NINE - Resource Management Flashcards

1
Q

What are resources?

A

People, team, facilities, equipment, and materials that are required to complete the work

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2
Q

What must a PM do in terms of resources?

A

Do things such as identify all resources needed to complete a project (including required skills of resources and required quality and grade), define everyone’s roles, create reward systems, provide training and motivation, manage the use of physical resources, and track performance

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3
Q

What questions should the resource management plan answer?

A

What resources are required?
What quantity of each type of resource is required?
When and for how long will each resource be needed?
How will the resource be acquired?
Are the resources available internally, or does procurement need to be involved?
What is the cost?
Is there a limited time in which the resources will be available?
How will resources be managed?

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4
Q

What is a common complaint from team members?

A

That roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined.

Therefore, definition of roles and responsibilities is a critical part of plan resource management

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5
Q

What do team members need to know?

A

What work packages and activities they are assigned to, when they are expected to report, what meetings they will be required to attend, and any other work they will be asked to do. Management also needs to know when and for how long resources will be needed

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6
Q

What are the inputs to Plan Resource Management (P)?

A

PM Plan, Project Charter,
Project Documents - requirements document, schedule, risk and stakeholder registers
EEFs, OPAs

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7
Q

What are some questions experienced PMs consider for resources that are part of EEFs?

A

What organizations are involved, are there hidden agendas, is there anyone who does not want the project, locations of assigned and potential team members, is there availability for contract support, what training is available for the project team?

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8
Q

What are the tools and techniques of Plan Resource Management?

A

A comprehensice resource management plan includes documentation of all project responsibilities and assignments on the project. The methods to do this include:

Data Representation - Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), RACI Chart, Organizational Breakdown Structure, Resource Breakdown Structure, WBS, Text-Oriented Formats

Organizational Theory

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9
Q

What is a Responsibility assignment Matrix (RAM)?

A

This chart cross-references team members with the activities or work packages they are to accomplish.

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10
Q

What is a RACI chart, and what does it stand for?

A

Responsible, Accountable, Consult, Inform. Type of RAM that defines roles more clearly.

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11
Q

What is an Organizational Breakdown Structure?

A

Can be used to assign project responsibilities to divisions or departments within the organization (marketing, IT, etc). Breakdowns and places work packages from the WBS under each department

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12
Q

What is a Resource Breakdown Structure?

A

Breaks the work down by type of resource. Project-1.People - 1.1 PM Team - - 1.1.1 Lead PM, 1.1.2 BA

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13
Q

How is the WBS used for resource planning?

A

Ensures each work package has an owner. Can see what resources are required

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14
Q

What is a common text-oriented format?

A

Position descriptions.

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15
Q

What is Organizational Theory?

A

Studies organizations to identify how they solve problems, maximize efficiency and productivity, and meet the expectations of stakeholders. This helps develop effective resource management policies and procedures

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16
Q

What are the outputs of Plan Resource Management?

A

Resource Management Plan, Team Charter, Project Document Updates

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17
Q

Resource Management Plan

A

Plan for when and how resources will be added, managed ,and released from the project.

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18
Q

What is the Human Resources Component of the Resource Management Plan?

A

Identify human resource requirements (who, when, how many, what skills, what level of expertise, durtion)
Roles and responsibilities;
Project organizational charts;
Process for acquiring human resources (Internal/procured?;
Training, team development, recognition;
Project Team management (team charter, ground rules, engagement, communications);
Compliance;
Safety;
Release of Resources

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19
Q

What is the Physical Resource component of the Resource Management Plan?

A

Identify physical resources (what, when, how many, type, quality, grade, duration);
Process for acquiring physical resources;
Inventory management;
Release of resources

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20
Q

What is the team charter?

A

Working agreement developed by members of the project team. Describes the approach the team will take regarding communication, decision making, conflict resolution, as well as ground rules for team meetings.

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21
Q

What are some examples of ground rules?

A

How a team member should resolve conflict with another member;
When a team member should notify the PM they are having difficulty with an activity;
Rules for meetings;
Who is authorized to give directions to contractors;
How the team will decide work assignments;
When and how to provide status updates to the PM;

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22
Q

What project documents are updated in Plan Resource Management?

A

Assumptions log, risk register,

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23
Q

What is done in the Estimate Activity Resources (P) process?

A

The PM and team determine the type and quantity of resources needed to complete the project work. Includes human resources to work on the work packages, any equipment, materials, space, and anything else needed to fulfill the requirements

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24
Q

What are the Inputs to Estimate Activity Resources (P)?

A

Resource management plan, scope baseline, activity list, activity attributes, cost estimates and cost baseline, resource calendar, OPAs

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25
Q

What do resource calendars identify?

A

Organizational work hours, company holidays, and show availability of potential resources both physical and human

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26
Q

What are the tools and techniques for Estimate Activity Resources?

A

Bottom-up, analogous, parametric estimating and alternatives analysis. Resource Histogram

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27
Q

What does analogous estimating involve?

