PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
You are managing a distributed team with members in different time zones. A team member complains that they feel isolated and uninformed about project decisions. What should you do FIRST to address this?
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
✓
Implement daily stand-up meetings and use a collaboration platform to share updates
It addresses the root cause of isolation and lack of information by establishing regular communication (daily stand-ups) and a shared collaboration platform. Option A is insufficient because weekly emails are too infrequent and passive. Option C unfairly shifts responsibility to the team member rather than improving team processes. Option D provides individual support but does not solve the systemic communication issue for the entire distributed team.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Send weekly email summaries of decisions
Why it's wrong here
Sending weekly email summaries of decisions is insufficient for managing a distributed team's dynamic information needs. This asynchronous method lacks the immediacy required for real-time problem-solving and decision-making, potentially leading to delays and misalignments. It fails to foster the interactive environment crucial for maintaining engagement and ensuring all team members are consistently informed about evolving project statuses and urgent issues.
- ✓
Implement daily stand-up meetings and use a collaboration platform to share updates
Why this is correct
Implementing daily stand-up meetings provides a crucial synchronous channel for frequent updates, fostering immediate issue identification and team cohesion across different locations. Supplementing this with a collaboration platform ensures persistent asynchronous communication, centralized document sharing, and transparent information access for all team members. This dual approach effectively addresses both real-time interaction and ongoing information management challenges inherent in distributed team environments, promoting inclusion and efficiency.
- ✗
Advise the team member to be more proactive in seeking information
Why it's wrong here
Advising a team member to be more proactive in seeking information is a reactive and ineffective management strategy that shifts the burden of communication failure onto the individual. Effective project management necessitates establishing robust, systemic communication channels and processes to ensure information flows efficiently to all stakeholders. Relying on individual initiative to overcome systemic deficiencies can lead to frustration, decreased morale, and continued communication gaps within the team.
- ✗
Assign the team member to a local mentor
Why it's wrong here
Assigning a local mentor, while potentially beneficial for individual support and onboarding, does not address the systemic communication challenges inherent in managing a distributed team. This solution provides localized assistance rather than establishing comprehensive communication protocols and tools for the entire team. It fails to ensure consistent information flow, transparency, and equitable access to project updates for all remote members, leaving the broader communication infrastructure unaddressed.
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JA
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.