PMP Exam Prep

The project manager schedules an iteration review and learns that a few key stakeholders do NOT approve of the development of a feature. What should the project manager do first to address this issue? -Determine the impact of the conflict by listing the pros and cons of the situation. -Ask the project sponsor to act as a neutral party in negotiation with those stakeholders who are dissatisfied. -Address the issue only after evaluating why these stakeholders are concerned. -Invite project team members to a brainstorming session to identify an appropriate response.

-Address the issue only after evaluating why these stakeholders are concerned. Iterations help identify and reduce uncertainty in the project. The teams need the feedback from each iteration to learn about how they work and how to improve.

A project is 50% completed. An essential project team member requests two (2) months leave for personal matters.What should the project manager do first? -Check with this team member to see if the leave can be postponed. -Refer to the resource management plan. -Discuss the issue with the functional manager and request a replacement. -Assess how the leave will impact the project.

-Assess how the leave will impact the project. The project manager first needs to understand what impact (if any) this absence will have on the project, before taking any action.

A project is in the execution stage, and a change in the market pushes stakeholders to make the due date earlier. The project manager rapidly assigns skilled resources to build and establish the team. Which of the following would NOT be included in the project manager's next steps? -Train the new team. -Assess required skills for the project. -Create a project schedule. -Plan suitable interactions for the team.

-Assess required skills for the project. Skill assessment for the project precedes resource assignment. Once the project team is established, the project manager can start developing them. Develop Team is the process of improving competencies, team member interaction, and overall team environment to enhance project performance.

Several new members are added to an ongoing project. Although all original team members received basic training on the specifics of the business operation that the project supports, the new members do NOT have the same basic understanding. This lack of understanding results in decreased productivity.How should the project manager respond to this issue? -Assure all new team members that they should feel comfortable asking for help from both the long-term members and project manager. -Ask the original team members to provide support and training and schedule a second kick-off meeting for new team members. -Revise the team, so that the newer resources are moved to other projects and resources with relevant experience are added, then log lessons learned. -Recognize that this is a common occurrence when teams experience changes and revise the schedule to allow for the slight decrease in productivity.

-Assure all new team members that they should feel comfortable asking for help from both the long-term members and project manager. It is the project manager's responsibility to make sure that the new members are adequately trained. This approach provides that training.

A project manager needs stakeholder involvement in order to identify strategic and operational assumptions and constraints. Unfortunately, the project manager is finding it hard to obtain consistent input due to lack of participation. In which two ways can the project manager encourage the stakeholder to participate and collaborate? -Timebox meetings and Use effective facilitation techniques. -Use effective facilitation techniques and Use political awareness techniques -Use political awareness techniques and Be a servant leader -Be a servant leader and Use effective facilitation techniques.

-Be a servant leader and Use effective facilitation techniques. Servant leadership, by design, encourages others to follow your positive example. Facilitation is the ability to effectively guide a group event to a successful decision, solution, or conclusion. A facilitator ensures effective participation, so that participants achieve a mutual understanding, that all contributions are considered, that conclusions or results have full buy-in according to the decision process established for the project, and that the actions and agreements achieved are appropriately dealt with afterward.

A client's employee asks the project manager for an additional, new product feature during a status meeting.To which document should the project manager first refer to determine who has the authority to approve this request? -Change management plan -Change request document -Responsible, accountable, consult, and inform (RACI) matrix -Change log

-Change request document The change management plan is a component of the project management plan that establishes the change control board, documents the extent of its authority, and describes how the change control system will be implemented.

A project's daily stand-up meetings are long, often lasting more than two hours. The project team uses the stand-up meetings for extended discussions about solutions to project obstacles.What should the project manager do to improve the daily stand-up meetings? -Timebox each speaker using a stopwatch in stand-up meetings. -Coach team members towards shortening stand-up meetings to 10-15 minutes and improve their method for identifying solutions. -Nominate a team member to manage obstacles and schedule meetings to discuss possible solutions. -Allow the meetings to remain long but ensure that the time is productive by using an agenda and recording minutes.

-Coach team members towards shortening stand-up meetings to 10-15 minutes and improve their method for identifying solutions. Daily stand-ups are important meetings for agile teams. The project manager should coach the team in how a daily stand-up meeting is run and what is discussed. Teams run their own stand-ups, and when run well, they can be very useful. Daily stand-ups are typically 10-15 mins and three questions are answered: 1) What did you do since the last stand-up? 2) What will you do today? 3) Are there any impediments or roadblocks? Hold separate meetings to discuss the blockers and find the solution.

A customer is NOT satisfied with the delivered product, saying that it was NOT what they expected. The project manager is surprised, because the agile development team delivered the product several iterations early. What is one way that the project manager could have avoided this result? -Set aside more resources for product testing after changes are made. -Required team sign off for each of the constant changes to the requirements. -Ensured that the team fully participated in developing the project scope. -Ensured that the customer was aware of the value of demos and the approval process for the deliverable.

-Ensured that the customer was aware of the value of demos and the approval process for the deliverable. The customer was NOT engaged enough in the project. The iteration review is the best mechanism for the team to demonstrate the product and for the customer to give feedback to ensure that expectations are met and that final stakeholder approval will be given.

