Exam 1

Question 1

For the Vasa, what is the difference, if anything, in the amount of responsibility vs. authority that the Master Shipwright had on the project? Explain.

Answer 1

Master Shipwright Henrik Hybertson was an experienced shipbuilder of the “Dutch School”. Eventually he will be responsible for designing and building the Vasa. According to the methods used during this era most of the design requirements were kept in the head of the Master and executed according to his “School” of thought and his experience. No scientific theory of vessel design or stability was available. The shipwright made no mathematical calculations, for example, to determine such important factors as a ship’s center of gravity, its center of displacement volume, its form stability, or its weight stability. There were no schematics or engineering drawings. Instead, a ship’s “reckoning” was used. It contained figures on the ship’s main dimensions, its principal construction details, and other related facts. Everything else was up to the craftsmanship, professional skill, and experience of the master shipbuilder.

Question 2

Lessons from the Vasa case study? Identify and explain.

Answer 2

– Need a leader with a strategic vision
– Need a project leader with sufficient “courage” to do his/her job
– Note the significant responsibility, but extremely limited authority
– Need to incubate “important” & “innovative projects
– Need a well-developed & managed information & communication strategy
– Recognize the strengths & limitations of the project team
– Adapt the organization to utilize its potential & capabilities
– Watch the “bottom line” … focus
– Court & manage manufacturer & vendor relations

Question 3

What is the basic idea behind a “man-month?” Is this a good/useful idea? Explain.

Answer 3

The basic idea it is a unit for measuring the size of a job is a dangerous and deceptive myth. It
implies that men and months are interchangeable. This is not a useful idea as tasks that can be partitioned but which require communication among the subtasks, the effort of communication must be added to the amount of work to be done. Therefore the best that can be done is somewhat poorer than an even trade of men for months. The added burden of communication is made up of two parts, training and intercommunication. Each worker must be trained in the technology, the goals of the effort, the overall strategy, and the plan of work. This training cannot be partitioned, so this part of the added effort varies linearly with the number of workers.

Question 4

Brooks’ Law and the Pregnancy Corollary. Explain/Discuss.

Answer 4

Brooks Law states that Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.
Pregnancy Corollary is a proposition that can be tested, and can be established as a law or principle.

Question 5

What was the level of difference in performance for an excellent programmer, a solid/strong but mid-level programmer, and a lower-level, but still professional successful/acceptable programmer?

Answer 5

Senior developer has far more knowledge than the junior and mid-level developer. Knowing design patterns, architecture, automating testing, performance, security, etc. is a good way for a junior developer to close the knowledge gap with the mid-level and senior developers.

Junior developers are inexperienced. Some just graduated and are starting their first full-time job. The mindset of a junior developer often is to just make the code work. Working software and good software are considered the same.

Question 6

What about the difference in performance between a “best” development team and a “worst” (but still working professionally) development team?

Answer 6

Best developed are intergred, cross functional, and agile

Worst devloped are inexperienced, not functional, and less agile

Question 7

What is the definition of Project?

Answer 7

Is a planned undertaking of related activities to achieve a unique outcome that has a specified duration

Question 8

What is the definition of Product?

Answer 8

It is the end-result of the ‘project’ is focused on realized benefits and/or user satisfaction, e.g., developing the right solutions for a given context.

Question 9

What is the definition of Program / Portfolio?

Answer 9

A program is a group of individual projects while a Portfolio is a variety of projects and/or programs to reach strategic objectives that they may or may not be related to one another.

Question 10

Triple Constraint – components and relationships … what does the concept imply? Also called the “Iron Triangle” … How (or where) does ‘quality’ fit within this framework?

Answer 10

Is Balancing the three key, interrelated aspects of time, cost, and scope. if one part of the triangle is fixed the other two points have to move, so if quality is fixed, time and/or cost may need to increase.

Question 11

Complexity of a Project

Answer 11

As projects grow in importance, complexity, and length, systematic project management processes become increasingly important.

Question 12

Projects are for? And two broad goals?

Answer 12

Take Advantage of Business Opportunities and Solve Business Problems

Question 13

PMBOK, what is this? What is it for?

Answer 13

Project Management Body of Knowledge, its goal is to enable organizations to standardize project management practices across departments. It also helps project managers work with a standardized system across organizations. This means that a project manager who moves from one company to another can use the same practices

Question 14

Common causes of Project Failure?

