Chapter 6 Flashcards
Building the Project Plan
Project Scope Management Plan
Defines how the project scope in a predictive project will be defined by the project management team in terms of the project requirements, how the scope will be monitored and controlled throughout the project, and how the work of the project to be considered complete, and its based on the requirements of the project stakeholders.
Change requests for the project scope for four reasons
Errors and omissions
Value-added changes
External events
Risk events
Configuration Management System
Examines the “scope” change requests effect on the features and functions of the projects product.
Integrated Change Control
All change request, scope or otherwise, pass through this to assess the effect of the change on the entire project.
Scope Verification
The work results must be examined by the project stakeholders to verify that the results are acceptable to them. This usually happens at the end of project phases and always at the end of the project. The goal is for the project customer to accept the deliverables that the project team has created.
Project Schedule Management Plan
A project schedule should be a reflection of the WBS, the accumulation of all the work packages within the project, and the assignment of resources for each task.
Gantt Chart
Is ideal for simple, short-term projects. It is a timeline of the events with consideration given to tasks that can be completed concurrently within a projects life span.
Project Network Diagram
Are fluid mappings of the work to be completed. It visualizes the flow of work from conception to completion. You can use a PND to determine the flow of work to predict the earliest completion date.
Ideal for:
Detailed project planning
Implementation tracking
Contingency plans
Resource control
Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
PDM requires the project manager to evaluate each project activity and determine the order in which the activities should be completed. You’ll determine which activities are successors and which are predecessors. Each unit of work in a network diagram using PDM is represented by a rectangle called an “activity node”.
The most common method of creating a network diagram is PDM
Types of Dependencies
Finish-to-start (FS) - It simply requires the predecessor task to complete before the successor task can begin.
Start-to-start (SS) - These tasks are usually closely related in nature and should be started, but not necessarily completed, at the same time.
Finish-to-finish (FF) - These tasks require that the predecessor task and the successor task be completed at nearly the same time.
Start-to-finish (SF) - These tasks require that the predecessor not begin until the successor finishes
Constraint
Is a boundary or limit based on the project. Constraints are any factors that can limit your options.
Ex. Time, cost, scope, quality expectations, security rules, and resource availability.
Hard Logic (AKA Mandatory Logic)
Describes the matter-of-fact order of activities.
Soft Logic (AKA Discretionary Logic)
Is when the project manager decides to do tasks in a particular order based on experience, conditions in the project, time, or other reasons.
Lag Time
Means that you’re adding time to the activity’s start date. Lag time is always positive time or waiting time.
Lead Time
When you’re moving the activity’s start date backward to allow it to overlap with other activities. Lead time is always negative time and often overlaps with other activities.
Types of Constraints
ASAP - As soon as possible
ALAP - As late as possible
SNET - Start no earlier than
SNLT - Start no later than
FNET - Finish no earlier than
FNLT - Finish no later than
MSO - Must start on
MFO - Must finish on
Discretionary Constraints
The constraints allow the project manager to change the relationship between activities based on educated guesses.
Resource Constraints
A project manager may elect to schedule two task as FS rather than SS because of a limitation of a particular resource.
Governance Gate
Governs how the project is allowed to move from one phase of the project into the next phase of the project. A governance gate defines the conditions that must exist for the project to move forward.
Quality Gate
Requires an inspection of the work your team has completed to confirm that it meets the quality requirements of your organization, PMO, customer, or even laws and regulations.
Legislative Approval Gate
Legislative approval would review the work and either cancel the project or continue to invest in the project based on its merit and success.
For projects in the public domain that is gov’t sponsored.
Critical Chain Method (CCM)
Accounts for the availability of project resources.
Type of PND
Critical Path Method (CPM)
Assumes the project resources are available all the time for the project work.
Type of PND
Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique (GERT)
This diagramming approach has questions, branches, and loopbacks that allow you to mover forward, backward, or sideways in the project according to the outcomes of the project work.
Type of PND
Critical Path
Is the sequence of events that determine the project completion date. the critical path is the path with the longest duration from project Strat to project completion.
Float (AKA Slack)
The amount of time an activity not on the critical path can be delayed.
Types of Float
Free Float - The length of the a single activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any successor activities.
Total Float - the length of time an activity can be delayed without delaying projection completion
Project Float - The length of time the project can be delayed without passing the customers expected completion date.
User Stories
The requirements from the product backlog are called User Stories and assigned “story points”. A User Story is a way of writing a requirement so everyone can understand it.
