PMP Exam Questions

For a software development project, which project life cycle/methodology lends itself best to a mutual understanding of requirements between customers/end users and the project team?

Agile

Your team is 50% done with the creation of your bank application. You have been using an adaptive methodology and have a prioritized backlog. The team wants to improve their performance on cost objectives. What is the best way to do this?

Conduct a retrospective

A project manager is uncertain about the duration of a new product development project and consults several groups of subject matter experts (SMEs). They advise that the fastest development could possibly be finished is in 8 days. However, they have also identified some risks that could make the duration up to 32 days. Realistically, using standard development methods, the project should take 14 days. The team agrees that this final estimate is the most likely to occur and should be weighted by

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When working as a project manager there are many things around you that can impact the project's ability to be successful, including the corporate culture, infrastructure, marketplace conditions, the number and type of resources available, workplace attitudes, etc. These are referred to as which of the following?

Enterprise environmental factors

What is the ideal size of an effective agile team?

3-9 members

Project team members are spending a lot of time helping maintenance and operations staff with a recently commissioned project component. The project manager needs to validate that the component was signed off and ownership transferred. Which three documents should the project manager use for this decision?

Final report, project document updates, and organization process assets updates

A project was not meeting scheduled dates for some tasks, so the project manager reprioritized a number of subsequent tasks to try to get the project back on track. The reprioritization did not fix the problem and now the project manager needs to escalate the issue to project stakeholders. To escalate the issue, to which plan should the project manager refer?

A Communications Management Plan

A project is being planned in a remote area with limited access to vehicles and equipment. The project manager proposes that the company deliver all heavy equipment themselves despite the significant expense. The project manager will take full responsibility for this activity. What type of risk response is the project manager demonstrating?

Accept

Which of the following process(es) best describes why agile is ideal for planning and managing compliance?

Adaptive planning, focus on continuous improvement and flexibility

During a retrospective, your team determines the most of their impediments stem from a single stakeholder who is abusing their authority. The project lead notes this particular stakeholder has never been fond of this project and has been very vocal about it being a bad decision on the sponsor. He also states this will lead the company in the wrong strategic direction. How could this have been avoided?

After conducting an analysis, determine their engagement and build a relationship with the stakeholder to get their buy-in.

Cost of Quality is defined as?

All costs over the life of the project associated with quality and divided into two categories, conformance and nonconformance

You are an agile coach in an organization that is starting to implement agile. What can be done to ease the transition to agile while beginning to satisfy certain aspects of the organization's current project management governance model?

Alter your project reporting to fit governance expectations

A project manager needs to ensure that all data security requirements are covered during a data warehouse development project's execution stage. Each of the databases created during different project phases will have a specific data security policy to comply with governmental data security laws. How should the project manager plan to meet these requirements?

Arrange for the review of the data security status on a quarterly basis, and recommend remedial steps if noncompliance is found.

Your company's Human Resources department wants to create a new web front end to its benefits system to enable all employees to register for health insurance and other benefits for the upcoming new calendar year. Since the technology is fairly new to the company and time is short, management wants to run the project in an agile fashion, since running it in a predictive fashion will take too long and will miss the registration deadline by several weeks. As the assigned project manager, you are familiar with agile but most of your team is not. Management wants the project completed in 3 weeks, and you have 6 weeks between now and the project deadline. What should you do next?

Arrange for formal agile training for all team members

You have just been informed that you have been selected as the new project manager for the XYZ Widget project, which is on a very tight schedule. You recall that previous projects for this customer did not go as smoothly as planned with respect to both the budget and schedule so there is a lot of pressure to meet expectations on this new project. Which of the following should you do first?

Ask for a copy of the project charter so you can review who the major stakeholders are, what the high level budget, schedule and requirements are and verify your authority as the project manager

A project manager is working on a software development project. Two customers are repeatedly submitting new feature requests. The completed scope definition for the product's next version release has already been provided to stakeholders. What should the project manager do next?

Assess the scope management plan and iterate it through the scope definition process.

Which of the following is not included in configuration management?

Automatic change request approvals

Which of the following activities would not take place during the close of an agile project?

Backlog grooming & Create open issue and risk report

A major problem with your organizational structure is that when the project is finished, the team often has no other work to do and must be let go. Your talking to a friend about joining their company, and really like the sound to the collaboration between their project and functional managers. What types of organization structure does this refer to?

