TOPIC: Communication channels

Hi,
Can you tell me the answer of this question?

John is in charge of a project that deals with laying out a lavish 18 hole golf course.The project work is in progress. He also has a number of contractors working on the project. Being an experienced manager, he knows that communication is key to success of the project. He has identified 10 stakeholders with whom he needs to communicate. Due to some internal and external organizational changes at the client end, three new stakeholders have been added with whom he needs to communicate with. He also had to reduce one of the contractors with whom he were communicating. How many communication channels does he has now?
A. 45
B. 78
C. 91
D. 66

Abbas,

Before we answer this question for you...: Please tell us where you found this. (Book, website, other?)

We want to give credit where credit is due.

Thank you!

Hi Abbas,

Formula for determining number of communication channels is ((N)*(N-1))/2, with N being the number of stakeholders one needs to communicate with. In this example N=12 (10 plus 3 minus 1), which makes the correct answer option D.

Regards

while calculating the communication channels, The PM should be counted as well. so N=13 (10 + 3 added from customer - 1 contractor + 1 PM).

this makes the communication channels = 13*12/2 = 78

so, I think option B is the correct one.

I agree that the PM should be included in the calculation and that answer B is correct.

Hi,

I'm confused about this question, I found it in LinkedIn and some people answered B (we have to count the PM) and other people answered D (we have not count PM because the question is ambigueous)

here is the linkeddIN about this question:

PMP Prep Question of the Day by Chhavi Gupta,PMP®, PRINCE2

Thanks

Hi Abbas,
it is good to always state the source of your questions to give credit to the question creator.

Including the PM in communication channels questions is always the trick in similar questions.
as illustrated the answer is B as the people involved in communication including the PM is 13 (channels = 13*12/2 = 78).

In this particular instance I would NOT count the PM because the question reads

How many communication channels does he has now?

So my interpretation is that the question is asking "how many does he personally have?"

I would, however, count the PM if the question where to read

How many communication channels are there on the project now?

In the end, I consider this to a "bad" PMP Exam Sample question because it contains so much ambiguity and there is no real way of determining what the correct way of doing it is. If this question were part of our simulator question pool, then we would probably remove it because it's "so bad".

It is ambiguous, I agree, but only if we make an assumption that we do not count ourselves in the math as the project manager.

I remember having these questions in my study preparation and I had two rules for myself.

1. Stick with the numbers in the question.
2. One of those numbers includes me because I am part of the Project Team.

Sir, as we know, according to PMBOK, PM is the process owner in case of communication management. So when question of communication channel arises, he needs to consider overall count not his personal count. e.g. if PM has 3 members in his team, according to your logic, number of communication channel is 3. However, according to my understanding, it'll be 6. Similarly PM identified 10 stakeholders means, total stakeholders 11, PM is also stakeholder. Here, "how many channels PM has" - doesn't imply how many he personally has, it's question of whole project only. Please clarify, if I'm wrong.

I AGREED.

10 stakeholders identified + 3 = 13 + 1 PM = 14
So 14*13 /2 =91

C

I would consider the key word stakeholders it includes all members in the project including PM. So i would calculate 10+3-1=12 members and apply the formula n(n+1)/2 = 12(12-1)/2= 66

the statement says "He has identified 10 stakeholders with whom he needs to communicate"...he cannot communicate with himself, so it makes sense to add him too rather than he including himself identified 10 stakeholders.

78