Lecture 5 (ch7,8)

Question 1

What comes after the chartering process?

Answer 1

When signing the project charter it marks the transition from the chartering phase to the planning phase.

Question 2

What are the three essential steps in planning?

Answer 2

Scope management (scope definition, WBS),
time management (activity definition, resource estimation, schedule development), and
cost/resource management (cost estimation, cost budgeting).

Question 3

The first step in the project planning process is:

Answer 3

defining project goals and objectives.

Question 4

What is scope management?

Answer 4

It is the process of developing a plan that includes the total scope of what needs to be done and what is excluded from the project, implementation and validation of the scope, and control deviations from the scope statement. Covers both product and project scope.

Question 5

What is a scope document?

Answer 5

1. List deliverables and acceptance criteria for each.
2. Establishes project boundaries: what is included and what is not.
3. What are constraints and assumptions.

Question 6

What is scope description?

Answer 6

A sentence or two to summarize project work.

Question 7

What is the difference between goals and objectives?

Answer 7

Goals are the “what” and objectives are the “how”. Goals are broad statements applied to a project. A project may have more than one goal, but many objectives per goal.

Question 8

What are objectives?

Answer 8

They are objective statements that support the goal. Every goal will have one or more objectives tied to it. In essence, the objective is the how of the process.

Question 9

When planning a project scope there are two good “models” or techniques one can use:

Answer 9

1. MoSCoW technique - Must have this, Should have this, Could have this, Won’t have this.
2. SMART -Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Result-based, Time-bound.

Question 10

What is scope creep?

Answer 10

Uncontrolled and informal changes known as scope creep. It can make the project go over time and over budget.

Question 11

How to manage scope creep?

Answer 11

By establishing formal change control systems to allow for change of plans when needed (with change request forms)

Question 12

What is a work breakdown structure?

Answer 12

A tool to progressively divide the project into smaller pieces until the team feels every deliverable is identified.

Question 13

Why is a work breakdown structure used?

Answer 13

WBS defines and organizes the scope of the project more accurately and specifically in a hierarchical tree structure

Question 14

What does a WBS not show that other charts or tools do?

Answer 14

WBS do not show sequencing and dependencies between activities to generate a schedule.

Question 15

What is Rolling wave planning?

Answer 15

It is an iterative process where the work to be done in the near future is planned in detail whilst the work to be done later is only planned on a higher level.

Question 16

How does the scope planning look in agile projects?

Answer 16

It starts with a high-level scope definition –> Commit to work –> You develop an test in sprints –> You get user stories –> Do acceptance test –>Start over the process with new scope and what is the most important moving forward.

Then process is repeated (a process cycle)

Question 17

Tell me the steps of doing time management and producing a schedule:

Answer 17

There are five steps.

1.You define all activities needed to be done in the WBS and its work packages.

2.Then you do a network diagram to see dependencies and plan the activities in a logical order.

3. You then go on to estimate the duration of each activity and what resources will be needed.
4. Then you present the schedule see if it works for everyone
5. and finally you monitor and control it is being followed.

Question 18

What causes tasks dependencies?

Answer 18

1. Logical (or causal) dependencies –> You cannot proofread a report before its written.
2. Resources-based dependencies –>There is only one editor, it cannot edit four books simultaneously.
3. Discretionary dependencies –> PM or PMO prefers to do one task before the other.

Question 19

OEQ (short) Draw a network diagram
representing the following logic:
* As the project starts, activities A and B
can be performed concurrently.
* When activity A is finished, activities C
and D can start.
* When activity B is finished, activities E
and F can start.
* When activities D and E are finished,
activity G can start.
* The project is complete when activities C,
F, and G are finished

Answer 19

DO IT! (MAYBE LATER)

Question 20

MCQ: 1) A Gantt chart represents project schedule information in an easy-to-read, graphical format. Which of these is NOT a component of this type of Gantt chart?
a) Activities
b) Budget data
c) Start and End dates
d) Durations

Answer 20

B

Question 21

Name factors that impact international project scheduling:

Answer 21

Consideration of different public holidays.
Additional time for coordination, communication, and training.
Additional time for teambuilding activities.

