HELP Flashcards
1
Q
What is a project?
A
unique endeavor with clear-cut objectives, a starting point, and ending point, and usually a budget.
2
Q
what does it mean to be temporary?
A
having a defined beginning and end
3
Q
what is a unique goal
A
product, service, or outcome
4
Q
what is a budget?
A
money, resources, and time
5
Q
what differentiates a project from operational work activities?
A
operational work activities is work done to sustain the business, same work or task day after day, producing the same result
6
Q
what is a product?
A
offered to the market to solve a problem or satisfy a need. Does not have a specific endpoint but rather life cycles and stages.
7
Q
why do we manage projects?
A
Manage projects to:
- achieve happy customers
- achieve objectives
- timely completion
- flexibility
- better financial performance
- happier more productive workers.
8
Q
What percentage of IT projects are successful?
A
32 percent successful, 68 percent not successful.
9
Q
What percent of corporations consistently meet their targets of scope, time, and cost goals for all types of projects?
A
Only 2.5 percent
10
Q
What are the key factors that influence the success of a project?
A
- executive support
- user involvement
- experienced PM
- clear business objectives
- minimized scope
- planning
- firm basic requirements
- formal methodology
- reliable estimates
- milestones, competent staff, and ownership
11
Q
what is project management?
A
the art of balancing project objectives against the constraints of time, budget, quality, and scope.
12
Q
Most important skills and competencies of an excellent PMs?
A
- people skills
- interpersonal skills
- strong leadership
- listening, empathy
- integrity, ethical behavior, consistent
- strong at building trust
- verbal communication
- strong at building teams
- conflict resolution, conflict management
- critical thinking, problem solving
- technology and business skills
- understands, balance priorities
13
Q
what is an alpha PM?
A
highest paid and the highest skilled project manager. Been in the industry for years and who has been through the most.
14
Q
What are the five phases of PM?
A
- initiating
- planning
- executing
- monitoring + controlling
- closing
15
Q
What do alpha mangers spend their time on compared to new project managers?
A
Mostly on planning and executing.
16
Q
what is PMP?
A
project management professional certification
17
Q
what is a PMI?
A
Project Management Institute
18
Q
what is PMBOK?
A
Project Management Body of Knowledge
19
Q
what is a triple constraint?
A
Combination of three most restrictions on a project:
- schedule/time
- scope/quality
- cost/resources
20
Q
Can you increase the scope without changing the time or cost?
A
No you cannot, because if you change the scope you also change the time and the cost.
21
Q
Can you reduce scope without changing the time or cost?
A
If you decrease scope time and cost also decreases.
22
Q
What happens when you cut cost in half, but keep quality/scope constant?
A
It messes up the triangle. Balance is important
23
Q
What happens when you cut time in half, but keep quality/scope constant?
A
It also messes up the triangle. Balance is important.
24
Q
what are the five phases of an unmanaged project?
A
- wild enthusiasm
- dejected disillusionment
- search for the guilty
- punishment of the innocent
- promotion of those not involved.
basically a black hole
25
what is the payback period?
the time a project takes to earn back what it cost?
26
what is the net present value?
takes the time value of money into account, so it provides a more accurate picture of financial performance than payback period does.
27
what are the two drawbacks of nvp?
1. doesnt tell you the return that the project provides, only whether the project exceeds the rate of return you use.
2. nvp is hard to explain to non-financial folks.
28
what is a projects internal rate of return?
tells you the annual return it delivers, taking into account the time value of money.
29
drawbacks of IRR?
1. it can give the wrong answer in some situations
| 2. when you borrow money first it comes in as positive and then it comes in negative
30
what is a project charter?
projects press release, announces the project itself as well as your responsibility and authority as its manager.
31
typical elements of a project charter ?
1. project name
2. purpose
3. project manager
4. pm's duties
5. pm's authority
6. the official commitment to the project
32
what are stakeholders?
an individual/group/org who may be affected or may affect an outcome.
impacted positively, negatively, or both
33
who are stakeholders?
1. project sponsor
2. customer
3. end user
4. functional manager
5. people working on the project
6. subject matter experts (SME)
34
how do you document stakeholders?
stakeholder analysis table
35
What are well defined objectives?
```
Specific
Measurable
Actionable
Realistic
Timely
Clear
Verifiable
```
36
What is an example of a well defined objective?
Achieve 75% of billable utilization in Q1.
37
what is a mission statement of a project?
brief and motivational and keeps people focused on the target and working towards it.
38
what is a smart object for business?
Capture 12% of the concentrate juice market by the end of the year.
39
what is a smart object for regulatory?
I want to make sure our company applied for all FDA by Q3 of 2018
40
what is a smart object for performance?
Increase sales of orange juice by 10% measured by Q3 last year to Q3 of 2018.
