PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Test 11 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A project manager is leading a hybrid project where the team uses Scrum for development but has a fixed end date for regulatory compliance. Halfway through, a key vendor informs you that they will be unable to deliver a critical component on time. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Analyze the schedule to determine the impact on the critical path and identify possible mitigation options. In a hybrid project with a fixed regulatory deadline, the first step when a vendor fails to deliver a critical component is to analyze the schedule impact on the critical path and identify mitigation options. This aligns with the PMI approach of assessing the situation before escalating or making changes, ensuring the project manager maintains control and explores all feasible alternatives to meet the compliance date.

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Adjust the sprint backlog to deprioritize features dependent on the component

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Escalate the issue immediately to the project sponsor and request additional budget

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Initiate legal proceedings against the vendor for breach of contract

Question 2

A project manager notices that one team member has been consistently missing deadlines, and their work quality is declining. The team member is otherwise talented and has been with the company for years. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a private meeting with the team member to discuss the performance and offer support. The correct first step is to have a private, supportive conversation to understand the root cause of the performance decline. This aligns with the PMP's 'People' domain, emphasizing servant leadership and addressing performance issues confidentially before escalating. It respects the team member's history and allows for collaborative problem-solving.

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Reassign the work to another team member immediately

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Ignore the issue, assuming it will resolve itself

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Provide negative feedback during the next team meeting as a warning

Question 3

An executive stakeholder bypasses the project manager and directly assigns tasks to a team member, causing confusion about priorities. The team member is unsure which tasks to work on. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Clarify priorities with the team member and schedule a private meeting with the executive to discuss the communication protocol. The project manager must first clarify priorities with the team member to resolve immediate confusion, then address the root cause by meeting privately with the executive to reinforce the communication protocol. This aligns with PMI's emphasis on proactive stakeholder management and conflict resolution without public escalation.

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Ignore the situation to avoid conflict with the executive

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File a formal complaint with the HR department

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Politely remind the executive during a meeting that all task assignments must go through the PM

Question 4

A project manager is forming a new virtual team with members from different countries. During the kick-off, the PM wants to build trust and establish norms. Which of the following actions should the PM take FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a session to create a team charter that defines communication protocols and values. Creating a team charter collaboratively during a facilitated session is the first step to build trust and establish norms. Option A is wrong because assigning roles without team input reduces buy-in and does not first establish norms. Option B is wrong because while informal bonding is valuable, the initial focus should be on formal team norms and expectations through the charter. Option C is wrong because sending a unilateral email with ground rules does not foster team ownership or collaboration.

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Assign roles and responsibilities based on each member's functional expertise

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Schedule weekly virtual coffee chats to encourage informal bonding

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Send a detailed email outlining the team's ground rules and expectations

Question 5

During a project retrospective, the team identifies that a major risk was not properly mitigated because the contingency plan was not executed on time. The risk event caused a two-week delay. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Document lessons learned and update the risk management plan to improve future contingency execution. The first step after a risk materializes is to capture lessons learned from the failure to execute the contingency plan and update the risk management plan to improve future contingency execution. This aligns with the PMI principle of continuous improvement. Option B is wrong: the risk should be closed only after analyzing root causes and capturing lessons learned, not immediately removed from the register. Option C is wrong: while performance issues may be addressed, the immediate focus should be on process improvement rather than individual accountability, and this should be part of lessons learned. Option D is wrong: creating a new contingency plan without first understanding why the original plan was not executed on time is premature; root cause analysis should precede any new planning.

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Update the risk register to remove the risk since it has occurred

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Identify who was responsible for the contingency plan and address the performance issue

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Create a new contingency plan for the risk, as the original plan failed

Question 6

A project manager is leading a cross-functional team that includes members from marketing, engineering, and finance. The team is struggling with collaboration because each department has different priorities and jargon. What should the project manager do to improve team cohesion?

Accepted Answer

Conduct a team-building workshop focused on communication styles and shared goals. The core issue is cross-functional collaboration due to differing priorities and jargon, which is a communication and team dynamics problem. A team-building workshop focused on communication styles and shared goals directly addresses these root causes by fostering mutual understanding and aligning the team around common objectives, which is a key leadership practice in the PMBOK Guide's 'Manage Team' process. This approach builds trust and cohesion without resorting to punitive or siloed measures.

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Clearly define each member's role and responsibilities in a RACI chart

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Request that the functional managers replace members who are not collaborating well

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Hold separate meetings with each department to address their concerns individually

Question 7

In a Scrum team, the product owner frequently changes priorities within a sprint, causing the team to abandon work mid-task. The team is becoming demotivated. What should the scrum master do?

Accepted Answer

Coach the product owner on the impact of changing priorities mid-sprint and reinforce the sprint backlog agreement. The Scrum Master's primary role is to coach the Product Owner and the team on Scrum principles, including the importance of a stable Sprint Backlog. Changing priorities mid-sprint violates the Sprint Goal and undermines team focus, leading to demotivation. By reinforcing the Sprint Backlog agreement, the Scrum Master protects the team from disruption while respecting the Product Owner's authority outside the sprint.

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor to overrule the product owner

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Shorten the sprint length to two or three days to accommodate frequent changes

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Accept the changes as the product owner has authority over priorities

Question 8

You are the project manager for a software development project using a hybrid approach. Two senior developers, Maria and John, have a disagreement about the technical approach for implementing a critical feature. Their conflict is causing delays and affecting team morale. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Meet privately with Maria and John to understand each perspective and facilitate a resolution. As the project manager using a hybrid approach, your first responsibility is to address the conflict directly by understanding each developer's perspective and facilitating a collaborative resolution. This aligns with the PMP's focus on servant leadership and conflict management, ensuring that technical decisions are made based on merit and team consensus rather than authority or voting, which could undermine team cohesion and the hybrid model's flexibility.

