PMP Questions Flashcards
A project is in its execution and the Research & Development Team communicates to the project manager that the requirements and features for the product have changed following a market survey report published by the Consumer Behaviour Research Team. These changes were not anticipated and may affect the sales, and the overall project scope significantly. What action should the project manager take?
- Option A - Perform a triple constraint analysis and trigger Perform Integrated Change Control
- Options B - Arrange a meeting to revisit the project charter
- Option C - Review the risk management plan to identify risk responses
- Option D - Plan to use the contingency reserve and update the risk mitigation plan
A - This option aligns with the principles of change management and integrated change control. Performing a triple constraint analysis (examining the impact on scope, time, and cost) is essential when facing unexpected changes. It is followed by initiating the Perform Integrated Change Control process, where the project manager, along with the change control board, evaluates the impact of the change on the project’s overall objectives and constraints.
An agile team has been working efficiently on a new product launch. The first version of the product needs to be released within four months to avoid additional feature integrations due to a new upcoming legislation. The product owner puts forward an additional feature update request accordingly to complete the project before new laws become applicable. However, the project is stretched on time but flexed on budget.
What should the project manager do to tackle this?
A. Hire additional resources externally to complete the feature update
B. Negotiate with the customer to evaluate the need for the update
C. Evaluate a best value option with the project sponsor
D. Take the new legislation requirements into account in line with project compliance
A. Hire additional resources externally to complete the feature update (correct):
- Correct: In this situation, where the project is stretched on time but has budget flexibility, hiring additional resources externally can help expedite the completion of the feature update. This aligns with the PMBOK concept of resource optimization, which involves acquiring additional resources to meet project objectives when needed. It acknowledges the importance of time constraints and the need for swift action to meet project deadlines.
Eight months into an agile project closely linked to the expansion strategy of a company, the Board of Directors is closely monitoring its progress. The Chief-Information-Officer however, expresses frustration that the last weekly burn-up chart records show the projected completion date significantly moving back & forth several times.
How can the project manager estimate the completion date with more accuracy & certainty?
A Reduce the frequency of burn-up chart reports sent to the board of directors
B Organize a training session for the board of directors about the flexible nature of agile planning
C Plan for variable-sized iterations according to story load and complexity
D Ensure upcoming backlog items are elaborated on in more detail with the team
Option 4 (Correct): Ensure upcoming backlog items are elaborated on in more detail with the team. Erratic progress curve variations are typical of inconsistent or uninformed story point estimates. If the required level of granularity is not found in the backlog tasks, there will always be ‘guesstimations’ and ’80:20 estimations’ happening. This will cumulate over backlogs exponentially & will cause the final date of the project to swing within a huge range. This is similar to a ‘bull-whip’ effect in Supply Chain Management (Check Bull Whip Effect video lecture below).
You are working as a project manager in a government organization where ‘agile’ is not fully integrated into the culture. What should be your best approach as a project manager while leading an agile-driven project in an organization where agile terms and language do not fit the organizational culture?
A. Explain Agile in terms of lean thinking, small batch sizes, frequent reviews:
B. Modify the terms to meet the culture of the organization, but still keeping the necessary intent & outcome of every work process:
C. Adopt a Hybrid approach since that will ensure a smooth transition:
D. Build center of competencies to help provide guidance and build domain knowledge:
B. Modify the terms to meet the culture of the organization, but still keeping the necessary intent & outcome of every work process:
- This approach recognizes the importance of adapting to the existing organizational culture while preserving the fundamental principles and values of Agile. It involves modifying Agile terminology and practices to align with the organization’s culture while still achieving the Agile project’s intended outcomes. This approach promotes flexibility and integration, allowing for a smoother transition to Agile in a non-Agile culture.
As the project manager for a governance project involving local council authorities as key stakeholders, an enthusiastic Customs & Duty department stakeholder seeks more frequent and detailed project updates and offers assistance, prompting you to inquire further about his background.
Which project artifact should you refer to before going into further discussion with this stakeholder?
A. Project charter:
B. Stakeholder register:
C. Stakeholder engagement plan:
D. Resource Management Plan:
B. Stakeholder register:
- The stakeholder register is a project management document that contains detailed information about all project stakeholders. It includes their identification, roles, interests, expectations, and their level of influence or involvement in the project. When a new stakeholder, such as the individual from the Customs & Duty department, expresses interest in the project, the stakeholder register is the go-to document for project managers to learn more about that stakeholder’s background and interests.
