Chapter 5

Question 1

A distinct, scheduled portion of work performed during the course of a project

Answer 1

Activity

Question 2

Information that provides schedule-related information about each activity, such as predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and assumptions related to the activity.

Answer 2

Activity attributes

Question 3

A tabulation of activities to be included on a project schedule

Answer 3

Activity list

Question 4

A network diagramming technique in which activities are represented by arrows and connected at points called nodes to illustrate the sequence of activities

Answer 4

Activity-on-arrow (AOA) approach or Activity-diagramming-method (ADM)

Question 5

The estimates that use the actual cost of a previous, similar project as the basis for estimating the cost of the current project

Answer 5

Analogous estimates or Top-down estimates

Question 6

Cost estimates created by estimating individual activities and summing them to get the project total

Answer 6

Bottom-up estimates

Question 7

Additional time to complete an activity, added to an estimate to account for various factors

Answer 7

Buffer

Question 8

An occurrence when two or more activities follow a single node on a network diagram

Answer 8

Burst

Question 9

A time-phased budget that project managers use to measure and monitor cost performance

Answer 9

Cost baseline

Question 10

A technique for making cost and schedule trade-offs to obtain the greatest amount of schedule compression for the least incremental cost

Answer 10

Crashing

Question 11

A method of scheduling that takes limited resources into account when creating a project schedule and includes buffers to protect the project completion date

Answer 11

Critical chain scheduling

Question 12

The series of activities that determine the earliest time which the project can be completed; it is the longest path through the network diagram and has the least amount of slack or float

Answer 12

Critical path

Question 13

A network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration and show the amount of schedule flexibility on the network paths within the schedule model

Answer 13

Critical path method (CPM) or Critical path analysis (CPA)

Question 14

The sequencing of project activities

Answer 14

Dependency or relationship

Question 15

The dependencies that are defined by the project team

Answer 15

Discretionary dependencies

Question 16

The actual amount of time spent working on an activity plus elapsed time

Answer 16

Duration

Question 17

The number of workdays or work hours required to complete an activity

Answer 17

Effort

Question 18

The dependencies that involve relationships between project and non-project activities

Answer 18

External dependencies

Question 19

A schedule compression technique where you do activities in parallel that you would normally do in sequence

Answer 19

Fast-tracking

Question 20

Additional time added before activities on the critical path that are preceded by non-critical path activities

Answer 20

Feeding buffers

Question 21

A standard format for displaying project schedule information by displaying project activities and their corresponding start and finish dates in a calendar format

Answer 21

Ghantt charts

Question 22

When an activity requires a gap in time before it can start.

Answer 22

Lag

Question 23

When an activity can overlap a preceding one

Answer 23

Lead

Question 24

The dependencies that are inherent in the nature of the work being performed on a project

Answer 24

Mandatory dependencies

Question 25

A situation when two or more nodes precede a single node on a network diagram

Answer 25

Merge

Question 26

A significant point or event in a project

Answer 26

Milestone

Question 27

Quantitative risk analysis technique that provides a probability distribution for outcome values for the whole project

Answer 27

Monte Carlo simulation

Question 28

When a resource works on more than one activity at a time

Answer 28

Multitasking

Question 29

If something can go wrong, it will.

Answer 29

Murphy’s Law

Question 30

A schematic display of the logical relationships among, or sequencing of, project activities

Answer 30

Network diagram

Question 31

The starting and ending point of an activity-on-arrow diagram

Answer 31

Node

Question 32

A technique that uses project characteristics (parameters) in a mathematical model to estimate project costs

Answer 32

Parametric modelling

Question 33

Work expands to fill the time allowed

Answer 33

Parkinson’s Law

Question 34

A network diagramming technique in which boxes represent activities

Answer 34

Precedence diagramming method (PDM)

Question 35

A network analysis technique used to estimate project duration when there is a high degree of uncertainty about the individual activity duration estimates

Answer 35

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

Question 36

The additional time added before a project’s due date to account for unexpected factors

Answer 36

Project buffer

Question 37

The amount of time an activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date

Answer 37

Slack or Float

Question 38

Work that is done in support of operational, functional, or project performance. These are not part of the schedule (activities are shown on the schedule). These include many management functions such as things done to manage the team, run a production line, or build relationships.

Answer 38

Task

Question 39

A management philosophy that states that any complex system at any point in time often has only one aspect or constraint that is limiting its ability to achieve more of its goal

Answer 39

Theory of Constraints (TOC)

Question 40

An estimate that includes an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate.

Answer 40

Three point estimate