PMP People Practice Questions (33% of the Exam)

Question 1: People

A school campus is being rebuilt under a predictive plan while classes continue, and protecting learning is at the heart of the project's vision. Subcontractors arrive in waves. Two crews have just done noisy work during exam week because they saw the phasing as a contractor preference. Site induction covers safety but says nothing about why the work is phased. What should the project manager do next?

1. Add the reason for the phasing and the exam calendar to every crew's site induction
2. Ask the school principal to explain the project's purpose at the next progress meeting
3. Email the vision statement to the head office of each of the subcontracting firms
4. Issue a formal warning to both subcontractors about the noise during exam week

Correct answer: A. A is correct because the induction reaches every crew as it arrives, so it closes the gap in how the vision is promoted to those doing the work. B is incorrect because progress meetings are attended by managers, so the message would not reach the crews who are making the daily choices. C is incorrect because a statement sent to head offices may never reach site crews, and it does not explain what the vision means for their work. D is incorrect because the crews did not know the reason or the calendar, and a warning to two firms does nothing for crews yet to arrive. Exam outline: People, Task 1 (Develop a common vision).

Question 2: People

Two members of an agile team are locked in a dispute about how to split work on a shared module, and the team asks the project manager to facilitate a session. These are the steps being considered:

• W: Have each person state what they need and why, without proposing solutions
• X: Agree on ground rules for the session, such as no interrupting
• Y: Generate options together that meet both sets of needs
• Z: Record the chosen option in the working agreement and check it at the retrospective

Which sequence is best?

1. Y, W, Z, X
2. X, W, Y, Z
3. W, Y, Z, X
4. X, Y, W, Z

Correct answer: B. B is correct because ground rules make the session safe, needs come before solutions, options then address those needs, and recording makes the result stick. A is incorrect because options generated before needs are heard tend to defend each person's position, and ground rules come too late. C is incorrect because ground rules are needed before the difficult conversation starts, and not after the matter has been settled. D is incorrect because the session opens properly, but options come before needs are understood, so they may solve the wrong problem. Exam outline: People, Task 2 (Manage conflicts).

Question 3: People

On a hybrid data-center move, the project manager gives every member the same hands-off brief and checks in weekly. A veteran network engineer thrives under this. A newly hired technician, doing this work for the first time, has twice made avoidable errors and says the expectations are unclear. The plan has no budget for added staff. What is the best response?

1. Move the whole team to daily check-ins so that everyone is treated in the same way
2. Send the technician's errors to the functional manager for performance follow-up
3. Ask the veteran to take over the technician's work until the data-center move ends
4. Give the technician closer guidance and shorter check-ins, and leave the veteran's as is

Correct answer: D. D is correct because style should fit each person's experience with the task, so the new technician gets more direction while the veteran keeps what works. A is incorrect because this fixes one person's need by adding control over people who do not need it, which may frustrate the veteran. B is incorrect because the technician is new and has said expectations are unclear, so this treats a leadership gap as a performance problem. C is incorrect because this overloads the veteran, gives the technician no chance to develop, and leaves a single point of failure. Exam outline: People, Task 3 (Lead the project team).

Question 4: People

A predictive plant-automation project has a team of six. It is week 1, and commissioning starts in week 6.

Which skill should the project manager address first with the team?

1. Safety validation, since four members have little or no skill in this critical area
2. Electrical testing, since one member can't do it and it is needed by week 6
3. Network setup, since it is needed soonest of the four skills on the matrix
4. PLC programming, since it relies on one expert and is needed within six weeks

Correct answer: D. D is correct because one person holds the skill and nobody else is even at working level, and the need arrives soon, so this is the sharpest exposure. A is incorrect because the gap is real, but two people can already do the work and the need comes ten weeks after commissioning starts. B is incorrect because five of six members can already do this work, so one beginner is not a concern for commissioning. C is incorrect because it is needed first, but five of six members can do it at working level or above, so coverage is strong. Exam outline: People, Task 3 (Lead the project team).

Question 5: People

Case: hospital wing. A county hospital is building a 60-bed wing beside its main building. The work is predictive, under a firm-fixed-price contract with a general contractor. The hospital's project manager leads a matrix team of facilities, clinical and IT staff, who report to functional managers and have agreed allocations in a signed resource plan. Shell and core work is in month 9 of 24. The chief nursing officer must approve the clinical layout by month 12, and the state health department must inspect the wing before it opens. The engagement plan lists the chief nursing officer as Neutral, with a desired level of Supportive.

Development: The contractor has reported a slab defect that will delay handover of the clinical floor by three weeks. The layout approval date isn't affected. The monthly board report goes out next week. The chief nursing officer hasn't been told, and nursing is planning its staff transition around the handover date. What should the project manager do next?

1. Ask the contractor to contact the chief nursing officer directly to explain the slab defect
2. Wait until the contractor has a recovery plan, and then report the delay and fix together
3. Include the delay in next week's board report, and let nursing see it through that route
4. Tell the chief nursing officer now what the delay means for the staffing plans

Correct answer: D. D is correct because this stakeholder is making decisions on a date that is known to be wrong, so early and direct news preserves trust and avoids waste. A is incorrect because the relationship with this internal stakeholder is the project manager's, and the contractor cannot speak to staffing effects. B is incorrect because a recovery plan may help, but nursing's planning continues on a wrong date in the meantime. C is incorrect because a week's wait lets nursing plan around a wrong date, and hearing it through a board report damages trust. Exam outline: People, Task 4 (Engage stakeholders).

