Exam tips

Question 1

When can the project management plan be updated?

Answer 1

• once this plan is approved by sponsor, it cannot be changed.
  Can be changed only if:
• a change request is generated and approved by change control board.
• a change request has to go through the change control process (process name: perform integrated change control).

Question 2

What if the project is terminated before completion?

Answer 2

• Proj.M should go to the closing process and formally close the project!!
• document what work was left to be done
• archive project records
• release people etc etc etc..
  key is FORMALLY CLOSE PROJECT!!

Question 3

What is a key input to the closing process?

Answer 3

• Accepted deliverables are a key input

Question 4

What is important in process perform integrated change control?

Answer 4

• No change should be given to change control board without first assessing it.
• PM should find alternatives, assess the impact of each change before sending it for approval

Question 5

Benchmarking

Answer 5

• comparison with other projects or industry standards
• one important tool used in process collect requirements

Question 6

Gold Plating and Scope Creep

Answer 6

Gold plating - doing extra work not defined in the scope..
Suppose finishes the job earlier than expected, so you end up doing additional work which is not defined in scope. Extra work generally comes at the end of the project with

Scope creep - Unauthorized work getting added to scope
Stakeholders keep adding work without updating the scope statement. Pushes up budget, schedule, work, everything keeps growing.

Question 7

Rolling Wave Planning

Answer 7

• tool for the process “Define Activities” (in Project Schedule Management)
• A form of progressive elaboration. Which means near term work packages can be defined in a much greater detail. Long term work packages cannot be defined in detail. Keep placeholders for long term work packages
• As project moves forward, placeholders will be removed, and work packages will be properly decomposed as more information is available

Question 8

Lags and Leads

Answer 8

• tool for the process sequencing activities (in Project Schedule Management)
  LEAD (overlap): amount of time a successor activity can be advanced with respect to a predecessor activity (Starting the paint work (successor activity) even after partially moving out the furniture (predecessor activity) ).
  LAG (delay): Delay in the successor work package or activity (waiting for the paint to dry (predecessor activity) before putting furniture back in room (successor activity) ).

Question 9

Analogous Estimating (top-down estimating)

Answer 9

• tool for the process estimate activity durations (in Project Schedule Management)
• relies on historical data - get info from previous project done in the past
• quick and cheap estimate but is not very accurate

Question 10

Resource leveling vs resource smoothing

Answer 10

• tool for the process develop schedule (in Project Schedule Management)

RESOURCE LEVELING: start and finish dates are adjusted based on resource constraints with the goal of balancing the demand for resources. May affect the critical path.
- no one works overtime, resources will be properly allocated, but schedule WILL extend.

RESOURCE SMOOTHING: adjust the activity of a schedule model such that the requirement for resources on a project do not exceed certain predefined resource limits.
- build schedule with resource limitation in mind. NO change in critical path.

Question 11

Schedule compression: Crashing vs Fast tracking

Answer 11

• tool for the process develop schedule (in Project Schedule Management)

CRASHING (adding resources to a project activity) –> Adds cost, may or may not add risk

FAST TRACKING (activities performed in parallel) –> Adds risk, may or may not add cost

Question 12

Project Schedule vs Schedule Baseline

Answer 12

• outputs of process develop schedule (in Project Schedule Management)

SCHEDULE BASELINE is part of the project management plan(18 components, 4 baselines,14 plans). It’s not very detailed (only contains project start date, end date, etc.). To change this a change request is needed.

PROJECT SCHEDULE is not part of the project management plan. It’s very detailed with Project network diagrams, Bar charts and Milestone charts. It contains start and end dates for each activity etc. No change request needed to change project schedule!

Question 13

Critical Path

Answer 13

• Biggest path, highest duration
• no slack, no float, total float!

Question 14

Total Float/ Float/ Slack vs Free Float

Answer 14

Float/ Slack: time by which you can delay an activity without delaying the ENTIRE PROJECT

Free Float: time by which you can delay an activity without delaying the NEXT ACTIVITY

Question 15

PERT (Beta), Standard Deviation, Triangular distribution

Answer 15

Pert/ Beta Distribution = (Optimistic + 4*Realistic + Pessimistic)/6
Triangular Distribution = (Optimistic + Realistic + Pessimistic)/3
Standard Deviation = (Optimistic + Pessimistic)/3

Question 16

Prevention vs Inspection

Answer 16

PREVENTION: keeping errors out of the process

INSPECTION: keeping errors out of the customer hands

Question 17

Question where they say Proj.M should be improving the process on the project

Answer 17

• MANAGE QUALITY is the answer

Question 18

Control Chart

Answer 18

• tool for Control Quality
  Rule of 7 (7 consecutive data points on one side of the mean)
• data points up and down is ok.. if consecutive 7 on one side INSPECT THE PROCESS
• one of the point above the limit or below the limit FIX THE PROCESS.

Question 19

RACI

Answer 19

Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed.
In the Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) there has to be on one ‘A’ (Accountable). More than 1 person accountable starts the blame game. If no one is accountable, work won’t be done.

