Purpose and outcomes
Short scenarios
A clinic wants an online booking tool to cut waiting times. What would you agree before choosing the tool?
A target for the percentage of bookings made online.
The current waiting time, target improvement, affected patients and who will measure the result.
A launch date and a list of features from comparable tools.
Planning and delivery
Short scenarios
A supplier can start on Monday. Its installation needs an approved design and site access. Neither is confirmed. How should you schedule the work?
Confirm Monday to secure the slot and resolve the dependencies on the day.
Verify both dependencies, give the supplier a conditional window and agree when to confirm or move it.
Wait until both dependencies are resolved before contacting the supplier.
People and stakeholders
Short scenarios
Frontline staff say a new process adds work. The sponsor wants the rollout to proceed. What do you do?
Observe the workflow with staff, test the impact and take the evidence and options to the sponsor.
Add staff training and monitor complaints after rollout.
Ask line managers to enforce adoption and keep the rollout unchanged.
Risk and change
Short scenarios
A supplier confirms a two-week delay. A cheaper substitute might be available but has not passed quality checks. What do you record?
Record the delay as an issue and ask procurement to find alternatives.
Replace the supplier and close the delay once the order is placed.
Log the delay as an issue, assess its schedule impact, and evaluate the substitute’s quality and availability before proposing a change.
Governance and ethics
Short scenarios
Your sponsor asks you to report an overdue milestone as on track because the team expects to recover next week. How do you report it?
Show the missed milestone, the recovery forecast and its assumptions, and identify any decision needed.
Report on track and correct it next week if recovery fails.
Show the milestone as overdue and attach the current schedule.
Leadership across projects
Short scenarios
Two teams plan separate tools for the same service. Each meets its own business case. What do you recommend?
Let each team deliver because both cases were approved.
Ask the teams to share suppliers while keeping both business cases.
Compare the combined benefits, duplication and transition costs, then bring a joint recommendation to the portfolio decision owner.
Planning and delivery
Short scenarios
An agreed test shows a deliverable works only at half the required volume. The deadline is next week. What do you do?
Log the defect and ask the team to improve performance before the deadline.
Estimate the fix and retest, identify a fallback, and make the release decision depend on the agreed evidence.
Accept the deliverable because it passed at half volume.
People and stakeholders
Short scenarios
A small trial of a new reporting process worked for office staff. Shift workers say they cannot access the process. What do you do?
Ask supervisors for examples and raise the concern at the next review.
Test access with both groups and agree a remedy and acceptance check.
Proceed because the trial worked for office staff.
Purpose and outcomes
Case 1 · Competing priorities
Two projects need the same security specialist next week. Atlas has a public launch date. Beacon addresses an operational exposure. Each lead claims priority. What do you do first?
Book Atlas first because the public date is fixed.
Confirm deadlines, consequences, minimum specialist effort and who owns the allocation decision.
Reserve half the week for each project while asking both leads to confirm their deadlines.
Planning and delivery
Case 1 · Competing priorities · New development
The specialist has five days. Atlas needs three days for launch approval. Beacon needs four days for permanent remediation, but one day can put a temporary control in place. The risk owner has yet to accept that control. What should you recommend?
Use three days for Atlas, one for Beacon and keep the last day available, conditional on the risk owner accepting a time-limited control and assigning the permanent fix.
Assign four days to Beacon and use the remaining day to start Atlas approval. Confirm the launch implications afterwards.
Split the week equally and ask the specialist to find efficiencies.
Governance and ethics
Case 1 · Competing priorities · New development
Testing shows Beacon’s temporary control misses a high-risk workflow. Atlas’s sponsor asks you to proceed with the original allocation. You cannot accept Beacon’s residual risk. What do you do?
Keep the split and note the gap in the next weekly report.
Alert both leads and ask the specialist to work on Beacon while you wait for a decision.
Escalate now to the risk owner and allocation authority with the failed test, feasible options and consequences. Seek a recorded decision before committing the split.
Leadership across projects
Case 1 · Competing priorities · New development
The steering group approves delaying Atlas and assigning four days to Beacon. What is the best follow-through?
