PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
Your project is in the execution phase when a new government regulation is announced that could affect your project's compliance requirements. The regulation is not yet in effect but will be before project completion. What should you do FIRST?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates choose Option D, thinking that since the regulation is not yet in effect, it can be ignored until later, but the PMP exam emphasizes proactive risk management and compliance with future requirements that affect the project's deliverables.
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
✓
Analyze the regulation's impact on the project and initiate a change request if needed
The PMBOK Guide requires that when a new regulation is announced, the project manager must first analyze its impact on the project's compliance requirements. Since the regulation will be in effect before project completion, proactive assessment is needed to determine if a change request is necessary to align the project with future legal obligations. This follows the 'plan-do-check-act' cycle and ensures the project remains compliant without unnecessary disruption.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Analyze the regulation's impact on the project and initiate a change request if needed
Why this is correct
A new government regulation represents a potential risk or opportunity that requires immediate assessment within the project context. Project managers must proactively analyze its potential impact on all project constraints, including scope, schedule, cost, quality, and resources. If this analysis reveals a deviation from the project management plan or baselines, a formal change request must be initiated through the Integrated Change Control process to ensure all necessary adjustments are documented, approved, and communicated to stakeholders. This approach ensures controlled adaptation and minimizes uncontrolled project drift.
- ✗
Inform the team to assume compliance and adjust their work accordingly
Why it's wrong here
Instructing the team to assume compliance without a thorough impact analysis is a significant deviation from sound project management principles. Such an approach bypasses the formal risk management and change control processes, potentially leading to unvalidated assumptions, misinterpretations of the regulation, and unapproved scope changes. This lack of structured assessment significantly increases the likelihood of costly rework, schedule delays, and non-compliance issues later in the project lifecycle, undermining project success.
- ✗
Stop all project work until the regulation is clarified
Why it's wrong here
Halting all project work is an extreme and often unnecessary measure that can severely impact the project's schedule and budget, leading to significant delays and cost overruns. Unless the regulation's immediate and critical impact is demonstrably pervasive and unmanageable without clarification, a complete stop is disproportionate and an overreaction. A more prudent approach involves targeted analysis and, if necessary, pausing only the specific activities directly affected, while allowing unaffected work to continue to preserve momentum and resources.
- ✗
Continue the project as planned since the regulation is not yet in effect
Why it's wrong here
Continuing the project as planned, despite awareness of an impending regulation, demonstrates a reactive and non-proactive approach to project management. While the regulation may not be immediately effective, ignoring a known future requirement is a significant oversight that creates a substantial future risk of non-compliance. This negligence will likely necessitate more extensive and costly changes later in the project, potentially requiring rework or even project failure once the regulation becomes enforceable, which is inefficient and irresponsible.
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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.