Answer 14

− Poorly defined project scope
− Inadequate risk management
− Failure to identify key assumptions
− Project managers who lack experience and training
− No use of formal methods and strategies
− Lack of effective communication at all levels
− Key staff leaving the project and/or company
− Poor management of expectations
− Ineffective leadership
− Lack of detailed documentation
− Failure to track requirements
− Failure to track progress

Question 15

What is the definition and concepts of Network Diagram?

Answer 15

Are a graphical portrayal of the activities and events of a project. They show how each activity relates to others in the project, the sequence of activities, and the need to perform some tasks before others.

Question 16

Critical Path

Answer 16

Is the path(s) through the network with the longest duration

Question 17

Activity

Answer 17

Is an element of the project that requires time, but may not require resources

Question 18

Duration

Answer 18

Is the total time that it takes to complete a project measured in work days, hours or weeks. The duration depends on the availability and capacity of resources. Effort is the number of people hours needed to complete a task, i.e. it’s the actual time that is spent on working on the project. also be calculate the duration value to be used (using the PERT technique/method) and the Three-Point Estimate method.
Pert: O days + (4 * ML days) + P days / 6 = Projected days
TPE: O days + ML days + P days = TPE Projected days

Question 19

Predecessor

Answer 19

Is the preceding task in a project, the length determines when the successor starts.

Question 20

Successor

Answer 20

Is the next task in the project that proceeds after the predecessor.

Question 21

Work day for a project?

Answer 21

Are the scheduled activities during the project.

Question 22

What is the difference between the total length of a project (as in calendar length) vs. the total number of work days for a project? Are these the same, or are they different?

Answer 22

The total length of a project is the number of days the project takes to complete. The total number of work days is the number of days a project takes to complete.

Question 23

Determine the early start, early finish, late start, late finish, and slack for activities in a project network.

Answer 23

Forward Pass:
- How soon can the activity start? (early start—ES)
‒ How soon can the activity finish? (early finish—EF)
‒ How soon can the project finish? (expected time—TE)

Backward Pass

‒ How late can the activity start? (late start—LS)
‒ How late can the activity finish? (late finish—LF)
‒ Which activities represent the critical path? (critical path—CP)
‒ How long can the activity be delayed? (slack or float—SL)

Question 24

What is Slack? How are these different? Why do we need both of them?

Answer 24

Is the number of days delayed by a preceding task. There are two types of slack, Total slack and Free slack. We need both of them because they can impact the completion time.

Total Slack – The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project’s completion
‒ Is how long an activity can exceed its early finish date without affecting the project’s end date or an imposed completion date
‒ Simply the difference between the LS and ES (LS – ES = SL) or between LF and EF (LF – EF = SL)
Free Slack – The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying any immediately following (successor) activity
‒ Is how long an activity can exceed its early finish date without affecting the early start dates of any successor(s)
‒ Allows flexibility in scheduling scarce resources
‒ Occurs only for an activity at the end of a chain of activities, where you have a merge activity

Question 25

Finish-to-Start relationship?

Answer 25

Is where one activity cannot be started until another activity has been completed.

Question 26

Start-to-Start relationship

Answer 26

Is where the start of the successor task depends on the start of the predecessor.

Question 27

Start-to-Finish relationship

Answer 27

Is where the completion of the successor activity depends on the completion of the predecessor.

Question 28

Finish-to-Finish relationships

Answer 28

Is where the completition of the successor depends on the beginning of the predecessor.

Question 29

Which relationship is most common? What is the purpose for having these four different types of relationships among activities? When/Where/How might we use them?

Answer 29

Finish to start is the most common. The purpose having these relationships show the order and logical relationships of activities in the project. We use them when figuring out the project schedule.

Question 30

Parallel Activities

Answer 30

Is a situation where two activities take place simultaneously without affecting the performance of each other. It allows to finish multiple steps at once and helps in finishing the given task in a shorter frame of time than the assigned time frame.

Question 31

Burst Activity

Answer 31

Is an activity that has more than one activity immediately following it (more than one dependency arrow flowing from it).

Question 32

Merge Activity

Answer 32

Is an activity that has two or more preceding activities on which it depends.

Question 33

Lags

Answer 33

Is the time delay between the completion of one task and the start of the successor.

Question 34

Laddering

Answer 34

Is a technique where we break down certain tasks into smaller units and try to fit them into the Project Plan. Laddering is possible if an activity can be broken down into two or more sub-activities and a succeeding activity is similarly broken down into the same number of sub-activities as its predecessor.

Question 35

Hammock

Answer 35

Is a collection of small subtasks that float between two dates, like a hammock between two trees.

Question 36

Activity

Answer 36

Are small components used to plan, schedule, excute, monitor, and control the project.

