PMP Practice Questions

You are facilitating a sprint retrospective for a team that has just completed a challenging sprint where they missed their sprint goal. During the retrospective, two team members begin blaming each other for technical decisions that led to delays. Other team members become defensive, and the conversation is deteriorating into personal criticism rather than focusing on process improvement. The team has worked well together in the past, but the pressure of the missed goal is creating tension. As the facilitator, what should you do?

September 29, 2026

Your Kanban team has been tracking their flow metrics, and you notice the average cycle time has increased from 4 days to 7 days over the past month. The team's WIP limits haven't changed, and the work item types are consistent with previous months. During a team discussion, you discover that items are spending significantly more time in the 'Code Review' column, often waiting 2-3 days before being reviewed. Team members mention they're focused on completing their own work before reviewing others' contributions. What should the team do to address this issue?

September 29, 2026

Your agile team is three sprints into developing a mobile application. During the latest sprint review, stakeholders provide feedback that the user interface doesn't match their expectations, even though the implemented features match the acceptance criteria in the user stories. The Product Owner explains they wrote the acceptance criteria based on their understanding but didn't include UI specifications. The team is frustrated because they'll need to rework completed features. How should this situation be addressed going forward?

September 29, 2026

During sprint planning, your development team is struggling to break down a large user story estimated at 21 story points. The Product Owner insists this story must be completed in the upcoming two-week sprint because it's critical for an upcoming trade show demonstration. The team expresses concern that they typically complete 25-30 story points per sprint, but this single story would consume most of their capacity and carries significant technical risk. The story cannot be demonstrated partially. What is the best approach?

September 29, 2026

Your Scrum team has completed their third sprint, and the Product Owner notices that the team's velocity has been inconsistent: 21 story points in Sprint 1, 15 in Sprint 2, and 18 in Sprint 3. The Product Owner is concerned about meeting the release deadline and asks you, as the Scrum Master, to commit to a specific velocity for the remaining sprints so stakeholders can plan accordingly. The team is still learning to work together and refining their estimation practices. What should you do?

September 29, 2026

You are managing a pharmaceutical research project following a stage-gate predictive methodology. Your project has just completed the design phase, and you are preparing for the gate review before entering the development phase. During preparation, you discover that one of the key assumptions documented in the project charter—that a specific research facility would be available—is no longer valid due to facility renovations. The next available equivalent facility is in a different location and would increase project costs by 8%. What should you do BEFORE the gate review?

September 29, 2026

You are managing a large infrastructure project with multiple subcontractors. One of your key vendors has completed their deliverable, and you are conducting procurement closure activities. While reviewing the final deliverable, you notice it meets all technical specifications in the contract, but the vendor failed to submit three required progress reports during execution as stipulated in the contract terms. The vendor is requesting final payment and contract closure. What is the MOST appropriate action?

September 29, 2026

You are managing a software implementation project for a financial institution using a waterfall approach. During quality testing, the QA team discovers that 12% of test cases are failing, primarily related to security authentication features. The quality management plan specified that no more than 5% of test cases should fail at this stage. The development team believes they can fix the issues within one week, but this will delay the scheduled user acceptance testing. What should you do?

September 29, 2026

Your manufacturing project is in the planning phase, and you are developing the cost baseline. You have completed bottom-up estimating for all work packages and have aggregated these costs. The finance department requires a 10% management reserve for organizational risks, and historical data shows similar projects typically experience 15% cost variance. Your project sponsor asks what the final project budget should include. What is the MOST appropriate approach?

September 29, 2026

You are managing a construction project using a predictive approach. During the execution phase, a key supplier informs you that critical materials will be delayed by three weeks due to manufacturing issues. The delay will impact the critical path and push the project completion date beyond the contractually agreed deadline. Several team members suggest crashing the schedule by adding overtime resources, while the sponsor wants to explore fast-tracking options. What should you do FIRST?

September 29, 2026

You are coaching a newly formed agile team that includes three junior developers and two senior developers. During the first two sprints, you notice the senior developers are completing most of the complex stories while junior developers are assigned only simple tasks. The senior developers say they are trying to help the team meet commitments, but the junior developers express frustration in private that they are not learning new skills. Sprint goals are being met, but you are concerned about long-term team capability and sustainability. What is the best approach?

September 29, 2026

Your agile team has two developers who consistently clash during daily standups and sprint planning. One developer prefers thoroughly discussing technical approaches before committing to work, while the other prefers to start coding quickly and iterate. Their disagreements are starting to affect team dynamics, with other team members avoiding engaging in technical discussions. Both developers are highly skilled and their work quality is excellent. Yesterday, their disagreement during refinement caused the session to run 30 minutes over time. What should you do?

September 29, 2026

During a sprint review, a key stakeholder becomes visibly upset when seeing the increment, stating that the features demonstrated are not what they expected, even though the stories were approved during sprint planning. The product owner defends the work, saying the team delivered exactly what was written in the user stories. The stakeholder insists the team must redo the work. Team morale drops immediately as they feel their hard work is being dismissed. How should you address this conflict?