A project has a quality management plan in place.This plan states that project deliverables must be reviewed for quality at least five (5) business days before the deadline. Four deliverables have failed the quality requirement.What should the project manager do? -Rewrite relevant portions of the quality management plan. -Contact the project sponsor and request advice. -Generate a cause-and-effect diagram for analysis. -Inquire regarding the feasibility of an internal audit of the project.

-Generate a cause-and-effect diagram for analysis. Cause-and-effect diagrams break down the causes of the problem into discrete branches, helping to identify the main or root cause.

A team decides that an agile approach fits the needs of the next phase in their project. Unfortunately, some team members have NOT had the appropriate agile training. How should the project manager respond to the lack of agile training? -Ensure the project's contingency reserve can cover agile training for all team members. -Transition some of these team members to other teams and replace them with resources with agile training. -Create virtual training sessions for key team members, covering the main agile topics. -Identify and implement the most cost-effective agile training for the team members.

-Identify and implement the most cost-effective agile training for the team members. Training for project team members can result in added skills that could be useful for future phases or projects. The project manager should identify and implement agile training for team members. Training lessons and related costs should be evaluated and included in the resource management plan and cost and schedule baselines.

Three project teams are working on parts of a single project. The parts are highly dependent on each other. The leader of the team indicates that this might create conflicts when the outputs from the three teams are combined.What guidance should the project manager offer to the team lead? What guidance should the project manager offer to the team lead? -Document conflicts as they occur and take action to remedy any problems that arise. -Decide which team's work should be prioritized, then delay the work from the other two teams to ensure there are no conflicts. -Identify potential conflicts and arrange for a weekly joint meeting with the members of the three teams to monitor each other's work. -Tell all three teams to continue to work simultaneously, recognizing that conflicts can be addressed at the testing phase.

-Identify potential conflicts and arrange for a weekly joint meeting with the members of the three teams to monitor each other's work. Before deciding to act, the project manager needs to determine the potential conflicts and monitor progress.

Certain key stakeholders are dissatisfied with the development of a key feature of a project. They express their dissatisfaction during an iteration review meeting. What should the project manager do first to resolve this issue? -Identify the reasons why there are issues with the feature, then address the issue. -Gather the project team for a brainstorming session and identify a solution. -Create a list of the pros and cons of the situation to define the impact of the conflict. -Add a neutral party, such as the project sponsor, to function as a negotiator with stakeholders.

-Identify the reasons why there are issues with the feature, then address the issue. Working with the customer in identifying the source of dissatisfaction with the feature is a good first step. This also helps with resolving conflict between the team and stakeholders.

Project A is experiencing schedule performance issues. After assessing the issues, the project manager determines that project resources have low expertise levels. Specifically, a few of the senior-level resources perform irrelevant work, and some inexperienced resources take too much time to complete tasks. The project manager needs to enhance team performance. Which action should the project manager take? -Reassign the senior-level resources as coaches and mentors to the inexperienced ones. -Implement training where necessary and make work requirements more visible for all team members. -Give the junior team members incentives to work faster; send an email to the senior-level resources. -Remind the entire team of project goals, schedules, roles, and timelines during the next team meeting.

-Implement training where necessary and make work requirements more visible for all team members. The project manager must ensure the junior members are properly trained and ensure that all team members are doing the work that they are supposed to be doing. Implementing training and keeping everyone's work visible is the most comprehensive option to achieve both goals.

A customer requests a change in the technical approach for a product in development. The project manager learns about this request during a recurring project review.How should the project manager respond? -Discuss the pros and cons of the proposed approach with stakeholders, then select the approach that is best for the team and notify team members. -Let the team decide on the appropriate approach, giving them authority to implement and validate their decision in talks with stakeholders. -In order to obtain sponsor buy-in, allow the team to benchmark the approach. -Work with team members to immediately implement the new approach.

-Let the team decide on the appropriate approach, giving them authority to implement and validate their decision in talks with stakeholders.

During the execution of a project, a key team member is concerned with the overall approach documented in the project management plan. The member surprises the project manager with negative comments about the approach during a weekly status meeting. How should the project manager address the team member's concerns? Continue with the scheduled agenda items after reminding the team member of expected meeting etiquette. Then, solicit feedback about the etiquette expectations. -Remember that a project should NOT go forward when key team members are in disagreement. Use the meeting to discuss the members' concerns. -Make a short comment to acknowledge the team members' concerns, continue with the meeting, and meet with the member in private to discuss their concerns -Continue with the meeting and ensure that the concerns are added to the risk register after the meeting is finished.

-Make a short comment to acknowledge the team members' concerns, continue with the meeting, and meet with the member in private to discuss their concerns Conflict should be addressed in private in order to better understand the concern being raised. Exploring the concern after the meeting gives the project manager an opportunity to verify it and determine next steps without disrupting the meeting with all meeting attendees.

Before the next iteration begins, project team B meets about an unexpected challenge which threatens to delay the current phase. The task in the next iteration CANNOT be completed because of this challenge. Another team within the project is depending on timely completion of Task 1 in order to fulfill their work. How should the project manager resolve this issue? -Increase the number of team members for the project team and increase the iteration length, ensuring that the work will be completed according to schedule. -Meet with both teams separately and ask them to figure out a way to meet the required deadlines and complete the project on time. -Meet with the product owner to prioritize the iteration backlog, so that it does NOT impact other teams or obligations. -Let team members know you want them to do their best under difficult circumstances, and make sure to note the iteration's challenges in the next retrospective.

