PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Test 14 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A project manager is leading a software development project in an organization that uses a hybrid methodology. The team's sprint velocity has dropped for three consecutive sprints. Which THREE actions should the PM take to address this? (Choose three)

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

Accepted Answer

Review the team's estimation techniques and ensure they are accurate. Inaccurate estimation techniques can lead to consistently missed velocity targets. By reviewing and recalibrating estimation methods (e.g., story points, planning poker), the PM ensures the team's capacity is realistically measured, which is critical for sprint planning in a hybrid methodology.

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Ask the team to work overtime to catch up

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Increase the sprint length to give the team more time

Question 2

A new regulatory requirement has been discovered mid-project. The change will affect the project scope and schedule. Which TWO actions should the project manager take FIRST? (Choose two)

Accepted Answer

Analyze the impact of the regulation on scope, schedule, and cost. The first step when a new regulatory requirement emerges mid-project is to analyze its impact on the triple constraint (scope, schedule, cost). This analysis provides the data needed to determine whether a change request is warranted and what its implications will be. Without this impact analysis, the project manager cannot make an informed decision or properly communicate the change to stakeholders.

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Inform the team to ignore the regulation until the project is complete

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Update the risk register and move on

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Immediately instruct the team to implement the changes to ensure compliance

Question 3

You are a project manager on a software development project using a hybrid approach. Two senior developers have a strong disagreement on the technical implementation of a critical feature. They have been arguing for three days, causing the team to fall behind schedule. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Meet with both developers separately to understand their perspectives, then facilitate a joint discussion to find a mutually acceptable solution. As a project manager using a hybrid approach, your first responsibility is to facilitate conflict resolution among team members. Meeting individually to understand each developer's perspective, then guiding a joint discussion, empowers the team to reach a consensus and preserves team cohesion. This aligns with the PMI People domain, which emphasizes servant leadership and collaborative problem-solving before escalating or imposing decisions.

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor and ask for a decision

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Reassign one developer to another task to avoid further conflict

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Make the technical decision yourself based on your own expertise

Question 4

Your project team is spread across three continents. You notice that the daily stand-ups are becoming less interactive, and team members are not raising blockers. What should you do first to improve team collaboration?

Accepted Answer

Organize virtual team-building exercises and encourage open communication. The core issue is declining team interaction and psychological safety, which directly impacts collaboration in a distributed team. Virtual team-building exercises and encouraging open communication address the root cause by rebuilding trust and engagement, which is essential for effective daily stand-ups and raising blockers. This aligns with the PMP focus on servant leadership and fostering a collaborative team environment.

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Assign a team lead to monitor participation

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Implement a mandatory weekly status report

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Threaten to report underperformance to management

Question 5

During a sprint retrospective, several team members express frustration that the project manager often overrides their decisions, contradicting the agile principle of self-organization. The project manager believes the team lacks experience and needs guidance. What should the project manager do?

Accepted Answer

Acknowledge the feedback, discuss the balance between guidance and autonomy, and agree on decision-making boundaries. It directly addresses the team's frustration by acknowledging their feedback, opening a dialogue about the balance between guidance and autonomy, and collaboratively agreeing on decision-making boundaries. This aligns with the agile principle of self-organization while recognizing the project manager's responsibility to provide necessary guidance, especially for less experienced teams. It fosters a culture of continuous improvement and mutual respect, which is essential for effective team performance in agile environments.

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Ask the product owner to mediate the situation

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Continue as before because the team still needs direction

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Explain to the team that as the project manager, final decisions rest with you

Question 6

A key stakeholder insists on bypassing the change control process and demands that a minor scope change be implemented immediately to meet a regulatory deadline. What should the project manager do?

Accepted Answer

Explain the importance of the change control process and initiate a change request. The project manager must uphold the change control process to ensure all changes, even minor ones, are properly evaluated for impact on scope, schedule, cost, and quality. Bypassing the process could lead to undocumented changes that violate regulatory compliance or introduce risks. Initiating a change request allows the stakeholder's urgent need to be formally assessed and approved through the proper governance framework.

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Implement the change and document it later

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Refuse the request outright, stating that no changes are allowed

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Comply with the stakeholder's request to maintain a good relationship

Question 7

Your project team is newly formed, and you notice that members are hesitant to share ideas during meetings. To build a high-performing team, what should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Encourage the team to develop a team charter that defines norms and expectations. A is correct because a team charter is a foundational tool in project management that establishes shared norms, expectations, and ground rules. By collaboratively developing the charter, the team builds psychological safety and clarity, which directly addresses the hesitation to share ideas. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on forming a high-performing team through agreed-upon behaviors and communication protocols.