Question 22

What are two “counteracting” forces that cause challenges in scheduling?

Answer 22

The tendency to underestimate complexity and the tendency to overestimate the team’s productivity.

Question 23

What are two “counteracting” forces that cause challenges in scheduling?

Answer 23

The tendency to underestimate complexity and the tendency to overestimate the team’s productivity.

Question 24

What are the 3 options for organizations to deal with a project’s triple constraint?

Answer 24

1) Scope-driven
2) Schedule-driven
3) Cost-driven

Question 25

What does scope driven PM entail?

Answer 25

deliver what is requested no matter how long it takes (schedule) or how much it costs.

Question 26

What does schedule-driven PM entail?

Answer 26

meet the deadline by delivering whatever scope you can within the budget (scope).

question about the card: Is being within the budget really prioritized

Question 27

What does Cost-driven PM entail?

Answer 27

deliver whatever scope you can until the budget is exhausted, your schedule ends when the budget runs out.

Question 28

What is the Project time management processes? (6 steps)

Answer 28

Plan –> Define –> Sequence –> Estimate –> Develop –> Control

1) Plan schedule management: arranging how to develop, manage, execute, and control the project schedule.

2)Define activities: a project planning process that identifies and determines specific actions to develop and deliver the project outcomes, such as products, services, or results.

3) Sequence activities: determining the predecessor and successor relationships among the project activities.

4)Estimate activity durations: the process of approximating the number of work periods needed to complete individual activities with estimated resources.

5)Develop schedule: the process of analyzing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints to create the project schedule.

6)Control schedule: the process of regulating changes to the project schedule.

Question 29

What to consider developing the schedule?

Answer 29

1) Activity list
2) Milestones and deliverables
3) Network diagrams
4) Gantt chart

Question 30

What is an Activity list?

Answer 30

A simple presentation of the time plan without any graphic. It does not give the visual information and it does not show any dependencies

Question 31

What are Project milestones & deliverables?

Answer 31

project milestones and deliverables serve as project checkpoints and provide intermediate and significant steps in project development. They’re important for scheduling and enable deliverables to be monitored and controlled.

Question 32

What is the Network diagram/ sequencing of activities?

Answer 32

What activity or activities can be started right away and do not depend on any others? What activity or activities can we start next?

Question 33

What is ‘Sequencing Activities’?

Answer 33

is the process of identifying and documenting the logical sequence of work to obtain the greatest efficiency given all project constraints.

Question 34

what is a ‘mandatory dependency’?

Answer 34

“a logical relationship between activities that must happen—usually due to a physical or legal demand.”

Question 35

What is a ‘discretionary dependency’?

Answer 35

“a logical relationship between activities that is considered desirable, usually based upon experience or best practice”

Question 36

What causes dependencies?

Answer 36

• Logical: a report cannot be proofread until it is written. The most common type of logical dependency is finish-to-start (FS).
• Resource based: one editor cannot edit 4 books simultaneously.
• Discretionary: a pm prefers to do task A before B, but could just as easily do the opposite.

Question 37

LEAD dependency?

Answer 37

when one activity is allowed to start before the completion of the preceding activity. In other words, a lead time is added to the start of the successor activity, allowing it to start earlier than it would have without the lead time. This can be useful when the predecessor activity is relatively short and can be completed quickly, and there is some overlap in the work between the two activities.

Question 38

LAG dependency?

Answer 38

when a delay is added between the completion of one activity and the start of the succeeding activity. In other words, there is a waiting period or buffer between the two activities. This can be useful when the successor activity cannot start until a certain amount of time has passed, or when there is a dependency on external factors such as weather, materials, or personnel availability.

Question 39

What does ‘Critical path’ mean when talking about Network diagram/ sequencing of activities?

Answer 39

“the sequence of schedule activities determining the duration of the project, generally, it is the longest path through the project.” It determines a project’s earliest possible end date. Used to plan very large projects, single time estimates for each activity, focus on the longest sequence of activities, used to determine how to complete a project early. Useful in complex/large projects

Question 40

What is a Gantt chart and what does it show?

