Stakeholder Engagement Flashcards
Sam’s project has successfully been initiated, and all the major roadblocks are removed. The senior stakeholders have now switched from a leading role to a supportive role. What is Sam’s next step once the first version of the project stakeholder register is developed?
Select one Mark question
Start the development of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan
Execute the stakeholder engagement strategy as laid out in the stakeholder register
Finalize the project management plan before developing the stakeholder engagement strategy
Start the stakeholder identification process
The project management plan cannot be finalized until all the other subsidiary plans, including the stakeholder engagement plan, are finalized. Since the first version of stakeholder register has been developed, this implies that the first run of the identity stakeholders process has been completed and the project manager is now all set to kick start the plan stakeholder engagement process.
In projects following adaptive lifecycles, what are the two critical components of iterative scheduling with a product backlog?
Select one Mark question
Work packages and critical path
User epics and time-bound accepted deliverables
Scope management plan and a detailed WBS
User stories and time-boxed periods of work
In adaptive life cycles, the requirements are documented in user stories that are then prioritized and refined. The product features are developed using time-boxed periods of work.
Andrew is managing a construction project. He is using his communication, interpersonal and management skills to keep the key project stakeholders engaged with the project. Which of the following activities is not related to the Manage Stakeholder Engagement process?
Select one Mark question
Confirming the stakeholders’ continued commitment
Negotiating and communicating with the stakeholders
Developing the stakeholder engagement plan
Addressing and resolving issues
The stakeholder engagement plan is developed during the plan stakeholder engagement process. However, the stakeholder engagement plan might get updated during the manage stakeholder engagement process.
To develop a project stakeholder engagement plan, seek knowledge from groups or individuals with specialized training or subject matter insight into the relationships within the organization. In PMBOK jargon, what is this technique called? Select one Mark question Professional verdict Sage opinion Consultation Expert judgment
The technique can be called anything but according to the pmbok jargon, this technique is called expert judgement.
Mary is currently drafting a stakeholder engagement plan for her new website development project. Her organization has strict communication guidelines. Mary wants to ensure that her stakeholder engagement strategy aligns with the organizational communications guidelines. Where can she find these guidelines? Select one Mark question Project contract Corporate knowledge base Stakeholder register Lessons learned library
Mary is looking for the organizational policy on project communications. This is a part of the organizational process assets which are stored in corporate knowledge bases.
Stanley’s project is in execution. Stanley has a monthly stakeholder update meeting scheduled in which he presents the project’s progress and current issues to the key stakeholders. During the last stakeholder update meeting, the stakeholders requested Stanley to provide bi-weekly project updates instead of monthly updates. The communication management plan has been broadly framed, and it does not restrict Stanley from doing bi-weekly updates. What should Stanley do?
Select one Mark question
Request that the stakeholders submit a change request
Disregard the stakeholders’ request and continue with the monthly updates
Start providing bi-weekly updates instead of monthly updates
Update the communication management plan prior to providing the biweekly updates
The key stakeholders’ concerns and requests can never be disregarded. Since the communication management plan is flexible and it does not restrict stanley from doing bi-weekly updates, stanley must immediately accept the key stakeholders’ request. Since this is not impacting the communication management plan, there is no need to go through the formal change control process.
A project manager is currently ensuring that the stakeholders clearly understand the project goals, objectives, benefits, and risks. This relates to which of the following processes? Select one Mark question Plan Communications Management Manage Stakeholder Engagement Control Stakeholder Identify Stakeholders
The manage stakeholder engagement process involves ensuring that the stakeholders clearly understand the project goals, objectives, benefits and risks.
Two new team members have just joined the project you are leading. The project is large and involves many stakeholders. You want to get the new team members up to speed with the overall dynamics of the project and engage effectively with the project stakeholders. What should you do?
Select one Mark question
Schedule a meeting with the new team members and all project stakeholders
Submit a change request to update the stakeholder engagement plan
Review the stakeholder register with the new team members
Ask the team members to record any issues they encounter into the issue log
The stakeholder register is a project document that contains all current information about the stakeholders. The stakeholder register includes stakeholder identification information, assessment information, and the stakeholder classification. It is used by the project team to maintain information about the stakeholder’s expectations and interests with the project. By reviewing the stakeholder register with the new team members, the project manager can provide them with the information about each project stakeholder, politics surrounding the project, and other relevant details about the project and the stakeholders that may help the new team members to get up to speed with the overall dynamics of the project and engage effectively with the project stakeholders.
