1 | Defining Project Management Fundamentals Flashcards

Question

Project Stakeholder | Portfolio managers/Portfolio review board explained and responsibilities?

Answer 1

Portfolio managers or executives in the portfolio review board are a part of the project selection committees and belong to the high level project governance side of the organization. Their review considerations may include: - Gauging the Return on Investment (ROI) of the project - Identifying the value of the project - Analyzing the risks involved in taking up the project - Identifying the factors that may influence the project

Answer 2

Program managers, in coordination with the project managers, mange related projects in a program to obtain maximum benefits. They also provide guidance and support every individual project.

Answer 3

A PMO is an administrative unit that supervises and coordinates the management of all projects in an organization. It focuses on providing: - Administrative support services, which include processes, methodologies, policies, standards, and templates - Any key performance indicators and parameters that will allow projects to measure their success - Training and mentoring support to project managers and project team members - Support and guidance in managing projects and usage of tools - Support for resource allocation - Assistance in better communication among project managers. sponsors and other stakeholders. 1. Sets standards and practices for organization 2. Sets deliverables 3. Provides governance 4. Key performance indicators and parameters 5. Provides tools 6. Outlines consequences of non-performance 7. Standard documentation/templates 8. Coordinate resources between projects

Answer 4

Project managers are individuals responsible for managing all aspects of the project. The project manager: - Works with stakeholders to define the project - Plans, schedule and budgets project activities with team input - Works with the team to carry of project plans - Monitor performance and takes corrective action - Identifies, monitors and mitigate risks - Keeps the sponsor and the stakeholders informed - Requests and document scope changes - Provides timely reports on project metrics - Acts as an liaison between the project team and other stakeholders 1. Manage team, communication, scope, risk, budget and time. 2. Manage quality assurance 3. Responsible for artifacts

Answer 5

The project management team are those members of the project team who perform management activities, such as: - Acting as the procurement manager for projects that involves multiple contracts and vendors - Being responsible for inputting data into the Project Management Information System (PMIS) and confirming the accuracy of that data. - Assuming the role of Project Manager is his or her absence

Answer 6

The project coordinator role exists when the organizational structure does not warrant or support a full-scale project manager. The project coordinator has limited decision-making responsibilities. This role requires cross-functional coordination and duties can include: - Administrative support and documentation assistance - Time and resource scheduling - Quality control checking 1. Support project manager 2. Cross-functional coordination 3. Documentation/administrative support 4. Time/resource scheduling 5. Check for quality

Answer 7

The scheduler creates and maintains the project timeline. The scheduler is proficient at using project management software such as Microsoft Project and other applications. Other duties might include: - Communicate timeline and schedule changes - Monitor schedule status and solicit task status from resources - Report schedule performance 1. Develop and maintain project schedule 2. Communicate timeline and changes 3. Reporting schedule performance 4. Solicit task status from resources

Answer 8

The project team comprises the project manager, the project management team, and other individual team members. The individual team members perform project work and may not be involved in the project management side of the project. The project team duties include: - Use expertise to contribute to completing project tasks - Contribute deliverables on schedule - Provide estimates of task duration - Provides estimates of costs and dependencies 1. Contribute expertise to the project 2. Contribute deliverables according to schedule - Estimation of task duration - Estimation of costs and dependencies

Answer 9

Vendors are external parties who enter into a contractual agreement with the organization and provide components or services needed for the project. Business partners are external to the company and provide specialized support to tasks such as installation, customization, training and support.

Answer 10

Functional managers are individuals who provide resources (people) to the project manager, who in turn assigns them to project activities. Examples of functional managers are engineer managers, IT managers.

Answer 11

Operations managers manage the core business areas such as the design of manufacturing, provisioning, testing, research and development, or maintenance side of the organization. Some of their functions include: - Directly managing the production and maintenance of the final products and services that the organization provides - Handing off technical project documentation and other records to the operations management group upon project completion

Answer 12

Positive stakeholders usually benefit from the successful outcome of the project.

