The correct first step is to schedule individual meetings to discuss workload and well-being. This approach is grounded in the PMP’s principle of servant leadership, which prioritizes understanding team members’ personal challenges before implementing process changes. When team burnout and declining velocity are suspected but not surfaced in retrospectives, direct one-on-one conversations are the most effective way to gather honest, specific data on overwork and stress. On the PMP exam, this scenario tests your ability to distinguish between proactive people management and reactive process fixes—a common trap is jumping to adjust sprint capacity or deadlines without first diagnosing the human root cause. Remember the memory tip: “One-on-ones before process bones”—always address individual well-being before tweaking workflows, as the exam rewards empathetic, data-gathering leadership over hasty adjustments.
PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
This PMP practice question tests your understanding of people — leading projects. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A project manager notices that the team's velocity has decreased over the last two sprints. Retrospectives have not identified clear causes. The project manager suspects that team members are overworked and possibly experiencing burnout. What should the project manager do first?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "first"
Why it matters: Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Schedule individual meetings to discuss workload and well-being.
Option A is correct because the first step when suspecting burnout is to engage directly with team members to understand their individual workloads and well-being. This aligns with the PMP's emphasis on servant leadership and proactive people management, as it addresses the root cause before taking further action. Individual meetings allow the project manager to gather specific data on overwork, which retrospectives failed to surface, enabling a targeted response.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
Schedule individual meetings to discuss workload and well-being.
Why this is correct
Directly addresses potential burnout and gathers qualitative data.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Continue monitoring; the velocity may recover naturally.
Why it's wrong here
Delaying action could lead to further decline and turnover.
✗
Reduce the project scope to lower pressure.
Why it's wrong here
Scope reduction should be based on data, not assumptions.
✗
Add more team members to distribute the workload.
Why it's wrong here
New members require onboarding and may not alleviate burnout quickly.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may choose to reduce scope (Option C) or add resources (Option D) as immediate fixes, confusing symptom management with root cause analysis, whereas the PMP exam prioritizes direct stakeholder engagement and servant leadership first.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Burnout is a psychosocial hazard recognized in project management frameworks like the PMBOK Guide's resource management knowledge area. The project manager should use empathetic listening techniques (e.g., active listening, open-ended questions) during individual meetings to uncover hidden stressors such as unrealistic deadlines, lack of autonomy, or insufficient support. This approach mirrors the 'inspect and adapt' cycle from Agile, applied at the individual level rather than team level.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A small business has 20 workstations on the 192.168.1.0/24 network and one public IP from its ISP. The router uses PAT (NAT overload) so all 20 devices share one public address using different source ports. NAT questions test whether you understand the four address terms and which direction each translation applies.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this PMP question in full detail.
People — Leading Projects — This question tests People — Leading Projects — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Schedule individual meetings to discuss workload and well-being. — Option A is correct because the first step when suspecting burnout is to engage directly with team members to understand their individual workloads and well-being. This aligns with the PMP's emphasis on servant leadership and proactive people management, as it addresses the root cause before taking further action. Individual meetings allow the project manager to gather specific data on overwork, which retrospectives failed to surface, enabling a targeted response.
What should I do if I get this PMP question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "first". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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