PMP · Question #1246
A project manager wants to ensure that the project acceptance criteria are met for all project deliverables. What should the project manager do to accomplish this?
The correct answer is B. Include project stakeholder expectations and needs while creating project acceptance criteria. To ensure project acceptance criteria are met for all deliverables, the project manager must proactively include project stakeholder expectations and needs directly during the creation of these acceptance criteria.
Question
Options
- ACreate a statement of work (SOW) and ensure it remains unchanged during the project life cycle.
- BInclude project stakeholder expectations and needs while creating project acceptance criteria.
- CSchedule regular meetings with project stakeholders to make sure they are satisfied.
- DDiscuss project acceptance criteria with the project sponsor before the execution phase.
How the community answered
(23 responses)- A4% (1)
- B91% (21)
- C4% (1)
Why each option
To ensure project acceptance criteria are met for all deliverables, the project manager must proactively include project stakeholder expectations and needs directly during the creation of these acceptance criteria.
While a Statement of Work defines the project, ensuring it remains unchanged is unrealistic and inflexible, and the SOW itself doesn't typically detail all granular acceptance criteria for every deliverable.
Project acceptance criteria define the conditions that must be met for deliverables to be considered satisfactory by stakeholders. By including stakeholder expectations and needs directly during the creation of these criteria, the project manager ensures that the criteria are relevant, agreed upon, and directly align with what will satisfy the end-users and decision-makers, thus guaranteeing successful acceptance.
Scheduling regular meetings to check satisfaction is a reactive measure for stakeholder engagement; proactively defining acceptance criteria based on their needs is a more fundamental step to ensure acceptance.
Discussing project acceptance criteria with only the project sponsor is too narrow; acceptance criteria often involve multiple stakeholders, including the customer and end-users, not just the sponsor, for comprehensive input.
Concept tested: Defining project acceptance criteria
Source: https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational/pmbok
Topics
Community Discussion
8
Olusegun A.Jul 5, 2026B is correct. Acceptance criteria have to reflect actual stakeholder needs and expectations or you will never get signoff, so capturing those inputs during planning is what makes validation possible.
Dervla O.Jul 5, 2026B is right but D tempts you since sponsor sounds authoritative, yet stakeholders define acceptance.
Bao N.Jul 5, 2026D. Sponsor signs off acceptance criteria before execution, simple as that.
Dervla O.Jul 8, 2026B is correct here because the sponsor approves the business case and charter, not the granular acceptance criteria, which get finalized and signed off during planning once requirements are fleshed out. D trips people up because sponsor signoff sounds authoritative, but the timing is wrong for that level of detail.
Luis F.Jul 5, 2026Got B on my exam last month. You have to capture stakeholder needs and expectations up front when writing the acceptance criteria, otherwise you are just guessing at what done means.
Olusegun A.Jul 8, 2026Agreed on B, but needs and expectations are inputs, not acceptance criteria themselves - you translate them into measurable conditions so done is verifiable, not just agreed.
Wei W.Jul 5, 2026D is the right call, sponsor alignment on acceptance criteria before execution is key.
Olusegun A.Jul 6, 2026B is correct here, Wei. Acceptance criteria in an adaptive environment are defined and refined by the product owner with the team throughout delivery, not locked with the sponsor upfront, so D is applying predictive thinking to a scenario that calls for continuous stakeholder collaboration.