PMP Wrong Questions

An agile project is running its second of six iterations. One new team member who does not have agile experience has just joined the team. In the daily meetings, the project manager observes that the team is having problems meeting their goals. What should the project manager do?

Provide feedback to the team and conduct a retrospective meeting to find a root cause

Weak Matrix Organization

-Low project manager authority -Low resource availability -Budgeted by functional manager -Part time project manager -Part time project admin staff

Strong Matrix Organization

-Moderate/High project manager authority -Moderate/High resource availability -Budgeted by project manager -Full time project manager -Full time project admin staff

Tuckman's Stages of Group Development

1. Forming 2. Storming 3. Norming 4. Performing 5. Adjourning

PMI Talent Triangle

1. Technical Project Management 2. Leadership 3. Strategic and Business Management

Decision Tree Analysis

A diagramming and calculation technique for evaluating the implications of a chain of multiple options in the presence of uncertainty.

Projectized Organization

A multi-project organization in which project managers have full authority to assign priorities and direct the work of persons assigned to their project but will be let go once the project is completed

Stakeholder Register

A project document including the identification, assessment, and classification of project stakeholders.

Monte Carlo Analysis

A project simulation approach named after the world-famous gambling district in Monaco. This predicts how scenarios may work out, given any number of variables. The process doesn't actually churn out a specific answer, but a range of possible answers. When Monte Carlo analysis is applied to a schedule, it can examine, for example, the optimistic completion date, the pessimistic completion date, and the most likely completion date for each activity in the project and then predict a mean for the project schedule.

Story Points

A relative unit of size, used for estimating, planning and tracking in an Agile project.

User Story

A small, concise statement of functionality or quality needed to deliver value to a specific stakeholder.

Power/Interest Grid

A tool used to group stakeholders based on their level of authority (power) and their level of concern (interest) for project outcomes

Which of the following best describes the purpose of a war room?

A war room is used for collocation.

There is a conflict between two members on how they complete a task. The conflict is not yet escalated to the project manager and there is no impact to the project. What should the project manager do?

Allow the project team members to find a resolution to their conflict.

Work performance information in the project such as the status of the deliverables and the completion status of various tasks is used as:

An input to the Performance reporting process & Monitoring and Controlling process group.

matrix organizational structure

An organizational structure in which employees are assigned to both functional and project managers

Provide an overview of the completed functionalities and release plan, and capture expectations for future stakeholder involvement

Analyze the level of the team's agile maturity.

You are in the process of planning a project and found that stakeholders often have varying objectives and requirements. This makes it hard to come up with a plan with which all objectives will be met. What is probably most helpful to ensure common understanding?

Ask the project stakeholders to build focus groups in order to discuss and remedy conflicting interests.

A project manager is part of a distributed team. The project team is using a product backlog, but due to an excessive workload, the backlog items are not very detailed. In the retrospective, a couple of new team members are raising the issue of knowledge transfer inside the team. What should the project manager do?

Ask the team to outline their expectations and confirm with them the approach to use for knowledge transfer.

You are a project manager for an infrastructure project. Your project team members report to you that the to-complete performance index (TCPI) is 0.9 based on the budget at completion (BAC). Which of the following is true regarding your project's current situation as reflected by this TCPI value?

The project is within budget

A project manager is facing some struggles after joining a new company; her superiors noticed that during a kick-off meeting, she had difficulty answering questions about how the project fits in with the organization's objectives. What critical skill is the project manager lacking?

Business acumen

In a project using a hybrid approach, the performance of the team was consistently excellent during the predictive stages. When the iterations began, however, the team members started to show signs of low commitment, conflicts, and confusion, resulting in low morale. What should the project manager do to handle this situation?

Coach the team members on agile processes and knowledge

You are the Project Manager of a project involving building a computer. Your team members follow what you tell them because you have the authority to provide negative feedback in their performance appraisal. This is an example of what type of power?

Coercive

A company recently used desktop research for a feasibility study, which showed that the project is behind schedule. The project team also has concerns about the impact of scope changes on the project schedule. What should the project manager do to keep the project on the schedule while still meeting project objectives?

Collaborate with the change control board CCB to review the scope and submit any change requests.

Which of the following techniques is the most effective form of conflict resolution on a project?