Answer 40

A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that shows each work activity on a separate line with the bar placed from the early start date to the early finish date for each activity on a timescale.

It shows which activities will be done when, how long they will last, and which activities are critical

PS. Good to know: critical activities are normally shown in red or boldface, noncritical activities are normally shown in blue or normal face, and the amount of float is shown in a muted or thin line out to the late finish of each noncritical activity.

Question 41

What are the Limitations of project scheduling? (in addition to the triple constraints)

Answer 41

1) Logical order: the logical order in which activities need to be completed. For example, one needs to dig a hole before cement can be poured in it.

2) Activity duration: how long each individual activity will take to complete.

3) Resource availability: how many key resources are available at specific times in the project. For example, if six rooms were available to be painted at the same time, and fewer than six painters were available, progress would be slower.

4) Imposed dates: For example, a project working on a government contract may not be able to start until the government’s new fiscal year, which starts on October 1.

5) Cash flow: Projects may not start until the budget is approved, but progress may also be slowed until enough revenue arrives to cover expenses.

Question 42

A common method of developing the schedule (and deal with the limitations) is to do the following:

Answer 42

1. Identify all of the activities and then determine the logical order by creating a network diagram
2. make an estimate of the time required for that activity.
3. Assign resources to each activity, and if an assigned resource is not available when the activity is scheduled, make an adjustment of some type
4. compare the emerging schedule with any imposed dates and cash flow estimates

Question 43

What is the ‘Two-pass method’?

Answer 43

used to determine the amount of slack or float that each activity has. To perform this method, two logical passes are made;
1) the forward pass (“the calculation of the early start and early finish dates for the uncompleted portions of all network activities”)
2) backward pass (“the calculation of late finish dates and late start dates for the uncompleted portions of all schedule activities. Determined by working backward through the schedule network logic from the project’s end date”).

The early finish is calculated by early start + duration whilst the late start is calculated by late finish - duration.

Question 44

What is the Enumeration method?

Answer 44

where we list or enumerate all of the paths through the network. The advantage of this method is that since all of the paths are identified and timed, if a team needs to compress the project schedule, they will know both the critical path and the other paths that may be nearly critical (or those with very little float).

Question 45

Float definition

Answer 45

how much can the activity overrun without having adverse implications? The activities with the least or zero float have the highest risk and should be prioritised and monitored closely. Floats can be scheduled in, as a way to mitigate risk and ease pressure on the team.

Question 46

Slack definition

Answer 46

how much can the start of the activity be delayed without having adverse implications?

Question 47

Free float (FF) definition

Answer 47

the amount of time that a scheduled activity can slip before it has an adverse effect on a successor activity. Calculated by taking the earliest start time for the successor activity and subtracting the earliest finish time for the primary activity.

Question 48

Total float (TF) definition

Answer 48

the amount of time that a scheduled activity can be delayed without affecting the finish time of the WHOLE project. Calculated by the latest finish minus the earliest finish of the activity.

Question 49

Project float definition

Answer 49

the amount of time a project can be delayed without affecting stakeholders.

Question 50

Negative float definition

Answer 50

the time between when you can finish a task and when you need it to be finished in order to complete the project on time.

Question 51

Factors that impact international project scheduling:

Answer 51

• Additional time for team building activities.
• Additional time for local adaptations (of processes, products, or services).
• Additional time for coordination, communication and training.
• Consideration of different public holidays and vacation time, suspicious days.

Question 52

What a PM should do to keep the project schedule as planned:

Answer 52

• Resist pressure to dictate a schedule.
• Determine a schedule that is possible.
• Understand the project complexity.
• Understand the limitations of global/virtual teams.
• Persuade stakeholders that the schedule makes sense.
• Deliver project according to the agreed-upon schedule.

Question 53

What does scope planning cover?