Question 37

What of these activities (Parallel activities to Hammock Activity) do they communicate to a user about a project’s structure when they are used?

Answer 37

These activities help to build the critical path of a project and helps with the project schedule.

Question 38

Crashing a project

Answer 38

Is when you shorten the duration of a project by reducing the time of one or more tasks. Crashing is done by increasing the resources to the project, which helps make tasks take less time than what they were planned for.

Question 39

Fast-tracking

Answer 39

Is a method of accelerating a project to deliver the end product sooner. Fast-tracking in project management is a schedule compression technique often used alongside the crashing technique. Crashing is when additional resources are allocated to a project to speed up its completion.

Question 40

Activity Lags

Answer 40

Activity lags is the delay of a successor activity and represents time that must pass before the second activity can begin. There are no resources associated with a lag. Lag may be found in activities with all relationship types: finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish, and start-to-finish.

Question 41

Ten ‘Unmyths’ of project estimation

Answer 41

• The Accuracy Unmyth: We can have an “accurate estimate”.
• The End-Date Unmyth: The job of estimating is to come up with a date for completion.
• The Commitment Unmyth: The estimate and the commit- ment are the same.
• The Size Unmyth: A project estimate is dependent on the size of the final system.
• The History Unmyth: Histor- ical data is an accurate indicator of productivity.
• The Productivity Unmyth: Productivity is an accurate indicator of project duration.
• The LOC Unmyth: A Line of Code (LOC) count is a good way to size a system.
• The Function Point Unmyth: Function Points are a good way to size a system.
• The More People Unmyth: We can get the system faster, by assigning more resources.
• The Defect-Free Unmyth: Given enough time, we can cre- ate a defect-free system.

Question 42

Gantt Chart: What is it? What is it for? How is it used?

Answer 42

Is a bar chart showing the start and end dates for the activities of a project. It assists in the planning and scheduling of projects of all sizes, although they are particularly useful for simplifying complex projects. Project management timelines and tasks are converted into a horizontal bar chart, showing start and end dates, as well as dependencies, scheduling and deadlines, including how much of the task is completed per stage and who is the task owner. This is useful to keep tasks on track when there is a large team and multiple stakeholders when the scope changes.

Question 43

Project Lifecycle: basic phases … different types, their focus & intent

Answer 43

Are the phases a product goes through from concept to completion. There are 4 Phases of the Project Management Life Cycle
Initiation
Planning
Execution
Closure

Question 44

Why are there so many components in several of the Life-Cycle phases? Explain.

Answer 44

The project management life cycle describes high-level processes for delivering a successful project. Wasted money and resources can be prevented with effective project management, as more than half of unsuccessful projects fail due to communication breakdown. In the phases of the project management life cycle, you come up with the idea for a project, define its goals, plan for its execution, and guide it to completion.

Question 45

SDLC – Waterfall Model & Agile Model (& Agile Manifesto)

Answer 45

• SDPC is a combination of phases that a project needs to get through from its start to its completion. Typical phases in the software development life cycle are Initiation, Concept Development, Planning, Requirements Definition, UI Design, Development, Integration, Testing, Deployment, Hyper care, Maintenance, Hand-off, Closure, and Support.
• Waterfall model is the most straightforward way to manage a project. Waterfall project management maps out a project into distinct, sequential phases, with each new phase beginning only when the previous one has been completed. The Waterfall system is the most traditional method for managing a project, with team members working linearly towards a set end goal.
• Agile Model is an iterative approach to managing software development projects that focuses on continuous releases and incorporating customer feedback with every iteration.

Question 46

Characteristics of the Waterfall approach? What else is this called?

Answer 46

Is a sequential development process that flows like a waterfall through all phases of a project (analysis, design, development, and testing, for example), with each phase completely wrapping up before the next phase begins. Its also called Waterfall methodology

Question 47

What is a Predictive approach? Interactive approach? Incremental approach? Agile approach?

Answer 47

• Predictive approach aka the Waterfall, focuses on planning and analyzing the projected future in-depth for anticipated risks.
• Incremental approach is based on the principle that those involved in a project should at the outset focus on the key business objectives that the project is to achieve and be willing to suspend detailed consideration of the minutiae of a selected solution.
• Agile approach caters to focusing on adapting quickly to changing scope and project reality.

Question 48

Characteristics of the (or an) Agile approach? Some examples? Benefits of Agile approaches?

