CAPM Mock Test 1

Scope creep (also known as “feature creep” or “requirement creep”) refers to the uncontrolled expansion of the project’s scope (PMBOK 7th edition, page 249).

Option A: The tackled situation is not considered gold plating since the client is the one who brought up the change request; it was neither the project manager nor team members who added changes without the client’s approval, as gold plating implies.

Option B: Customer obsession consists of an excessive focus on providing a better customer experience by meeting and even exceeding your client’s needs. However, customer obsession shouldn’t mean delivering beyond scope since the latter can increase the project schedule and cost, thus decreasing the success rate of the project.

The requirements traceability matrix ensures that each solution requirement is valuable and within scope by linking it to business needs, goals, and project objectives. RTM verifies that solution requirements align with stakeholder expectations by tracing them back to stakeholder requirements. RTM is typically used in a predictive environment.

Kanban is an agile method that employs a pull-based work system where tasks are assigned only when resources are available.

A = Identify, B = Understand & analyze, C = Engage, D = Monitor (PMBOK 7th edition, page 10). Stakeholders’ engagement starts by identifying all parties directly or indirectly connected or involved in the project. Next, the identified stakeholders must be fully understood in terms of their beliefs, attitudes, expectations, etc. towards the project in order to be able to analyze each one’s level of power, interest, impact, etc., and prioritize them accordingly. After that, an engagement plan is created according to the findings of the previous steps, where a project manager should ensure clear and constant communication, the satisfaction of stakeholders’ requirements and expectations, and issues resolving when needed. Monitoring stakeholders is the final step in the process, and it entails monitoring any changes in their attitudes or power levels to adapt the engagement plan accordingly.

A project charter is used to formally authorize both the project manager to start the project, as well as document the project’s objectives and its high-level scope. It also defines the responsibilities and roles of all involved parties in the project (PMBOK 7th edition, page 184).

During an inspection, the project manager reviews deliverables and performs a site walkthrough if applicable.

Option B, D: The project manager here is neither validating the scope with the customer nor handing over deliverables to them.

Option C: Audits are carried out to determine if project activities comply with organizational and project policies, processes, and procedures (PMI – Process groups guide, page 248). In other words, audits are performed on processes while inspections are performed on products.

​Project constraints are restrictions that limit the project in a certain way. A cost restriction, for instance, means that the project is limited by its allocated budget or resources. Other constraints include policies, standards, guidelines, etc.

It’s essential for both the project manager and the project team to create selection criteria to rate and score proposals from the suppliers. In the case of a bid or quote, the price offered by the seller represents the main evaluation criterion. In other cases involving proposals, the evaluation criteria can include various aspects such as the seller’s experience, references, certifications, etc.

Option D: In this scenario, the project manager has received proposals, so a make-or-buy analysis should have been already carried out at this point.

Option C & A: An audit or a performance review should take place at a later stage to verify that all procurement processes were respected and that the purchased items conform to requirements.

Elicit, analyze, and document stakeholders’ requirements is a core responsibility of a business analyst. They work to gather detailed requirements from stakeholders, analyze these requirements to understand their implications, and document them to ensure clarity and alignment.

A stakeholder engagement plan sets up strategies and actions to ensure the positive and effective involvement of all stakeholders in the project (PMBOK 7th edition, page 187).

Option B: The stakeholder register lists the project stakeholders and doesn’t include any action plan.

Option A & D: The power/interest grid and stakeholder engagement assessment matrix are tools and techniques to analyze stakeholders and assess their level of engagement. Unlike the stakeholder engagement plan, these tools do not generate or comprise practical information on how to engage and monitor stakeholders such as the frequency of official meetings, recipients of status reports, communication channels, etc.

The three-point estimating is the triangular distribution of pessimistic, optimistic, and most likely estimates. This technique is used when there is insufficient historical data or when there is only judgmental data.

Stakeholder analysis starts with identifying and documenting the stakeholders’ contact information, knowledge, expectations of the project, and their level of influence over project decisions. Then the business analyst works with the project manager to prioritize and classify stakeholders based on their power, influence, expectations, and concerns for the project. Finally, the business analyst should plan for managing the stakeholders based on possible negative or positive scenarios in the project that may affect the stakeholder.

Option A, B, D: These options are incorrect because they do not reflect the correct ordering of steps for stakeholder analysis.

The project manager should start by facilitating the identification and prioritization of evident requirements, hence helping with the elaboration of the product backlog. Next, and since the project is following an agile approach, the project manager should execute work iteratively and incrementally.

A team charter is a document that is developed in a group setting to clarify team direction while also establishing boundaries. It is created at the team’s forming phase in order to encourage understanding and buy-in. A team charter aligns the team with ground rules, team values, meeting guidelines, working agreements, as well as other group norms (PMBOK 7th edition, page 192).

Lessons learned meetings are collaborative retrospective sessions for discussing, documenting, and soliciting feedback about the project’s successes and missteps. These meetings are a must for the project team to learn from previous mistakes and improve future processes and projects. Lessons learned meetings should be held whenever needed, to review the way a project has been progressing, note important learnings, and set new ways for amelioration.

Focus groups bring together stakeholders and subject matter experts to interactively discuss and learn about their expectations and attitudes towards a proposed service, product, or result (PMBOK 7th edition, page 15).

In any business, customers or sponsors have to be the highest priority when delivering a product. It’s not enough to deliver a functioning product; the product must work for the customer or the sponsor’s needs.