Balanced Matrix and Project-Oriented

A company has a goal of increasing customer satisfaction within 4 months. A project is initiated to meet this goal. The project manager needs to identify best practices. What should the project manager utilize to accomplish this?

Benchmarking

You are in the planning stages of a project to build a shopping mall in a small community in a nearby town. You have used bottom-up estimating to determine costs for each activity and have created a cost baseline. Which of the following statements is true?

Bottom-up estimating is the most labor intensive and is more accurate than parametric estimating

During a project that is 75% complete you realize team members are starting to become complacent with the collection of information and timeliness of reports. The burndown chart shows that you will most likely be a few story points shy of finishing all 86 as projected. How should you proceed?

Conduct a review of the team charter with the team and verify the integrity of the data

A project has the following need: 900 resource hours must be outsourced. Because of internal policies, all providers must comprehend the requirements. Which action should the project manager take to ensure this?

Conduct bidder conference with the providers.

A client's employee asks the project manager for an additional, new product feature during a status meeting. To what document should the project manager first refer to find out who has the authority to approve this request?

Change management plan

Which of the following are leadership tools an agile coach would utilize to improve team performance?

Coaching

A project manager is faced with two team members who have a conflicting view of how the work on the project should be done. The project manager sits down with the two team members and calmly discusses the options and benefits of each method. At the end of the meeting, they come up with a solution that both agree to. This is an example of what?

Collaborating

While completing your schedule model maintenance a team member informs you a stakeholder from another department has stopped sending updates, showing up to meetings, and has begun speaking negatively about the project openly. Based on the stakeholder's position and responsibilities, it is beginning to take a heavy toll on the project. What could the project manager have done to prevent this?

Conducted a stakeholder analysis and monitored stakeholder engagement more closely

A project is in the execution stage. Three necessary changes are brought to the attention of the team. The team members all have differing opinions regarding how to implement the changes. What should the project manager do?

Confirm that all team members and stakeholder understand and follow the change management plan

During user testing, a client agrees to the final product. One day later the client indicates that the final product may not be acceptable. What should be the first step taken by the project manager for resolving this issue?

Consult the project's acceptance criteria

You are leading a project to create a degree plan for a regionally accredited university. The new degree is highly specialized and requires the approval of curriculum by governing body of electrical engineers. The program already has students enrolled, but they will not start until the fall which is three months away. If the program fails to meet the standards mandated by the Society of Electrical Engineers it would be public relations nightmare. What should the project manager do to ensure all

Create a tailored quality management process to any specific quality standards and regulatory constraints

Which of the following is not considered a servant leader responsibility?

Creating the project development approach and processes

According to agile principle # 4, how often should business people and agile teams work together?

Daily

You have just been identified as the project manager for a new project within your organization. You have a team with varying experiences and is also riddled with conflict. As the project manager, how should you proceed?

Determine the best approach and have the team create a team charter

You work for Dream Homes Construction as a project manager and the company has just been awarded a contract to work on a $1.4 million home. After planning is complete the sponsor tells you she wants a profit of $250k from this project. You conduct a quick review of the budget and note this is achievable, but the budget will be tight. What mechanisms could you put in place to measure cost performance?

Earned Value Analysis

As with predictive project teams, agile teams may work in a collocated or geographically distributed fashion. Which of the following least helps a virtual team work effectively?

Elimination of chairs in daily standup conference areas

Which of the following skills will best help agile team members adapt and respond well to changes in product direction and technical changes?

Emotional intelligence

A product passes 96% percent of the functional requirements defined in the scope. A customer is unwilling to accept the product since it did not pass 100%. A project manager is assessing what could have been done differently to avoid this. What should the project manager have done?

Ensured that the quality metrics were defined

When building an agile team, which concept should be least considered?

Ensure a strong project manager is assigned for decisions and coordination

A previously identified technical issue has been resolved and the project is moving forward. The project manager has been warned that the same issue will probably arise on similar projects in the future. What should be done first when responding to this warning?

Ensure that the issue log is updated

You are collecting requirements from all stakeholders during a planning meeting when stakeholders start having conflicting requirements. During the meeting tensions began to rise and people become disruptive to the meeting. The project manager decided to end the meeting earlier than scheduled to maintain relationships. The meeting was rescheduled for the next business day. What is the best way to proceed?

