PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Test 19 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A team member has been consistently underperforming, missing deadlines, and delivering low-quality work. You have had informal conversations but no improvement. What should you do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Document the performance issues and initiate a formal performance improvement plan. After informal conversations have failed to resolve performance issues, the next step in progressive discipline is to formally document the issues and implement a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). This aligns with the PMI People domain, which emphasizes addressing performance gaps through structured, documented processes before considering escalation or removal.

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Immediately escalate the issue to the project sponsor

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Terminate the team member's assignment to the project

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Reassign the team member to a less critical role on the project

Question 2

Your project is halfway through its planned 18-month schedule. The sponsor has asked you to skip the final testing phase to meet a regulatory deadline, citing that the team is experienced and testing is unnecessary. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Explain the risks of skipping testing and propose alternatives such as reducing test scope while maintaining critical tests. As a project manager, your first responsibility is to assess and communicate the impact of a requested change. Skipping the final testing phase introduces significant quality and compliance risks, especially given the regulatory deadline. By explaining these risks and proposing a reduced but critical test scope, you demonstrate proactive risk management and stakeholder negotiation, which aligns with the PMI's focus on balancing constraints.

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Escalate to the PMO for a decision

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Refuse to skip testing and insist on the original plan

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Agree to skip testing to maintain the deadline, as the sponsor has authority

Question 3

You are managing a project using a predictive approach. A key vendor informs you that they will be unable to deliver a critical component on time, which will impact the critical path. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Analyze the schedule impact and evaluate options such as crashing or fast-tracking. In a predictive project, the first step when a critical path delay is identified is to analyze the schedule impact and evaluate recovery options like crashing or fast-tracking. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's 'Plan Schedule Management' and 'Control Schedule' processes, where you assess the variance and determine corrective actions before escalating. Immediately notifying stakeholders or switching vendors without understanding the impact could lead to unnecessary panic or premature decisions.

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Immediately notify the project sponsor and stakeholders about the delay

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Instruct the procurement team to find a new vendor

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Update the risk register and move on

Question 4

You are the project manager for a team that recently transitioned to remote work. You notice that team morale is declining and collaboration has decreased. What is the BEST action to improve team cohesion?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a virtual team-building activity and weekly informal coffee chats. It directly addresses the root causes of declining morale and reduced collaboration in a remote team by creating structured opportunities for social interaction and informal bonding. Virtual team-building activities and weekly coffee chats foster psychological safety and interpersonal connections, which are critical for team cohesion in a distributed environment. This aligns with the PMI talent triangle's emphasis on leadership and emotional intelligence, as it proactively builds trust and engagement rather than relying on formal oversight or one-way communication.

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Increase the frequency of status meetings to ensure everyone is accountable

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Assign a mentor to each remote team member

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Send a motivational email to the team every week

Question 5

During a sprint review, the product owner rejects a user story because it does not meet their expectations, even though the team followed the acceptance criteria. The team is frustrated. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a meeting between the product owner and the team to clarify the acceptance criteria and align expectations. The immediate conflict stems from a misalignment between the acceptance criteria and the product owner's expectations. As a servant leader, the first step is to facilitate a meeting between the product owner and the team to clarify the acceptance criteria and ensure a shared understanding, which directly addresses the root cause of the frustration without escalating or ignoring the issue.

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Ask the team to rework the story based on the product owner's feedback without further discussion

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Appeal to the project sponsor to mediate the disagreement

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Add the story back to the product backlog for future prioritization

Question 6

Your project team includes members from diverse cultural backgrounds. During a meeting, you notice that some team members are uncomfortable with the direct communication style of others. How should you address this?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a team discussion to develop a team charter that includes communication norms and cultural respect. It aligns with the PMP's focus on proactive leadership and team development. By facilitating a team discussion to create a team charter with agreed-upon communication norms and cultural respect, you empower the team to collaboratively solve the issue, fostering a respectful and inclusive environment. This approach directly addresses the root cause—differing communication styles—and builds a sustainable framework for future interactions, which is a core responsibility of a project manager in the 'Manage Team' process.

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Ignore the issue as it will likely resolve on its own

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Provide cultural sensitivity training to the entire team

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Tell the direct communicators to soften their tone

Question 7

You are managing a project where the team has been working overtime for several weeks to meet a milestone. The milestone is achieved, but the team is exhausted. What should you do to sustain the team's performance?

Accepted Answer

Conduct a retrospective to identify causes of overtime and implement improvements. A retrospective directly addresses the root cause of unsustainable overtime, enabling the project manager to implement process improvements that prevent recurrence. Sustaining team performance requires addressing systemic issues, not just short-term relief. This aligns with the PMI talent triangle's emphasis on leadership and team motivation through continuous improvement.

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Reward the team with a bonus and move on to the next phase

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Encourage the team to take a few days off to recover

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Increase the team's resources for the next milestone

Question 8

An executive stakeholder has been bypassing you and giving direct instructions to your team, causing confusion and scope creep. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Meet with the stakeholder to discuss the issue and reinforce the project's communication management plan. The first step in resolving stakeholder interference is to address the issue directly with the stakeholder through a meeting, reinforcing the communication management plan. This plan defines how information flows, including who can give instructions to the team, and is a key tool in managing stakeholder expectations and preventing scope creep. By discussing the issue, you can clarify roles, re-establish agreed-upon channels, and avoid further confusion without escalating prematurely.

