1.4: PfMP style questions

Sample Questions

1. A CEO asks whether a new initiative should be run as a portfolio, a program, or a project. The initiative involves three related workstreams that must be coordinated together to unlock a benefit no single workstream could deliver alone. Which structure fits best?
   1. Portfolio, because there are multiple workstreams.
   2. Program, because the benefit depends on coordinating the related workstreams.
   3. Project, because it will eventually end.
   4. Operations, because the workstreams are ongoing.
2. A portfolio manager is evaluating whether to fund a technically impressive project that does not clearly support the organization's strategy. What should guide the decision?
   1. Fund it because technical excellence should always be rewarded.
   2. Decline funding, since aggregate strategic value matters more than isolated technical success.
   3. Fund it and adjust the strategy to match afterward.
   4. Let the project team decide since they understand the technical merits best.
3. A hospital network's capital project budgets keep getting quietly used to cover payroll and supply shortfalls whenever clinics run short on cash mid-month. What is the most likely long-term consequence of this pattern?
   1. None, because project budgets are meant to absorb operational fluctuations.
   2. Funded projects slip behind schedule as capital meant for the future is consumed by ongoing operational needs.
   3. Operations will become more efficient as a result.
   4. Reimbursement rates from insurers will improve.
4. Executives ask why a fully funded digital transformation program is suddenly behind schedule, even though the technical work was never described as difficult. What governance gap best explains this?
   1. The technical team underestimated the complexity of the software.
   2. Diversions from project accounts to cover operational shortfalls were not being tracked or reported.
   3. The vendor delivered a defective product.
   4. The program was never actually approved.
5. A portfolio manager wants to prevent operational shortfalls from quietly consuming project funding. What reporting change would catch this problem early?
   1. Reviewing capital-to-operations transfers only at year-end.
   2. Making every transfer between capital and operational accounts visible as soon as it happens.
   3. Removing the separation between project and operational budgets entirely.
   4. Allowing finance staff to approve transfers without documentation.
6. A portfolio is choosing which projects to fund for the coming year. Business cases have already been built and screening criteria applied. Which portfolio life cycle phase comes next?
   1. Strategic.
   2. Screening.
   3. Selection.
   4. Evaluation.
7. During the Implementation phase of the portfolio life cycle, performance measurements show that a program is drifting off course. What should happen next?
   1. Wait until the Evaluation phase to address the drift.
   2. Implement corrective actions as part of ongoing governance and monitoring.
   3. Remove the program from the portfolio immediately.
   4. Ignore the drift since implementation performance is expected to vary.
8. A project manager in a matrixed organization needs a database engineer's time, but that engineer's functional manager keeps assigning them to a revenue-generating feature instead. The project manager has no direct authority over the engineer. What does this scenario illustrate?
   1. Matrixed project managers typically hold strong formal authority over shared resources.
   2. Matrixed project managers must drive results mostly through influence and negotiation rather than direct command.
   3. The project manager should escalate to a projectized structure immediately.
   4. Functional managers have no legitimate claim on their own staff's time.
9. A firm assumes that a legally mandated regulatory project will automatically receive whatever resources it needs because the consequences of missing the deadline are severe. The project keeps slipping anyway. What does this best illustrate?
   1. Mandatory status alone guarantees functional cooperation in a matrixed structure.
   2. Mandatory status alone does not guarantee cooperation without portfolio-level negotiation and governance-backed resource reassignment.
   3. Regulatory projects should always be run as standalone portfolios.
   4. The project manager lacks the technical skill to complete the work.
10. A portfolio roadmap built in month one needs significant revision by month six as the team learns more about the work. What concept does this illustrate?
    1. Poor upfront planning that should have been avoided.
    2. Progressive elaboration, where plans are refined as new information emerges.
    3. Scope creep that governance failed to control.
    4. A sign that the roadmap should never be updated once approved.

Answer Key

1. B. A program is the right fit when related workstreams must be coordinated together to achieve a benefit no single workstream can deliver alone.
2. B. Aggregate strategic value beats isolated technical success, so a technically strong but strategically misaligned project usually should not be funded.
3. B. Diverting capital funds to cover operational shortfalls slowly starves funded projects of the money needed to stay on schedule.
4. B. Untracked diversions from project accounts to operations are a common, easy-to-miss cause of unexplained project delays.
5. B. Making transfers visible immediately allows leadership to catch operational bleed before it consumes a large share of planned investment.
6. C. Selection follows Screening, aligning surviving proposals to strategy and finalizing the portfolio mix.
7. B. The Implementation phase includes measuring performance and applying corrective actions when work drifts off course.
8. B. In a matrixed structure, project managers typically have broad visibility but limited formal authority, so they lead through influence.
9. B. Mandatory status does not guarantee resources; without portfolio-level negotiation and governance action, urgent work can still stall.
10. B. Progressive elaboration describes how plans are necessarily rough early on and improve as the team learns more over time.