PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Test 20 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Your project is running 15% over budget at the midpoint. The sponsor asks you to reduce costs by cutting the testing phase from three weeks to one week. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to reduce testing and analyze the impact on quality and risks. The PMBOK Guide requires that any change to the project baseline, including scope, schedule, or budget, must follow the formal integrated change control process. The first step is to submit a change request to analyze the impact on quality, risks, and other constraints before making a decision. This ensures that the sponsor and stakeholders understand the trade-offs, such as increased defect risk or rework costs, before approving the reduction.

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Agree to reduce testing, as the sponsor has authority over the budget

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Refuse the request, stating that testing is essential for quality

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Implement the reduction immediately to save costs, then document it later

Question 2

A new team member from a different cultural background joins your project. They seem hesitant to share opinions during meetings and prefer written communication. Some team members perceive this as disengagement. As the project manager, what is the BEST approach?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a team-building session focused on cultural diversity and communication styles. The best approach because it proactively addresses the root cause—cultural differences in communication styles—by fostering mutual understanding and inclusion. This aligns with the PMP's emphasis on servant leadership and creating a collaborative team environment, rather than forcing assimilation or ignoring the issue.

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Assign a mentor to the new team member to help them fit in

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Ignore the situation as it may resolve on its own

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Ask the new team member to adapt to the team's existing communication norms

Question 3

During a sprint review, the product owner rejects a user story because it does not meet the acceptance criteria. The developer who completed the story argues that the functionality is sufficient and that the criteria were too strict. Both parties escalate to you. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a meeting with both parties to review the acceptance criteria and discuss expectations. The acceptance criteria are part of the definition of done agreed upon with the product owner. The PM should clarify expectations and facilitate a conversation to reach a mutual understanding, potentially updating the criteria if needed.

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Ask the team to redo the story to strictly meet the criteria without further discussion

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Accept the story as is and move on to avoid delaying the sprint

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Support the developer and ask the product owner to relax the criteria

Question 4

Your project team has been working remotely for the past six months. You notice that collaboration has decreased, and team members seem isolated. What is the BEST action to improve team cohesion?

Accepted Answer

Schedule weekly virtual coffee chats and informal team events. It directly addresses the root cause of decreased collaboration and isolation by creating informal, low-pressure opportunities for team members to connect socially. In a remote environment, formal meetings often fail to build the interpersonal bonds necessary for team cohesion, so virtual coffee chats and informal events are a proven technique from the PMBOK Guide's 'Team Building' and 'Virtual Team Management' practices. This action fosters trust and communication without imposing additional work-related pressure, which is essential for remote teams.

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Send a survey to ask team members what they want, then decide later

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Require all team members to work from the office two days a week

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Increase the frequency of status meetings to ensure accountability

Question 5

You are managing a large project with multiple vendors. One vendor has delivered a critical component two weeks late, jeopardizing the project schedule. The vendor claims that the delay was caused by unclear specifications from your team. Your team insists the specifications were clear. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a meeting between the vendor and your team to clarify specifications and agree on a recovery plan. As the project manager, your first responsibility is to facilitate collaboration and resolve the root cause of the conflict—unclear specifications—before escalating or assigning blame. By bringing the vendor and your team together, you can clarify the requirements, identify the actual gap, and jointly develop a recovery plan to mitigate the schedule impact. This aligns with the PMP's focus on stakeholder engagement and conflict resolution as a proactive leadership practice.

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Review the contract and specifications yourself to determine who is at fault

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Refer the matter to the legal department for breach of contract

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Ask the vendor to expedite delivery at no extra cost to make up for the delay

Question 6

A team member consistently misses deadlines, causing delays for the rest of the team. When you discuss this with them, they cite personal issues but assure you they will improve. However, the pattern continues. What is the BEST next step?

Accepted Answer

Consult with human resources to determine the appropriate course of action. When a team member's performance issue persists despite verbal coaching and involves personal matters, consulting HR ensures the project manager follows organizational policies and legal guidelines. The PMP emphasizes that the project manager should leverage HR expertise for sensitive personnel issues to mitigate risk and maintain fairness, rather than making unilateral disciplinary decisions.

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Reassign the team member to less critical tasks to minimize impact

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Issue a formal warning and put the team member on a performance improvement plan

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Remove the team member from the project to protect the team's morale

Question 7

Your agile team has a low-performing member who is struggling with the technology stack. The rest of the team is becoming frustrated because they have to cover for them. What is the BEST approach to handle this situation?

Accepted Answer

Provide additional training and pair the member with a senior developer for knowledge transfer. It addresses the root cause of the low performance—lack of proficiency with the technology stack—through targeted training and pairing with a senior developer. This approach aligns with the PMI Agile principles of servant leadership, team development, and collective ownership, as it invests in the team member's growth while maintaining team cohesion and productivity.

