This PMP practice question tests your understanding of people — leading projects. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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.
During a sprint retrospective, the team expresses frustration that they are frequently interrupted by unplanned work from other departments. The project manager wants to improve team focus. What should the project manager do?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Meet with other department managers to negotiate dedicated team time and establish a process for handling requests
Option D is correct because it addresses the root cause of the team's frustration by negotiating dedicated team time with other departments and establishing a formal process for handling unplanned work requests. This aligns with the servant leadership approach in the People domain, where the project manager acts as a buffer and facilitator to protect the team's focus and productivity, rather than imposing a technical fix that ignores the systemic issue.
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.
✗
Increase the sprint duration to accommodate unplanned work
Why it's wrong here
This does not address the root cause and may reduce predictability.
✗
Tell the team to ignore unplanned work requests
Why it's wrong here
This is not realistic and may cause conflicts with other departments.
✗
Add a daily stand-up to discuss unplanned work
Why it's wrong here
This adds meetings but does not remove the obstacle.
✓
Meet with other department managers to negotiate dedicated team time and establish a process for handling requests
Why this is correct
Removing obstacles is a key servant leadership behavior.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often choose Option C (adding a daily stand-up) because it sounds like a proactive communication fix, but it fails to address the root cause of unplanned work and instead adds ceremony without solving the interruption problem.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In agile frameworks like Scrum, the sprint backlog is a commitment to a set of goals, and unplanned work from external departments represents a failure in the organization's ability to manage dependencies and flow. The project manager should use techniques like a 'service-level agreement' (SLA) for cross-team requests or a 'triage board' to prioritize and batch interruptions, ensuring the team's velocity is protected while still addressing critical needs. A real-world scenario might involve a DevOps team being interrupted by ad-hoc support tickets from sales; the PM would negotiate a dedicated support rotation or a weekly 'interruption window' to minimize context switching.
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 practitioner preparing for the PMP exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
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: Meet with other department managers to negotiate dedicated team time and establish a process for handling requests — Option D is correct because it addresses the root cause of the team's frustration by negotiating dedicated team time with other departments and establishing a formal process for handling unplanned work requests. This aligns with the servant leadership approach in the People domain, where the project manager acts as a buffer and facilitator to protect the team's focus and productivity, rather than imposing a technical fix that ignores the systemic issue.
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.
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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