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 & PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 278)

In projectized organizations, all activities are managed through projects. Upon completion of the project, the project manager releases the team members to move on to the next project.

When you want to resolve a conflict, a face-to-face meeting is always the best first step. Hence, the project manager should meet with the manager of the supplier’s team to discuss the issue and try to find a solution.

Option A: Other communication methods, such as sending an email or having a phone call, are less effective than an in-person meeting.

Option D: If direct negotiation fails, then the project manager should proceed with Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), such as mediation or arbitration.

A release of 110 story points takes 6 sprints to be completed by a team that has 20 story points’ velocity. Even though dividing 110 by 20 equals 5.5 sprints, the number of iterations should be an integer since the predetermined timebox of a sprint should not be changed. In Scrum, it’s possible to calculate the estimated number of sprints as long as the velocity of the team and the estimation of the workload are known. But, you need to keep in mind that this is an estimation rather than a commitment since changes could happen along the way.

Business analysis primarily concentrates on the features and functions that define a solution, making its scope product-oriented.

Option C: Project management involves overseeing all tasks required to deliver a product or service, making its scope both product-oriented and project-oriented.

Backlog refinement (formerly referred to as backlog grooming) occurs when the product owner along with some, or all of the team members checks the backlog to make sure it contains the proper items, that these items are prioritized, and that the ones at the top are ready to be delivered (PMBOK 7th edition, page 235). This activity is carried out regularly and can be either an officially scheduled meeting or an ongoing activity.

Option A: The process of developing the initial list of product requirements represents backlog elaboration or creation.

The decision tree analysis is used to support the identification and selection of the best course of action among several alternatives. Each of these alternative paths can have associated costs and risks, including both threats and opportunities. The decision tree reveals the expected monetary value of each branch, allowing the determination and selection of the optimal path (PMBOK 7th edition, page 175).

The cycle time is how long it takes for the team to complete a task. It’s measured from the time they start working on the task.

Option D: Lead time, on the other hand, starts from the moment the task is added to the board (Agile Practice Guide, page 64).

At the end of the seven-day iteration, 3 story points are left undone.

In a predictive approach, Lag is when an activity is complete and there is a delay before the subsequent activity starts (PMBOK 7th edition, page 59). For example, in order to paint a room, you need to first apply the primer coating, then you have to let it dry for two days before applying the final coat of paint. These two days of waiting for the primer coat to dry are referred to as Lag Time.

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.

Option D: 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.

Option C: 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).

Business analysis involves activities that support the delivery of solutions aligned with business objectives, ensuring continuous value for the organization. (PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 389)

A project manager’s power is considerably low in a weak matrix organization. In fact, they are rather considered a coordinator or an expediter. It’s up to the functional manager to assign resources in such organizations. Therefore, the only solution to obtain the needed resources in this situation is by negotiating your requirements with the functional manager.

Explanation
The user story written by the product owner is not specific and cannot be tested.

A good user story should be:

“I” Independent (of all others)

“N” Negotiable

“V” Valuable

“E” Estimable (to an acceptable approximation)

“S” Small (to fit within an iteration)

“T” Testable

(PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 223)

Scrum uses empirical data to measure work progress, therefore the project manager should let the product owner know that, based on current performance, the release plan is not feasible. The product manager can update the release plan or study with the project manager the possibility of adding more resources to the team.

Option B: The capacity of the team is around 36 story points, and it wouldn’t be possible to motivate the team to consistently reach 50 points on each sprint.

Option C: A sprint has a timeboxed duration which should not be extended for any reason.

Requirements statement can be expressed in artifacts, such as use cases, user stories, backlog items and visual models.

Option A: Risk register is a tool to identify, assess and manage risks throughout the project. It does not capture requirements but focuses on potential risks that could affect the project.

Option D: Gantt chart is a tool used to visualize the project schedule, it does not express any requirements.

The results are precise because all measurements are close to 4.45mm (+ or – 5mm). Precision entails delivering end-products with similar dimensions, which may or may not be close to the required dimensions. Precise measurements are not necessarily close to the target value; they’re just close to one another.

Option A: Accuracy, however, implies creating products with close dimensions to requirements.

The larger the Net Present Value (NPV), the more profitable the project will be for the organization. A positive NPV indicates that the investment is worthwhile.

A servant leader promotes team growth, prioritizes their needs, and plans for successors by developing future servant leaders. This leadership style, however, does not entail that the project manager has to take instructions from their team.

The CPI (Cost Performance Index) is a measure of the conformance of the actual work completed (EV, Earned Value) with the incurred Actual Cost (AC): CPI = EV / AC = $2,000 / $1,000 = 2 which means that the project is under budget.

Options A & B: The Schedule Performance Index measures the conformance of actual progress to the planned progress (SPI = EV / PV). Since the PV is unknown, we can’t find out if the project is behind or ahead of schedule.

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It’s a tool that project managers use to assess the opportunities and threats they might face, as well as their projects’ strengths and weaknesses (PMBOK 7th edition, page 177).

Option A: The PDCA cycle is a quality management technique to control and continuously improve processes and products.

Options B & D: Assessing the project’s business model or conducting a benefit/cost analysis could be part of developing the business case, but both methods have a different purpose from the SWOT technique.

The product owner is responsible for placing the clearest and most valuable items at the top of the product backlog. Consequently, less valuable items will be dragged to the bottom.

Options A & C: Product backlog items should not be organized chronologically or according to their difficulty level.

Since the project is complex, frequent communication is required. Therefore, the best option is to schedule regular meetings once or twice a week, with the possibility of attending standup meetings to get daily updates.

