Ch 3 - Support Team Performance
A new project manager is developing a resource management plan but is unfamiliar with skill sets required by the project.
How would engaging SMEs help the project manager create a resource management plan?
By enabling the project manager to determine the required skill sets to meet project objectives
Expertise should be considered from individuals or groups with specialized knowledge or training in team and physical resource planning and estimating.
* showing - organizational assets, do not provide insight to the risk management plan (RMP)
* helping - there is no organization chart at this stage of the project
* enabling to manage - resource management plan does not enable PM
Ch 3 - Support Team Performance
A project manager is leading a project using a hybrid approach. The project team began the project with high morale and performance but both have decreased significantly in the project’s later stages. One team member has maintained the initial level of performance and the remaining team members are distracted and showing signs of conflict.
What should the project manager do to increase team performance?
Mentor the team member who performing well and recommend that he/she work with other team members and train them on iterative development techniques
Encouraging the top performer to share his/her knowledge with the others will address both things: training needs and recognition. The other options may not increase team performance.
Ch 3 - Support Team Performance
In a functional organization, a product analyst is assigned to a short-duration application development effort. The analyst expresses concerns about the task and asks the project manager to provide the support of a peer with expertise in this domain.
What should the project manager do?
Make sure the analyst has regular pairing meetings with the other team member throughout task execution
The correct option is the most suitable. In short-term projects, pairing is a beneficial option to help keep on up the learning curve of the team members.
The remaining options are not suitable:
* Recognizing the analyst’s concern is great, but reassigning the task may be difficult in a functional organizational setup.
* It is a short-duration project, and there may not be adequate time to start doing capacity building program.
* Asking the analyst to use skills to develop tools without a technical understanding of the application development process can be dangerous.
Ch 3 - Support Team Performance
During one of the final incremental deliveries of a project, the end user informed the project leader that they are not satisfied with the outcome and asked to remove a team member which is causing an unfavorable outcome.
What should the project leader do?
Discuss the issue during the regular stakeholder feedback meeting and take action to resolve the issue
Discussing the issue with the stakeholders is correct as it is project leader’s responsibility to provide appropriate feedback in a timely manner to ensure project team and stakeholder effectiveness
- The option to acknowledge the fact and make promises is incorrect as the facts can note be ascertained without discussing with all the stakeholders involved, so making a promise without discussion can be detrimental.
- The option to first inform the end user and promise resolution is incorrect as the issue needs to be discussed with the stakeholders first before informing any team member of the decision.
- The option to remove the team member is incorrect as the issue needs to be discussed and then resolved accordingly.
Ch 3 - Support Team Performance
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?
Share feedback and performance results.
To avoid this situation, the project leader should share the team feedback and performance results. 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.
Ch 3 - Support Team Performance
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?
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.
Ch 3 - Support Team Performance
For a hybrid project, when should feedback be provided?
For the effective performance of the team, feedback is provided on a regular and continuous basis
The feedback is required on a regular and continuous basis and it is better to shorten the feedback cycle as much as possible.
* Providing feedback depending on performance measurement is not correct as in the hybrid project management approach the iterations are continuous so continuous feedback is necessary.
* Providing feedback during internal meetings is not correct as it defines the responsibility but the frequency is not defined as in question.
* Receiving feedback only with each delivery is not correct as the feedback is required to be continuous in hybrid project management methodology and is not linked with delivery.
Ch 4 - Empower Team Members & Stakeholders
A team member received a request from a stakeholder to conduct a quantitative risk analysis. The team member is not certain exactly what the stakeholder requested and comes to the project manager for guidance.
What should the project manager do in this situation?
Work with the team member and stakeholder to ensure proper task assignment processes are followed and clear.
The project manager should ensure that communication is clear and the proper processes are followed, as to whether the stakeholder has the ability to assign tasks or not. Then, as a servant leader, the project manager and as such should help the team through any gaps of understanding and ensure that the team and team members have the right training, coaching, or support to perform the task.
Meeting with the team to see if other team members can perform the requested analysis is not the correct action as the project manager should guide the current team member. The project manager shouldn’t be doing the risk analysis for the team member as it will not help on a similar situation in the future. The project manager shouldn’t force that all requests come through them.
Ch 5 - Address / Remove Impediments
The project manager for a complex project discovers that a certain team member has missed several targets.
What should the project manager do?
