PMP Process — Managing Technical Aspects Practice Test 26 — 15 Questions

Question 1

During a project status meeting, a key stakeholder expresses dissatisfaction with the quality of deliverables. The team believes they have met all acceptance criteria. What should the project manager do?

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

Accepted Answer

Arrange a meeting with the stakeholder to understand their concerns and review the acceptance criteria. When a stakeholder expresses dissatisfaction despite meeting acceptance criteria, the project manager should first understand the stakeholder's concerns and review the acceptance criteria to ensure alignment. This approach fosters collaboration and may reveal uncommunicated expectations or misunderstandings about the criteria. Option B is incorrect because dismissing feedback to lessons learned without resolution fails to address the immediate issue and can damage stakeholder relationships. Option C is incorrect because initiating a formal quality audit is reactive and escalates the situation unnecessarily before attempting to understand the stakeholder's perspective. Option D is incorrect because dismissing the stakeholder's concerns and insisting on acceptance can harm trust and may lead to future conflict, even if the deliverables technically meet criteria.

Answer

Add the stakeholder's feedback to the lessons learned and move on

Answer

Initiate a formal quality audit to verify compliance with requirements

Answer

Explain that the deliverables meet the agreed criteria and ask the stakeholder to accept them

Question 2

Your project is using a predictive lifecycle. The team has identified a potential risk that could cause a two-week delay. The risk has a probability of 30% and an impact of $50,000. The project has a contingency reserve of $100,000. What is the most appropriate risk response?

Accepted Answer

Add the risk to the risk register, monitor it, and prepare a contingency plan. With a 30% probability and $50,000 impact, this is a moderate risk. It does not warrant transfer (A) because it is not high enough impact, nor immediate funding (D) which would waste contingency. Accepting without action (B) is too passive. The appropriate response is to add the risk to the risk register, monitor it, and prepare a contingency plan to be executed if the risk occurs.

Answer

Transfer the risk to the customer through a contract clause

Answer

Accept the risk and take no further action, since the contingency reserve is sufficient

Answer

Immediately allocate $50,000 from the contingency reserve to mitigate the risk

Question 3

You are the project manager for a software upgrade project. The team is using a hybrid approach with two-week sprints. During sprint planning, the product owner wants to include a user story that the team believes is too large to complete in one sprint. Which TWO actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate breaking the story down into smaller, manageable stories for the sprint. Options C and D are correct. In a hybrid approach with sprints, user stories that are too large should be broken down into smaller, manageable pieces to fit within a sprint (C). This aligns with agile principles of decomposition and iterative delivery. Additionally, documenting the product owner's request and managing expectations through the change control process ensures that any changes to scope or priorities are properly managed (D). Option A is incorrect because removing the story from the backlog is premature; it should be refined first. Option B is incorrect because adjusting sprint duration defeats the purpose of time-boxed sprints. Option E is incorrect because forcing the team to commit to an oversized story leads to poor quality and unmet commitments.

Answer

Remove the story from the backlog since it cannot be completed in one sprint

Answer

Accept the story without changes and adjust the sprint duration

Answer

Insist that the team commit to the story to satisfy the product owner

Question 4

Your project is in execution phase. The earned value metrics show: EV = $400,000, PV = $500,000, AC = $450,000, BAC = $1,000,000. Which THREE actions should you take to address the project's performance?

Accepted Answer

Re-estimate the estimate at completion (EAC) based on current performance. The project is behind schedule (EV < PV) and over budget (EV < AC). The correct actions are to re-estimate the EAC to reflect current performance (A), analyze root causes of variances (B), and identify and implement corrective actions (D). Crashing the critical path (C) is a potential schedule recovery technique but should not be done without first analyzing the causes; it may increase costs. Escalating to sponsor (E) is premature without attempting corrective actions first.

Answer

Immediately crash the critical path to recover schedule

Answer

Escalate the performance issues to the sponsor with a request for additional budget

Question 5

You are managing a project that is using a hybrid approach. An executive stakeholder has requested a significant change to the project scope. The change has been approved by the change control board (CCB). Which THREE actions should you take next?

Accepted Answer

Communicate the approved change and its impact to all relevant stakeholders. The correct actions after a CCB-approved scope change are: A) Communicate the approved change and its impact to all relevant stakeholders to ensure awareness and buy-in; B) Update the project management plan (including any affected subsidiary plans) to reflect the change; and E) Update the project baselines (scope, schedule, cost) to incorporate the change so future performance is measured against the revised plan. Instructing the team to start work immediately (C) bypasses proper planning and baseline updates. Rejecting the change (D) is inappropriate because it has already been approved.

