PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Test 21 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Your agile team has recently formed and is struggling to agree on work methods and communication norms. Several team members are frustrated with the lack of consistency. What should you do as the project manager?

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

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a workshop to develop a team charter that defines working agreements and communication norms. The team is in the forming stage and needs explicit guidance to establish shared expectations. Facilitating a workshop to create a team charter directly addresses the root cause—lack of agreed-upon work methods and communication norms—by providing a structured, collaborative process that aligns with agile principles while still leveraging the project manager's leadership to resolve the impasse.

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Let the team work out the issues on their own since they are self-organizing

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Assign a team lead to make decisions on work methods

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Replace the frustrated team members with more collaborative ones

Question 2

Your project is halfway through its timeline and is running 15% over budget due to unexpected vendor price increases. The sponsor is concerned and asks you to cut costs by reducing the number of quality tests. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Conduct an impact analysis and submit a change request to the change control board. As a project manager, you must follow the formal change control process when a sponsor requests a change that impacts the project baseline. Reducing quality tests is a change that could affect scope, schedule, and risk; therefore, you should analyze the impact on quality, cost, and schedule, then submit a change request to the change control board (CCB) for approval. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's guidance on managing changes through the integrated change control process, ensuring decisions are made with full awareness of trade-offs.

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Increase testing in other areas to compensate for reduced quality risk

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Inform the sponsor that quality cannot be compromised and continue as planned

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Agree with the sponsor and reduce the number of tests to stay within budget

Question 3

A key vendor informs you that they cannot deliver a critical component on time due to a raw material shortage. This component is on the critical path. The risk was identified and documented in the risk register. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Implement the contingency plan defined in the risk register. Since the risk was already identified and documented in the risk register, the project team should have prepared a contingency plan for this specific scenario. The PMBOK Guide states that when a risk occurs, the first action is to implement the pre-defined contingency plan to minimize impact. This is a proactive, planned response rather than a reactive scramble, and it aligns with the 'Plan Risk Responses' and 'Implement Risk Responses' processes.

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor

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Contact the vendor to negotiate a new delivery date

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Immediately look for an alternative vendor

Question 4

Your project team includes members from diverse cultural backgrounds. You notice that some team members are not contributing ideas during brainstorming sessions, while others dominate the conversation. What should you do to promote inclusion?

Accepted Answer

Implement a round-robin technique to give each team member an opportunity to speak. The round-robin technique is a structured facilitation method that ensures every team member has an equal opportunity to speak, directly addressing the cultural and behavioral imbalance in brainstorming. This approach aligns with the PMP's emphasis on inclusive leadership and active listening, as it systematically prevents domination and encourages contributions from quieter members without imposing artificial quotas.

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Assign speaking quotas to ensure equal participation

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Allow the dominant members to lead since they are more engaged

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Send a memo reminding the team to be respectful during meetings

Question 5

During a sprint planning meeting, the product owner proposes a user story that the team believes is too vague and lacks clear acceptance criteria. The product owner insists it must be included in the sprint to meet a stakeholder deadline. What should the scrum master do?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion to refine the story with the product owner and team, and suggest splitting it. The Scrum Master's primary responsibility is to facilitate collaboration and ensure the team works with clear, actionable items. By facilitating a discussion to refine the story and suggesting splitting it, the Scrum Master helps the team achieve a shared understanding and create acceptance criteria, while still addressing the stakeholder deadline. This approach aligns with the Agile principle of delivering value incrementally and avoids committing to vague work that could lead to rework or failure.

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Accept the story as is to meet the deadline

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Escalate to the project sponsor

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Remove the product owner from the meeting

Question 6

Your project is in the execution phase, and a new regulatory requirement has been discovered that will affect the project scope. The change is mandatory and must be implemented within two weeks. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request for the new requirement and assess its impact. When a mandatory regulatory requirement is discovered during execution, the first step is to submit a change request and assess its impact. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's integrated change control process, which requires that all changes—even mandatory ones—be formally documented and evaluated for their effect on scope, schedule, cost, and quality before any action is taken. Directly updating the plan or stopping work bypasses this critical governance step.

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Directly update the project management plan to reflect the new requirement

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Stop all project work until the change is resolved

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Inform the sponsor and ask for immediate approval

Question 7

You are managing a distributed team with members in different time zones. A team member complains that they feel isolated and uninformed about project decisions. What should you do FIRST to address this?

Accepted Answer

Implement daily stand-up meetings and use a collaboration platform to share updates. It addresses the root cause of isolation and lack of information by establishing regular communication (daily stand-ups) and a shared collaboration platform. Option A is insufficient because weekly emails are too infrequent and passive. Option C unfairly shifts responsibility to the team member rather than improving team processes. Option D provides individual support but does not solve the systemic communication issue for the entire distributed team.

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Send weekly email summaries of decisions

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Advise the team member to be more proactive in seeking information

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Assign the team member to a local mentor

Question 8

During a retrospective, the team identifies that the root cause of low morale is the project manager's micromanagement style. The team wants more autonomy. What should the PM do?

