Chapter 10 Communications Management

Process of Communication

100

Communication is successful when the meaning is understood.

When is communication successful?

200

Communication channels that provide for feedback.

What are two way communications?

300

What percent of the time do project managers spend communicating? A. 90% B. 20% C. 70% D. 25%

What is A? Memorize this number Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 347

400

When do stakeholders have the MOST influence on a project? A. At the beginning of the project B. In the middle of the project C. At the end of the project D. Throughout the project

What is A? Stakeholders must be identified and involved at the beginning of the project, in order to determine their requirements and expectations. Remember that if this is not done early, the results may be expensive changes and/or dissatisfaction later in the project. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 350

500

A particular stakeholder has a reputation for making many changes on projects. What is the BEST approach a project manager can take at the beginning of the project to manage this situation? A. Say “No” to the stakeholder a few times to dissuade him from submitting more changes. B. Get the stakeholder involved in the project as early as possible. C. Talk to the stakeholder’s boss to find ways to direct the stakeholder’s activities to another project. D. Ask that the stakeholder not be included in the stakeholder listing.

What is B? We cannot avoid the stakeholder (choices C and D) because he has a stake in the project. A project manager can say "No" (choice A), but this does not solve the root cause. There may be some good ideas within those changes. The only choice that deals with the problem is choice B. Changes are not bad! Changes normally come from lack of input at the beginning of the project. If we begin effective communication with this stakeholder early (choice B), we stand a much better chance of discovering his changes during the planning process, when they will have less of an impact. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 352

Plan Communications

100

You have decided to terminate a contract because you no longer need the work from the seller. What is the BEST way to communicate this to the seller? A. Call the seller immediately. B. Send the seller a notification by e-mail. C. Send the seller a stop work order by overnight mail. D. Hold an immediate meeting with the seller

What is C? Such communications must be in writing as they are changes to the contract. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 355

200

Communications are often enhanced when the sender _______ the receiver. A. Speaks up to B. Uses more physical movements when talking to C. Talks slowly to D. Shows concern for the perspective of

What is D? Understanding the receiver’s perspective allows you to direct the communication to meet his needs. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 357

300

The WBS can be an effective aid for communication in which situation(s)? A. Internal within the project team B. Internal within the organization C. External with the customer D. Internal and external to the project

What is D? The WBS allows communication vertically and horizontally within the organization as well as outside the project. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 163

400

“What information needs to be collected when” is part of which of the following? A. Formal Reporting B. Plan Communications C. Stakeholder Management D. Earned Value

What is B? A communications management plan indicates a determination of what information needs to be collected and when. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 353

500

A project manager has a project team consisting of people in four countries. The project is very important to the company, and the project manager is concerned about its success. The length of the project schedule is acceptable. What type of communications should he use? A. Informal verbal communication b. Formal written communication C. Formal verbal communication D. Informal written communication

What is B? because of the differences in culture and the distance between team members, formal written communication is needed. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 356

Plan Communications

100

The communications management plan is developed to meet the needs of the: A. Project Sponsor B. Team C. Project Manager D. Stakeholders

What is D? Choice D includes all of the other choices. Stakeholders can be project assets who perform project work, provide expert advice, and remove roadblocks. Because they are involved in the project, you should consider their needs when creating a communications management plan. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 360

200

Your employee is three days late with a report. She walks into a meeting where the report is to be discussed and hands you a copy five minutes before the topic is to be discussed. You notice some serious errors in the report. How could this have been prevented? A. Require periodic updates from the employee. B. Coach and mentor the employee C. Make sure that employee was competent to do the work D. Cancel the meeting earlier because you did not have a chance to review the report.

What is D? Both A and D could have prevented the outcome, only D is the one that would ensure you were not sitting in a meeting with a document that had not been reviewed. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 491

300

A project manager on a multinational Web site implementation project is at a party and talks to friends who will be heavy users of this new Web site when the project is complete and the site is rolled out. They describe some of the annoying aspects of the current Website. The project manager takes this feedback back to the sponsor, and encourages design and scope changes. Which of the following BEST describes what the project manage has done? A. Verify Scope B. Integrated change control C. Scope planning D. Stakeholder analysis

What is D? The project manager must identify the stakeholders, document their needs, wants and expectations, then manage and influence expectations to ensure project success. (Since the project is already in the planning process group, this should have already taken place.) Choice A is a control function related to gaining customer acceptance. Choice B relates to looking for mulitple impacts of changes. Choice C creates a scope management plan. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 352

400

You have just been assigned as the project manager for a project that is in the middle of the executing process group. The BEST way to control the project is to: A. Use a combination of communications methods. B. Hold status meetings because they have worked best for you in the past. C. Refer to the bar chart weekly. D. Meet with management weekly.

What is A? Your communication needs to be correct for the situation. Because situations vary, so must your communication methods. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 354

500

All of the following are part of a communications management plan EXCEPT: A. Names of the stakeholders who can talk to the project manager. B. Names of those receiving a telephone call when the system crashes. C. Method used to collect and store information D. Names of stakeholders and instructions on sending project status to them.