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Escalate the issue to the functional manager to resolve the technical disagreement

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Tell the team to vote on the technical approach and proceed with the majority decision

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Reassign one of the developers to a different task to reduce friction

Question 9

Your agile team has been experiencing declining velocity over the last three sprints. Retrospectives have not identified a clear cause. Several team members mention feeling fatigued and demotivated. As the project manager, what should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Schedule individual one-on-one meetings with team members to understand their concerns and identify obstacles. The first step when facing declining velocity and team demotivation is to engage directly with team members through one-on-one meetings to uncover root causes. This aligns with the PMP's servant leadership approach, where understanding individual concerns and removing obstacles is prioritized before any process or resource changes. The retrospective has already failed to identify the cause, so deeper, private conversations are needed to surface issues like burnout, interpersonal conflicts, or unclear requirements.

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Add more team members to the project to distribute the workload

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Escalate the velocity drop to the steering committee and ask for guidance

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Set stricter deadlines and increase velocity targets to motivate the team

Question 10

During a project status meeting, an executive stakeholder interrupts and instructs a team member to change a deliverable without going through change control. The team member looks to you for guidance. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Politely interrupt the executive and explain that changes must go through the formal change control process, then schedule a meeting to discuss the request. The project manager must uphold the change control process to protect the project's scope, schedule, and budget. By politely interrupting the executive and explaining the need for formal change control, you demonstrate leadership and adherence to the PMBOK Guide's principles. Scheduling a follow-up meeting ensures the request is properly evaluated through the integrated change control process, preventing unauthorized changes that could lead to scope creep.

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Note the request and discuss it with the executive after the meeting

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Send an email to the executive after the meeting explaining the change control process

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Allow the team member to follow the executive's instruction to maintain stakeholder satisfaction

Question 11

Your project team is distributed across three time zones. You notice that team members from one location often dominate discussions during daily stand-ups, while others remain silent. As a result, collaboration is suffering. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a session to create a team charter that includes agreed-upon communication practices and meeting etiquette. The correct first step is to facilitate a team charter session because it establishes agreed-upon communication practices and meeting etiquette, addressing the root cause of unequal participation by creating a shared framework for collaboration. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on team charter development as a proactive, collaborative tool to define norms and expectations, rather than imposing top-down solutions or avoiding the issue.

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Ask the quieter team members to speak up more during meetings

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Assign a rotating facilitator for each stand-up to ensure equal participation

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Switch to asynchronous communication tools to avoid time zone conflicts

Question 12

A team member has been consistently missing deadlines, causing delays in dependent tasks. During a one-on-one meeting, you discover they are struggling with a new technology. What is the best course of action?

Accepted Answer

Arrange for training or mentoring to help them acquire the necessary skills. The root cause of the missed deadlines is a skill gap with the new technology, not a lack of effort or willful non-compliance. As a servant leader, the project manager should first support the team member by providing training or mentoring to close the competency gap, which directly addresses the cause and enables the team member to meet future deadlines. This approach aligns with the PMI People domain, which emphasizes developing the team and removing obstacles.

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Escalate the performance issue to the functional manager

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Reassign the tasks to another team member who is more experienced

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Issue a formal warning about the missed deadlines

Question 13

In the middle of a project, a new regulation is introduced that impacts your project's deliverables. The team needs to make adjustments, but the change will affect the critical path. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to formally assess the impact on scope, schedule, and cost. When a new regulation impacts project deliverables and the critical path, the first step is to submit a formal change request. This initiates the integrated change control process, ensuring that the impact on scope, schedule, and cost is assessed through a structured review before any action is taken. Bypassing this formal process risks uncontrolled changes and non-compliance with project governance.

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Update the risk register and assess the impact on the critical path

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Direct the team to immediately implement the changes to ensure compliance

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Inform the team to continue working as planned since the regulation may not be enforced

Question 14

Your agile team has a high turnover rate. New members are joining frequently, and the team's performance is declining. What should you do as a servant leader?

Accepted Answer

Implement a structured onboarding process and assign mentors to new members. As a servant leader on an agile team, your primary responsibility is to remove impediments and foster an environment where the team can thrive. A structured onboarding process with assigned mentors directly addresses the performance decline by accelerating the integration of new members, ensuring they understand team norms, tools, and processes, which stabilizes velocity and reduces disruption.

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Ask HR to hire more experienced contractors to stabilize the team

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Conduct a retrospective to identify why people are leaving

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Reduce the team's workload until the new members are up to speed

Question 15

Your project team includes members from diverse cultural backgrounds. You notice that some team members are reluctant to share their ideas in group settings due to cultural norms. What is the best approach to foster inclusion?

Accepted Answer

Offer multiple ways to contribute, such as anonymous feedback tools or smaller group discussions. It respects cultural diversity by providing alternative channels for participation, such as anonymous feedback or smaller groups, which can reduce the social pressure that inhibits contribution in larger, hierarchical settings. This approach aligns with the PMI Talent Triangle's emphasis on emotional intelligence and inclusive leadership, recognizing that a one-size-fits-all communication style may exclude team members from collectivist or high-power-distance cultures.

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Assign a team member to represent the quieter members and speak on their behalf

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Encourage everyone to speak up and emphasize that all opinions are valued

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Conduct a training session on assertiveness for the reluctant team members