PMP 380 mock questions - Chapter 2 (Process)

A project manager is managing a project with a distributed team, fixed budget, and tight deadlines.

Knowing that they're adopting a predictive approach, what should the project manager do to avoid any scope creep and keep their team focused on delivering a product that meets requirements?

• Ask the project team to skip small requirements so that they can only focus on big and important ones

• Ensure that all alterations to the scope are authorized through a formal process

• Prevent stakeholders from directly interacting with the project team

• 1. Scope creep cannot be avoided in a predictive project, therefore the project manager should adopt an agile approach instead

Answer explanation

The project manager can avoid scope creep by adhering to the agreed-upon change management process.

Change management processes have to be set up front and should be very straightforward.

Essentially, when a change is suggested, it should be reviewed, approved or rejected, and then incorporated into the project plan if it's approved (PMBOK 7th edition, page 87).

Requirements shouldn't be skipped, small or big.

Often, it's not appropriate to prevent the stakeholders from communicating with the project team.

Not all projects are fit for the agile approach, therefore it's not appropriate to change the project's development approach just to prevent scope creep.

During the process of hiring an electrical engineer, a project manager only conducted one behavioral interview.

Later on, they discovered that the candidate's technical skills do not meet the job requirements.

Therefore, they decided that henceforth they will support the recruitment process with a technical test and an additional technical interview.

What Fisk response strategy did the project manager apply?

• 1. Mitigate

• 1. Accept

• 1. Transfer

• 1. Avoid

Answer explanation

In the described scenario, hiring an unqualified engineer is the risk.

Since they were aware of this risk, the project manager took measures to mitigate it.

Mitigation involves decreasing the probability of a risk occurrence, or lowering its impact when it does occur (PMBOK 7th edition, page 123).

Even with the addition of a technical test and an interview, there is still a chance that the candidate might not meet the job requirements (the test could be too easy or generic for instance), that's why "Avoid" can't be the right answer.

A project manager was asked to lead a project of a flight booking website development.

The airline requested that the website should be able to support one thousand visitors per hour.

This condition is also known as a(n): (Select two)

• 1. Requirement

• 1. Scope

• 1. Acceptance criterion

• 1. Deliverable

Answer explanation

The condition of supporting one thousand visitors per hour is considered a requirement and an acceptance criterion for the project.

A requirement is defined as «a condition or capability that is necessary to be present in a product, service, or result to satisfy a business need." (PMBOK Guide 7th edition, page 82).

Acceptance criteria are conditions required to be met before deliverables are accepted.

This condition cannot be considered a deliverable or scope on its own.

Deliverables refer to quantifiable products or services that must be delivered by the end of the project, i.e., the flight booking website.

The project scope, on the other hand, represents the overall amount of work required to achieve the project's main objectives.

In order to gather end-user feedback, a senior project manager of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project discusses several ideas with the project team and then they draw the following diagram.

What tool are they using?

• 1. Mind map

• 1. Affinity diagram

• 1. Decision tree

• 1. Data representation

Answer explanation

The project manager and their team used the mind mapping technique. In a mind map, several options get discussed and then visually organized.

The illustrated diagram is not a decision tree because it doesn't display of help the team choose the best decision among the different alternatives for gathering end-user feedback.

On the other hand, this diagram is not an affinity diagram either, as it does not classify a large number of ideas into groups.

Options A, B, and C are all data representation methods, which makes option D "Data representation" too generic to be considered the correct answer.

After releasing the product, the organization faced poor quality claims from the customer.

What kind of non-conformance costs the organization might incur?

• Internal costs

• 1. Appraisal costs

• 1. External costs

• 1. Risks and issue response costs

Answer explanation

Money spent during or after the project execution due to poor quality is referred to as the Cost of Non-Conformance. Internal and External Failure Costs fall under Non-Conformance Costs.

Internal failure costs are failure costs that are associated with defects found by the project team before the product gets released, such as Rework or Scrap costs.

External Failure Costs, on the other hand, are failure costs associated with defects found by the customer, meaning costs incurred after the product is delivered to the customer, such as costs of Warranty work, Liabilities, Lost business, etc.

