PMI SH - Determine Appropriate Project Methodology/methods and P

The service provider and their client agree on about 80% of the scope of a project contract they are working on for the delivery of marketing content. The client has a fixed budget and target completion date and wants to get the most business value from the project as possible by increasing the scope based on a best-effort delivery close to the end of the project. What should the project manager do?

• Create the contract based on the agreed scope and plan addendum changes.

• Ensure that a change control process is documented in the contract.

• Propose a dynamic scope contract option and add a fixed number of iterations.

• Increase the number of resources in the contract to deliver the requirements.

Answer explanation

Solution: C. Propose a dynamic scope contract option and add a fixed number of iterations.
Best-effort changes at the end of a project can be delivered at a fixed cost by specifying a fixed number of increments where additional scope can be prioritized. Strict change control or addendums would risk missing the completion date. Adding resources is not necessary if the scope is on a best-effort basis.
The other answer choices are incorrect.
Creating the contract based on the agreed-upon scope and planning an addendum is not flexible enough to accommodate the client's need to increase the scope of the project.
Adding a change control process to the contract is not enough to address the client's need for a flexible scope.
Increasing the number of resources may not be possible due to fixed budget constraints.

A project manager is managing an agile project. The project sponsor asks the project manager whether agile supports entering a fixed-price contract with the customer instead of a time-and-materials contract. The customer needs a fixed-price contract to support their concrete business goals.

What should the project manager's response to the sponsor be?

• Inform the customer that agile does not support fixed-price contracts, as it favors customer collaboration over contract negotiation.

• Inform the customer that agile supports only time-and-materials contracts, as scope is not fixed in agile.

• Agree with the customer to move forward with fixed-price contract, as there is no such restriction in agile.

• Influence the customer to use a time-and-materials contract, as the cost overrun of this contract lies with the customer.

Answer explanation

Solution: C. Agree with the customer to move forward with fixed-price contract, as there is no such restriction in agile.

In agile environments, specific sellers may be used to extend the team. This collaborative working relationship can lead to a shared risk procurement model where both the buyer and the seller share in the risk and rewards associated with a project.

Larger projects may use an adaptive approach for some deliverables and a more stable approach for other parts. In these cases, a governing agreement such as a master services agreement (MSA) may be used for the overall engagement, with the adaptive work being placed in an appendix or supplement. This allows changes to occur on the adaptive scope without impacting the overall contract

A project team has been tasked to build a new product. The team builds the demo first and add features to the initial product. This is an example of what technical practice?

• Test-Driven Development (TDD)

• Continuous Delivery

• Behavior-Driven Development

• Spikes

Answer explanation

Solution: B. Continuous Delivery

Continous delivery technique allow the team to create a demo and continously make improvements until the product is complete and the client is satisfied.

A project manager is leading an agile project. For iterations one through five, the team’s velocity chart displays 18 story points, 30 story points, 22 story points, 23 story points, and 22 story points.

What does this information demonstrate about the team's performance?

• The team is not following agile practices properly.

• The team's velocity is stabilizing over time.

• The team is lagging behind as per the schedule.

• The team needs to change their agile methodology.

Answer explanation

Solution: B. The team's velocity is stabilizing over time.

A project team lead meets with the project manager before a scheduled kick-off meeting. The team lead is worried that expectations regarding project deliverables might not be realistic.

What should the project manager do?

• Review the project business case and the results of the feasibility study.

• Facilitate a meeting between the project sponsor and the team lead to discuss the concerns.

• Meet with the stakeholders to discuss the concerns and record their conclusions in the stakeholder engagement plan.

• Identify the risks and agreed-upon risk responses and modify the risk register accordingly.

Answer explanation

Solution: A. Review the project business case and the results of the feasibility study

To ensure that the deliverables are realistic, the project manager needs to review the feasibility study and then evaluate the results. The objectives of the project will be determined in the business case, along with the feasibility study to determine the validity of the project. This may result in a go/no-do decision to initiate the project.

None of the other choices will ensure this

Meeting with the project sponsor or stakeholders will not be helpful before you know how feasible the project is.

The risk register can be updated after the the validity of the project is determined.

A project manager is managing an agile project. A new team member, who has never worked in an agile team, joins the project. The new member asks the project manager to explain why an agile approach is used.

What should the project manager's response be?

• To eliminate the risk and increase the predictability and visibility

• To deliver value faster and change the scope based on feedback

• To reduce the costs and increase the quality of the end deliverables

• To eliminate the need for documentation by delivering working products

Answer explanation

Solution: B. To deliver value faster and change the scope based on feedback

Agile doesn't reduce costs due to iterative delivery but will deliver business value by delivering faster what the business needs.

Agile doesn't reduce risk even increasing the positive risk (opportunities) and doesn't exclude documentation.

A project manager is managing a project where requirements are fixed and the workflow is planned for the full development lifecycle. Additionally, the customer involvement is at specific milestones and testing happens post-build.

Which methodology should a project manager use for this project?

• Agile

• Hybrid

• Predictive

• Continuous Improvement

Answer explanation

Solution: C. Predictive

Project life cycles can range along a continuum from predictive approaches at one end to adaptive or agile approaches at the other. In a predictive life cycle, the project deliverables are defined at the beginning of the project and any changes to the scope are progressively managed. In an adaptive or agile life cycle, the deliverables are developed over multiple iterations where a detailed scope is defined and approved for each iteration when it begins

A company is venturing into a new business but has no previous experience in that market. The project manager is having trouble visualizing project requirements.

What should the project manager do next?

• Consult the project charter.

• Reevaluate the business venture's objectives.

• Seek potential customer input.

• Conduct a feasibility study.

Answer explanation

Solution: C. Seek potential customer input.

The project manager is having difficulty visualizing the project's requirements, and the best way to understand what the requirements are is to engage with the people who will be using the product or service that is being developed. Potential customers can provide valuable information about their needs and wants, which can help the project manager visualize the project's requirements.

The other answer choices are incorrect. Referencing the project charter is not helpful if the project manager is having trouble visualizing the requirements. Reevaluating the business venture's goals is not the next step that the project manager should take. The project manager must first understand the customer's needs before they can reevaluate the business venture's goals. Conducting a feasibility study is not the most appropriate next step. The project manager should first seek potential customer input to get a better understanding of the requirements.

A project manager recently joined a new organization. The project sponsor is a subject matter expert and wants to manage scope by delivering in small increments and changing the scope based on feedback.

Which of the following approaches should be the recommended option?

• Scrum

• Waterfall

• Kanban

• Predictive

Answer explanation

Solution: A. Scrum

This is the perfect situation for a delivery using Scrum. The sponsor has the authority and knowledge to manage the product backlog and wants the flexibility to change the scope based on feedback on small increments delivered to users,

Waterfall and predictive won't be as effective as agile. Kanban is focused on flow and doesn't offer the possibility to change the scope based on feedback.

A project manager is leading an agile project. The product owner complains that the project team is constantly completing less story points than the Scrum team working on another project.

What should the project manager do to address this issue?

• Ask the team to address this issue as part of the retrospective to improve their velocity in the next sprint.

• Tell the product owner that it is incorrect to compare velocity across teams because story points are specific to each team.

• Get the approval from the product owner to add a contingency buffer to the sprint, and change the duration to increase velocity.

• Take full responsibility of the team’s low performance as compared to the other team and apologize.

Answer explanation

Solution: B. Tell the product owner that it is incorrect to compare velocity across teams because story points are specific to each team

Story points are a relative measure defined by each Scrum team. Because of that it can't be and should not be used to compare teams.

There is no need to add contingency or take any responsibility as it is not at all an issue.