Foundational Terms & Concepts Part 1 Flashcards
Projects are carried out by who?
Organizations
Projects carried out by organizations is sometimes referred to as ________.
Organizational Context
A process does what?
Does or creates something necessary and valuable for the project.
What is the process where the list of risks is created?
Identify Risks
What are the three ingredients of a process?
Inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs
Outputs of a process often become what?
Inputs to one or more other processes
Processes may be performed how often?
Multiple times, as needed
Processes may be carried out in parallel, true or false?
True
Most larger projects are broken down into units known as ________.
Phases
“Requirements gathering,” “design,” “construction,” “testing,” and “implementation are types of _______.
Phases
How are phases typically carried out?
One after the other even though they could possily have some overlap
Each phase of a project should produce what?
One or more deliverables
How are deliverables of one phase used to inform the next phase?
They are evaluated to determine whether or not the next phase may be begun
How do deliverables inform a project?
They are reviewed to determine whether the project should continue
The decision point of whether or not a project should continue is called what?
An exit gate or stage gate
The evaluation of the deliverables of one project phase to determine if the project should continue and the next phase initiated is called what?
An exit gate or kill point
What is a point in the project’s life cycle where a team or individual external to the project makes the decision whether to continue the project or to stop it?
A kill point
The definition of a project is _______?
The temporary (finite) endeaver undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result
What characteristics are required for a situation to represent a project?
(1) a time limit, with a definite beginning and end and (2) it is unique
How does an operation differ from a project?
An operation may go on perpetually, and projects are finite
The end result of a project can be ____?
Any product, service or result
The point of a project is to what?
Create change and get things done, whether visible or tangible.
Define program
A group of related projects that are coordinated together
Unlike projects, ______ may include operations.
Programs
Why are some projects grouped together into programs?
To realize benefits that could not be achieved if those projects were not undertaken in concert
Not all projects will necessarilty belong to a program, true or false
True
All programs are made up of what?
Projects
What does a portfolio represent?
A company’s entire inventstment in projects and programs
Project portfolios should always be directly aligned to ________.
The organization’s strategic goals
What does the Agile term “progressive elaboration” mean?
You do not know all of the characteristics of a product when you begin the project. The project is accomplished through several “progressive” iterations.
Project management is what?
Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to met the project requirements.
How is project success defined?
Delivering the product and the project within the set boundaries of scope, cost, schedule, quality and customer satisfaction.
“Historical information” is most recently referred to as?
Organizational Process Assets
What is historical information, or “organizational process assets” used for?
To help predict trends and avoid mistakes for the current project and to evaluate the project’s feasibility.
Some examples of historical information, or organizational process assets, are ____________.
Previous records, estimates, resources used, lessons learned, and metrics
What is the term “baseline” used to represent?
The scope, schedule, cost, performance management, and the project plan itself.
What is a “baseline”?
A version of the project plan once the plan is stabilized and put under control, i.e. the original plan plus all approved changes.
Once a “baseline” is established, how does this impact the plan?
Any changes to the plan must be approved and documented through a change control process. As each new changes is approved, the new plan becomes the baseline
How are baselines used?
To measure how performance deviates from the plan
“Lessons learned” are what?
Lessons gathered at the end of each phase or project, or documented variances between the plan and the results.
What is the goal of “lessons learned?”
To detail any information that should be shared with future projects (i.e. create organizational process assets, as inputs to future planning processes)
What should be evaluated in “lessons learned?”
What was planned, what actually happened, and what could have been done different in order to avoid any variances (i.e. what would we do differently)
What is a regulation?
An official document that provides guidelines that must be followed
Who are regulations issued by?
Government agencies or other official organizations
What is a standard?
A document approved by a recognized body that provides guidelines, not mandatory but helpful
What does the term “system” refer to?
Procedures, checks and balances, processes, forms, software, etc.
What is a project manager?
The person ultimately responsible for the outcome of the project
A project manager is __________.
Formally empowered to use organizational resources, in control of the project, authorized to spend the project’s budget, and authorized to make decisions for the project.
Instead of a project manager, some organizations may use a ________ or ______.
Project coordinator or project expeditor
What is the difference between a Project Manager and a Project Coordinator?
A project coordinator has less authority than a project manager. A project coordinator may not be allowed to make budget decisions or overall project decisions, but may retain authority to reassign resources.
What is a Project Expeditor?
A staff assistance who has little or no formal authority, but is responsible in making sure tasks and deliveries are completed on time.