While studying the release burndown chart for a scrum team before the morning sprint review meeting, it was noticed that at a point, the graph moves below X-axis. Chose the best conclusion:
A. This is normal. The project is delayed, and the team is not able to complete story points as per schedule:
B. This is normal. The team should have had extra scope added by the customer:
C. This is normal. The development team underestimated the time required to complete each story point:
D. This is not normal. There have been errors in plotting the chart. The graph can touch the x-axis but cannot go below it:
D. This is not normal. There have been errors in plotting the chart. The graph can touch the x-axis but cannot go below it:
- In agile project management, a burndown chart is used to track the progress of the project by showing the amount of work remaining over time. The chart represents the work (typically story points) on the y-axis and time on the x-axis. If the chart goes below the x-axis, it suggests a graphical error or an issue with how the chart was plotted. In a valid burndown chart, the graph may touch or intersect the x-axis at zero, indicating that the work is complete, but it should not go below it.
The project manager is creating a schedule to automate a pick-and-place operation with COBOTs (collaborative robots). The operations manager questions the 3-week installation estimate. The project manager justifies it using historical data and variable analysis.
Which estimating technique the project manager has used here?
A. Expert judgment:
B. Analogous estimating:
C. Parametric estimating:
D. Three-point estimating:
C. Parametric estimating:
- Parametric estimating is a technique that uses statistical relationships between historical data and other variables to calculate estimates. In this scenario, the project manager has utilized a statistical relationship between historical data (eg. past automation installations) and the variable (eg. the number of people from the supplier involved in the COBOT installation) to estimate the duration of the site installation. Parametric estimating allows for a more data-driven and mathematical approach to estimating.
You are the project manager for rolling out a new cloud-based Learning Management System (LMS) at East Coast University. The project also involves progressive phaseout of the old LMS systems (local) and phase-in of the new one (cloud-based). The client expectation is a seamless transition between the two systems. In your daily stand-up meeting, you have been notified of four issues today.
Which is the most critical issue that needs to be prioritized by the project manager?
A. Office lighting overhaul:
B. Java-script training for programmers:
C. Major fault in server communication:
D. Additional funding for a new module:
C. Major fault in server communication:
- In the context of rolling out a new cloud-based Learning Management System (LMS), the most critical issue is the major fault in server communication. This issue directly impacts the project’s objective of transitioning to the new cloud-based LMS. If the campus servers cannot communicate with the cloud servers, it jeopardizes the seamless transition and functionality of the new system.
You are the project manager for the construction of a new office building. The project is nearing the handover to the client. The final piece, which is landscaping in & around the new building is about to start. You are reviewing the project schedule and the interdependencies between the activities.
You see that the landscaping could be scheduled to start 2 weeks prior to the scheduled start of the handover process the office building. This would be shown as a finish-to-start with a 2-week______? Fill in the blanks
A. Lag:
B. Lead:
B. Lead:
- In the context of project scheduling, a “lead” represents a scheduling technique where the successor activity is allowed to start before the predecessor activity has fully completed. In this case, scheduling the landscaping to start 2 weeks prior to the handover process of the office building suggests that the landscaping can commence before the building handover is finished.
In the planning stage of an NGO sanitation project, the project manager is developing the project management plan. The plan awaits baseline updates from cost and schedule before seeking sponsor approval. However, a civil engineer alerts the PM that the sanitation layout must change due to interference with a future highway construction, impacting scope and time significantly. What is the next best step for the project manager now?
A. Start the process of raising a formal change request using the change control process:
B. Work out the impact on cost, scope & time, revise those baselines, and the project management plan:
C. Start a root causing session with your team members to understand why this input was missed initially:
D. Keep moving as per the base plan. You will have time to sort it out later with the Highways Authority:
B. Work out the impact on cost, scope & time, revise those baselines, and the project management plan:
- In this scenario, the civil engineer has identified a significant change in the project, indicating a scope change due to interference with future highway construction. This change will also have an impact on the project’s schedule and cost. Therefore, the project manager’s next step should be to assess and understand the full impact of this change on cost, scope, and time. Once the impact is clear, the project manager should update the project baselines (scope, schedule, and cost) to reflect the new reality and revise the project management plan accordingly. This is a fundamental step in change management and aligns with project management best practices.
