PDD C19

Question 1

What is a sequential task?

Answer 1

• Tasks in a sequential completion order
• A sequential task cannot finish before the previous task

Question 2

What is a parallel task?

Answer 2

• Tasks that all depend on the same previous task but are indpendent

Question 3

What is a coupled task?

Answer 3

• Tasks that occur simultaneously and are dependent on each other

Question 4

What is the design structure matrix (DSM) used for?

Answer 4

• It is a tool for representing and analyzing task dependencies
• Sequential tasks have a mark right below the diagonal
• Parallel tasks have no mark under the diagonal
• Coupled tasks have marks above the diagonal
• Changing the order of tasks is called sequencing/partitioning

Question 5

What is a Gantt Chart?

Answer 5

• The traditional tool for representing task timing
• Horizontal bars represent start and end dates
• Bar fill marks progress
• Vertical line is current date
• Doesn’t explicitly display task dependencies

Question 6

What are PERT (program evaluation and review technique) charts?

Answer 6

• Charts that explicitly represent both dependencies and timing
• Hybrid of DSM and Gantt chart
• Coupled tasks are shown in 1 box
• Organized from left to right

Question 7

What is the critical path?

Answer 7

• The longest chain of dependent events
• Defines the minimum possible completion time of all tasks

Question 8

What is purpose of a contract book?

Answer 8

• Documents the project plan and the results of the concept development phase of the development process
• Represents an agreement between the development team and senior management about project goals, direction, and resource requirements

Question 9

What is the project task list?

Answer 9

• A list of all the tasks that make up the project
• 50 to 200 tasks

Question 10

What are the 7 criteria for team staffing?

Answer 10

1. 10 or fewer members
2. Members volunteer for the team
3. Members serve from development until launch
4. Members are assigned full-time
5. Members report directly to their team leader
6. The key functions (marketing, design, manufacturing, product management) are on the team
7. Members are located within talking distance

Question 11

How are hours sometimes represented on project staffing?

Answer 11

• As fractions of full time

Question 12

What is the purpose of a project schedule?

Answer 12

• The schedule identifies when major project milestones are expected to occur and when each project task is expected
  to begin and end
• Used to track progress and to orchestrate exchange of materials and information

Question 13

What are the 4 steps for a baseline project schedule?

Answer 13

1. DSM or PERT to identify task dependencies
2. Position the key milestones in a Gantt chart
3. Schedule tasks while considering resources
4. Adjust timing of milestones to match time duration of tasks

Question 14

What are common milestones?

Answer 14

• Design reviews
• Comprehensive prototypes
• Interfaces with other projects
• Fixed events like demos or trade shows

Question 15

What are the major components of a budget?

Answer 15

• Staff (most expensive)
• Materials and services
• Project-specific capital investment in facilities and equipment
• Spending on outside development

Question 16

How accurate are budgets over time?

Answer 16

• Initially accurate within 20-50%
• Later stages 5-10%

Question 17

What is a project risk plan?

Answer 17

• A list of the areas of risk in a project that can affect technical, financial, and schedule performance
• The team creates a list of actions to minimize risk
• Seek to address the greatest risks ASAP or plan around it

Question 18

What are ways to accelerate projects?

Answer 18

• Start early
• Manage scope
• Facilitate effective information exchange
• Complete individual tasks quicker
• Move tasks off the critical path
• Eliminate critical tasks when possible
• Condense safety times
• Eliminate waiting delays
• Overlap critical tasks
• Pipeline large tasks
• Outsource
• Iterate quicker
• Decouple tasks
• Consider sets of solutions

Question 19

What are the uses of Microsoft Project?

Answer 19

• Determine the project completion date as individual task durations vary during the course of the project
• Identify changes that can be made in specific tasks to improve the overall schedule
• Monitor progress to tasks assigned to specific resources (people typically)