Anthony is currently managing a bridge construction project. The project is in the execution phase. During the planning phase of the project, Anthony developed a comprehensive stakeholder engagement plan for the project. However, the frequency of plan review has not yet been defined. How often should Anthony review the stakeholder engagement plan?
Select one Mark question
On a regular basis; Anthony needs to decide the frequency.
The stakeholder engagement plan cannot be reviewed during the execution of the project.
On a weekly basis
On a monthly basis
As projects progress, project stakeholders and their interests, needs, expectations and engagement levels may change. The project manager should review the stakeholder engagement plan regularly. The frequency of review should be defined by the project manager if it was not imposed by top management.
Different stakeholders might require dissimilar outcomes from a project. An integral component of stakeholder management is managing these competing expectations throughout the project from initiation to closure. Which of the following management techniques can help in this situation? Select one Mark question Expert judgment Stakeholder engagement analysis Questionnaires Facilitation
The project manager must use Facilitation skills to arrive at a consensus toward project objectives. Scheduling regular stakeholder update meetings and engaging them throughout the project lifecycle is the ideal way to manage stakeholders’ varying expectations.
Gordon is currently developing his project‘s stakeholder engagement strategy. All enterprise environmental factors should be considered during this process. Which of the following enterprise environmental factors should receive particular attention during this process?
Select one Mark question
Commercial databases
Project templates
Lessons learned from past similar projects
The organization‘s culture and political climate
The lessons learned and the project templates are not enterprise environmental factors, but organizational process assets. The commercial databases can provide only very limited information to develop the stakeholder engagement plan. During the plan stakeholder engagement process, the organization’s culture and political climate are of particular importance.
A good project manager knows the value of effective stakeholder management. What is the ultimate goal of effective stakeholder management? Select one Mark question Stakeholder satisfaction Meeting project objectives Stakeholder engagement Project success
All of the statements are correct. However, the question is asking for the ultimate goal which is the project’s success. Stakeholder management is all about engaging stakeholders to meet their expectations and achieving stakeholder satisfaction. This is one of the key project objectives required to be achieved in order to deliver a successful project.
Which of the following is not a basic input required to develop an effective project stakeholder engagement plan?
Select one Mark question
Stakeholder engagement assessment matrix
Stakeholder register
Organizational process assets
Enterprise environmental factors
The stakeholder engagement plan is developed during the plan stakeholder engagement process. The stakeholder register, enterprise environmental factors and the organizational process assets are all basic inputs to this process. The stakeholder engagement assessment matrix is developed during this process and is not an input to this process.
Organizational process assets are key inputs to the Manage Stakeholder Engagement process. The key elements of the organizational process assets that are used during this process are organizational communication requirements, issue management procedures, and the change control procedures. Which of the following is also a key organizational process asset that must be considered during this process?
Select one Mark question
Human resource policies
Process audit procedures
Project document templates
Historical information about previous projects
All of the given choices are organizational process assets. However, the organizational policies and templates are more relevant during the planning phase of the project. For the manage stakeholder engagement process, a process from the executing process group, historical information about previous projects is considered a critical input from the organizational process assets.
Christine is managing a healthcare software development project. At a PMI conference, she met George, who is the project manager at a competing organization. George, a PMP, has managed many successful healthcare-related software development projects. If George shares his stakeholder management experience with Christine, will that be considered expert judgment?
Select one Mark question
Yes! George is an expert in managing such projects.
No! This would be an example of expert opinion and not expert judgment.
Yes! All participants at a PMI conference are experts.
No! George is a project manager at a competitor organization.
George is giving an expert opinion; this is analogous to expert judgment. A PMP-certified project manager from a competitor would not normally give false information. This can be considered expert judgment since george has managed many similar projects.