Answer 53

the hard aspects of projects (definition, design, plans, milestones, schedules);

it answers the What and When questions of Project Management

Question 54

Aim of planning (comes after chartering)

Answer 54

Fulfill the project’s goals (main objective)

But also, based on the project triangle:
- Minimize project duration
- Minimize the resource availability cost
- Maximize quality

Question 55

Total scope =

Answer 55

product scope + project scope

Question 56

Product scope

Answer 56

“describes features and functions of a project outcome such as product, and, in some cases, service or result”.

Question 57

Project scope:

Answer 57

“is the work required to be performed for delivering a product, service, or result with the required features and functions”.

Question 58

How do you define the scope?

Answer 58

1. List deliverables and acceptance criteria.
2. Establish project boundaries.
3. Create a scope description

Question 59

Collecting requirements

Answer 59

a systematic effort to understand and analyse stakeholder needs to meet project objectives.

1. First make sure everyone understand the why of the project
2. Gather input from stakeholders to clarify specific requirements (for example through: focus groups, interviews and questionnaires)

Question 60

Requirement classifications

Answer 60

functional/technical and nonfunctional

Question 61

Functional requirements

Answer 61

centred on performance of the deliverable - such as a mechanic’s needs

Question 62

Nonfunctional requirements

Answer 62

focus on scalability, reliability, maintainability, and testability

Question 63

When requirements are complete each requirement needs to be:

Answer 63

1. Traceable back to the business reason for it
2. Identified with the stakeholder(s) who need it
3. Unambiguous
4. Quantified by measurable conditions
5. Validated for its value and completion
6. Bounded by constraints
7. Prioritised according to value, cost, time, risk, or mandate so trade-off decisions can be made if needed.

Question 64

Why do we develop requirements and what is the next step after that?

Answer 64

To translate them into specifications for specific subobjectives of the project or subparts of products

Question 65

What are the levels of a WBS?

Answer 65

First level: overall project

Intermediate/summary level:

Lowest/work package (WP) level: the point from which work activities are defined and schedule is formed, resources are assigned and control features developed.

Question 66

Define the activities part of work packages (WPs)

Answer 66

Defining activities: the activity definition is a further breakdown of the work package elements of the WBS. It documents the specific activities needed to fulfill the deliverables detailed in the WBS. These activities are not the deliverables themselves but the individual units of work that must be completed to fulfill the deliverables.

Question 67

how to develop a wbs?

Answer 67

1.Identify major deliverables
2.Decompose deliverables
3.Continue until deliverables are the right size
4.Review

Question 68

Who manages the scope of agile projects?

Answer 68

The product owner (customer representative)

Question 69

Rolling wave planning (part of agile project management)

Answer 69

an iterative planning technique in which the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail, while the work in the future is planned at a higher level

Question 70

Review question: When can the first draft of a project schedule be constructed?

Answer 70

Suggested answer:
1. Plan schedule management: arranging how to develop, manage, execute, and control the project schedule.
2. Define activities: a project planning process that identifies and determines specific actions to develop and deliver the project outcomes, such as products, services, or results.
3. Sequence activities: determining the predecessor and successor relationships among the project activities.
4- Estimate activity durations: the process of approximating the number of work periods needed to complete individual activities with estimated resources.

After these 4 steps –> develop first draft

5. Develop schedule: the process of analyzing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints to create the project schedule.
6. Control schedule: the process of regulating changes to the project schedule.

Question 71

Review question: What is the difference between an activity and a work package?

Answer 71

Suggested answer:

Work package: is usually the work component at the lowest level of the WBS for which cost and duration can be estimated and managed. Work packages are the basis for all subsequent planning and control activities.
Work packages need to be detailed enough to facilitate further planning and control.

Activity: The actual work that needs to get done, most often a work package consists of multiple different activities. the activities are not deliverables themselves but lead to deliverables.

Question 72

Review question: What is another name for the activity of node diagramming?

Answer 72

Suggested answer: precedence diagramming method (PDM)

comment:
“PDM maps out project development by creating a visual representation of critical paths and dependencies. The primary output of PDM is a project schedule network diagra”

Question 73

Review Q: What purpose do project milestones serve?