Answer 48

It an iterative approach to managing software development projects that focuses on continuous releases and incorporating customer feedback with every iteration.
Faster feedback cycles
Identifies problems early
Higher potential for customer satisfaction
Time to market is dramatically improved
Better visibility / accountability
Dedicated teams drive better productivity over time
Flexible prioritization focused on value delivery

Question 49

What are some of the (nine) common things on which managers often waste their (and their team’s) time? Explain.

Answer 49

• You think building trust is about team-building.
• You think your team members generally know what’s going on.
• You believe being busy as a leader is good.
• You sort-of prepare for your one-on-one meetings (when you have the time).
• You try to solve the problem yourself because you’re the domain expert.
• You think transparency all the time is good.
• You think you communicate the vision in your team well.
• You think you’re giving enough feedback.
• You’re nice

Question 50

What is the Agile Manifesto?

Answer 50

Is a formal proclamation of four key values and 12 principles to guide an iterative and people-centric approach to software development. The four key values of Agile are: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.

Question 51

Phase / Phase Gate

Answer 51

• Phase is a smaller, identifiable piece or part of a project
• Phase Gate is the review point for project deliverables at the end of a phase of development

Question 52

System / Systems Thinking: definition of the concept, components

Answer 52

System may be defined as a set of interdependent components or factors which accomplish a predetermined goal.
Systems Thinking is a holistic way to investigate factors and interactions that could contribute to a possible outcome.

Question 53

Project prioritization: Why do this? What is/are the benefit(s)? How might it work? What is/are the limitation(s) of the approach? Explain.

Answer 53

• Guides the organization in determining whether to proceed with a project
  ‒ Identifies the important Risks associated with the project that must be addressed if the project is approved
  ‒ Each organization has its own process(es) and format for the feasibility analysis
• Many projects are discontinued

Question 54

Feasibility Analysis: definition + three primary types of feasibility analysis (+ three additional sub- or supporting-types)… what is the focus for each? What are the most-used types of feasibility analysis?

Answer 54

Guides the organization in determining whether to proceed with a project
Three common types:
• Technical Feasibility (Can we build it?)
• Economic Feasibility (Will it provide business value?)
• Organizational Feasibility (If we build it, will it be used?)

Question 55

What are tangible and intangible benefits? Costs? What is the difference between tangible and intangible?

Answer 55

Tangible Benefits: can be quantified with relative certainty or precision
Intangible Benefits: cannot be quantified with relative certainty. Many of these may be more easily quantified as the project proceeds and they gain a better understanding of the benefits
Tangible Costs: Can be quantified with relative certainty
Intangible Costs: cannot be quantified with relative certainty

Question 56

One-time Cost? Recurring Costs?

Answer 56

One time costs is a cost associated with project start up and development or system start up
Recurring costs is a cost resulting from the ongoing evolution and use of a system

Question 57

Familiarity with the general guidelines for doing an economic feasibility analysis, i.e., determining project costs?

Answer 57

Financial Criteria, Nonfinancial Criteria, and Multi-Criteria Selection Models

Question 58

What are some of the financial tools for doing the economic analysis?

Answer 58

W VARIABLES. Variables play an important role in economic theories and models. …
CETERIS PARIBUS. Ceteris paribus is a Latin phrase meanings, “all other things remaining the same” or all relevant factors being equal. …
FUNCTION. …
EQUATIONS. …
IDENTITIES. …
GRAPHS AND DIAGRAMS

Question 59

What are the three primary variables that contribute to technical feasibility? What are the general expected outcomes from the combinations of these three variables?

Answer 59

Hardware, software, and operationing environment. Reduce risks

Question 60

What are the effects of project structure, familiarity with the technology, and project size on the level of risk or the likelihood of project success? Explain. Which combination is the riskiest? Least risky?

Answer 60

greatly impact communication necessary to complete projects successfully. In a company with structure that fosters interdepartmental communication, frequent dialogue between management and subordinates, projects have a great chance for success.

Question 61

What are the different types of project conflict? How do we manage these different types?

Answer 61

group differences, lack of communication, poor leadership, and disagreement on conflicts

Question 62

What are some of the reasons for the growth in global teams? Challenges for managing global teams? Limitations in global teams? What about Virtual teams (which may or may not be global)?