Option B: Monthly meetings, even if they’re face-to-face, are not efficient for complex projects.

Option D: Giving access to the project management software is considered pull communication since the sponsor has to seek information themself. Pull communication might not be sufficient for high-power demanding stakeholders.

In a typical communication context, and according to the sender-receiver model, anything that obstructs the transmission and comprehension of a message is called noise.

Option A & C: The key components of the communication process also include encoding thoughts or ideas, a message as the output of encoding, a medium to transmit the message, and decoding the message back into meaningful information.

In order to properly analyze the project stakeholders, a business analyst can use one or more of these tools (PMI Guide to business analysis , page 115):

Job analysis: This technique is employed to determine the skills, qualifications, and competencies needed for a particular job or role.

Persona analysis: Persona analysis involves creating a fictional character, known as a persona, to represent an individual or a group of stakeholders within a user class.

Stakeholders maps: Stakeholder maps can include matrices that illustrate the influence and impact of each stakeholder.

RACI matrix: This a tool designed to clarify stakeholder responsibilities by mapping out who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed for each project activity. It helps ensure effective communication and management of stakeholder expectations throughout the project.

Option B: A decision tree is a tool used for decision-making and analyzing different outcomes of various choices.

Option D: Focus groups assemble prequalified stakeholders and subject matter experts (SMEs) to gather insights into their expectations and attitudes toward a proposed solution.

EV = % of completed work X BAC (Budget at Completion) = (6/12) X BAC.

Since the project manager is 5 months into the project, then the PV = (5/12) X BAC. Doing the math, SPI = EV / PV = 6 / 5 = 1.2.

You can also conclude that the project is ahead of schedule without doing any math since half of the work is done before reaching half of the project duration. Since the project is ahead of schedule, you should just select the answer where the SPI is greater than 1.

A cross-functional team is a group of individuals who acquire different substantial skill sets that are enough to accomplish their common goal proficiently. A self-organizing team is autonomous in the sense that it does not rely on any outsiders to figure out how to best accomplish its work. This does not mean that each team member possesses all of the necessary skills for delivering the product; rather, they just need to be competent in their area of expertise.

Trying to convince upper management requires the use of interpersonal skills, which are often needed when acquiring resources.

Option A: The project manager may lack planning skills since she didn’t identify the resource requirement from the beginning, but this situation does not tackle this aspect or the need to respond to the risk associated with adding more resources.

Option C: In case the manager accepts her request, the project manager may not need to go through the hiring process if resources are already available within the organization.

Agile teams don’t focus on how to predict the project work; instead, they try to focus on high-priority tasks, getting early feedback, and adopting the servant leadership approach.

The predictive approach relies on a well-defined plan and aims to minimize changes once the project is underway.

Option D: The adaptive approach emphasizes flexibility and adaptability. Requirements are continuously evolving based on stakeholder feedback and changes in project conditions.

Pull communication is a communication type where access to the information is provided, however, the receiver must proactively seek out and retrieve this information. When the communication is solely for informative purposes, pull communication should be used. It will have little to no impact on the project if the recipients do not read it. According to the PMI process groups guide: “Pull communication is used for large complex information sets, or for large audiences, and requires the recipients to access the content at their own discretion subject to security procedures. These methods include web portals, intranet sites, e-learning, lessons learned databases, or knowledge repositories.” (PMI Process groups Guide, page 253)

Option D: PMBOK defined three types of communication: interactive, push, and pull. Proactive communication is a made-up term.

Helping someone do a task properly and focusing on people’s well-being are the main behavioral aspects and characteristics of servant leaders. However, rewarding high-performing employees is considered transactional leadership, whereas inspiring people fall under the charismatic leadership style.

The stakeholder register document contains all relevant information concerning the project stakeholders including their influence, interest, involvement, and potential impact on the project’s success. External vendors are considered project stakeholders and therefore they should take part in the stakeholder register. The project manager should refer to this document whenever they need any information concerning both internal and external stakeholders.

Social awareness involves empathy and understanding the emotions of others. It encompasses the ability to interpret nonverbal cues and body language.

Self-awareness is the capacity to objectively evaluate oneself. It involves an understanding of one’s emotions, goals, motivations, strengths, and weaknesses. Self-management, also known as self-regulation, is the ability to control and redirect disruptive feelings and impulses. It is the ability to think before acting, suspending snap judgments and impulsive decisions.

The project team should perform a qualitative risk analysis. If they find that the risk must be prioritized, a detailed risk response should be then developed. All identified risks should be added to the risk register.

Option C: During the project execution, all occurring issues are noted in the issue log.

Option D: Monitoring the risk development is undertaken during the execution phase too, not the planning phase.

The planned work is included in the lowest level of the WBS components, known as work packages. Detailed information on work packages, such as descriptions, owners, prerequisites, successors, due dates, etc. is included in the Work Breakdown Structure Dictionary (PMBOK 7th edition, page 253).

Projects get authorized by someone external to the project such as the sponsor, PMO, or steering committee (PMBOK 7th edition, page 184).

Option C: The project manager cannot sign the charter to authorize himself to start executing the project.

Option E: The project team doesn’t have the power to sign the project charter.

Tacit knowledge, aka implicit knowledge, is the type of knowledge that can’t be transferred to another person by means of writing or verbalizing. Examples of tacit knowledge include insights, beliefs, experience, and know-how.

