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Project Management Interview Questions and Answers

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1. Which of the following is not an organizational process asset that is used during the Plan Human Resource Management process?

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2. Which of the following statements most accurately describes a project scenario?

Staffing is typically highest during the execution phase of the project. The other three responses may not hold true. Projects can move forward into subsequent phases without the deliverables of the prior phase being completely approved; this is known as fast-tracking. Changes during the initial phases of the project are the least expensive. The influence of the stakeholders is highest during the start of the project and declines as the project moves to completion.

3. What is the primary risk when including reserves or contingency allowances in your cost estimate?

Contingency funds are used to handle cost uncertainty due to unforeseen purchases that may be needed during a project. These funds are generally used for items that are likely to occur but are not certain to occur.

4. The Create WBS process identifies the deliverables at the _________ level in the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?

The Create WBS process identifies the deliverables at the lowest level in the WBS, the work package. Project work packages are typically decomposed into smaller components called activities, which represent the work that is necessary to complete the work package.

5. Linda has been assigned to establish a PMO in her organization. Linda believes that this project cannot be successful unless all of the key project stakeholders support the project. She also believes that she needs to pay special attention to stakeholder management to ensure the success of this project. First, she needs to develop her stakeholder register. To produce the project stakeholder register, which of the following processes must Linda start?

The stakeholder register is developed during the Identify Stakeholders process.

6. As you are creating the Activity List, which technique is recommended for subdividing the project into smaller components called activities?

The decomposition technique allows the project manager to create smaller and more manageable pieces of work from the larger work packages.

7. A fundamentally functional organization creates a special project team to handle a critical project. This team has many of the characteristics of a project team in a project organization and has a Project Manager dedicated to the project. Such an organization is called?

This organization is called a composite organization.

8. You are a consulting project manager and have been contracted by an investment bank to run a large information technology project that is expected to last 15 months. During the Direct and Manage Project Work process, you discover that several regulatory requirements have not been addressed in the project management plan. Failure to meet these requirements could result in legal action against the company. However, implementing the technology to comply with these regulations could exceed the budget and scope of the project, and could result in the cancellation of the project. What should you do?

All regulatory requirements must be met. Doing nothing or considering this a scope creep are not valid options. You would have to request additional funds, but first, you need to submit a change request for approval. A change request can be submitted as a part of the Direct and Manage Project Work process.

9. Daniel is managing the development of an e-commerce website for his organization. Daniel enjoys coercive powers. He has assigned Julie, a project team member, to facilitate the team meetings. During any team meeting, Julie must?

Since the project manager enjoys coercive powers, it seems likely that he has assigned a neutral facilitator to facilitate the team meetings. Facilitation is a management skill. A good facilitator should always remain neutral in a meeting and help facilitate consensus when required.

10. With the establishment of a PMO in an organization, employees are adopting project management jargon. However, a few employees are still struggling with project management terminologies. One of the most common sources of confusion is the difference between a project stakeholder and a key stakeholder. Who are the key stakeholders?

All of the given choices correctly define the project stakeholders. However, the key stakeholders are the subset of the project stakeholders that are in a decision-making position.

11. All of the following are interpersonal skills except?

Resisting change is not a valid interpersonal skill. The other choices are examples of interpersonal skills.

12. If you are requesting a vendor quote for a defined scope, what is the recommended contract type?

The fixed-price contract works best with a well-defined project scope.

13. If you are influencing factors that create changes to the cost of the project, which process are you using?

Control Costs are the process of managing the project’s costs and the changes that threaten the bottom line.

14. After brainstorming potential project risks, what is the recommended method for prioritizing these risks and their mitigation plans?

A probability and impact matrix will help filter the high-risk items and high-impact items from the others so that you can focus your attention on these riskier items.

15. The Perform Integrated Change Control process includes several configuration management activities. Which of the following is not a configuration management activity?

The change request is not a valid response. The configuration management activities included in the Perform Integrated Change Control process are Configuration Identification, Configuration Status Accounting, Configuration Verification, and Auditing.

16. A large network hardware upgrade project was scheduled to take place over a weekend. During the course of the implementation, several previously unidentified dependencies on additional materials were discovered. The project manager gave approval for the tech staff doing the implementation to procure with corporate credit cards several hundred dollars worth of additional equipment required to complete the implementation. However, these additional expenses caused the project to exceed its budget. How should the project manager handle this?