-Meet with the product owner to prioritize the iteration backlog, so that it does NOT impact other teams or obligations. In agile or adaptive environments, the product owner and the team should prioritize and reprioritize tasks they know will or might impact other work. Always consider risk exposure when prioritizing tasks.

An unresolved conflict between a member of a third-party vendor's team and a member of a project team is causing disruption. The issue is escalated to the project manager. What is the first thing the project manager should do? -Send an email to the vendor to discuss the issue. -Meet with the vendor to discuss the issue. -Place this item on the backlog. -Draft and send a contractual letter to the vendor.

-Meet with the vendor to discuss the issue. The project manager needs to resolve this issue quickly. A face-to-face meeting is the best choice to resolve this conflict. Any other communication choice is not direct enough.

A project is started with an approved scope.As the team implements the project design, a team member states that the product will NOT meet the requirements in certain situations. Correcting the issue increases both scope and costs, and the project will also miss the deadline.The project sponsors do NOT have additional funding to support the project.What should the project manager do first? -Follow the Perform Integrated Change Control process. -Contact the customer and negotiate for risk acceptance. -Crash the schedule. -Perform risk management analysis.

-Perform risk management analysis. The project manager must perform a full risk management analysis. This action includes all the processes for risk analysis—i.e. perform qualitative risk analysis, plan risk responses, implement risk responses, and monitor risk—and all are recorded in the risk register. The risk register exists for the project team and stakeholders to understand potential problems with the project. Once they all understand the problems, you can seek resolution.

A project manager with limited experience managing globally distributed team members is appointed to a project with team members who are all from another country and speak a different native language.To successfully manage this project, the project manager needs to have cultural sensitivity.What of the following actions should the project manager NOT take? -Enroll in language and culture lessons to learn about this country. -Read books about cultural sensitivity in leadership. -Hire a professional coach to learn how to be a more successful leader. -Request a different assignment, citing the language barrier as an obstacle.

-Request a different assignment, citing the language barrier as an obstacle. Great leaders have a growth mindset. Always aim to capitalize on cultural differences, focus on developing and sustaining the project team throughout the project life cycle, and promote working together interdependently in a climate of mutual trust. In this case, you can NOT assume that there is a language barrier, as the team members may be bilingual. This answer also does NOT demonstrate a growth mindset.

A technology development project has the following characteristics:-It requires a highly skilled resource that is unavailable locally.-The Project Manager has identified a resource who can work on site, but the resource lives in a different country and requires a work visa.-The work visa process is taking more time than anticipated.What should the Project Manager do? -Have the project's scope reduced. -Delay the project by an equivalent duration. -Request that the resource work remotely. -Assign the existing team overtime work.

-Request that the resource work remotely. The use of virtual teams creates new possibilities when acquiring project team members. Virtual teams can be defined as groups of people with a shared goal who fulfill their roles with little or no time spent meeting face to face. The availability of communication technology such as email, audio conferencing, social media, web-based meetings, and video conferencing has made virtual teams feasible.

A team misunderstood one product functionality documented in an earlier stage of the project. During the current iteration, the functionality has NOT yet been developed, but a business representative has mentioned the deficiency. How should the project manager proceed? -Schedule a meeting to discuss and brainstorm the functionality with the project team and business representative. -Continue with the current sprint, recognizing that the issue will be identified during the testing phase. -Ensure that the issue is addressed by escalating it to the project sponsor, who should discuss it with the representative. -The functionality was formally approved, so initiate the change management process.

-Schedule a meeting to discuss and brainstorm the functionality with the project team and business representative. As the functionality has NOT been built, the project manager should facilitate building common understanding and empowering the team to evaluate the impact of a possible change, thus avoiding re-work.

A key team member is asked to move to another project during the middle of a technical project. The team believes this is an unwise move and expresses concern. Which action will help to resolve the issue? Use coaching tools and techniques to motivate the project team. Discuss the conflict with the project sponsor and formulate a response. Acknowledge the team's concern and analyze the impact to the project. Replace the key team member with a new resource who has the same skills.

Acknowledge the team's concern and analyze the impact to the project. The project manager should know how to handle key personnel changes and keep the team motivated and productive.

A contractor has sent an email request for urgent payment of their last invoice on a project that is going through a long execution stage with multiple contractors. How should the project manager respond to this contractor's request? -Act according to the agreed upon commitments in the procurement management plan and the signed agreement/contract. -Authorize payment only after reviewing forecast spend versus actual spend to see if the actual status allows it. -Negotiate payment terms through a meeting with procurement and the contractor. -Authorize the payment by notifying accounts payable and follow up to ensure it was made.

Act according to the agreed upon commitments in the procurement management plan and the signed agreement/contract. Even an inexperienced project manager should understand that terms and conditions should be agreed before engaging a contractor to actually do project work. The procurement plan and the agreement/contract hold all data reference contracts and are the sources to guide payment activities.

A project manager in an organization that uses traditional project management is assigned to an ongoing project. Recently, the organization has started to use agile methodologies for projects. The project manager hears that some team members think key subject matter expertise is missing and that the team does NOT collaborate enough. How should the project manager respond to these team members' concerns? -Employ third-party specialists to fill the knowledge gap. -At the next stand-up meeting, emphasize the importance of collaboration to the entire team. -Start using Kanban boards instead of Gantt charts so that work co-dependencies become obvious to everyone. -Add cross-functional internal resources and explain their value to the team.

