PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
A project manager is using a servant leadership approach. During a sprint, the team is struggling to complete their tasks due to unclear requirements. What should the project manager do?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse servant leadership with hands-on management, leading them to choose option B (taking over the task) or option C (coaching as a delayed fix), rather than recognizing that the immediate, collaborative removal of impediments is the core duty of a servant leader.
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
✓
Work with the product owner to clarify the requirements and provide the team with the necessary information
A servant leader removes impediments for the team. By working with the product owner to clarify the requirements, the project manager directly addresses the root cause of the team's struggle—unclear requirements—without taking over the work or delaying resolution. This aligns with the agile principle of empowering the team while ensuring they have the necessary information to complete their tasks.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Work with the product owner to clarify the requirements and provide the team with the necessary information
Why this is correct
Removing obstacles is a key servant leadership behavior.
- ✗
Take over the task of clarifying requirements and update the user stories yourself
Why it's wrong here
This undermines the product owner's role.
- ✗
Coach the team to ask better questions during sprint planning
Why it's wrong here
While helpful, this does not address the immediate obstacle.
- ✗
Wait until the sprint retrospective to discuss the issue
Why it's wrong here
Delaying action does not help the team now.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PMP 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 PMP exam.