PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
During a hybrid project, the project sponsor asks you to skip the testing phase in the next release to save time and meet an aggressive market deadline. The team is concerned about quality risks. What should you do FIRST?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often choose escalation (Option C) or refusal (Option D) because they assume the sponsor's request is unethical or must be overruled, but the PMP exam emphasizes proactive stakeholder communication and negotiation as the first step, not avoidance or confrontation.
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
✓
Discuss the risks of skipping testing with the sponsor and propose a compromise, such as risk-based testing
As a project manager, your first responsibility is to address the sponsor's request directly by communicating the quality risks and negotiating a balanced solution. Risk-based testing allows you to prioritize critical test cases, reducing overall testing time while still mitigating the highest-priority quality risks, which aligns with the hybrid project's need for both agility and governance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Discuss the risks of skipping testing with the sponsor and propose a compromise, such as risk-based testing
Why this is correct
This is the correct approach as it demonstrates proactive risk management and effective stakeholder engagement. The project manager's role is to clearly articulate the potential negative impacts (risks) of skipping testing, providing data-driven insights to the sponsor. By proposing a compromise like risk-based testing, the PM shows flexibility and a commitment to balancing project constraints, ensuring critical areas are still validated while addressing schedule pressures collaboratively.
- ✗
Tell the team to add extra testing in the next sprint to compensate
Why it's wrong here
This option is incorrect because unilaterally telling the team to add extra testing without the sponsor's approval constitutes unauthorized scope creep or "gold-plating." Such an action bypasses formal change control processes and could lead to unapproved resource expenditure, schedule delays, or budget overruns. It also fails to directly address the sponsor's immediate request to skip testing, instead creating new, unapproved work.
- ✗
Escalate the issue to the PMO or steering committee for a decision
Why it's wrong here
Escalating the issue to the PMO or steering committee at this stage is premature and bypasses the direct relationship with the project sponsor. PMP best practices dictate that issues should first be attempted to be resolved at the lowest possible level, directly engaging the involved stakeholders. Escalation is a valid strategy, but it should be reserved for situations where direct communication and negotiation with the primary stakeholder have failed or if the issue exceeds the project manager's authority.
- ✗
Refuse the sponsor's request and insist on following the original plan
Why it's wrong here
Directly refusing the sponsor's request without discussion demonstrates inflexibility and a lack of collaborative problem-solving, which is essential in dynamic project environments. While adhering to the original plan is important, a project manager must also manage stakeholder expectations and be open to re-evaluating approaches based on new information or priorities. A better approach involves discussing the implications and seeking a collaborative path forward, rather than outright rejection.
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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.