Add cross-functional internal resources and explain their value to the team. Agile projects require "T" shaped team members. That is, individuals who are cross-functional and understand the importance and value of collaboration across functional areas. In this case, the team needs the addition of skilled resources and people who collaborate.

During Project A's kickoff phase, the project manager provided training for the entire team regarding the specifics of the company operations that the project supports. A year later, project productivity is suffering because members who were added later in the project do NOT have the same level of understanding. How should the project manager respond to this challenge? -Ask current team members to provide training and support and hold a second kick-off meeting for new team members. -Tell the newer team members to ask for help from the long-term members when they run into things they do not understand. -Recognize that this is a natural project progression and revise the schedule to allow for the slight decrease in productivity. -Add new members who have the relevant experience, reassign the newer team members, and log turnover issues in the lessons learned register.

Ask current team members to provide training and support and hold a second kick-off meeting for new team members. It is the project manager's responsibility to make sure that the new members are adequately trained. This approach provides that training.

During an iteration, a project team working in country B encounters problems that may cause a delay in completion of task B. Teams in country A need task B to be completed on time in order to meet their schedules. These teams work together virtually. What can the project manager do to resolve this problem? Ask team members to perform to the best of their abilities during the iteration and engage in a retrospective after completion of the iteration. Ask the team in country B to work harder to complete on time, in order to avoid delaying the work of other teams. -Ask the teams to collaborate virtually to find a solution to avert the potential delay. Increase the iteration length, and add additional resources to the project team, so that they can meet the appropriate deadlines.

Ask the teams to collaborate virtually to find a solution to avert the potential delay. "May cause a delay" does NOT mean the task completion will be delayed. To improve the probability of success, the team should collaborate and find a solution. They know their work best, and despite working virtually, they should be able to find a solution.

During a meeting, a project manager learns that a business result needs to be delivered in four (4) weeks, although the original schedule stated sixteen (16) weeks. The project manager also hears that there is NO available technical resource. The project manager knows the technical resource manager because they worked together on a previous project.What is the first thing the project manager should do? -Hire an outside party to meet the need for a technical resource. -Check with the technical resource manager to see if there is an available technical resource. -Notify the project sponsor about the lack of a technical resource. -Immediately escalate the issue to decision makers in the organization.

Check with the technical resource manager to see if there is an available technical resource. The project manager should first confirm with the technical resource manager whether a resource is available.

A project manager observes that team members are in a low mood after demos. Feedback from stakeholders is constantly causing concern for the team. As a result, the team rushes through product demos, and the interaction between the team and stakeholders is minimal.Which action should the project manager take? -Meet with the stakeholders and find out the root cause of their feedback. Work with the stakeholders to rectify the problems. -Consult the stakeholder matrix and identify whether any of these people are known to be difficult. -Verify that the project requirements are suitable and that the team members can do the work. -Coach the team to be more confident in their work and communicate properly with the stakeholders.

Coach the team to be more confident in their work and communicate properly with the stakeholders. Leading the team means understanding how they can best be successful. In this case, they are NOT communicating well with project stakeholders and risk becoming demoralized. You should perceive this behavior as a risk to the project, caused by poor communication. You will already have verified the requirements and determined that your resources are adequate. Whether or not a stakeholder is difficult, your team needs to be able to perform. If you choose to work directly with the stakeholders, then you are undermining your team. Coach the team members on how to work better with the stakeholders.

A project team is comprised of local and virtual team members. To manage scheduling priority conflicts among team members, the project manager schedules a video conference call. Which conflict resolution technique does this statement demonstrate? Force/Direct Smooth/Accommodate Compromise/Reconcile Collaborate/Problem Solve

Collaborate/Problem Solve The collaborate/problem solve approach incorporates multiple viewpoints and insights from differing perspectives. It requires a cooperative attitude and open dialogue that typically leads to consensus and commitment. This approach can result in a win-win situation.

A new project manager needs to deliver a high-stakes agile project. The vendor working with the team is in another country. Though this vendor has delivered excellent quality work on time in the past, they are currently behind schedule. The team explains to the project manager that their attempts to get the vendor back on schedule have failed. They have sent emails and phoned, but the vendor only gives vague, noncommittal responses. The project sponsor insists that this vendor is essential to the success of the project and an important partner of the business. Which action should the project manager take? -Create a virtual workspace for the team so that everyone is aware of and accountable for their tasks and aware of due dates. Include the project sponsor. -Contact the vendor and be direct about the consequences of their actions and delays. -Work with procurement to amend the vendor's service agreement, with specific terms and conditions for work. -Ask the project sponsor to use personal influence to get the vendor back on schedule.

Contact the vendor and be direct about the consequences of their actions and delays. Communication in virtual teams can be challenging. Being direct may NOT leave a good first impression and revising a service agreement may be perceived as hostile by the vendor. This vendor is critical to the success of the project and important to the business, and the team may be getting demoralized by their unsuccessful attempts to manage the vendor. Be attentive of these factors using active listening and emotional intelligence. Creating a workspace that enables everyone on the project team to see the project work and be accountable for delivering their work on time is the best option here. Including the project sponsor in the virtual work space as an informed party is wise.

