A.

Ensure that the impediments are captured and prioritized based upon the highest valued features

According to the Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)® Guide, an impediment is anything that prevents the team from delivering value or achieving its goals. An impediment can be internal or external, technical or non-technical, and can affect the quality, scope, schedule, cost, or risk of the project. In this scenario, the product owner has presented the backlog to the team, and the team has raised concerns over implementing some of the features due to various impediments. The project manager should suggest that the product owner ensure that the impediments are captured and prioritized based on the highest valued features. This would help the product owner to address the most critical impediments first, and to align the backlog with the project objectives and stakeholder expectations. This would also help the team to focus on delivering the most valuable features, and to overcome the impediments with the support of the product owner and the project manager. Estimating the financial impact of the impediments and requesting additional funding, beginning to remove the impediments starting with the easiest ones first, or capturing the impediments and informing management that their assistance is needed are actions that should be taken after the impediments are captured and prioritized, not before. These actions do not address the root cause of the situation, which is the misalignment between the backlog and the team’s capabilities.

References: (Professional in Business Analysis Reference Materials source and documents)

Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)® Guide, Chapter 6, Section 6.3.1.2
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Seventh Edition, Chapter 9, Section 9.2.2.2
The Standard for Project Management – Seventh Edition, Chapter 3, Section 3.2.2.2

C.

Plan to conduct informal sessions with the stakeholders.

Explanation

The project manager should plan to conduct informal sessions with the stakeholders to educate them about the project objectives, scope, and technology, and to address their concerns and queries. This will help to improve the stakeholders’ awareness, engagement, and buy-in, and to reduce the objections and queries that are wasting time in the meetings. This is part of the Manage Stakeholder Engagement process, which involves communicating and working with stakeholders to meet their needs and expectations, address issues, and foster appropriate stakeholder involvement1. Requesting stakeholders who understand the technology, recommending a change in technology, or including the issue in the issue log and escalating it are not the best options, as they may alienate the existing stakeholders, compromise the project vision, or escalate a problem that can be resolved at a lower level. 

D.

Lack of a proper legal framework in place

Explanation

According to the AI & SOCIETY article1, legal structures may form barriers to, or enablers of, adoption of precision agriculture management with small autonomous agricultural robots. The article develops a conceptual regulatory framework for small autonomous agricultural robots, from a practical, self-contained engineering guide perspective, sufficient to get working research and commercial agricultural roboticists quickly and easily up and running within the law. The article examines the liability framework, or rather lack of it, for agricultural robotics in EU, and their transpositions to UK law, as a case study illustrating general international legal concepts and issues. It examines how the law may provide mitigating effects on the liability regime, and how contracts can be developed between agents within it to enable smooth operation. It covers other legal aspects of operation such as the use of shared communications resources and privacy in the reuse of robot-collected data. Where there are some grey areas in current law, it argues that new proposals could be developed to reform these to promote further innovation and investment in agricultural robots. Therefore, the lack of a proper legal framework in place for the automation project may be the reason why the elected officials warned the project manager that the project cannot proceed, as they may face legal uncertainties, risks, or challenges that could affect the project’s feasibility, legitimacy, or acceptability.

B.

Review the quality management plan

According to the PMBOK Guide, the quality management plan is a component of the project management plan that describes how the project quality will be planned, assured, controlled, and managed. It also includes the quality standards, quality metrics, quality tools, quality roles and responsibilities, and quality audits.

In this scenario, the project manager should review the quality management plan to understand the requirements and expectations for the regulatory labels, the process and criteria for inspecting and verifying them, the actions and responsibilities for resolving any nonconformities, and the documentation and reporting of the quality results.

The other options are not appropriate because:
Conducting an expert judgment evaluation (option A) is not a suitable response to the issue. Expert judgment is a technique that involves consulting subject matter experts to provide information or guidance on a specific topic. While expert judgment can be useful in many situations, it is not a substitute for following the established quality management plan and procedures.

Updating the lessons learned register (option C) is not a priority at this stage. The lessons learned register is a project document that captures the knowledge gained from the project activities, including the positive and negative experiences, the best practices, and the recommendations for improvement. While updating the lessons learned register is an important part of the project closure, it is not a relevant action to address the current quality issue.

Reviewing the risk management plan (option D) is also not a relevant action to address the current quality issue. The risk management plan is a component of the project management plan that describes how the project risks will be identified, analyzed, prioritized, responded to, monitored, and controlled. It also includes the risk categories, risk appetite, risk thresholds, risk roles and responsibilities, and risk reporting. While reviewing the risk management plan can help the project manager to identify and manage any potential or actual risks related to the quality issue, it is not a direct or immediate response to the issue.

A.

Encourage all team members to use a virtual workspace

C.

Talk to the team member about their engagement and take appropriate action.

A virtual workspace is a tool that allows team members to collaborate and communicate online, regardless of their physical location. A virtual workspace can help the project manager and the team to share information, documents, updates, feedback, and ideas in real time. A virtual workspace can also enhance the team’s trust, cohesion, and productivity. By encouraging all team members to use a virtual workspace, the project manager can ensure that everyone is on the same page and has access to the latest project information. The project manager can also monitor the team member’s progress and provide support if needed12.