Answer

Instruct the team to begin working on the change immediately to avoid delays

Answer

Reject the change if it will delay the project beyond the original deadline

Question 6

You are a project manager overseeing a 12-month ERP implementation. During sprint 6 of 20, the product owner informs you that a key stakeholder wants to add a new reporting module that was not in the original scope. The team estimates this would add 3 weeks to the schedule. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request through the Integrated Change Control process and assess the impact on scope, schedule, and cost. According to PMI, any change to scope must go through the Integrated Change Control process. The project manager must first submit a change request to formally assess the impact on scope, schedule, and cost before obtaining approval. Option A is wrong because adding to the backlog without formal approval bypasses change control. Option B is wrong because starting work immediately violates the change control process. Option C is wrong because refusing changes outright without assessment is not appropriate; changes can be made through proper control.

Answer

Add the requirement to the product backlog and let the team address it in a future sprint without formal approval

Answer

Ask the team to begin work on the module immediately to accommodate the stakeholder

Answer

Inform the stakeholder that no changes can be made once the project has started

Question 7

During a construction project, you discover that a critical supplier will not be able to deliver steel beams on time due to a labor strike. This risk was identified and listed in the risk register with a planned response of 'accept.' However, the delay will cause a 2-week slip in the critical path. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Inform stakeholders of the delay and implement the risk response plan of acceptance while monitoring for secondary risks. When a risk occurs, the project manager must implement the planned risk response. Since the response was 'accept,' the team accepts the consequences, but this does not mean doing nothing. The PM must communicate the impact to stakeholders and monitor for secondary risks that may arise from the accepted risk. Therefore, informing stakeholders and continuing to monitor is the appropriate action. Option A (activating fallback plan) is incorrect because there is no fallback plan; the response was acceptance. Option B (doing nothing) is wrong because even with acceptance, communication and monitoring are required. Option C (escalating) is not necessary as the risk response plan already addressed acceptance, and escalation is not automatically required.

Answer

Activate the fallback plan to mitigate the delay by fast-tracking subsequent activities

Answer

Do nothing since the risk was accepted, and proceed with the current plan

Answer

Escalate the issue to the project sponsor immediately to request additional resources

Question 8

Your agile team is experiencing a drop in velocity over the last three sprints. During the retrospective, team members mention that they are spending too much time on unplanned work and context switching. As the project manager, what should you do?

Accepted Answer

Work with the product owner to reduce the amount of unplanned work and protect the team from external interruptions. The root cause is unplanned work and context switching, so the best approach is to work with the product owner to minimize unplanned work and shield the team from external interruptions. Option A is wrong because overtime leads to burnout and reduced quality. Option B is wrong because adding more developers to a late project often slows it down further (Brooks' Law). Option C is wrong because increasing stand-up frequency would reduce productive time and does not address the cause of interruptions.

Answer

Ask the team to work overtime for the next sprint to catch up

Answer

Add more developers to the team to increase capacity

Answer

Increase the frequency of daily stand-ups to twice a day to improve coordination

Question 9

You are managing a software development project using a hybrid approach. The project has a fixed price contract with a strict deadline. Midway through, the customer requests a significant change that would increase the scope by 20%. You have already used all management reserve. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to the change control board to assess the impact on cost, schedule, and contract terms. In a hybrid project with a fixed-price contract, any significant scope change must follow the formal change control process. Since the management reserve is exhausted, the change request must be submitted to the change control board (CCB) to evaluate the impact on cost, schedule, and contract terms before any decision is made. This ensures compliance with the contract and protects both parties from unauthorized scope creep.

Answer

Refuse the change because the project is already over budget and behind schedule

Answer

Ask the project sponsor for additional funding to cover the cost of the change

Answer

Implement the change since the customer is requesting it and the project has a fixed deadline

Question 10

You are the project manager for a large infrastructure project. The project's CPI is 0.85 and SPI is 0.9. The team is working hard, but the project manager suspects that the cost performance is due to inaccurate estimates rather than inefficiency. The project sponsor is concerned about the budget overrun and asks you to cut costs by reducing quality inspections. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Explain to the sponsor that reducing inspections could lead to higher rework costs and request a meeting to review the estimate accuracy instead. Reducing quality inspections to cut costs could lead to increased defects and rework, worsening the cost overrun in the long run. Instead, the project manager should discuss with the sponsor the possibility that the cost variance is due to inaccurate estimates, not inefficiency. This approach aligns with the PM's responsibility to manage quality and communicate risks. Option B is wrong because agreeing without analysis violates the project manager's duty to protect the project from harmful decisions. Option C is wrong because escalating to the PMO should not be the first step; the PM should first address the issue directly with the sponsor. Option D is wrong because reducing inspections with a plan to increase later still risks quality issues and rework costs.