A

Involves using expert judgement and historical information to predict the future

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28
Q

What does parametric estimating invovle?

A

Involves creating an equation that uses historical info from other estimates, actual results, and variables to create estimates

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29
Q

Alternatives Analysis

A

Bottoms-up, analogous, and parametric estimating can be used to create estimates for various options. ie cost of internal vs external team members. Alternatives analysis can then be used to assess the impact of each option on project constraints

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30
Q

What is a resource histogram?

A

A way to visualize resource requirements, and compare needed resources and their availability to better enable estimating. It is a bar chart that shows the number of resources needed per time period (% of time dedicated to project vs project time period)

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31
Q

What are options to mitigate not having enough resources for a period of time when they are required?

A

Could include negotiating with another department, procuring from an external source, or adjusting project schedule, resource leveling

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32
Q

What are the outputs to Estimate Activity Resources (P)?

A

Resource requirements for project activities, including cost, quantity, and availability of human and physical resources.

Document in a resource breakdown structure which is used to breakdown the work by the type of resource required.

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33
Q

What does Acquire Resources (E) include?

A

Includes knowing which resources are preassigned to the project and confirming their availability, negotiating for the best possible resources, hiring new employees, hiring resources through the contracting process from outside the organization, managing the risk of resources becoming unavailable

34
Q

What are the inputs to Acquire Resources?

A

Resource Management Plan,
EEFs - resource availability, cost and location of each resource

OPAs - hiring procedures, policies relating to assigning resources, LL or historical info

resource requirements, stakeholder register

35
Q

What are tools and techniques used in Acquire Resources (E)?

A

Preassignment, negotiation, virtual teams, decision making,

36
Q

What is Preassignment?

A

Sometimes resources are preassigned before the project begins. Preassigned resources are documented in the project charter

37
Q

When is negotiation used in Acquire Resources?

A

If resources are not preassigned, can be acquired through negotiation (internally). PM must follow procurement and negotiation policies for external resource acquisition

38
Q

What are virtual teams and how are they used in acquire resources?

A

Offer opportunity to benefit from the expertise of team members who are in distant locations or are otherwise unavailable to participate on-site

39
Q

What is a decision making technique used in acquire resources?

A

Multicriteria decision analysis to help select potential team members or physical resources.

40
Q

What are the outputs of Acquire Resources (E)?

A

Physical Resource Assignments and Project Team Assignments, Resource Calendars, PM Plan Updates, change requests, updates to EEFs and OPAs

41
Q

Physical Resource and Project Team Assignments

A

It is in Acquire Resources that individuals are assigned to roles and responsibilities and physical resources are assigned to locations.

42
Q

What does Resource Calendar assist with?

A

Allows PM to know when each resource is available.

43
Q

What does Develop Team (E) invovle?

A

Involves improving the knowledge and skills of team members, and enhancing teamwork and team member interactions

44
Q

How can a PM lead, empower, and motivate the project team to achieve high performance?

A

By building an environment conducive to trust and cooperation, providing training and support for the team, and recognizing team members efforts

45
Q

What are the tools and techniques used in Develop Team?

A

Interpersonal and Team Skills - Team building, negotiation, conflict management, influencing,

Training, Colocation, Virtual Teams, Communication Technology, Recognition and Rewards, Individual and Team Assessments

46
Q

Team Building

A

Can help the team form into a cohesive group working for the best interests of the project and enhancing project performance.

47
Q

What are the 5 stages of team formation and development according to the Tuckman Ladder?

A

Forming - People are brought together as a team
Storming - Disagreements as people learn to work together
Norming - Members begin to build good working relationships and learn to trust each other
Performing - Team becomes efficient and works effectively together. PM can give most attention to developing individual team members in this step
Adjourning - Project ends and team is disbanded

48
Q

Influencing

A

Important aspect of the PM’s role that begins with actively listening to differing viewpoints expressed by team members. It involves acknowledging those different perspectives and using communication and persuasion skills to develop mutual trust and agreement within the team

49
Q

How does training benefit project?

A

Enhance’s team performance, decrease overall project costs and schedule through increased efficiency.

50
Q

What is Colocation

A

Arrangement for entire project team in the same city to be in one place or one room. Helps improve communication, decrease impact of conflict, and improves project identity for the team

51
Q

What is Communication Technology?

A

Helps keep in touch during a project. Includes a shared portal for access to project documents, video or audio conferencing, email, text, online chat

52
Q

How is individual assessment used?

A

Personal assessment tools can be used to help the PM learn more about team members by revealing how they make decisions, interact with others, and process info. This info can give PM how to guide and lead the team.

53
Q

What are Team assessments meant for?

A

Evaluate and enhance the effectiveness of the team as a whole. May include analysis of how team member’s skills have improved, how well the team is performing, interacting, dealing with conflict. Also identifies needed support or intervention by the PM

54
Q

What are the outputs to Develop Team (E)?