Notifying project stakeholders and following proper procedures for dealing with budget variances is the best response. Attempting to pass off or hide an unexpected expense in another budget or in expense reports rather than following proper procedures is dishonest and unprofessional. The PMI Code of ethics requires project managers, to be honest, take responsibility for errors, and follow all organizational rules and policies.

17. Which of the following is a tool or technique used in the Monitor and Control Project Work process?

Expert Judgment is a tool or technique used in the Monitor and Control Project Work process.

18. Which of the following is a hierarchical representation of project risks?

The Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS) is a hierarchical presentation of the project risks sorted by risk categories.

19. The most detailed level of the WBS is called the _________?

The work package is the lowest and most detailed level of the WBS and can be scheduled, cost estimated, monitored, and controlled.

20. What is the logical sequence of the Project Scope Management processes?

The logical sequence of the six scope management processes is: Plan Scope Management, Collect Requirements, Define Scope, Create WBS, Validate Scope, and Control Scope.

21. Your company has assigned you to serve temporarily as a project manager at a company located outside your home country. On your first day on the job, while meeting with a vendor you are presented with a gift. The corporate policy at the headquarters in your home country prohibits employees from accepting these types of gifts. However, as you are new to this location, you believe—but are not sure—that the local police and local custom may differ. How should you respond?

While organizational and cultural differences can cause conflict, the project manager is bound by the code of ethics to practice honesty, respect, and professionalism, and to follow policies, regulations, and laws pertaining. The best choice is to decline the gift and confer with management about gift policies.

22. If the project’s current total earned value (EV) is $100,000 and the actual amount spent (AC) is $95,000, what is the cost variance of the project?

The cost variance (CV) equals EV – AC. In this case, the CV = $5,000.

23. A RACI chart is an example of a _________?

A RACI chart outlines in matrix form, the project tasks, and for each task, who is responsible, who is accountable, whom to consult, and whom to inform.

24. Which of these types of precedence relationships is least commonly used in the Precedence Diagramming Method?

Start to Finish relationships indicate that the next task cannot be completed until the one preceding it has started. This type is not commonly used.

25. During the Plan Procurement Management phase, the make-or-_______ analysis must be completed. This technique prompts the project team to determine the source of their item.

The make-or-buy analysis is a technique used by the project manager to determine whether a particular work can be best completed by the project team or should be procured from outside sources.

Project Manager Scenario-Based Interview Questions

26. Mary is currently focusing on controlling key stakeholder engagement on her project. The project management plan is an essential input to this process. Which of the following components of the project management plan is least likely to be used during this process?

All of the given choices are the components of the project management plan that can be used during the Control Stakeholder Engagement process. However, the key project stakeholders are typically not interested in the minor details of the project; they are more interested in the project’s objectives, its current progress, and current risks and issues. From the given choices, “the selected project management processes for the project” is the weakest choice.

27. Which process of integrative project management documents the actions necessary to define, prepare, integrate, and coordinate all subsidiary plans into a project management plan?

This statement describes the Develop Project Management Plan process.

28. If you are working on a project with a constantly changing scope, which type of contract would work best when hiring an outside vendor to complete a portion of the work?

A cost-reimbursable contract will allow the contract to change as the project scope changes.

29. If you want a group of experts to identify project risks but you also want unbiased data, what is an appropriate technique to use?

The Delphi technique involves anonymous questionnaires circulated to a group of experts and provides an unbiased assessment of the risks.

30. If you are writing a proposal for additional funding, which communication style should you choose?

Since this will be an official project document, it should be formal. Additionally, since you are requesting money from someone higher up in the organization, you are creating vertical communication.

31. You are on the vendor selection committee for a large IT project that you will be managing for your company. Your friend works for a company that is planning to bid on the project. During a social dinner, your friend tells you that his job is on the line if his company does not win the contract. What should you do?

During the procurement process, predefined criteria are used to select vendors to supply goods and services. Circumventing this process to benefit a friend is a conflict of interest and is unfair to other vendors competing in good faith. The project management code of ethics demands that practitioners adhere to their standards at all times. The best response is to notify the project stakeholders that you have a conflict of interest, and excuse yourself from the selection committee.