Question 6: People

At initiation of a county stormwater project, the parks director was categorized as low power and low interest and has received only a monthly newsletter. A reorganization has since given the director control of the park easements the project needs for its pipe route. Easement requests go in next quarter. What should the project manager do first?

1. Hold a workshop with all parks department staff to explain the project's benefits
2. Keep the newsletter going and add the director to the easement request distribution
3. Update the director's category in the stakeholder register and plan closer engagement
4. Ask the county administrator to direct the parks director to approve the easements

Correct answer: C. C is correct because the director's power has changed, so the category and the engagement approach built on it are out of date and need correcting before the easement requests go in. A is incorrect because general awareness among staff does not correct the category or build a working relationship with the one person who controls the easements. B is incorrect because a one-way distribution keeps an approach designed for a low-power stakeholder in place for someone who now controls an approval the project needs. D is incorrect because this reaches for authority although the director has not objected and nobody has yet engaged the director about the easements. Exam outline: People, Task 5 (Align stakeholder expectations).

Question 7: People

An agile team tracks customer satisfaction by segment after each release, scored from 1 to 5. Each segment supplies half of the responses. The sponsor reads the overall line and says satisfaction is stable.

What should the project manager raise with the product owner?

1. Investigate why small business scores keep falling while large account scores rise
2. Keep the current roadmap, because overall satisfaction has held at 4.1 for four releases
3. Drop large account features from the roadmap, because that segment is already well served
4. Change the survey to a 1 to 10 scale, so that it can show finer differences by segment

Correct answer: A. A is correct because the flat average hides two opposite trends, and the steady fall in one segment is a signal that needs a response. B is incorrect because the overall figure is stable only because a rise offsets a fall, so it gives false comfort about small business customers. C is incorrect because this acts before any cause is known, and the product owner may still need those features for that segment. D is incorrect because the current scale already shows a clear difference between segments, so a new scale adds nothing and breaks the trend. Exam outline: People, Task 6 (Manage stakeholder expectations).

Question 8: People

The lead integration architect on a hybrid project leaves in three weeks. Design documents are current, but the team relies on the architect's judgment for an undocumented set of workarounds with a legacy vendor system. A senior engineer on the team has been named to take over. What is the best way to transfer this knowledge?

1. Log the departure in the risk register and review it at the next lessons learned session
2. Pair the architect with a successor on live integration work until the departure date
3. Have the architect write a comprehensive integration manual before the departure date
4. Hire an outside contractor with similar experience to take over the architect's role

Correct answer: B. B is correct because working side by side transfers tacit judgment that documents capture poorly, and it can begin now and continue until the departure. A is incorrect because logging the concern does not move any knowledge, and the next lessons learned session may come after the architect has gone. C is incorrect because a manual captures explicit knowledge, but it is weak for judgment calls and leaves no chance to practice with the architect's guidance. D is incorrect because experience with similar systems does not transfer knowledge of these specific workarounds, which still leave with the architect. Exam outline: People, Task 7 (Help ensure knowledge transfer).

Question 9: People

A green-loan covenant on a predictive distribution-center project requires a quarterly emissions report, due in three weeks. Two of six subcontractors, accounting for 15% of reported emissions, can't supply data for five weeks. The covenant allows labeled estimates for up to 25% of reported emissions. A late report would need lender consent. What should the project manager do next?

1. Request lender consent to file in five weeks so that the report can use all actual data
2. File on time using data from the four subcontractors, and note the two that are missing
3. Submit on time with labeled estimates for the two subcontractors, stating the method used
4. Enter estimates for the two subcontractors in the same form as the actual data received

Correct answer: C. C is correct because the missing data is within the 25% allowance, so labeled estimates meet the covenant and give the lender a report on time. A is incorrect because the covenant already allows estimates for this share, so a late-filing request is unnecessary and delays what the lender is owed. B is incorrect because the report would understate emissions, and the covenant's allowance provides a more complete way to file. D is incorrect because estimates are allowed, but they must be labeled, and presenting them as actual data misstates the report to the lender. Exam outline: People, Task 8 (Plan and manage communication).

Question 10: People

An insurer's agile team held an anonymous survey on whether members get the information they need, scored out of 5. The team is self-managing, and its retrospective is on Friday.

What is the project manager's best next step?

1. Excuse the Manila members from the daily scrum, and have Toronto write them a summary
2. Ask the Manila members' line manager to confirm that attending at 22:00 is expected
3. Move the daily scrum to a time that suits Manila, and announce the change to the team
4. Share the results at the retrospective so the team can rework how it communicates

Correct answer: D. D is correct because Manila's score and late slot point to a problem the whole team needs to see, and a self-managing team decides how to fix it. A is incorrect because a one-way summary from another location is likely to widen the information gap that Manila's score already shows. B is incorrect because this treats a communication design problem as an attendance matter, and attendance isn't what the survey measured. C is incorrect because one location's low score doesn't justify setting the team's event times for it, and the new time may simply shift the problem elsewhere. Exam outline: People, Task 8 (Plan and manage communication).