Bill is managing a website development project. He has recently received feedback from one of the key project stakeholders. The feedback is positive overall, but it contains some recommendations. After analyzing the recommendations, Bill accepts them, gets them approved, and incorporates them into the project management plan. The recommendations were then implemented and the new ideas were found to be successful. What needs to be done with this feedback now?
Select one Mark question
Discard it since it is no longer required
Add it to the organizational process assets
Send it back to the stakeholder
Publish it on the corporate intranet
The feedback must not be discarded. Successful ideas and implemented recommendations need to be stored in the organizational process assets library during the manage project knowledge process. Sending it back to the stakeholder does not make any sense. There is no restriction in publishing it, but updating the organizational process assets should be the project manager’s priority.
During the development of the project stakeholder engagement plan, a project manager is usually dependent on the voice of the project stakeholders to obtain expert opinion. Which of the following is an important tool available to the project manager for gathering and organizing stakeholders’ information? Select one Mark question Fishbone diagrams Focus groups Histograms Control charts
Fishbone diagrams, control charts and histograms are quality management tools. The question is asking for a tool that helps the project manager collect stakeholder information and focus group is one of the effective tools available to the project manager.
The stakeholder engagement plan is developed early during project planning phase. However, as the project moves into its execution phase, project stakeholders’ needs, interests and/or influence might change. If a significant change happens, what should the project manager do?
Select one Mark question
Hold all project communications until the issue has a resolution
Seek expert judgment from the project sponsor
Refer the issue to the project sponsor
Revisit the Plan Stakeholder Engagement process
The plan stakeholder engagement is an iterative process. Stakeholders’ needs, interests or influence might change during the project lifecycle and whenever a significant change happens, the project manager must revisit the plan stakeholder engagement process and update the stakeholder engagement plan accordingly.
Why is the project change log a prime input to the Manage Stakeholder Engagement process?
Select one Mark question
So that the new identified changes can be appended to the log
So that the changes and their impact can be communicated to the appropriate stakeholders
So that stakeholders can review the log and prioritize the issues
So that the Integrated Change Control process is made redundant
A change log is used during the manage stakeholder engagement process so that the project changes and their impact on the project in term of time, cost, and risk can be communicate to the appropriate stakeholders.
Mark is managing a telecom network deployment project. The buyer of the telecom network is an external entity. Recently, the customer requested that all future project updates be posted to their information system automatically. In order to implement this, the project team needs to customize their project management information system so it can be integrated with the customer’s information system. This is a new customer requirement that was not a part of the original project’s scope. What should the project manager do?
Select one Mark question
Ask the project team to customize the project management information system.
Ignore the request; this is outside the project’s scope.
Request that the customer terminate the current contract and award a new contract.
Initiate the formal change control process.
Change requests do come. They are never ignored; they are managed through the integrated change control process. This does not require terminating the contract. Implementing the new requirement without following the change control process is not advisable.
Adaptive project lifecycles, in comparison with predictive project lifecycles, are developed with the intent of:
Select one Mark question
Minimizing cost of changes throughout the project’s lifecycle
Providing agility in responding to change
Maximizing cost of changes throughout the project’s lifecycle
Eliminating cost of changes throughout the project’s lifecycle
Adaptive project life cycles, in comparison with predictive project life cycles, are developed with the intent of providing agility in responding to change.
Daniel is managing the development of an e-commerce website for his organization. Daniel enjoys coercive powers. He has assigned Julie, a project team member, to facilitate the team meetings. During any team meeting, Julie must:
Select one Mark question
Support the team members to challenge the project manager’s decisions
Remain neutral and conduct the meetings
Negotiate with team members to achieve the project objectives
Influence team members to support the project manager’s decisions
Since the project manager enjoys coercive powers, it seems likely that he has assigned a neutral facilitator to facilitate the team meetings. Facilitation is a management skill. A good facilitator should always remain neutral in a meeting and help facilitate consensus when required.
Key project stakeholders can significantly influence a project in many ways. During which stage of the project do these stakeholders have the maximum ability to influence a project? Select one Mark question Executing Monitoring & Controlling Planning Initiating
The stakeholder influence is highest at the start of the project and decreases as the project progresses towards completion. This is due to the fact that risk and uncertainty are greatest at the start of the project.