32. Which of the following should you not use as an input into creating the WBS structure?

The Bill of Material (BOM) is not used as an input in the Create WBS process. The other three are valid inputs.

33. Does the Requirements Traceability Matrix help in tracing all of the following except?

Requirements Traceability Matrix is an output of the Collect Requirements process. It is used for tracing requirements to project scope, objectives, and test strategy. Tracing requirements to project risk is not a valid use.

34. Measuring the quality of items in a sample on a pass/fail basis is called?

Attribute sampling measures the quality of items in a sample on a pass/fail basis; variable sampling measures the quality on a continuous scale.

35. A project manager scheduled a review at the end of a phase, with the objective of obtaining authorization to close the current project phase and initiate the next phase. Which of the following is an incorrect way of describing this review?

Stage Gates, Phase Gates and Kill Point all refer to a phase-end review with the objective of obtaining authorization to close the current phase and start the next one. This is a retrospective review of the current phase. Phase planning, on the other hand, is performed early during the planning phase of the project.

36. Which of the following defines the total scope of the project and represents the work specified in the currently approved project scope statement?

The WBS is a hierarchical decomposition of the work to be performed by the project team. It defines the total scope of the project. It represents the work specified in the currently approved project scope statement.

37. The technique most commonly used by project management software packages to construct a project schedule network diagram is?

The method used by most project management software packages to construct a project schedule network diagram is Activity-On-Node (AON). This method uses boxes or rectangles, called nodes, to represent activities. It connects the nodes with arrows showing the logical relationships among them.

38. Which of these processes is not a Project Time Management process?

Create WBS is a process in the Project Scope Management area. The other options are all Project Time Management processes.

39. During the Plan Risk Management process, assigning _________will help you and the project team identify all important risks and work more effectively during the identification process?

Risk categories provide a structure that ensures a comprehensive process of systematically identifying risks and that contributes to the effectiveness and quality of the process.

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40. Which term best describes the Identify Risks process?

The Identify Risks process is an ongoing, iterative process as risks are often identified throughout the project’s life cycle.

41. If you are creating a new WBS for your project, what should you do to save time during the creation process?

Creating the WBS is a very important process, but often a previous WBS can be used as a template to save time and avoid the risk of forgetting something important.

42. Which of these precedence relationships is most commonly used in the Precedence Diagramming Method?

Finish-to-Start relationships indicate that the next task is not able to start until the one preceding it is completed. This is the most commonly used type of activity relationship.

43. You are the project manager in your organization. You have little authority over the projects you manage, and you are primarily engaged in project coordination activities. You are currently struggling with obtaining the required human resources for your project during the Acquire Project Team process. To obtain these resources, with whom do you need to negotiate?

Since you have little authority over the projects you manage, you are working for a weak matrix organization. In such organizations, the functional managers have more authority. To obtain the required resources from the functional managers, you need to use the “Negotiation” tool and technique from the Acquire Project Team process.

44. What is the traditional way to display a reporting structure among project team members?

A hierarchical-type organization chart can clearly show roles and reporting relationships within a team.

45. In an ongoing project, the project sponsor and the manager of the performing organization are having conflicts. What would be your comment on this situation?

The project manager needs to recognize that the stakeholders may have conflicting interests and objectives. It is the responsibility of the project manager to manage the stakeholders’ expectations successfully.

46. Project risks should be identified by?

While it is not feasible to invite everyone to the risk identification meetings, everyone should be encouraged to identify risks as they encounter them.

47. When would Rolling Wave Planning be useful in a project?

Rolling Wave Planning is a technique used to create a more detailed work plan while keeping the right level of detail for each activity: Activities happening sooner have more detail than those further in the future.

48. The transition from one phase to another within a project’s life cycle (e.g., from design to manufacturing) is typically marked by?

The transition from one phase to another within a project’s lifecycle typically involves, and is usually defined by, some form of technology transfer or handoff. This is also called a kill point.

49. Ongoing operations and a project both have Initiating Processes, but only a project has_______?

A project is a finite effort; the Initiating Process Group starts the cycle, and the Closing Process Group ends the cycle.

50. Estimating the type and quantities of material, people, equipment, and supplies required to perform each activity is?

Estimate Activity Resources is the process of estimating the type and quantities of material, people, equipment, and supplies required to perform each activity.