, because it is proven to be faster and more accurate than doctors in scan analysis.
How should the product owner proceed in response to the CEO’s wish?
A. Record the risk in the register and plan for discussing a response in the retrospective.
B. Work with the team to plan how to use the ML resources and produce a business case.
C. Anticipate a negative response from the team and be ready to persuade them that their time and skill will be better spent elsewhere.
D. Ask the team to produce a SWOT analysis supporting human-based validation.
E.
B The project owner works for the business and supports the CEO decision. ML is an accelerative tool, NOT a replacement for experts. Working with the team to plan their new ways of working and using a business case to support the decision is in the company’s and team’s best interests. Though you should use emotional intelligence to help the team realize the next step, focus on how the team can be involved, NOT on another, unknown future.
Domain.Task III.2
As part of an organizational change program, an experienced project manager with agile experience and certification is hired by a company with a strong predictive culture.
Which two actions can the project manager take to start helping the company adopt agile methodologies? (Choose TWO.)
A. Ensure that the MoSCoW method is used to write all project requirements.
B. Analyze all planned projects to pick the appropriate agile model.
C. Show stakeholders how agile can increase quality and decrease risk.
D. Train project teams to be more self-reliant and cross-functional.
E. Identify opportunities for incremental business value delivery.
C,E Agile adoption is enabled through communicating and demonstrating its benefits.
Domain.Task III.2
An agile team needs to decide who should represent them in the Scrum of Scrums.
Which option should be used to select the best-suited team member?
A. Scrum
B. DevOps
C. eXtreme Programming
D. CI/CD
E.
B DevOps is designed to eliminate the potential impediments and gaps that cause incidents in the cycle of development, deployment and use of software and IT resources. CI/CD is included within DevOps and therefore CI/CD alone would NOT address as many problems. XP and Scrum would NOT address coordination with operations.
Domain.Task III.2
A project manager joins a project team, replacing a manager who left. During initial meetings, the project manager realized that the team members have differing opinions about how to address technical decisions. Team members did NOT respect each other’s ideas, and the environment was becoming counterproductive.
However, now with the new manager’s leadership, the team has begun to communicate more effectively and develop some processes and procedures for working together.
In what phase of development is the team now?
A. Forming
B. Storming
C. Norming
D. Performing
C. Norming
During the norming phase, team members begin to work together and adjust their work habits and behaviors to support the team. The team members learn to trust each other.
Domain.Task I.6
A project is comprised of three highly dependent parts, each being completed by its own project team. The team leader, worried that conflicts might arise when the outputs from the three teams are combined, asks for advice.
What advice should the project manager provide?
A. Identify potential conflicts and then arrange for a weekly joint meeting with the members of the three teams to review each other’s work.
B. Decide which team’s work should be prioritized, then delay the work from the other two teams to ensure there are NO conflicts.
C. Document conflicts as they occur and take action to remedy any problems that arise.
D. Continue to let all three teams work simultaneously, recognizing that conflicts can be addressed at the testing phase.
A. Identify potential conflicts and then arrange for a weekly joint meeting with the members of the three teams to review each other’s work.
Consistent communication is important for ensuring a lower probability of issues and successfully addressing existing risks.
Domain.Task I.6
An unresolved conflict between a member of a third-party vendor’s team and a member of a project team is causing disruption. The issue is escalated to the project manager.
What should the project manager do first?
A. Meet with the vendor to discuss the issue.
B. Place this item on the backlog.
C. Draft and send a contractual letter to the vendor.
D. Send an email to the vendor to discuss the issue.
A. Meet with the vendor to discuss the issue.
The project manager needs to resolve this issue quickly. A face-to-face meeting is the best choice to resolve this conflict. Any other communication choice is NOT direct enough.
Domain.Task I.6
A project team is comprised of local and virtual team members. To manage scheduling priority conflicts among team members, the project manager schedules a video conference call.
Which conflict resolution technique does this statement demonstrate?
A. Smooth; Accommodate
B. Collaborate/Problem Solve
C. Force/Direct
D. Compromise; Reconcile
B. Collaborate/Problem Solve
The collaborate/problem solve approach incorporates multiple viewpoints and insights from differing perspectives. It requires a cooperative attitude and open dialogue that typically leads to consensus and commitment. This approach can result in a win-win situation.
Domain.Task I.6
The project manager schedules an iteration review and learns that a few key stakeholders do NOT approve of the development of a feature.
