PMI SH - Support Team Performance by Providing Adequate Training

Question

A project manager engaged in the delivery of a global project is in the process of recruiting a project team. After the team is formed, what should the project manager do?

• Send a welcome email and host a team introductory event with the team members so they get to know each other.

• Send a project management plan and charter to team members to familiarize them with project goals and procedures.

• Arrange a meeting for team members to discuss any concerns regarding requirements and project scope.

• Send the team members a survey to learn more about each member, share the results via email.

Answer explanation

Solution: A. Send a welcome email and host a team introductory event with the team members so they get to know each other

A project manager should strive to have team members that know each other in order to collaborate more efficiently. By sending a welcome email and hosting a team introductory meeting, the team members will get to know each other first.

The other choices are incorrect because they are not the first step in the process.

A large corporation is transforming itself from a predictive to agile approach. A project team with knowledge of agile practices is experiencing significant conflicts with the executives regarding the processes to be followed.

How should these conflicts be resolved?

• Negotiate with the executives and agree on a process.

• Train the executives on agile practices.

• Include the executives in team retrospectives.

• Request that the executives use agile practices.

Answer explanation

Solution: B. Train the executives on agile practices

Many a times, it is felt that executives know all, but as key stakeholders, they also need to have the Agile mindset and training at the beginning of digital transformation. Hence this option is correct.

Negotiating with executives or including them in team retrospectives or requesting the executives to use agile processes can be possible only after the executives are trained on agile processes. Hence all these options are incorrect.

A midsize project has the objective of developing an innovative product with changing requirements. Several team members are unavailable for two weeks per month during the duration of the project. The project manager realizes that the cost of quality increases substantially during those periods. However, the team velocity is stable.

What should the project manager do to address this issue?

• Add resources to the team.

• Expand the testing effort.

• Provide cross-training.

• Increase the sprint duration.

Answer explanation

Solution: C. Provide cross-training.

As the resources will be away often for the duration of the project, and team velocity is stable, it indicates a gap in the skills and capabilities of the team, that could be solved with cross-training to increase output quality. Increasing the team's adaptability ensures that they can cover for each other when some team members are unavailable. Project teams that are able to adapt the way they work to the environment and the situation are more effective.

The other options may not be feasible and do not effectively address the issues.

Adding resources to the team may not be possible and does not address the increasing cost of quality. 

Expanding the testing effort does not address the issue of resource unavailability and the increasing cost of quality.

Increasing the sprint duration could delay the project and activities are more costly to modify as the life cycle progresses

PMBOK Guide Seventh Edition (2022) /// [2.2.3 HIGH-PERFORMING PROJECT TEAMS]

A team member approaches the project manager immediately after the end of the project meeting about his need for help to complete a late-due-date task.

What should the project manager do?

• Ignore the team member's request, and ask for double the efforts to complete the task

• Discuss the issue during the daily meeting, and decide the course of action with the team

• Ask the team member to step out from the task and re-allocate the task to someone else

• Ask a junior team member to help in the completion of the task on the due date

Answer explanation

Solution: B. Discuss the issue during the daily meeting, and decide the course of action with the team

The project manager is always responsible for balancing both tasks and relationships between team members. Discussing the issue during the daily meeting and deciding the next course of action with the team is the ideal choice. It is important to get input from the team on how to best address the issue. The team may have some creative ideas that the project manager has not considered.

The other answer choices are incorrect. Ignoring the team member's request is not a good way to build trust and rapport. It also sends the message that the project manager is not interested in hearing concerns from the team.
Asking the team member to step out from the task and re-allocating the task to someone else may be seen as unfair to the team member. It may also be difficult to find someone else who is available to take on the task at such short notice.
Asking a junior team member to help in the completion of the task on the due date may not be the best use of the junior team member's time. It is important to give junior team members opportunities to learn and grow, but it is also important to ensure that they are not overloaded with work.

A project manager is working on an agile project with a cross-functional team. The project manager is informed that some team members typically raise additional requirements that are not in the approved scope.

What should the project manager do to address this expected behavior?

• Coach the team to manage scope using the appropriate framework.

• Escalate to the sponsor and request replacement team members.

• Conduct daily standup meetings with the team and stakeholders.

• Explain that requirements cannot be changed without approval.

Answer explanation

Solution: A. Coach the team to manage scope using the appropriate framework.