41
what is a smart object for technical?
Have a certain amount of users sign up for the app by Q1 of 2018.
42
what is a smart object for quality?
How many stars on the app by Q1 of 2019.
43
what question does the mission statement traditionally answer?
Who is the customer?
What is the project supposed to accomplish?
Why is the project important?
What is the approach?
44
what is a workbreakdown structure (WBS)
deliverable-oriented decomposition of a project into smaller components
45
what is a work breakdown structure (WBS)
deliverable-oriented decomposition of a project into smaller components
46
what is a work package?
bottom line of the WBS-> the task that is needed to be completed
47
what do we need to do to create the schedule?
sequence the work packages
assign duration
allocate the resources
48
what is involved in building the project team?
1. identify the skill sets and roles required to complete the tasks
2. identify other required resources like equipment
3. determine the number of each type of resource based on the desired schedule
49
what are the different elements that are included in the budget?
1. pay rate
2. equipment.
3. training
4. travel
5. unplanned expenses
50
what is a kick-off meeting?
a starter meeting session with the project team and the client of the project.
51
what does a kick-off meeting do?
introduces members of the project team and the client and provides the opportunity to discuss the role of team members
52
what does a kick-off meeting follow?
it follows the definition of the base elements for the project and other project planning activities.
53
what is integration management?
what you do to coordinate all five elements.
1. scope
2. schedule
3. quality
4. cost
5. risk
54
what is a project schedule?
shows the sequence of tasks and when each one starts and finishes.
55
what is risk management?
analyzes the hazards and windfalls in the selected strategy and the plan that goes with it to minimize the chance of failure.
56
what is a deliverable?
tangible results a project produces
| can be hardware, software, planning documents, or meetings minutes.
57
what is a scope statement?
describes a projects boundaries.
58
what is a scope creep?
refers to changes, continuous or uncontrolled growth in a projects scope
occurs when the project is not properly defined, documented, or controlled
59
what is a communication plan?
describes the rules for sharing information on a project
60
what is change management plan?
describes how you handle change requests, how people submit them, who reviews them, the steps for approving them, and how you incorporate them into your plan.
61
what is a change control board?
a group of people who decide the fate of change requests
62
what is a quality management plan?
starts with a projects quality objectives then for each objective
63
what is quality assurance
you define how you plan to achieve those quality levels
64
what is quality control
describe how you plan to monitor and measure quality performance
65
what are some roles within a specific project plan?
project manger -
project customer - has a problem to solve
project sponsor - wants to see the project succeed
functional manger - run departments achieve department goals and manage team members
66
what is a project goal
states end result, easy to understand
67
what are the gathering requirements
```
interviews
group meetings
observations
questionnaires
analyze existing documents
documenting requirements
```
68
what is a problem statement?
it identifies the problem is solving
69
what is a solution?
the means of how you're going to solve the problem
70
what is the ultimate outcome of the initiating a project?
a project charter
71
how do we schedule tasks?
use the work break down structure
72
WBS allows us to
improve estimates
keep team focused
assign work to resources
keep the project on track
73
what is a summary task
it is the grouping of related tasks
74
what problems do you encounter if work packages are too large?
1. slows down
2. discouraged
3. redundancy
4. don't know where the bottle neck is
75
what problems do you encounter if work packages are too small?
1. forget it
2. bottle necks everywhere
3. pricey
4. micromanaging (PM)
76
It is a good idea to borrow a WBS?
it depends bc every tech project is different. you can borrow a template but the work within it will be different
77
what do we mean when we say we're going to build the WBS from top-down
start with the scope document.
decompose the project by:
1. the deliverables you need to produce
2. the milestones you need to accomplish
78
What are project requirements?
project goal, objectives, and solutions identify what you're trying to achieve, and the general approach for getting there.
Provide details of the outcome,
Very VITAL to get them right!
79
what is task dependency?
one task controls the timing of another
80
what are the four types of task dependencies?
1. finish-to-start
2. start-to-start
3. finish-to-finish
4. start-to-finish
81
what is finish to start
controls when the other task starts (most common)
| example: setting up racks and then beginning to test equipment
82
what is start to start
the start of one task triggers the start of another
| example: you can start laying asphalt even though you're not done pulling all the old asphalt off
83
what is finish to finish
finish of one task controls the finish of the other
| example: before you drive off after buying groceries you have to finish buying groceries
84
what is start to finish
the start of one task triggers the finish of the other (does not occur very often)
example: you cant start a process until another is finish
85
what task controls the other?
tells you which task is the first one in the dependency?
