PMP Practice Questions PDF

Q109: Project team members inform their project manager of a challenge they are facing. This challenge will likely impact project timelines.\ \ What should the project manager do ? A\) Determine if the team\'s challenges impact the critical path. B\) Initiate a change request to extend the project...

Q109: Project team members inform their project manager of a challenge they are facing. This challenge will likely impact project timelines.\ \ What should the project manager do ? A\) Determine if the team\'s challenges impact the critical path. B\) Initiate a change request to extend the project timeline. C\) Work with the team to assess the impact on the overall project. D\) Escalate to the project sponsor for proper resolution. Correct Answer: C Rationale: Solution: C. Work with the team to assess the impact on the overall project.\ The project manager should consider the impact of the challenge and work with the team members to understand and evaluate the impact on the overall project. When any new issue or change request occurs, it is necessary to first understand if it impacts the project and then initiate a change control procedure as needed.\ The other answer choices are incorrect.\ Determining the impact on the critical path should come after understanding the challenge.\ Initiating a change request or escalating to the sponsor without proper evaluation can lead to premature and potentially unnecessary actions. Q110: A project manager oversees an agile project with an experienced project team. The project manager does not typically attend the daily stand-up meetings, but they sit in on them from time to time. After attending one particular meeting, the project manager noticed that the meeting was not productive.\ \ What should the project manager do to improve the situation? A\) Analyze the dynamics of these meetings, remove impediments, and provide feedback. B\) Ask the team to send meeting minutes to the project manager after each daily meeting. C\) Start attending daily meetings to promote a better collaboration effort with the team. D\) Delegate the responsibility to the product owner to facilitate future daily review meetings. Correct Answer: A Rationale: Solution: A. Analyze the dynamics of these meetings, remove impediments, and provide feedback.\ Agile teams run their own standups. They use standups to microcommit to each other, uncover problems, and ensure that work flows smoothly through the team. Agile times thrive with servant leadership. The project manager should act as a servant leader by analyzing the dynamics of the daily stand-up meetings, removing impediments, and providing feedback, to help the team improve the productivity of their meetings.\ The other answer choices are incorrect because the project manager should first try to understand why the daily stand-up meetings are not productive. It might undermine the team\'s autonomy and self-organization if the project manager starts attending daily meetings without first understanding the root causes of the problem. In agile teams, the project manager encourages team members to facilitate the standup instead of themselves to ensure that it does not turn into a status meeting and is used as a time for the team to self-organize and make commitments to each other. Q111: A company is implementing an agile approach for a new project. Which action should the project manager take to ensure is acting as a servant leader? A\) Keep control of the hours worked and the activities done. B\) Serve as a backup in case a team member becomes ill. C\) Ensure the team follows all processes as defined without question. D\) Understand the bottlenecks and support the team to remove them. Correct Answer: D Rationale: Solution: D. Understand the bottlenecks and support the team to remove them.\ Agile times thrive with servant leadership. Servant leadership is a style of leadership that focuses on understanding and addressing the needs and development of project team members in order to enable the highest possible project team performance. A critical role for the servant leader is to maximize delivery by removing impediments to their progress. This includes solving problems and removing obstacles that may be hampering the project team’s work. By solving or easing these impediments, the project team can deliver value to the business faster.\ The other options are incorrect because they do not align with the principles of servant leadership. Servant leadership is the practice of leading the team by focusing on understanding and addressing the needs and development of team members in order to enable the highest possible team performance. Q112: Although a project is performing within its time, scope, and budget constraints, the project manager learns that the project sponsor is unhappy with its progress.\ \ What should the project manager have done to avoid this situation? A\) Conducted frequent reviews and assessments to identify and address any potential risks. B\) Aligned project objectives with the expectations and requirements of the project sponsor. C\) Communicated regularly with the project sponsor to provide updates and address any concerns. D\) Implemented strict control measures to ensure that project milestones and deliverables are met. Correct Answer: C Rationale: Solution: C. Communicated regularly with the project sponsor to provide updates and address any concerns.