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Remove the low-performing member from the team to avoid further disruption

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Ask the team to continue covering for the member until they improve

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Reduce the member's workload to only simple tasks

Question 8

An executive stakeholder bypasses you and gives direct instructions to a team member to add a new feature immediately. The team member is confused and asks you what to do. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Speak privately with the executive to explain the change control process and request they route requests through you. As the project manager, you are responsible for maintaining the change control process and protecting the team from scope creep. Speaking privately with the executive allows you to professionally reinforce the proper escalation path and ensure all changes are evaluated for impact on cost, schedule, and quality before implementation.

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Tell the team member to follow the executive's instructions to avoid conflict

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Ask the team member to ignore the executive's instructions

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Submit a change request for the new feature without further discussion

Question 9

During a project, a new regulation is introduced that affects your project's compliance requirements. The team will need to complete additional documentation and training. What is the FIRST thing you should do?

Accepted Answer

Assess the impact of the regulation on the project and submit a change request. A new regulation is a change that could impact scope, schedule, and cost. The first step is to assess the impact and then submit a change request to follow the change control process.

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Instruct the team to begin working on the new requirements immediately to ensure compliance

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Inform the sponsor and ask for a budget increase

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Update the risk register and continue with the current plan

Question 10

Your project is in the execution phase when a key risk event from the risk register occurs: a critical team member resigns unexpectedly. You need to minimize the impact on the project. Which THREE actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Implement the planned risk response from the risk register. The risk register contains a pre-planned risk response for this identified risk event. Implementing that response is the most efficient and effective way to minimize impact, as it was designed and approved during risk planning. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's guidance on executing risk responses during the execution phase.

Answer

Inform the sponsor and ask for a project extension

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Immediately hire a replacement with the same skills

Question 11

Your agile team has been experiencing a decline in sprint velocity over the past three sprints. During the retrospective, the team identifies unclear requirements and frequent interruptions as root causes. Which TWO actions should you take to address these issues?

Accepted Answer

Work with the product owner to improve user story refinement and ensure acceptance criteria are clear. (work with the product owner to improve user story refinement) addresses unclear requirements by ensuring stories are well-defined before sprints. Option D (establish a policy to shield the team from interruptions) helps the team maintain focus and velocity.

Answer

Ask the team to work overtime to compensate for lost velocity

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Add more team members to the next sprint to increase capacity

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Reduce the sprint length to increase accountability

Question 12

You are the project manager for a hybrid software development project. During a sprint review, two senior developers get into a heated argument about the technical approach for a critical feature. The argument is delaying the review and making other team members uncomfortable. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Call a brief break, then meet privately with the two developers to facilitate a resolution. As a project manager in a hybrid environment, your first responsibility is to address the conflict directly and privately to de-escalate the situation without disrupting the sprint review. By calling a brief break and meeting privately with the two developers, you facilitate a resolution using conflict management techniques, which aligns with the PMI's emphasis on servant leadership and stakeholder engagement. This approach preserves team morale and allows the review to continue productively after the issue is resolved.

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Ask both developers to stop arguing and continue the review

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for resolution

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Cancel the sprint review and reschedule it for the next day

Question 13

Your agile project team has been consistently delivering high-quality work, but sprint velocity has dropped over the last three sprints. The team reports feeling overworked and demotivated. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a retrospective to identify root causes and collaboratively develop improvements. Facilitating a retrospective is the correct first step because it empowers the team to collaboratively identify the root causes of the decreased velocity and demotivation, such as technical debt, unclear requirements, or process inefficiencies. This aligns with the agile principle of continuous improvement and servant leadership, where the project manager acts as a facilitator rather than imposing solutions. Addressing the underlying issues through team-driven improvements is more sustainable than forcing scope or personnel changes.

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Reduce the sprint scope to increase velocity

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Replace the scrum master with a more experienced one

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Ask the team to work overtime to regain velocity

Question 14

You are managing a global project with team members in three time zones. A key team member from the India office has been consistently missing deadlines, impacting the project's critical path. In a one-on-one meeting, you discover she is struggling with the work-from-home setup and lack of collaboration tools. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Work with the team member and IT to provide necessary tools and support. The correct first step is to address the root cause of the performance issue by providing the necessary tools and support. As a project manager, your primary responsibility is to remove impediments and enable the team member to succeed, especially when the issue is environmental (lack of collaboration tools) rather than a lack of skill or will. This aligns with the PMI's focus on servant leadership and proactive problem-solving.

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Initiate a formal performance improvement plan

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Reassign her tasks to other team members

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Escalate to the functional manager to reassign the team member

Question 15

During a project status meeting, an executive stakeholder bypasses you and directly instructs a team member to add a new feature to the current sprint. The team member looks confused. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

After the meeting, privately remind the executive about the change control process and offer to submit a change request. The PM must protect the team from scope creep while maintaining stakeholder relationships. Privately reminding the executive about the change control process and offering to submit a change request addresses the issue diplomatically, enforces the formal change management system, and ensures the team member is not put in a conflicting position. This aligns with the PMP's focus on leading through influence rather than confrontation.

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Ignore the situation and continue the meeting

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Tell the team member to add the feature as requested to satisfy the stakeholder

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Immediately interrupt the executive and explain that all changes must go through you