Julia is currently assessing her project stakeholders’ engagement levels. During this exercise, she finds she also needs to document an escalation process, which will come in handy in the future. Where does she need to document the project’s escalation process?
Select one Mark question
Stakeholder engagement plan
Either the stakeholder engagement plan or the communications management plan
Communications management plan
Both the stakeholder engagement plan and the communications management plan
Although there is a lot of overlap of information between the project communication management and stakeholder engagement plans, the project escalation process is only documented in the communications management plan.
Linda has been assigned to establish a PMO in her organization. Linda believes this project cannot succeed unless all the key project stakeholders support the project. She also believes she needs to pay special attention to stakeholder management to ensure success of this project. First, she needs to develop her stakeholder register. To produce the project stakeholder register, which of the following processes must Linda start? Select one Mark question Monitor Stakeholder Engagement Identify Stakeholders Manage Stakeholder Engagement Plan Stakeholder Engagement
The stakeholder register is developed during the identify stakeholders process.
In order to facilitate project configuration and change management on complex projects, a project manager relies on configuration and change management tools. Such tools:
Select one Mark question
Can be manual or automatic; the selection depends on the project’s environment and requirements.
Must be automatic; a complex project requires complex change control procedures.
Change control must be manual, but the configuration control may be automatic.
Must be manual; a complex project requires all change requests to be manually signed.
In order to facilitate configuration and change management, manual or automated tools may be used. Tool selection should be based on the needs of the project.
Which of the following tools helps in determining the gaps between the current and desired stakeholder engagement levels?
Select one Mark question
Stakeholder register
Stakeholder engagement assessment matrix
Monte Carlo analysis
Fishbone diagram
Monte carlo analysis and the fishbone diagram are risk management and quality management tools respectively. Stakeholder register is a project artifact and not a tool or technique. The correct answer is ‘stakeholder engagement assessment matrix’ which helps a project manager in mapping the current and desired stakeholder engagement levels.
Lena is managing the construction of a new office facility for her company. The project is halfway through the execution. The project sponsor has asked Lena to ensure that all key project stakeholders are still committed to the project. How can Lena assess the stakeholders’ current engagement levels?
Select one Mark question
By reviewing the Stakeholders Engagement Assessment Matrix last updated during the planning phase of the project
By communicating and interacting with the key stakeholders
By analyzing the most recent issue register
By requesting the key stakeholders to submit a signed declaration of commitment
The stakeholders’ current engagement levels can be assessed by communicating and interacting with them. Reviewing the stakeholders engagement assessment matrix developed during the planning phase of the project will be of little help, if it has not been reviewed since then. Analyzing the issue register can indicate stakeholder engagement levels, but this document alone is not sufficient to determine the current engagement levels. Asking the stakeholders to sign a declaration of commitment is ridiculous.
A project manager is conducting the initial process of identifying stakeholders for a new infrastructure development project. The project manager has just compiled a list of potential stakeholders’ names. What should the project manager do next?
Select one Mark question
Conduct stakeholder analysis
Invite the identified stakeholders to the project kick-off meeting
Develop the stakeholder engagement plan
Complete the Project Stakeholder Management process
The question suggests that the project is still in the initiation stage, with the initial iteration of the Identify Stakeholders process, and has yet to progress to project planning. At this point, the project manager has only compiled a list of potential stakeholders’ names. With only a list of individual and group names, the next logical step is to perform stakeholder analysis. Stakeholder analysis, an example of the data analysis technique which can be used during the Identify Stakeholder process, results in a list of stakeholders and relevant information such as their positions in the organization, roles on the project, expectations, attitudes, and their interest in information about the project. Therefore, of the available choices, conducting stakeholder analysis is what the project manager should do next.
Henry is the project manager for a process improvement project. Henry is a recently hired Six Sigma expert. David is the process owner of the process Henry must optimize. During the project kick-start meeting with the project sponsor, David said he supports all continuous improvement efforts. However, David is unaware of the Six Sigma technique and feels threatened by the newly hired expert, and as a result, is blocking Henry’s ideas. What is David’s current engagement level with the project? Select one Mark question Neutral Unaware Resistant Supportive
Although david claims that he is supportive of all improvement initiatives, his behavior is not coherent with his claim. Since david is blocking henry’s idea, he is in effect, resistant of the project.