Inform both teams of the decision and revise the schedule.
Record the decision and rationale, assign remediation verification, update both baselines through their approval process and communicate the revised commitments.
Mark the exposure resolved when the specialist starts and ask Atlas to announce a new date.
Planning and delivery
Case 2 · Release or hold
A regional service portal is due to launch on Friday. Its acceptance plan requires successful rollback in a rehearsal. The rehearsal fails. What is your first action?
Remove rollback from the criteria to preserve the launch date.
Record the failed criterion, investigate recovery options and convene the release decision owners.
Ask engineering to fix and repeat the rehearsal, then update the sponsor.
Risk and change
Case 2 · Release or hold · New development
Engineering can retest on Monday. Operations proposes a limited rollout to a small group, with a plan to restore service manually if something goes wrong. No one has checked whether the rollout can be kept within that group without affecting other users. What do you recommend?
Compare a delay with the limited rollout. Before recommending the rollout, confirm who could be affected, whether service can be restored and when to stop the trial.
Recommend delaying until Monday and prepare a retest.
Start with a small group and check afterwards whether other users are affected.
Governance and ethics
Case 2 · Release or hold · New development
Testing confirms the limited rollout cannot be kept within the trial group. The sponsor asks for Friday release anyway. The release board owns exceptions. What do you do?
Tell the sponsor you recommend delaying and inform the board at its next scheduled meeting.
Release on Friday with the sponsor’s verbal approval.
Escalate before release with the failed evidence and feasible options, and hold deployment pending an authorised decision.
Leadership across projects
Case 2 · Release or hold · New development
The board delays launch and another region relies on the same release team next week. What do you do next?
Retain the team until the portal passes, and let the other region replan.
Inform the other region of the delay and publish your updated schedule.
Agree resource priorities with the shared owner, update both plans, and assign retest, readiness and communication responsibilities.
Purpose and outcomes
Short scenarios
A records project aims to reduce retrieval time. What should the sponsor agree?
The number of files the team will migrate.
An adoption target for the new records tool.
Current retrieval time, target, measurement method and owner.
Planning and delivery
Short scenarios
A survey team has a two-day site window but permits are pending. What is the best plan?
Agree a conditional booking, permit deadline and fallback window.
Wait for the permits and then ask for a site window.
Send the team and resolve permits on arrival.
People and stakeholders
Short scenarios
Customers and service staff disagree about which support channel to keep. What do you do?
Ask both groups for preferences and summarise them.
Use the channel the project team can deploy first.
Test actual demand and accessibility with both groups and present options.
Risk and change
Short scenarios
A delivery vehicle has broken down. A replacement is offered but its load capacity is unknown. What do you do?
Log the issue and ask for other vehicles.
Log the breakdown as an issue, assess its impact and verify replacement capacity before committing.
Book the replacement and check capacity when it arrives.
Governance and ethics
Short scenarios
Your sponsor asks you to report an overdue milestone as on track because the team expects to recover next week. How do you report it?
Show the missed milestone, the recovery forecast and its assumptions, and identify any decision needed.
Report on track and correct it next week if recovery fails.
Show the milestone as overdue and attach the current schedule.
Leadership across projects
Short scenarios
Two programmes are about to procure separate contact systems for overlapping users. What do you recommend?
Compare combined outcomes, duplicated cost and transition risk, then bring a joint recommendation to the portfolio owner.
Proceed with both because each budget is approved.
Ask the teams to agree common purchasing terms.
Planning and delivery
Short scenarios
An agreed test shows a deliverable works only at half the required volume. The deadline is next week. What do you do?
Log the defect and ask the team to improve performance before the deadline.
Estimate the fix and retest, identify a fallback, and make the release decision depend on the agreed evidence.
Accept the deliverable because it passed at half volume.
People and stakeholders
Short scenarios
Volunteers will operate a new service but were excluded from the trial. What is the most useful next step?
Ask the sponsor to sign off on their behalf.
Invite representative volunteers to run the workflow and agree how to address problems.
Send the manual and collect comments.