A longstanding, key team member in a virtual team has been unmotivated for weeks after the death of a family member. Because of this, several project activities are behind schedule, impacting the project's critical path.How should the project manager handle this situation? -Replace the team member. -Ask the functional manager for additional support on the project, including assignment of a new resource. -Escalate this situation as an HR issue and ask other team members to work overtime. -Discuss the situation with the team member and work with them to identify a workable solution.

Discuss the situation with the team member and work with them to identify a workable solution. A project manager is a servant leader. Servant leadership means listening and acting with empathy. Especially in virtual teams, facilitating servant leadership can be a challenge. Replacing the key team member is a unilateral action that project team members and others may perceive as drastic, considering the circumstances. Asking others, such as HR or the functional manager, to intervene is a good idea, but the team member should be consulted first, and asking the team to work overtime is always a gamble. Given all of this, the project is the priority here. Speak with the team member first, using emotional intelligence and empathy, but with a firm approach to completion of work as a priority.

A planned task in a sprint was nearly NOT completed because of an issue that appeared three (3) days prior but was NOT resolved. The team resolved it in the next daily stand-up meeting, but the project manager wants to prevent this type of situation in the future. What should the project manager do? -Send an email to the team. -During the next iteration planning meeting, discuss the issue. -In the demo, address the issue. -During the retrospective, examine the issue.

During the retrospective, examine the issue. A retrospective is a great opportunity to talk about what went right, what went wrong, lessons learned, and what to improve for next time.

During a technical project, a well-liked project member is reassigned to a different project. The team has expressed disapproval regarding the reassignment. What action can help mitigate the team's disapproval? -Employ leadership and emotional intelligence tools and techniques to inspire the team to continue working. -Notify the project sponsor regarding the team's disapproval and brainstorm a response. -Schedule a team-building day to keep the team happy. -Add a resource with the same skills to replace the key team member.

Employ leadership and emotional intelligence tools and techniques to inspire the team to continue working. The project manager should know how to handle key personnel changes and keep the team motivated and productive.

A customer contemplates adding new features to a project deliverable. Which mandatory step must a project manager take before a project team member can start working on these new features? -Gain approval from the project sponsor. -Verify requirements. -Ensure key subject matter experts (SMEs) approve. -Ensure approval from the responsible individual identified in the project management plan.

Ensure approval from the responsible individual identified in the project management plan. Every documented change request needs to be either approved, deferred, or rejected by a responsible individual, usually the project sponsor or project manager. The responsible individual will be identified in the project management plan or by the organizational procedures. When required, the Perform Integrated Change Control process includes a change control board (CCB), which is a formally chartered group responsible for reviewing, evaluating, approving, deferring, or rejecting changes to the project and for recording and communicating such decisions. Customer or sponsor approval may be required for certain change requests after CCB approval, unless they are part of the CCB.

A project manager is working on a small project that is critical for a larger program milestone. A new resource has been assigned to replace a key resource who had to leave the project. Unfortunately, an outside stakeholder claims that the person who assigned the new resource sent their weakest team member. How should the project manager approach this rumor? -Evaluate the skills of the new resource to see how the resource can provide value to the project. -Address the rumor with the new resource's functional manager to mitigate any conflict within the project team. -File a request with the project management office (PMO) manager in order to obtain a better resource. -Assess the new resource's ability to perform the necessary work by testing their communication skills with the current project team.

Evaluate the skills of the new resource to see how the resource can provide value to the project. Without seeing performance first-hand, the rumor has no validity. In general, any third-party information—hearsay or rumors, for example—is a danger to relationships in a project, as it may create strained relationships. Always investigate any suspected problems and find out the facts.

A new project team is setting early priorities, and they plan to gain the customer's trust by delivering value as quickly as possible. Team member C mentions that they have worked with the project sponsor on other projects.How should the project manager connect these two facts and create an advantage for the project team? -Explore how team member C can use personal influence with the sponsor to increase the project's potential for benefits realization. -Discuss whether team member C has a conflict of interest in order to maintain an ethical standard. -Make team member C the project leader since they already know the sponsor. -Ask team member C to tell the whole team everything they know about the sponsor so that the team can work better.

Explore how team member C can use personal influence with the sponsor to increase the project's potential for benefits realization. Personal influence is a leadership skill that enables project teams and individuals to use existing relationships, building on them to further project activities and goals. In this case, team member C has an existing relationship that may help the project team to understand more quickly the needs of the project sponsor.

A project is utilizing a third-party contractor. A member of the contractor's team raises an issue with a member of the project team. The two individuals are NOT able to work out a solution. The project manager is aware of the disagreement.Which type of communication should the project manager use first when contacting the vendor about this issue? -Contractual Letter -Phone -Face-to-face -Email

Face-to-face Face-to-face interaction is usually the most effective way to build the trusting relationships that are needed to manage a project. Once relationships are established, virtual interaction can be used to maintain the relationship.

A project sponsor asks the project manager to change production materials because these materials could cause health problems to consumers. Which step should the project manager take? -Reject the change because the request is outside of scope. -Follow the Perform Integrated Change Control process and thoroughly investigate the matter. -Immediately implement the change and submit a change request for formal documentation. -End the current work and enact the change control process.

Follow the Perform Integrated Change Control process and thoroughly investigate the matter. You need to analyze and understand impacts of any change to the project before submitting the change to the change control board. A change control board relies on the project manager to provide all available information for effective decision making.

