PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Test 16 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You manage a global project team with members in three different time zones. Several team members have expressed feeling isolated and disconnected from the project. Communication has become sporadic. What is the BEST way to address this?

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

Accepted Answer

Schedule regular video conferences and virtual team-building activities. It directly addresses the root cause of isolation and sporadic communication by fostering synchronous interaction and team cohesion. Regular video conferences enable real-time collaboration and non-verbal cues, while virtual team-building activities strengthen interpersonal relationships, which are critical for distributed teams. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on using communication methods that promote engagement and trust in virtual environments.

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Send a weekly email newsletter with project updates

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Assign a local team lead in each time zone

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Require all team members to work the same hours

Question 2

During a project to develop a new mobile app, a key team member has been consistently underperforming, missing deadlines, and delivering low-quality work. The team is becoming demotivated. You have had informal conversations with the team member, but performance has not improved. What should you do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Initiate a formal performance improvement plan with clear expectations and consequences. After informal coaching has failed, the next step in progressive discipline is to initiate a formal Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) with clear expectations, measurable goals, and defined consequences. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on addressing performance issues systematically before considering escalation or removal, ensuring fairness and documentation.

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Ignore the issue and hope performance improves naturally

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Escalate to the functional manager to request a replacement

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Remove the team member from the project immediately to protect team morale

Question 3

You are managing a construction project using a traditional approach. The sponsor asks you to skip the quality inspection phase to save two weeks and meet an aggressive deadline. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Explain the risks of skipping quality inspections and discuss alternatives to meet the deadline. As a project manager, your first responsibility is to address the sponsor's request professionally by communicating the risks of skipping quality inspections—such as potential rework, safety failures, and cost overruns—and then collaboratively exploring alternatives (e.g., parallel testing, reduced sampling) to meet the deadline without compromising quality. This aligns with the PMP's emphasis on stakeholder engagement and proactive risk management, not blind compliance or refusal.

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Agree to skip the inspections to satisfy the sponsor's request

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Refuse outright because quality cannot be compromised

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Proceed with inspections but report that they were completed

Question 4

Your agile team's velocity has dropped for the past three sprints. During the retrospective, team members mention they are overburdened with work from other departments. The project manager is not the team's direct manager. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Work with the functional managers to reduce the team's external workload. The correct first step is to address the root cause of the velocity drop—the team's overburden from external work. As the project manager lacks direct authority, you must collaborate with the functional managers who control the team members' assignments to negotiate a reduction in external workload. This aligns with the PMI principle of servant leadership and removing impediments, which is the immediate priority before adjusting plans or escalating.

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Re-estimate the backlog to reflect the lower velocity

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Ask the team to work faster and increase their hours

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Report the velocity drop to the project sponsor

Question 5

A new regulatory requirement has been discovered that affects your project's deliverables. The project is halfway through its schedule. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to assess the impact on scope, schedule, and cost. D is correct because the PMBOK Guide mandates that any change, including a new regulatory requirement, must first be processed through a formal change request to evaluate its impact on scope, schedule, and cost. Since the project is already halfway through its schedule, the project manager must follow the integrated change control process to ensure the change is assessed before any action is taken. This prevents unauthorized changes that could disrupt project baselines.

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Ignore the requirement because the project is already underway

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Inform the team to start incorporating the new requirement immediately

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Update the project management plan directly to include the change

Question 6

You are managing a large project with multiple stakeholders. One executive stakeholder has been bypassing you and giving direct instructions to the team, causing confusion. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Meet with the stakeholder privately to clarify the communication plan and request they go through you. The PM must first address the stakeholder directly to reinforce the established communication plan and authority structure. Bypassing the PM violates the project's governance and can lead to scope creep, conflicting priorities, and team confusion. A private meeting allows the PM to professionally assert their role as the single point of contact for the team, as defined in the communications management plan.

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Tell the team to follow the stakeholder's instructions

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Update the communication plan to include the stakeholder's direct involvement

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Report the stakeholder to the project sponsor

Question 7

Your project is running 15% over budget at the midpoint. The variance is due to unforeseen technical challenges. You have identified a potential solution that would reduce costs but might affect scope. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Analyze the impact of the solution on scope, schedule, and cost, then present a change request to the CCB. The PMBOK Guide requires that any potential solution affecting scope must first be analyzed for its impact on the triple constraint (scope, schedule, cost) before submitting a formal change request to the Change Control Board (CCB). This ensures that the decision is based on objective data and follows the established change control process, which is critical when the project is already over budget due to unforeseen technical challenges.

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Ask the sponsor for additional budget to cover the overrun

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Continue as planned and hope to recover the budget later

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Implement the solution immediately to control costs

Question 8

In a Scrum project, the product owner wants to add a new high-priority story to the current sprint, but the sprint is already full. The team is concerned about overcommitment. What should the Scrum Master do?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion between the product owner and the team to negotiate trade-offs. The Scrum Master should protect the team from overcommitment and facilitate a discussion between the product owner and the team. Option A is not the Scrum Master's role. Option B violates the sprint commitment. Option C may not be feasible.