Collaborating

You are a project manager for an important project. The project is delayed due to the high amount of major changes requested by different stakeholders at different stages of the project. If the project continues on the same path, it will consume twice the time and budget planned. What two actions can the project manager take to be more cost-effective? (Choose two)

Conduct a stakeholder analysis and Update the project management plan with the new timeline

A project manager finished reviewing the project deliverables for the current iteration with the customer A new key stakeholder who just joined the customer's team, complains that the results do not provide the capabilities the business anticipated .What should the project manager do to address this issue?

Conduct stakeholder identification and a project objectives review session

In a global project, the project manager has to plan and manage communication between the team members and stakeholders in order to ensure the project will remain on track and achieve its goals. What should the project manager do?

Consider cultural differences among stakeholders.

The performing organization does not have a project management office (PMO) or formal governance policies procedures, and guidelines for this type of project. As a project manager what should you do first to determine a governance approach for the project?

Consult a subject matter expert (SME

An organization is transitioning to agile. The project manager is discussing how to manage risks with the development team in light of the transition for a particular project. The team estimates the risk level as low. What should the project manager do?

Create a risk register to identify, capture, review, and manage risks using a risk management process

A project manager wants to ensure sufficient stakeholder participation throughout a project's life cycle. What should the project manager include in the stakeholder engagement plan?

Desired and current stakeholder engagement levels

The project charter is an input to which process

Develop Project Management Plan; a high-level document that authorizes the project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities

The change control board just approved a change request to modify one of the major deliverables. In which process will this change be implemented?

Direct and Manage Project Work

A product owner has returned from a meeting with a few key stakeholders, who expressed interest in learning more about the project progress. The product owner is seeking the project manager's recommendation on how to approach this request. What should the project manager do to help the product owner?

Invite the product owner to future demonstrations where they can provide feedback.

As part of the Estimate Activity Durations process, the project manager facilitates a sprint planning meeting with the product owner and Scrum team. The project manager breaks down the user stories into low-level tasks, estimates the time required in hours, and determines the sprint backlog based on the team's capacity. Despite meticulous planning, the sprint fails. What might the project manager have done differently?

Empowered the team to determine how many user stories they can complete during the sprint

A project manager's customer is new to agile approaches. When the customer found out that the project was going to use an agile approach, the customer became concerned that the product quality will be sacrificed. What should the project manager do?

Ensure that the customer and the delivery team agree on the definition of done (DoD)

A team member misses a project meeting without it being approved and has been penalized as defined in the ground rules. This team member, as well as other team members, insist that it is the first time they have seen this rule regarding the project and they do not agree with the penalty What should the project manager have done to avoid this situation?

Ensured the team charter was developed by the team members

The project manager for a virtual team is struggling to track progress and productivity because the team is spread out over several time zones. What should the project manager do to enhance communication?

Establish an information-sharing portal

Context Diagram

Highest-level DFD; a summary-level view of a system, showing the data processing system, its input(s) and output(s), and their sources and destinations i.e. visual representation of how people and other systems interact with a system

You are managing a project. During the project, you noticed that the actual invoice payment received have been late and were outside of the contracted payment schedule. Recent invoices have only been partially paid by the client. As a project manager, what should you do?

Hold a meeting with the client to address the issue.

A project manager wants to ensure that the project acceptance criteria are met for all project deliverables. What should the project manager do to accomplish this?

Include project stakeholder expectations and needs while creating project acceptance criteria

What is a skill used in conjunction with situational awareness and being persuasive in expressing your pov?

Influencing

Documents involved in initiation stage of PMLC

Project Charter

A cost management plan establishes rules for planning, estimating, budgeting and controlling project costs. Which of the following are established in the cost management plan?

LEvel of Accuracy >>> Plan Cost Management is the process of defining how the project costs will be estimated, budgeted, managed, monitored, and controlled. The key benefit of this process is that it provides guidance and direction on how the project costs will be managed throughout the project.

A new team member joins an agile team. In a previous role, this team member was a subject matter expert (SME). This team member often directs the team on how to solve problems based on previous experience. What should the project manager do first?

Let the new team member know that even if they know the answer, it is better to give the team a chance to solve their own problems.

A project manager is new to the project. During one of the project status update meetings, a key stakeholder, the project manager's functional manager, is dissatisfied with the work in progress, and points to the project manager. What should the project manager do?

Listen carefully and show understanding of the growing needs of the functional manager

Joan is managing a complex commercial software development project to meet the needs of her organization. In order to resolve issues that generate during the executing phase of the project, Joan develops an issue log to assign each issue to a team member and make them responsible for its resolution. By doing so, she would like to eliminate all barriers that can prevent the team from reaching its goal. This process is known as:

Manage team process

A project manager is managing a hybrid project. During project execution, the project manager was informed that over half of the project budget was reallocated to a project that is handling an emergency that recently occurred. What should the project manager do?