Question 20

Virtual Teams

Answer 20

Saves cost, work round the clock,
Problems: Language, Shift

Question 21

Develop Teams - Tools

Answer 21

Recognition and Rewards
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Physiological (air water food) –> Safety (stability in life, work, culture) –> Social (need love, approval, friends) –> Esteem Respect, appreciation, approval of others) –> Self actualization (people seek personal growth)

Herzberg Theory of motivation: Hygiene agents (factors influencing work satisfaction), Motivating agents (opportunity to exceed, advance)

McGregors managers can be categorized in Theory X and Y:
THEORY X - People need to be watched, micromanaged, distrusted, people avoid work, responsibility
THEORY Y - good people. Self led, motivated, can accomplish new tasks proactively

Theory Z: Increased loyalty. Well-being of employees, both at work and outside.

Expectancy theory: behave based on what they expect as a result of their behavior

McClelland 3 Need theory: Achievement, Power, Affiliation

Question 22

Manage communications vs monitor communication

Answer 22

• MANAGE COMMUNICATION: execute, follow as plan.
• MONITOR COMMUNICATION: Make sure plan is followed

Question 23

Agile: who prioritizes product backlog?

Answer 23

Product Owner

Question 24

Prioritization of features and techniques

Answer 24

It has to be down by the customer / Product Owner
Techniques
1. Simple Scheme (Priority 1, priority 2, priority 3)
2. MoSCoW (Must have, Should have, Could have, Would like to have but not this time)
3. Dot Voting or Multiple voting. (Put dots in front of features)
4. Monopoly Money (owners put fake money for features)
5. 100-point method (distribute 100 points on different features)

The idea behind this is to prioritize features and other is engaging the owners….

Question 25

Prioritization Technique: Kano Analysis

Answer 25

Helps to understand the customer satisfaction
- Delighters/Exciters
- Satisfiers
- Dissatisfiers
- Indifferent

Question 26

Conflict resolution

Answer 26

Proj.M must not let conflict escalate. Use interpersonal skills to negotiate and solve and not let it go to level 5
Levels of conflict:
Level 1: Problem to solve - Sharing info
Level 2: Disagreement - Personal protection
Level 3: Contest - must win
Level 4: Crusade - Protecting one’s group
Level 5: World war - must destroy the other

Question 27

Models of team development

Answer 27

Shu Ha Ri model
Shu - obey (follow something step by step)
Ha - Moving way from set guidelines
Ri - finding individual paths

Dreyfus Model of adult skill acquisition
Novice, Advanced Beginner, Competent, Proficient, Expert

Question 28

Co-Located Teams

Answer 28

Any conflicts because of team space

Question 29

Timeboxing

Answer 29

Short, fixed-duration periods of time in which activities or work are undertaken.
Daily Standup - 15mins
Retrospectives - 2 hours
Sprints - 1–4 weeks

Question 30

Backlog

Answer 30

User story backlog and product backlog is the same! If in exam they say just the backlog, it’s product backlog or user story backlog.

Sprint backlog is the list of tasks for the particular sprint

Refining (Grooming) backlog
- keep the backlog updated and accurately prioritized. i.e. as new tasks get added, they should be prioritized in the existing backlog and not be added just to the end.

Question 31

Technique for estimation/Decision making

Answer 31

Bandwagon effect - put people in a room and everyone converges around one person’s opinion, even if they don’t agree.
HIPPO decision-making (HIghest Paid Persons Opinion)
Wideband Delphi - Group estimation approach, panel of experts estimating anonymously!

Question 32

Story Maps and Product Roadmaps

Answer 32

Story Maps
High level planning tool
- stakeholders map out what the project priorities early in the planning
- shows when a feature will be delivered and what is included in each release

Product Roadmap
- Story map is converted into product roadmap

Question 33

Technical Debt

Answer 33

Backlog of work caused by not doing regular cleanup

Refactoring is the solution!
- Ways to standardize the code, easy to understand, simplify

Question 34

Lead time and Cycle Times

Answer 34

Lead time: Time taken for something to go through the entire process

Cycle Time: time taken by something to go through a part of the process. Part of lead time.
Long cycle times lead to increased amounts of WIP

Cycle Time = WIP / Throughput

Throughput: amount of work that can be done in a time period

Question 35

Solving Problems

Answer 35

LET THE TEAM SOLVE THE PROBLEM!! They have the best solutions
Engage the team and let them come up with a solution

• Team produces practical solutions
• gives consensus from all team members
• asking for help shows confidence

Question 36

Kaizen

Answer 36

Process for Continuous improvement
Focus on team to implement small incremental improvements

Question 37

Agile cycle

Answer 37

Plan – Develop – Evaluate – Learn

Question 38

Myer Briggs Personality test

Answer 38

Extrovert or Introvert (E/I)
- Extrovert: Social interactions, easy to introduce to new people, center of attention
- Introvert: quiet, perceptive, keep observer, small groups

Sensor or Intuitive (S/N)
Sensor: Focus on facts, notice details, aware of surroundings
Intuitive: think about meaning, notice patterns, try new things, lost in thought, curious

Thinker or Feeler (T/F)
Thinker: objective data and logical analysis, pros and cons, difficult to relate to others feelings, truth important than emotion
Feeler: Values and sensor for right and wrong, how your decisions affects other and how they feel, make sure no one gets upset, easy to relate to others feelings. Design solution where everyone gets comfortable with

Judger and Perceiver (J/P)
Judger: Love to make decisions, Perform in structured and consistent environment, organised, dont like surprises and no last minute changes
Perciever: Leaving things open-ended, keep options open, spontaneous and go with flow, dont like too many rules. Excited about surprises.