Pass the PMI PMI Agile PMI-ACP Questions and answers with CertsForce

The correct answer is B – Facilitate an open and focused team discussion that reinforces team agreements. Agile teams are built on collaboration, mutual respect, and self-organization. When conflict arises about role expectations or task assignments, the Scrum Master should create a safe space for open discussion to reinforce working agreements and promote shared accountability.

From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Agile leaders support team collaboration by encouraging open conversations. When team dynamics are strained, the Scrum Master facilitates discussions to reinforce team norms, self-organization, and equality of contribution.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 4.3 – Team Performance and Working Agreements)

Mike Griffiths further states:

“Agile teams succeed when responsibilities are shared and roles are not rigidly defined. The Scrum Master should facilitate a discussion that encourages shared ownership and mutual respect for all tasks.”

(Mike Griffiths, PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 4 – Team Performance)

Incorrect options:

A imposes action without addressing the root issue or respecting roles.

C brings external authority into a team matter, weakening self-organization.

D is partially correct but doesn’t resolve the immediate team conflict.

Answer: B

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Stakeholder participation, especially during sprint reviews, iscritical to agile success. ThePMI Agile Practice Guide (Section 7.2: Stakeholder Engagement)emphasizes the importance ofactively engaging stakeholdersthroughout the project lifecycle, particularly during key ceremonies like sprint reviews, where feedback shapes the product.

Mike Griffiths in thePMI-ACP Exam Prep Book (Chapter 4: Stakeholder Engagement)states that stakeholders need tounderstand the value of their inputand how it influences product direction. The agile practitioner or Scrum Master should educate and influence stakeholders bydemonstrating the tangible impact of their participation.

Option Dis correct: aligning stakeholders with thebenefits of engagementfosters participation.

Option A,B, andCare passive substitutes and don’t address the root issue of stakeholder disengagement.

The correct answer is B – Discuss the issue with the team in the daily stand-up meetings. Agile emphasizes transparency, collaboration, and self-organization. The daily stand-up is an appropriate forum to raise and discuss workload distribution so the team can adjust and support each other.

From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Daily stand-ups are a tool for fostering open communication, uncovering impediments, and adjusting the plan for the day. It enables the team to help each other balance workloads and remove bottlenecks.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 5.2 – Daily Stand-Ups)

Mike Griffiths explains:

“Team members should use stand-ups to discuss challenges. If someone is overloaded, the team can identify ways to redistribute work to maintain balance and avoid burnout.”

(Mike Griffiths, PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 4 – Team Performance)

Incorrect options:

A escalates the issue unnecessarily and bypasses team self-management.

C is too narrow and private for a team-based issue.

D adds administrative burden without solving the underlying problem.

Answer: B

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Relying solely on the developers' experience with similar systems to define functionality can be limiting and potentially result in misaligned expectations with actual user needs. Effective Agile teams should focus on understanding and addressing the needs of end users, leveraging continuous feedback from customers, and engaging stakeholders directly. This ensures the product is built to meet real user expectations and can evolve as necessary based on user input. Instead of relying on previous experience, the team should be focused on co-creating value with customers through collaboration, feedback, and agile practices like user stories and regular testing.

Gold-plating—adding extra features not requested or prioritized—is ananti-patternin agile. Agile emphasizesdelivering the highest-priority features first, and product changes should always go through theProduct Ownerfor prioritization and validation.

According to thePMI Agile Practice Guide (Section 5.1: Backlog and Value Delivery)andMike Griffiths’ PMI-ACP Exam Prep Book (Chapter 6: Value-Driven Delivery), when capacity is available, the team should pull more storiesfrom the prioritized backlog, ensuring that all work aligns with stakeholder-defined value.

Option Dis correct: confirm backlog priority and use time to delivercustomer-prioritized value.

Option Asupports scope creep.

Option Bis partially correct but doesn’t optimize the time to deliver value.

Option Cperpetuates gold-plating and undermines value alignment.

Agile promotestransparency and ongoing communicationwith all stakeholders, including legal and compliance teams. According to thePMI Agile Practice Guide (Section 7.1 Communications), one of the Scrum Master's responsibilities is tokeep stakeholders informedof project progress and projections using tools like burnup/burndown charts, velocity trends, or product roadmaps.

Mike Griffiths in thePMI-ACP Exam Prep Book (Chapter 4: Stakeholder Engagement)emphasizes thatsharing the trajectoryof progress and scope delivery builds trust and provides clarity to non-technical stakeholders.

Option Cis correct: sharing actual progress and trends with legal ensures alignment and transparency.

Option Amisplaces the responsibility—it's the stakeholders who need visibility.

Option Bshifts product decisions prematurely.

Option Dassumes satisfaction trumps contractual obligations—this can cause legal issues.

In agile methodology, particularly in Scrum, it is essential to focus on delivering value through iterative, incremental development. Rather than planning everything upfront for the entire 2-year duration, the focus should be on delivering small, manageable releases on a regular cadence, allowing for flexibility and adaptability based on feedback from stakeholders. This approach helps to ensure that the team remains responsive to changing requirements and can continually improve the product over time.

The correct answer is D — Suggest an iterative approach including timely engagement of all key stakeholders and hold regular review meetings.

Engaging stakeholders continuously and using iteration reviews to validate deliverables ensures that misunderstandings are addressed early. This is especially critical in situations where expectations were not met in previous projects. Agile thrives in environments that require responsiveness to feedback.

PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Early and continuous stakeholder engagement and regular reviews help ensure alignment and satisfaction, especially when past experiences were negative.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 4.2 – Stakeholder Engagement)

Mike Griffiths:

“Agile promotes iterative delivery and early validation, minimizing the risk of misaligned expectations and unmet requirements.”

(PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 3 – Value-Driven Delivery)

Incorrect options:

A and C are useful, but don’t directly prevent recurrence of the problem.

B is vague and lacks concrete action.

Answer: D

To prevent the prioritization meeting from turning into a brainstorming session, the product owner should ensure that user stories are well-defined before they are added to the backlog. By reviewing the items with the product owner’s teammates (or stakeholders) beforehand, the product owner can clarify the details of the stories and ensure they are properly defined. This allows the team to focus on prioritization during the meeting, rather than spending time clarifying vague requests. This proactive approach improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the prioritization process.

This situation introduces technical uncertainty. In agile, such scenarios are best addressed byspikesorincremental implementationandearly feedback. ThePMI Agile Practice Guide (Section 5.2 Spikes and Experimentation)suggests that uncertain work should be prototyped, tested early, and shown during sprint reviews for feedback and learning.

Mike Griffiths in thePMI-ACP Exam Prep Book (Chapter 7: Problem Detection and Resolution)recommends testing high-risk integrations early and iteratively, rather than over-planning.

Option Dis correct: developing, testing, and demonstrating early minimizes risk and aligns with agile principles.

Option Aleans toward waterfall-style planning and over-documentation.

Option Bincorrectly assumes non-functional requirements are less valuable—they’re critical in many systems.

Option Cmay delay necessary architectural work and increase risk.