CAPM Practice Question: Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts
A project team is working on a software development project. The project manager notices that the team is spending too much time on unplanned work, resulting in delays to the critical path. What technique should the project manager use to reduce unplanned work and improve focus?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse schedule compression techniques (crashing, fast tracking) with schedule protection techniques, failing to recognize that unplanned work requires a buffer-based approach like CCPM rather than simply accelerating planned activities.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Implement critical chain project management.
Critical chain project management (CCPM) is specifically designed to protect the critical path from disruptions like unplanned work by inserting buffers (e.g., feeding buffers, project buffer) and enforcing a 'relay race' work ethic. This technique reduces multitasking and focuses the team on completing tasks in priority order, directly addressing the root cause of delays from unplanned work.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Apply crashing to the critical path activities.
Why it's wrong here
Crashing adds resources to critical-path activities to shorten their duration; it does not address unplanned work, so delays persist. It is tempting because crashing genuinely compresses a schedule when the critical path is too long for a fixed deadline. Here the requirement is reducing interruptions, which only a focus-protecting technique such as limiting work in progress achieves.
- ✗
Perform resource leveling to smooth resource usage.
Why it's wrong here
Resource levelling resolves overallocation by delaying tasks, which can extend the schedule rather than reduce unplanned work. It is tempting because it addresses resource contention, and would be correct when demand exceeds supply across a fixed deadline. Here the issue is scope creep, so a change control process or Kanban WIP limits is needed.
- ✗
Use fast tracking to overlap activities.
Why it's wrong here
Fast tracking runs critical-path activities in parallel, increasing rework risk without addressing the unplanned work causing the delay. It is correct when sequential activities can safely overlap to shorten duration, not when the team's capacity is being consumed by interruptions.
- ✓
Implement critical chain project management.
Why this is correct
Critical chain project management buffers tasks and removes multitasking, directly reducing unplanned work that delays the critical path. It satisfies the stem's constraint by protecting the schedule through resource-levelled buffers rather than padding individual task estimates.
About these practice questions
One of 451 original CAPM practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CAPM practice question is part of Courseiva's free PMI certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CAPM exam.