Establish ground rules, then use an affinity diagram to collect requirements followed by discrete voting applications

A project is completed, but the project manager and project team members are being asked to do the following: Troubleshoot and resolve technical issues, evaluate new requirements, make minor adjustments. The project manager needs to ensure that the product developed by the project now has operational support. What should the project manager do?

Execute the project hand-off

You are a project manager of a project close to completing the delivery of the final product when an important stakeholder contacts you about a requirement that seems to be missing from the project scope. You schedule a meeting with them to discuss the specifics of the requirement and the possible options for handling it. During the meeting, the conversation becomes somewhat heated when the stakeholder demands to know when the requirement will be completed. What is the ideal way to handle this situation?

Explain that any details on whether the requirement is approved or night be completed would be made by the Change Control Board (CCB) and assist them in completing a change request

Your organization recently decided to change from a predictive methodology to agile. During a budget meeting, a colleague does not understand why we have to use this new approach and terminology. They state they will continue to use old definitions and terms to maintain clear communication. As a project manager, what should you do?

Explain the new terminology remind team members to use the new methodology and promote change

Which of the following is not an approach an agile coach would use to accelerate cultural compatibility for agile?

Terminating any one that failed to adhere to agile principles

You are managing the implementation of new accounting software at your company. Two of your stakeholders have a disagreement as to when to do the kickoff meeting. One wants to do it before planning begins and the other wants to do it at the end of planning. One stakeholder is senior to the other, however, and so she insists that it will be done at the beginning, and closes the issue. This is best described as which of the following?

Force/Direct

You are a project manager in the Information Technology department. Your company is new to agile concepts, and while most of your department is familiar with and on board with agile, most of the business units are not. Since key stakeholders will now become part of agile teams, you realize that you will need to mentor and coach them during sprints to help "sell" them on the benefits of agile to help keep them properly engaged. Which of the following would not be a typical benefit of using agile?

Greater accountability and productivity of empowered teams

A project team has set up an unofficial online communications platform to enhance communication. The project manager was not aware that this platform existed until recently, after learning that it was being used inappropriately. Which action should the project manager take?

Have the project team stop the platform, and then review the communications management plan

Which of the following best describes Level 3 conflict?

Individuals are more focused on winning that resolving the problem

A project is in the development stage. During this stage, there will be sensitive client data to handle. The compliance manager raises an issue of project non-compliance. What is the first document the project manager should review to check what current items are of concern?

Issue Log

A project is 7 months into execution. The project manager determines that the cost performance index (CPI) is .80. According to a trend analysis, the CPI has a downward trend. What is the next step that the project manager should take?

Issue a change request for cost re-baselining

What is the main purpose of the work breakdown structure (WBS) dictionary?

It contains additional information about each work breakdown structure (WBS) component

In agile, what is the most important reason to build, test, and review small increments?

It evaluates and delivers continuous benefits and value

When protecting one's own group becomes a primary focus, what level of conflict do you need to navigate through?

Level 4-Crusade

In agile, which of the following is not considered essential when negotiating agreements?

Locking in contractual positions as quickly as possible

As an agile coach, what would you not do to improve team empowerment?

Make overarching project decisions based on team input, develop a well structured system for the team to stick to and allow the team members to assign each other work items

Which of the following is not considered a servant leader's responsibility when mentoring?

Making the best decisions for the project team

You are managing a project that will move your company's data to a new state-of-the-art data center. The biggest risk your team has identified is the risk of losing important customer records data during the move. Fortunately, most of the data is also stored on paper forms. However the cost to input the records would be very high. To address this risk you create a backup of the entire customer database as of last week, and purchase an insurance policy to pay for the cost to input data for the pa

Mitigate and transfer

McClelland's Theory of Needs states that people fit into categories and are motivated by three types of needs. Managers should determine which of the 3 categories an employee fits into and manage them accordingly. Which of the following is not one of McClelland's 3 needs?

Money

Your organization specializes in making, selling, and shipping steel used to build skyscrapers in major cities across the United States. Your shipments of steel are sent monthly based on a firm fixed-price contract with economic price adjustments (EPA). The end of the fiscal year is approaching and a new contract has just been negotiated to account for EPA. You later find out new tariffs are placed against steel and the cost to manufacture and ship steel skyrocket. Your customers will most likel

Monitor enterprise environmental factors (EEFs) and develop solutions ahead of time which you can quickly execute

In which of the following team-building stages does the team begin to work together and build good working relationships?