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Instruct the team to ignore any instructions from the stakeholder

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Update the stakeholder engagement plan without informing the stakeholder

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor immediately

Question 9

Your agile project has seen sprint velocity drop for the past three sprints. The team attributes it to increasing technical debt. As the project manager, what should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion with the product owner to allocate time for refactoring in the next sprint. The first step when technical debt impacts velocity is to collaborate with the product owner to prioritize refactoring. As the project manager, you should facilitate a discussion to allocate dedicated time in the next sprint for addressing technical debt, ensuring the team can sustainably improve velocity without compromising quality or overworking.

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Bring in external consultants to fix the technical debt

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Reduce the scope of future sprints to compensate

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Ask the team to work extra hours to maintain velocity while addressing debt

Question 10

You are the project manager for a large infrastructure project. Two key stakeholders have conflicting requirements that cannot both be satisfied within the current budget. Which TWO actions should you take to resolve this conflict?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a meeting with both stakeholders to discuss priorities and find a mutually acceptable solution. As a project manager, your role is to facilitate collaboration and guide stakeholders toward a mutually acceptable solution. By bringing both parties together to discuss priorities and trade-offs, you empower them to make an informed decision that aligns with project objectives, which is a core principle of stakeholder engagement and conflict resolution in the PMBOK Guide.

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Update the risk register to reflect the conflict

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for a final decision

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Implement the requirement from the stakeholder with more authority

Question 11

A new regulatory requirement has been discovered mid-project. This requirement will affect the project scope and schedule. Which THREE actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Assess the impact of the new requirement on scope, schedule, and cost. A new regulatory requirement discovered mid-project must be assessed for its impact on the triple constraint (scope, schedule, cost) before any action is taken. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's Perform Integrated Change Control process, where the project manager evaluates the effect of a change on all project baselines. Without this assessment, you cannot determine the feasibility or the necessary adjustments to the project plan.

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Ignore the requirement until the next project phase

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Implement the requirement immediately to ensure compliance

Question 12

Your project is running 15% over budget at the midpoint. The sponsor asks you to reduce costs by cutting team training. Which TWO actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Analyze the budget to identify other areas where costs can be reduced without impacting quality. It aligns with the project manager's responsibility to optimize the budget without compromising quality. By analyzing the budget, you can identify non-critical areas for cost reduction, such as administrative overhead or non-essential resources, while preserving team training which directly impacts long-term performance and quality. This approach demonstrates proactive cost management and stakeholder negotiation, key aspects of the 'People' domain in leading projects.

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Accept the sponsor's request and cancel all upcoming training

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Submit a change request to increase the budget

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Reduce the project scope to meet the budget

Question 13

You are managing a hybrid project with a critical deliverable due in two weeks. Two senior developers on your team have a strong disagreement over the technical approach. They have stopped speaking to each other, and the team's progress has stalled. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Meet with each developer separately to understand their perspectives and facilitate a joint discussion. As a project manager, your first responsibility in a conflict is to understand each party's perspective individually and then facilitate a collaborative resolution. This approach aligns with the PMP's 'Manage Conflict' process, which emphasizes direct, respectful communication before escalating or imposing solutions. By meeting separately and then jointly, you address the root cause—the technical disagreement—while preserving team cohesion and ownership of the solution.

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Enforce a team policy that all technical decisions must be approved by you

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for resolution

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Reassign the work to other team members to avoid further conflict

Question 14

Your agile team has been working together for three months, and you notice that sprint velocity has been steadily declining. During the retrospective, team members mention they feel overworked and unclear about priorities. What is the BEST action to take?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion with the product owner and team to reprioritize the backlog and reduce workload. It directly addresses the root causes of declining velocity: unclear priorities and overwork. By facilitating a discussion between the team and the product owner, you enable collaborative backlog reprioritization and workload adjustment, which aligns with the agile principle of sustainable pace and the servant leadership role of the project manager. This action empowers the team to focus on the highest-value work while reducing burnout, which is the most effective way to restore velocity.

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Add more team members to the next sprint to increase capacity

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Ask the team to work overtime for the next two sprints to catch up

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Implement a daily stand-up meeting to track progress more closely

Question 15

You are leading a virtual team across three time zones. During a video conference, you notice that one team member from the Asia-Pacific region has not spoken for the entire meeting. After the meeting, they email you saying they felt unheard and that their ideas were dismissed by a dominant team member from the US. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Speak privately with the dominant team member to discuss the importance of equal participation and set expectations. The immediate priority is to address the disruptive behavior directly with the dominant team member. As a project manager, you must first resolve the root cause of the imbalance—the dominant individual's behavior—before implementing broader process changes. This aligns with the PMP principle of addressing conflict at its source and setting clear expectations for team conduct.

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Assign a rotating facilitator for each meeting to ensure everyone gets a chance to speak

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Schedule a one-on-one with the APAC team member to empathize and encourage them to speak up more

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Send an email to the entire team reminding them to be respectful during meetings