PMBOK, Agile & PMI Standard Foundations Flashcards
Value Delivery
There are components such as portfolios, projects, programs, and
operations to name a few that when used either individually or
collectively help create value for an organization to meet its strategic
goals and objectives
Information Flow
The value delivery system is at its best when there is open and constant
flow of information and feedback that is being shared by the key
components within the system.
Organizational Governance
is a structured approach to provide the
needed direction and control through the use of policies and processes
so that meet defined strategic and operational goals.
• Enforce legal, regulatory standards and compliance requirements
• Define operational, risk, and legal polices.
Project Governance
is the framework, functions, and processes that give
the project the needed guidance and control to execute the activities
needed by the project to achieve the organizational, strategic, and
operational goals.
• Guiding and overseeing the project work by evaluating changes, issues and
risks
• Enforcement of polices, standards, and guidelines.
Cost of Quality
Cost of quality (COQ) methodology, which identifies four categories of cost, is used to find the appropriate balance of investing in quality
prevention and appraisal to avoid defect or product failure.
• Prevention.
• Appraisal.
• Internal failure.
• External failure.
Measurement Performance Domain
The performance domain that addresses activities and functions associated with assessing project performance and taking appropriate actions to maintain acceptable performance.
Effective Measures
KPIs (Key performance indicators): leading and lagging indicators
SMART: specific, meaningful/measurable/achievable/relevant, realistic, reasonable/timely,time bound
What to measure?
deliverable metrics, delivery, baseline performance, resources, business value, stakeholders, forecasts
Measurement Pitfalls
• Hawthorne effect. The Hawthorne Effect is used to describe a change in the behavior of an individual that results from their awareness of being observed..
• Vanity metric. The Vanity metric is a measure that shows data but does not provide any useful information for making a decision
• Demoralization. If goals are set that are not achievable team morale will fall as they continually fail to meet their targets.
• Misusing the metrics. One definition is that data that is misunderstood is then misused. Another is that data can be distorted to focus on the wrong thing.
• Confirmation bias. The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values.
• Correlation versus causation. Correlation simply means that there is a statistical association or pattern between two variables, while causation not only implies a specific kind of relationship, known as
a cause-and-effect relationship. This means that a change in one variable is causing a change in the
other.
Uncertainty Performance Domain
The Uncertainty Performance Domain addresses activities and functions associated with risk and uncertainty.
Effective execution of this performance domain results in the
following desired outcomes:
An awareness of the environment in which projects occur, including, but not limited to, the technical, social, political, market, and economic environments.
Proactively exploring and responding to uncertainty.
An awareness of the interdependence of multiple variables on the project.
The capacity to anticipate threats and opportunities and understand the consequences of issues.
Project delivery with little or no negative impact from unforeseen events or conditions.
Opportunities are realized to improve project performance and outcomes.
Cost and schedule reserves are utilized effectively to maintain alignment with project objectives
Risk Strategies
Threats/negatives: avoid, escalate. transfer, mitigate, accept
Opportunities/positives: exploit, escalate, share, enhance, accept
Risk Review: Establishing a constant cadence of review and feedback on risks be it in a daily stand up or weekly status meeting to ensure that the effort of risk management remains relevant to the current state of the project.
Tailoring
is the deliberate adaptation of the project management approach, governance, and processes to make them more suitable for the given environment and the work at hand
The goal of tailoring is to increase the commitment of the team to the
project, be more focused on the needs of the customer and to be
efficient with the use of the project resources.
Tailoring Steps
- select approach
- tailor for the org
- tailor for the project
- implement ongoing improvement
Tailoring Steps
- select approach
- tailor for the org
- tailor for the project
- implement ongoing improvement
Model
is a thinking strategy to explain a process, framework, or phenomenon.
Method
is the means for achieving an outcome, output, result, or project deliverable.
Artifact
can be a template, document, or project deliverable.
Motivation Models
- Hygiene and Motivational Factors.
- Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation.
- Autonomy.
- Mastery.
- Purpose.
- Theory of Needs.
- Achievement.
- Power.
- Affiliation.
- Theory X, Y and Z.
Change Models
Managing Change in Organizations: • Formulate change. • Plan change. • Implement change. • Manage transition. • Sustain change.
ADKAR Model:
- Awareness.
- Desire.
- Knowledge.
- Ability.
- Reinforcement.
Kotter’s 8 Step Process for Leading Change: 1. Create urgency. 2. Form a powerful coalition. 3. Create a vision for change. 4. Communicate the vision. 5. Remove obstacles. 6. Create short-term wins. 7. Build on the change. 8. Anchor the changes in corporate culture.