\ The project manager must communicate with the project sponsor effectively. The sponsor provides resources and support for the project and is accountable for enabling success. Without regular communication, the project manager can not ensure that the sponsor is sufficiently informed and engaged. In this case, the sponsor is unhappy despite the project\'s performance, so the source of the dissatisfaction is not known. If there was open and ample communication between the project manager and the sponsor, the project manager would have known that the sponsor was unhappy and could have addressed the disconnect between expectations and reality. Communication is the most important factor in engaging with stakeholders effectively.\ The other options are incorrect because they do not address the core concern here, which is the unhappiness of the sponsor.\ Conducting frequent reviews to identify and address any potential issues or risks does not address the source of the sponsor\'s dissatisfaction. The project is performing well and there is no evidence to suggest that the project team is not sufficiently identifying and addressing risks.\ Aligning project objectives with the sponsor\'s expectations is important, but is incorrect because it requires effective communication. Without effective communication, there is no way to achieve or maintain alignment.\ Implementing strict control measures is incorrect because it does not address the sponsor\'s unhappiness. Q113: A project manager is delivering a complex project for a client who has their own project manager. The client\'s project manager is the sole decision maker for the project but is not the delegated financial authority. For every financial decision, the client\'s project manager must seek approval from a higher authority. This additional step has caused significant impacts on resource management, cost, and time of project delivery.\ \ How can the project manager resolve this problem? A\) Raise this problem in the quarterly project status report. B\) Add the problem to the lessons learned report. C\) Escalate the problem to the project steering committee. D\) Discuss the problem with the client\'s project manager. Correct Answer: C Rationale: Solution: C. Escalate the problem to the project steering committee\ The steering committee is an advisory body that is made up of senior stakeholders and experts that provide guidance on a lot of different issues that could face companies and projects such as budgets, new endeavors, company policy, marketing strategies, and project management concerns. An authority issue should only be resolved by the steering committee. In this case, the project team cannot resolve this issue on their own, so the problem should be escalated.\ In this case, the client\'s project manager is not the delegated financial authority. The client\'s project manager must seek approval from a higher authority for all financial decisions, which has caused significant impacts on resource management, cost, and time of project delivery. Addressing the issue with the client\'s project manager would not address the core issue as the client\'s project manager does not have the financial authority, which is causing the issue, so it must be escalated. Adding the problem to the lessons learned report is incorrect because it does not proactively address the issue. Waiting to review the issue at the next quarterly meeting/status report is inappropriate due to the significance of the impacts. The next meeting/status report may be months away and this issue is already causing significant impacts and should be addressed as soon as possible to prevent further issues. Q114: The execution of a construction project in a remote area requires team members to live together in corporate dormitories when they are required to be on-site. Several team members approach the project manager to complain about the way one team member behaves after work. They have expressed concerns that the behavior is negatively impacting team morale and cohesion.\ \ What should the project manager do to address this issue? A\) Call a meeting to discuss the problem with the team. B\) Plan a team-building session to discuss the problem. C\) Move the team member in question to a new dormitory. D\) Review the team norms and discuss this with the team. Correct Answer: D Rationale: Solution: D. Review the team norms and discuss this with the team.\ Team agreements represent a set of behavioral parameters and working norms established by the project team and upheld through individual and project team commitment. After-work behavior can still affect the team and the project, especially if team members are required to live together in corporate dormitories. Even though the behavior takes place after work hours, it can impact the project if other team members see it as a problem. The project manager can set clear expectations for behavior and collaboration by reviewing and discussing team norms with the entire team, the project manager can set clear expectations for behavior and collaboration.\ Calling a meeting to discuss the problem with the team discussing complaints rather than proactively managing behavior\ A team-building session is an indirect way to address the problem and may not effectively resolve the situation.