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Assign a note-taker to record all ideas

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Tell the team that all ideas are welcome and no one will be judged

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Start each meeting with an icebreaker

Question 8

A project is in execution phase, and a team member consistently misses deadlines, impacting the critical path. The project manager has had informal conversations, but the behavior continues. What should the project manager do next?

Accepted Answer

Initiate the formal performance management process as per organizational policy. Once informal coaching has failed to correct a performance issue that impacts the critical path, the project manager must escalate to the formal performance management process as defined in the organizational policy. This ensures due process, documentation, and alignment with HR and legal requirements, protecting both the project and the organization.

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Reassign the team member to a less critical task

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Ignore the issue and hope it resolves on its own

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Replace the team member with a new resource

Question 9

During a sprint review, the product owner expresses dissatisfaction with the feature delivered, stating it does not meet the acceptance criteria. The team disagrees, claiming it meets the definition of done. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a meeting with the product owner and the team to review the acceptance criteria and define done. Clarifying expectations by reviewing the acceptance criteria together resolves the misunderstanding and aligns both parties.

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for a decision

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Support the team's position and ask the product owner to accept the deliverable

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Ask the team to redo the work to meet the product owner's expectations

Question 10

You are managing a virtual team where members are in different time zones. Some team members feel left out of decision-making because meetings are scheduled at times convenient for the majority. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Rotate meeting times to accommodate different time zones periodically. Rotating meeting times periodically ensures equitable access to synchronous decision-making for all team members, directly addressing the core issue of inclusion in a virtual team with diverse time zones. This approach aligns with the PMP's emphasis on servant leadership and stakeholder engagement by proactively mitigating the negative impact of time zone differences on team cohesion and participation.

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Schedule all meetings during the time zone of the project manager

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Record meetings and ask those who cannot attend to comment later

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Use asynchronous communication tools for all decisions

Question 11

The project sponsor asks you to skip the quality testing phase to meet an aggressive deadline, arguing that the team is experienced and can deliver without it. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Explain the risks of skipping testing and propose alternatives such as reducing scope or extending the schedule. As a project manager, you must balance the sponsor's request with your ethical duty to deliver a quality product. Skipping quality testing introduces significant risk of defects and rework, which could ultimately delay the project further. By explaining these risks and proposing alternatives like reducing scope or extending the schedule, you demonstrate proactive leadership and adherence to the PMI Code of Ethics, specifically the responsibility to make data-driven decisions.

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Comply with the sponsor's request to avoid conflict

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Refuse the request and insist on following the original plan

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Agree to skip testing but document the sponsor's request for future reference

Question 12

A new team member joins your agile project. They have no experience with Scrum and seem overwhelmed. What should you do to onboard them effectively?

Accepted Answer

Assign them a mentor and provide training on agile principles. Onboarding a new team member with no Scrum experience requires a structured approach that combines mentorship with formal training on agile principles. This ensures they understand the Scrum framework, roles, events, and artifacts, which is critical for them to contribute effectively and reduce overwhelm. Simply pairing them for coding tasks (A) or leaving them to observe (D) neglects the foundational knowledge needed to participate in Scrum ceremonies and collaborate with the team.

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Pair them with a senior developer only for coding tasks

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Give them the project documentation and ask them to read it

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Let them learn by observing the team for the first few sprints

Question 13

During a project, you discover that a team member is being excluded from social interactions by others because of cultural differences. The team member has not complained, but you sense low morale. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Organize a team session on cultural awareness and inclusion. The PMBOK Guide emphasizes proactive leadership in fostering an inclusive team environment. By organizing a cultural awareness session, you address the root cause of exclusion without waiting for a formal complaint, which aligns with the 'Servant Leadership' principle and the 'Manage Team' process. This approach prevents escalation and improves team cohesion, directly tackling low morale.

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Reprimand the team members who are excluding the individual

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Ignore it since no one has complained

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Speak privately with the team member to see if they are bothered

Question 14

Your project is running 15% over budget at the midpoint. The team is motivated, but the sponsor is concerned. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Conduct a variance analysis to identify the reasons for the overspend. Understanding the root cause of the variance is essential before taking corrective action. Option C involves analyzing the variance to determine if it's a trend or one-time issue.

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Immediately reduce team resources to cut costs

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Request the team to work overtime without additional pay

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Ask the sponsor for additional funding

Question 15

A key vendor informs you that they cannot deliver a critical component on time, which will delay the project. You need to decide on next steps. Which THREE actions are most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

Update the project management plan with the new delivery date. Updating the project management plan with the new delivery date is correct because it formally documents the revised schedule baseline, which is a key output of the integrated change control process. This ensures all project artifacts reflect the current reality, enabling accurate tracking and communication. Without this update, the plan becomes obsolete and misaligns with actual project execution.

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Ask the team to work overtime to compensate for the delay

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Immediately terminate the vendor contract