Change & Complexity Models
Virginia Satir Change Model: • Late status quo. • The foreign element. • Chaos. • The transforming idea. • Practice and integration. • New status quo.
Transition Model:
• Ending, losing and letting go.
• The neutral zone.
• The new beginning
Cynefin Framework. • a problem-solving tool defined by cause-and-effect relationships in a variety of situations to categorize a problem or decision and respond accordingly
Stacey Matrix. • designed to help understand the factors that contribute to complexity and choose the best management actions to address different degrees of complexity.
Project Team Development Models
Tuckman Ladder • Forming. • Storming. • Norming. • Performing. • Adjourning.
Drexler/Sibbet Team Performance Model
- Orientation.
- Trust building.
- Goal clarification.
- Commitment.
- Implementation.
- High performance.
- Renewal.
Conflict Models
- Confronting/problem solving.
- Collaborating.
- Compromising.
- Smoothing/accommodating.
- Forcing.
- Withdrawal/avoiding.
Negotiation Models
- Win-win.
- Win-lose / Lose-win.
- Lose-lose.
Process Groups Models
- Initiating.
- Planning.
- Executing.
- Monitoring and Controlling.
- Closing.
Strategy Artifacts
- Business case.
- Business model canvas.
- Project brief.
- Project charter.
- Project vision statement.
- Roadmap.
Logs & Registers Artifacts
- Assumption log.
- Backlog.
- Change log.
- Issue log.
- Lessons learned register.
- Risk-adjusted backlog.
- Risk register.
- Stakeholder register.
Plans Artifacts
- Change control plan.
- Communication management plan.
- Cost management plan.
- Iteration plan.
- Procurement management plan.
- Project management plan.
- Quality management plan.
- Release plan.
- Requirements management plan.
- Resource management plan.
- Risk management plan.
- Scope management plan.
- Schedule management plan.
- Stakeholder management plan.
- Stakeholder engagement plan.
- Test plan.
Hierarchy Charts Artifacts
- Organizational breakdown structure.
- Product breakdown structure.
- Resource breakdown structure.
- Risk breakdown structure.
- Work breakdown structure.
Baseline Artifacts
- Budget.
- Milestone schedule.
- Performance measurement baseline.
- Project baseline.
- Scope baseline.
Visual Data and Information Artifacts
• Affinity diagram. • Burndown / burnup charts. • Cause-and-effect diagram. • Cumulative flow diagram (CFD). • Cycle time chart. • Dashboards. • Flowchart. • Gantt chart. • Histogram. • Information radiator. • Lead time chart. • Prioritization matrix. • Project schedule network diagram. • Requirements traceability matrix. • Responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) • Scatter diagram. • S-curve. • Stakeholder engagement assessment matrix • Story map. • Throughput chart. • Use case. • Value stream map. • Velocity chart.
Reports Artifacts
- Quality report.
- Risk report.
- Status report.
Agreements and Contracts Artifacts
- Fixed-price contracts.
- Cost-reimbursable contracts.
- Time and materials (T&M).
- Indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ)
- Memorandum of understanding
- Memorandum of agreement
- Service level agreement
- Basic ordering agreement
Other Artifacts
- Activity list.
- Bid documents.
- Request for information (RFI).
- Request for quotation (RFQ).
- Request for proposal (RFP).
- Metrics.
- Project calendar.
- Requirements documentation.
- Project team charter.
- User story.
A System for Value Delivery
Creating Value. Organizational Governance Systems. Functions Associated with Projects. Project Environment. Product Management Considerations.
Functions Associated With Projects
Provide oversight and coordination. Present objectives and feedback. Facilitate and support. Perform work and contribute insights. Apply expertise. Provide business direction and insight. Provide resources and direction. Maintain governance.
Projects are influenced by both internal and external environments to varying degrees.
The influence can be positive, challenging, or neutral to the project objective, stakeholders, and team members
Internal Environment
- Process assets.
- Governance documentation.
- Data assets.
- Knowledge assets.
- Security and safety.
- Organizational culture, structure, and governance.
- Geographic distribution of facilities and resources.
- Infrastructure.
- Information technology software.
- Resource availability.
- Employee capability.
External Environment
- Marketplace conditions.
- Social and cultural influences and issues.
- Regulatory environment.
- Commercial databases.
- Academic research.
- Industry standards.
- Financial considerations.
- Physical environment.
Product
Product is an artifact that is produced, is quantifiable, and can be either an end item itself or a component item.
Product management
Product management involves the integration of people, data, processes and business systems to create, maintain, and develop a product or service throughout its lifecycle.
