PMP · Question #1416
What is the correct way to put an organization on the proper path to changing their mindset to an agile approach?
The correct answer is D. Shift the way the company views, reviews, and assesses employees. Changing an organization's mindset to agile requires a fundamental shift in how the company evaluates, rewards, and assesses its employees, aligning these practices with agile values and principles.
Question
What is the correct way to put an organization on the proper path to changing their mindset to an agile approach?
Options
- AAssign employees to agile projects so they can quickly adjust to the new approach.
- BHire employees who specialize in agile approaches so they can better contribute to projects.
- CTrain all employees in agile approaches.
- DShift the way the company views, reviews, and assesses employees.
How the community answered
(25 responses)- A32% (8)
- B16% (4)
- C8% (2)
- D44% (11)
Why each option
Changing an organization's mindset to agile requires a fundamental shift in how the company evaluates, rewards, and assesses its employees, aligning these practices with agile values and principles.
Merely assigning employees to agile projects without proper foundational support, training, and a conducive environment can lead to frustration and resistance, not necessarily a proper mindset change.
While hiring agile specialists can bring expertise, it does not inherently change the mindset of the existing organization or its entire employee base; it's a piece of the puzzle, not the primary path for a cultural shift.
Training all employees is an important step for skill development, but it's often insufficient on its own to truly change ingrained organizational mindsets and behaviors without corresponding changes in how performance is managed and assessed.
A successful agile transformation requires a cultural shift beyond just processes and tools, necessitating changes in organizational structure, leadership behavior, and specifically, how employees are viewed, reviewed, and assessed to encourage agile behaviors like collaboration, self-organization, and continuous learning.
Concept tested: Organizational Agile transformation and culture change
Source: https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational/agile-practice-guide
Topics
Community Discussion
6
Wesley A.Mar 11, 2026Failed this one on my first attempt because I grabbed C, thinking training everyone would fix the mindset problem. The trap here is that training teaches mechanics but does not change how people are evaluated or rewarded, which is what actually drives behavior. D is the right answer because a true agile mindset shift requires aligning performance reviews, assessments, and company values with agile principles, or people will just revert to their old ways. If employees are still reviewed on individual heroics and fixed scope, no amount of agile training will stick.
Wei W.Mar 1, 2026Got D on my exam last spring and it stuck with me because I almost talked myself into C. Mindset change has to go beyond training slides, you have to align how performance is actually measured or people just revert to old habits.
Wesley A.Mar 2, 2026Spot on Wei, and I would add that the first time I failed I picked C because I only thought about the training side and completely missed the performance measurement linkage - if KPIs still reward the old way of working, no amount of mindset training sticks.
Bao N.Feb 8, 2026Got D on my exam last October and the reason it clicked was because the other three are all surface-level fixes. A and C sound proactive but training alone does not change culture, which is exactly what the stem is asking about.
Orla P.Feb 9, 2026D is right but the stem wording matters here because if it says long-term you pick D without thinking and if it says immediate you are stuck between A and C.
Orla P.Feb 19, 2026D is the right call here. C is the tempting trap because training sounds like the logical first step, but PMI treats agile adoption as a culture shift, not a training exercise, so performance reviews and how the org evaluates people have to change first.