CAPM Practice Test 2 – Agile Frameworks, Methodologies

Reviewing the project performance in comparison to plans is part of the monitoring and controlling process group. These processes are meant for tracking, adjusting, and reporting on the project performance, as well as implementing corrective actions when needed to ensure the project is on track, budget and time-wise. Inspecting is not a process group, it’s rather a risk identification activity.

The project manager should approve the network diagram and closely monitor all three critical paths. Theoretically, there is no limit on how many critical paths a network diagram could have. If a project has more than one critical path, then all critical paths must have exactly the same length.

Scope decomposition is a planning method used to decompose and subdivide the project and scope deliverables into more manageable, small work units. The decomposition level depends on the complexity and size of the project

A Schedule Performance Index (SPI) of less than 1 indicates that the project is behind schedule. A Cost Performance Index (CPI) greater than 1 means that the project is within the predetermined budget.

Change requests should be reviewed and discussed by the Change Control Board (CCB) to analyze their impact on the project, including its delivery date, and accordingly, get accepted or rejected. The Business Analyst (BA) should not proceed with implementing the change without presenting the request to the CCB and getting their approval first.

CV = EV – AC = $5,500 – $4,000 = $1,500. The Cost Variance (CV) is positive, which means that the project is under budget.

SV = EV – PV = $5,500 – $5,000 = $500. The Schedule Variance (SV) is positive, which means that the project is ahead of schedule.

In a network diagram, the critical path is the path with the longest series of tasks (PMBOK 7th edition, page 238).

Earned Value refers to the value of the work accomplished to date (PMBOK 7th edition, page 239). If the project gets terminated at this point, Earned Value will show you the value that the project has produced. In this case, the project’s Earned Value (EV) is $40,000 = 40% of the value of total work. The amount of $60,000 represents the Actual Cost (AC). The planned value is $50,000 (50% of the budget), while the cost variance is -$20,000 (EV – AC).

Earned Value refers to the value of the work accomplished to date (PMBOK 7th edition, page 239). If the project gets terminated at this point, Earned Value will show you the value that the project has produced. In this case, the project’s Earned Value (EV) is $40,000 = 40% of the value of total work.

Project deliverables can be products, services, or any other type of outcome. Acceptance criteria should be described and agreed upon.

Option A: In a predictive approach, project deliverables should be determined, described, and agreed upon as early as possible in the project, to avoid any costly changes later on.

Option C: The change is possible and should follow the change request process.

Option E: Project deliverables should be approved by the customer, not the project manager, in order to close the project.

Predictive methods focus on thoroughly analyzing and planning the future while taking into account known risks. The scope, time, and cost are all predetermined early in the project life cycle. Predictive teams often establish a Change Control Board (CCB) to ensure that only valuable changes are considered for implementation.

Cost and schedule baselines are used to assess performance in the monitoring and controlling phases.

The WBS is a hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to create the required deliverables (PMBOK 7th edition, page 81). The planned work is included in the lowest level of the WBS components, which are called work packages.

Since the Schedule Performance Index (SPI) is less than 1.0, then the project is behind schedule. Consequently, the project manager should be concerned about the project schedule.

Option B: Since CPI is 1.1, then the project is under budget. Thus, the project is on track cost-wise.

Option D: There is no indication in the question that the project manager should be concerned about risks.

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).

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

Options A & C: 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.

Option D: The project management plan is not a reporting document; it’s a planning document that is elaborated in the project planning phase.

Earned Value (EV) is the method used to measure how much of the allocated budget should have been spent in view of the work realized to date (PMBOK 7th edition, page 239). This technique allows the project manager to calculate the Cost Variance (CV), which is the difference between the budgeted cost of the performed work (EV) and its actual cost, to eventually find out whether the project is under or over budget. The amount of money that has been spent so far represents the Actual Cost (AC).

Work Performance Information includes data on project performance (e.g., status of deliverables, schedule, costs), which can help identify current or future issues by comparing actual performance against the baseline.

Inspection is the technique used to validate the scope by measuring, examining, and testing deliverables to ensure they meet the defined criteria.

Create WBS is the process of subdividing project deliverables and project work into smaller, more manageable parts.