What is Senior Management?
Anyone senior to the project manager.
What is the role of Senior Management?
To help prioritize projects, to make sure the project manager has proper authority and access to resources, to issue strategic plans and goals, make sure projects align with the company’s mission and to help resolve conflict.
What is a Functional Manager?
A department manager that usually “owns” the resources loaned to the project, with human resources responsibilities for them.
What is a Stakeholder?
Indivudal involved in the project, whose interests may be positively or negatively impacted as a result of the execution or completion of the project. Key stakeholders are the most important or influential stakeholders on the project.
What is a Sponsor?
The person paying for the project, may be internal or external to the organization.
What is another term for Sponsor?
The project champion
What are some inputs that a Sponsor may provide?
Due dates, milestones, product features, constraints and assumptions.
What is a Project Office?
A department that can support project managers with methodologies, tools, training, etc.
Who defines the standards, provides best practices and audits projects for conformance?
The project office
What other terms are project offices referred to?
Project Management Office or PMO
What is a Program Manager?
The individual responsible for coorindation of several projects at once in order to create a common benefit; i.e. Program Managers are responsible for programs.
What is the relationship between a Project Manager and a Program Manager?
The Project Manager manages the details of the project, while he/she reports the status and other relevant information to the Program Manager.
What is “project context”?
The organizational environment where the project is carried out.
Regarding project context, what should the Project Manager’s general attitude be?
Respect and adapt to the performing organization whenever possible, providing it does not require you to cut corners, misrepresent the truth, or sidestep ethic/legal standards and requirements. (i.e. Do things the right way and in the right order but in such a way that fits with the organization).
What are the 6 types of organizations?
Organic, Functional, Matrix, Projectized, Virtual and Composite
What are the key characteristics of an Organic organizations?
- team and groups naturally form to address priorities, who is in charge varies based on priorities and personalities, can be an adaptive environment, lacks organizational maturity (driven by short-term urgency rather than long-term importance).
What are the key characteristics of Functional organizations?
Team members work by department with defined career paths, project manager has limited influence and power, the functional manager is in charge, stronger company expertise by function, high degree of professional specialization, project are prioritized lower, resources are often not dedicated to a project.
What are the key characteristics of Matrix (hybrid) organizations?
Power shared between a functional manager and project manager, deep expertise of functional organization while still being empowered to manage resources of project, higher overhead costs, resources report to functional manager, high possibility of contention between project manager and functional manager, because resources don’t report to the project manager directly, they may be less loyal to him or her.
What are the key characteristics of a Projectized organization?
Structured according to projects instead of by functional departments, no separate functional manager, only a highly empowered project manager, streamlined communications and loyalty, less risk of contention, team members only belong to project and not to a functional area, team members may work themselves out of a job when project is over, professional development usually limited
What are the key characteristics of a Virtual organization?
More widely distributed team, more peer-to-peer communications instead of to project manager, whose in charge varies, engaged experts without the cost of transportation, may allow projects to continue around the clock and across various regions, team relations may be weak due to limited in person interactions, project accountability is more challenging
What are the characteristics of a Composite organization?
More than one type of reporting structure, often with both functional and projectized structures across the enterprise, whose in charge varies according to group that has the project, added organizational types may introduce more complexities, contains any combination of benefits from the other organization types.
List the Project Manager’s level of empowerment by Organization Type, weakest to strongest.
Functional (weakest - Functional Manager stronger), Matrix (more balanced with Functional Manager), Projecticized (strongest)
What other experience should a Project Manager have?
Leading, Communicating, Negotiating, Problem-Solving, Influencing, and Project Governance
What is the goal of negotiation?
To produce a win-win outcome that is sustainable for all parties.
What is one of the most important and highly favored skill of a Project Manager?
Problem-Solving
Define influencing.
Accomplishing something without necessarily having formal power
Define project governance.
Processes used across the project and to rate the project manager’s performance.
Who is usually responsible for project governance?
The Project Office or the Project Management Office (PMO).
What is a Project Life Cycle?
The phases that a project typicall goes through.
What are the six general phases of a Project Life Cycle?
Conceptual, Planning, Construction, Testing, Implementation, and Closure
Typically how does staffing, resources and project costs impact the project over time?
Resource and cost levels rise early in the project and drop over time.
Typically how does the risk of project success and stakeholder influence impact the project over time?
