PMP · Question #44
A project manager has team members around the world in many different time zones. Project work frequently stalls because people in one office need to wait until another office is awake to have questio
The correct answer is B. Planned and scheduled tasks and work packages to overcome geographical and time zone. Project work is stalling due to communication delays caused by team members in different global time zones.
Question
A project manager has team members around the world in many different time zones. Project work frequently stalls because people in one office need to wait until another office is awake to have questions answered. What should the project manager have done to avoid this?
Options
- AEnsured that the project would be the highest priority for all team members
- BPlanned and scheduled tasks and work packages to overcome geographical and time zone
- CLearned more about how each team member prefers to communicate before assigning project
- DUsed communication tools, such as video conferencing, so different offices could communicate
How the community answered
(31 responses)- A3% (1)
- B84% (26)
- C3% (1)
- D10% (3)
Why each option
Project work is stalling due to communication delays caused by team members in different global time zones.
Ensuring the project is a high priority does not inherently resolve the logistical challenge of time zone differences impacting real-time communication needs.
Proactive planning and scheduling are essential for managing geographically dispersed teams by structuring tasks to minimize dependencies across significant time zones. This includes establishing overlapping work hours for critical communication and setting clear asynchronous communication protocols to avoid bottlenecks from delayed responses.
While understanding communication preferences is beneficial for team dynamics, it doesn't solve the fundamental problem of team members being unavailable during conflicting working hours.
Using communication tools facilitates interaction, but it does not eliminate the core issue of availability and the need for real-time responses across major time zone differences.
Concept tested: Managing distributed teams and time zones
Topics
Community Discussion
6
Ingrid P.Jun 8, 2026Confirmed B. The key phrase is scheduling tasks around time zone gaps, which is exactly what the PM process is designed to solve. I added a card for this one with the cue distributed team plus work stalls equals plan and schedule tasks to overcome time zones, interval is holding steady at three weeks.
Ola B.Jun 10, 2026B is the right call here. The stem is really testing whether you proactively sequence work around time zone gaps instead of reacting to bottlenecks after they happen. If you hand off a task at end of day in one region and the next person starts their morning as the first wraps up, you keep momentum without anyone sitting idle waiting for answers. D sounds tempting since better tools always seem like the fix, but a video call still requires both offices to be awake at the same time. Has anyone spun up a quick scheduling exercise in a sandbox project to see how a follow the sun handoff actually
Nina C.Jun 13, 2026Coming from teaching, I know that when students (or team members) treat your class as secondary, everything bottlenecks. If the PM had ensured this project was the highest priority for everyone, people would proactively check in before going offline and hand off work cleanly instead of waiting for the other office to wake up. The time zone gap is real, but priority alignment is what actually drives people to bridge it. I am going with A on this one.
Ola B.Jun 14, 2026B is correct here. The scenario is really about structuring the work across time zones with clear handoff points and overlap windows, not about pushing everyone to treat the project as top priority.
Carlos M.May 26, 2026Going with A. If the project were the top priority people would respond faster instead of stalling.
Ola B.May 28, 2026B is correct here. The scenario describes a project that is high priority but still encounters delays, which maps to the concept of a fast-tracked schedule where activities overlap and resource conflicts cause stalls regardless of urgency.