Lesson 3: Plan the Project

Question 1

Planning Poker(76)

Answer 1

• Estimates effort or relative size of development effort
• Uses a deck of cards with modified Fibonacci numbers to vote on user stories

Question 2

Story points (76)

Answer 2

Uses a relative measure – e.g., numbers in the Fibonacci sequence – to identify the level of difficulty or complexity of
a user story or task

Question 3

What are the 7 Fibonacci numbers?

Answer 3

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233… Each number, starting with the third, adheres to the prescribed formula. For example, the seventh number, 8, is preceded by 3 and 5, which add up to 8.

Question 4

RACI (86)
Predictive and Agile Approach

Answer 4

Stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consult, and Inform. A common type of responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) that uses responsible, accountable, consult, and inform statuses to define the involvement of stakeholders in project activities.
** Remember to consider all stakeholders when creating the RACI chart and include them as appropriate.

Question 5

Procurement Documents (90)

Answer 5

Documents used in bid and proposal activities, which include the buyer’s invitation for bid, expression of interest (EOI); invitation for negotiations; request for information (RFI); request for quotation (RFQ); request for proposal (RFP); and seller’s responses.

Question 6

Contract Type: Cost plus fixed fee (CPFF)

Answer 6

*Reimburses
seller for all allowable costs for performing contract work; fixed-fee payment
calculated as a percentage of the initial estimated project costs.
*Fee amounts do not change unless the project scope changes.

Question 7

Contract Type: Cost plus incentive fee (CPIF)

Answer 7

*Reimburses
seller for all allowable costs for performing contract work; predetermined
incentive fee based for achieving contract-specified performance
objectives.
*Shares costs between buyer and seller if final costs are less or greater than the original estimated costs
*Bases cost sharing on a pre-negotiated cost-sharing formula — e.g., an 80/20 split over/under goal costs

Question 8

Contract Type: Cost plus award fee (CPAF)

Answer 8

*Reimburses seller for all legitimate costs
*Bases majority of fee on satisfying subjective performance criteria defined and incorporated into the contract
*Determines fee based on buyer’s assessment of seller performance and not subject to appeals

Question 10

Monte Carlo Analysis

Answer 10

The project manager and the risk manager are using the Monte Carlo analysis to assess the possible impact of individual project risks and other sources of uncertainty on project goals. For example, if a particular risk arises, what impact will it have on the project schedule and cost? Monte Carlo provides a variety of potential outcomes and probabilities, allowing you to consider the likelihood of different scenarios (PMBOK 7th edition, page 177).

Question 11

Why Cost-benfit Analysis?

Answer 11

To persuade an organization to select your project, the business case should be subjected to a cost-benefit analysis in order to illustrate the benefits of implementing the project by determining its anticipated financial gains and profitability. The Cost-Benefit Analysis is more comprehensive than the Net Present Value (NPV) and the Return On Investment (ROI), as it attempts to quantify both tangible and intangible costs and benefits (PMBOK 7th edition, page 175).

Question 12

Context Diagram

Answer 12

Context diagrams are visual depictions of the product scope, displaying the business system and how it connects and interacts with other systems. It presents the inputs and outputs of the system, as well as its main players, including organizations, other business systems, end-users, etc.

Question 13

Affinity Diagram (Planning Poker)

Answer 13

A technique that allows large numbers of ideas to be classified into groups for review and analysis.A technique that allows large numbers of ideas to be classified into groups for review and analysis.

Question 15

Influence Diagram

Answer 15

Used in quality management decisions. A graphical representation of situations showing causal influences, time ordering of events, and other relationships among variables and outcomes.

Question 16

Formal (Legitimate Power)

Answer 16

The three types of legitimate power are formal power, reward power, and penalty power. 1) Formal or legitimate power stems from the project manager’s position. The assumption that a person has a formal right to make demands gives rise to this form of power. For instance, a CFO holds legitimate authority over an intern who works for them because they are higher in the organizational hierarchy.

Question 17

Reward (Legitimate Power)

Answer 17

The three types of legitimate power are formal power, reward power, and penalty power. 2) Reward power comes from giving rewards and it is attached to the formal authority of the project manager. This type of power originates from the ability to compensate another person as it is known that rewards are desirable, and team members tend to show their support since they think that they will be rewarded if they perform well. Non-monetary rewards such as recognition, training recommendations, or valuable assignments are also common. Criteria for reward should be fair, transparent, and possible for all.

Question 18

Penalty (legitimate power)

Answer 18

The three types of legitimate power are formal power, reward power, and penalty power.
3) Penalty or coercive power is the ability to penalize team members. The project manager gains support because they are capable of directly or indirectly subjecting their personnel to penalties. Penalty power is usually derived from the same sources as reward power, with one being a necessary condition for the other. Other forms of power include Expert power, Referent power, etc.

Question 19

Project Charter

Answer 19

The project charter includes a brief description of the project and its requirements.

Question 20

The Resource Management Plan

Answer 20

Covers staffing acquisition, timetable, training needs, recognition and rewards, release criteria, compliance, and safety.

Question 21

Spring Backlog

Answer 21

The set of items that the cross-functional team selects from the product backlog to work on during the upcoming sprint. The sprint backlog represents the primary output of sprint planning.

Question 22

Agile is a(n)

Answer 22

Iterative project management approach that promotes an easy and fast value delivery to customers throughout the project life cycle rather than only at the end of the project.

Question 23

Scrum is a(n)

Answer 23

Agile framework where roles, artifacts, events, and rules are defined and an iterative approach is used to deliver working products.

Question 24

Refactoring is a(n)

Answer 24

Technique that consists in improving the internal structure of an existing program’s source code while preserving its external behavior.

Question 25

Product Backlog is scrum

Answer 25

Artifact that is maintained and curated by the product owner as it reflects the project’s requirements and priorities.

Question 26

The projects’ expected incremental revenue must exceed their costs by at least 30%. Their current project is anticipated to have a 0.7 BCR (Benefit-Cost Ratio).

Answer 26

benefit-cost ratio (BCR) is a monetary or qualitative metric that represents the relationship between a potential project’s costs and benefits. If the BCR is greater than 1.0, its revenue will potentially outweigh its costs, and if it’s less than 1.0, the costs will outweigh the gains. In this situation, a 0.7 BCR means that revenue is 0.7 times the cost. So, this project will not be profitable. The minimum BCR threshold established by the organization is 1.3, and this project does not meet it.

Question 27

Attending Sprint
Retrospective

Answer 27

Because the sprint retrospective is used to reflect on the process, the full Scrum team should attend this meeting. This includes all members of the development team, the Scrum Master, and the Product Owner. Having the product owner attend the retrospective should not prevent the team from being honest about any encountered difficulties. In such a situation, the Scrum Master can play an important role in fostering a more trusting environment

Question 28

Pre-assignment

Answer 28

Pre-assignment is one of the techniques that project managers can use to ensure project success when certain resources are considered important or essential for the project. Consequently, resource pre-assignment should be employed for a good reason, not just because there is competition over these resources. Pre-assignment can take place before the initial resource management planning is complete. It’s the project manager’s responsibility to acquire resources in a predictive and hybrid work environment.

Question 29

Limit WIP

Answer 29

Limiting work in progress is a technique to troubleshoot unexpected or unforeseen delays (Agile Practice Guide, page 59).