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Extend the sprint duration to accommodate the new work

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Remove a lower-priority story to make room for the new one

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Add the story to the sprint and ask the team to work overtime

Question 9

You are forming a new project team with members from different departments. To ensure a shared understanding of team values and expectations, what should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a team charter workshop to define roles, responsibilities, and norms. The first step in forming a new project team is to establish a shared understanding of values and expectations. A team charter workshop accomplishes this by collaboratively defining roles, responsibilities, and norms, which aligns the team and reduces ambiguity. Option A is too passive and does not engage the team in co-creating expectations. Option B lacks initial alignment and can lead to confusion. Option C builds relationships but does not directly address rules and expectations.

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Send a team introduction email with the project plan

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Assign individual tasks and let the team figure out collaboration

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Conduct a team-building event

Question 10

A risk that was identified and in the risk register has occurred. The risk response plan involves outsourcing a component, but the vendor is now unable to deliver on time. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Implement the fallback plan or contingency reserves as defined in the risk register. The risk has materialized and the risk response plan (outsourcing) has failed. The project manager must immediately execute the pre-defined fallback plan or use contingency reserves as documented in the risk register. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's guidance on implementing risk responses when the primary response is no longer viable.

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Wait to see if the vendor can resolve the issue

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for guidance

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Reassign the work to an internal team

Question 11

Your agile team is distributed across four countries. During the daily stand-up, some team members are not speaking, and others dominate the conversation. The project manager wants to improve collaboration. What is the BEST approach?

Accepted Answer

Implement a round-robin format where each team member takes turns speaking. In a distributed agile team with unbalanced participation, a round-robin format ensures each team member has a dedicated turn to speak, promoting equal contribution and collaboration. This structured approach addresses the root cause of silence and domination without singling out individuals. Option A (written reports) does not foster real-time interaction. Option B (cameras on) may not solve the participation imbalance. Option C (asking dominating members to speak less) can create tension and is less effective than a systemic solution.

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Send a written report after each stand-up

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Require everyone to keep their cameras on during meetings

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Ask the dominating members to speak less

Question 12

You are leading a project to develop a new product. The marketing department requests a last-minute change that would increase the project's scope significantly. The project is on track and within budget. Which TWO actions should the project manager take?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to the change control board. Any change that significantly increases scope must go through the formal change control process, even if the project is on track. The project manager must submit a change request to the Change Control Board (CCB) for evaluation and approval, ensuring proper governance and alignment with project objectives.

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Reject the change because the project is on track

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor

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Incorporate the change to satisfy the marketing department

Question 13

Your project is using a hybrid approach. The development team has completed the deliverables, but the testing team is overwhelmed and behind schedule. The project manager needs to address this resource constraint. Which THREE actions are most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

Negotiate with the functional manager to prioritize testing resources. Options A, D, and E are correct. A: Negotiating with the functional manager helps prioritize testing resources, addressing the constraint directly. D: Training developers in testing cross-trains the team, increasing testing capacity. E: Temporarily reassigning developers to assist with testing provides immediate relief. B is incorrect because asking for uncompensated overtime is unethical and may violate labor policies. C is incorrect because escalating to the sponsor is premature; the project manager should first explore internal solutions like negotiation and cross-training.

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Ask the testing team to work overtime without additional compensation

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor immediately

Question 14

You are managing a software development project using a hybrid approach. Two senior developers have a recurring conflict about coding standards, which is causing delays in code reviews and affecting team morale. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a meeting with both developers to discuss the conflict and agree on coding standards.. In a hybrid project environment, the project manager should first facilitate a collaborative discussion between the conflicting parties to resolve the issue at the lowest level. This approach aligns with the PMP's emphasis on conflict resolution techniques, specifically 'collaborating/problem-solving,' which seeks a win-win outcome. By directly addressing the coding standards conflict, you preserve team autonomy and ownership, which is critical for maintaining morale and productivity in a hybrid approach where Agile principles like self-organization are valued.

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Escalate the issue to the functional managers of both developers.

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Reassign the developers to different modules to minimize interaction.

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Decide on a set of coding standards yourself and mandate them.

Question 15

Your project team is distributed across three time zones. You notice that the daily stand-up meetings are poorly attended, and team members complain about meeting fatigue. What is the BEST way to address this situation?

Accepted Answer

Rotate the meeting time so no time zone is always inconvenienced.. Rotating meeting times distributes the inconvenience fairly and shows servant leadership. Option A ignores the issue; Option B may not be sufficient; Option D discourages communication.

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Reduce the stand-up to twice per week.

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Record the stand-up for later viewing by those who can't attend.

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Mandate attendance by linking it to performance reviews.