Option A: The opposite of tacit knowledge is explicit, formal, or codified knowledge (PMBOK 7th edition, page 70).

Business requirements outline the high-level needs and objectives of the organization, including key issues or opportunities that the project aims to address. They provide a rationale for undertaking the project, typically articulated through a business case that highlights the anticipated benefits and strategic value.

Cost variance is the difference between the estimated cost and the actual cost. Its formula is EV – AC

Rolling wave is a project planning method that consists of a gradual elaboration of details to the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) over time. Near-term deliverables are decomposed into individual components (work packages) that are broken down to the greatest degree of detail. Long-term deliverables, on the other hand, are identified more broadly. In this way, rolling wave planning allows work to progress on current and near-term deliverables while the planning for potential work packages continues.

Options A & B & C: The Rolling wave method is used to address uncertainty rather than prioritizing, organizing, or sequencing activities (PMBOK 7th edition, page 249).

As the project progresses, the team reviews and updates the backlog. During this refinement, lower-priority or less valuable user stories might be removed or deprioritized to focus on higher-priority tasks.

Most probably, stakeholders are losing interest in the project because their input or feedback is being disregarded, or they are not seeing any tangible progress. The project manager has to engage stakeholders by taking their feedback into consideration to show them that their ideas are valued. The project manager should also demonstrate working increments as early in the project lifecycle as possible. This is considered one of the advantages of the agile approach that stakeholders expect and appreciate.

Options A & B: Sending reminders before each meeting or allowing for anonymous feedback does not yield more engagement as both options don’t address the root cause of the problem.

Fixed price contracts are used for projects with clear requirements where a price is fixed in return for the seller’s services and/or products.

As a problem-solving technique, the Five whys is used to explore the underlying cause of a defect or an issue. By asking successive “Why?” questions, the team digs deep to figure out what went wrong and thus be able to determine how to properly address the problem and how to avoid similar issues in the future.

“Workers who don’t obey safety rules will be penalized” and “Only authorized personnel are allowed on site” are considered Organizational Process Assets (OPAs) since they represent the organization’s internal procedures. “Workers have expertise in infrastructure construction” is an internal Enterprise Environmental Factor, while “Construction work requires a building permit from the City council” is an external Enterprise Environmental Factor.

Data models are structured representations that document how data is stored, organized, and flows within a system. They include entity relationship diagrams, data flow diagrams, and data dictionaries.

During the product life cycle, a needs assessment helps align and justify the investment in a new project. Once the project is completed, a product evaluation is carried out within the product life cycle to assess whether a new project is necessary to further develop the product. Business analysis covers the entire product life cycle, including the various projects that contribute to the product’s advancement.

Bidder conference, aka contractor conference or vendor conference, is arranged to ensure that sellers have a common understanding of the project procurement requirements (PMBOK 7th edition, page 70). During the conference, the project manager and the stakeholders will discuss their procurement needs and answer any questions the sellers might have.

Option A & D: In a bidder conference, the project manager does not shortlist prospective sellers or award the contract.

Option C: The bid document has to be shared with participants before the bidder conference.

A portfolio is a grouping of projects and programs. A portfolio’s purpose is to establish centralized management and oversight for a number of projects and/or programs. It also helps establish standardized governance across the organization. By creating and managing a portfolio, you’re ensuring that the organization is choosing the right projects that align with its values, strategies, and goals (PMBOK 7th edition, page 244).

The knowledge acquired from the process of carrying out a project is referred to as “lessons learned.” This covers both the positive and negative aspects. The aim is to replicate good practices and avoid repeating errors. By failing to examine or go over past lessons learned, the project manager risks making the same errors as in previous projects. Therefore, the earlier the lessons are identified and embedded into a project, the more value they will provide. So ideally, a project manager should conduct reviews on an ongoing basis to allow for continuous improvement. Such a review will capture in-depth inputs from the project team, sponsors, stakeholders, etc. Capturing and going over lessons learned on a regular basis helps keep the project on track. In the long term, it will also help organizations continuously develop and enhance the way they conduct projects.

The critical path comprises tasks that must be completed as scheduled in order for the project to be finished on time. If a task is delayed, it may cause a delay in the project’s completion date.

Option A: Some tasks on the critical path may not be critical themselves, but they need to be accomplished on time in order for the critical task(s) to be completed. The critical path method is used in projects following a predictive life cycle where change requests could have a direct impact on the project.

The process owner makes sure that the process meets the target laid down by the organization and is responsible for the overall performance and effectiveness of the process.

The project manager should evaluate the impact of the delay before making any decision. A delayed activity doesn’t necessarily result in the whole project delay. For instance, if the activity is not on the critical path and it has a lag of more than three days, then the delay won’t probably have any impact on the project.

Option A: There is no need for negotiating the delay or looking for a new vendor to get the order delivered on time

The Issue Log is a project document where all information concerning faced issues is recorded and monitored (PMBOK 7th edition, page 336).

Option A: Even though the described scenario involves lessons learned (never to deal with the unreliable vendor in the future), the question only inquires about where to record the issue.

Lag Time is when a delay is purposely made between activities.

Option A: Lead time, on the other hand, is the time saved by starting an activity before its predecessor is completed.

Option C & D: Crashing and fast-tracking are two schedule compression techniques.

The business analyst competencies as defined in the (PMI Guide to business analysis, page 53 & 54) are Analytical skills, Expert judgment, Communication skills, Personal skills, Leadership skills and Tool knowledge.

Option D: Management skills are more required for project managers.

