Quiz Night 5 OCT

A new program consists of five projects, each performed by a scrum team. Throughout the program life cycle, various deliverables from each of the scrum teams will serve as inputs to other teams.

What is the best strategy for each of the scrum masters to navigate this complexity?

• Seek the program manager's approval of the deliverables before they move from one team to another

• Apply systems thinking throughout the project life cycle

• Request that the product owner prioritizes the least complex user stories in the program backlog

• Enhance simplicity by minimizing the amount of work not done

Answer explanation

Project leaders need to continually evaluate and navigate project complexity. One common source of complexity is system behavior, which is the result of dynamic interdependencies. The scenario describes a program comprised of five projects, each performed by a scrum team. Based on the information provided, various deliverables from each of the teams will serve as inputs to other teams, thus introducing interdependencies between the projects within the program. This, consequently, would increase the complexity of the projects. System thinking involves taking a holistic view of how the project and program elements interact with each other. Understanding how their project and its deliverables will impact the other projects and the program as a whole is crucial for each scrum master. Applying systems thinking throughout the project life cycle is one way of navigating this increased complexity.

Resource costs continue to rise and are expected to increase further.

What can the project team do to control the costs?

• Hold the cost baseline steady

• Conduct an alternatives analysis

• Request more funds from the customer

• Utilize management reserves

Answer explanation

As resource costs rise over the course of the project, the project team must seek ways to control the costs to remain within the boundaries established for the project. There are many ways to do this. Of the four possibilities presented in this question, one technique is logical - to determine and analyze the alternatives. This technique is often referred to as alternatives analysis and used as part of the Monitor and Control Project Work process described in the scenario. For example, the team can consider various options for the resources, such as using different materials, using fewer materials, using a different supplier, removing the need to use the resource at all, and so on. The best option would need to be determined and discussed by the team as they conduct the alternatives analysis. Based on the results of the analysis, more actions to control the costs should follow.

A vendor has been contracted by a business to develop a marketing campaign for their new product. Some of the contract items are fixed, such as warranties and arbitrations, and are locked in a master services agreement (MSA). Others, such as services rates and product descriptions, are subject to change.

Which of the following should the business use to secure contractual relationships with the vendor for these subject-to-change items?

• Work breakdown structure

• Change control board

• Cost-reimbursable contract

• Schedule of services

Answer explanation

The scenario implies the business is concerned with the processes of the Project Procurement Management Knowledge Area. The challenge in the scenario described is that some of the contracted items that the business is planning to outsource to a vendor are fixed while others are subject to change. Under these circumstances, applying a hybrid project management approach for the contracting work may be the best course of action. In this case, rather than formalizing an entire contracting relationship in a single document, parties to an agreement can achieve more flexibility by describing different aspects in different documents. Mostly fixed items, such as warranties and arbitrations, can be locked in a master agreement, as described in the scenario, while items that are subject to change, such as services rates and product descriptions, can be documented in a schedule of services, making the schedule of services the best answer to the question asked.

Which of the following is an output of the Plan Stakeholder Engagement process?

• Stakeholder register

• Risk management plan

• Stakeholder engagement plan

• Change Log

Answer explanation

Plan Stakeholder Engagement is the process of developing approaches to involve project stakeholders based on their needs, expectations, interests, and potential impact on the project. The single output of this process is the stakeholder engagement plan, which is a component of the project management plan that identifies the strategies and actions required to promote the productive involvement of the project's stakeholders in both decision making and execution.

An agile team is working to meet an aggressive release goal. The scrum master has recently noticed that the performance of one of the developers has dropped and the developer seems to be participating less in group discussions.

What should the scrum master do?

• Request the rest of the team members to backfill the workload of the developer

• Discuss the developer's performance issues at the sprint retrospective meeting

• Meet with the developer privately and try to determine what motivates them

• Look for a replacement because agile teams require the best talent available

Answer explanation

The situation presented in the question is of an agile team working to meet an aggressive release schedule. At this critical time, the scrum master notices that the performance of one of the team members has dropped, and the team member seems to be communicating less in group discussions. The scrum master should ask the question, what would a true servant leader do in such a situation? The scrum master could respond in many ways. However, there is only one choice that is consistent with the agile mindset, specifically with one of the Agile Manifesto values, that states, "We value individuals and interactions over process and tools". The humanistic approach is to have a conversation with the team member privately and in confidence and determine the reason behind the drop in the team member's performance. Understanding what motivates the team member could lead to a potential solution.