\ Moving the team member to a new dormitory does not address the core issue and may not resolve the morale and cohesion issues. Q115: A project manager is experiencing issues with the functional manager of a project team member. The functional manager has given the team member another assignment and has told the team member that the previous project should be a lower priority.\ \ What should the project manager do? A\) Escalate the issue to senior management. B\) Communicate the importance of the project to the team. C\) Refer the functional manager to the project charter. D\) Request additional resources for your project. Correct Answer: A Rationale: Solution: A. Escalate the issue to senior management.\ The best way for a project manager to address an issue with a functional manager who is giving a team member a lower-priority assignment is to escalate the issue to senior management. This is the most direct and effective way to resolve the issue and ensure that the project team member has the time and resources they need to complete their project tasks.\ The other answer choices are not as effective. Communicating the importance of the project to the team is important, but it is unlikely to resolve the issue with the functional manager. Referring the functional manager to the project charter may help to clarify the project\'s priorities, but it is unlikely to change the functional manager\'s behavior. Requesting additional resources for your project may be necessary, but it is important to address the issue with the functional manager first. By escalating the issue to senior management, the project manager can help to ensure that the project team member has the support they need to complete their project tasks. Q116: A project manager has been hired to lead a multinational enterprise program with a geographically distributed team. The team members are located in different countries and have varying opinions about status reporting. Some prefer detailed reports, while others prefer them to be brief. Some team members want to send daily status reports, while others want to send weekly status reports.\ \ How should the project manager resolve the issue? A\) Ask the team to adhere to the communications management plan. B\) Escalate the reporting issue to the project sponsor for guidance. C\) Request that the team resolve the issue amongst themselves. D\) Change the existing template for status reporting to accommodate. Correct Answer: A Rationale: Solution: A. Ask the team to adhere to the communications management plan.\ The communication management plan describes how, when, and by whom information about the project will be administered and disseminated. Adhering to the established communications management plan ensures consistency in status reporting across the geographically distributed team.\ The other options are incorrect.\ Escalating the issue is inappropriate at this stage and should be a last resort.\ Asking the team to resolve the issue themselves will not be effective as the team is currently unable to reach a consensus.\ Changing the existing template could lead to inconsistencies and confusion in reporting. Changing the template may not be effective since the team cannot reach a consensus as is. Q117: A project manager is leading a new implementation project with a global project team. As team members are in different geographical locations and time zones, the project manager has to decide on the most effective team engagement strategy.\ \ What is the first action the project manager should take? A\) Develop a communications management plan. B\) Set up daily conference calls to track work. C\) Ask all team members to utilize an online task board. D\) Ask team members to align their work schedules. Correct Answer: A Rationale: Solution: A. Develop a communications management plan.\ As the team members are in different geographical locations and time zones, it is very important that the project manager develops an effective engagement strategy first. As a result, a review of team communication requirements is needed. This is done in the communication management plan.\ The other answer choices are incorrect. Setting up daily conference calls or asking the team members to align their work schedules may not be possible as the team is geographically distributed. Online task boards may provide updates on the tasks, but primarily, there is always a need for engaging with stakeholders to keep the communication happening between team members. Q118: While working on a long project with many changes, a project manager is informed by a team member that some users are uncomfortable with certain product functionalities released in the previous iteration.\ \ Which action should the project manager take? A\) Ensure that the team assignments are clear. B\) Obtain stakeholder feedback and team insights. C\) Communicate the changes to the team. D\) Update the change log and issue log. Correct Answer: B Rationale: Solution: B. Obtain stakeholder feedback and team insights.\ Obtaining stakeholder feedback and team insights on each release is part of an iterative approach to development, thus the project manager should do so. This enables alignment among stakeholder needs, expectations, and project objectives.