Option E: The project team may be required to have technical skills.

At the end of each iteration, the project manager and the project team should demonstrate a potentially shippable product increment to the concerned stakeholders along with the Product Owner to get their feedback. This occurs during an Iteration Review Meeting. The product owner and stakeholders use this meeting to evaluate the product and release backlog priorities (PMBOK 7th edition, page 180).

Destructive testing loss is an example of the cost of conformance, the rest fall under the cost of non-conformance. Cost of Non-Conformance includes the expenses arising due to non-conformance to quality requirements.

Cost of Non-Conformance can be divided into two categories:

Internal Failure Costs are incurred when defects are detected internally (i.e. not yet presented to the customers) which include defect repair and rework.

External Failure Costs are incurred when defects are discovered after the deliverables have been shipped to customers (this is the worst type of quality cost) These include warranty work, liabilities, and loss of business goodwill.

Reference: PMBOK 7th edition, page 89.

Project management involves applying a set of processes, skills, knowledge, experience, and methods, to attain a number of predefined project objectives and requirements according to predetermined acceptance criteria (PMBOK 7th edition, page 17).

Prototyping is a technique used to collect early feedback on the requirements for further refinement and clarification, along with clarifying ambiguities (PMBOK 7th edition, page 246).

Options B & C: The development of a prototype can either increase the project cost and duration or reduce them depending on its results.

Voting is used to reach a consensus decision by selecting the option which gets more votes from the team members. This technique is simple, intuitive, and both time and cost-efficient.

Asking another team member to help mentor the new member and guide them through getting their task completed and overcoming the challenging aspects of their assignment is the right course of action. Since the member is new and they might lack certain skills or experience dealing with certain types of tasks, they will get the chance to learn and overcome any impediments by collaborating with more experienced team members.

Regardless of the fact that the change was requested by a member of the CCB, the project manager should submit a change request according to the procedures defined in the change control system. This system describes how modifications to project deliverables should be undertaken (PMBOK 7th edition, page 332).

The project manager is mitigating the risk of resource attrition. This type of risk response aims to diminish the probability and/or impact of a threat (PMBOK 7th edition, page 123).

This is an example of finish-to-finish mandatory dependency. Two tasks may in fact run concurrently in the case of a finish-to-finish dependency. However, the second task can be entirely completed only after the first task is 100% done. Mandatory dependencies are those that are legally or contractually required or inherent in the nature of the work (PMBOK 7th edition, page 60).

The Business Analyst should seek clarification from the stakeholders before making further decisions.

Option A: Planning without a clear understanding of the goals and requirements can lead to misalignment and potentially result in project failure.

Option B: While the project team can provide explanation to the requirements, stakeholders are the primary source of requirements elicitation.

Check sheets, aka tally sheets, are used to gather facts in order to facilitate the collection of more data concerning a potential quality issue (PMBOK 7th edition, page 175).

Option C: A checklist is used to verify whether a set of required steps has been performed or not.

To transition the organization from its current state to a future state and effectively integrate the new solution into operations, a readiness assessment and a transition plan must be established. These are the outcomes of the “Prepare for Transition to Future State” process.

Option C: The process of examining the current environment under analysis to understand important factors that are internal or external to the organization, which may be the cause or reason for a problem or opportunity.

The functional manager is the one in charge of managing resources under a weak matrix. This matrix form has a huge resemblance to a traditional workplace hierarchy. A functional manager is a project’s main decision-maker as they supervise all of its aspects. Although the project manager also serves as a point of authority, they primarily report back to the functional manager.

In Agile methodologies, an adaptive approach focuses on informal communication, iterative feedback, and the use of prototypes to continuously explore and refine requirements throughout the development process, allowing for early feedback and adjustments.

Options A & D: In predictive development approaches, aka Waterfall, requirements are typically well-defined and documented upfront. Communication is more formal and structured.

Option B: Incremental development involves delivering parts of the solution in small, manageable increments. Prototyping is used less frequently than Agile as a communication tool to get feedback.

In order to effectively lead the project, the project manager should be fully aware of the project’s purpose, priorities, and deliverables. After examining the goals and deliverables included in the project charter, the project manager should create a transition plan to help the project team cope with the unexpected change, check the project logs and reports, reassess what has been accomplished so far, and maintain the team’s commitment to the project goals and priorities.

First, the project manager should understand the impact of the team member’s departure on the project. It might have a big impact, therefore the leaving member needs to be promptly replaced with an experienced member. However, their departure might have a limited impact and the project can proceed without their contribution.

Options A & C: Based on the evaluation findings, a decision should be taken on whether to get a replacement or reassign the workload.

Option B: The project’s resource breakdown structure should be updated later on to reflect the new changes.

Defining the project scope and objectives is primarily the responsibility of the project manager. While the business analyst can contribute to this process, it is not the main focus of their role.

The project manager should fully allocate the team to the top-priority project, ensuring that all resources and attention are directed towards its successful completion.

The schedule performance index (SPI) is a measure of the conformance of actual progress (earned value) to the planned progress: SPI = EV / PV (PMBOK 7th edition, page 249). A value of 1.0 indicates that the project performance is on target. EV = 10% x $100,000 = $10,000, PV = (1 Month / 10 Months) x $100, 000 = $10,000 then SPI = EV / PV = 1.

Option A: A CPI or SPI that is less than 1.0 indicates poorer-than-planned project performance.

Options C & D: When CPI or SPI is greater than 1.0, it indicates better-than-planned project performance.

