People Domain - Topic C & D

When selecting a project, the company looks at different factors that could impact their selection. What document best identifies the need for a project?   

• Project Benefits Report

• Business Case

• Project Charter

• Project Management Plan

Answer explanation

The business case is used to show the benefits of the project. The project charter is used to authorize the project. The project management plan outlines how to execute, monitor and control, and close the project. The project benefits report is a made-up term.

While managing the stakeholders’ engagement, the project manager notices that some of the team members are not respectful to other team members. This has led to a few conflicts between the members. What can the project manager best do about this?

• Inform the sponsor

• Stop the project

• Release the team

• Implement ground rules

Answer explanation

Ground rules are usually set within the team charter and are the general rules that the team will follow in order to effectively work with each other. These generally include behavioral rules. Before releasing the team, the project manager should try to resolve the problem. Conflicts within a project team should not be a reason to stop a project. If you were to inform the sponsor, they would generally tell you to solve this problem

In closing her project, Theresa wants to ensure that the exit criteria for the project were met. What should she consult?

• Deliverables

• Project charter

• Change log

• Business Case

Answer explanation

The project charter will contain information about the exit criteria for the project. The business case will validate that the business case was fulfilled, but not specific exit criteria. The change log will only validate that changes were resolved, not the project’s acceptance criteria. While deliverables will inform that product requirements were met, they will not inform you about the meeting of the project’s exit criteria. 

The project planning has been completed for the office renovation project. The project management plan has been approved by the sponsor and senior management. What would the project manager do next?   

• Update the functional managers

• Get all deliverables accepted 

• Inform senior management 

• Hold a kickoff meeting

Answer explanation

A project kickoff meeting is generally done after planning a large project to bring the team together and inform them of the project requirements. There is no need to inform senior management, as they approved the plan.

The project manager is working on a project for which the scope, time, and cost are known during the early parts of the project planning. What life cycle will the project manager consider on this project?   

• Iterative life cycle

• PMBOK life cycle

• Predictive life cycle

• Straightforward life cycle

Answer explanation

A predictive life cycle is used when the scope, time, and cost are generally determined in the early phases of the project. In this life cycle, changes to the scope must be managed correctly; if not, there may be scope creep. In an iterative life cycle, the scope is generally known in the early parts of the project, but the cost is updated as the project progresses.

Max is a developer on a team that is developing software for lawyers. There is no set scope for this software, but the team does have a budget and deadline. The team meets daily for about five minutes to discuss what they have accomplished, what they hope to accomplish, and anything that may be standing in their way. There is a person who facilitates the daily meetings, removes any blockers a teammate may have and encourages the team to keep making progress. What kind of project methodology approach does Max’s team have?

• Scrum

• Kanban

• Predictive

• Plan-driven

Answer explanation

This is an example of a Scrum project methodology. In Scrum, the team meets daily for a Scrum meeting to discuss what work everyone is doing and to work through any blockers. There is a Scrum Master who is responsible for facilitating this meeting and motivating the team. Kanban is not evident in this example because there is no evidence of how project work is accomplished. This would not be plan-driven nor predictive because there is no set scope for this project. 

Brittany’s IT project is going well. She meets with her team about once a week to review a board that contains tickets that represent work items. There are columns that a card can fall under Backlog, In Progress, Testing, and Done. When a developer is ready to start work, they pull a ticket into their workflow from the Backlog pipeline into the In Progress pipeline. When the ticket has been coded by a developer, a QA Analyst pulls the ticket into the Testing column. After testing, the ticket is closed and goes into the Done column. What kind of project management approach does Brittany’s project have?

• Kanban

• Hybrid

• Scrum

• Predictive

Answer explanation

This is a clear example of a Kanban project. The workflow presented describes a Kanban board in which work items are pulled into various statuses by the people doing the work. There is no evidence to suggest that this project is a Scrum, hybrid, nor predictive project.

While working on a project, the project manager asks to incorporate more of the user feedback  into the deliverables. In an agile project, where do the customers give the team feedback on the product?

• Sprint review 

• Release feedback

• Sprint planning meeting

• Retrospective

Answer explanation

During a sprint review, the customers review the partially finished product and give the team their feedback. A sprint planning meeting is held to determine what requirements will be met in the next sprint. A retrospective is conducted to capture the lessons learned from the sprint. Feedback release is a made-up term.

You are managing your first virtual team. What will be the most helpful towards managing a diverse, virtual team that works well together?

• Hosting a team building event at the start of a three-year-long project.

• Mandating that the team attend every status check-in meeting.

• Developing team ground rules with the project team.

• Have the entire team work overlapping hours.

Answer explanation

Of these options, the most helpful tool for managing a virtual team is developing ground rules. Ground rules, especially those developed by the team itself, serve to prevent conflicts in the team. Hosting a team building event at the start of a project is a great idea. However, this will not sustain team cohesion over the life of a long project. Additionally, mandating the team’s status check-in attendance and work hours may seem helpful, however, this will not ensure that the team will work well together.

Liza is the project manager responsible for the success of a five-phased project. The project is mid-way through the third phase when she realizes that two major requirements compete with one another. What is should Liza use to help evaluate what requirement is best for her project?

• The requirement that will generate the most ROI

• The requirement that is stipulated from a stakeholder with more experience

• The requirement that will shorten the schedule

• The requirement that is most aligned to the project’s business case

Answer explanation

Liza should work with the requirement that is most aligned to the business case. The requirement that will generate the most ROI, the requirement that will shorten the schedule, and the requirement coming from the stakeholder with more experience all have the potential to be unrelated to the project’s rationale. The requirement that is most aligned to the project’s business case is the requirement that is most closely related to the project’s rationale.