Risk of project success and the stakeholders’ ability to influence the project is highest early in the project and decreases as the project progresses.
What is “The Triple Constraint”, or “Iron Triangle?”
Cost, time (scheduled), and scope are all interrelated. If one changes, it will impact the other two areas.
What should a Project Manager doe when a request for change to cost, time and/or scope is made?
Evaluate how those changes affect the other aspects of the project / Carefully investigate and review the other areas of the project plan that may be affected and consider which components of the plan should be updated.
In addition to cost, time and scope, what other factors are linked to the triple constraint?
Quality and risk
How does methodology differ from processes?
Methodology may differ across organization, while the 49 processes used to manage a project essentially remain the same. A methodology is the rich and detailed implementation of the project management processes. Processes establish the rules for project management, while Methodology is the strategy of applying them.
What is the Work Authorization System (WAS)?
It is the part of the Project Management Information System (PMIS) used to ensure the work gets performed at the right time and in the right sequence. It can be a formal or informal system to get an assigned resources released to complete scheduled work.
***What is a Project Management Plan?
The single approved plan that guides the execution, monitoring and control, and closure of a project. May be formal and detailed, or informal and summarized.
What are the components of a Project Management Plan?
Plans for scope, requirements management, schedule management, cost management, quality management, resource management, communications management, risk management, procurement management, stakeholder engagement, change management, configuration management, development approach, scope baseline, schedule baseline, cost baseline, performance management baseline, project life cycle description and management reviews
What are Organizational Process Assets?
Information, tools, documents or knowledge the organization possesses that can help plan for the project, i.e. anything the organization owns or has developed that can help on a current or future project
Name a few examples of Organizational Process Assets?
Templates for common project documents, previous project plans, policies, procedures/guidelines, software tools, databases of project information, estimating data for budget or scheduling components, historical information, lessons learned, knowledge bases, and special corporate competencies.
What are Enterprise Environmental Factors?
Anything external that impacts the project, but is not part of the project itself. Examples include organizational structure, corporate culture, organizational values and work ethic, laws and regulations, characteristics of project stakeholders, state of the marketplace, organizational infrastructure, a stakeholder and/or organizations appetite for risk.
What is a Project Charter?
Official birth certificate of the project, a charter that documents what is known at the time of project initiation.
Key aspects of a Project Charter…
- a high-level document that does not include project details or specifics of project activities
- created druing the Develop Project Charter process
- created based on need
- usually written by the sponsor or customer
- signed by the performing organization’s sponsor or other senior management
- names the PM and gives him/her authority to spend money and allocators resources to accomplish the project
- should document risk
- should include high-level project requirements
- often includes high-level milestones and view of project schedule
- includes a summary-level preliminary project budget
For the purposes of this exam, agreements mean ____?
Contracts or miniature project plans that are binding
What type of information might agreements include?
formal specifications for how the agreement may be amended or terminated, specific quality targets, how much things will cost, how and when payments will be made, and insurance or bonding requirements
Agreements should _____.
be followed in all circumstances. Never choose an answer on the exam that causes you to break an agreement, even if it benefits the project.
What is work performance data?
Raw data gathered as project work is completed, such as data about the work itself or how the work was performed (hours, costs, problems, and key performance indicators (KPIs).
Work performance data is an output of what executing process?
Direct and Manage Project Work
Work performance data is an input to
monitoring and controlling processes
When is expert judgement needed?
highly favored and very commonly used in the planning process
When the project team and project manager do not have sufficient expertise.
What is data analysis?
Review of information to make a decision (used in initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling processes)
Key aspect of meetings
They do not automatically solve problems themselve, but provide an opportuntity to get input from stakeholders and experts on various aspects of the project.
What are interpresonal and team skills?
Soft skills, or emotional intelligence, used to build productive relationships with team members and other stakeholders, as well as the ability to persuade others to the benefit of the project.
What are the two key aspects of data gathering?
(1) A preferred technique that feeds into contemplative, evaluate approach. You can’t consider what you do not fully understand.
(2) Includes techniques used to gather information about something.
What processes is data gathering used across?
initiating, planning, executing, and monitoring and controlling processes
Define decision making?
Taking action
What is a Project Management Information System (PMIS)?
An automated system to support the Project Manager by optimizing the schedule and helping collect and distribute information. It can also be considered an enterprise environmental factor.
What is an important element of a Project Management Information System (PMIS)?
It will contain a configuration management system, which also contains a change control system.