A project manager has assembled a project team. During initial meetings, the project manager observes that team members are getting to know each other, feeling excited and positive about the project, and have NOT been told the specific details of the project. In what phase of development is the team? -Performing -Norming -Storming -Forming

Forming The Forming phase is when the team members meet and learn about the project and their formal roles and responsibilities. Team members tend to be solitary and independent in this phase.

A project manager in a virtual team realizes, during the third iteration of product development, that the team dashboard that shows progress on work is faulty and is NOT showing updates.Which action should the project manager take? -Keep the team working and send daily email updates to the team. -Get the dashboard fixed. -Rank the need to fix the dashboard according to the business value for upcoming iterations. -Document the issue as a new project risk and propose a solution.

Get the dashboard fixed. In an agile virtual team, the project manager needs to keep work visible so that the team can see progress. This is essential. Changing the way the team works together in the middle of a project can be very disruptive. In this case, they are lucky that a problem did NOT arise. The project manager needs to protect the team against impediments and allow them to focus on their work.

A project manager is working on multiple projects. One project has new team members and is in early stages. The other projects are in various states of execution for the next few weeks.How can the project manager develop the new project team over the next few weeks? -Engage in face-to-face personal conversations with each team member to build relationships. -Keep the team informed by sending short daily project status updates. -Suggest that the team engage in multiple team-building events to normalize the team. -Help team members create a set of agreed rules for working, or social contract, that encourages team cohesion.

Help team members create a set of agreed rules for working, or social contract, that encourages team cohesion. Creating a social contract—or a set of agreed rules for working—will allow the team to normalize and be self-servicing when you are unavailable. The other choices do not encourage the team members to develop independently and as a team.

An agile approach is required during the final phase in a team's project. As the team discusses the phase, some team members disclose that they have NOT worked with agile before. The deadline is approaching soon. How should the project manager respond? -Ask the team members who have worked with agile to mentor the others. -Escalate this as an issue to the project sponsor, as it is a company-wide issue and a blocker for this project. -File a change request that addresses the agile training that members lack. -Identify and provide the most cost-effective agile training for team members.

Identify and provide the most cost-effective agile training for team members. Providing training to project team members can result in added skills that can be useful for future phases or projects. Training lessons and related costs could be evaluated to be included in the resource management and cost management plans. Mentoring is a good idea, but with a firm schedule, you may NOT have enough time to transfer skills while getting project work done. Finally, this is the project manager's issue to deal with, NOT the project sponsors.

A project is comprised of three highly dependent parts, each being completed by its own project team. The team leader, worried that conflicts might arise when the outputs from the three teams are combined, asks for advice.What advice should the project manager provide? - Decide which team's work should be prioritized, then delay the work from the other two teams to ensure there are NO conflicts. -Identify potential conflicts and then arrange for a weekly joint meeting with the members of the three teams to review each other's work. -Continue to let all three teams work simultaneously, recognizing that conflicts can be addressed at the testing phase. -Document conflicts as they occur and take action to remedy any problems that arise.

Identify potential conflicts and then arrange for a weekly joint meeting with the members of the three teams to review each other's work. Consistent communication is important for ensuring a lower probability of issues and successfully addressing existing risks.

At a weekly project status meeting, a key team member expresses concerns about the overall approach documented within the project management plan. The project manager is surprised because the team is in the process of executing an important component of the project and the concern has NOT been raised before. What steps should the project manager take? -Immediately acknowledge the team member's concern, continue with the scheduled agenda, then privately meet with the team member to understand the concerns expressed. -Update the risk register to document the concerns, then continue with the meeting's scheduled agenda items. -Address the team with a generic reminder about meeting etiquette, then ask if the team wants to use the time to fully discuss the concerns raised during the meeting. -Recognize that the concern must be discussed and resolved prior to continuing with the meeting's agenda items.

Immediately acknowledge the team member's concern, continue with the scheduled agenda, then privately meet with the team member to understand the concerns expressed. Conflict should be addressed in private first, to better understand the concern being raised. Exploring the concern after the meeting gives the project manager an opportunity to verify the concern and determine needed next steps without disrupting a large meeting.

A project team is working with an overseas contractor based in a country that has three official languages, and every contractor on the team is multilingual. Team meetings continue to be held in the commonly shared language, but during project work meetings, contractors speak to each other in a different language. When the project manager brings this up in the next team meeting, the contractors express regret, but they explain that they work better when they can communicate freely with each other.How should the project manager respond first? -Obtain formal training or translation services. -Escalate this as an issue to the human resources department. -Let the team discuss language requirements and make ground rules for team communication. -Require everyone to speak the same language all of the time, even though this will slow the pace of work.

In this case, forcing the contractors to work less efficiently may jeopardize the project. Work with the whole team to find the best solution that will NOT jeopardize the project. Escalation is NOT required unless the team is unable to find a solution. Teams need to acknowledge the diversity of its members and promote an environment of inclusiveness. Each team is unique in its character, makeup, and tolerance levels, but the high-performing teams are self-aware. Commonly agreed ground rules always make together easier, especially in heterogeneous groups.

A project manager went on a vacation and returned to discord. According to two stakeholders, stakeholder C is causing problems. Every day for the last two (2) weeks, stakeholder C sent an email to the team, checking progress and giving new instructions. The team ignored the emails and carried on working, but the other stakeholders are concerned about stakeholder C's behavior.What should the project manager do? Correct Answer -Investigate the problem to find the root cause. -Invite everyone to a meeting and work through the communication issue. -Initiate a private conversation with stakeholder C and resolve this problem. -Instruct the two stakeholders to ignore stakeholder C, just as the team did.

