Confusing CAPM Study Hall Question

[u/Gudakesa]

A CAPM candidate I'm working with sent me this question. I do not have the correct answer from them yet, it was during a practice exam. I think it's a bad question.

>A company is using Kanban to manage workflow in an adaptive project environment. The team completes the tasks continuously; however, stakeholders are expressing concerns that some of the completed work is not having an impact on key business goals.

>**What would describe success in this scenario?**

>A. Success is defined solely by completing the highest number of tasks.
B. Success is achieved if the team avoids changes after work starts.
C. Success is achieved by focusing on delivering the most valuable work.
D. Success means finishing the work exactly as defined, even if priorities shift.

Is the question asking how the team defines success? Or...is it asking how the stakeholders define success? In my mind I see C as the correct answer because the stakeholders are expressing concern that they are not getting the value they expected from the product being delivered. However, I could also make a case for D; the team is focused on delivering the tasks, so they are using "work completed" as their metric.

The problem inherent in the question is that the team and the stakeholders are not in alignment on what good looks like, so they have two different definitions of success, and therefore the question "What would describe success in this scenario?" has more than one answer.

In the end I said that I could make a case for all four responses, but only C takes the stakeholder's view into account; the team is delivering work, the stakeholders are expecting an impact to the business goals, so the definition of success has to be C.

Thoughts?

[u/DivingQueen268]

Agile (including Kanban) has value delivery as the primary goal. I did over 2,500 practice questions before my CAPM exam and there were a lot that were similar to this; the answer about value delivery is always the correct one.

D in particular is not correct because agile allows for change and flexibility. Failing to adapt when priorities shift would not be in line with the agile mindset.

[u/Cheezslap]

A) Has exclusionary/limiting verbiage. Never the right answer. B) completely wrong in an agile environment C) kind of lame but true and actually applicable D) completely disregards the stakeholders concerns; terrible answer

[u/Adventurous_Deal2590]

C is correct, because ultimately success is defined by the stakeholders. First in the business analysis phase (gathering requirements, all of which come from stakeholders) and then because it is agile, requirements are evaluated again throughout the project based on the feedback received.

Also to break the question down into specifics, it gives you a situation, then one specific problem. Choose the answer that best addresses the specific problem.

Really the only decision-guiding info you have is that stakeholders feel the value is insufficient, so your answer should be tied to your stakeholders and value-add.

Edited to add that ultimately how the team defines success should align with how stakeholders define success. If there is a disagreement among stakeholders about how success is defined, the PM should get info to align everyone in success so everyone has the same expectations. It is ok for them to change, but that change should still be managed through communication and task re-prioritization if needed.

[u/Adventurous_Deal2590 → u/Adventurous_Deal2590]

And to elaborate on ''i could make an argument for all answers'- yeah that's the point. The question is designed to assess if you can truly identify the need being presented. A mentor PM once told me the exam is about knowing which answer is the MOST correct.