True or False: Product lifecycle is the same regardless of industry or product. Project lifecycle, on the other hand, can vary across both
True
What are the 12 principles of project management which are in full alignment and complementary with the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct?
- Be a diligent, respectful, and caring steward.
- Create a collaborative project team environment.
- Effectively engage with stakeholders.
- Focus on value.
- Recognize, evaluate and respond to system interactions.
- Demonstrate leadership behaviors.
- Tailor based on context.
- Build quality into processes and deliverables.
- Navigate complexity.
- Optimize risk response.
- Embrace adaptability and resiliency.
- Enable change to achieve the envisioned future state.
One PM principles is Be a Diligent, Respectful, and Caring Steward. What is stewardship?
Stewards act responsibly to carry out activities with integrity, care, and trustworthiness while maintaining compliance with internal and external guidelines. They demonstrate a broad commitment to financial, social, and environmental impacts of the projects they support.
One PM principles is Create a Collaborative Project Team Environment. What is a project team?
Project teams are made up of individuals who wield diverse skills, knowledge, and experience. Project teams that work collaboratively can accomplish a shared objective more effectively and efficiently than individuals working on their own.
One PM principles is Effectively Engage with Stakeholders. What is need to effectively engage with a stakeholder?
The identification, analysis, prioritization, and engagement of stakeholders happens from start to end of the project to ensure success.
Engagement of stakeholders involves awareness of others and their perspectives, building and maintaining of relationships which relies on interpersonal skills.
The purpose of engagement of stakeholders helps project detect, collect, and evaluate information, data, and opinions.
Strong stakeholder engagement throughout the project increases positive impacts, performance, and outcomes for the project.
One PM principles is Focus on Value. What is needed for this?
Continually evaluate and adjust project alignment to business objectives and intended benefits and value.
One approach to initiate a project is to detail the intended value contribution of the project outcome in a business case. The business case should include the following elements:
Business need: provides the rationale for the project, explaining why the project is undertaken. reflected
in the project charter or other authorizing document. It provides details about the business goals and objectives
Project justification: connected to business need. It explains why the business need is worth the investment and why it should be addressed at this time. The project justification is accompanied by a cost-benefit analysis and assumptions
Business strategy. the reason for the project and all needs are related to the strategy to achieve the value
One PM principles is Recognize, Evaluate, & Respond to System Interactions. What is needed for this?
Systems Thinking- Recognize, evaluate, and respond to the dynamic circumstances within and surrounding the project in a holistic way to positively affect project performance.
One PM principles is Demonstrate Leadership Behaviors. What is needed for this?
Demonstrate and adapt leadership behaviors to support individual and team needs.
One PM principles is Tailor Based on Context. What is needed for this?
Design the project development approach based on the context of the project, its objectives, stakeholders, governance, and the environment using “just enough” process to achieve the desired outcome while maximizing value, managing cost, and enhancing speed.
What are some benefits of Tailoring?
Organization Benefits.
• Deeper commitment from project team members.
• Being more efficient with the use of project resources.
Positive Outcomes of Tailoring.
• Increased team efficiency, innovation and productivity.
• Continuous improvement of the organization’s practices, methods and methodolgy.
• Increased flexibility for the organization long-term.
One PM principles is Build Quality into Processes and Deliverables. What is needed for this?
Maintain a focus on quality that produces deliverables that meet project objectives and align to the needs, uses, and acceptance requirements set forth by relevant stakeholders.
What are the dimensions of quality?
Performance. Conformity. Reliability. Resilience. Satisfaction. Uniformity. Efficiency. Sustainability.
One PM principles is Navigate Complexity. What is needed for this?
Continually evaluate and navigate project complexity so that approaches and plans enable the project team to successfully navigate the project life cycle.
What are some Common Sources of Complexity?
HUMAN BEHAVIOR.
SYSTEM BEHAVIOR.
UNCERTAINTY AND AMBIGUITY.
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION
One PM principles is Optimize Risk Responses. What is needed for this?
Continually evaluate exposure to risk, both opportunities and threats, to maximize positive impacts and minimize negative impacts to the project and its outcomes.
One PM principles is Embrace Adaptability and Resiliency. What is needed for this?
Build adaptability and resiliency into the organization’s and project team’s approaches to help the project accommodate change, recover from setbacks, and advance the work of the project.
What are some Capabilities That Support Adaptability & Resilience
Tight feedback loops to adapt as needed.
Continuous improvement through inspection and adaptation of project work.
Transparent planning that engages both internal and external stakeholders.
Leverage new ways of thinking and working.
Act on learnings from past similar projects.
One PM principles is Enable Change to Achieve the Envisioned Future State. What is needed for this?