Discuss the issue with the team member and offer any needed assistance
The project manager needs to proactively and directly manage this team member. They need to understand the reason for repeatedly missing deadlines and offer support as needed
The other answer choices are incorrect as they promote taking action without understanding the root cause. Imposing a penalty is harsh and discussing it with the functional manager is indirect.
Ch 5 - Address / Remove Impediments
The change control board (CCB) has evaluated and approved several change requests in a timely manner in the last several weeks. However, implementation of the changes is taking more time than anticipated.
What should the project manager do?
Monitor implementation of the changes to ensure that change management procedures are being followed
The project manager can only follow approved procedures and should monitor the implementation to make sure the processes are being followed.
The other answer choices are incorrect. The CCB has approved all of the changes so there is no need to revise the change control system. Additional resources may not be necessary to implement changes so there is no need to acquire additional resources. A detailed risk analysis will add to the project delay.
Ch 5 - Address / Remove Impediments
A project manager working on an agile project discovers that the allocated budget and resources are insufficient to cover the estimated total cost. The PMO recommended the development of requirements prioritization model.
What should the project manager take into consideration in the model?
**Cost and associated risk
**
For each feature, the project manager should identify the benefits of implementing it and the impact of skipping it, in addition to the cost and associated risk.
The other answer choices are incorrect. Company culture has the same impact on all the projects and requirements, therefore it can’t be used to prioritize requirements. Cost impediments are not yet known, therefore risk should be a prioritization criterion.
Ch 5 - Address / Remove Impediments
An organization decides to implement the Scrum delivery framework. The project manager is using an impediment board with the Scrum team to identify and raise impediments.
What should happen after the impediments are recorded?
Prioritize impediments based on their levels of importance and in relation to those that are already on the log
The process used to create, monitor, and maintain the impediments log begins with the daily standup meeting. It is the best time to record impediments in the impediments log as each team member reveals them. Then, the impediments should be prioritized based on their levels of importance and in relation to those on that are already on the log.
The other answer choices are incorrect because they come after the impediments have been prioritized.
Ch 5 - Address / Remove Impediments
A functional manager has been making changes to a project outside of the established management plan. The functional manager recently went straight to the project sponsor to request another change.
What should that project manager do?
Tell the functional manager that all changes must go through the change control process.
The project management plan defines a change control process to which stakeholders have agreed. The project manager must enforce adherence to that process. Telling the functional manager that all the changes must go through the change control process is the ideal solution.
The other answer choices are incorrect. The change control board must always review changes so there is nothing to determine here. Modifying the project management plan to allow flexibility is the worst approach and could lead to confusion and delay in the project. Meeting with the project sponsor to discuss the details of the requested change will not encourage the proper course of action.
Ch 5 - Address / Remove Impediments
A project manager is using an agile delivery approach for a project. The team members and business stakeholders are unfamiliar with formal requirements prioritization methods and are inexperienced with agile delivery approaches. The project manager wants to ensure that the critical business requirements will be planned and delivered.
What prioritization technique should the project manager use?
Use a mathematical model defined by the team members and stakeholders.
The project manager should use a mathematical model like weighted shortest job first (WSJF) is an objective approach for prioritization.
The other answer choices are incorrect. Getting opinions is too subjective; collecting the needs doesn’t provide us with prioritization; establishing a common understanding is subjective and can be difficult to achieve.
Ch 5 - Address / Remove Impediments
A project manager is working on a hybrid project. The team performance has been suffering and multiple team members have identified one of the stakeholders as a constant obstacle. They say that the stakeholder regularly asks team members for status updates and tries to implement project changes directly through the project team.
How can the project manager improve project performance?
Meet with the project sponsor to address and remove impediments and obstacles for the team
Address and remove impediments, obstacles, and blockers for the team. This also falls into the servant leadership role a PM needs to have in Agile and hybrid environments. This enables teams to focus on their mission and not organizational policies or challenges
The correct Answer is D because you cannot remove “a” stakeholder of the project. The Project Manager needs to engage with the identified stakeholder to address concerns and work-the-way-forward
Ch 5 - Address / Remove Impediments
A project integrates with several systems developed by various vendors and one of these vendors has gone out of business. What should the project manager do first?
Review the risk register and update the issue log.
The risk register contains response strategies in situations like these. The project manager should review the risk register for potential action plans, and update the issue log with the issue of the absent vendor. The issue log is fundamentally about corrective actions since the project has deviated from the plan.
The other answer choices are incorrect. Calculating the delay, meeting the vendor for a replacement, and negotiating with another vendor for deliverable are the next steps after risk register and updated and risk components are performed
