PMI-ACP Stakeholder Engagement & Communication 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In agile projects, how should a Scrum Master handle a stakeholder who frequently interrupts the development team with direct requests?
- Allow direct communication to keep stakeholders informed
- Shield the team by routing requests through the Product Owner (Correct answer)
- Schedule a weekly meeting for the stakeholder to present all requests
- Escalate the issue immediately to senior management
Correct answer: Shield the team by routing requests through the Product Owner
The Product Owner acts as the single point of contact for stakeholder requests, protecting the team's focus during the Sprint.
Question 2: Which agile practice best ensures ongoing stakeholder alignment throughout a project?
- Sending weekly status email reports
- Holding Sprint Reviews at the end of each iteration (Correct answer)
- Creating a detailed project charter at the start
- Conducting annual stakeholder satisfaction surveys
Correct answer: Holding Sprint Reviews at the end of each iteration
Sprint Reviews provide a regular forum for stakeholders to inspect the increment and adapt priorities, ensuring continuous alignment.
Question 3: A product owner discovers that two key stakeholders have conflicting priorities for the next release. What is the BEST approach?
- Implement both priorities simultaneously to satisfy everyone
- Facilitate a prioritization session using relative ranking techniques (Correct answer)
- Let the development team decide which feature to build first
- Defer both features to a future release to avoid conflict
Correct answer: Facilitate a prioritization session using relative ranking techniques
Facilitating collaborative prioritization sessions (e.g., MoSCoW or dot voting) helps stakeholders reach consensus on relative value.
Question 4: What does the concept of an 'information radiator' mean in agile communication?
- A tool that automatically sends daily emails to stakeholders
- A highly visible display of project information accessible to all (Correct answer)
- A confidential report shared only with senior management
- A specialized software for tracking technical debt
Correct answer: A highly visible display of project information accessible to all
Information radiators are large, visible displays (like task boards or burn-down charts) that passively communicate project status to anyone who sees them.
Question 5: During Sprint Planning, a stakeholder insists on adding new items to the Sprint backlog mid-session. What should the Scrum Master do?
- Add the items immediately since stakeholders have final authority
- Accept items only if they replace items of equal size
- Acknowledge the request and route new items through the Product Owner for backlog refinement (Correct answer)
- End Sprint Planning and restart with the new requirements
Correct answer: Acknowledge the request and route new items through the Product Owner for backlog refinement
New scope requests should go through the Product Owner for proper prioritization and backlog refinement rather than disrupting committed Sprint scope.
Question 6: Which communication technique is most aligned with the agile value of 'individuals and interactions over processes and tools'?
- Formal written status reports distributed weekly
- Face-to-face conversation as the preferred communication mode (Correct answer)
- A centralized issue-tracking system for all team communications
- Structured change request forms for all scope modifications
Correct answer: Face-to-face conversation as the preferred communication mode
The Agile Manifesto explicitly identifies face-to-face conversation as the most efficient and effective method of conveying information.
Question 7: A stakeholder map categorizes stakeholders by power and interest. Which group requires the MOST active engagement from the agile team?
- Low power, low interest stakeholders
- Low power, high interest stakeholders
- High power, low interest stakeholders
- High power, high interest stakeholders (Correct answer)
Correct answer: High power, high interest stakeholders
Stakeholders with high power and high interest have both the ability to influence the project and strong motivation to do so, making them the most critical to engage actively.
PMI-ACP Stakeholder Engagement & Communication 1
In agile projects, how should a Scrum Master handle a stakeholder who frequently interrupts the development team with direct requests?