Prepare those impacted for the adoption and sustainment of new and different behaviors and processes required for the transition from the current state to the intended future state created by the project outcomes.
What are the 8 Project Performance Domains?
- STAKEHOLDERS.
- TEAM.
- DEVELOPMENT APPROACH AND LIFE CYCLE.
- PLANNING.
- PROJECT WORK.
- DELIVERY.
- MEASUREMENT.
- UNCERTAINTY.
What are the 4 project life cycles?
- Predictive
- Iterative
- Incremental
- Agile
Servant leaders approach projects in this order
Purpose, People, Process
In agile, 3 different roles are used
Cross functional team member,
Product owner,
Team facilitator
Definable vs. High Uncertainty Work
• Definable projects have clear and well understood procedures and
processes that have a proven track record of success on similar projects.
• High uncertainty projects have high rates of change, complexity, and risk.
Agile Manifesto
- Individual and Interaction Over Process and Tools
- Working Product Over Comprehensive Documentation
- Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiation
- Responding to Change Over Following the Plan
12 Agile Principles Behind Agile Manifesto
(insert screenshot)
Uncertainty and Life Cycle Selection is derived from the Stacey Complexity Model. True or false?
True- insert screenshot
Agile approaches and Agile methods / practices are umbrella terms that cover a variety and methods in the Agile guide. True or false?
True
Role of project manager in Agile
- With an Agile project the role is somewhat of an unknown as most frameworks do not address the role.
- Project managers shift from being the center to serving the team and management.
- We are servant leaders, changing the focus to coaching people, fostering greater collaboration on the team and keep aligning the needs of stakeholders.
Characteristics of predictive life cycle
- Take advantage of high certainty around requirements, a stable team, and low risk.
- The team requires detailed plans to know what to deliver and when.
- Team leaders try to minimize change.
Characteristics of iterative life cycle
- Improve the product or result through successive prototypes or proofs of concepts which provides new stakeholder feedback.
- Teams may use timeboxing on a given iteration.
- Benefits projects when complexity is high, have frequent changes, or when the scope is subject to differing stakeholder views.
Characteristics of incremental life cycle
- Optimize work for delivering value to sponsors or customers more often than a single final product.
- Teams plan initial deliverables before beginning their work.
- The degree of change and variation is less important than ensuring customers get value as soon as possible.
Characteristics of agile life cycle
- Team expects requirements to change.
- Iterative and Incremental approaches provide feedback to better plan the next project.
- Incremental uncovers hidden or misunderstood requirements.
- Agile life cycles fulfill the principals of the Agile Manifesto.
What is the scrum framework?
• Single team process framework used to manage product development.
• Framework consists of Scrum roles, events, artifacts, and rules, and uses an iterative approach to deliver working product.
• Based on concepts on industrial process theory
• Self organization
• Emergence - progressive elaboration - change
as we learn
What are sprints and iterations?
Slotted time in scrum framework
What are the Agile roles?
Agile Team(s), Product Owner, Scrum Master (Servant Leader)
What is the product owner in Agile?
• The Product Owner is also accountable for
effective Product Backlog management,
which includes:
• Developing and explicitly communicating the Product Goal and Business Value;
• Creating and clearly communicating Product Backlog items;
• Ordering Product Backlog items based on the business value communicated
by stakeholders; and,
• Ensuring that the Product Backlog is
transparent, visible and understood.
• For Product Owners to succeed, the entire
organization must respect their decisions.
• The Product Owner is one person, not a
committee.
What is the scrum master in Agile?
• The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team in several ways, including:
• Coaching the team members in self-management and cross functionality;
• Helping the Scrum Team focus on
creating high-value Increments that meet the Definition of Done;
• Causing the removal of
impediments to the Scrum Team’s progress; and,
• Ensuring that all Scrum events take place and are positive, productive, and kept within the timebox.
What are themes?
are long-term strategic objectives with a broader scope.
• They provide context for decision-making and help navigate the product strategy within the organization.
• Agile themes sit on top of the work breakdown hierarchy and drive the
What are epics?
are collections of tasks or user stories.
• Epics break down development work into shippable components while keeping the daily work connected to the larger theme.
• Epics are more specific than themes and can be measured so that PMs can observe their contribution to the organization’s overall goal.
What are user stories?
are the smallest piece of work in the agile framework.
• A user story is a brief explanation of a product feature written from the end user’s perspective that articulates how the user will experience value.
• Some organizations may classify larger user stories (stories that can’t be delivered within a single sprint) as epics.
• Alternatively, larger stories could be broken down into sub-tasks.
Consist of role, goal, benefit
What is Scrum – Product Backlog?