Meet with the product owner to confirm the minimum viable product (MVP)

A project manager arranged a team-building activity to build and maintain teamwork, trust, and commitment due to internal team conflicts. Two months after completing the training, another situation is causing new delays in the project. What should the project manager do to address this concern?

Meet with the team to explain that conflicts must be addressed and solved.

After several brainstorming sessions with customers, Jim established various project deliverables in an IT project. Two weeks later, while reviewing the plan, Jim identifies two similar deliverables and determines to merge both of them into a single deliverable. What should Jim do next?

Merge the deliverables and inform the customer.

A project manager has been assigned to a new project. There is one team member who never says anything during meetings. After meetings, however, the team member sends detailed emails with very good suggestions that help with project execution. How should the project manager guide the team members?

Motivate the team members to speak freely in the meeting

Henry is a project manager has assigned to manage a new project. The project needs resources with specific skills from various organization departments. Henry must identify and agree on available internal human resources, and hire external experts because most organization staff are already assigned to other projects. What should henry use first to obtain resources?

Negotiation skills

Is the Stakeholder Power-Interest Grid part of the stakeholder engagement plan?

No/False

A highly skilled team resource received a job offer and is leaving the project soon. What should the project manager do to maintain project performance while a new team member is being onboarded?

Offer to cross-train and mentoring to the new team member

A new project manager has been assigned to a project that is in danger of failing. The stakeholders do not know the project status nor do they know what benefits will be delivered by the project. How can the project manager convey these benefits to the stakeholders?

Perform a project cost-benefit analysis for the stakeholders

. Your project is well underway, and the project management plan as well as subsidiary plans have been baselined and work is proceeding apace. A key project stakeholder has just approached you with a problem: a requirement was missed by the business in the requirements gathering process and they want it inserted into the project plan without having to go through the formal change request process. They would consider it a huge favour if you did so and would be willing to reciprocate at some later date. What should you do next?

Perform an impact assessment on the requested change and submit to the CCB for approval.

The project manager of an agile project has been asked to reduce the budget by 30% . Since this is a small project team, the budget is primarily allocated to resources. What strategy should the project manager use in order to keep delivering value in a restricted environment?

Prioritize the product backlog looking for high business value and low effort. and adjust the project budget and staffing to account for those items

Due to unforeseen circumstances, a contractor was unable to mobilize the project team, which was necessary to conduct face-to-face meetings and discussions. Virtual meetings were subsequently put in place, but the local project team and end-users now face a communication gap that is causing the team's low performance. What should the project manager do?

Reassess continually to remove blockers for the team

A recently appointed project manager is in constant conflict with a senior manager. Since this is not ideal for the team, the project manager wants to resolve this. What should the project manager do?

Request scheduled face-to-face meetings with the senior manager

In an agile project, the project manager finds that the team members are involved in several Different projects due to budget constraints. As a project manager, what should you do?

Request the project sponsor prioritize and if necessary, allocate additional budget so the team can work on a single project

An intern is replacing a critical resource midway through a sprint. To help the intern get up to speed, the project manager assigns a senior engineer in the team as the intern's mentor. Two months later, the project goes into critical status, delaying the release milestone by a month. What should the project manager have done to avoid this scenario?

Requested an experienced resource as a replacement

Which of the following documents links product requirements from their origin to the deliverables that satisfy them and provides a structure for managing changes to the product scope?

Requirements tractability matrix

A project manager received news that a competitor has released the latest version of a program. What should the project manager do next?

Review the project plan to evaluate if any updates should be made.

When giving rewards, all of the following are appropriate guiding principles except:

Rewards should be always based on overall team performance

A project manager is acting as a scrum master in a hybrid project and is dealing with a conflict between team members. What strategy should be used to handle this conflict?

Sort conflicts into two groups: positive and negative

Performing Stage of Group Development

Stage of group development where participants work together as a cohesive unit. Conflict may be present, but it is effectively resolved (Tuckman's model)

A company's CEO has just returned from a conference on the use of artificial intelligence Al and would like the project manager to implement this technology in the organization. What should the project manager do first?

Start a strengths. weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT

Some of your project management peers are of the opinion that leadership and project management software usage skills are some of the important skills a project manager should have. As per PMI Talent Triangle, which of the below reflects all the competencies of a project manager?