Answer

Agree to reduce inspections to satisfy the sponsor's request for cost savings

Answer

Escalate the sponsor's request to the PMO for a decision

Answer

Reduce inspections as requested, but increase them later if quality issues arise

Question 11

A team member consistently misses deadlines, causing delays in dependent tasks. During a one-on-one meeting, the team member admits to feeling overwhelmed and unsure how to prioritize work. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Provide coaching and training on time management and prioritization techniques. The team member's issue stems from feeling overwhelmed and lacking prioritization skills. The project manager should first address the root cause by providing coaching or training on time management and prioritization, which aligns with the PM's role as a servant leader and coach. Option A is incorrect because reassigning tasks without addressing the underlying problem does not help the team member develop and may cause further issues. Option C is incorrect because escalating to the sponsor is premature and should be considered only after the PM has taken appropriate actions to support the team member. Option D is incorrect because documenting in the performance record is punitive and not a first step; the PM should first offer support.

Answer

Reassign the team member's tasks to other team members to avoid further delays

Answer

Inform the project sponsor that a team member is underperforming and may need to be replaced

Answer

Formally document the issue in the team member's performance record

Question 12

During an agile project, the product owner frequently changes priorities during the sprint, causing the team to lose focus and miss sprint goals. The team expresses frustration in the retrospective. As the project manager, what should you do?

Accepted Answer

Coach the product owner on the importance of not changing priorities during a sprint to protect the team's focus. The product owner should be coached on agile principles, specifically the importance of not changing priorities during a sprint to protect the team's focus and sprint goal. Option A is wrong because ignoring the product owner undermines collaboration and agile values. Option C is wrong because adding buffer does not address the root cause and may reduce accountability. Option D is wrong because extending sprint duration does not solve the priority change issue and may lead to loss of time-boxing benefits.

Answer

Instruct the team to ignore the product owner's changes until the next sprint planning

Answer

Add a buffer to the sprint backlog to accommodate potential changes

Answer

Extend the sprint duration to allow the team to accommodate changes

Question 13

You are managing a project to upgrade a company's network infrastructure. The project is on schedule, but you discover that the network cables purchased do not meet the required specifications. The procurement team bought a cheaper alternative without your knowledge. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Document the non-conformance and assess the impact on quality and project objectives. The first action should be to document the non-conformance and assess the impact on quality and project objectives (Option B). This allows the project manager to determine the severity and decide on corrective actions. Option A is wrong because escalating to the legal department should come after assessing the impact and determining that it is a contractual breach, not the first step. Option C is wrong because continuing to use non-conforming materials without assessment may compromise quality and project objectives. Option D is wrong because ignoring the issue is not a valid management action.

Answer

Report the procurement team to the legal department for breach of contract

Answer

Continue using the cables if they are cheaper and seem to work in tests

Answer

Ignore the issue since the project is on schedule and the cables are already purchased

Question 14

You are the project manager for a marketing campaign launch. The project has a tight deadline. During a status meeting, a team member announces that they have completed a task two days early. However, you notice that the quality of the deliverable is below the acceptance criteria. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Reject the deliverable and ask the team member to rework it to meet the acceptance criteria. The deliverable does not meet the acceptance criteria, so the project manager should reject it and request rework to ensure quality standards are met. Option A is incorrect because ignoring quality issues sets a bad precedent and may lead to further problems. Option C is incorrect because lowering acceptance criteria without stakeholder approval violates the project scope and quality management plan. Option D is incorrect because accepting a substandard deliverable with the intent to improve later is not effective; deliverables should meet criteria upon completion.

Answer

Thank the team member for the early completion and move on to the next task

Answer

Lower the acceptance criteria to match the deliverable's quality to save time

Answer

Accept the deliverable since it was completed early and the team can improve it later

Question 15

You are managing a hybrid project where the team uses Scrum for development but follows a traditional approach for reporting. The project is behind schedule because the development team is spending too much time on documentation for status reports. The product owner is concerned about the lack of progress. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Work with the stakeholders to simplify the reporting requirements and reduce the documentation burden on the development team. Simplifying reporting reduces administrative burden and allows the development team to focus on their core work, addressing the root cause of the delay. Option A is incorrect because additional meetings would further distract the team. Option B is incorrect because team-building does not solve the process overhead issue. Option C is incorrect because adding more developers does not eliminate the excessive documentation requirement.

Answer

Require the team to attend additional status meetings to improve communication

Answer

Hold a team-building session to improve the team's efficiency

Answer

Add more developers to the team to share the workload