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Module 2 Challenge (Project Execution: Running the Project) Answers 2025

Question 1

As a project manager, you’re overseeing a product launch for coffee mugs. You have agreed with the manufacturer that before any agreement to purchase is made, the mugs need to be tested for durability. Which quality management concept does this task represent?

  • Assurance standard

  • Quality planning

  • Quality control

  • Quality assurance

✅ Correct Answer: Quality assurance

🔹 Explanation:
Quality assurance focuses on making sure the right processes and standards are in place to prevent defects (e.g., testing for durability before agreeing to purchase). Quality control, on the other hand, is about inspecting the finished product.

Question 2

During which step of the quality management process does a project manager evaluate whether or not the project is on track to deliver a high-quality product to the client?

  • Quality assurance

  • Quality action

  • Quality control

  • Quality planning

✅ Correct Answer: Quality assurance

🔹 Explanation:
Quality assurance is about evaluating processes during the project to ensure it stays on track to deliver quality results.

Question 3

To receive authentic and honest feedback from customers, what strategy should a project manager use?

  • Ask open-ended questions and listen to the customer’s current state versus their desired state

  • Ask for feedback after the project finishes because customers won’t fully understand the product until it’s complete

  • Ask for stakeholder feedback and relay it to customers in hopes to close the gap between the customer’s expectation and the project’s needs

  • Incentivize customers with a gift card because they’re more likely to respond

✅ Correct Answer: Ask open-ended questions and listen to the customer’s current state versus their desired state

🔹 Explanation:
Open-ended, unbiased questions yield more authentic and actionable feedback from customers.

Question 4

During a user acceptance test (UAT), the users identify outliers that the original requirements didn’t account for, such as an extreme use of the product. What UAT quality control step does this represent?

  • User error cases

  • Edge cases

  • Business cases

  • Unknown cases

✅ Correct Answer: Edge cases

🔹 Explanation:
Edge cases are unusual, extreme scenarios outside normal usage that must be tested to ensure product reliability.

Question 5

A project manager is considering process improvements. They identify that their team is too slow when delivering a service. They have an educated guess about what’s causing the problem and how to fix it. What’s the term for this educated guess?

  • Hypothesis

  • Variable

  • Research

  • Control

✅ Correct Answer: Hypothesis

🔹 Explanation:
An educated guess about the cause of a problem and potential solution is called a hypothesis, which can then be tested.

Question 6

As a project manager, you use the DMAIC framework to improve customer experiences. You identify the resources you need and write a project timeline. What DMAIC step are you applying?

  • Define

  • Measure

  • Analyze

  • Control

✅ Correct Answer: Define

🔹 Explanation:
In DMAIC, the Define step involves clarifying the project, its goals, required resources, and timeline.

Question 7

As a project manager, you’ve heard back from a customer who is not happy with product your company delivered. You decide to apply the PDCA process to fix the problem. What should you do in the first step of this process?

  • Identify the root cause and brainstorm solutions

  • Fix the problem

  • Compare results to the goal to find out if the problem is fixed

  • Fine-tune the fix

✅ Correct Answer: Identify the root cause and brainstorm solutions

🔹 Explanation:
The first Plan step of PDCA is to analyze the problem and plan solutions before implementing changes.

Question 8

A project manager works on a collection of projects. What is the term for this collection of projects?

  • Project

  • Program

  • Portfolio

  • Collection

✅ Correct Answer: Program

🔹 Explanation:
A program is a collection of related projects managed together to gain benefits not available from managing them individually.

  • A portfolio is broader, including multiple programs and projects aligned to organizational strategy.

  • Coursera here expects program for “collection of projects.”

Question 9

A team successfully delivers a product feature to a client, but misses the deadline. What should the project manager do to investigate why the product feature was late?

  • Meet with stakeholders

  • Hold a retrospective

  • Add a team member

  • Increase the budget

✅ Correct Answer: Hold a retrospective

🔹 Explanation:
A retrospective helps the team reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and why deadlines were missed.

Question 10

As a project manager holding a retrospective, you discuss the successes and setbacks of the project and compile a document with team member’s feedback. As the project manager, how should you use this feedback?

  • Pick out the best feedback and assign awards to team members accordingly

  • Ask the program manager how to use the feedback

  • Create a plan that should be implemented for future projects

  • Pass it along to the team

✅ Correct Answer: Create a plan that should be implemented for future projects

🔹 Explanation:
Feedback from retrospectives is meant to drive improvements in future projects through actionable plans.