Guide - Section 2.8 (Deck#1) - Uncertainty Performance Domain Flashcards

Intro, General Uncertainty, Ambiguity, Complexity

1
Q

Successfully navigating uncertainty begins with…

A

understanding the larger environment within which the project is operating

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2
Q

Aspects of the environment that contribute to project uncertainty include, but are not limited to:

(PESTLE)

A
  1. Economic factors
  2. Technical considerations
  3. Legal or legislative contraints or requirements
  4. Physical environment
  5. Ambiguity with current or future conditions
  6. Social and market influences
  7. Political influences - either external or internal to the org
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3
Q

Volatility in prices, availability of resources, ability to borrow funds, and inflation/deflation are all examples of what environmental aspect related to uncertainty?

A

Economic factors

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4
Q

New or emerging technology, complexity associated with systems, and interfaces are all examples of what environmental aspect related to uncertainty?

A

Technical considerations

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5
Q

Safety, weather, and working conditions are all examples of what environmental aspect related to uncertainty?

A

Physical environment

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6
Q

What environmental aspect related to uncertainty is shaped by opinion and media?

A

Social and market influences

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7
Q

What are four general options to respond to uncertainty?

(I, MO, SBD, R)

A
  1. Gather information
  2. Prepare for multiple outcomes
  3. Set-based design
  4. Build in resilience
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8
Q

What are two general categories of ambiguity?

A
  1. conceptual
  2. situational
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9
Q

What type of ambiguity doe the following describe? The lack of effective understanding—occurs when people use similar terms
or arguments in different ways.

A

Conceptual ambiguity

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10
Q

What type of ambiguity occurs when there is more than one outcome that is possible?

A

Situational ambiguity

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11
Q

Solutions for exploration of ambiguity
include what three options?

A
  1. Progressive elaboration
  2. Experiments
  3. Prototypes
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12
Q

What is an iterative process of increasing the level of detail in a project management plan as greater amounts of information and more accurate estimates become available called?

A

Progressive elaboration

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13
Q

What can help identify cause-and-effect relationships or, at least, can reduce the amount of ambiguity?

A

Experiments

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14
Q

What can help distinguish the relationships between different variables?

A

Prototypes

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15
Q

formally establishing common rules and definitions of terms, such as what does “on track” mean can reduce which type of ambiguity?

A

Conceptual ambiguity

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16
Q

A lack of understanding and awareness of issues, events, paths to follow,
or solutions to pursue.

A

Uncertainty
A state of not knowing or unpredictability

17
Q

A state of being unclear, having difficulty in identifying the cause of events, or
having multiple options from which to choose.

A

Ambiguity

18
Q

A characteristic of a program or project or its environment that is difficult to
manage due to human behavior, system behavior, and ambiguity.

A

Complexity

19
Q

The possibility for rapid and unpredictable change.

A

Volatility

20
Q

An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives.

A

Risk

21
Q

The ability to adapt and respond quickly to unexpected changes.

A

Resilience

22
Q

What are three general ways to work with complexity?

A
  1. system based
  2. reframing
  3. process based
23
Q

Decoupling and simulations are two examples of what?

A

System based ways to work with complexity

24
Q

What entails disconnecting parts of the system to both simplify the
system and reduce the number of connected variables?

A

Decoupling
System based
Determining how a piece of a system works on its own reduces the overall size of the problem.

25
Q

What involves similar though unrelated scenarios that can be used to simulate components of a system as a strategy to address complexity?

A

Simulation
System based
Example - A project to build a new airport that includes an area with shopping and restaurants can learn about consumer buying habits by seeking out analogous information on shopping malls and entertainment establishments.

26
Q

What can include brainstorming with the project team to open up divergent ways of seeing the system as a strategy to address complexity?

A

Diversity reframing
Reframing
Complex systems require viewing the system from diverse perspectives.
It can also include Delphi-like processes to move from divergent to convergent
thinking.

27
Q

What process can be used to arrive at a group opinion or decision by surveying a panel of experts. Experts respond to several rounds of questionnaires, and the responses are aggregated and shared with the group after each round.

A

Delphi
Diversity reframing

28
Q

What type of thinking focuses on reaching one well-defined solution to a problem?

A

Convergent thinking

Best suited for tasks that involve logic as opposed to creativity, such as answering multiple-choice tests or solving a problem where you know there are no other possible solutions.

29
Q

What type of thinking generates ideas and develops multiple solutions to a problem?

A

Divergent thinking

While divergent thinking often involves brainstorming for many possible answers to a question, the goal is the same as convergent thinking—to arrive at the best solution.

30
Q

What can include using elements whose variations are likely to counteract each other’s potential negative effects?

A

Balance

Balancing the type of data used rather than only using forecasting data or data
that report on the past or lagging indicators provides a broader perspective.

31
Q

What example of working with complexity involves adding features one at a time as a strategy to address complexity?

A

Iterate
Process based strategy
After each iteration, identify what worked, what did not work, customer reaction, and what the project team learned.

32
Q

What example of working with complexity reduces the number
of assumptions and builds learning and interaction into the process as a strategy to adress complexity?

A

Engage
Process-based strategy
Build in opportunities to get stakeholder engagement.

33
Q

What example of working with complexity builds in redundancy or elements that can provide a graceful degradation of functionality in the event of a critical component failure as a strategy to address complexity?

A

Fail safe
Process-based strategy
Used for elements of a system that are critical