Investigate the problem to find the root cause. Conflict situations require a cool, rational approach. Before you approach any party, aim to understand the facts and what is causing the problem.

A project manager receives complaints from a project sponsor because of a delay in developing a prototype. The project manager consults the resource management plan and responds that the delay was due to a lack of knowledge in a specific skill that was needed by the cross-functional project team.How can the project manager perform this task better in the future? -Consult with the project sponsor to add training once the lack of a specific skill becomes apparent. -Create training sessions at the start of the project, so all necessary skills are learned. -List required skills for the project and organize the project team based on those skills. -Empower team members to problem solve where skills may be lacking, using the skills they do have.

List required skills for the project and organize the project team based on those skills. Develop the resource management plan by defining the roles and responsibilities of the project team members to create a project organizational structure and provide guidance regarding how resources will be assigned and managed.

A project manager is having difficulty obtaining consistent input from stakeholders and needs their input to identify assumptions and constraints.How can the project manager improve stakeholder engagement? -Institute checklist policies. -Make use of effective facilitation techniques. -Use political awareness techniques. -Research effective meeting management techniques.

Make use of effective facilitation techniques. Facilitation is the ability to effectively guide a group event to a successful decision, solution, or conclusion. A facilitator ensures effective participation, that participants achieve a mutual understanding, that all contributions are considered, that conclusions or results have full buy-in according to the decision process established for the project, and that the actions and agreements achieved are appropriately dealt with afterward.

A project team has been efficiently delivering results. The product upgrade they are working on must be released in three months or else a competitor's new product will make theirs obsolete. Citing this reason, the product owner makes a sudden request for a feature revision. However, no one on the project team is capable of doing the work. The project sponsor is willing to extend the budget but CANNOT extend the schedule. What should the project manager do? -Challenge the request and initiate customer research to determine whether the new feature is desirable. -Recommend suspending the project until a firm decision can be made. -Meet the new demand by adding new resources with the required skills. -Discuss options with the project sponsor and choose the best one.

Meet the new demand by adding new resources with the required skills. In situations with time constraints, the most efficient option is expanding the team to include skilled resources. Training is also an option if resources have the capability to learn within the timeframe. The project sponsor has already made their request, so it is up to the project manager to realize it. Agile projects are designed to function in highly complex and unpredictable environments, so suspending or cancelling the project hardly ever is an option.

A project manager notices that team member A seems more unhappy after every team meeting. After looking into the situation, the project manager finds out that team member A is not making progress on a key activity. This has an impact on the critical path. Team member A also feels that they are NOT in the correct role within the project team. What should the project manager do? -Enroll team member A in targeted training to acquire the needed skills for their assigned role. -Reassure team member A about their abilities by reminding them that they were chosen for a reason. -Meet with team member A to discuss where they can contribute, based on their strengths. -Reassign team member A to a more appropriate role in another project.

Meet with team member A to discuss where they can contribute, based on their strengths. Meeting with team member A to find out if they are correctly placed in a project role is the best response. The individual may be right. As a servant leader, you can help them find the correct role. The other responses may be helpful, but they miss addressing the team member's concern.

A project manager joins a project team, replacing a manager who left. During initial meetings, the project manager realized that the team members have differing opinions about how to address technical decisions. Team members did NOT respect each other's ideas, and the environment was becoming counterproductive. However, now with the new manager's leadership, the team has begun to communicate more effectively and develop some processes and procedures for working together.In what phase of development is the team now? -Performing -Norming -Storming -Forming

Norming During the norming phase, team members begin to work together and adjust their work habits and behaviors to support the team. The team members learn to trust each other.

A Project Manager joins a project as a replacement on a project team. During initial meetings, the Project Manager realized there are many differing opinions about how to address technical decisions. Team members did not respect each other's ideas, and the environment was becoming counterproductive. However, now the team has begun to communicate more effectively and develop some processes and procedures for working together. In what phase of development is the team now? -Performing -Norming -Storming -Forming

Norming Storming often starts where there is a conflict between team members' natural working styles. People may work in different ways for all sorts of reasons but, if differing working styles cause unforeseen problems, they may become frustrated and counterproductive. Once the team members start working together and adjusting their work habits and behaviors to be more supportive, the team has transitioned into Norming.

Project D is working virtually because of a recent natural disaster. Several activities are delayed because a project team member has NOT been working for the past week. This impacts the critical path. How should the project manager respond to this problem? -Remind the team member about responsibility and accountability. -Discuss the situation with the team member's functional manager and enable them to manage the team member. -Ask a team member who knows this person well to try and find the missing team member and report back to you. -Obtain a new resource to complete the needed tasks until you can speak to the team member directly.

Obtain a new resource to complete the needed tasks until you can speak to the team member directly. The team member has been away from work after a natural disaster. In addition to that, the team is working virtually, so communication is already different than when everyone was co-located in the office. Empathy is required here. Take action without being intrusive or asking others to intervene. There could be many reasons for the absence, and while the team member is your responsibility, completing the project work is your first priority.