September 29, 2026

Your agile development team includes members from four different countries across three time zones. During sprint planning, you notice that team members in the Asia-Pacific region rarely speak up, while team members in North America dominate the conversation. The sprint retrospectives show similar patterns. The team's velocity has been declining over the past two sprints, and some stories are being carried over because requirements were misunderstood. What is the most effective action to improve team collaboration?

September 29, 2026

You are leading an agile project team that has been working together for three sprints. During the latest retrospective, several team members express frustration that decisions are often delayed because they feel they need to wait for your approval on minor implementation details. The team has strong technical skills and has consistently met their sprint commitments. Team velocity is stable, but you notice team members seem hesitant to self-organize. What should you do to address this situation?

September 29, 2026

You are managing a marketing campaign project using a hybrid approach where creative content is developed iteratively with weekly reviews, while media buying and contracts follow a predictive schedule with fixed commitments. Three weeks before launch, the iterative creative reviews reveal that the campaign messaging needs significant changes based on stakeholder feedback. However, media placements worth $200,000 have already been contracted based on the original creative concept, and changing them would incur 25% cancellation fees. The CMO insists the new messaging is essential for campaign success. How should you proceed?

September 22, 2026

Your hybrid project uses iterative development for software components and predictive planning for regulatory submissions. During a retrospective, the development team reports that 40% of their completed work from the last two sprints cannot be deployed because regulatory documentation hasn't kept pace with development velocity. The regulatory specialist, who works part-time on your project, states she can only document work after it's fully tested and stabilized. This creates a growing backlog of undocumented, undeployable features. What should you address first?

September 22, 2026

You are leading a hybrid project where software features are developed using Scrum while hardware components follow a stage-gate process. During a sprint review, the software team demonstrates a new feature that requires a hardware modification the hardware team didn't anticipate. The hardware team's next gate review isn't scheduled for six weeks, and making changes outside the stage-gate process violates organizational governance. The software feature cannot be released without the hardware change. What is the best way to handle this situation?

September 22, 2026

Your organization is implementing a new customer portal using a hybrid approach. The infrastructure and security components follow a predictive lifecycle with a fixed release date in six months, while the user interface features are being developed iteratively in two-week sprints. The product owner wants to release features to users as soon as they're ready, but the infrastructure team insists nothing can go live until the full security framework is complete. Stakeholders are pressuring you to show early value. How should you proceed?

September 22, 2026

You are managing a hybrid project where the product development team works in two-week sprints while the regulatory compliance team follows a waterfall approach with predefined milestones. During sprint planning, the development team commits to features that require compliance documentation, but the compliance team indicates they need four weeks' advance notice to complete their reviews. This misalignment has caused delays in three consecutive sprints. What should you do to address this integration challenge?

September 22, 2026

A financial technology startup is using Kanban to manage development of their investment portfolio management application. The company's venture capital investors have indicated they expect to see significant user growth metrics within the next quarter to justify the next funding round. The product manager proposes prioritizing several features aimed at user acquisition and viral growth, even though current users have been requesting enhanced portfolio analytics and reporting capabilities. The development team notes that the growth features are technically simpler to implement than the analytics features. How should the team prioritize their work?

September 21, 2026

An agile team is developing a healthcare appointment scheduling system for a mid-sized hospital network. During a sprint retrospective, the team discovers that a recent industry merger between two major healthcare providers has created a new dominant competitor with significantly more resources and market reach. The hospital's chief strategy officer is concerned about the organization's ability to compete and is questioning continued investment in the custom solution versus purchasing an enterprise system from the merged competitor. The product is 40% complete with positive user feedback from pilot groups. What should the project manager recommend?

September 21, 2026

A product development team is using Scrum to build an e-commerce platform. After six sprints, the organization's executive leadership announces a strategic pivot toward sustainability and carbon neutrality, requiring all products to demonstrate measurable environmental impact reduction. The product owner realizes that the current architecture and cloud infrastructure choices do not align with these new organizational values. The team has invested significantly in the current technical direction and changing course would require refactoring. What is the most appropriate action for the product owner?

September 21, 2026

An agile project team is working on a SaaS platform for a financial services company operating in multiple countries. During sprint review, the compliance officer raises concerns that new data privacy regulations in the European Union will take effect in two months, potentially impacting the product's data handling capabilities. The team's current velocity suggests they can complete the planned features for this release, but incorporating compliance requirements would extend the timeline by at least three sprints. Senior management is pressuring for an on-time release to capture market share. How should the project team proceed?

September 21, 2026

Your agile team is developing a mobile banking application when a competitor releases a similar product with advanced biometric features. The product owner is concerned that your current roadmap does not include comparable security features. Customer feedback surveys indicate growing demand for enhanced authentication methods. The team has completed three sprints of the current release, and the security features would require significant development effort. What should the product owner do to address this competitive threat?

September 21, 2026