What should the project manager do first to address this issue?
A. Invite project team members to a brainstorming session to identify an appropriate response.
B. Address the issue only after evaluating why these stakeholders are concerned.
C. Determine the impact of the conflict by listing the pros and cons of the situation.
D. Ask the project sponsor to act as a neutral party in negotiation with those stakeholders who are dissatisfied.
B. Iterations help identify and reduce uncertainty in the project. The teams need the feedback from each iteration to learn about how they work and how to improve.
Domain.Task I.6
At a weekly project status meeting, a key team member expresses concerns about the overall approach documented within the project management plan. The project manager is surprised because the team is in the process of executing an important component of the project and the concern has NOT been raised before.
What steps should the project manager take? “
A. Update the risk register to document the concerns, then continue with the meeting’s scheduled agenda items.
B. Recognize that the concern must be discussed and resolved prior to continuing with the meeting’s agenda items.
C. Address the team with a generic reminder about meeting etiquette, then ask if the team wants to use the time to discuss the concerns raised during the meeting.
D. Acknowledge the team member’s concern immediately, continue with the scheduled agenda, then privately meet with the team member to understand the concerns expressed.
D. Conflict should be addressed in private first, to better understand the concern being raised. Exploring the concern after the meeting gives the project manager an opportunity to verify the concern and determine needed next steps without disrupting a large meeting.
Domain.Task I.6
Certain key stakeholders are dissatisfied with the development of a key feature of a project. They express their dissatisfaction during an iteration review meeting.
What should the project manager do first to resolve this issue?
A. Gather the project team for a brainstorming session and identify a solution.
B. Identify the reasons why there are issues with the feature, then address the issue.
C. Create a list of the pros and cons of the situation to define the impact of the conflict.
D. Add a neutral party, such as the project sponsor, to function as a negotiator with stakeholders.
B. Working with the customer in identifying the source of dissatisfaction with the feature is a good first step. This also helps with resolving conflict between the team and stakeholders.
Domain.Task I.6
During the execution of a project, a key team member is concerned with the overall approach documented in the project management plan. The member surprises the project manager with negative comments about the approach during a weekly status meeting.
How should the project manager address the team member’s concerns?
A. Continue with the meeting and ensure that the concerns are added to the risk register after the meeting is finished.
B. Continue with the scheduled agenda items after reminding the team member of expected meeting etiquette. Then, solicit feedback about the etiquette expectations.
C. Remember that a project should NOT go forward when key team members are in disagreement. Use the meeting to discuss the members’ concerns.
D. Make a short comment to acknowledge the team member’s concerns, continue with the meeting, and meet with the member in private to discuss their concerns.
D. Conflict should be addressed in private in order to better understand the concern being raised. Exploring the concern after the meeting gives the project manager an opportunity to verify it and determine next steps without disrupting the meeting.
Domain.Task I.6
A project is utilizing a third-party contractor. A member of the contractor’s team raises an issue with a member of the project team. The two individuals are NOT able to work out a solution. The project manager is aware of the disagreement.
Which type of communication should the project manager use first when contacting the vendor about this issue?
A. Face-to-face
B. Phone
C. Contractual letter
D. Email
A. Face-to-face interaction is usually the most effective way to build the trusting relationships that are needed to manage a project. Once relationships are established, virtual interaction can be used to maintain the relationship.
Domain.Task I.6
Three project teams are working on parts of a single project. The parts are highly dependent on each other. The leader of the team indicates that this might create conflicts when the outputs from the three teams are combined.
What guidance should the project manager offer to the team lead?
A. Identify potential conflicts and arrange for a weekly joint meeting with the members of the three teams to monitor each other’s work.
B. Decide which team’s work should be prioritized, then delay the work from the other two teams to ensure there are NO conflicts.
C. Document conflicts as they occur and take action to remedy any problems that arise.
D. Tell all three teams to continue to work simultaneously, recognizing that conflicts can be addressed at the testing phase.
A. Before deciding to act, the project manager needs to determine the potential conflicts and monitor progress.
Domain.Task I.6
A project manager has assembled a project team. During initial meetings, the project manager observes that team members are getting to know each other, feeling excited and positive about the project, and have NOT been told the specific details of the project.
In what phase of development is the team?
A. Storming
B. Norming
C. Forming
D. Performing
C. The Forming phase is when the team members meet and learn about the project and their formal roles and responsibilities. Team members tend to be solitary and independent in this phase.
Domain.Task I.6
