Lesson 3 - Initiating The Project

Question 1

What is the responsibility of the project manager?

Answer 1

Own the day to day project tasks/timeline.

Question 2

What is the responsibility of the project manager?

Answer 2

Has ultimate accountability for the project, and delegates project operations to the PM.

Question 3

What jobs does the PM have?

Answer 3

Build project team
secure resources
project charter/scope.
project logs (issue log, change log, and risk register)
Ensure project deliverables Define the tasks
verifying member skills
Track resources
Track completions
Manage activity lists
Follow up on issues
Deliver status updates
Track status
Track Performance
Manage vendor performance and relationships.

Question 4

What jobs does the Business Analyst (BA) have?

Answer 4

Help define the project.
Gather business/technical requirements
Ensure requirements stay within scope
Translate business requirements into tech language.
Verify deliverables
Assist with testing and validation.

Question 5

What jobs does the developer/engineer have?

Answer 5

Write code
Build products
Report on development progress to the PM or product owner.

Question 6

What job does the Tester/QA have?

Answer 6

Write tests against requirements.
Run tests on completed code to find defects and bugs.

Question 7

What Job does the Customer/End User have?

Answer 7

Offer end-user perspective Suggest new features
Collaborate with team members to design the product.

Question 8

What Jobs does the Vendor have?

Answer 8

Provide the work outlined in the contract.
Maintain the service-level agreements (SLAs)
Maintain clear lines of communication

Question 9

What jobs does the stakeholder have?

Answer 9

Understand the project’s purpose and how it will affect them.
Be transparent about their support or lack thereof for the project.
Provide timely feedback about the project’s progress and direction.

Question 10

What job does a SME have?

Answer 10

If not already a team member, they act as an outside subject matter expert to advise on a piece of the project.

Question 11

What jobs do the team members have?

Answer 11

Complete tasks.
Create process documentation.
Provide skills and expertise.
Form positive working relationships.

Question 12

Different Levels of Availbility

Answer 12

Percentage (of their time)
Phase basis
By Request (expertise)

Question 13

What info needs collected on each added team member?

Answer 13

Position-Current Title
Core or Extended?
Their Availability
Their assigned Subteam
Project Responsibilities
Preferred Contact Methods
Their Manager
Their Organization

Question 14

Components of a Project Organizational Chart

Answer 14

Sponsor
Steering Committee
Project Manager
Subgroups
Solid/dotted lines to show authority/direct reports

Question 15

What is the responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)?

Answer 15

Defines who is responsible for completing which activities

Question 16

What are the 4 roles in the RAM?

Answer 16

Responsible: Completes work
Accountable: Approves Work
Consult: SME
Informed: Receives Updates

Question 17

What is a stakeholder engagement plan?

Answer 17

A conversation between PM and stakeholders to identify who has a vested interest, stakeholders will also ask probing questions.

Question 18

Stakeholder power impact quadrants

Answer 18

1. High Power/High Impact
2. High Power/Low Impact
3. Low Power/High Impact
4. Low Power/Low Impact

Question 19

What are project artifacts?

Answer 19

Historical information generated from prior projects that can be used for future projects.

Question 20

What is the project charter?

Answer 20

A list/description of the project objectives and the projects impact/purpose.

Question 21

What are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?

Answer 21

Crucial measures needed to understand the “health” of the project at any given time.

Question 22

What are “Lagging Indicators”

Answer 22

Measurements taken after the work is done. Measure overall success but happen at the end so no opportunity for intervention.

Question 23

What are leading indicators?

Answer 23

Predictive measures, measurements taken early so there is still time for intervention.

Question 24

What is the SMART acronym?

Answer 24

Specific (change needed)
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant (needs purpose)
Time-Bound (has end date)

Question 25

What are objective and Key Results (OKRs)

Answer 25

Basically SMART goals that are just outside of reality with the ultimate goal of driving performance to new heights.

Question 26

Define Project Road Map

Answer 26

High level documents that share major progress points

Question 27

What is a Milestone Chart

Answer 27

A real timeline of monthly achievements good for stakeholders and not too detailed

Question 28

What is a gantt chart?

Answer 28

A highly detailed project plan in the form of a complex horizontal bar chart

Question 29

What is defined in the project charter?

Answer 29

Project’s purpose
Shareholder expectations
PM’s role/authority
Vision/direction

Question 30

What are the 4 main categories of a project charter

Answer 30

1. General Info
2. Project Vision
3. Organization/members
4. Implementation Overview

Question 31

What is the project scope statement

Answer 31

Similar to charter except it explains the objectives in greater detail.

Question 32

What are the components of a scope statement?

Answer 32

Description
Acceptance/Success Criteria
Deliverables
Exclusions
Assumptions
Constraints

Question 33

What happens during the Project Kickoff

Answer 33

With approval granted, set up a meeting with all project team members to get on one page about project, deliverables, and overall timeline.