86
does the start(or finish) date of the first task control the second task?
identifies whether the dependency begins with start or finish
87
does the first task control the start(or finish) of the second task?
identifies whether the second half of the dependency is start or finish
88
what is a milestone?
shows the progress and key points
| always the last task in a project schedule is almost always a milestone
89
what is duration
length of time between start and end
90
what is work
number of hours or days required on a task
| -number of resources affects task duration
91
how can you shorten a schedule?
fast-tracking, crashing, and cut project scope
92
what is fast-tracking
overlap tasks that normally occur one after the other.
- simple to do
- fast track the longest tasks on the critical path
93
what is crashing?
increases project cost by spending additional money to shorten tasks
94
what is the first thing to get shortened?
TESTING
95
how do deliverables relate to objectives and how do they relate to measuring the successes of the project?
project deliverables are the results that the project delivers against the objectives established. They help you measure progress and success
96
what is change control?
processes to review change requests, approve or reject them and manage them.
97
what is a project scope management
set of processes that ensure a projects scope is accurately defined and mapped
98
what is scope verification?
process of formalizing acceptance of the project scope by the stakeholders.
99
what is a project scope?
part of a project planning that involves determining and documenting a list of specific project goals deliverables, tasks, costs, and deadlines: what are we going to do
100
what is a scope statement
document what is and isn't included in the project scope
101
What is See-Feel-Change?
most common method of successful change in a company. Appeals to people's emotion and let them really feel it before implementing the change
102
What is Analysis-Think-Change
Changes peoples thinking instead of emotions. All about numbers and analytics.
103
What are the strength and weakness of See-Feel-Change?
strength: appeals to people better than someone who is analytical
weakness: can be too swung by their emotions
104
What are the strength and weakness of Analysis-Think-Change?
strength: its good for numbers people
weakness: not good for the future because the future always changes.
105
what are the 8 steps of change
1. increase urgency
2. build a guiding team
3. get the vision right
4. communicating for buy-in
5. empower action
6. create short term wins
7. don't let up
8. make change stick
106
what is the easiest part of change?
identifying what the change needs to be
107
what is the hardest part of change?
acknowledging what needs to change and increasing the urgency to the right people
108
other than the project start date or the project end date, should you be entering any other dates?
working hours
109
how many working hours are there in a day
6 hours a day
110
what is sequencing activities?
process of identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities
111
what are dependencies between activities?
state of existence of an entity or an item such that its stability is dictated by another entity or resource
THE PREREQUISITES
112
what is a critical path analysis
mathematical network analysis technique of planning complex working procedures with references to the critical path of each alternative.
113
what is a buffer?
a leeway for unplanned situations
114
what does a buffer do?
adds additional time to complete a task
115
what is murphy law?
adage or epigram that is typically stated as "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."
116
what is parkinsons law?
"work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion"
117
what is a critical chain scheduling?
method of planning and managing projects that emphasizes the resources required to execute project tasks.
NOT THE SAME AS CRITICAL PATH
118
what is the critical path?
the critical path is the sequence of tasks in your schedule with the longest duration.
119
what are the steps to a critical chain method?
1. remove all buffers from individual tasks
2. add a single project buffer at the very end
3. selectively add feeding buffers to tasks on the critical path
120
what is a baseline?
previously accepted milestone that you continue to use going forward in a project
121
how is baseline documented?
1. collection of the approved project documents
2. change management process
3. baseline the values in the project schedule
4. baseline to evaluate progress and projected performance
122
how is baseline controlled?
through change management processes
123
what is SWAG
scientific wild ass guess or rough order of magnitude
124
what is bottom up estimating?
starting with work packages and moving up
125
what is top down estimating / parametric
estimate the total cost of a project by using information from a previous, similar projec
126
what is three point estimating
technique which utilizes an optimistic and pessimistic estimate to determine the ideal estimate value for a project task
127
what is pert?
program evaluation review technique
128
when would you use PERT?
use it only when there is great uncertainty with estimates
129
what are contingency funds?
safety margins -> money set aside for unforeseen events AKA emergency
130
what are management reserves
money set aside for unknown risks
131
Getting the Boss' Approval
there was no urgency from the get go. there were no sign off and no sponsor that was like lets do this lets get excited
132
The Videotape of the Angry Customer
the urgency factor was that one of the employees followed around an angry customer and it was candid. This video was shown to people in the company and they got to see it first hand and that made them want to change.
133
When Alligators are Nipping at Your Heels
guy was trying to get management to reevaluate the process, by putting together a vision statement. fear produces movement and urgency sustains change
134
Glove on the Boardroom Table
problems with purchasing problems and using 424 different priced gloves. see-feel-change is seeing 424 different priced gloves made everyone speechless bc all the gloves were the same.
135
CEO Portrait Gallery
the new manager took down all the pictures of the CEO's on the walls and instead put up pictures of all their stores with customers. Made everyone become more customer focused bc by seeing the stores and making everyone see that the customer service was the most important. Urgency showed that he was increasing the mindset of the company.
