The project manager finds an opportunity to reduce cost by completing a deliverable early with minimal resource impact, but the client is only focused on the next milestone. How should the project manager handle this?

The correct answer is to review the change management plan to discuss early benefits realization with the client. The project manager has identified an opportunity for cost savings and early delivery, which represents a potential change to the project baseline and an opportunity for benefits realization. The change management plan outlines the process for evaluating, approving, and communicating such changes. Engaging the client in a discussion about these benefits, even if they are currently focused on the next milestone, is crucial for managing expectations and potentially gaining approval to proceed. Adding extra resources to deliver early and still meet the next milestone is incorrect because it might increase costs, negating the identified savings, and isn't necessarily what the client wants. Concentrating only on the next milestone as the client requested is incorrect because it ignores a valuable opportunity to improve the project and potentially benefit the client. Assessing whether the client's request will add features to the deliverable is incorrect because the client's current focus is on the next milestone, not adding features, and the project manager's discovery is about early delivery and cost savings, not feature creep.