Planning poker is a card-based technique that is mostly used for estimating project activities. It is a consensus-based estimating technique (PMBOK 7th edition, page 178). It can be used with story points, ideal days, or any other estimation unit. The estimation is done using poker cards. Team members discuss the feature, asking the product owner any questions they might have. Then, privately, each team member picks out one card that presents their estimate. All cards should be then revealed at once. If all team members select the same value, it’s set as the final estimate. Otherwise, a discussion of the different opinions and estimates will take place again before re-estimating the feature or task again.

External dependency is the relationship between project activities and external activities that are not related to the project. Even though it’s beyond the project team’s control, such a dependency should be reflected in the project schedule.

Option D: Discretionary dependencies, also referred to as soft logic, preferred logic, or preferential logic, are not mandatory (PMBOK 7th edition, page 60).

Voting is a technique for collective decision-making which can be used to generate and prioritize project requirements.

Options A & C & D: Unanimity, plurality, and majority are examples of voting techniques. A majority decision requires being supported by more than 50% of the group members.

To ensure the successful delivery of the project, the project manager should first define success criteria with the sponsor. Agreeing upon the project’s success criteria will reduce the possibilities of its failure and reinforce its success odds. When determining the project success criteria, you should avoid using unclear and general terms and focus on being precise and clear. It’s recommended to be specific by saying, for instance: “the product should be completed by November 30th” instead of saying “the product should be completed as soon as possible”.

With an adaptive approach, the project’s cost and schedule are fixed, while the scope can be adjusted to stay within the cost constraint. Consequently, the project manager needs to prioritize the most important features when planning each release until they exhaust the whole budget.

Options A & B & C: All other options imply using the predictive approach, which won’t work for this project since its scope is unpredictable.

A timebox is a fixed period of time in which work has to be completed. The timebox duration could be a few hours, days, or weeks depending on the work complexity or size (PMBOK 7th edition, page 181).

In Agile, a project manager (also known as scrum master, project team lead, or team coach) is responsible for removing impediments and ensuring that the cross-functional team performs and delivers the product as initially defined by the product owner (PMBOK 7th edition, page 73 & Agile Practice Guide, pages 40-41).

Because projects are temporary endeavors, most of the acquired knowledge is lost once the project is completed. The project manager should be attentive to knowledge documentation and transfer to allow the organization to gain and retain the knowledge and experience obtained through running projects (PMBOK 7th edition, page 78).

Options A, B, D: Once this activity is completed, a celebration could take place and resources can be released. On the other hand, the change log should be updated to monitor the change requests’ status.

The project manager should use the average velocity of the last five sprint as it gives an accurate response about the team capacity.

Feature injection is a framework and set of principles designed to enhance and accelerate the development and analysis of product requirements. This approach is particularly favored by teams employing adaptive development methods. Its core concept is to direct discussions and analysis towards features that offer the potential for immediate value (PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 88 & 89).

Corrective actions are reactive as they’re performed to fix issues that have occurred to bring the project back into alignment with the baselines. Preventive actions, on the other hand, are proactive as they’re taken to ensure that the project doesn’t deviate from the plan.

Options C & D: Both corrective and preventive actions can be part of the executing process group as well as the monitoring process group.

Knowledge can be either explicit or tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge can be expressed and captured using pictures, words, and numbers. Tacit knowledge, such as experiences and beliefs, is more difficult to express or capture (PMBOK 7th edition, pages 77-78).

Product visioning is a tool and technique for the “facilitate product roadmap development” process. It’s used to set the high-level direction for a product or a product release (PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 95).

Tailoring involves the selection of the appropriate processes, related inputs and outputs, techniques, and life cycle phases in order to manage a project (PMBOK 7th edition, page 6).

Option B: Program management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet the program requirements.

Option D: Project management is the application of a set of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a project management tool that breaks down a project into smaller, more manageable segments, often referred to as work packages. It helps in organizing and defining the total scope of the project by creating a hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed.

Option A: The Product Backlog is primarily a prioritized list of features, user stories, and tasks for a product. It focuses on what needs to be done and their priority but does not provide a structured breakdown of work into smaller, manageable segments like the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) does.

When the project is closed or terminated for any reason, the project manager should start the close process. Procurement closure is part of the “Close project” process. The situation in the question requires project termination, so the Correct Answer implies executing the process that addresses the situation, i.e. the Close Project process. Plus, there is no indication in the question that the project has procurements.

Short daily meetings are referred to as daily standup meetings which represent a framework for sharing what each member has accomplished, what they will be doing next, and what blockers they’re facing. This type of meeting helps build a connection between team members, improves communication, and as a result reduces rework. Co-location can resolve this issue too. However, team members are dispersed in different countries, making it difficult to assemble them in one location.

Option B: Written, asynchronous communication such as emails does not promote bonding or building connections in comparison to verbal synchronous channels such as virtual meetings

Option D: Offering team members training about cultural differences could only help them overcome cultural barriers, but it can’t help them sync their work to avoid rework.

Appraisal costs, also known as inspection costs, are part of the Cost of Conformance as they represent the costs of identifying defective products before they are delivered to clients. This comprises testing, inspecting, auditing, evaluating, and measuring the deliverables, products, or services the project is producing. Appraisal costs are set up to implement a series of activities to determine work results’ degree of conformance to quality requirements. Meaning the project appraisal cost involves inspection costs which are $5,000. Training falls under prevention activities. Rework and scrap costs, on the other hand, are part of the Internal Failure Costs, whereas Warranty charges fall under External Failure Costs.

