Covers agile frameworks and maturity, blending PRINCE2 with agile and the PRINCE2 Agile journey, the Agilometer and fix-and-flex approach, the five PRINCE2 Agile behaviors, and tailored processes.
20 free sample questions178 in the full practice test
A project to develop a new mobile banking app is in its second stage. The delivery team has a high velocity but has been frequently blocked by delays in getting decisions from the product owner, who is also a busy line manager. The project manager is concerned about the risk this poses to the stage timeline. Which PRINCE2 Agile behavior should the project manager focus on fostering to MOST effectively address this issue?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
Collaboration is the most effective behavior to foster here. The issue is a systemic one involving the product owner's availability, which is a key stakeholder interface. Actively collaborating with the product owner and their functional manager to agree on dedicated time addresses the root cause of the decision-making bottleneck. While transparency and self-organization are important, they do not resolve the fundamental resource conflict. Exploration is not the primary behavior needed to solve this problem.
Question 2
Multiple answers
A project is using PRINCE2 Agile to deliver a new CRM system. The project board has set a fixed deadline and budget. However, the full scope of features is not yet fully understood. To manage this situation, the project manager needs to advise the board on how to set tolerances. According to the 'fix and flex' guidance, which TWO of the following targets should be considered flexible? (Select TWO)
Answer and explanation
Correct answers: C, E
In a typical PRINCE2 Agile project with a fixed deadline (Time) and budget (Cost), Scope and Benefits are the primary targets that are flexed. This allows the project to deliver the most valuable features (MoSCoW prioritization) within the fixed constraints, ensuring a viable product is delivered on time and on budget even if not all originally conceived features are included.
Question 3
During the Initiating a Project process, the project manager conducts an Agilometer assessment. The results indicate a very low score for 'rich communication' due to the delivery team being geographically dispersed across three continents. Which action should the project manager prioritize in the Project Initiation Documentation (PID) to mitigate the primary risk identified by this Agilometer result?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
A low Agilometer score for communication highlights a significant risk. The most appropriate and pragmatic response is to formally address it in the communication management approach within the PID. Investing in tools that facilitate face-to-face (video) interaction and defining core hours for synchronous collaboration directly mitigates the risk of poor communication in a distributed team. Email stand-ups are a poor substitute for rich communication. Full co-location is often prohibitively expensive and impractical. Simply accepting the risk ignores the Agilometer's purpose.
Question 4
True or False: In a PRINCE2 Agile environment, the 'Managing a Stage Boundary' process can be completely replaced by sprint reviews and release planning events.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
False. While agile events like sprint reviews and release planning provide vital input and can make the 'Managing a Stage Boundary' process much leaner, they do not completely replace it. The PRINCE2 process ensures governance by requiring the project manager to report stage performance, update the business case and project plan, and create a plan for the next stage for the project board to formally authorize continued work. These governance activities go beyond the scope of typical agile team-level ceremonies.
Question 5
A project manager is leading a public sector project to create a new online portal for citizen services. The project must adhere to strict government digital service standards. The delivery team is using Scrum. How should the project manager BEST integrate the 'Focus on Products' principle with the team's way of working?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
The 'Focus on Products' principle is about understanding and defining what needs to be delivered, including the quality criteria. In a Scrum context, the Definition of Done (DoD) is the key mechanism for ensuring quality. By incorporating the mandatory government standards into the DoD, the project manager ensures that every product increment delivered by the team meets these essential, non-negotiable quality criteria, thereby correctly applying the principle in an agile way.
Question 6
Case Study:
A financial services company, FinInnovate, is launching a project to develop a new AI-powered investment advisory platform for its clients. The project is governed by PRINCE2 Agile. The project board is risk-averse and has mandated a fixed delivery date to coincide with a major industry conference in nine months. The budget is also fixed. The Head of Product has provided a high-level list of desired features, but acknowledges that market feedback will be crucial in refining them.
The project manager has assessed the project environment using the Agilometer. The assessment reveals strong scores for team collaboration and self-organization. However, it shows very poor scores for 'easy to release' and 'accepts that the customer doesn't need everything'. The company's current release process is a monolithic, manual process that takes weeks, and the Head of Product has a history of insisting all initially requested features are delivered.
The project manager is preparing the Project Initiation Documentation (PID) and needs to outline a strategy for managing project performance and risk. The diagram below shows the project's performance targets.
Which approach BEST addresses the risks identified by the Agilometer and aligns with the project's constraints?
graph TD
subgraph Hexagon [Project Performance Targets]
A[Time] -- Fixed --- B[Cost]
B -- Fixed --- C[Quality]
C -- Flexible --- D[Scope]
D -- Flexible --- E[Benefits]
E -- To be managed --- F[Risk]
F -- To be managed --- A
end
style A fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
style B fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
style C fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
This is the most comprehensive and appropriate PRINCE2 Agile approach. It correctly identifies Scope and Benefits as flexible given the fixed Time and Cost. It directly addresses the 'easy to release' risk by creating a work package to improve the deployment process early on. It tackles the 'customer doesn't need everything' risk by instituting a formal, collaborative prioritization process (MoSCoW) through workshops. This strategy proactively manages the identified risks within the project's constraints.
Question 7
A PRINCE2 Agile project is delivering a software product in a series of releases. The project manager wants to ensure that the project board receives timely and appropriate information about progress without being overwhelmed by the daily detail of sprints. What is the MOST appropriate way to tailor PRINCE2 management products for this purpose?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
This correctly describes the flow of information in PRINCE2 Agile. The delivery team's progress is captured at a detailed, frequent level (e.g., in Checkpoint Reports or via information radiators). The project manager then synthesizes this information, focusing on progress against stage tolerances and the business case, into a less frequent, higher-level Highlight Report for the project board. This keeps the board informed at the right level of detail.
Question 8
When tailoring the 'Organization' theme for a project using Scrum, what is the recommended approach for mapping the Scrum Master role to the PRINCE2 Agile role structure?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
PRINCE2 Agile guidance clearly suggests that the Team Manager role is the most natural fit for a Scrum Master. The Team Manager is responsible for managing the delivery team and ensuring products are created to the required quality, which aligns well with the Scrum Master's responsibilities of facilitating the Scrum process and removing impediments for the delivery team.
Question 9
A project is experiencing significant uncertainty about the technical feasibility of a core component. The team is unsure which of two potential technologies to use. According to PRINCE2 Agile, what is the most suitable technique to resolve this uncertainty quickly?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
A spike is a specific type of user story or task that is used to gain knowledge or answer a question, thereby reducing technical or functional uncertainty. It is timeboxed and intended to provide just enough information to make a decision. This is the perfect agile technique for quickly investigating the two technology options to determine feasibility.
Question 10
A project manager is defining a Work Package for a delivery team that uses Kanban. What is the key difference in how this Work Package should be structured compared to one for a timeboxing (e.g., Scrum) team?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Kanban is a flow-based system where work is 'pulled' by the team as they have capacity. Therefore, a Work Package for a Kanban team should be framed as a queue of prioritized items that the team can draw from. In contrast, a Work Package for a Scrum team is typically a set of objectives or features to be achieved within a specific timebox (the sprint). The structure reflects the fundamental difference between flow-based and timeboxed agile approaches.