Answer 62

Growth in global teams: advances in telecommunications, increased globalization, and increased outsourcing. Challenges: Technology related challenges, cultural challenges, human resource challenges, environmental challenges. Virtual teams is often refereed as global project teams

Question 63

Project Charter – purpose and major components

Answer 63

Its a short document that serves as the foundation for the project. It describes what the project will deliver and authorizes the use of resources to complete the project.
Components:
- Project title and date of authorization
- Project manager name and contact information
- Customer name and contact information
- Project purpsose
- Project objectives and description as well as major deliverables
- Key requirements
- Project risk
- Projected start and completion dates and major milestones
- Approved financial resources
- Key stakeholders, project role, and responsibilities
- Key assumptions or approach
- Approval and exit criteria
- Signature section for key stakeholders

Question 64

Team Charter – purpose and major components

Answer 64

Is a document that is developed in a group setting that clarifies team direction while establishing boundaries.
Components:
- Team Purpose
- Duration and Time Commitment
- Scope (in scope / out of scope)
- Members
- Desired End Result
- Supporting Resources
- Reporting Plan
- Deliverables
- Links

Question 65

What is the difference between Project Charter and Team Charter?

Answer 65

A project charter describes the vision of a project, the intended outcome, success criteria, KPIs etc., whereas a team charter does that for a team.

A team need not necessarily be a project team. It could be supporting an operation such has a HR team or a Finance team. Or a team that supports multiple projects with their collective experience and skills

Question 66

Project Dextre, specifically, how did the development team structure, organize, and manage the project?

Answer 66

(the robot arm on the International Space Station (ISS). Consider the difficulty of a project undertaken by MD Robotics to develop aspecial-purpose dexterous manipulator for the Canadian Space Agency. Given the risky nature of spacewalks, this specially developed robotic arm, called “Dextre,” was to be developed to support the astronauts on the International Space station (ISS). To encourage freedom of communication as well as timely problem solving, the executive project team decided to co-locate project staff on a single floor of the MD Robotics facility. The Dextre project group was divided into smaller subproject teams, which in the spirit of true co-location and collaboration worked in an open office environment designed to promote communication. Project managers were able to freely interact with engineers, and project teams were able to communicate with each other under a “no surprises rule” implemented by senior management. The no-surprises rule specified that project teams should communicate any need design changes to other project teams as soon as they were identified. Although the senior management team was made aware of any design changes, it did not have to sign off before teams were allowed to implement the changes. Using this team-based project structure, combined with the policy of allowing the teams the autonomy to make development changes, MD Robotics was able to deliver Dextre to the Canadian Space Agency both on budget and on time. Designed for an active life of fifteen years, Dextre was launched in 2008 and continues to support the astronauts on the ISS by allowing them to focus on scientific projects.

Question 67

Broad project types: Compliance, Operational, Strategic … On what or where does each focus? How are they different? How can you tell where a project fits among these three categories?

Answer 67

Compliance – projects that are needed to meet required regulatory conditions,
i.e., ‘Must Do’ Projects … often have penalties if not implemented
Strategic – projects that directly support the organization’s long-run mission … frequently directed toward increasing revenue or market share
Operational – projects that are needed to support current operations … often intended to improve efficiency of delivery systems, reduce product costs, or improve performance

Question 68

General phases of a project – Initiate, Plan, Execute, Monitor & Control, Close … emphasis of each, what is done in each, how they work together, etc.

Answer 68

• Initiating (2 processes): Develop Project Charter, and Identify Stakeholders
• Planning (24 processes): Develop Project Management Plan, Plan Scope Management, Collect Requirements, Define Scope, Create WBS, Plan Schedule Management, Define Activities, Sequence Activities, Estimate Activity Duration(s), Develop Schedule, Plan Cost Management, Estimate Costs, Determine Budget, Plan Quality Management, Plan Resource Management, Estimate Activity Resources, Plan Communications Management, Plan Risk Management, Identify Risks, Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis, Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis, Plan Risk Responses, Plan Procurement Management, and Plan Stakeholder Engagement
• Executing (10 processes): Direct & Manage Project Work, Manage Project Knowledge, Manage Quality, Acquire Resources, Develop Team, Manage Team, Manage Communications, Implement Risk Responses, Conduct Procurements, and Manage Stakeholder Engagement
• Monitoring & Controlling (12 processes): Monitor & Control Project Work, Perform Integrated Change Control, Validate Scope, Control Scope, Control Schedule, Control Costs, Control Quality, Control Resources, Monitor Communications, Monitor Risks, Control Procurements, and Monitor Stakeholder Engagement
• Closing (4 processes): Project Wrap-Up, Project Handoff, Post-Project Audit, and Evaluation & Lessons Learned

Question 69

Business Case – What is it? Why use one?