\ The other answer choices are incorrect because they do not result in a change to the project and clarifying team assignments does not address the issue at hand. Q119: During the first few days of executing a six-week project, an impediment is discovered by the project team. The project manager worked with the team to develop and implement a strategy to resolve the issue. Afterward, the project manager discovers that, as a result, the project can now be completed in only three weeks.\ \ What should the project manager do? A\) Work with stakeholders to determine the best course of action. B\) Change the project scope to include additional deliverables. C\) Maintain the original six-week timeline and milestone schedule. D\) Reallocate the team to other projects to maximize efficiency. Correct Answer: A Rationale: Solution: A. Work with stakeholders to determine the best course of action.\ It is important to maintain alignment between the project and stakeholders. The project manager should be transparent about this new discovery by informing stakeholders and working with them to determine the best way to proceed. This will provide stakeholders with the information they need to make decisions and determine the best course of action.\ The other options are incorrect.\ Changing the project scope or reallocating the team may introduce risks and should only be considered after discussing the situation with stakeholders.\ Maintaining the original schedule fails to acknowledge the potential benefits of the schedule reduction and may be a waste of resources. Q120: A company has hired a project manager to implement an adaptive project framework. The project has made some progress, but the team is frustrated because the client does not provide feedback or participate in defining acceptance criteria.\ \ What could have caused this situation? A\) The development team has no experience in managing an adaptive project. B\) The client plans to implement the project and does not need to participate. C\) The client does not understand the importance of their involvement. D\) The development team has not produced a complete prototype. Correct Answer: C Rationale: Solution: C. The client does not understand the importance of their involvement\ The development team needs clear direction from the client regarding project requirements, outcomes, and expectations. In adaptive project environments, the need for ongoing feedback is greater because the project teams are exploring and developing product elements within specific increments. In this case, the client is not engaging in a way that aligns with an adaptive project framework. In an adaptive framework, requirements are often subject to a high level of uncertainty and volatility and are likely to change throughout the project. It is important that clients and development teams exchange information in a dynamic, co-creative process in order to facilitate timely, productive discussions and decision-making that leads to more stakeholder involvement and higher satisfaction.\ The other answer choices are incorrect because they do not address the issue of lack of client involvement. Even if the development team is new to adaptive projects, the client still needs to participate. The development team may not need to produce a prototype, but the client still needs to define acceptance criteria. Q121: A new project has a team divided between onsite and offshore locations. The project manager observed a rising conflict between the two parts of the team during project initiation.\ \ What should the project manager do FIRST? A\) Communicate the project scope to all team members. B\) Organize a face-to-face meeting during project kick-off. C\) Identify this conflict in the risk register log. D\) Record this conflict in the project issue log. Correct Answer: C Rationale: Solution: C. Identify this conflict in the risk register log.\ The best way for a project manager to address a rising conflict between onsite and offshore team members is to identify this conflict in the risk register log. This will help the project manager to track the conflict and to develop mitigation strategies.\ The other answer choices are also important, but they are not as effective in addressing the underlying conflict. By identifying the conflict in the risk register log, the project manager can develop a plan to mitigate the risk and ensure that the project is successful. Q122: A project team is working on a complex technology project. A competitor introduces a product with a new feature, forcing the team to make changes to keep their product from becoming obsolete. The team uses software that is outdated and cannot accommodate the development of the new feature. As a result, the team must utilize new-to-market software. The team is eager to get started, but the project manager realizes that the team does not have any experience with the new software.\ What should the project manager do to address this knowledge gap? A\) Train the team to use the new software. B\) Hire new team members with software knowledge. C\) Ignore the technological advancements. D\) Discuss the new features with the competitor. Correct Answer: A Rationale: Solution: A. Train the team to use the new software.