User stories follow this formula:
As a “role”
I want this “feature”
So I get this “value”
Pertains to adaptive projects
Velocity
Is how many points the team can reliably complete in an iteration.
Project Cost Management Plan
Defines how the project will be estimated and budgeted and how the costs will be controlled.
Enterprise Environmental Factors
In your organization, you may have some specific rules about cost estimating, metrics you’re required to use, and even a chart of accounts that defines standardized costs for certain types of project work.
Quality
Is the entire project and how the project satisfies the stated and implied requirements of the project scope. Quality is creating for the project customer exactly what was promised in a way that’s cost and time effective.
Quality Managment Plan
Defines what quality is for your project, how you’ll plan for quality, and then how you’ll inspect the project work to ensure that quality exists within the project deliverables.
Quality Assurance (QA)
Examines the quality requirements of the project, inspects the results of quality control, and ensures that the project is using the correct quality standards and terminology in the project.
W. Edwards Deming
The grandfather of quality, created his Quality Circle: Plan, Do, Check, Act.
Quality Control Technique
Is the inspection of the work results that your project creates.
Process Improvement Plan
Defines how the processes within the project can be analyzed for potential improvement. This is ideal for projects where there’s a repeatable process or for project types that your organization may do over and over as part of your business.
You can use this to analyze several things about your project:
Process boundaries
Process configuration identification
Process metrics
Targets for improvement
Human Resource Plan
This plan defines the needed roles and responsibilities for the project team. A “role” is a type of team member who does a specific kind of action (ex. network engineer, DB Admin, etc). Attached to the roles are the responsibilities or actions the roles are to fulfill on the project team.
Staffing Management Plan
Addresses how project team members will be bought on to and released from a project team. This plan addresses the “project calendar”-when the work is expected to take place. It also addresses the needed “resource calendar”-when the project resources are available for project work.
Communications Management Plan
Addresses other approaches for communicating and define what is and is not allowed, preferred, and required.
Communications Matrix
Lists all of the stakeholders and maps out who needs to speak to whom.
Risks
Are uncertain conditions that can have a positive or negative effect on your projects ability to reach its goals.
Risk Management Plan
Is a component of your overall project management plan that details how project risks will be identified, analyzed, responded to, and controlled.
Tools to help identify risks within the project
Review the project documents
Brainstorming
Delphi Technique - Uses rounds of anonymous surveys to build consensus on risk events.
Assumptions analysis
Root cause analysis
SWOT analysis - This examines Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats to test where the project could fail and where the project could improve.
Risk Register (aka Risk Log)
Is a database of the identified risk events, what impact each event may have on the project objectives, and what effect each event will have on the project.
Risk Report
Is utilized to document the risk event, the response selected, and the outcome of the risk even.
Risk vs. Issue
Risk is an uncertain event
Issue is a certain event (risk event that has happened and now needs to be managed)
Qualitative Risk Analysis
You base the predicted probability and impact on past experience, gut instinct, and other subjective inputs. Its a fast approach to qualifying the identified risks for further analysis.
Quantitative Risk Analysis
Takes the more serious risks from qualitative analysis and researches the risk events to find their true probability and impact. This approach allows you to create a risk ranking by impact and probability and by which risks are most imminent in the project.
Trigger
A warning sign or condition that the risk event is coming true so it’s time to fire the risk response to counteract the risk event.
Three Risk Responses for Negative Risk Events
Avoidance - seeks to avoid the risk event by creating workarounds.
Transference - transfers risk to a third party, usually for a fee.
Mitigation - looks to spend extra time or monies to reduce the probability and/or impact of a risk event.
Three Risk Responses for Positive Risk Events
Exploitation - Aims to take advantage of a positive risk.
Enhancement - Tries to make the conditions just right for a positive risk to happen
Sharing - Allows your project team to partner or team with another entity to realize an opportunity that you may not have been ablate realize on your own.
Acceptance
Smaller risks that have little probability and little impact are often accepted.
Stakeholder Management Plan
Addresses how you identify, engage, and maintain the engagement of your project stakeholders. It also describes the recipients of the communication and the expectations of how they’ll communicate with the project manager and other stakeholders.
Stakeholder analysis
Is a method to discover, prioritize, and group stake holders based on their power, interest, influence, and impact on the project success.
Procurement Management Plan
This plan defines the process you’ll need to complete in order to create contractual relationships with your vendors.
Statement of Work (SOW)
Defines what the vendor is to provide for the project, provides ample info to understand what the expected results of the contractual relationship may be.
RFI - Request for information
RFQ - Request for quote
IFB - Invitation for bid
RFP - Request for proposal