The enterprise environmental factors play an important role during the development of the project stakeholder engagement plan. The following list gives the most significant enterprise environmental factors considered during the Plan Stakeholder Engagement process except one. Which one is it?
Select one Mark question
Political climate
Organizational communication requirements
Organizational structure
Organizational culture
Organizational communication requirements should be considered during project stakeholder engagement plan development. However, these are part of organizational process assets and not enterprise environmental factors.
You are managing a software upgrade project for your company. Your project sponsor has a great deal of authority regarding project decisions, but you recently discovered that he doesn’t have much interest in your project. To complete the project successfully, you need your project sponsor’s continuous support. What stakeholder management strategy should you use with your project sponsor?
Select one Mark question Monitor the sponsor's actions Keep the sponsor satisfied Manage the sponsor closely Keep the sponsor informed
A power/interest grid is a classification model used for stakeholder analysis and management that groups the stakeholders based on their level of authority (power) and their level of concern (interest) regarding project outcomes. The classification and recommended management strategies are as follows:
Low-power/low-interest: monitor only Low-power/high-interest: keep informed High-power/low-interest: keep satisfied High-power/high-interest: manage closely Based on this scenario, the sponsor can be classified as high-power and low-interest; therefore, the correct answer is to keep the sponsor satisfied.
A project manager is leading a project to investigate the feasibility of constructing a dam to generate hydroelectric power. The project needs to be analyzed from technical, economic, and social points of view. The project manager has created the project charter on behalf of the project sponsor, and it is now approved. Which of the following processes should be performed next?
Select one Mark question Develop Project Management Plan Identify Risks Identify Stakeholders Develop Project Charter
The Identify Stakeholders process is the process of identifying all people or organizations impacted by the project and documenting relevant information regarding their interests, involvement, and impact on project success. Both the Develop Project Charter process and the Identify Stakeholders process are part of the Initiating Process Group which should be completed before proceeding to the processes in the Planning Process Group. In this scenario, since the project charter has been developed and approved, the Identify Stakeholders process should be performed next
Increasing the number of resources in order to crash a project schedule does not always cut the time by the same factor. In worst cases, too many resources assigned to an activity may actually increase the activity duration. This is because:
Select one Mark question
Additional risk introduced due to crashing
Decrease in cost budget
Required additional coordination
Funding limit reconciliation
Increasing the number of resources in order to crash a project schedule does not always cut the time by the same factor. In worst cases, too many resources to the activity may actually increase the duration due to required additional coordination. Other choices are either not applicable or do not directly influence the project schedule.
An organization’s value chain can be represented by a special type of flowchart called SIPOC. SIPOC stands for:
Select one Mark question
Simple, intellectual, procedural, optimal coding
Suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, and customers
Superior service, inferior service, peak hour service, optimized service, and client service
Sample, information, practice, organization, and control
SIPOC stands for Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, and Customers.
A critical project rollout was delayed because one of the stakeholders did not receive necessary communication on time. On further analysis, the project manager discovered that the communication was sent to the wrong teams. This could have happened because:
Select one Mark question
Communication broke down between the project team and the stakeholder.
The stakeholder did not proactively ask for updates.
The stakeholder communications requirements were not properly analyzed during the Plan Communications Management process.
The project manager failed to manage stakeholder expectations.
It is likely that stakeholder communications requirements were not properly analyzed during the plan communications management process and the project communications management plan was not accurate.
The Plan Stakeholder Engagement process has many inputs. Which of the following is an input to the Plan Stakeholder Engagement process that comes from the Conduct Procurements process? Select one Mark question Agreements Project charter Project management plan Historic stakeholder engagement plans
Agreements are inputs to the plan stakeholder engagement process that are provided by the conduct procurements process
In predictive projects, the scope baseline for the project is used to analyze a project’s scope performance. On the other hand, projects with adaptive lifecycles use: Select one Mark question WBS dictionary WBS Backlogs Scope statement
In projects with adaptive life cycles, the overall scope of the project will be decomposed into a set of requirements and work to be performed, referred to as a product backlog
The project management processes communicate with each other through their inputs and outputs. Which of the following outputs of the Direct and Manage Project Work process is a prime input of the Monitor Stakeholder Engagement process? Select one Mark question Change requests Work performance data Work performance information Expert judgment
Work performance data is provided to the monitor stakeholder engagement process as an output from direct and manage project work process.
