The correct response is to explain the risks of skipping testing and suggest alternatives like automated testing or risk-based testing. This is correct because the project manager has a fiduciary duty to protect the project from unnecessary risk, and skipping testing entirely—even with a highly skilled team—violates the agile principle of inspect and adapt while ignoring the statistical certainty of defects in complex code. On the PMP exam, this scenario tests your ability to balance stakeholder pressure with quality governance in a hybrid environment, often appearing as a trap where the sponsor’s assurance of team skill seems reasonable but undermines risk management. A common memory tip is to recall that in agile, “testing is not a phase, it’s a practice”—so never eliminate it, only optimize it.
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 is managing a hybrid project with both fixed-price and agile components. The sponsor asks the project manager to skip the testing phase for the agile portion to save time, assuring that the team is highly skilled and can deliver quality code without testing. 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
✓
Explain the risks of skipping testing and suggest alternatives such as automated testing or risk-based testing
Option A is correct because the project manager has a fiduciary duty to protect the project from unnecessary risk. Skipping testing entirely, even with a highly skilled team, violates the principle of 'inspect and adapt' in agile and ignores the statistical certainty of defects in complex code. Suggesting automated testing or risk-based testing provides a pragmatic compromise that reduces time while maintaining quality assurance, aligning with the hybrid project's need for both speed and governance.
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.
✓
Explain the risks of skipping testing and suggest alternatives such as automated testing or risk-based testing
Why this is correct
The PM should advocate for quality while proposing efficient alternatives.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Add a buffer in the schedule to compensate for potential rework from skipped testing
Why it's wrong here
This is a reactive approach; it does not address the sponsor's request and may not be effective.
✗
Escalate the issue to the PMO for guidance
Why it's wrong here
Escalation may be considered, but first the PM should discuss with the sponsor directly.
✗
Comply with the sponsor's request to save time and maintain a good relationship
Why it's wrong here
Complying with a request that compromises quality is unethical and could increase project risk.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may assume a highly skilled team can skip testing, but the PMP exam tests the principle that quality is non-negotiable and must be built into the process, not inspected in later.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In a hybrid project, the agile portion relies on continuous integration and testing to maintain velocity; skipping testing introduces 'technical debt' that compounds over sprints, often requiring more time to fix later than the original testing would have taken. Automated testing, such as unit tests and regression suites, can run in minutes and catch defects early, while risk-based testing prioritizes critical paths and high-impact features. Real-world examples show that even top-tier teams (e.g., at NASA or Google) use rigorous testing because human error is inevitable in complex systems.
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: Explain the risks of skipping testing and suggest alternatives such as automated testing or risk-based testing — Option A is correct because the project manager has a fiduciary duty to protect the project from unnecessary risk. Skipping testing entirely, even with a highly skilled team, violates the principle of 'inspect and adapt' in agile and ignores the statistical certainty of defects in complex code. Suggesting automated testing or risk-based testing provides a pragmatic compromise that reduces time while maintaining quality assurance, aligning with the hybrid project's need for both speed and governance.
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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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.
Question Discussion
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