PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
You are a project manager on a software development project using a hybrid approach. Two senior developers have a strong disagreement on the technical implementation of a critical feature. They have been arguing for three days, causing the team to fall behind schedule. What should you do first?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to choose Option D (making the decision yourself) because they confuse a project manager's authority with technical leadership, forgetting that in agile/hybrid environments, the team owns technical decisions and the PM's role is to enable collaboration, not dictate solutions.
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
✓
Meet with both developers separately to understand their perspectives, then facilitate a joint discussion to find a mutually acceptable solution
As a project manager using a hybrid approach, your first responsibility is to facilitate conflict resolution among team members. Meeting individually to understand each developer's perspective, then guiding a joint discussion, empowers the team to reach a consensus and preserves team cohesion. This aligns with the PMI People domain, which emphasizes servant leadership and collaborative problem-solving before escalating or imposing decisions.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Escalate the issue to the project sponsor and ask for a decision
Why it's wrong here
This approach represents premature escalation, bypassing the project manager's primary responsibility to resolve conflicts at the lowest possible level within the team. Immediately involving the project sponsor for an operational disagreement can signal an inability to manage team dynamics effectively, potentially overburdening the sponsor with details that should be handled by the project manager. Such an action can also undermine team autonomy and the project manager's authority.
- ✗
Reassign one developer to another task to avoid further conflict
Why it's wrong here
Reassigning a developer is an avoidance technique, which merely postpones or sidesteps the conflict rather than resolving its underlying cause. While it might temporarily stop the immediate disagreement, the core issue remains unaddressed and and is likely to resurface, potentially with other team members or in different contexts. This approach can also lead to decreased team morale, resentment from the reassigned individual, and a perception that the project manager is unwilling to facilitate genuine resolution.
- ✓
Meet with both developers separately to understand their perspectives, then facilitate a joint discussion to find a mutually acceptable solution
Why this is correct
This strategy exemplifies the "Collaborate" or "Confronting" conflict resolution technique, which is highly preferred in project management. By first understanding individual viewpoints and then facilitating a joint discussion, the project manager fosters mutual understanding and encourages a "win-win" outcome. This direct, problem-solving approach not only resolves the immediate technical disagreement but also strengthens team communication, trust, and overall cohesion, leading to more robust and accepted solutions.
- ✗
Make the technical decision yourself based on your own expertise
Why it's wrong here
This action represents the "Forcing" or "Authoritative" conflict resolution technique. While it provides a quick resolution, especially in urgent situations or when the project manager possesses superior, undisputed expertise, it is generally suboptimal for complex technical disagreements among skilled professionals. Forcing a decision can demotivate team members by invalidating their input, reduce their sense of ownership, and potentially lead to a less optimal technical solution if the project manager's expertise is not truly superior to the combined team knowledge.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to the PMP Exam and Project Management Basics
Key term
Project Team Management
Project Team Management is the process of leading, coordinating, and supporting a group of people to complete project tasks and achieve project objectives.
Key term
Project Management Plan
A formal, approved document that defines how a project is executed, monitored, controlled, and closed, serving as the single source of truth for the project team.
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