Module 2 Challenge ( Capstone: Applying Project Management in the Real World ) Answers 2025

Question 1

One of the deliverables in your project involves marketing your new product with email blasts. Your team writes several drafts of the different marketing materials, generates an email list, and programs the emails to be sent on the correct dates. Which of the following represents a milestone in your project plan?

• Marketing materials are drafted.

• Targeted email lists are generated.

• ✅ Marketing emails are sent on scheduled dates.

• Emails are programmed to be sent on the correct dates.

🔹 Explanation:
A milestone represents a significant achievement or event in the project timeline — not just a task. Sending out the marketing emails marks the completion of a major deliverable, making it a true milestone.

Question 2

You are developing a schedule for your team’s project plan. Why might you ask your stakeholders or colleagues to share with you emails that relate to the project?

• These emails tell you what your team members are doing.

• ✅ These emails can help you uncover tasks.

• These emails will keep you involved with every aspect of the project.

• These emails can help you bond with your colleagues.

🔹 Explanation:
Project-related emails often reveal tasks or dependencies that might not have been documented elsewhere. Reviewing them helps ensure your project plan captures all necessary activities.

Question 3

You start a new job as a project manager in the private banking industry. You need to have a basic understanding of topics such as how clients open accounts, back office operations, and how trade confirmations are verified. Which of the following terms refers to the knowledge you need?

• Enterprise learning

• ✅ Domain knowledge

• Competitive intelligence

• Intellectual property

🔹 Explanation:
Domain knowledge means understanding the industry or field-specific concepts and processes (in this case, private banking). It’s essential for project managers to contextualize work within their organization’s environment.

Question 4

When populating your project plan with a set of tasks, when is the best time to hold a group brainstorming session with team members to help identify tasks? Select all that apply.

• After brainstorming a task list with senior stakeholders

• ✅ After you review project documentation

• Before you do any other project work

• ✅After you research your project online

🔹 Explanation:
Brainstorming with the team after gathering initial input and documentation helps generate a complete and realistic task list. It should happen early in planning, before other major work begins.

Question 5

You have gathered information from project documentation and the project team. With this information, you identified and created a list of tasks for your project plan. What is the next step for completing your project plan?

• Identify points in the project plan where you can evaluate completed work.

• Identify tasks that carry a high risk.

• ✅ Identify the order in which tasks need to be completed.

• Identify tasks that stakeholders have a particular interest in.

🔹 Explanation:
Once you have a full task list, the next step is sequencing tasks — determining the logical order based on dependencies and workflow. This leads to a structured and achievable timeline.

Question 6

Which of the following may indicate a milestone for your project?

• A task that has the highest confidence ratings

• A task that your team has the most experience with

• ✅ A task that has a major impact on the project’s overall progress

• A task that involves the fewest dependencies

🔹 Explanation:
Milestones usually mark the completion of a major project phase or a key deliverable — something that significantly impacts project progress or success.

Question 7

What term refers to a time estimate that only takes into account the actual time it takes to complete a task?

• Taskflow duration estimate

• ✅ Effort estimate

• Total duration estimate

• Milestone estimate

🔹 Explanation:
An effort estimate refers specifically to the actual work time needed to complete a task, excluding breaks, waiting periods, or dependencies.

Question 8

You are making time estimates for your project plan. You ask your task expert to estimate how long the task would take if you assume you need to replace your vendor and you experience unexpected turnover right before the task begins. Which of the measures involved in “three-point” time estimations are you asking from your task expert?

• ✅ Pessimistic time estimates

• Most likely time estimates

• Planning time estimates

• Milestone time estimates

🔹 Explanation:
A pessimistic time estimate assumes everything goes wrong — delays, risks, and challenges — to plan for the worst-case scenario in a “three-point” estimation model.

Question 9

Which of the following circumstances is likely to cause a low confidence rating for a task?

• ✅ It is a task that your team has never done before.

• It is a task that takes a long time to complete.

• It is a task that involves only one team member.

• It is a task that was completed quickly during past projects.

🔹 Explanation:
When a task is new or unfamiliar, the team’s confidence in estimating its time, risks, or outcomes is lower — leading to a low confidence rating.

Question 10

Which of the following is a good way to bring empathy to a conversation?

• Keep the conversation focused and on point.

• ✅ Listen with curiosity.

• Start by clearly stating your position.

• Keep the conversation brief.

🔹 Explanation:
Empathy begins with active listening — being curious about the other person’s perspective rather than rushing to respond or assert your viewpoint.

✅ Summary of Correct Answers

✨ Final Thoughts

In project management, planning and estimation go hand in hand. Recognizing milestones, maintaining accurate effort estimates, and communicating with empathy help teams stay aligned and successful.

A good project plan is more than a schedule — it’s a strategic guide that balances time, scope, and communication for smooth delivery.