PMP · Question #917
A project manager is assigned to an analysis project for a customer. The project manager needs to keep the performance of the team a step ahead of the estimated delivery schedules. What should the…
The correct answer is A. Build the capacity of the team to improve sprint cycles and provide weekly trend reports. To consistently stay ahead of delivery schedules in an agile project, the project manager should focus on enhancing the team's capacity and monitoring progress through regular performance reports.
Question
A project manager is assigned to an analysis project for a customer. The project manager needs to keep the performance of the team a step ahead of the estimated delivery schedules. What should the project manager do to impact the sprint cycles going forward on the project?
Options
- ABuild the capacity of the team to improve sprint cycles and provide weekly trend reports.
- BEngage an expert in project management to explain to the team how fast to work on the sprint
- CWork with the team on how to focus on only precommunicated project results.
- DTrain the team to analyze data and complete the user stories within the schedule.
How the community answered
(56 responses)- A80% (45)
- B5% (3)
- C2% (1)
- D13% (7)
Why each option
To consistently stay ahead of delivery schedules in an agile project, the project manager should focus on enhancing the team's capacity and monitoring progress through regular performance reports.
Building the team's capacity, through training, skill development, or process improvements, directly enhances their ability to complete more work efficiently within sprint cycles, improving throughput. Providing weekly trend reports allows the project manager to continuously monitor performance against estimates, identify areas for further optimization, and ensure the team remains ahead of schedule.
Directly telling a team 'how fast to work' is counterproductive in an agile environment, where teams self-organize and determine their sustainable pace. This undermines team autonomy and can lead to burnout.
Focusing 'only on precommunicated project results' might limit the team's adaptability and responsiveness to emergent requirements, which is a core tenet of agile delivery.
While training the team to analyze data is beneficial, simply completing user stories within the schedule is the baseline expectation; the goal is to be *ahead* of schedule, which requires a broader focus on capacity building.
Concept tested: Agile team capacity and performance management
Source: https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational/agile/agile-practice-guide
Topics
Community Discussion
4
Samuel O.May 2, 2026A is the right call here. Building capacity is what actually moves the needle on sprint performance, and the weekly trend reports give you the data to prove it. In my experience bringing teams up to speed, you cannot just tell people to work faster like B suggests, and D is too narrow a focus on data analysis when the real lever is overall team capability plus visibility into how they are trending.
Fatima Z.May 6, 2026Confirmed A on my exam last month. Just picture TEAM: Train, Empower, Adapt, Measure. Building capacity does the first three, and those weekly trend reports handle the Measure part so you can actually see the sprint cycles improving.
Yuki V.Apr 20, 2026Confirmed A on my exam last week. The key phrase is "impact the sprint cycles going forward," which points to building capacity rather than just pushing the team to work faster. B is a red flag because bringing in an outside expert to tell people how fast to work goes against agile principles, and D is too narrow with its focus on user stories. My memory hook for these capacity questions is "trend reports show you are tracking improvement over time," and that combo of capacity building plus trend reporting showed up in almost the exact same wording on my test.
Zlatan X.Apr 13, 2026First leaned toward D since it sounds actionable at the sprint level, but the question is about staying ahead of delivery schedules which is really a capacity-building and trend-tracking play across sprint cycles, not a single-team training task. A maps to that benefits realization pattern where you invest in team capability and use trend reports for ongoing governance visibility.