Norming

Which of the following statements is true regarding risk management?

Project risks are uncertain events

Who is responsible for orchestrating and integrating all planning activities for an agile project?

Project team

Your team has been together for a few years and is known as a highly efficient team throughout the organization. A team member who is new to the team lacks the tacit knowledge required to create some of the features. It is late in the work day and you notice the employee struggling with some work. How should you proceed?

Offer your assistance with the creation of the feature

You are a project manager for a new medical device. Current market demand requires the new device to be capable of being used in various conditions, by differing levels of user expertise, be made available in different languages all over the world, and other external factors. Which of the following would best be utilized to analyze or identify risks for all of these factors?

PESTLE Analysis

A project has the following characteristics: It is in the planning stage; A key stakeholder will be unavailable for 2.5 weeks during the project. The project manager must decide what to do first, after learning about the key stakeholder's unavailability. What is the correct step to take?

Plan a database development specification, then occasionally check to ensure the developer aligns with the specification

One of your vendors has not completed the work required on the project and you have exhausted all other options to resolve the dispute. Which of the following is not an appropriate option?

Procurement audit

Where are requirements captured and documented in agile projects?

Product backlog

Which of the following would be most helpful in determining the total duration of your project?

Project Schedule Network Diagram

Who is responsible for approving the project management plan

Project manager, sponsor and key stakeholders

In which meeting(s) would issues be typically reviewed?

Retrospective and daily stand-ups

Which of the following will best help an agile coach ensure team success?

Removing team impediments

A retiring project manager hands over all materials to a new project manager. The project appears to be running smoothly, until the new manager learns that a critical component has failed during testing. What is the appropriate first step when responding to this issue?

Review the risk register to identify whether this risk and accompanying response strategies have been captured

Which of the following would be considered agile's highest priority?

Satisfying the customer

You are a project manager producing several identical components for an aerospace project. You are supposed to be producing 2 units per month worth $250,000 per unit. After 3 months you have only produced an average of 1.2 units per month. You use a formula to determine what the difference is between what you planned to do and what you actually got done. What is the formula you used?

Schedule Variance (SV)

You have been hired as a new project manager for the new football team for your state. You have taken over a project that is 50% complete, but you notice the work being done does not match what is written in the scope baseline. The sponsor informs you that many changes have occurred and to just roll with it. What most likely is the cause of this?

Scope creep has most likely happened due to the lack of formal change control procedures

Which of the following project life cycle methods is most suitable for delivering business value in the shortest timeframe?

Scrum

A project that is nearing completion has the following characteristics: It is very large, it contains functional groups in five different countries, closeout documents are being prepared, the project manager needs to gain acceptance of the project deliverables. What should the project manager do?

Seek sign off from the project sponsor

There are three deliverables in the project manager's IT transformation project: Deliverable 2 has strictly scheduled milestones, with no expected variation in the timeline. The project manager expects that Deliverable 3 will see quickly changing requirements during development. Which lifecycle model should be used to meet the project's requirements?

Select a hybrid project model, where Deliverable 2 is positioned as a single waterfall phase embedded in an overall agile project.

You are called to a bidder conference to bid on part of a telecommunications project. Your job as project manager will be to manage the hardware installation piece of the project. At the conference, you see a former colleague that is bidding on the wiring part of the job. You know that the integration between the wiring and the hardware can be a bit tricky and all firms competing for these two pieces of work will have to pad their bids due to the increased risk. You decide to work with your former colleague and submit one combined bid that is lower than others. This is an example of what type of risk response strategy?

Sharing

On your project, a deliverable was recently created but had to be reworked due to a defect. You traced the root cause to an employee who was operating off an old version of the project management plan. As a project manager, how should you proceed?

Show the employee where to find the most up-to-date copy of the plan and verify they are receiving updates

When negotiating contracts with customers involving agile projects, a collaborative approach is recommended, since it emphasizes win-win between the buyer and seller vs. win-lose arrangements. Which of the following is not a characteristic of a collaborative approach?

Single document contract

Today you sign into your teams platform to get up to speed on what the Asia-Pacific team has been up to since you signed off last night to enjoy an evening with the family. As you are scrolling through the conversation string you notice that a few comments came up that seem like one of your team members has taken offense to one of the comments left by one of the North American team members from yesterday. Which of Maslow's hierarchy of needs involves the need for friends, family and affiliation?