The project manager likely missed a step in the Identify Stakeholders process, as this process involves determining who the stakeholders are and what their needs might be.

Since it has a 7-day float, this activity is not on the critical path. The float of this activity can be calculated by subtracting the Early Start (day 5) from the Late Start (day 12) or by subtracting the Early Finish (day 10) from the Late Finish (day 17). Since the float of the activity is greater than zero, then it’s not on the critical path. Remember that critical path activities have zero float.

Option D: Lag time is the amount of time whereby a successor activity is required to be delayed with respect to a predecessor activity. However, since the described scenario doesn’t have any information about the successor activity, it does not consist of a lag.

Control Project Work is conducted from the start to the finish of the project and is the project manager’s responsibility.

Acquire Resources is the process where the project manager confirms resource availability and obtains the team necessary to complete project activities.

Variance Analysis is used to assess the magnitude of variance in a project by comparing planned and actual performance.

Float, Total float, Slack, or activity float represents how long an activity can be delayed without causing a delay in the project completion date. On a critical path, the total float is zero. You can calculate an activity float by subtracting the Early Start date of the activity from its Late Start date: (12 – 4 = 8 days), or by subtracting the Early Finish date of the activity from its Late Finish date (28 – 20 = 8 days).

Unlike predictive approaches, projects that follow adaptive approaches have fixed resources and schedules and flexible scope. While the scope might change in agile projects, teams commit to fixed work iterations known as sprints, when implementing a scrum framework.

Agile uses iterations, also known as sprints, in each, a potentially shippable increment of the product is produced (Agile Practice Guide, page 101).

In contrast with flow-based Agile which focuses on the team’s throughput, iteration-based Agile focuses on accountability through three standard questions:

What was completed yesterday?

What will be completed today?

Are there any blockers or impediments?

Backlog refinement involves preparing the next iteration’s stories. In order to make sure the backlog contains the right items for the next iteration, the project manager, along with the team, should review and prioritize backlog items, ensuring that top items are ready to be delivered (PMBOK 7th edition, page 235). This activity can take place as a formal planned meeting or as a regular ongoing task.

Items of high priority and high risk should be on top as completing them sooner generates more new knowledge, which eliminates uncertainty and reduces risk. Items of high value and low risk should be tackled next. These items are great for achieving quick wins. The project team can then consider working on low-value and low-risk items. Finally, items of low value and high risk should be put off and placed at the bottom of the product backlog since they are not worth the effort. To sum up, the right order is: A, B, D, and then C from top to bottom.

It’s recommended that an agile team should include 3 to 9 members. Since the level of communication deteriorates as the team size increases, Agile organizations favor smaller teams. For instance, it’s better to have two teams of five people than one team of ten.

Unlike the predictive approach which requires change requests to go through the organization’s change control process, the adaptive approach welcomes changes and uses them for frequent planning. During each iteration, the team focuses on producing a subset of the product’s features, while continuously refining and reprioritizing the product backlog items to meet new or modified requirements.

Options C & D: Change requests are not automatically approved; instead, they are discussed with the product owner first, and then they get prioritized in subsequent iterations as per their recommendations.

During the sprint retrospective, the project manager should identify what went well during the sprint and what can be done differently in the next sprint. A possible topic is the timing of the standup. If team members are showing dissatisfaction with the current schedule, then the retrospective meeting is the right event to discuss the issue.

Option A & B: The sprint planning meeting is the right meeting for discussing which tasks should be prioritized in the next sprint and how to decompose user stories into manageable tasks.

Option C: Dedicated project team meetings and Backlog refinement meetings should address topics related to the product development, including finding ways on how to fix the regressions.

A cross-functional team must possess the necessary competencies for creating a product or a service independently, without relying on other members outside of the team.

Option A: A self-organizing team is when individuals collectively determine the best way to accomplish the sprint goal.

An increment is a validated and approved deliverable produced at the end of each sprint, reflecting a functional and usable subset of the project’s overall capabilities. It represents a tangible portion of the project’s performance that meets the definition of done and can be integrated into the existing product or system. A sprint backlog is a list of tasks selected from the Product Backlog for a specific sprint in Scrum. It represents a subset of work for short-term focus rather than the entire project scope.