A

Results of team performance assessments, change requests, project documents including schedule, team assignments, resource calendars updates. OPAs include changes to training requirements, team building activities, and revisiosn to templates for assessments.
Team charter, LL register

55
Q

When is Manage team and develop team done in regards to one another?

A

Simultaneously

56
Q

What does the Manage Team (E) Process involve?

A

All day-to-day management activities that a PM is likely to do.

57
Q

What should the PM perform to help challenge team members be part of a high performing team?

A

Tracking and evaluating performance, providing leadership, dealing with team issues, facilitating conflict resolution, negotiating and influencing, adjusting plans based on performance data, managing risks to team success, observing what is happening, using an issue log to track resolution, actively looking for and helping to resolve conflicts that team members cannot resolve on their own

58
Q

What are the inputs to Manage Team (E)?

A

Resource management plan, issue log, project team assignments (RACI), LL register, team charter. Work performance reports, team and individual assessments

59
Q

What are issue logs?

A

Record problems and their resolutions. Facilitates the assessment of the causes of issues, impact of issues on scope, schedule, cost, risk, and other aspects of the project, and the recommendation of corrective actions that could be taken.

60
Q

What are the Tools and Techniques of Manage Team (E)?

A

Interpersonal and Team Skills - Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Conflict Management

61
Q

What is Emotional Intelligence?

A

The ability to recognize and express one’s emotions appropriately and to perceive and manage the emotions of others by using observation, communication, and interpersonal skills.

62
Q

Who should conflict be resolved by?

A

Those involved, possible assisted by the PM

63
Q

Is conflict inherently bad?

A

No

64
Q

Should we identify and deal with the root cause of conflict?

A

Yes

65
Q

What are the factors that make conflict inevitable?

A

The nature of projects, which attempt to address the needs and requirements of many stakeholders;
Organizational limitations on the power of the PM;
The necessity of obtaining resources from functional (resource) managers

66
Q

What is the PMs professional responsibility to attempt to avoid confilcts?

A

Keeping the team informed about: Exactly where the project is headed, project constraints and objectives, the contents of the project charter, all key decisions, changes;

Clearly assigning work without overlapping responsibilities, making work assignments interesting and challenging, following good PM and project planning practices

67
Q

What are the seven sources of conflict on a project in order of frequency?

A
Unrealistic schedule
Project Priorities
Resources
Technical opinions
Administrative procedures
Cost 
Personality
68
Q

What are the main conflict resolution techniques?

A
Collaborating (Problem Solving);
Compromising (Reconciling);
Withdrawal (Avoidance);
Smoothing (Accommodating);
Forcing (Directing)
69
Q

What is Collaborating (Problem Solving) conflict resolution?

A

The parties openly discuss differences and try to incorporate multiple viewpoints to arrive at a consensus. Leads to a win-win situation

70
Q

What is Compromising (Reconciling) conflict resolution?

A

Involves finding solutions that bring some degree of satisfaction to both parties. This is a loose-loose situation, since no party gets everything. Compromise is second to collaborating

71
Q

What is Withdrawal (Avoidance) conflict resolution?

A

The parties retreat or postpone a decision on a problem.

72
Q

What is Smoothing (Accommodating) conflict resolution?

A

This technique includes making some concessions. Emphasizes agreement rather than differences of opinion. Does not result in a permanent or complete resolution

73
Q

What is Forcing (Directing) conflict resolution?

A

Involves pushing one viewpoint at the expense of another. A win-lose situation.

74
Q

What are the outputs of Manage Team (E)?

A

Release of team members, change requests, Update issues log and LL

75
Q

Control Resource Involve (M&C)?

A

This process relates to the physical resources being used on a project. The PM must ensure they are available when needed - in the right place and the right quantity. The PM also monitors the quantity, costs, and quality of resources being used and compares to what was planned.

76
Q

What are the inputs to Control Quality (M&C)?

A

Work performance data, Agreements

Project Documents - Issue Log, LL Register, Resource Assignments, Schedule, Resource Requirements, Resource Breakdown Structure, Risk Register

77
Q

What are the Tools and Techniques of Control Resources?

A

Performance Reviews, Trend Analysis, Alternatives Analysis, PMIS, Problem Solving Methods. These are used to address any variances from the plan

78
Q

Performance Reivews

A

Review actual vs planned resource usage and performance. Cost and schedule data may be included to determine the possible causes of any variance

79
Q

Trend Analysis for control resources?

A

Assess resource usage and then use the info to extrapolate potential future usage. Also compares data to determine whether resource performance is improving or worsening

80
Q

What are the steps to problem solving?

A

Identify the real or root problem, not what is only presented to you.
Analyze the problem
Identify solutions
Pick a solution
Implement the solution
Review the solution, confirm that it solved the problem

81
Q

What are the outputs of control resources?

A

Work performance info, project document updates - issue log, ll register, resource assignments, schedule, risk register, resource breakdown structure
PM Plan Updates