Purpose and outcomes
Case 1 · Competing priorities
North Service and West Service both need the same testing facility next week. North Service faces a published opening date. West Service must address a recurring service fault. What do you establish first?
Ask both teams for dates and reserve half the week for each.
Compare the consequences of delay, minimum resource needs and who decides the allocation.
Give priority to the project with the more visible deadline.
Planning and delivery
Case 1 · Competing priorities · New development
The testing facility has five available days. North Service needs three. West Service needs four for a permanent fix, or one for a temporary control that still requires approval. What do you recommend?
Allocate three and one days conditionally, keep one day in reserve and obtain approval and ownership for the temporary control.
Split the time equally and ask both teams to shorten the work.
Allocate four days to the permanent fix and tell the launch team after booking.
Governance and ethics
Case 1 · Competing priorities · New development
Testing shows the temporary control for West Service leaves a critical gap. The sponsor for North Service wants to keep the proposed split. You cannot accept the risk or reallocate the testing facility. What do you do?
Keep the original plan and report the gap next week.
Alert both leads and move the resource to the permanent fix while waiting for a decision.
Escalate the failed test, feasible options and consequences to the risk and allocation owners before committing.
Leadership across projects
Case 1 · Competing priorities · New development
The steering group delays North Service and assigns four days to West Service. What follows?
Inform both teams and revise the dates.
Mark the risk closed once work begins.
Record the rationale, assign verification, update both plans through their approval process and communicate the commitments.
Planning and delivery
Case 2 · Release or hold
The distribution rollout is due on Monday. The agreed readiness check requires reconciled trial stock records, but the trial fails. What do you do first?
Remove the check to preserve the date.
Record the failed condition, assess recovery options and notify the release decision owners.
Ask the team to fix and retest before briefing the decision owners.
Risk and change
Case 2 · Release or hold · New development
The team can retest after the planned start. Operations suggests a trial in one group, with a plan to restore normal operations manually if needed. The team has not shown that the trial can stay within that group. What should you recommend?
Compare a delay with the trial. Before recommending the trial, confirm who could be affected, whether normal operations can be restored and when to stop.
Recommend delay and prepare the retest.
Start the trial and check afterwards whether it affects people outside the group.
Governance and ethics
Case 2 · Release or hold · New development
The readiness failure remains unresolved and the trial cannot be kept within the proposed group. The sponsor asks to proceed on Monday. Only the operations approval panel can approve an exception. What do you do?
Hold the rollout, repeat the trial and include the findings in a scheduled report after the planned start.
Record the sponsor’s instruction and proceed while the team investigates.
Hold the rollout, send the failed evidence and feasible options to the approval body, and request a decision before the planned start.
Leadership across projects
Case 2 · Release or hold · New development
The approval body delays the start. A second distribution region needs the same team next week. What do you do?
Keep the team assigned to your project until it is ready.
Notify the other team and update your own schedule.
Agree priorities with the shared resource owner, update both plans, and assign readiness checks and communication.
Purpose and outcomes
Short scenarios
A maintenance project aims to cut equipment downtime. What defines success?
Track how many maintenance staff finish training.
Agree baseline downtime, reduction target, review period and accountable owner.
Set a date for delivering the equipment checklist.
Planning and delivery
Short scenarios
Training material can be printed next week, but the reviewer is away. What do you schedule?
Print the current version to keep the booking.
Agree a review deadline, conditional print slot and fallback if approval slips.
Wait for the reviewer to return before talking to the printer.
People and stakeholders
Short scenarios
A community launch plan overlooks a group that cannot attend daytime events. How do you respond?
Ask the community liaison to report the concern.
Add a note about access to the event report afterwards.
Speak with representatives, test feasible access options and agree how access will be checked.
Risk and change
Short scenarios
A promised venue is no longer available. An alternative has sufficient seats but accessibility is unverified. What do you do?
Book the alternative because capacity is sufficient.
Record the issue and search for other venues.
Record the venue loss as an issue, assess impacts and check accessibility before recommending the alternative.
Governance and ethics
Short scenarios
Your sponsor asks you to report an overdue milestone as on track because the team expects to recover next week. How do you report it?