A project manager has completed identification of stakeholders and has started planning for a flow instruments installation project in a hospital. While developing the project management plan, a team member states that a stakeholder in the X-ray department is missing from the stakeholder list. Which of the following would be the best response from the project manager?
Select one Mark question
It is too late to involve a stakeholder in the planning, so ignore the stakeholder
Wait until the execution phase to involve the new stakeholder
Include and involve the stakeholder immediately
Authenticate the information from the team member
Explanation: authenticate the information from the team member one aspect of responsibility for a project manager is to take ownership of decisions made. A project manager must identify all stakeholders as early as possible in the project and it is his responsibility. A missing stakeholder could jeopardize the objectives of the project. So, the project manager must involve the newly identified stakeholder as soon as possible. However, the project manager must authenticate the information from the team member first before involving the stakeholder. Thus, ‘authenticate the information from the team member’ is the best answer. Exam note: remember, the question is asking about best response (one of the 14 types of questions i’ve described in my book). In such type of question you will get more than one right answer, but you need to choose the best suited one for the situation given in the question.
Carole is managing a hotel refurbishment project. She has identified her project’s key stakeholders. Carole now wants to expand this list of stakeholders and convert it to a comprehensive list of project stakeholders. What should Carole do?
Select one Mark question
Do not spend more time on identifying the non-key stakeholders
Seek expert judgment from the identified key stakeholders
Request that the project sponsor provide the details of the remaining stakeholders
Carry out a stakeholder analysis with the identified key stakeholders
The project manager is responsible for stakeholder identification; this cannot be delegated to the project sponsor. Identifying and analyzing the key stakeholders is not enough to ensure the success of the project. Other project stakeholders can be identified by interviewing the stakeholders who are already identified.
Which of the following is a type of leadership style in which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions: Select one Mark question Laissez-faire Transactional Transformational Servant leader
Laissez-faire leadership, also known as delegated leadership, is a type of leadership style in which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions. Researchers have found that this is generally the leadership style that leads to the lowest productivity among group members.
A key stakeholder has been resistant to the project’s objectives, and the support of this stakeholder is vital to the success of the project. The project manager has employed various engagement strategies which have been ineffective and needs to determine the underlying reason that stakeholder engagement is not having the planned effect. What should the project manager do next?
Select one Mark question
Submit a change request to update the stakeholder engagement plan
Perform an alternatives analysis
Develop a stakeholder engagement assessment matrix
Conduct data analysis
The scenario suggests that the Monitor Stakeholder Engagement process has identified a variance in the current and desired engagement level of a key stakeholder. The question asks about root cause analysis which is a data analysis technique that may be useful in performing the Monitor Stakeholder Engagement process. As it applies to this process, root cause analysis can be used to determine the basic underlying reason that stakeholder engagement is not having the planned effect. Thus, the project manager should perform a root cause analysis in this scenario. What makes this question challenging is that root cause analysis is not listed as an answer choice. There will likely be instances on the actual PMP exam where the obvious answer is not available, and the best option of the available responses must be selected. In this case, root cause analysis is a form of data analysis. Therefore, among the available choices, conducting a data analysis is the best answer to the question asked.
You have been assigned as the project manager for a software development project. You are currently communicating with stakeholders and addressing their issues and expectations. Which of the following documents are inputs to this effort?
Select one Mark question
The stakeholder engagement plan, communications management plan, and the change log
Business case, change requests, and control charts
The Issue log, Project charter, and Configuration management system
The Project risk register, Work performance information, and Accepted deliverables
Communicating with stakeholders to address their issues is done during the manage stakeholder engagement process. The stakeholder engagement plan, communications management plan and the change log are some of the inputs of this process.
