PMP · Question #302
During a retrospective review, many project team members say they are not completing tasks during the iterations because of interruptions and requests for help from other teams. As a team facilitator,
The correct answer is D. Identify the problem's root causes and define the ground rules with all project team members to. To prevent recurring interruptions from other teams that hinder task completion, the project manager should identify the root causes of these disruptions and, with the team, establish clear ground rules. This proactive approach helps protect the team's focus and capacity during i
Question
During a retrospective review, many project team members say they are not completing tasks during the iterations because of interruptions and requests for help from other teams. As a team facilitator, what should the project manager do to avoid this?
Options
- AReunite with the project team members affected and tell them not to reduce the team's capacity.
- BHire a coach to help all project teams to improve their abilities to solve problems on their own.
- CRecommend to the project team members that they should improve their planning and make their
- DIdentify the problem's root causes and define the ground rules with all project team members to
How the community answered
(19 responses)- A16% (3)
- B5% (1)
- C5% (1)
- D74% (14)
Why each option
To prevent recurring interruptions from other teams that hinder task completion, the project manager should identify the root causes of these disruptions and, with the team, establish clear ground rules. This proactive approach helps protect the team's focus and capacity during iterations.
Simply telling team members not to reduce capacity without addressing the external interruptions is unhelpful and places the burden on the team without solving the systemic issue.
Hiring a coach for all project teams is an organizational-level intervention and not the immediate, direct action the project manager should take to address a specific issue affecting their team during a retrospective.
Recommending improved planning suggests the problem lies solely with the team's internal planning, which overlooks the external factor of interruptions from other teams.
The project manager, as a facilitator, should delve deeper to identify the root causes of why other teams are interrupting and requesting help. Once understood, working collaboratively with the project team to define and implement clear ground rules or agreements regarding inter-team communication and assistance can establish boundaries, protect the team's focus, and improve task completion rates in future iterations.
Concept tested: Agile impediment resolution and team ground rules
Source: https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational/pmbok/project-resource-management
Topics
Community Discussion
5
Brenda K.May 17, 2026D is correct, and on the real exam you should lock this in fast since the keywords root causes and ground rules are a dead giveaway. Options A and C waste time by just lecturing the team to do better, and B burns money hiring a coach before you even know what is actually causing the interruptions. The agile move is to facilitate the team in finding why these requests keep happening, then set shared ground rules so everyone knows when to say no. Flag this one as a quick win, pick D, and save your minutes for the longer situational math questions later.
Toby R.May 20, 2026Agree on D being the answer but heads up, my exam version last month changed the wording slightly and said the PM is already mid-sprint when the interruptions spike, so dont get thrown if the stem frames it that way.
Toby R.May 13, 2026Just sat for PMP last month and got a near-identical question, D is the move here. The key phrase in the stem is retrospective review, which means the team is already reflecting on what went wrong and the next step is to act on those findings by identifying root causes and setting ground rules together. A is wrong because just telling people not to reduce capacity ignores why the interruptions are happening in the first place. B sounds helpful but outsourcing the problem to a coach sidesteps the team facilitator role, which is to guide the team through root cause analysis themselves. One thing I am
Imani T.May 9, 2026D is the right call here. Retrospectives are about finding root causes and the ground rules piece is how you actually enforce whatever the team agrees to, instead of just telling people to work harder like A and C imply. B sounds nice but throwing a coach at it skips the team's own self-organization, which agile is supposed to be about anyway. Got almost this exact question on my PMP last spring and hesitated between B and D for a solid minute. The word "ground rules" is what locked it in for me because PMI loves that phrase when the issue is cross-team
Toby R.May 10, 2026Just sat the exam last month and can confirm D is the pick, though in my version the stem leaned harder on "recurring conflicts" than cross-team friction, so ground rules still fit but the angle was more about resetting norms after sprint friction than enforcing agreements.