Lesson 1.3 Foundations for Systems Development

Question 1

Describe the skills required to be an effective project manager.

Answer 1

A project manager has both technical and managerial skills and is ultimately responsible for determining the size، scope، and resource requirements for a project. Once a project is deemed feasible by an organization، the project manager ensures that the project meets the customer’s needs and is delivered within budget and time constraints

Question 2

List and describe the skills and activities of a project manager during project initiation، project planning، project execution، and project closedown.

Answer 2

To manage the project، the project manager must execute four primary activities: projectinitiation، project planning، project execution، and project closedown. The focus of project initiation is on assessing the size، scope، and complexity of a project and establishing procedures to support later project activities. The focus of project planning is on defining clear، discrete activities and the work needed to complete each activity. The focus of project execution is on putting the plans developed in project initiation and planning into action. Project closedown focuses on bringing the project to an end.

Question 3

Explain what is meant by critical path scheduling and describe the process of creating Gantt charts and network diagrams.

Answer 3

Critical path scheduling refers to planning methods whereby the order and duration of the project’s activities directly affect the completion date of the project. Gantt charts and network diagrams are powerful graphical techniques used in planning and controlling projects. Both Gantt and network diagramming scheduling techniques require that a project have activities that can be defined as having a clear beginning and end، can be worked on independently of other activities، are ordered، and are such that their completion signifies the end of the project. Gantt charts use horizontal bars to represent the beginning، duration، and ending of an activity. Network diagramming is a critical path scheduling method that shows the interrelationships between activities. These charts show when activities can begin and end، which activities cannot be delayed without delaying the whole project، how much slack time
Key Terms Checkpoint
each activity has، and progress against planned activities. Network diagramming’s ability to use estimated completion times is based on optimistic، pessimistic، and most likely completion times when determining critical paths.

Question 4

Explain how commercial project management software packages can be used to assist in representing and managing project schedules.

Answer 4

A wide variety of automated tools for assisting the project manager are available. Most tools have common features، including the ability to define and order tasks، assign resources to tasks، and modify tasks and resources. Systems vary regarding the number of activities supported، the complexity of relationships، processing and storage requirements، and cost.

Question 5

What process would be used to divide a project into manageable tasks and then logically order them to create easy transitions?

Answer 5

Work breakdown structure

Question 6

What does the acronym COCOMO stand for، and what’s its purpose?

Answer 6

Constructive Cost Model; estimating a software project’s size and cost