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COMM225 > Lesson 2: Project Management > Flashcards

Lesson 2: Project Management Flashcards

1
Q

What is a project?

A

Series of related jobs or tasks focused on the completion of an overall objective.

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2
Q

What is project management?

A

Planning, directing, and coordinating resources to meet the technical requirements, cost, and time constraints of the project.

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3
Q

What is a program?

A

A long term goal (project) which may involve several smaller projects. For example: University’s research program, NASA’s space program, etc.

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4
Q

What the four project phases?

A
  • Project Initiation
  • Planning and Scheduling
  • Execution and Control
  • Closing
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5
Q

What is in the project initiation phase?

A
  • Description of the project and scope:
    Key resources; Budget requirements (+/- 30%); Time consideration; Feasibility / worthiness (with respect to time);
  • Selection:
    Detailed product definition, scope, outcome, threats, challenges, etc.; Team building, Key personnel, key resources; Tentative schedule, tentative budget (+/-5%) etc.;
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6
Q

What is in the planning and scheduling phase?

A
  • Project is divided into several tasks/activities with associated resources, budget, etc.
  • Project partners, day-to-day activity assignment to teams, role and responsibility assignment.
  • Definition of time and performance targets.
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7
Q

What is in the execution and control phase?

A
  • New planning and rescheduling is needed at every step to control the cost.
    (If something goes wrong, the impact on the overall outcome must be reduced)
  • Monitoring and control may require plan changes, goal changes, etc.
  • Review the progress for better control and progress estimation
  • Control is attaining the goals with the least deviation possible
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8
Q

What is in the closing phase?

A

Documentation and knowledge sharing once the project is concluded to look at the good and bad situations that took place and how those challenges were handled. (To be looked at as a learning experience)

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9
Q

Why do projects fail?

A

Projects fail either because we are too optimistic at the definition and planning stage or because we lack the skills at the monitoring and control stage.

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10
Q

What is a task?

A

An entity (subdivision) in a project that can be done by a team or organization.

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11
Q

What is a subtask?

A

Break a task down into more meaningful pieces.

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12
Q

What is a work package (activity)?

A

Smallest unit of work that a project can be broken down to.

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13
Q

What is a milestone?

A

Specific events to be reached at points in time.

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14
Q

What is the work breakdown structure (WBS)?

A

Method by which a product is divided into tasks and subtasks.

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15
Q

What are the levels of WBS?

A 
Level 1: Program
Level 2: Project
Level 3: Task
Level 4: Subtask
Level 5: Work Package
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16
Q

What are the two types of representation tools?

A

Gantt Chart and Network Diagram

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17
Q

What are Gantt charts used for and what are its advantages/disadvantages?

A

Visualize the sequence of activities and their planned duration.

Advantages: Visual and simple.
Disadvantages: Fails to reveal relationships among activities

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18
Q

What are network diagrams used for and what are its advantages/disadvantages?

A

A network diagram (or precedence network) is used on more complex projects.

(The same activities as a Gantt chart can be represented in the form of Network)

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19
Q

What are common techniques for scheduling and controlling of large projects?

A
  • PERT (program evaluation and review technique)

- CPM (Critical Path Method)

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20
Q

What is the difference between independent and sequential activities?

A

Independent can be started at anytime whereas sequential cannot be started until the immediate predecessor activities are finished.

21
Q

What are the two common ways to represent the project using network diagram?

A

Activity on Arrow (AOA);

Activity on Node (AON).

22
Q

What is project completion time?

A

The time of the last activity. (The duration of the longest path)

To compute:
A+C+D = 6+1+2 = 9 weeks
B+C+D = 3+1+2 = 6 weeks

The earliest D can start is week 7 because in BCD, D cannot start before week 4, and in ACD, D cannot start before week 7, the duration of D is 2 weeks, therefore D can finish in the 9th week.

23
Q

What is the critical path known as?

A

The longest path.

activities on this path are known as Critical activities

24
Q

Can more the one Critical path exist in the same project?

A

Yes

25
Q

What is critical path method?

A

Stepwise approach to identify the critical paths.

26
Q

What are the four times associated with an activity? (CPM)

A
  • ES: earliest start
  • EF: earliest finish
  • LS: latest start
  • LF: latest finish
27
Q

Notation for CPM solution technique:

A

First column: ES and LS
Middle column: Activity Name and Duration
Third column: EF and LF

28
Q

What are the two major steps of CPM?

A
  • Forward Pass

- Backwards Pass

29
Q

What is the forward pass?

A

Computing the early start and early finish time.

30
Q

What is the backward pass?

A

Computing latest start and latest finish.

31
Q

How is slack calculated?

A

LS - ES or LF - EF

32
Q

What does activities with zero slack indicate?

A

The critical path.

33
Q

What is the beta distribution used for?

A

To describe the inherent variability in activity durations.

Beta distribution is a continuous distribution and its feature makes it attractive in practice.

34
Q

Three point estimate methods used in PERT:

A

Optimistic time; Pessimistic time; Most likely time.

35
Q

What is optimistic time?

A

to: The length of time required under optimal conditions.

36
Q

What is pessimistic time?

A

tp: The length of time required under the worst conditions.

37
Q

What is most likely time?

A

tm: The most probable length of time required.

38
Q

When is the assumption of independence in path statistics considered to be met?

A

When only a few activities in a large project are on multiple paths.

39
Q

What does computing the chance of completing the project within the required time entail?

A

Computing:

  • The probability that it will be completed by a certain time
  • The probability that it will take longer than its expected completion time
40
Q

What is crashing?

A

Shortening activity durations to reduce project completion time.

(carefully reducing theproject duration in a minimum possible costs)

41
Q

What information is required for whether the duration of an activity can be reduced?

A

Regular time and crash time estimates for each activity; Regular cost and crash cost estimates for each activity; And a list of activities that are on the critical path.

(Critical path activities are potential candidates for crashing seeing how crashing non-critical paths would not have an impact on overall project duration)

42
Q

Crash Procedure:

A

A. Crash least expensive activity on the critical path (if there’s more than one crash the cheaper of a common activity shared by the critical paths, or sum of the least expensive activities on that path).

B. After each crash, recalculate the critical paths.

C. Repeat A & B until required crashing is obtained.

43
Q

What does project execution involve?

A

Performance of activities planned and project manager directs teams, coordinate teams and supplies, and manages other project activities.

44
Q

What does project control involve?

A

Assessing project progress against plans and taking corrective actions; Controlling changes that may be required as the project progresses (design change, adding/removing features, etc.)

45
Q

What is Goldratt’s two psychological principles?

A

Student’s syndrome and Parkinson’s law.

46
Q

Define Student’s syndrome:

A

A student tends to delay the start of an assignment until the last possible time

47
Q

Define Parkinson’s law:

A

Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.

48
Q

How does Goldratt’s two psychological principles play into project execution?

A
  • Do not disclose due dates of activities to workers.
  • Prioritize, schedule accordingly, and do activities asap.
  • Eliminate padding in activity time estimates.
  • Add buffer time to end of critical chain (= longest path considering constraints).

COMM225 (8 decks)

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