What is A? A communications management plan can attempt to control communications, but the project manager needs to have open communications with everyone. This is the only way to inform the appropriate people of the project status and to adequately control the project. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 360

Potpourri

100

The requirements of many stakeholders were not approved for inclusion in your project. Therefore, you had a difficult time receiving formal approval of the project management plan for this project. The stakeholders argued and held up the project while they held meeting after meeting about their requirements. The project was finally approved and work was begun six months ago. All of the following would be good preventive actions to implement EXCEPT: A. Keep a file of what requirements were not included in the project. B. Make sure the change control process is not used a vehicle and add back the requirements into the project. C. Maintain an issue log. D. Hold meetings with the stakeholder to go over the work that will not be added to the project.

What is D? Why would choice D be the action not to take? Isn't it similar to choice A? Yes and no. This issue should be over, but since there were so many meetings and arguments about the requirements being removed, it is unlikely that the issue will be dropped by the stakeholders. However, since it has not come up again and the project was started six months ago, spending time in a meeting is excessive. The other choices are easier and have less impact on the project and are therefore things that could be done. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page:

200

The project status meeting is not going well. Everyone is talking at the same time, there are people who are not participating, and many topics are being discusses at random. Which of the following rules for effective meetings is NOT being adhered to? A. Demonstrate courtesy and consideration of each other, control who is allowed to speak. B. Schedule meetings in advance C. Have a purpose for the meeting, with the right people in attendance. D. Create and publish an agenda and a set of rules for controlling the meeting.

What is D? Choice A is not a "rule" for efective meetings. Since there is no indication that the meeting was not scheduled in advance (choice B) or that there isn't a purpose (choice C) these cannot be the best answers. "Discussed at random" implies no agenda (chiceD). If an agenda is issued beforehand, people will follow the outline and should not need random discussions. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page:

300

Which of the following is the BEST tool for showing the team the project schedule status during project executing? A. Milestone chart B. Bar chart C. Work Breakdown Structure D. Network diagram

What is B? the bar chart is the tool that shows the schedule at a detailed enough level for discussion with the team.

400

A project manager wants to more extensively involve the stakeholders on the project. Which of the following would be the BEST way to accomplish this? A. Have the stakeholders periodically review the list of project requirements. B. Invite the stakeholders to attend project status meetings C. Send the status report to the stakeholders. D. Constantly update the stakeholders on the status of all project changes

What is B?

500

A major construction project has been having a lot of schedule changes due to unanticipated weather problems. Who is BEST to notify of these changes? A. Stakeholders B. Sponsor C. Project Team D. Functional managers

What is A? You need to communicate issues with the stakeholders. This includes all the others answers. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 361

Distribution and Reports

100

A team of seven people adds two more people to the team. How many communication channels are there now? A. 9 B. 36 C. 18 D. 81

What is B? the formula is (N x (N-1))/2. The question asks “How many total communication channels are there ?”. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 359

200

You are a project manager for a US $3,000,000 product development project. Your project is well into the executing process group and remains on time, on budget, and on specification. This morning your project sponsor called to express concern about the project. Based on the schedule baseline, the project should be nearing implementation, but the sponsor does not know the current status of the project. You remind the sponsor that your team produces a detailed status report weekly and distributes if via e-mail. The sponsor indicates that e-mail is too impersonal and verbal updates are preferred. This situation suggests a problem with which of the following project management processes? A. Plan Communication B. Distribute Information C. Report Performance D. Stakeholder Management

What is A? The Plan communications process involves identifiying communications requirements, including the identification of any communication preferences. In this situation, "you remind the sponsor" indicates that the information is being communicated according to the plan. However, the plan does not reflect the needs of this stakeholder. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 353

300

You are working on an 18-month project with a small co-located team. The project sponsor and senior management are in another city and have requested weekly updates. The customer requires monthly meetings. Because the team members are busy with the project executing process, they would like to reduce the frequency of meetings. Which of the following BEST describes how status meetings should be managed on this project? A. During project executing, you do not need to hold status meetings as long as you send the key stakeholders a status report every week. B. Once a month the entire team, including senior management, should meet with the customer. You should discuss the details of the previous month’s issues and the current status. C. During project executing, it is only necessary for the project manager to meet with the customer once a month to fulfill your contractual obligation. Provide the customer with the status report and copy this report to key stakeholders. D. The frequency and level of meetings as well as the format and type of information to be exchanged should be defined in the project’s communications management plan during project planning.

What is D? the communications management plan should cover all phases of the project. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 358

400

The project manager is expecting a deliverable to be submitted by e-mail from a team member today. At the end of the day, the project manager contacts the team member to notify him that it has not been received. The team member apologizes and says that he was not able to email the deliverable, and it was sent through the mail instead. The team member goes on to explain that he notified the project manager that this would occur during a phone conversation they had while the project manager was traveling. “Wasn’t that the conversation we had when I told you I could not hear you well due to poor cell phone coverage?” asks the project manager. “Yes” replies the team member. What could have avoided this problem? A. Paralingual communication B. Adding to the issue log after the phone call C. Better attention to determining communications requirements D. Feedback during the communication

What is D? the pitchand tone of voice (choice A) is not relevant here, as the project manager could not even hear what was being said. There were no issues recognized after the conversation, so none could be added to the issue log (choice B ). this issue is not related to communications requirements, so choice C cannot be best. Saaaying,"I am not sure I properly heard what you said" during the conversation or asking for the message to be repeated back to the sender would have prevented this problem. this makes choice D the best option. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page:

500

Inputs to the Plan Communications process include all the following EXCEPT: A. Communications Requirements B. Stakeholder management strategy C. Company culture D. Forecasts

What is D? Forecasts are an output of Report Performance. Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 252