Show the missed milestone, the recovery forecast and its assumptions, and identify any decision needed.
Report on track and correct it next week if recovery fails.
Show the milestone as overdue and attach the current schedule.
Leadership across projects
Short scenarios
Two departments want separate booking services for the same audience. What should leadership consider?
Encourage both teams to use the same supplier.
Allow both to proceed because each has a sponsor.
Compare joint benefits, duplicate effort and transition needs, and seek a decision from the shared owner.
Planning and delivery
Short scenarios
An agreed test shows a deliverable works only at half the required volume. The deadline is next week. What do you do?
Log the defect and ask the team to improve performance before the deadline.
Estimate the fix and retest, identify a fallback, and make the release decision depend on the agreed evidence.
Accept the deliverable because it passed at half volume.
People and stakeholders
Short scenarios
Finance and service staff disagree on a new approval workflow. The sponsor asks you to decide quickly. What do you do?
Observe both teams using a trial workflow and present the measured trade-offs.
Document each team’s preferred workflow.
Use the workflow from the team with the larger budget.
Purpose and outcomes
Case 1 · Competing priorities
District Access and District Reliability both need the same field team next week. District Access faces a public registration date. District Reliability must address a recurring interruption. What do you establish first?
Ask both teams for dates and reserve half the week for each.
Compare the consequences of delay, minimum resource needs and who decides the allocation.
Give priority to the project with the more visible deadline.
Planning and delivery
Case 1 · Competing priorities · New development
The field team has five available days. District Access needs three. District Reliability needs four for a permanent fix, or one for a temporary control that still requires approval. What do you recommend?
Allocate three and one days conditionally, keep one day in reserve and obtain approval and ownership for the temporary control.
Split the time equally and ask both teams to shorten the work.
Allocate four days to the permanent fix and tell the launch team after booking.
Governance and ethics
Case 1 · Competing priorities · New development
Testing shows the temporary control for District Reliability leaves a critical gap. The sponsor for District Access wants to keep the proposed split. You cannot accept the risk or reallocate the field team. What do you do?
Keep the original plan and report the gap next week.
Alert both leads and move the resource to the permanent fix while waiting for a decision.
Escalate the failed test, feasible options and consequences to the risk and allocation owners before committing.
Leadership across projects
Case 1 · Competing priorities · New development
The steering group delays District Access and assigns four days to District Reliability. What follows?
Inform both teams and revise the dates.
Mark the risk closed once work begins.
Record the rationale, assign verification, update both plans through their approval process and communicate the commitments.
Planning and delivery
Case 2 · Release or hold
The relocated service centre is due on Friday. The agreed readiness check requires a successful accessible evacuation rehearsal, but the trial fails. What do you do first?
Remove the check to preserve the date.
Record the failed condition, assess recovery options and notify the release decision owners.
Ask the team to fix and retest before briefing the decision owners.
Risk and change
Case 2 · Release or hold · New development
The team can retest after the planned start. Operations suggests a trial in one group, with a plan to restore normal operations manually if needed. The team has not shown that the trial can stay within that group. What should you recommend?
Compare a delay with the trial. Before recommending the trial, confirm who could be affected, whether normal operations can be restored and when to stop.
Recommend delay and prepare the retest.
Start the trial and check afterwards whether it affects people outside the group.
Governance and ethics
Case 2 · Release or hold · New development
The readiness failure remains unresolved and the trial cannot be kept within the proposed group. The sponsor asks to proceed on Friday. Only the readiness committee can approve an exception. What do you do?
Hold the rollout, repeat the trial and include the findings in a scheduled report after the planned start.
Record the sponsor’s instruction and proceed while the team investigates.
Hold the rollout, send the failed evidence and feasible options to the approval body, and request a decision before the planned start.
Leadership across projects
Case 2 · Release or hold · New development
The approval body delays the start. Another service centre needs the same team next week. What do you do?
Keep the team assigned to your project until it is ready.
Notify the other team and update your own schedule.
Agree priorities with the shared resource owner, update both plans, and assign readiness checks and communication.