Answer 13

Negative stakeholders see negative outcomes of a successful project.

Answer 14

Meeting project objectives and ensure that the project plan is in alignment with the overall program plan.

Answer 15

The Project Life Cycle

Answer 16

Manageable, sequential phases of work activities.

Answer 17

A process is a sequence of activities designed to bring about a specific result in response to a business need.

Answer 18

Project Management Processes are all the activities that underlie the effective practice of project management, they are grouped into 5 phases (process groups): 1. Initiating/pre-project setup 2. Planning 3. Executing 4. Monitoring/Controlling 5. Closing

Answer 19

Defining the need for a new project of the new phase of an existing project, validating the project, preparing a project charter, and obtaining approval for the project charter to move forward.

Answer 20

Creating the project management plan. This plan addresses scope, time, cost, quality, risk communications, procurement, human resources, and stakeholders. During planning project objectives are refined and a strategy is developed to accomplish the work on the project or phase.

Answer 21

Carrying out the work mentioned in the project management plan in order to meet the project specifications.

Answer 22

Regular monitoring of project performance and tracking progress made in the project or phase. They also include changes that are to be made to the plan when required and corrective actions needed to get back on track.

Answer 23

Finalizing the project activities, handing off the project or phase output, gaining formal acceptance, tying up the administrative and contractual loose ends, and finally closing the project or phase.

Answer 24

Not every process in the project life cycle takes place in every project. Determining which processes are appropriate for a given project.

Answer 25

- Project purpose - Goals and objectives - Project charter - Business case - Assignment of a project manager, management sponsor, functional manager, and user representative - Constraints and assumptions - High level scope definitions - High level risks

Answer 26

- Project Management plans - Scope Management plan - Scope statement - Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) - Activity list - Project network diagrams - Activity duration estimates - Project schedule - Schedule management plan - Resource requirements - Cost estimates - Cost Management Plan - Cost baseline - Quality assurance plan - Communications plan - Resource Management plan - Roles and responsibilities - Assignment of resources - Risk management plan - Procurement management plan - Statement of work (SOW)

Answer 27

- Intermediate or final work results/deliverables - Change requests - Project records - Quality improvements - Proposals and contracts

Answer 28

- Performance reports - Change requests - Project plan updates - Corrective actions - Risks/Issue log - Change control reports - Budget changes

Answer 29

- Formal acceptance and closure - Project archives - Contract file - Lessons learned - Customer sign-off - Sponsor sign-off - Transition/training

Answer 30

is the process of creating a mock-up of a product or system. Usually built for demonstration purposes.

Answer 31

1. Proof-of-principle 2. Form study 3. Visual 4. Functional

Answer 32

Check some aspects of the product design without considering the visual appearance, the materials to be used, or the manufacturing process.

Answer 33

Check the primary size and appearance of a product without stimulating its exact function or design.

Answer 34

Check the design and imitate the appearance, color and surface textures of the product but will not contain the functions of the final product.

Answer 35

Check the appearance, materials, and functionality of the expected design.

Answer 36

A project stage is a group of related projects activities that result in the completion of a major deliverable. Documents and information that are created in one stage are used as an input for the next stage.

Answer 37

Project governance is a comprehensive methodology to control a project and ensures its success. It is carried out throughout the life cycle of a project and provides guidance in the form of project phase reviews, to monitor and control the project. A management review is performed at the start of every phase to decide whether to begin the activities of a particular phase.

Answer 38

A phase-gate review, also known as governance-gate review, is a check point review of project deliverables and performance that occurs at the end of each phase of the project where a management review or sign off may be required. Each review is used to check if each phase has fulfilled the exit criteria and is eligible to move to the next phase.

Answer 39

Software development projects can utilize a quality gate. It is located before a phase that is strongly dependent upon the outcome of a previous phase. The quality gate is a formal way of specifying and recording the transition between stages in the project life cycle.