Talking to the team member about their engagement and taking appropriate action is another option that can help the project manager in this situation. The project manager should try to understand the reasons behind the team member’s lack of communication and details, such as lack of motivation, skills, resources, or clarity. The project manager should also provide constructive feedback and guidance to the team member, and set clear expectations and goals for their performance. The project manager should also follow up with the team member regularly and recognize their achievements. If the team member does not improve their communication and details, the project manager may need to escalate the issue to the functional manager or consider reassigning the work to another resource34. References: = 12 Project Management Strategies To Improve Efficiency, Strategy 6: Use a virtual workspace; 8 Steps for Better Issue Management, Step 5: Communicate with the team; PMBOK® Guide, Sixth Edition, pages 368-369, 376-377; Agile Practice Guide, pages 28-29, 50-51.

D.

Breakdown the situation to identify the root causes for the disagreement and then work with each stakeholder and participating entity on their exact roles and responsibilities

Explanation

The correct answer is D. According to the PMBOK® Guide, the project manager should manage stakeholder expectations and engagement by applying appropriate tools and techniques, such as stakeholder analysis, communication management, conflict resolution, and negotiation1. The project manager should also use the project charter as a reference document to clarify the project objectives, scope, and deliverables2. By breaking down the situation and identifying the root causes for the disagreement, the project manager can address the underlying issues and concerns of each stakeholder and align them with the project vision and goals. The project manager can then work with each stakeholder and participating entity on their exact roles and responsibilities, and ensure that they are committed and supportive of the project. References: 1: PMBOK® Guide, page 513-514; 2: PMBOK® Guide, page 77-78

A.

Update project documents to include adaptive tools and artifacts and plan the first iterative session

According to the PMBOK Guide, 7th edition, one of the key activities of the project manager is to tailor the project delivery approach based on the project characteristics, context, and environment. This means that the project manager should select the appropriate tools, techniques, methods, and artifacts that best suit the project needs and objectives. If the project manager realizes that the project will benefit from using adaptive tools, such as agile or hybrid methods, then the project manager should update the project documents accordingly and plan the first iterative session. This will enable the project team to deliver value incrementally and iteratively, and to respond to changes and feedback more effectively. Option A is the best answer for this question.

Option B is not the best answer because contacting the project sponsor and requesting new team members who are familiar with adaptive projects is not the first thing that the project manager should do. It is a possible action that the project manager may take if the current team lacks the skills or experience to work with adaptive tools, but it is not a necessary or immediate action. Moreover, requesting new team members may not always be feasible or desirable, as it may increase the project costs and risks, and may disrupt the team dynamics and performance.

Option C is not the best answer because confirming team capabilities before introducing adaptive tools and artifacts to the project is not the first thing that the project manager should do. It is a good practice to assess the team’s readiness and ability to work with adaptive tools, but it is not a prerequisite or a determinant for tailoring the project delivery approach. The project manager should base the decision on the project characteristics, context, and environment, not on the team capabilities. Moreover, confirming team capabilities may not always be accurate or reliable, as the team may have different levels of familiarity and confidence with adaptive tools.

Option D is not the best answer because freezing the design stage and looking for an external resource to run iterative design at extra cost is not the first thing that the project manager should do. It is a possible action that the project manager may take if the project is too complex or uncertain to be handled by the internal team, but it is not a recommended or proactive action. Freezing the design stage may delay the project delivery and may not reflect the current or future state of the project requirements or stakeholder needs. Looking for an external resource may increase the project costs and risks, and may reduce the project control and quality. PMBOK Guide, 7th edition, pages 9-10, 15-16, 25-26, 35-36, 49-50.

D.

Product backlog

E.

Sprint goal

A sprint planning meeting is an event in scrum that kicks off the sprint. The purpose of sprint planning is to define what can be delivered in the sprint and how that work will be achieved. Sprint planning is done in collaboration with the whole scrum team1.

Sprint planning addresses the following topics1:

Topic One: Why is this Sprint valuable? The Product Owner proposes how the product could increase its value and utility in the current Sprint. The whole Scrum Team then collaborates to define a Sprint Goal that communicates why the Sprint is valuable to stakeholders. The Sprint Goal must be finalized prior to the end of Sprint Planning.

Topic Two: What can be Done this Sprint? Through discussion with the Product Owner, the Developers select items from the Product Backlog to include in the current Sprint. The Scrum Team may refine these items during this process, which increases understanding and confidence. Selecting how much can be completed within a Sprint may be challenging. However, the more the Developers know about their past performance, their upcoming capacity, and their Definition of Done, the more confident they will be in their Sprint forecasts.

Topic Three: How will the chosen work get done? For each selected Product Backlog item, the Developers plan the work necessary to create an Increment that meets the Definition of Done. This is often done by decomposing Product Backlog items into smaller work items of one day or less. How this is done is at the sole discretion of the Developers. No one else tells them how to turn Product Backlog items into Increments of value.

The Sprint Goal, the Product Backlog items selected for the Sprint, plus the plan for delivering them are together referred to as the Sprint Backlog1.

Therefore, the two pieces of information that the project manager needs in order to make the sprint planning meeting productive and effective are the Product Backlog and the Sprint Goal. The Product Backlog is the source of the work items that the Developers will select and commit to deliver in the Sprint. The Sprint Goal is the outcome that the Scrum Team wants to achieve in the Sprint and that guides their work.

The other options are not essential for the sprint planning meeting. A Sprint Charter is not a scrum artifact and is not required for sprint planning. A Burndown Chart is a tool to track the progress of the Sprint, but it is not needed for planning the Sprint. The Company Mission and Vision are important for the overall product strategy, but they are not specific enough for the Sprint planning.

References: 1: What is Sprint Planning? | Scrum.org