\ It is important to make sure project team members understand and fulfill their roles and responsibilities. This can include identifying gaps in knowledge and skills as well as strategies to address those gaps through training. Supporting people through change and helping address obstacles that can prevent success is also required. Some training is project specific, such as a faster way to accomplish specific work, other learning can be shared throughout the organization, such as training users on how to work with a new software application. In this case, the software is outdated, cannot accommodate the development of the new feature, and is being replaced, so training should be provided to ensure that the team has the knowledge necessary for this and future projects.\ Hiring new team members is incorrect for several reasons. Because the software is new-to-market, it may be difficult to hire people with extensive experience and the budget may not be able to support the hiring of new team members.\ Ignoring technological advancement is incorrect because it is not the appropriate way to address this situation.\ Discussing the new feature with the competitor is not appropriate and does not address the knowledge gap. Q123: Part of a project has already been delivered as planned and on schedule. However, unclear requirements for some of the remaining requirements may negatively impact the scheduled completion.\ \ How should the project manager approach the issue? A\) Prioritize the most important features and clarify the vague requirements. B\) Initiate a change request for project sponsor approval for a scope change. C\) Log the issue and escalate it to the steering committee for a decision. D\) Acquire additional resources to complete all of the requirements on time. Correct Answer: A Rationale: Solution: A. Prioritize the most important features and clarify the vague requirements.\ When facing unclear requirements and the risk of not meeting the original deadline, it\'s important to prioritize the most critical or important features or aspects of the project. This approach allows the project manager to meet the original deadline to the greatest extent possible while also delivering the most important features.\ The other options are incorrect.\ Changing the scope of a project should be considered after other measures have been taken to address the issue.\ Escalating the issue to the steering committee should be a last resort when other options have been exhausted.\ Acquiring additional resources may not resolve the problem of unclear requirements, and it can also have budget and timeline implications. Q124: During a daily standup, some team members realized they were not all prioritizing the requirements in the same way. This could impact the current iteration\'s goals.\ \ What should the project manager do to resolve this issue? A\) Schedule an iteration review session and update backlog priorities. B\) Meet with the team and product owner to clarify priorities. C\) Ask the project sponsor to redefine the prioritized values. D\) Define priorities based on the urgency of requirements and risks. Correct Answer: B Rationale: Solution: B. Meet with the team and product owner to clarify priorities.\ The project manager should organize a meeting with the team and the product owner to clarify and prioritize requirements. Agile techniques are valuable for focusing on and resolving competing priorities through direct interaction with the product owner. This will help the team better understand the value of requirements added to the product in each iteration and optimize the flow of value.\ The other options are incorrect because they are not the most effective way to resolve the issue of team members not prioritizing requirements in the same way Q125: A key project sponsor requires monthly progress reports and assigns a contact person to communicate with the project manager. Soon after, the contact person begins to request weekly reports and demands that they contain extra details. Despite delivering these frequent and highly detailed reports, the project manager finds out that the sponsor is complaining of non-receipt of the monthly progress reports.\ How should the project manager address this situation? A\) Compile all previous reports, summarize them, and send the summary directly to the project sponsor. B\) Schedule a meeting with the project sponsor and contact person to address the communication gaps. C\) Explain the content and frequency of progress reporting to the contact person and the project sponsor. D\) Provide the project sponsor with full access to the company’s project management dashboard. Correct Answer: B Rationale: Solution: B. Schedule a meeting with the project sponsor and contact person to address the communication gaps.\ The information needs of the project sponsor are not being met, and that must be addressed. Stakeholder engagement entails working collaboratively with stakeholders to resolve issues, prioritize, problem solve, and make decisions. The project manager should analyze the needs of the project sponsor, but this cannot be done without the presence of the contact person. The project manager should discuss the issue with both parties to remove the communication gap and clarify how often status reports are to be delivered and what they should contain.\ The other options are incorrect because they do not solve the issue at hand.\ Summarizing past reports and sending them directly to the sponsor is inappropriate. This action does not address the communication gap and does not include the contact person.\ Explaining the content and frequency of progress reporting does not consider the stakeholder\'s needs and does not resolve the issue of the communication gap.