Any event or issue that can cause a risk to your project is called a project hurdle. Types of project hurdle vary based on industry, stakeholder, business environment, and the project itself. Arrange the definition of the following project hurdles with their names. Note: In your PMP Exam, you will be required to drag & drop boxes containing the definitions to match the names
Hurdle Names:
(1) Impediment
(2) Blockers
(3) Obstacles
Definitions:
(A) External factors, issues, event or conditions that can cause stoppages in the work or any further advancement
(B) Issues that completely halt or block progress on a task or project, often rendering it impossible to continue work until the issue is resolved
(C) Situations, conditions, and actions that slow down or hinder progress but can be sorted out with some level of planning & execution
1C 2B 3A
In projects with evolving requirements, high risk, or significant uncertainty, the scope is not understood at the beginning of the project or it evolves during the project. Agile methods deliberately try to spend less time defining and agreeing on the scope in the early stages of the project and spend more time establishing the process for its ongoing discovery and refinement. How do agile teams validate scope and refine requirements?
A Through prototyping and version releases
B developing a strong scope baseline
C created a WBS
D Collecting user stores
Option 1: Prototyping is the standard way of validating scope and refining requirements for agile-based projects. These requirements constitute the product backlog. ‘Developing a strong scope baseline’ is not applicable for an Agile-managed project due to its very flexible nature of the same. ‘Creating WBS’ and ‘Collecting user stories’ are processes of scope definition and NOT scope validation. It’s very important that you understand the difference between the two.
Sometimes the concept of ‘prototyping’ is also used in waterfall-type projects by building miniature models. Eg. a new wind-resistant building design can be prototyped on a 1 : 1,000,000 scale and tested in a wind tunnel laboratory. Similarly, a robot pick & place machine with 20 arms can be prototyped in the lab with 1 arm to test reliability. This is often called the ‘Proof-of-Concept’ or ‘Proof-of-Principle’.
You are the product owner for an agile-based project which plans to develop the student database for King’s College, London. You are in the middle of an iteration and in one of your daily stand-ups, you get to know that a key approval from UK Government about Data Protection was missed and currently your project is non-compliant with UK’s Data Protection Act. What is your best step as a product owner here?
A Keep on executing the iteration. You can deal with the compliance issue in the next iteration
B Inform your sponsor about the issue and seek his help to get the approval on time
C You understand that it’s a legal non-compliance. While you keep working on the iteration, you deploy a core team to complete the required approvals at the earliest
D You do not take any action. It was nowhere mentioned in the project charter that you need to have UK Data Protection approval
- Option C:
- In this scenario, the product owner recognizes that the project is non-compliant with the UK’s Data Protection Act, which represents a legal requirement. Legal compliance is a critical aspect of project management, especially in regulated environments like data protection.
- The correct course of action is to acknowledge the non-compliance and take proactive steps to rectify it. Deploying a core team to work on obtaining the required approvals is the right approach, as it addresses the legal issue while the development work continues in parallel.
- Agile practices encourage responding to change and addressing important issues promptly while maintaining project momentum.
Few days after the start of production for a newly installed shampoo packing line, it was identified that an important quality validation check that was to be done before product dispatch was skipped.
This resulted in a concern about the finished product quality and all the production units which were dispatched till date were put under quarantine. The sponsor directed the project manager to include this validation in the project plan immediately and revise the project schedule.
What should the project manager do first?
A Revise the Project Schedule and Start the Validation Process
B Start a Root-Cause Analysis on Why the Validation Was Missed
C Raise a Change Request to Revise the Project Schedule
D Update the Issue Log and Assign an Owner
- Raise a Change Request to Revise the Project Schedule (Option C - Correct Answer):
- When a project experiences a significant change in scope, requirements, or deliverables, as in this case, the appropriate action is to raise a change request. This request initiates a formal process for evaluating and making necessary adjustments to the project plan and schedule.
- In this scenario, the validation check was initially missed, and its inclusion in the project plan represents a change in scope. Raising a change request is the standard and formal approach to address such changes.
A telecom project is in the initiation phase now, and the project manager is currently developing the project charter. The project sponsor wants to review the plan which consists of a documented explanation for creating, maximizing & sustaining the advantages for your project. Which project artifact should the project manager refer to?
A Benefits Management Plan
2. Requirements Management Plan
3. Project Charter
4. Business Plan
- Benefits Management Plan (Option A - Correct Answer):
- The Benefits Management Plan is a project management artifact that outlines how the project will create, maximize, and sustain the advantages and benefits described in the project charter. It details the strategies and actions needed to realize the expected benefits, track progress, and ensure that the project aligns with the organization’s objectives.
- In the initiation phase, the project manager and the project sponsor should refer to the Benefits Management Plan to understand how the project will deliver the intended benefits.