Project manager A identifies three critical risks with probability of a high impact on the schedule and budget of project A—this project is producing critical deliverables for the company.The team meets to devise a solution for the risks and decides that three specific resources will be required to address the risks. However, these resources are already committed to a separate project, which is managed by project manager B.Which party should the project manager work with first to find a solution? -The project team members - to assist in training the new team members quickly so they can complete work on time -The project sponsor - to request more funding for the budget in order to hire contractors -The three resources - to convince them to join the team or, at least, agree to coach the existing team -Project manager B - to negotiate reallocation or sharing of the three required resources

Project manager B - to negotiate reallocation or sharing of the three required resources Project manager B has the authority to reschedule or reallocate the resources, once it will NOT jeopardize project B. Going directly to the resources themselves undermines the functional manager, so this is unethical. The resources have been identified as the solution to the problem, so it is best to attempt to make this solution work first. The other options of the project sponsor and working with project team members would be secondary and tertiary options which would probably NOT work as well.

The sales and marketing director at company A reports a 40% drop in revenue and significant increase in returns for Widget version 6.0. Customers are complaining directly to customer service and the social media teams report a high rate of negative feedback.The project team is already working on Widget version 6.1., which is a small set of upgrades and bug fixes. The director gets in touch with the team, requesting a full disclosure of the version 6.0 and 6.1 requirements.How should the project manager interact with this stakeholder? -Remind them that they were consulted about the agreed product requirements for versions 6.0 and 6.1; also remind the stakeholder and that the responsible and accountable stakeholders approved version 6.0 before release. -Let them know that you also are disappointed, but this risk was documented and listed as a probable customer/market reaction for a major version release. -Review the customer and market research—both qualitative and quantitative—that supported the business case for the 6.0 project. Begin by discussing the stakeholder's role in the research. -Ask the team to perform the final demo for version 6.0 again for the director's information.

Review the customer and market research—both qualitative and quantitative—that supported the business case for the 6.0 project. Begin by discussing the stakeholder's role in the research. The director is understandably concerned, given the negative performance of version 6.0 in the customer market. Base your interactions in a shared sense of responsibility for the failure, whether it is a real failure, whether it was predicted or probable, or whether it is a temporary or unexpected event. Avoid performing actions again that your team already made; likewise, avoid being defensive by reminding them that they had a role in approving a failed product. Neither of these will help the company achieve its strategic goals—which is what both parties are supposed to be committed to doing.

A project team is small, and the team members have known each other for a long time. The team's project is in the execution stage. Recently, a team member told the new project manager that another team member has been complaining about how the project is being managed. How should this new project manager respond? Hold a team morale-building event to improve team culture. Speak to the team members individually and ask them how they would like to deal with the situation. Review the current stakeholder engagement plan to identify how to resolve this difficulty. Schedule a team meeting to discuss the current team charter and ground rules, especially around communication and teamwork expectations.

Schedule a team meeting to discuss the current team charter and ground rules, especially around communication and teamwork expectations. A team meeting is the best solution because it encourages every team member to participate and results in a clear set of guidelines for the team.

The project manager receives a progress report showing that the agile project is NOT on track. Since all work was deliberately selected and sequenced to meet higher-level objectives, the project manager is surprised by the report. In the future, how can the project manager prevent this type of miscommunication? -Ensure that there is a contingency reserve to cover these issues. -Ensure that the team is trained to use the agile process reporting system. -Provide early training and ongoing mentoring about the agile approach for the project team. -Support self-organization for the project team and help them provide buy-in for the project.

Support self-organization for the project team and help them provide buy-in for the project. For agile projects, rather than a project manager selecting and sequencing work, higher-level objectives are explained, and the team members are empowered to self-organize specific tasks as a group to best meet those objectives. This leads to the creation of practical plans with high levels of buy-in from the team members.

A product owner repeatedly complains, saying that a function developed by the development team does NOT seem to align with the original design. What will help to solve this issue? -Ask the development team to rewrite the function so that it matches with the project scope. -Update the product owner twice per week on product development. -Ask the product owner to explain his point of view clearly to the team. -Ask the quality assurance team to identify any mismatches in functionality compared to the initial design.

Update the product owner twice per week on product development. The product owner has already explained the requirements in the original design. The solution here is to keep the product owner updated on development so that the team can adjust their work if it goes out of scope.

During a challenging stakeholder meeting, one stakeholder indicates that they will reject an iteration's deliverable. What should the project manager do? -Meet with the project team to add new and improved features to replace the features that were rejected. -Request a private meeting with the stakeholder and a member of the project team to try and defuse the situation. -Send a request to the project sponsor, asking them to update the project charter then reassign the responsibilities and authorities. -Work with that stakeholder to understand their concerns and address these together with the team.

Work with that stakeholder to understand their concerns and address these together with the team. The project manager and the team should work with the customer to identify the reasons for rejecting the deliverable. Iteration reviews are designed to show the customer what the team has produced in that iteration. This is a perfect opportunity for the customer to raise their concerns, ask questions, and request changes. However, when this is NOT possible, as in this case, then seek a deeper understanding of the objection or concern and address it with all parties.

Leaders of high-performing project teams __________ team members' skills and knowledge and keep team members __________ throughout the project.Fill in the blanks with the correct set of responses. -nurture, motivated -leverage, rewarded -reward, scheduled -identify, aware

leverage, rewarded The primary goal of a project manager in relation to supporting a high-performing project team is to ensure that the team has the right skills and knowledge to complete the work and to keep them motivated to do their best work. These actions potentially optimize project outcomes.