Answer 40

Multiphased projects generally follow a sequential process that ensures greater control over the project and aids in achieving the desired product, service or result.

Answer 41

1. Sequential 2. Overlapping 3. Iterative

Answer 42

- Contains consecutive phases - Starts only when the previous phase is complete - Reduces the level of uncertainty, which produces reliable cost and duration estimates but which may eliminate the possibility of reducing the project duration later in the project cycle.

Answer 43

- Contains phases that start prior to the completion of the preceding phase - Increases the level of the risk and can cause rework if the subsequent phase begins before it receives accurate information from the previous phase

Answer 44

- Includes one phase at a time that will be planned and carried out - Requires planning for the next phase as the work in the current phase progresses - Is largely helpful in environments that are quite uncertain and undefined - Reduces the need for long-term planning - Helps in minimizing project risk and maximizing the business value of the product - Is an extension or corollary of the overlapping relationship, but in this case the same phase repeats itself multiple times once in each iteration

Answer 45

Progressive elaboration is defined as the process of increasing the level of detail in a project management plan as more information and more accurate estimates become available. At the beginning of a project, very little is known, perhaps only a high level scope and some objectives. As the project moves forward, requirements are determined, the scope is written, a WBS is developed and time and cost estimates are prepared. Thus, the project management plan becomes more detailed as the project progresses.

Answer 46

is a technique in which work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail, whereas future work is planned with much less detail.

Answer 47

1. Policies 2. Values 3. Management styles 4. Work environment

Answer 48

The project policies and procedures should reflect the organizations cultures, polices and procedures.

Answer 49

The criteria for the selection of projects are determined by the organizational culture. For example, a competitive, ambitious and assertive organization will select projects with high risks, whereas a highly rigid and authoritarian organization may not take projects with high risks.

Answer 50

A project manager should adapt to the management style of an organization. For example, a project manager cannot follow a permissive management style in an autocratic organization where all decisions are made unilaterally.

Answer 51

A project manager should adhere to a company's policies when assessing the performance of a team. For example, an employee should not be promoted to the next level unless he or she meets all the standards set by the organization.

Answer 52

Organizational process assets are entities that can be used to influence the success of a project. Policies, procedures, guidelines, formal and informal plans, templates, lessons learned documents, and even historical information come under the organizational process assets.

Answer 53

1. Processes and procedures | 2. Corporate knowledge base

Answer 54

These are the processes and procedures the organization uses for performance project related tasks, such as: - Policies, product and project life cycles, and quality policies and procedures. - Standard guidelines, proposal evaluation criteria, work instructions, and performance measurement criteria. - Templates such as WBS, project definition and business case forms, the project schedule, the milestone report, and contract templates - Tailored guidelines and criteria for organizational processes that will satisfy specific project needs - Organizational communication requirements and project closure guidelines

Answer 55

A repository for storing and retrieving information, such as: - Process measurement databases that provide measurement data on processes and products - Project files such as scope, cost, schedule and quality baselines, performance measurement baselines, project calendars and risk registers - Lessons learned knowledge bases and historical information - Issue and defect management databases - Configuration management knowledge bases - Financial databases

Answer 56

Are the internal and external factors that can have a positive or negative influence on the project outcome. Examples of enterprise environmental factors may include organizational culture, the human resources pool, marketplace conditions, stakeholder risk tolerance, political situations and project management information systems.

Answer 57

Is advice provided by individuals having expertise in a specific knowledge area, an application area, an industry, or discipline. It is typically used to make informed decisions on a project.

Answer 58

Provides information on the organization of work processes and operating practices through organizational structure, power, culture, compensation and benefits, and behavior of people, among other things. Effective use of this information helps in planning human resources efficiently.