Social, Safety

When an organization is considering which project life cycle methodology is appropriate to use for a given project, a suitability filter spider web diagram or model is useful. Which of the following factors is not considered when using this type of model?

Sponsorship

Agile is built upon communications, including feedback loops. Which of the following would least be considered a feedback loop?

Sprint

During which stage of team development is it crucial for team members to work on tolerance and patience with one another?

Storming

What is the social contract that outlines group norms, ground rules, and team values?

Team charter

You are a project manager who has recently had a team member leave because of an illness. While searching for a replacement you identify a person who has been a stakeholder of the project and has the correct skills you were looking for. You decide she will be the perfect replacement for the lost team member and hire her. Your team has recently agreed on how the team will operate and lately has been requiring less external supervision. What is the next stage of development your team will enter after the new team member comes on board?

The addition of a new team member will cause the team to enter the Forming stage

Who decides what work gets done in an agile team?

The agile team as a whole, which is self-managing

Which of the following would be the team facilitator's least concern when building an agile team?

The level and amount of Agile experience AND all team members are Agile certified

During the design phase of a construction project, two team members do not agree with an estimating technique used for cost. The situation was not resolved and has escalated into a bigger problem that is beginning to impact project objectives. How could this problem have been avoided?

The project manager should have documented the problem on the issue log

Developing an accurate project schedule is an important part of the planning process. You have used the Critical Path Method to ensure that you identify the critical path within your schedule network. Which of the following statements is true?

The project schedule is often a graphical representation showing activities, start and finish dates and is used to show what has actually happened with regards to the scheduled work

Which of the following is considered the project vision?

The reason the project is being performed

A $3.2 million contract has been awarded to your company and you have been identified as the project manager. During a review of the project charter with the sponsor you both determine additional training is required. There are 12 people on your team and the finance department only has enough to fund training for half of the team. As the project manager, how should you proceed?

Train key members and have them mentor others

You have noticed that a few of your team members have personal animosity against each other, but it has not hindered their performance or affected the team. Who is responsible for addressing this problem in the first instance?

The team members in question

Your company is fairly new to agile. You've just been assigned to an agile project that will likely consist of multiple 2-week sprints to deploy functionality for a new project benefit tracking system. Your team has been trained, but most of the key stakeholders have never heard of agile, much less participated in an agile project. Which of the following would be least helpful in this situation?

Update the stakeholder register to indicate which stakeholders have agile experience

A project has the following characteristics: -A quality management plan is in place. -The quality management plan states that project deliverables must be reviewed, at a minimum, 1.5 weeks before the deadline. -Four deliverables have missed this quality requirement. What is an appropriate step for the project manager to take?

Use a cause-and-effect diagram for root cause analysis.

After a project delay, the project manager determines that a change is needed to the product deliverables in order to ensure quality. The project manager takes the following steps: 1. A formal change request is issued. 2. The project manager communicates the change to all stakeholders. 3. The project manager receives feedback that the communications approach did not meet stakeholder expectations. What should the project manager do next?

Use the communications management and stakeholder engagement plans

A project manager is creating an agenda and presentation materials for a kick-off meeting that will involve stakeholders across multiple geographic regions who will be working on a global project. Which of the following would be the MOST important step for the project manager to ensure that the stakeholders are engaged?

Verify that all required participants or their delegates will be available to attend

During your last vacation you had some time to read up on some of the new and emerging management practices. You have realized that your team does a wide array of projects and there could be a few options to pick from when it comes to getting your best results, so you decide to call a meeting with the team. As everyone is coming together you strike up the conversation and realize that a bulk of your projects have a fixed scope which rarely changes and you deliver everything at the end of the project. One of your team members brings up an exception to that norm and feels that you should have gone with an agile approach on that particular project. According to the Continuum of Life Cycles, when is the agile methodology best suited?

When the frequency of delivery is high and degree of change is high

You are the project manager for a large pharmaceutical company that recently partnered with another organization that reduces packaging costs for your organization under the auspice of a cost-reimbursable contract. After a risk workshop meeting, you find out two team members do not agree on a proposed solution for a risk to cost. You decide to let them come to a resolution on their own, but you document it on the issue log. What conflict management technique did you implement?

Withdraw/Avoid