TOPIC: question 14 in Stakeholder Management assessment

For the Stakeholder Management Assessment, question 14, I can easily rationalize 2 answers. Can you tell me why the answer is not "C" - Manage Stakeholder Engagement (the assessment provides "D" as the answer? This possibility is clearly stated on page 407 of the PMBOK guide as an output of the Manage Stakeholder Engagement process. Can the question be worded better?

Hi Jeffrey,

just to make sure the thread will be useful to everyone, i will post the question you are referring to here :

Question 14: Carole's project is halfway through execution. She is currently reviewing the Stakeholder Management Plan and thinks that she needs to revisit the Plan Stakeholder Management process to make some necessary adjustments to the plan. Which process is Carole currently performing?
A.) Identify Stakeholders
B.) Plan Stakeholder Management
C.) Manage Stakeholder Engagement
D.) Control Stakeholder Engagement


the correct answer is D, and as outlined in the self assessment answers the project is half way execution, so we can't be in the identify stakeholders nor the plan stakeholder management as these are from the initiating and planning process groups.

this leaves us with C or D, the part from the question that makes D the correct answer is the fact that carol is reviewing stakeholder management plan to make adjustments. the adjustments you are referring to in the PMBOK guide page 407 are a result from resolving issues or due to updates during the execution. in the question carol was just reviewing the plan and found that updates are needed and this is a monitoring and controlling behavior. so Control Stakeholder Engagement is the correct answer.

tricky question , i agree with you but expect similar questions in the real exam.

Note: the question is from the prepcast self assessment questions, so please watch copyright here

This response is in error.

Plan Stakeholder Management is not a one off activity, it is continuous throughout the life of the project - so where we are in the project timeline is irrelevant. Remember the PMBOK does not enforce sequentially in these processes, which are effective in all styles of project from predictive through to adaptive.

The question does not, in fact, contain sufficient information to determine why the Plan is being updated, it could be as a result of a new identification (identify), or as a result of a change in strategy responding to events (control)

All that we do know is that we are reviewing the Stakeholder Management plan, and we are making changes to the Stakeholder Management plan, so the only process we can say with certainty that we are performing is Plan Stakeholder Management. Which means that the only possible answer is B.

The correct answer is: C; why
1. Carole's project is halfway through execution. She is reviewing "stakeholder management plan while the project in Execution process group.
2.Question is: Which process is Carole currently performing? Carole can update stakeholder management plan anytime during the project life cycle but right now her project is in Execution process group which belongs to " Manage Stakeholder Engagement" . Please refer to PMBOK Guide 5th Edition, page 423.

I agree that Answer D is correct. If she is reviewing any process she is in the "Monitor and Control" group, so this is "Control Stakeholder Engagement".

The PMBOK defines it as "Monitoring overall project stakeholder relationships and adjusting strategies and plans for engaging stakeholders", which is almost word for word what she is doing "She is currently reviewing [= monitoring] the Stakeholder Management Plan and thinks that she needs to revisit the Plan Stakeholder Management process to make some necessary adjustments to the plan."

Manage Stakeholders is simply communicating with stakeholders, managing their expectations etc., not adjusting anything.
Plan Stakeholder Management cannot be correct either, since it clearly states she "thinks that she needs to revisit the Plan Stakeholder Management process", so she cannot yet be in this process.

In my experience wit the PMP exam it is crucial to read a question very, very carefully to identify where in the process you are at the moment of the question. Even small words can make a difference. So this is a very good example of what questions during the exam are actually like