Answer 69

It is tye justification that presents the economic, technical, operational, schedule, legal and comtractual, and politcal factors influencing a proposed project. We use one because we want to do this project

Question 70

Best Practices in Project Management

Answer 70

Have a kickoff meeting
Establish project scope and objectives
Communicate effectively
Ask for feedback
Create a resource plan
Create a risk response team
Ensure transparency in the project
Expect and accommodate change requests
Ensure proper documentation
Avoid adding unrealistic milestones
Review and reflect on the performance

Question 71

What is project Scope? A Scope statement? What is (probably) the largest risk in relation to scope? What are the primary tasks related to Scope Planning?

Answer 71

• Scope is a detailed outline of all aspects of a project, including all relate activities, resources, timelines, and deliverables, as well as the project’s boundaries. Outlines key stakeholders, processes, assumptions, and constraints, as well as what the project is about, what is
  included, and what isn’t. All of this essential information is documented in a scope statement.
• Scope Statement: A key document that provides all stakeholders with a clear understanding of why the project was initiated and defines its key goals
• Largest risk is Beware of ‘Scope Creep’ … a progressive, uncontrolled increase in project scope (also called ‘Feature Creep’). Scope Creep is recognized as the single biggest reason for project failure or missed targets/deadlines.
• Scope Planning Tasks: Identify Requirements, Develop Project Scope Statement, Create Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Scope Validation, and Implement and communicate Change Control Process, i.e., control the Project Scope

Question 72

What is Scope Validation? What is a Change Control Process?

Answer 72

Scope Validation is the process of obtaining the project stakeholders’ formal acceptance of a project’s deliverables.
Change Control process is a formal process for assuring that only agreed upon changes are made to the project’s scope.

Question 73

How can you control project scope, especially change in or revisions to scope?

Answer 73

Throughout the life of a project, various types of chnage requests are made from correcting minor to severe design defects to improving or extending system functionality and features. Requests to make changes are made using a system service request. Over the life of a project, a log of all service requests are kept so the status of any request is known.

Question 74

What is Scope Creep (aka Feature Creep)? Why might it be an issue in a project?

Answer 74

Is a progressive, uncontrolled increase in project scope and is recognized as the single biggest reason for project failure or missed targets/deadlines

Question 75

How can we ‘outsmart’ scope creep?

Answer 75

- Educate your staff
‒ Clearly define the project
‒ Gather all relevant information
‒ Define the objectives and deliverables
‒ Assign a Project Sponsor
- Create an approval process
‒ Stay on track
‒ Create a good communication process
‒ Understand when change IS necessary
‒ Schedule regular meetings

Question 76

What is a WBS? What is it for? How does it work? How is it created? A Work Package?

Answer 76

WBS stands for Work Breakdown Structure, it describes the components needed to create the overall project. It serves as a aid in illustrating the projects scope and as a launching point for describing the activities necessary for creating the various subcomponents of a project. A WBS is created is decomposition of breaking up a larger project into smaller components until the desired level is achieved.
Work Package are the lowest level units illustrated in the WBS, its used to estimate project schedule and budget.

Question 77

Is a WBS supposed to be sequential? Can it be sequential?

Answer 77

Yes, since its a hierarchical decomposition of a project into manageable chunks

Question 78

What is the “Cone of Uncertainty?” What does it show?

Answer 78

The Cone of Uncertainty is a progressively more detailed and accurate projection of the project schedule and duration as the project manager or project team specifies project deliverables and activities in more detail.

Question 79

What is a project network diagram? What is its purpose? When is it done? Is it precise, as in it tells you what the project must do and when? Why develop a project network?

Answer 79

Is a schematic display that illustrates the various tasks in a project as well their sequential relationship. We use them to monitor and control processes to measure performance and progress and compare these against planned performance and progress. If a problem is found, steps are made to correct them.

Question 80

In creating a project network, what is an “AON” (activity-on-node) approach? An “AOA” (activity-on-arrow) approach? Which do we use?

Answer 80

AON is a project management term that refers to a precedence diagramming method which uses boxes to denote schedule activities. These various boxes or “nodes” are connected from beginning to end with arrows to depict a logical progression of the dependencies between the schedule activities.
AOA aslo called Arrow diagramming method is a network diagramming technique that shows the project tasks or activities as the arrows in the diagram.
We use both of them though Activity on Arrow is an arrow denotes passage of time and therefore is better suited (than a node) to represent a task.

Question 81

Types of errors to watch out for during network diagramming activities?

Answer 81

Dangling, Looping, and Redundancy

Question 82

Tools/Techniques for estimating activity duration(s) – where do we get the data we use?

Answer 82

Expert judgement, analogous estimating, quantitively based duration estimating, bottom up estimating, alternatives analysis, and reserve analysis.

Question 83

How do we increase the accuracy for determining the value for the activity durations?