A project manager is leading a high-risk project that has recently suffered from fluctuating performance and a high defect rate.

During a meeting, the sponsor asks for an overview of work performance and where the project is currently standing.

Which of the following documents should the project manager send to the sponsor?

• 1. Quality report

• 1. Status report

• 1. Risk report

• 1. Project management plan

Answer explanation

The status report is a work performance report that includes information on the project's progress and status (PMBOK 7th edition, page 190).

Even though the project is at high risk and is encountering quality issues, the sponsor didn't explicitly request a detailed risk or quality report.

The sponsor asked for work performance information to help them gain insight into the project situation and make better decisions.

A status report can include information about Earned Value (EV), trend lines and forecasts, reserve burndown charts, defect and risk summaries, etc.

The project management plan is not a reporting document; it's a planning document that is elaborated in the project planning phase.

Astral Bank is well-known for offering excellent online services to its customers.

As part of their new project, customers will be able to electronically submit a loan request.

Three weeks into project execution, the project manager discovers that an important resource has been over-allocated.

This project is in need of:

• Resource leveling

• Resource smoothing

• Resource calendar

• Resource loading

Answer explanation

Resource leveling is the process of balancing resource use in order to address resource over-allocation.

Resource smoothing, on the other hand, is performed to achieve a more consistent resource utilization over a period of time.

Even though resource leveling and resource smoothing are both resource optimization techniques, they are used for different reasons.

If the Astral Bank project should not exceed certain predefined resource limits, then smoothing would be the right technique to use.

A Resource calendar showcases team members' availability.

Resource loading is the total assigned hours of work divided by the number of hours required to complete it.

In the described scenario, the key resource is over-allocated, so their load is over 100%.

The project manager could use a resource calendar and resource loading as tools and techniques to help them achieve resource leveling.

An experienced project manager never initiates a project without conducting a kick-off meeting.

What's the purpose of conducting such a meeting?

• 1. Informing and engaging stakeholders to ensure their commitment

• 1. Obtaining approval to proceed with project execution

• 1. Ensuring the allocation of the required project
     resources

• 1. Reassuring the stakeholders that execution is on track

Answer explanation

A project kickoff meeting is an opportunity to get the project team, sponsor, and stakeholders all on the same page.

Its purpose is to communicate the objectives of the project, ensure the team's commitment to the project, and explain the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder (PMBOK 7th edition, page 179).

In a large project, the kick-off meeting is usually associated with the end of the planning phase and the start of project execution.

However, for small projects, this meeting can take place shortly after initiation, in the Planning Process Group.

It's an informational rather than a decisional meeting, which means that the project manager doesn't seek approval to proceed with the execution during this meeting.

One year into managing a predictive project, and during the completion and closure process, the project manager faces a key stakeholder's refusal to sign off the deliverables due to non-compliance claims.

What can the project manager do to ensure stakeholder acceptance?

• 1. Issue a change request

• 1. Conduct a sprint retrospective

• Change the SOW

• 1. Conduct a variance analysis

Answer explanation

Variance analysis is a technique used at the end of a project or phase in order to identify any deviation in deliverables or difference between actual and planned behaviors.

This method is used to determine the cause and magnitude of the difference between baseline and actual performance, as well as retain control over the project (PMBOK 7th edition, page 177).

Before starting the project, and after identifying all of the individuals and groups involved or affected by the project, the project manager took a step further by classifying stakeholders according to their level of power, interest, and influence.

This step is referred to as:

• 1. Stakeholder analysis

• 1. Stakeholder identification

• 1. Stakeholder monitoring

• 1. Stakeholder engagement

Answer explanation

Since the question states that stakeholders were already identified and that the project didn't start yet, stakeholder analysis is the right answer.

Stakeholder analysis refers to the classification of all project stakeholders in order to ensure efficient engagement later on.

Stakeholder engagement takes place in the execution process group and it involves: communicating and collaborating with stakeholders to meet their expectations, addressing issues, and fostering appropriate stakeholder involvement.

Stakeholder monitoring implies assessing stakeholders' satisfaction and whether their engagement plan is effective or it needs to be updated (PMBOK 7th edition, pages 11-12-14).