Accepted Answer

Acknowledge the feedback and agree to transition to a more empowering leadership style. The PM should acknowledge the team's feedback and adapt their leadership style to empower the team, which aligns with the PMP's focus on servant leadership and fostering autonomy. Micromanagement undermines trust and morale, so transitioning to a more empowering approach directly addresses the root cause identified in the retrospective.

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Increase oversight to ensure the team stays on track

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Explain that micromanagement is necessary to ensure quality

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for guidance

Question 9

Your project is in the planning phase, and you are building a virtual team across five countries. Which THREE factors are most important to address to ensure high team performance? (Choose THREE)

Accepted Answer

Conducting virtual team-building activities to foster trust. Virtual team-building activities are essential for fostering trust and social cohesion among geographically dispersed team members. Without face-to-face interaction, trust must be intentionally built through structured activities that encourage open communication and relationship development, which directly impacts collaboration and performance.

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Ensuring all team members have the same technical certifications

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Creating a shared project calendar

Question 10

You are the project manager for a software development project using a hybrid approach. Two senior developers have a heated disagreement about the best technical solution for a critical feature. The disagreement is causing delays and affecting team morale. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a meeting with both developers to listen to their perspectives and facilitate a resolution. As a project manager using a hybrid approach, your first responsibility is to facilitate conflict resolution among team members. By scheduling a meeting to listen to both developers' perspectives, you demonstrate servant leadership, encourage collaborative problem-solving, and leverage their technical expertise to reach a consensus, which aligns with the PMI Talent Triangle's leadership and team management skills.

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for a final decision

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Ignore the conflict and hope it resolves on its own

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Make a decision yourself and tell the developers to implement that solution

Question 11

During the execution phase of a construction project, you notice that a junior team member is consistently missing deadlines and producing work of lower quality. Other team members have expressed frustration. What is the best approach to address this?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a private meeting to discuss performance concerns and offer coaching or additional training. The PMBOK Guide emphasizes that performance issues should first be addressed through a respectful, private conversation to understand root causes, followed by coaching or training as part of the 'Manage Team' process. This approach aligns with the 'Servant Leadership' mindset, focusing on developing team members rather than punitive measures, which can damage morale and trust.

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Issue a formal warning in writing to document underperformance

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Immediately reassign the junior member to administrative tasks

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Ask other team members to cover the missing deadlines

Question 12

You are managing a distributed team across three time zones. A team member from the Asia office reports that they feel excluded from decision-making because key meetings are held during their late evening hours. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Rotate meeting times so that no single region is always disadvantaged. It directly addresses the root cause of exclusion by implementing a fair rotation of meeting times, ensuring no single time zone is consistently disadvantaged. This aligns with the PMP's emphasis on stakeholder engagement and team cohesion, particularly for distributed teams where time zone equity is critical to maintaining inclusion and collaboration.

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Tell the team member that they can catch up by reading meeting minutes

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Schedule all meetings at the same time regardless of time zones

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Record meetings and require the team member to watch them

Question 13

Your agile team's velocity has dropped for three consecutive sprints. Upon investigation, you discover that the product owner has been adding unplanned work directly to the sprint backlog without consulting you or the team. What is the most appropriate action?

Accepted Answer

Discuss the issue with the product owner and remind them that scope changes should go through the backlog refinement process. The product owner is violating the Scrum framework by adding unplanned work directly to the sprint backlog, which undermines the team's commitment and velocity. The appropriate action is to discuss the issue with the product owner and remind them that all scope changes must go through the backlog refinement process to ensure the sprint goal remains achievable. This aligns with the PMP's emphasis on stakeholder engagement and maintaining team autonomy within agile practices.

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Tell the team to accept the extra work to keep the product owner happy

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Allow the product owner to continue as they are the voice of the customer

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Immediately escalate the issue to the project sponsor

Question 14

During a project status meeting, the sponsor asks you to skip the final round of testing to meet the original deadline, stating that the product is already 'good enough.' What is your best response?

Accepted Answer

Explain the risks of skipping testing and propose a formal change request to document the decision. It aligns with the PMP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, which requires project managers to provide accurate information and manage risks transparently. By explaining the risks of skipping testing and proposing a formal change request, you ensure that the decision is documented, the sponsor understands the potential impact on quality and schedule, and the project remains compliant with organizational processes. This approach balances stakeholder expectations with professional responsibility.

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Agree to skip testing to maintain the schedule and stakeholder satisfaction

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Secretly continue testing but report that testing is complete

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Refuse outright and insist on completing all testing as planned

Question 15

You are leading a virtual team using a hybrid methodology. A team member from another country consistently arrives late to daily stand-ups, disrupting the flow. The team member has not responded to private messages about the issue. What should you do next?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a private video call to discuss the challenges and find a mutually agreeable solution. As a project manager, you should first seek to understand the root cause of the behavior through a private, empathetic conversation. This aligns with the PMP's focus on servant leadership and conflict resolution, especially in a virtual, cross-cultural team where time zones or personal challenges may be the issue. Scheduling a private video call allows you to discuss challenges and find a mutually agreeable solution without escalating prematurely.

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Issue a formal warning to the team member for not adhering to team norms

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Remove the team member from the project for non-compliance

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Change the stand-up time to accommodate the team member without consulting the rest of the team