- A
Facilitate a team retrospective where members can discuss collaboration norms and decision-making processes
The team can collectively agree on how to ensure everyone's voice is heard.
- B
Ignore the behavior as long as the team is still delivering
Why wrong: Ignoring it will likely worsen disengagement and velocity.
- C
Reassign tasks to ensure equal participation by controlling the workload
Why wrong: This undermines self-organization and may cause resentment.
- D
Speak privately with the dominating team member and ask them to step back
Why wrong: This addresses symptoms but not the underlying team dynamics.
Question 677 of 892
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.
Your agile team has been self-organizing, but recently a team member with strong technical skills has been dominating discussions and decisions, causing others to feel disengaged. The sprint velocity is starting to drop. What is the BEST approach to address this?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"best"Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
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
✓
Facilitate a team retrospective where members can discuss collaboration norms and decision-making processes
The correct answer is A because the agile framework emphasizes self-organization and team ownership. Facilitating a retrospective directly addresses the root cause—disengagement due to dominance—by enabling the team to collaboratively redefine collaboration norms and decision-making processes, which restores psychological safety and can reverse the velocity drop without imposing external control.
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.
- ✓
Facilitate a team retrospective where members can discuss collaboration norms and decision-making processes
Why this is correct
The team can collectively agree on how to ensure everyone's voice is heard.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Ignore the behavior as long as the team is still delivering
Why it's wrong here
Ignoring it will likely worsen disengagement and velocity.
- ✗
Reassign tasks to ensure equal participation by controlling the workload
Why it's wrong here
This undermines self-organization and may cause resentment.
- ✗
Speak privately with the dominating team member and ask them to step back
Why it's wrong here
This addresses symptoms but not the underlying team dynamics.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often choose a direct, managerial fix (like speaking privately with the dominant member) because it feels efficient, but the PMP exam tests the agile principle that the team, not the manager, owns its process and norms.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In agile frameworks like Scrum, the retrospective is a time-boxed event (typically 1.5 hours for a 2-week sprint) where the team inspects its processes and creates a plan for improvements. The Scrum Master acts as a facilitator, not a commander, ensuring all voices are heard. A real-world scenario might involve a senior developer dominating pair programming sessions; the retrospective allows the team to agree on a 'round-robin' decision-making rule or a 'talking token' to balance participation, directly impacting sprint velocity by re-engaging all members.
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.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
- →
People — Leading Projects — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PMP question test?
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: Facilitate a team retrospective where members can discuss collaboration norms and decision-making processes — The correct answer is A because the agile framework emphasizes self-organization and team ownership. Facilitating a retrospective directly addresses the root cause—disengagement due to dominance—by enabling the team to collaboratively redefine collaboration norms and decision-making processes, which restores psychological safety and can reverse the velocity drop without imposing external control.
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: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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.
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