\ Providing full access to the project management dashboard is inappropriate because the stakeholder may not have the time or expertise to extract the information they require. Q126: A project manager is required to obtain approval for project requirements before proceeding to the delivery stage. During the project\'s execution, the project manager realizes that the initial estimates were unrealistic and the project will take much longer to complete. The project manager will have to obtain approval for more realistic project requirements.\ \ What should the project manager do to mitigate the problem and keep the project on track while waiting for approval? A\) Reprioritize project deliverables to enable phased delivery in increments. B\) Divide the project team into distinct units focusing on different components. C\) Survey the project team to see if anyone can work overtime to meet the deadline. D\) Update the schedule baseline so that it is based on realistic estimates. Correct Answer: A Rationale: Solution: A. Reprioritize project deliverables to enable phased delivery in increments.\ Breaking down and reprioritizing project deliverables allows the project to continue progressing while waiting for approval on more realistic requirements. Reprioritizing project deliverables allows the project manager to identify critical components and deliver tangible results, even if the overall timeline needs adjustment. This allows the team to focus on delivering high-priority features first, then gradually adding components or features based on updated, more realistic estimates.\ The other options are less suitable for ensuring successful project delivery.\ Dividing the team into separate units may not help to keep the project on track and may have an adverse effect and could complicate communication, coordination, knowledge transfer, and dependencies that could hamper productivity.\ Relying on team members working overtime is not a sustainable solution and may lead to burnout, decreased productivity, and potential quality issues.\ Updating the schedule based on more realistic estimates focuses on planning but doesn\'t provide a strategy for mitigating the impact of unrealistic initial estimates while keeping the project on track. The project manager will have to obtain approval for more realistic project requirements before updating the schedule. Q127: A firm is currently facing a cost overrun and needs liquidity to overcome the financial crisis. A critical project is underway and is expected to bring a reasonable monetary return for the firm, yet, the project is over budget. Senior management needs to assess the project\'s alignment with organizational objectives and requests that the project manager provide a report on the matter. What should the project manager do to prepare a report for management? A\) Examine and evaluate documents to gain insights and extract meaningful information. B\) Compare actual results to planned ones by analyzing the differences between actual performance and budgeted values. C\) Identify and analyze patterns, tendencies, or changes in data over a specific period of time. D\) Assess the economic feasibility of the project, by comparing the costs with the benefits expected by senior management. Correct Answer: B Rationale: Solution: B. Compare actual results to planned ones by analyzing the differences between actual performance and budgeted values.\ Comparing actual results to planned ones allows the project manager to assess the project\'s financial performance and understand where it deviates from the budgeted values, helping to identify the reasons for cost overruns and evaluate alignment with organizational objectives. Once the project manager has identified the specific areas where the project is over budget and the root causes of these overruns, they can develop recommendations for addressing these problems and getting the project back on track.\ Examining and evaluating documents is incorrect because it lacks specificity in addressing the financial crisis and the need to assess the project\'s alignment with organizational objectives.\ Identifying and analyzing patterns may be useful for identifying broader trends in the project\'s performance, but it is not the most directly relevant action to take when cost overruns and alignment with organizational objectives are the primary concerns.\ Assessing the economic feasibility of the project is incorrect because it focuses more on the overall economic viability of the project rather than the immediate concern of addressing cost overruns and assessing alignment with organizational objectives. Q128: A project manager notices that a critical team member has lost interest in the project. How should the project manager address this issue? A\) Escalate this issue to the human resources (HR) manager. B\) Replace the team member with a more interested team member. C\) Schedule a meeting with the team member to identify the cause. D\) Increase the team member\'s salary. Correct Answer: C Rationale: Solution: C. Schedule a meeting with the team member to identify the cause\ The first thing the project manager should do is determine the real cause of the team member\'s lack of interest. Then, the project manager will be able to motivate them appropriately..\ The other answer choices are incorrect because they suggest the project manager take action without assessing the situation first.