1.5 Project Management

Question 1

While you are not formally trained as a project manager, you have been tasked with running a large instructional design project for your company. You are working with a vendor for video production on the project. Which document do you get the video production company to sign as a legally binding agreement on their services?

Answer 1

A Statement of Work - the SOW is a legally binding document that outlines the services provided by an external vendor.

Question 2

In which phase of the formal project management process does the project charter get written?

Answer 2

The INITIATION phase

Question 3

Which of the following should you NOT do when writing a project charter?

A. Use project charter templates from the internet

B. Provide a comprehensive, in-depth document covering all of the details of the project; most likely resulting in a 10-page document

C. Identify the stakeholders and their roles

D. Provide justification for the project

Answer 3

B. Provide a comprehensive, in-depth document covering all of the details of the project; most likely resulting in a 10-page document

A project charter should convey clarity and quality and provide an overview of project specifics, but should not be in-depth. A project charter is usually 2-3 pages in length.

Question 4

True or False: A change management plan acts as an INPUT to the project charter.

Answer 4

False: You do not use a change management plan as an input for the project charter, but a change management plan should be used to track the differences between the end result and the original conception.

Question 5

Which of the following outlines the most probable consequence of skipping the project charter?

A. The talent development project manager will be able to easily make changes to the project

B. The company will be able to save time and money due to saving time being wasted on the project charter

C. The talent development project manager will be unable to apply organizational resources to the project

D. The project manager will be unable to develop a Statement of Work

Answer 5

C. The talent development project manager will be unable to apply organizational resources to the project

Question 6

What are the two key activities that a Project Manager does during the Manage phase of Project Management?

Answer 6

Monitoring and Communicating

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT true about a SOW (Statement of Work)?

A) It is a formal document that defines the work activities, deliverables, and timeline a supplier must execute

B) It may be an input to the charter

C) It can be used in place of a charter

D) It may include detailed requirements and pricing, with standard regulatory and governance terms and conditions.

Answer 7

C) It can be used in place of a charter

Question 8

True or False? Without a charter, or if it is not signed, officially there is no project.

Answer 8

True

Question 9

You are creating a new onboarding program with 4 other instructional designers on your team at a telecomm company. The project charter has been approved and you are ready to get to work. The project team has determined that everyone will share the workload evenly and therefore has not assigned individual tasks or responsibilities. What will a good Project Manager likely do or ask for next?

A) Begin monitoring by comparing actual progress to the plan

B) Create a project plan and schedule and insist that it includes clearly defined and agreed upon roles and
responsibilities

C) Ensure continued alignment with the organization’s objectives

Answer 9

B) Create a project plan and schedule and insist that it includes clearly defined and agreed upon roles and responsibilities

Monitoring is not possible without clearly defined and agreed upon roles and responsibilities, which the project manager established in the project plan and schedule.

(1.5.B)

Question 10

When communicating as a TD professional who is also in the role of Project Manager, which of the following should you not do when it comes to communicating progress?

A) Send status updates that pertain to what the project sponsor wants to know about, rather than what the project manager wants to share

B) Establish a status update timeline, sending updates with a fixed frequency that fits the size of the project

C) Speak directly with all stakeholders to gain ongoing feedback

D) Send timely and detailed status updates to the project sponsor

Answer 10

C) Speak directly with all stakeholders to gain ongoing feedback

The project manager may be too busy to talk with all stakeholders, by designing and sending brief updates through social media, video, or email to the project team regularly, the project manager can ensure team members continue confidently and collaboratively.

Question 11

What event triggers the end of the “manage phase” of a project?

Answer 11

With the deliverables transferred to the customer, the manage phase ends and the close phase begins.

Question 12

Who is responsible for the “Close phase” of a project?

Answer 12

The project manager alone is responsible for recording the strategic knowledge gained during the close phase. The project manager must close out the project and document the project’s evaluation.

Question 13

Which of the following is not a part of the “Close phase” of a project? (Select all that apply)

A) Meet with the project sponsor for project evaluation feedback.

B) Work with the customer to clarify a roll-out timeline for their team.

C) Collect feedback from the end-user

D) Deliver training (as needed) to the customer.

E) Re-allocate staff to their next project.

F) Publish a post-project review and meet with stakeholders to discuss ways to make future projects more efficient and effective.

G) Resending the charter to stakeholders for review

H) Archive pertinent artifacts (such as the project charter and project plan) for use on future projects.

I) Consider creating a shared project archive for the organization.

J) Celebrate with the entire team.

Answer 13

C) Collect feedback from the end-user

G) Resending the charter to stakeholders for review

Question 14

When it comes to risk management, which of the following is true? (Select all that apply)

A) The goal of managing project risks is to identify and prepare for any potential threat to the project’s critical success factors before it actually occurs.

B) Nothing impacts how a project is approached more than the risks facing the project.

C) Risk management is the essence of managing projects

Answer 14

All of the above are true about risk management

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT true about risk management?

A) Unidentified or unacknowledged project planning defects are peripheral to the risk management process

B) Managing risks is an integral part of project planning

C) Risk management is a continuous and interactive process that is important throughout the project lifecycle.

D) The best ways to control risks are through solid project management, effective project planning, and a relentless desire to protect the project.

Answer 15

A) Unidentified or unacknowledged project planning defects are peripheral to the risk management process is FALSE.

Unidentified or unacknowledged project planning defects are the MOST POPULAR source of unknown risks.

Question 16

What are the five risk response strategies?

Answer 16

Acceptance - accepting the consequences of the risk. Some examples might include active or passive acceptance, taking no action, or notifying management of a major cost increase if the risk occurs.

Avoidance - avoiding the risk which may include changing the project plan. Some examples, include adding resources or time or removing a “problem” resource.

Mitigation - taking action to reduce the likelihood a risk will occur or taking action to reduce the impact of the risk. Some examples include adopting a less complex approach, adding more resources or time into the schedule

Transfer - transferring ownership of the risk factor or shifting the consequence of a risk and the ownership of the response to a third party. An example is outsourcing difficult work to a more experienced company. Note: this does not eliminate the risk.

Monitor and prepare - accepting the risk for now while closely monitoring it and proactively developing an alternative action plan if the event occurs. Also known as contingency planning

Question 17

Milestones of a project are important because they… (select all that apply)

A) reduce the frequency of required status meetings

B) they allow project sponsors and senior management to evaluate their project investments along the way, and if warranted, redirect resources from troubled projects to more promising pursuits

C) allow the team to stop, report, progress, review key issues, confirm that everyone is still on board, and verify that the project should proceed with its mission.

D) are a tool to help manage expectations

Answer 17

B, C, and D are correct.

A is not correct.

While Status meetings are a technique for project control, they are not a part of why milestones are important, nor do they impact the frequency of status meetings.

Question 18

True or False? Goals and Objectives should be included as a section of the Project Charter.

Answer 18

True. This section should list the measurable, verifiable results that determine the success level of this project. This section is also often referred to as Critical Success Factors.

Question 19

At a minimum, a good Project Charter document should include several key elements. Which of the two below are not a part of a Project Charter?

The boundaries for the project work

A comprehensive ROI summary

What the project will accomplish

How the project success will be measured

An approved Gantt chart

Why the project is being undertaken

Who will be involved

How it fits within the organization

Answer 19

The following two are not a part of the Project Charter:

A comprehensive ROI summary

and

An approved Gantt chart

Question 20

A properly defined Project Charter is important because______.

Answer 20

A properly defined Project Charter is important because it greatly increases the odds for project success.