Coaching the team to manage scope by using the standard agile methodology is the best option. By teaching the team how to manage scope effectively, the project manager can help them avoid scope creep in the future.

The other options are incorrect, 

Escalation and team replacement should only be considered for severe instances that threaten the success of the project. 

Agile teams are meant to be self-organizing and daily standup meetings are typically run by the team. By personally conducting daily standups, the project manager could confuse and disempower the team.

Working in a continuous delivery environment, a project leader notices that one of the key team members is experiencing low morale, affecting the project delivery and causing a serious delay in the project schedule. While discussing the issue with the team member, the project leader discovers the team member's attitude is because of uncertainty in relation to the performance review set of criteria.

What should the project leader have done to avoid this situation?

• Explain the ground rules of the team.

• Inform the team about incentives and rewards.

• Share feedback and performance results.

• Define the team-building strategies.

Answer explanation

Solution: C. Share feedback and performance results.

To avoid this situation, the project leader should share feedback and performance results with the team member. Providing appropriate feedback is an effective and incredibly powerful tool that should be used to the project manager's advantage to deliver a successful project. Providing effective feedback to project team members on time in a continuous delivery environment will minimize poor performance and maximize desired performance early.

A marketing team is developing ideas in order to revamp an existing product. The marketing executive reaches out to the project manager to make sure that necessary measures are in place for a successful launch.

What should the project manager focus on?

• Ensuring that the scope management plan is in place to cover all related objectives.

• Ensuring that the team is also focused on the overall change management plan.

• Planning for regular project updates to cover the status of critical deliverables.

• Determining and aligning performance indicators that will help in assessing successful delivery.

Answer explanation

Solution: D. Determining and aligning performance indicators that will help in assessing successful delivery

In order to measure successful delivery and completion of any initiative, it is critical to determine performance indicators beforehand and is the correct answer.

The other choices are incorrect as they do not represent performance indicators.

A company's project management office (PMO) is incorporating more adaptive technologies and has hired a new project manager with hybrid project management experience. The team is slow in adopting the new methodology and has not been updating project artifacts in a timely manner.

Which action should the project manager take to improve the team's performance?

• Send an email asking all project team members to complete updates at the end of the day.

• Set up a training session for all project team members.

• Reach out to the functional managers for support.

• Speak individually with each project team member about making the needed updates.

Answer explanation

Solution: B. Set up a training session for all project team members

Any new team takes time to adapt to new process and methodology. Setting up training session will help the team.

Electronically making artifacts available is a variation to traditional war room geographically dispersed team

A new warehouse facility is under construction. The project manager implements team development efforts such as training that will result in a lower defect ratio.

What should the project manager do next?

• Introduce a training program.

• Update the resource management plan.

• Increase quality control reviews.

• Add training costs to the budget.

Answer explanation

Solution: B. Update the resource management plan

PMBoK Sixth Edition Chapter 9 states: "9.4.2.6 TRAINING

Training includes all activities designed to enhance the competencies of the project team members. Training can be formal or informal. Examples of training methods include classroom, online, computer-based, on-the-job training from another project team member, mentoring, and coaching. If project team members lack the necessary management or technical skills, such skills can be developed as part of the project work. Scheduled training takes place as stated in the resource management plan. Unplanned training takes place as a result of observation, conversation, and project performance appraisals conducted during management of the project team. Training costs could be included in the project budget or supported by the performing organization if the added skills may be useful for future projects. It may be performed by in-house or by external trainers"

The Resource Management Plan as developed now need to be updated with this new training plan as determined by the Project Manager.

The correct answer is: "Update the resource management plan"

The Distractors are valid and accepted

Some team members assigned to a new technology project expressed their lack of knowledge about the technology and the challenges they will face during implementation. What should the project manager do?

• Due to the project due dates, replace the members with more knowledgeable staff.

• Ask the team members to do some research and self-learning efforts about the technology.

• Reallocate the members to work on and complete different tasks for which they have experience.

• Reassure the team members that a training path is in place to learn the new technology.

Answer explanation

Solution: D. Reassure the team members that a training path is in place to learn the new technology

The project manager is responsible of providing opportunities to hone the skills and knowledge of the team members to increase the mastery of the team performance.

Replacing the members with more knowledgeable staff will take time for recruiting and forming the team as well

even though asking team members to self learning may be helpful that is not that effective us instructor lead training

Reallocate the members to work on the tasks for which they have experience is not going to help us to implement the project successfully