PMP Q #30- Improving Alignment in Hybrid model
Q30. A hybrid automobile project runs agile software and predictive electronics tracks. Incidentally, delays accumulate halfway into the project due to misaligned deliverable releases between the two tracks.
What should the project manager do to improve this situation?
A. Develop an Integrated Project Schedule for both tracks.
B. Improve communication by revisiting the communication management plan.
C. Conduct a Retrospective with an agile track to identify improvements.
D. Assign Team Leaders for both tracks to ensure alignment.
In this question, you have one agile track, and another is predictive. And each track has its release milestones or processes, but there is no alignment between them, creating issues and overall delays. So how should you handle it as a project manager?
Let’s look at the options. Which one would you like to take?
Option A – “Develop an Integrated Project Schedule for both tracks.” – It might be tricky. Agile projects have little predictability in getting a project schedule like predictive project schedules. So this option is not the right to solve the problem.
Option B – “Improve communication by revisiting the communication management plan.” – The overall idea is to address collaboration and communication issues. For example, if you have a different release date and cannot track what is happening, – A change request in a predictive track might delay something in the Agile track. And the agile guys may be dealing with a challenge which may affect the predictive track. You can improve such problems by introducing joint planning meetings, sharing information, using information radiators, dashboards, etc. You should revisit the whole communication process to facilitate these tools. In this way, this option looks promising. But it is about more than creating a document as a communication management plan; it is about developing the right communication strategy.
Option C – “Conduct a Retrospective with an agile track to identify improvements” – It may be a good idea, but the problem is wider than the agile team. The problem is also in the predictive team. So focusing and working with only an agile team is not enough to solve the problem. So this option goes out.
Option D – “ Assign Team Leaders for both tracks to ensure alignment” – It may be needed, which you can cover in the communication management plan. For example, you may need to have a communication channel in which you may have information exchanged with a particular person. But in the question, there must be a clear indication that centralised management can solve the problem. You need a clear idea in the question that you need two managers to handle and facilitate these particular alignments. In the absence of this idea, this option does not look promising.
So option B looks more agile, more systematic, and more integrated, saying improve communication by revisiting the communication management plan.
There could be many other options, but in the PMP exam, you need to pick the best option out of our available options.