What does a configuration management system do?
Monitors the different configurations (versions) of a product.
Updates to plans come from what processes?
planning, executing, and monitoring and controlling processes
Updating is what?
Documenting the evolving understanding as the project progresses
What is a change request?
A request for change in the project, such as a change in scope, schedule, budget or quality standards.
What process do change requests fall under?
Perform Integrated Change Control
What is the key element of the Perform Integrated Change Control process?
to evaluate the change request for impact on the whole project and ultimately approve or reject the request
What baselines are impacted by a change request?
schedule, cost and scope baselines
Change requests are typically related to what?
corrective action (to bring results in line with the plan, preventive action (to avoid problems) or defect repair
How does Work Performance Information (WPI) differ from Work Performance Data?
It is data that has undergone some type of analysis or processing. Examples include summary figures, percentages or other useful statistics.
Define methodology.
A set of processes and practices performed in a specific way in order to accomplish a project, i.e. an organization’s game strategy.
What is Agile?
A family of specific methodologies
Some examples of of Agile methodologies include…
Scrum, CP, Lean, Kanban, Feature-Driven Development and Extreme Programming.
What is the traditional approach to project management called (since WWII)?
Predictice or “waterfall” approach
What is the predictive or “waterfall” approach to project management?
linear flow of activities from high level to low level
What are the elements of Deming’s Cycle
Plan - Do - Check - Act
What methodology best illustrates the predictive or “waterfall” approach to project management?
The Systems Development Cycle (SDLC)
What are the phases of the Systems Development Cycle (SDLC)?
Analysis, Design, Implementation, Testing, Evaluation
What are the downfalls of predictive or “waterfall” approaches to project management?
Rigid and resistant to change, sometimes more about the process than the product, require a great deal of up-front analysis, early committments to technical solutions early in the project, customers kept at bay, end product that may be technically what the customer asked for but not what they really wanted or needed.
Agile incorporates what key element into its approach?
Experimentation - rather than a senior manager telling everyone what to do, a team may conduct a dozen experiments to see which way works best.
What theory is Agile built around?
One person may be smarter than any one of us, but no one is smarter than all [the whole] of us.
Agile projects value _?
Self organizing teams with no formal project manager.
What is the continual focus of the Agile approach
Free flowing communication between all team members and delivering value to the customer
Daily Agile workflow consists of?
Daily stand-up meeting each morning so each team member can communicate what they worked on yesterday, what is planned for today, and what obstacles they are encountering. Information radiators are posted in highly visible locations and kept up-to-date to communicate the project’s progress in a transparent way.
How are problems handled in the Agile way?
Rather than escalating issues to a manager, the team works to resolve them internally.
Highlights of Agile include…
welcoming to change, high level of customer involvement, verbalized priorities with focus on value balanced against effort to implement, expected that project priorities will shift and change.
Agile is said to be both ____ and ____.
Incremental and Iterative.
What does incremental development mean?
Usable features are delivered in each new version of the software [or product], and every version is usable and prioritizes new value to the user.
New versions in an incremental development are called what?
Vertical Increments
What is iterative development?
Practice of performing small successive work cycles, knows as iterations or Sprints, that include planning, development and control activities.
Typically how long does each iteration last?
21 days
What are the benefits of delivering results to the customer and users in small, frequent releases (Agile)?
Creates adapble team, keeps team’s focus very sharp by establishing an immediate priority, gets functionality into the hands of the customer quickly (which allows it to be used, tested and provide a rapid feedback loop), integration of functions back into the overall sytem quickly, issues brought to the surface more quickly.
What are “spikes” in the Agile system?
Rapid experiments to determine which path to take.
What occurs at the end of each Agile iteration?
A retrospective to reflect and communicate what worked well in the previous cycle and what did not.
What is Kaizen?
The goal of addressing issues through continuous improvement.
What are the 4 key components of Agile?
(1) Plan just enough, (2) delivery quickly, (3) evaluate results, (4) reflect and improve
How does the customer interaction differ between traditional Predictive approaches and Agile?
In Predictive “waterfall” approaches, the customer is involved early on but kept at arm’s length once the team begins executing the work. In Agile, the customer is closely involved during the time the work is being performed.
When does Agile work best?
In projects where there is a need for complex decision making.
When is a Predictive approach best?
When a project team already knows most of the details and things are close to agreement/certainty, or in chaotic, commanding and/or controlling environment.
