PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
You are managing a project using a hybrid approach. The team has a mix of senior and junior members. A senior developer is consistently dominating pair programming sessions, leaving the junior developer passive. The junior's performance is declining. What is the BEST action?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often choose to reassign or swap team members (options B or D) as a quick fix, failing to recognize that coaching the senior developer is the most effective long-term solution for team development and conflict resolution.
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
✓
Coach the senior developer on effective mentoring techniques and the importance of allowing the junior to contribute
The root cause is the senior developer's behavior, not the junior's ability. Coaching the senior on effective mentoring techniques addresses the imbalance directly, fostering a collaborative environment where the junior can actively participate and learn. This aligns with the PMP's focus on servant leadership and team development in a hybrid approach, where pair programming relies on balanced contribution for knowledge transfer and code quality.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Ask the junior developer to speak up more during pairing
Why it's wrong here
This approach inappropriately shifts the responsibility for effective communication and knowledge transfer onto the less experienced team member. It fails to address the root cause, which is the senior developer's potentially dominant behavior or lack of mentoring skills, and may exacerbate the junior's discomfort rather than fostering a collaborative learning environment. A project manager's role is to facilitate, not merely delegate the problem to the subordinate.
- ✗
Reassign the junior developer to work independently on simpler tasks
Why it's wrong here
Reassigning the junior developer to independent tasks, while potentially ensuring task completion, completely bypasses the critical developmental opportunity inherent in pairing. This action neglects the project manager's responsibility to foster team growth and capability building, effectively isolating the junior and failing to resolve the underlying issue of ineffective mentoring within the team. It is a short-term workaround that undermines long-term team development.
- ✓
Coach the senior developer on effective mentoring techniques and the importance of allowing the junior to contribute
Why this is correct
This is the most effective solution as it directly addresses the root cause by developing the senior developer's mentoring capabilities. As a project manager, adopting a servant leadership approach involves empowering team members through coaching and skill development, which enhances overall team performance and fosters a collaborative learning culture. This intervention improves both the immediate pairing dynamic and the long-term professional growth of both developers.
- ✗
Pair the junior developer with a different senior developer
Why it's wrong here
While this might temporarily alleviate the junior developer's immediate discomfort, it is a symptomatic treatment that fails to resolve the core issue of the original senior developer's ineffective mentoring style. This approach avoids addressing a performance gap in the senior team member, potentially allowing the problematic behavior to recur with future junior developers or in other collaborative contexts. It neglects the project manager's duty to improve overall team dynamics and individual capabilities.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to the PMP Exam and Project Management Basics
Key term
Team Building
Team building is the process of creating a cohesive group of people who work together effectively toward a shared goal.
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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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.