Answer 83

Using several techniques to estimate activity duration as opposed to relying on one can increase the overall accuracy of any estimates. Which include: Expert judgement, analogous estimating, quantitively based duration estimating, bottom up estimating, alternatives analysis, and reserve analysis.

Question 84

How is the project budget determined? Is the budget for a project 100% (or near 100% accurate? If ‘Yes,’ explain how that is achieved? If ‘No,’ explain why not + how that is achieved.

Answer 84

− Inputs: Overall project scope baseline, cost and resource
management plans, and Risk Register, Project schedule, business case, benefits management
plan, external agreements for outside purchases, and EEFs and OPAs.
− Tools and Techniques: Expert judgment, and Reserve analysis
− Outputs: Cost Baseline is document that contains the approved project budget for all schedule activities and serves as a basis for comparison during project execution, Updates to the cost estimates, project schedule, and risk register.
- Project budgets cannot achive 100% accuracy as the actual cost of project management varies–and there have been no studies that have provided any conclusive answers to the question–most educated guesses put the cost of project management at somewhere between 10 to 15 percent of overall project costs.

Question 85

What is “sensitivity analysis” in a project network? Why do it? What is the benefit?

Answer 85

Its a technique used to examine the potential impact of specific risks to a project. We need to determine which risks has the most impact and try to reduce the impacts

Question 86

S.M.A.R.T. Objectives

Answer 86

Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound

Question 87

Increasing Resource-Estimating Accuracy? What are the six primary/broad approaches?

Answer 87

Is to estimate the resources needed for each activity so they can be deployed in the most effective manner.
Expert Judgment, Published estimating data, bottom up estimating, analogous estimating, parametric estimating, alternatives analysis.

Question 88

Plan Resource Management process

Answer 88

It uses these inputs:
project plan, quality management plan, scope baseline, project
documents (e.g., project schedule, requirements documentation,
risk register, stakeholder register, EEFs (Enterprise Environment
Factors), and OPAs (Organizational Process Assets)
‒ Details how physical and human resources will be acquired and how
human resources will be managed
‒ Process leads to the development of the Team Charter and updates to
the project’s assumption log and resource-related components of the
Risk Register

Question 89

Contingency Reserve & Management Reserve – what are these in terms of budgeting and scheduling a project?

Answer 89

Contingency Reserve is used when a risk occurs as part of the risk response strategy. The actual impact of the risk is added to the cost or schedule, the estimates are updated, and contingency reserve decreases. The baseline, however, does not change.
Management Reserve is an amount of the contract budget set aside by the project manager at the beginning of a project. It is established to provide budget for known-unknowns that are within the scope of the contract but out of scope to any control account.

Question 90

What are the different types of project resources?

Answer 90

Human resources, equipment, space, and money

Question 91

PERT Activity Duration Analysis and Calculations

Answer 91

Stands for Program Evaluation and Review Technique, its a specific form of three point estimation that uses weighted average method to estimate activity durations.
PERT = Optimistic Time + (4 * Most Likely Time) + Pessimistic Time/ 6

Question 92

Function-Point Analysis – What is this? What is its emphasis or focus? What is a ‘Function Point?’ Are there broad variations in software development based on the programming language used? Explain. How is this approach different from the PERT approach or the Three-Point Estimation approach?

Answer 92

Is a ‘unit of measurement’ to express the amount of business functionality a piece of software provides to a user … A proxy for estimating effort (e.g., Lines of Code – LOC)
‒ The cost in dollars (or hours) is calculated from past projects
‒ Is used in both traditional and Agile environments
‒ Several similar, but differently focused approaches, have been developed
‒ Five basic types of functional user requirements … each maps to an end-user function (i.e., a major action): Inputs, Outputs, Internal files, External interfaces, and Inquiries
‒ Tends to hide (or ignore) internal functions/activities, such as algorithms (which also require resources to function)
‒ Use (of FPA) tends to reduce the risk of inflation in the number of lines of code (LOC), especially where some higher-level programming languages use more lines of code to accomplish some tasks than others
‒ In the U.S. software industry, one person-month of effort (on average) generates about 5 function points of production (across all types of software projects) … but each organization should collect and analyze its own historical data

Question 93

What is Organizational Project Maturity Model (OPM3)? What is it for? How is it used? Why might it be important?

Answer 93

It presents an approach to explain an organizational project management and to assess the maturity of the project against a broad-based set of Organizational project management best practices. The maturity model also gives a process which can establish a set of best practices and capabilities. This process makes the organizational state more mature thus it gives the more mature organization. Organizational project management maturity is demonstrated by the consolidation of the best practices within the program, projects and portfolio domains.