A project manager has ongoing issues with a pre-qualified seller who has repeatedly failed to meet quality standards outlined by the company. The seller has also been unresponsive when the project manager has tried to resolve the quality issues. The project manager wants to ensure that this seller will not be considered again for future contracts.

What is the best course of action for the project manager to take in this situation?

• Recommend removing the seller from the prequalified sellers list

• Capture the information in the issue log

• Update the project management plan

• Conduct a procurement audit

Answer explanation

The question implies that the Control Procurements process is being performed, and one of the organizational process assets associated with this process is prequalified seller lists. Prequalified seller lists contain potential sellers who are previously qualified (approved). These lists can be updated as an output of the Control Procurements process, and sellers can be disqualified and removed from the lists based on poor performance, such as the one described in the scenario. Therefore, of the choices provided, to ensure that this seller will not be considered again for future contracts, recommending the removal the seller from the prequalified sellers list is the best course of action for the project manager to take in this situation.

You were informed that one of your project team members falsified the certifications on her resume. You verified the information as accurate and want to terminate the team member's employment.

What should you do first?

• Reprimand the employee in front of the team

• Share your findings with the informant

• Immediately terminate the employee for cause

• Review the enterprise environmental factors

Answer explanation

The performing organization's human resource management policies regarding hiring and termination represent one of the enterprise environmental factors (EEFs) which may influence the Develop Team process implied by the scenario. The human resource management policies and procedures should provide guidance on the criteria as well as the steps which must be taken in order to terminate an employee's employment. Therefore, of the available choices, before taking any action regarding the team member's employment, you should first review the enterprise environmental factors, specifically, the human resource management policies that specify hiring and termination procedures.

During project planning, the project team rigorously defined the project scope. During project execution, a senior engineer calls the project manager and suggests a simpler and more efficient design that could benefit the project.

What should the project manager do next?

• Nothing, no changes are needed since the project scope was rigorously defined

• Discuss the change with the project sponsor

• Evaluate the impact of the proposed change on the project constraints

• Ask that the engineer submit a change request

Answer explanation

A change request is a document to record an adjustment to project scope, schedule, cost, etc. Changes may include corrective action, preventive action, or defect repair, among others. The engineer is proposing what she believes to be a valid design change which can be further evaluated by the change control board. Although changes may be initiated verbally, they should be recorded in written form and entered into the change management and/or configuration management system. Thus, of the available choices, asking the engineer to create and submit a change request is what the project manager should do next, and is, therefore, the best answer to the question asked.

Midway into project execution, a competitor is about to release a product similar to the one planned to be delivered by your project. If the competitor launches their product to the market before you, your project will be deemed as failed.

With a response prepared to run some of the development activities in parallel, what should you do next?

• Compress the schedule

• Meet with the team to assess the Risk

• Terminate the project

• Request managment reserves

Answer explanation

When identified project risks are realized, project managers and their team implement the planned risk responses. The question reads, 'with a response prepared', implying the risk of the competitor releasing a similar product has been identified, and the response has been planned. The risk response was to run some of the development activities in parallel which is the essence of fast tracking. Fast tracking is a schedule compression technique in which activities or phases that are normally done in sequence are performed in parallel for at least a portion of their duration. By compressing the schedule, the project will likely be completed earlier than planned and hopefully ahead of their competitor. Therefore, of the available choices, implementing the planned risk response, i.e. compressing the schedule, is what you should do next.

You are a project manager leading an online conference call with stakeholders regarding project status. In the call, a few stakeholders indicate they are not sufficiently updated on project status and request a bi-weekly email be sent to them with cost and schedule status reports. You realize this request is a change in the communication requirements, which would also change the form of communication outlined in the communications management plan.

Where should you initially capture this request?

• Requirements Documentation

• Issue Log

• Communications management plan

• Stakeholder engagement plan

Answer explanation

The scenario suggests you are in the Monitor Communications process which is concerned with ensuring the information needs of the project stakeholders are met. This process often results in the need for adjustment, action, and intervention on communications activities defined in the communications management plan. This need is typically expressed by a change request as in the scenario described. Ideally, a change request would be submitted and recorded in the change log. However, this answer choice is not provided. Therefore, we have to select an option of those offered which represents the best answer to the question asked. The question implies there is an issue in project communications. A change in the form of communication outlined in the communications management plan can be considered an issue and, therefore, should first be recorded in the issue log. Updates to project documents, such as an issue log, are among the outputs of the Monitor Communications process. Therefore, of the available choices, capturing the stakeholders' request in the issue log is the best answer to the question asked.