Waterfall is a predictive methodology that was deemed too rigid to handle the changing requirements brought on by new technology or a demanding client. Even though there are numerous Agile and Lean frameworks, the Agile Practice Guide only addresses Scrum, Scrum of scrums, SAFe, Kanban Method, Scrumban, eXtreme Programming (XP), Crystal Methods, Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), Feature-Driven Development (FDD), and Agile Unified Process.

A resource calendar is a calendar for planning, managing, and monitoring resources, including both employees and equipment. It gives project managers an overview of how resources are being utilized, which resources are available, and when.

The iterative method is the heart of the Agile development process. Each iteration generates a piece of the product until the final product is fully completed and delivered.

A typical iteration process flow involves:

Analysis: to define the iteration requirements based on the product backlog, sprint backlog, and feedback from customers and stakeholders.

Development: includes design and implementation based on the defined requirements.

Testing: involves Quality Assurance testing.

Delivery: integrating the working iteration into production,

Feedback: receiving customer and stakeholder feedback to define the requirements of the next iteration.

Grade refers to a category or rank given to entities having the same functional use but different technical characteristics. A product can be of a high-grade (high-end) or low-grade (low-end). A low-grade product is perfectly acceptable, as long as it fulfills requirements.

Option A & C: A low-quality product is always a problem and is never acceptable. Every produced item must have high quality regardless of its grade; no one wants a low-quality product. Example: You buy a basic model (low-grade) cell phone with no advanced features, but it works well. Thus, we’re talking about a high-quality product. Although it is low-grade, it keeps you satisfied (PMBOK 7th edition, page 241).

A burndown chart visually represents the remaining story points or the reduction in risk exposure over time.

An Affinity Diagram is a tool used to organize and categorize ideas or information generated during a brainstorming session into related groups or themes. It helps to bring order to a large volume of data by grouping similar ideas together, making it easier to see patterns and relationships. This technique is especially useful when dealing with complex issues or when the brainstorming session produces a lot of ideas that need to be sorted and prioritized (Business analysis for practitioners, page 105).

To improve productivity and efficiency, an agile team needs to limit Work In Progress (WIP). Limiting work in progress is a technique to troubleshoot unexpected or unforeseen delays (Agile Practice Guide, page 59).

During the sprint retrospective meeting, all the good and bad aspects of the sprint are discussed. The retrospective meeting is considered a meeting for improvements, as it is mainly held to find the proper ways and means of identifying potential pitfalls and past errors, and to seek out new ways to avoid those mistakes. This meeting isn’t held at the end of the project’s last sprint; it recurrently takes place after the Sprint Review and before the following Sprint Planning.

Option A: A backlog refinement meeting is used to refine product backlog items.

Option C: The sprint planning meeting is used to define and evaluate the work of the next sprint

The project manager should provide their team with relevant training in order to enable them to adopt the new agile practices with more confidence. They should also gradually introduce certain iterative or incremental techniques to make the transition smoother. This will improve the team learning process and accelerate delivering value to sponsors. Many teams can’t make a full immediate switch to the agile approach. It is preferable and even recommended to make a gradual transition by combining adaptive and predictive practices, which is known as a hybrid approach (Agile Practice Guide, page 30).

A management structure that standardizes project governance processes and promotes the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools, and techniques (PMBOK 7th edition, page 245).

According to the Agile Practice Guide, servant leadership implies leading your team by focusing on understanding and addressing their needs to yield the best performance possible (PMBOK 7th edition, page 17).

A resource breakdown structure is a hierarchical list of team and physical resources related by category and resource type that is used for project planning, management, and control (PMBOK 7th edition, page 187). Each descending level corresponds to a more detailed description of the resource.

Negotiation is the most important skill for project managers to have when working with extremely limited budgets and resource allocations.

The Sprint Review is a product-centered meeting, during which the agile team demonstrates the functionalities they have completed during the sprint, seeking the Product Owner’s feedback and approval (PMBOK 7th edition, page 179).

The product backlog should be prioritized and organized based on the value that each item brings to the product and project. This value depends on several factors such as the item’s complexity, criticality, and the risk associated with it. However, these factors are not the basis to determine the items’ value. Each item’s value is dictated by the Product Owner as well as the items’ sequence in the product backlog.

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.

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

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

Iteration review meetings take place at the end of each iteration to allow the project team to obtain feedback from the product owner and concerned stakeholders on a regular basis.

Management reserve involves the dedicated budget or time reserve for handling unidentified risks or unknown unknowns (unknown = unidentified, unknowns = risks). This type of reserve is not a calculated budget and does not take part in the cost baseline. Therefore, anytime an unknown risk occurs, the project manager will need permission to use this reserve.

Option A: A contingency reserve is used for identified risks with predetermined risk response strategies, aka known-unknowns (known = identified, Unknowns = risks) (PMBOK 7th edition, page 127).

The project life cycle that can be adopted for developing a mobile app project is: Wireframing, prototyping, designing, developing, testing, and deploying. A project life cycle comprises the different development phases that a project goes through from its start to its completion. Depending on different factors, a project lifecycle often includes Feasibility, Design, Build, Test, Deploy, and Close phases (PMBOK 7, pages 33 – 42).

Option A: Initiation, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing are process groups rather than project lifecycle phases.

Option D: Forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning are team development phases according to Tuckman’s theory.

