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.
Your agile team has been experiencing declining velocity over the last three sprints. Retrospectives have not identified a clear cause. Several team members mention feeling fatigued and demotivated. As the project manager, what should you do first?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "first"
Why it matters: Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Schedule individual one-on-one meetings with team members to understand their concerns and identify obstacles
Option C is correct because the first step when facing declining velocity and team demotivation is to engage directly with team members through one-on-one meetings to uncover root causes. This aligns with the PMP's servant leadership approach, where understanding individual concerns and removing obstacles is prioritized before any process or resource changes. The retrospective has already failed to identify the cause, so deeper, private conversations are needed to surface issues like burnout, interpersonal conflicts, or unclear requirements.
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.
✗
Add more team members to the project to distribute the workload
Why it's wrong here
Adding people may not address the root cause and can introduce onboarding overhead.
✗
Escalate the velocity drop to the steering committee and ask for guidance
Why it's wrong here
The PM should first investigate and address issues directly before escalating.
✓
Schedule individual one-on-one meetings with team members to understand their concerns and identify obstacles
Why this is correct
Listening to team members and removing impediments is a key servant leadership practice.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Set stricter deadlines and increase velocity targets to motivate the team
Why it's wrong here
This can increase stress and further reduce morale and productivity.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may choose Option B (escalation) because they mistake a team morale issue for a project performance metric that requires higher-level intervention, or Option A (adding resources) because they default to a traditional resource-constrained mindset, both of which violate the agile principle of self-organizing teams and servant leadership.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In agile frameworks like Scrum, the project manager (or Scrum Master) acts as a servant leader whose primary duty is to remove impediments. One-on-one meetings are a key tool for uncovering 'hidden' impediments—such as personal stress, skill gaps, or team dynamics—that are not shared in group retrospectives due to psychological safety concerns. This approach is supported by the PMI Talent Triangle's emphasis on 'Leading Teams' and the Agile Manifesto's principle of 'Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.'
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 security administrator must allow nursing staff to reach a patient records server while blocking access from the guest Wi-Fi VLAN. After applying an extended ACL, traffic is still blocked from nursing workstations. The ACL was applied outbound instead of inbound on the wrong interface. Questions like this test ACL direction and placement rules.
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: Schedule individual one-on-one meetings with team members to understand their concerns and identify obstacles — Option C is correct because the first step when facing declining velocity and team demotivation is to engage directly with team members through one-on-one meetings to uncover root causes. This aligns with the PMP's servant leadership approach, where understanding individual concerns and removing obstacles is prioritized before any process or resource changes. The retrospective has already failed to identify the cause, so deeper, private conversations are needed to surface issues like burnout, interpersonal conflicts, or unclear requirements.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "first". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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