Answer 59

Are the various reporting relationships that occurs within a project and on the boundaries of the project. There are four different types of project interfaces: 1. Organizational 2. Technical 3. Interpersonal 4. Logistical

Answer 60

Reporting relationships among different organizational units.

Answer 61

Reporting relationship among technical disciplines on the project that can occur during a phase or during the transition between phases.

Answer 62

Formal and informal reporting relationships among individuals working on the project, whether internally or externally.

Answer 63

Relationships between project team members who are distributed geographically across different buildings, states, countries, and time zones.

Answer 64

An organizational structure is the compositional makeup of an organizational that describes how various groups and individuals within the organization interrelate. There are four organizational structures: 1. Functional 2. Matrix 3. Projectized 4. Composite

Answer 65

An organizational chart is a visual representation of a projects organizational structure. It's purpose is to show both the reporting relationships within the project's relationship to the parent organization.

Answer 66

- Each department is responsible for carrying out a specific , similar set of activities - Multiple people perform each type of activity - Reporting is hierarchical, with each individual reporting to a single manager - The project managers authority is low, relative to the functional managers authority - Team members are loyal to their department and report only to their functional manager - The project manager is part time on the project and reports to a functional manager, the team members are part time as well

Answer 67

- A blend of functional and projectized structures in which individuals report upward in the functional hierarchy, but they also report horizontally to one or more project managers. - The matrixed reporting scheme may be permanent or temporary - May be characterized as weak, balanced, or strong depending on the relative authority of the project manager to the functional manager. An organization is said to have a strong matrix when the project managers authority is higher than that of the functional manager - Team members maintain a home in their department and report to both the functional manager and the project manager - The project manager is full time on the project while team members are part time

Answer 68

- The project manager and a core project team operate as a completely separate organizational unit within the parent organization - Core team members are responsible for the work of extended team members in their functional area - Team members are often co-located - The project manager reports to a program manager and has a significant amount of authority and independence - Some projectized organizations may contain their own support systems, such as a separate procurement or personnel department, or share support systems with the parent organization - Team members do not belong to a department so they can be loyal to only the project - Both the project manager and team members are full time on the project and the project manager has full authority over team members because they report to only him or her

Answer 69

Most modern organizations involve all the above structures at various levels. It is a combination of all the other types of organizations.

Answer 70

Examples of a functional organization include organizations that are dominated by silos, which are defined as compartmentalized functional units, such as sales, engineering, production, and so on.

Answer 71

Refers to the project managers authority relative to the functional managers authority over the project and the project team. In a purely functional organizational structure, the project managers authority is low relative to that of the functional manager. Conversely, in the project based organizational structure, the opposite is true.

Answer 72

Is an iterative and incremental project management approach that focuses on customer value and team empowerment. In Agile project management, the product is developed in iterations by small and integrated teams. Each iteration can span anywhere from two to four weeks, and after each iteration, the working product with increased functionality is shared with the client for feedback. These frequent feedback sessions allow the developers to continuously improve the product and reduce the risk associated with product development. In Agile project management, the teams are involved in the project right from the planning stage and are responsible for estimation. Therefore, there is a shift in the role of the project manager from the taskmaster role taken in traditional projects to that of a facilitator. Agile is based on a set of basic values, which include communication, simplicity, feedback, courage and humility.

Answer 73

1. Customer value 2. Iterative and Incremental Delivery 3. Intense Collaboration 4. Small and Integrated Teams 5. Self-Organizing 6. Small and Continuous Improvements

Answer 74

Agile project management focuses on providing value to customers in terms of the product, time and cost. Requirements that are most important to the customer are developed first followed by requirements that are lower on the priority list.

Answer 75

You can adapt the features to de developed in subsequent iterations based on customer feedback. This principle reduces monetary risks associated with the project, and reduces effort spent on nonessential features by focusing on high-priority items at any given point.

Answer 76

Intense collaboration among the team members is critical to ensure common understanding of the requirements. It's necessary to bring together the business and development teams of the project.

