PMP Process — Managing Technical Aspects Practice Question
You are managing a project to develop a new mobile app. During the testing phase, the quality assurance team discovers a critical bug that could delay the release by two weeks. The product owner insists on releasing on the original date to meet a market opportunity. What should you do?
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
✓
Present the impact of the bug to the product owner and recommend either fixing it or accepting the risk of releasing with the bug
It involves transparent communication with the product owner about the bug's impact and provides a choice between fixing it (which delays release) or accepting the risk. This aligns with the PM's responsibility to manage trade-offs and keep stakeholders informed. Option B is wrong because releasing on time without addressing the bug disregards the risk and could lead to customer dissatisfaction. Option C is wrong because skipping regression testing violates quality standards and increases the likelihood of further issues. Option D is wrong because unilaterally delaying the release without consulting the product owner ignores their authority and the business context.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Present the impact of the bug to the product owner and recommend either fixing it or accepting the risk of releasing with the bug
Why this is correct
As the Project Manager, your responsibility is to facilitate informed decision-making regarding project risks and scope. Presenting the bug's impact, including potential severity, likelihood, and mitigation options, empowers the product owner to make a strategic choice. This approach aligns with effective stakeholder engagement and risk management, ensuring the product owner, who owns the product vision and business value, can weigh the trade-offs between quality, schedule, and potential market impact based on their risk tolerance.
- ✗
Agree to release on time and fix the bug in the next update
Why it's wrong here
Agreeing to release with a critical bug and deferring the fix to a future update is a significant compromise of product quality and can lead to substantial technical debt. This decision risks user dissatisfaction, reputational damage, and potential financial losses if the bug causes severe issues in production. A Project Manager should prioritize delivering value and quality, not unilaterally accept a known critical defect for the sake of an arbitrary deadline without proper stakeholder consultation and risk acceptance.
- ✗
Release as planned but skip the regression testing to save time
Why it's wrong here
Skipping regression testing to save time is a detrimental practice that directly undermines quality assurance and increases project risk. Regression testing is crucial for verifying that new changes or bug fixes have not introduced unintended side effects or broken existing functionality. Bypassing this essential quality control step can lead to the release of a product with new, undetected defects, ultimately resulting in more costly rework and damage to user trust than any perceived time savings.
- ✗
Delay the release without consulting the product owner to fix the bug
Why it's wrong here
Delaying the release unilaterally, without consulting the product owner, is a breach of effective communication and stakeholder management principles. The product owner is a key stakeholder responsible for the product's vision, features, and release schedule, making them the ultimate authority on such critical decisions. A Project Manager must collaborate and present options to the product owner, allowing them to make an informed decision that balances project constraints with business objectives.
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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.