PMP · Question #935
A project manager notices the team is disagreeing on the level of effort required to complete a task. What should the project manager do?
The correct answer is C. Advise each team member to explain the rationale for their estimate and then ask the team to. When a team disagrees on task effort, the project manager should facilitate a discussion where each member explains their rationale, then guide the team towards a consensus. This promotes understanding and accuracy in estimation.
Question
A project manager notices the team is disagreeing on the level of effort required to complete a task. What should the project manager do?
Options
- AAdvise the team that an average of all the estimates will be used as it will be the most reliable
- BAdvise the team that they can resolve the estimation issue and they can work on it as long as it
- CAdvise each team member to explain the rationale for their estimate and then ask the team to
- DAdvise the team that the project manager will determine the level of effort since the team cannot
How the community answered
(36 responses)- A17% (6)
- B8% (3)
- C69% (25)
- D6% (2)
Why each option
When a team disagrees on task effort, the project manager should facilitate a discussion where each member explains their rationale, then guide the team towards a consensus. This promotes understanding and accuracy in estimation.
Averaging estimates without discussion can hide critical information or outliers, leading to an unreliable estimate that no one truly commits to.
While empowering the team to resolve issues is good, simply telling them to work on it indefinitely is not providing sufficient guidance and can lead to prolonged disagreement.
This approach encourages constructive dialogue and leverages the collective knowledge of the team, which is a core agile principle for accurate estimation. By explaining their rationale, team members uncover assumptions, dependencies, and risks, leading to a more informed and agreed-upon estimate.
The project manager imposing an estimate undermines team autonomy and responsibility, and risks an inaccurate estimate as the team members are typically the ones closest to the work.
Concept tested: Facilitating team estimation consensus
Topics
Community Discussion
4
Imani T.May 26, 2026C is the right call here. PMI wants you to facilitate consensus, not impose decisions from the top down or settle for lazy averages. Having each member explain their rationale surfaces assumptions and risks that the rest of the team might not have considered, which leads to a more accurate estimate everyone can actually commit to. D is the trap answer for anyone who thinks authority means making all the decisions yourself.
Luis F.Jun 13, 2026Picked C on my exam last month and it makes sense because the PM should facilitate the discussion rather than just average things out or impose a decision. Having each member explain their rationale surfaces assumptions and risks that nobody might have considered yet. A is tempting because averaging feels objective, but it hides the real disagreement instead of resolving it. Quick question for anyone who has taken the new PMP format recently, does PMI still heavily test the difference between facilitation techniques like this and straight Delphi method scenarios?
Lena V.Jun 3, 2026C is the right call but the option cuts off mid-sentence on the forum here. The logic is that PMP wants facilitative leadership, meaning you guide the team to discuss their reasoning and reach consensus rather than averaging numbers or imposing a top-down decision. D is the trap for anyone who thinks the PM should just step in and call it, which fails the servant-leadership test every time.
Luis F.Jun 4, 2026C is right but I'd add that the PMI wording usually says "facilitate" not just "guide," so look for that keyword on the real exam.