Answer 77

Ideally, an Agile team for each iteration should be small, comprising two to eight members who are talented, competent and self disciplined individuals.

Answer 78

Teams need to be self organized so they can make timely decisions, and are empowered to do so. This increases their ability to organize themselves in a way that accomplishes project goals most efficiently.

Answer 79

Agile project management contains small development cycles that are used to develop the product by feature and receive client feedback on each feature. This allows the team to adapt to change and in the process, reflect and learn, thus leading to continuous improvements in featured in subsequent development cycles.

Answer 80

Scrum is an Agile methodology. It focuses on iterative and incremental delivery of products. When you use Scrum as a development process, you create the product by using the customer requirements as the starting point. Then, you assign a priority to each of these requirements based on their priority to the customer. The list is shared with the team, which then breaks each requirement into sub-tasks. The whole team works simultaneously on the sub tasks that are part of a single client requirement. Each team member picks a sub-task, gives an estimate and starts working on the assigned sub-task. The requirement is worked on by the team and becomes a set of features of the finished product. Then the team starts working on the next requirement in the queue. As sections of the product are created, they are shared with the client for review and approval.

Answer 81

Are customer requirements or features. Each user story emphasizes the functionality of the feature and how it adds to the final product.

Answer 82

1. Product Owner 2. Scrum Master 3. Scrum Team 4. Stakeholders 5. Customers Scrum requires each of these roles to be actively involved in the development process.

Answer 83

An individual or an organization who is responsible for gathering inputs about a product from the customers and translating the requirements into the product vision for the team and stakeholders. Responsible for: - Consolidating all client requirements into a prioritized set of deliverables - Defining the features of the product based on market value - Managing project ROI and risk - Adjusting features and their priority on a regular basis - Participating actively in all planning and review meetings of the project - Providing answers to questions raised by project teams from time to time - Determining the release plan for deliverables and communicating it to all stakeholders - Accepting or rejecting work results

Answer 84

An individual who serves, protects and supports the team like a coach or facilitator and works closely with the Product Owner but does not control the Scrum team. Responsible for: - Helping the team by trying to resolve issues or blocks that the team faces - Improving the productivity of the team and keeping it effective - Enabling close cooperation among various roles and functions - Keeping track of training requirements for the team to avoid delay in deliverables - Protecting the team from outside interference or disruption - Protecting the interest of the Product Owner and maximizing ROI - Organizing and facilitating Scrum-related activities and meetings - Ensuring that the team follows Scrum standards

Answer 85

Dedicated, self-managing, cross-functional, fully empowered individuals who deliver the finished work required by the customer. Responsible for: - Selecting the goal and specifying work results - Organizing the team and work - Demonstrating work results to the Product Owner - Providing the Product Owner with inputs and ideas about the final product - Working within project guidelines to reach the goal

Answer 86

Individuals who can affect or be affected by the project either positively or negatively. Responsible for: - Helping the product owner define the goal and vision of the project - Attending planning meetings and helping team members with prioritizing components on a regular basis - Optionally attending daily team meetings but not participating in the proceedings - Attending review meetings to assess regular progress

Answer 87

An individual or representation for an organization, who requires the end product. Responsible for: - Defining the product requirements - Being involved in the review phase of each deliverable - Participating throughout the process

Answer 88

1. Create a vision for the project - Talk to customers - Talk to stakeholders - Interview potential users 2. Create a Product Backlog - Itemize the customer requirements - Verify the order of importance for each of these items from the customer - Perform market research to decide on the priority of these items - Use this input to create a prioritized Product Backlog 3. Set a broad release plan - Choose a release type - Identify a release date - Identify major components in the release 4. Create a Sprint Backlog - Organize a Scrum Team - Identify a senior team member as the Scrum Master - Invite the Product Owner, Scrum Master and team members for a planning meeting - Ask the Product Owner to explain the project vision - Allow the team to decide on the Sprint goal - Set the timeline for the Sprint - Allow the participants to identify tasks from the Product Backlog for the Sprint Backlog - Split large tasks and combine smaller ones - Validate the items on the Sprint Backlog with the team

Answer 89

1. Product Backlog | 2. Sprint Backlog

Answer 90

is a prioritized list of customer requirements and it is the first step of Scrum. Here, the priority is based on the riskiness and business value of the user story.