The project total amount is composed of the management reserve and the project budget, which in turn is composed of the cost baseline and contingency reserve (PMBOK 7th edition, page 63). Therefore, A = Management reserve, B = Project budget, C = Contingency reserve, and D = Cost baseline.

A change-driven approach is also referred to as an adaptive, Agile, flexible, or change-focused approach. This development approach is characterized by the ability to react and adapt to high levels of change as well as the constant involvement and participation of different parties.

Option C: A waterfall or predictive approach is sequential and rigid.

Option D: Hybrid is a combination of predictive and adaptive approaches.

Feasibility analysis involves assessing various factors to evaluate the viability of different options being considered. (PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 86)

Option D: A cost-benefit analysis evaluates the financial return of implementing the solution by comparing the expected benefits against the costs. It’s an effective way to assess the business value of a solution.

The three-point estimation formula using a beta (weighted average) distribution is as follows: (Optimistic + Pessimistic + (4 × Most likely)) ÷ 6.

Option A: The three-point estimation formula uses a triangular distribution (simple average) as follows: (Optimistic + Pessimistic + Most likely) ÷ 3.

Use case is a tool and technique used to define and elaborate requirements, not to conduct the elicitation process. All the other options are tools and techniques for conducting the elicitation process (PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 164).

The duration of a milestone is zero because it denotes a significant achievement, point, or event in a project, such as the completion of a particular deliverable for instance (PMI – Process groups guide, page 213).

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

Apart from the development team, nobody should decide the stories’ order in the sprint backlog. Instead, team members should define their own task-level work and then self-organize in any manner they feel best to achieve the sprint goal (Essential Scrum by Rubin, Kenneth S, page 23). The “sprint backlog” is different from the “product backlog”. A sprint backlog is the set of items that the cross-functional team selects from the product backlog to work on during the upcoming sprint. The sprint backlog represents the primary output of sprint planning.

Planning activities in an adaptive approach entails progressively elaborating the work scope based on the stakeholders’ continuous feedback. The project is split into iterations, and at the end of each iteration, the customer reviews the accomplished work on the product. Then, the customer’s feedback is used to define the detailed scope of the next iteration.

Option A & D: Defining all iterations’ work before the start of the project depicts an iterative development approach while implementing activities described in the statement of work depicts a predictive development approach.

Organizational Process Assets (OPAs) include processes, procedures, and the corporate knowledge base. To understand a past project’s performance, the project manager should review various documents such as scope, schedule, cost, quality baselines, administrative records, stakeholder register, and issue log. Relying solely on the issue log might not reveal all the challenges faced.

Option B: Unlike OPAs, Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEF) do not contain project performance details.

Option D: Even if the new project is agile and the previous one was predictive, leveraging documented lessons learned is necessary, as challenges may not be linked to the project approach.

The project manager should keep both the contract and the project open until the seller performs the inspection.

Option B: Closing a contract in return requires verifying that the seller has delivered their work as predetermined in the contract.

Option C: Closing a project entails conducting several processes and steps including closing out all contracts.

The project manager should refer to the project charter to find the ‘high-level description‘ of the project. The project charter is a formal document that describes the project in its entirety, including its objectives, work processes, and stakeholders. This project planning document can be used throughout the whole project lifecycle (PMBOK 7th edition, page 184).

Options B & C: User stories and epics only represent the detailed requirements, not the entire high-level description of the project scope.

Option D: The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) also outlines the detailed requirements of projects that follow a predictive approach.

Project constraints are limiting factors for your project that can impact delivery, quality, and overall project success. An imposed delivery date or a predefined budget are considered project constraints (PMBOK 7th edition, page 72).

Lessons learned sessions are performed for the purpose of learning from mistakes in order to avoid repeating them in the future. They also serve as an opportunity to identify and establish best practices and build trust with stakeholders and team members.

Option B: Lessons learned meetings should not be used to hold others accountable for mistakes made during the project (PMBOK 7th edition, page 180).

S-Curves visualize the evolution of a project cost over a period of time. The name is derived from the S-shape that data usually form, with low costs at the project’s start and end, and increasingly elevated costs mid-project.

Facilitation means assisting others in dealing with a process, reaching an agreement, or finding a solution without personally or directly getting involved in the process, discussion, etc. For the facilitator to maintain an impartial position, they should approach the discussion as an unbiased voice.

Prototyping is a technique used to gather early feedback on requirements by presenting a model of the anticipated solution prior to its full development. These prototypes, often referred to as proofs of concept (PoCs), help validate ideas and refine requirements before the final implementation. (PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 168)

Flexibility and adaptability are the core principles of Agile.

Options A & C & D: All other skills can be developed over time when the Agile team gets to learn from its own experiences.

In a functional organization, the project manager doesn’t manage the budget. Thus, they should escalate the need for additional funds to the functional manager. If the functional manager validates their assessment, they will need to escalate their request to the project sponsor to approve allocating additional financial resources. If the project manager was working in a projectized or strong matrix organization, they wouldn’t need to raise their request for more funds to the functional manager.

Option A: A program manager, as the name suggests, only handles programs, which is not the case in this scenario.

Option B: The product owner’s role is limited to the scrum framework, which is an adaptive approach. If that were the case, the project manager would need to report similar issues to the product owner, who will escalate the matter to the project sponsor.

Given the sponsor’s request for a cost estimate on short notice with limited information, the project manager should use analogous estimating, relying on data from similar past projects and expert judgment.

Option A: The project manager cannot create product backlog items (a responsibility of the product owner).

Option B: Developing the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is not feasible due to the time required and the need for team involvement.