A sprint is considered complete only when it reaches the end of its duration/timebox, which is usually 1 to 4 weeks. In some cases, the sprint ends without finishing all of the assigned tasks, so this can’t be the criteria for sprint completion.

Product requirements are documented under the backlog as user stories. The backlog user stories are then continuously prioritized and refined. The WBS is only used in the predictive approach.

A Sprint has to be long enough for the team to finish all included stories. As per a Scrum rule, a Sprint should never exceed one month. The duration of a sprint depends on the project size and complexity as well as the team’s capacities. It takes 2 to 4 weeks on average to complete a sprint with a team of 3-9 members working on a single project.

Delivering value should always be the agile team’s top priority as it represents one of the agile manifesto principles: “working software over comprehensive documentation”. From the client’s perspective, value represents the benefit derived from using a product or a service.

On the surface, Agile and Scrum look similar as they both rely on an iterative process, frequent client interaction, and collaborative decision-making. The primary distinction between Agile and Scrum is that Agile is a project management philosophy that utilizes a core set of values or principles, while Scrum is a specific Agile practice used to facilitate a project. Although Scrum is an approach within Agile, Agile does not necessarily imply Scrum since Agile encompasses a wide range of approaches. Scrum is based on a small set of core values, principles, and practices (collectively forming the Scrum framework).

The product owner represents the business, customer, or end-user as they’re regarded as the voice of the customer. The Product Owner is responsible for managing the product backlog by maximizing the value produced by the team and ensuring that the stories meet the user’s needs and comply with the Definition of Done (DoD) (PMBOK 7th edition, page 245).

Option A: The Agile team manages the sprint backlog.

Options B & E: The Agile project manager is responsible for supporting the team and removing impediments.

The project manager should add the user story to the product backlog and let the product owner decide its priority. When a new requirement is received, it should be added to the product backlog (not the sprint backlog) and then prioritized by the product owner in order to be implemented. It is the responsibility of the product owner to maintain and refine the product backlog. This being said, a request can be made by any stakeholder and a user story can be created by anyone involved in the project and not just the product owner.

The Fist of five or Fist to five is a voting technique that agile teams use to help them achieve consensus during decision-making meetings or sessions. This method is used as follows: The facilitator states the decision or action the team is going to vote on and then asks each one of the attendees to hold up a number of fingers that corresponds to their level of support for the stated decision. A closed fist signifies full objection, whereas five fingers mean full support for the decision. Until everyone holds up three or more fingers, the voting goes through multiple rounds to achieve consensus.

A. Lean: a set of concepts that includes eliminating waste, amplifying learning, and delivering as fast as possible.

B. Kanban: a subset of lean which also refers to a framework within agile.

C. Agile: a subset of lean and an umbrella for several frameworks.

D. Scrum: one of the agile frameworks.

Please note that in the real exam such a question usually comes in the form of “drag & drop”.

Agile methodologies emphasize delivering small, working increments of a product frequently. This allows teams to obtain feedback, adapt, and make improvements while delivering value continuously.

Continuous integration involves the frequent incorporation of individual contributions into the overall project and retesting the entire product to ensure that the integration is successful.

In agile projects, scope evolves continuously. Rather than creating a static Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) at the start, the scope is managed through the backlog, which is constantly refined.

Option B: Creating a detailed WBS at the start is typical in a predictive project. Agile projects, on the other hand, favor ongoing backlog refinement rather than upfront detailed scope management.

Option D: Agile projects focus on delivering increments of value throughout the project. Waiting until project closure to define scope contradicts Agile’s iterative delivery approach.

In iteration-based agile, progress is measured primarily by the number of work items or features that are completed at the end of each iteration. This approach aligns with the Agile Manifesto’s principle that “working software is the primary measure of progress.”

In flow-based agile, such as Kanban, teams manage work by limiting the number of tasks that can be in progress at any given time.

In Kanban, there are no fixed timeboxed iterations like in Scrum or XP. Teams continuously work on the highest priority items from a backlog, with a focus on limiting work in progress (WIP) and improving flow.