Answer 91

is a list of user stories selected from the product backlog that the scrum team chooses and commits to complete in that Sprint cycle. Once the team decides on the Sprint Backlog, nothing more can be added to the list during the cycle. If the customer requirements changes of the Product Owner identifies any additional stories, they are added to the Product Backlog and not to the Sprint Backlog. This ensures high productivity as the team focuses on the agreed plan even when there are additional customer requirements.

Answer 92

A sprint (or Sprint Cycle) represents a complete process from planning to delivery and demo of a part of the product

Answer 93

A burndown chart is a tool that is used to track the progress of the project by plotting the number of days of Sprint against the number of hours of work remaining. A burndown chart is used to track the pending work until the teams commitment is complete. The burndown chart displays the progress of the team toward the goal. In an ideal situation, a burndown chart is expected to be a downward sloping graph that will hit zero on the last day. However, this is not always the case because as the project progresses, the team might discover unexpected complexities or issues that may cause work to slow down, which further leads to increased number of hours or work remaining. If the burndown chart is not a downward sloping graph, then it signals the team to do things differently or increase the pace of their work. It also creates a feedback loop and enables the teams to improve the estimations by committing to only the amount of work that they can accomplish in a Sprint.

Answer 94

The daily standup meetings in which the complete team gets together for a quick status update. These meetings are short, 15-min meetings that are conducted by standing in a circle. The standup meetings should be ideally conducted at the start of working hours and the presence of all team members involved in the Sprint is mandatory. In these meetings each team member who is part of the Scrum is expected to summarize the tasks that were completed on the previous day, the tasks that are to be completed on the present day and any roadblocks that the member might be facing.

Answer 95

1. Sprint retrospective 2. Starting next Sprint 3. Release planning

Answer 96

The Product Owner, Scrum Master and the Scrum Team attend the meeting to analyze from a process perspective what is working well and what is not and to agree upon changes to implement.

Answer 97

The next Sprint starts soon after the previous Sprint finishes. After the sprint review and retrospectives meetings, the Product Owner consolidates the input from the meetings and the additional priorities that came during the Sprint and incorporates them in the Product Backlog. The team then goes back into the Sprint planning and decides the backlog for the next sprint.

Answer 98

It is possible while closing the Sprint that the customer may want to close the release and start using the product, so that the value from the completed features is delivered sooner. The Product Owner could either decide on a set of release date or a set of products to be released.

Answer 99

The project steering team, also referred to as the steering committee, helps the project team by resolving the problems escalated by the project manager or the project leads. It also resolve policy problems, or at least forwards such issues to the appropriate decision-making authorities within the organization.

Answer 100

1. Project Charter 2. Business Case 3. High-level scope definition 4. High-level risks

Answer 101

1. Schedule 2. Work Breakdown Structure 3. Resources 4. Detailed Risks 5. Requirements 6. Communication Plan 7. Procurement Plan 8. Change Management Plan 9. Budget

Answer 102

1. Deliverables

Answer 103

1. Risks/Issues log 2. Performance measuring and reporting 3. Quality assurance/governance 4. Change control 5. Budget

Answer 104

1. Transition/integration plan - Training 2. Project sign off 3. Archive project documents 4. Lessons Learned 5. Release resources 6. Close contracts

1 | Defining Project Management Fundamentals Flashcards

In this lesson, you will: • Identify basic concepts and terminology of professional project management. • Identify and describe the phases and components of the project life cycle. • Identify and describe the organizational influences on project management. • Define the Agile methodology