Module 1-5 Flashcards
What is the difference between a project and operational work?
Project: Temporary and delivers unique product,service or result (on budget)
Operation: Routine and ongoing
What is the ultimate responsibility of the project manager.
Produce the project deliverables on time and on budget while simultaneously satisfying the client and earning profits for the environmental firm.
Draw the PM circle?
Define> Plan> Coordinate> Lead> Monitor> Control>
Explain why reporting unpleasant results may be one of the most difficult jobs of a project manager.
The reports released by project managers in environmental projects must be based on defensible scientific analysis. However, the findings may highlight the need to take further actions which could cost the client many thousands of dollars. It may be difficult to report such findings and unpleasant reports may be met with several detailed questions. Reporting these types of findings may be difficult for project managers and project managers should be aware that they may need to answer several questions regarding the process used to arrive at the results as well as the results themselves.
Tl;dr Can cause the project to go over budget, making client mad
What is a stakeholder and why are they important to project managers?
A person or organization that is actively involved in the project, or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected by execution or completion of the project. Project managers are interested in stakeholders because they may exert influence over the project or its deliverables
Describe a public good.
A public good exists when a person cannot be restricted from using a good and when one person uses the good, the use does not reduce the availability of the good for another person’s use.
Why has the public become suspect of the government’s ability to protect the environment?
High profile cases such as Chernobyl and Bhopal have led to public concerns about the ability of governments to balance the interests of the public and industry and as a result have forced governments to allow public individuals and groups to be involved in decisions about the environment.
List the different stakeholder groups that are likely to be important for environmental projects.
Governments and regulators, the public, project proponent or client, project team, environmental firm
What does the acronym SMART stand for?
Specific Measurable Aligned Realistic Time-bound
What is project scope?
Project scope sets the boundaries of the project to determine what is included and what is excluded from the project at hand.
What is a project deliverable?
A deliverable is the unique product, service or result that is produced by the project.
What is a project constraint and why are they important to define?
Constraints are project limitations or restrictions and may internal to the project or related to events, activities or conditions external to the project. Project constraints must be identified so that they can be incorporated into the project plan.
What are the two factors to be considered when determining whether or not to create a plan to manage a particular risk?
The two factors are severity if the event should occur and the probability of the occurrence of the event. If the severity of the event and probability that it will occur are simultaneously of medium to high a management plan should be developed to deal with the risky event.
What is a WBS and what is it used for?
A WBS is the work breakdown structure for a project. It identifies the tasks and sub-tasks that are required to complete a project.
When should you stop breaking down the WBS into greater detail?
When the time and financial resources required to complete the tasks can be reasonably estimated.
What is the critical path, critical tasks and why are they important to the project manager?
The longest sequence of tasks through the project and identifies the critical tasks. Critical tasks are those which must be completed on time in order to complete the project on time. It is important for project managers because it highlights those tasks that must be managed to ensure the project is not delayed.
What is a Gantt chart?
A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart where the tasks are shown on the Y axis and time is depicted on the X axis.
What percentage of the project budget should be set aside as contingency?
The amount of contingency set aside for a project depends on the complexity of the project and the past practices of the organization undertaking the project.
Describe how assignment of tasks could cause changes to the project schedule during project planning.
When creating the critical path unlimited resources are assumed but in some cases, unlimited resources unavailable. As a result, it may not be feasible to complete tasks concurrently due to resource limitations. If resources must complete one task before moving on to a new task, the project could be delayed. Resource limitations must be considered as part of project planning.
What is const benefit analysis?
Cost benefit analysis is an economic framework for evaluating competing activities. It compares all the financial costs of completing the project against all the benefits associated with completion of the project.
Why do corporations need to evaluate competing activities?
Just like individuals, private sector organizations such as corporations and government sector organizations have limited financial resources and organizations are motivated to make the best use of the resources they have under their control.
Describe one concern associated with the application of cost-benefit analysis to some environmental projects.
For some environmental projects it is very difficult to convert benefits into financial terms. For example, assume a project is proposed to clean up a contaminated site. There may be real benefits associated with the clean up such as protection of human health, avoidance of future legal and financial liability and protection of other species. However, it is very difficult to identify the exact monetary value of any of these and as a result it is difficult to compare benefits against results.
Describe the payback period.
The payback period is equal to the number of years that it takes to payback the original financial investment in the project.
What is the time value of money?
The time value of money is an economic concept that deals with the fact that the purchasing power of a given amount of money is not the same in the future as it is today.