Technical project management, leadership, strategic and business management

The stakeholder analysis matrix is part of:

The Stakeholder Management Strategy - an output of identify stakeholders.

You, as a project manager, are working with your financial expert to measure the life cycle cost of room cooling equipment to understand the likelihood of success of the product in the market. The life cycle cost is a good measure to know the profitability of a product. Which of the following statements about the life cycle cost is CORRECT?

The life cycle cost is the sum of project cost, maintenance cost, and operational cost.

Which of the following project phases would result in a majority of updates to the cost, schedule, and scope baselines as a result of change requests?

The monitoring and controlling phase

A project manager wants to measure velocity as the indicator of the agile team's progress. Which of the following metrics is best for the project manager to use for this purpose?

The number of user story points completed by the team per iteration

Product Owner

The person responsible for the business value of the project and for deciding what work to do and in what order when using a Scrum method; does NOT take care of task allocation (that is the PM or the team if self allocating )

Project Sponsor

The person who provides the direction and funding for a project; should only be involved if the project manager is unable to resolve the stakeholder issue

storming stage

The stage that occurs when team members experience conflicts about interpersonal issues and differences in perspectives.

norming stage

The stage that occurs when team members uncover ways to create new standards that encourage more collaborative behavior.

True or False? A project can be closed when the objectives are no longer required.

True

Power/Influence Grid

Type of grid that groups the stakeholders based on their level of authority and their active involvement in the project

PERT Method Calculations

Uses weighted averages of activity durations to calculate project duration

The program evaluation and review technique (PERT ) method of scheduling differs from the critical path method (CPM) because the PERT method:

Uses weighted averages of activity durations to calculate project duration

Sensitivity Analysis

a special case of what-if analysis, is the study of the impact on other variables when one variable is changed repeatedly; often displayed in a Tornado diagram

A project manager is assigned to a multi-year enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution project. During planning, the business sponsor emphasizes the importance of demonstrating value along the way, while maintaining the integrity of the final product. How should the project manager establish the delivery model for this project?

allow for incremental delivery of value; Organize the project into multiple subsets based on business functions and deliver each subset as a component of the final product

Student Syndrome

always wait to the last minute to start a task

iteration planning

an event where all team members determine how much of the Team Backlog they can commit to delivering during an upcoming Iteration. The team summarizes the work as a set of committed Iteration Goals.

Communication plan

defines the how, what, when, and who regarding the flow of project information to stakeholders and is key for managing expectations

Five Phases of Project Management

initiation and defining, planning, executing, controlling, and closing

Theory X management

manager controls employees, enforces rules. Good for lower level jobs

Theory Y management

manager gives employees responsibility, looks for input. Good for high level jobs

A project team is executing a large regulatory project comprised of a multitude of internal and external stakeholders. An initial impact analysis revealed several systems, including an enhancement to existing modules as well as new builds. After completion of the initial design workshop, the team conducted a brainstorming session to better understand the types of likely users. Which technique will best serve this purpose?

personas

Risk vs Issue

potential issue vs live issue

Backlog Refinement

prioritizing user stories based on their value and risk, which is the main focus; Progressive elaboration of the content in the backlog and (re)prioritization of it to identify the work that can be accomplished in an upcoming iteration.

project sponsor vs product owner

project sponsor provides funding and resources and ensures that the project aligns with the organization's strategic goals, while the product owner is responsible for the product backlog and ensuring that the team is working on the highest value items. i.e. sponsor = business focused; owner=tasks and team focus with highest value

A project manager is working on a contract. Now that they completed their contract and closed the project, the project manager is out of work. What type of organizational structure does the project manager work in?

projectized organizational structure

A project manager is assigned to an eco-friendly packaging project. In order to manage involved stakeholders, the project manager starts by analyzing their power, urgency, and legitimacy. Which analysis method is the project manager applying?

salience model

Documents involved in definition/planning stage of PMLC

scope/budget; WBS; Communication Plan; Risk mgmt plan

(TCPI) to-complete performance index

the projected performance level that must be achieved in the remaining work of the project in order to satisfy financial or schedule goals; numbers greater than one mean that efficiency must increase.

Salience Model

this TOOL Classifies stakeholders based on their power, urgency, and legitimacy

Resource Traceability Matrix

tool used to track the origin of each requirement and the status of each requirement throughout the project life cycle

Benefit Cost Ratio

total benefits divided by total costs

functional organizational structure

work is arranged within main business functions such as production, operations, marketing, and human resources; the PM is not dedicated to the project and may have other responsibilities