Question 94

What is the Cost of Quality? What are the two main categories, and the four subcategories? Why should we pay attention to these issues/concepts?

Answer 94

It is the cost to improve or ensure quality measures as well as the cost associated with the lack of quality.
Cost of Conformance: Appraisal Costs and Prevention Costs
Cost of Nonconformance: External Failure Costs and Internal Failure Costs
We pay attention because it might represent the amount of money a business could loss from products or services not being done the first time around as well the costs to do it the first time around. Estimates are that the cost of quality may run from 15 to 30 % of total costs for most businesses!

Question 95

What are some of the characteristics that support team success? What are some of the common things that can lead to team conflict and reduce team success or team performance? What can encourage or support high-performing teams?

Answer 95

Factors supporting team success include Work design, composition, context, and process
Team conflict factors: Groupthink: Illusion of invulnerability, Whitewash of critical thinking, Negative stereotypes of outsiders, and Direct pressure
‒ Abilene Paradox
‒ Bureaucratic Bypass Syndrome: (workarounds from procedure)
‒ Team Spirit Becomes Team Infatuation
‒ Going Native
High performing team factors:

‒ There are 10 or fewer members per team (really 7 ±
2)
‒ Members volunteer to serve on the project team
‒ Members serve on the project from beginning to end
‒ Members are assigned to the project full time
‒ Members are part of an organizational culture that
fosters cooperation and trust
‒ Members report solely to the project manager
‒ All relevant functional areas are represented on the
team
‒ The project involves a compelling objective (e.g., a
clear vision)
‒ Members are located within conversational distance
of each other … they are co-located

Question 96

What are the factors that can affect team performance?

Answer 96

‒ There are 10 or fewer members per team (really 7 ±
2)
‒ Members volunteer to serve on the project team
‒ Members serve on the project from beginning to end
‒ Members are assigned to the project full time
‒ Members are part of an organizational culture that
fosters cooperation and trust
‒ Members report solely to the project manager
‒ All relevant functional areas are represented on the
team
‒ The project involves a compelling objective (e.g., a
clear vision)
‒ Members are located within conversational distance
of each other … they are co-located

Question 97

What are some of the pitfalls in team behavior and decision-making that can lead to diminished performance?

Answer 97

‒ Groupthink
• Illusion of invulnerability
• Whitewash of critical thinking
• Negative stereotypes of outsiders
• Direct pressure
‒ Abilene Paradox
‒ Bureaucratic Bypass Syndrome
(i.e., workarounds from procedure)
‒ Team Spirit Becomes Team
Infatuation
‒ Going Native

Question 98

Is conflict within a team good? Explain.

Answer 98

Yes its part of the Functional conflict plays a critical role in obtaining a deeper understanding of the issues and coming up with the best decisions possible

Question 99

What are some of the challenges of managing or working in a virtual team?

Answer 99

Two biggest challenges involved in managing a virtual
project team are:
‒ Developing trust
‒ Hold a face-to-face meeting at the beginning and
orchestrate the exchange of social information
‒ Set clear roles for each team member
‒ Form teams with people who have already worked
effectively together on projects, if possible
‒ Developing effective patterns of communication
‒ Don’t let team members vanish
‒ Establish a code of conduct to avoid delays
‒ Establish clear norms and protocols for surfacing
assumptions and conflicts
‒ Use electronic video technology to verify work
‒ Share the pain

Question 100

What is the benefit or advantage of having team members with different work personalities (e.g., different Clifton Strengths)? Explain. Disadvantages?

Answer 100

A combination of different team personality types can create a stronger, more balanced workplace. Employees who are quiet and introverted often help to stabilize things at work, but workers who are risk-takers can provide the spark necessary to try new things, develop bolder ideas, and suggest improvements that can boost efficiency. Disadvantages include Longer Project Timelines.
Free Riders.
Personality Clashes.
People Who Work Better Independently.
Reduced Innovation/Lack of New Ideas.

Question 101

What are some of the behavioral or differences in attention between managers and leaders? Why might this be important?

Answer 101

Managers: ‒ Objectives
‒ Telling how and when
‒ Shorter range
‒ Organization and structure
‒ Autocracy
‒ Restraining
‒ Maintaining
‒ Conforming
‒ Imitating
‒ Administrating
Leaders: ‒ Vision
‒ Selling what and why
‒ Longer range
‒ People
‒ Democracy
‒ Enabling
‒ Developing
‒ Challenging
‒ Originating
‒ Innovating