Answer 73

Suggested answer: project milestones and deliverables serve as project checkpoints and provide intermediate and significant steps in project development. They’re important for scheduling and enable deliverables to be monitored and controlled.

Question 74

Review Q: Describe the relationship between a predecessor activity and a successor activity.

Answer 74

Suggested A: the initial activity is called a predecessor activity, which is “The schedule activity that determines when the logical successor activity can begin or end” and the following activity is called a successor activity, which is “the schedule activity that follows a predecessor activity, as determined by their logical relationship”.

Question 75

Review Q: Describe the four most common types of logical
dependency.

Answer 75

Suggested answer (not sure which are “the 4”, but here are some:

a) The most common type of logical dependency is finish-to-start (FS)

b) Finish to finish (FF)

c) Start to start (SS)

d) Start to finsih (SF)

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fproject-management.com%2Funderstanding-task-dependency-types-in-project-management%2F&psig=AOvVaw1HSWIuQ42zLyuPzWu4DyW3&ust=1683640219315000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CBEQjRxqFwoTCPC0wtvu5f4CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE

Question 76

Review Q: One potential problem that can occur with activity duration estimating is having omissions. What are three potential remedies for this problem?

Answer 76

Suggested A:
1) Refining scope and WBS
2) Checklists, Templates, Devil’s advice (advocate?)
3) Lessons learned

Question 77

Review Q: What two methods can be used to determine the critical path of a schedule?

Answer 77

Suggested answer:

1) Two-pass method: forward pass and backward pass (early start& finish vs late start&finish) (Not sure about this one…. see the other card for definition of two-pass method)

2) Enumeration method: where we list or enumerate all of the paths through the network. The advantage of this method is that since all of the paths are identified and timed, if a team needs to compress the project schedule, they will know both the critical path and the other paths that may be nearly critical (or those with very little float).

Question 78

Review Q: If an activity on the critical path falls behind
schedule, what effect will this have on the entire project?

Answer 78

Suggested A: Any time change to an activity on the critical path changes the end date of the entire project.

Question 79

Review Q: If a painted room must dry for four hours before work can continue, the result is a delay in the successor activity. The wait for the paint to dry is an example of a _______ .

Answer 79

Suggested A:
mandatory dependency
–> “a logical relationship between activities that that must happen—usually due to a physical or legal demand.” (EDIT: but the actual time to WAIT is a lagging dependency)

Question 80

Review Q: A professor cannot grade his students’ exams until the students have completed taking the test. What kind of relationship is this?

Answer 80

A finish-to-start (FS) logical dependency!

Question 81

NOT ON EXAM
Review Q: What is one advantage and one disadvantage of Monte Carlo analysis for predicting a project schedule?

Answer 81

One advantage of Monte Carlo analysis is the flexibility it provides. This allows more realistic estimates.

A disadvantage of Monte Carlo is the amount of time necessary to estimate not just a most likely duration for each activity, but an entire range of possible outcomes.

Comment: isn’t this exlueded from exam (despite being part of C.8 as well?)

Question 82

Review Q: How can a Gantt chart be helpful in project planning?

Answer 82

Suggested A: Many stakeholders want to see which activities are critical and the amount of float noncritical activities have.

Question 83

Review Q: A lead is a change in the logical relationship that results in the _____ of the successor activity.

Answer 83

Suggested A: “acceleration”

Question 84

Review Q: How do you calculate float? What is the difference between free float and total float?

Answer 84

Suggested A:
Float = how much can the activity overrun without having adverse implications (late start - early start)?

FF focuses on successor activity, TF focuses on WHOLE project

–> Free float (FF) = the amount of time that a scheduled activity can slip before it has an adverse effect on a successor activity. Calculated by taking the earliest start time for the successor activity and subtracting the earliest finish time for the primary activity.

–> Total float (TF) = the amount of time that a scheduled activity can be delayed without affecting the finish time of the WHOLE project. Calculated by the latest finish minus the earliest finish of the activity.