- Prioritized list of items to be delivered
- Relatively independent of each other
- Items = User Stories
- Backlog may be reprioritized at any time
- New requirements are prioritized by your project stakeholders and added to the stack
- Product Owner (PO) is responsible for representing all stakeholders - One voice for the team
What is Scrum – Release Planning?
Release Planning Meeting
• Team, Scum Master, Product Owner get together to review Vision and Backlog
• Break backlog down to the user stories
• No user story is larger than a sprit -must be broken-down
• Need to determine how long a Sprint will be
What is Scrum – Daily Scrum?
• 10 to 15 minute for the team to
report to the team
• Focus on answering the key questions
• What did we get accomplished yesterday?
• What are we going to get done today?
• Do you have any blockers?
• Held same time every day - never gets skipped
• Stand up to update Team Board -Visual artifact
• Scrum Master is the facilitator of meeting
What is Scrum – Retrospective?
Key meeting results:
• Discussing what worked in the current sprint.
• Identifying challenge areas.
• Suggesting process improvements.
• Establishing best practices to be implemented in the next sprint.
What is a Sprint Review?
• Attendees include the Scrum Team and key stakeholders invited by the Product Owner;
• The Developers demonstrate the work that it has “Done” and answers questions about the Increment;
• The Product Owner discusses the Product Backlog as it stands. He or she projects likely target and delivery dates based on progress to date (if needed);
• The entire group collaborates on what to do next, so that the Sprint Review provides valuable input to
subsequent Sprint Planning;
• The result of the Sprint Review is a revised Product Backlog that defines the probable Product Backlog items for the next Sprint.
What are the Agile estimating techniques?
Story Point, Planning Poker, Buckets Theory, Dot Voting, T-shirt Size Method
What is a story point?
Story points are a unit of measure for expressing an estimate of the overall effort that will be required to fully implement a product backlog item or any other piece of work.
• When we estimate with story points, we assign a point value to each item.
• The raw values we assign are unimportant. What matters are the relative values.
• A story that is assigned a 2 should be twice as much as a story that is assigned a 1. It should also be two-thirds of a story that is estimated as 3 story points.
• Because story points represent the effort to develop a story, a team’s estimate must
include everything that can affect the effort. That could include:
• The amount of work to do
• The complexity of the work
• Any risk or uncertainty in doing the work
What is planning poker?
Planning poker is an agile estimation technique that makes use of story points to estimate the difficulty of the task at hand.
• It is based on the Fibonacci sequence; the story point values that can be assigned either following the Fibonacci or a modified Febonacci numbering sequence.
• Each of these represent a different level of complexity for the overall project.
What is buckets theory?
Similar to planning poker, the bucket technique aims for consensus through discussion, and by assigning
values to each task.
• This method relies on placing different values on a table. We call the placements ‘buckets’, but you can just use cards. The values are generally
0,1,2,3,4,5,8,13,20,30,50,100 and 200
• Discussion is key to make sure everyone agrees before the final estimates are set.
What is dot voting?
- This one is fairly simple: each person gets a number of dots and uses them to vote on which projects are big and small.
- More dots mean more time and effort is required. Fewer dots indicate a fairly straightforward and quick item.
What is the T-shirt Size Method?
- The items are estimated in standard tshirt sizes (i.e., XS, S, M, L, and XL).
- It can give a quick and rough estimate for how much work is expected for a project. The sizes can be converted into numbers at a later stage – when the team assigns a relative size to the project on hand.
- If estimators propose sizes that do not match up, then the team voices their opinions on the topic and must eventually reach a consensus.
- This is a pretty informal method that is great to use for a large number of items.
What are some agile information radiators?
Task board, Product and Sprint Backlog, Backlog Grooming, Burndown & Burnup Charts, Velocity
What is velocity?
• At the end of each iteration, the team adds up
effort estimates associated with user stories that were completed during that iteration. This total is called velocity.
• Knowing velocity, the team can compute (or revise) an estimate of how long the project will take to complete, based on the estimates associated
with remaining user stories and assuming that velocity over the remaining iterations will remain approximately the same.
What is disciplined agile?
• Disciplined Agile — a tool kit that harnesses hundreds of Agile practices to guide you to the best way of working for your team or organization. More of a hybrid approach
• The Disciplined Agile (DA) tool kit provides straightforward guidance to help organizations streamline their processes in a context-sensitive
manner, providing a solid foundation for business
agility.
What is extreme programming- XP?
What is Kanban?
• Kanban is a lean method to manage work.
• This approach aims to manage work by balancing demands with available capacity, and by
improving the handling of systemlevel bottlenecks.
• Work items are visualized to give participants a view of progress and process, from start to finish.
• Work is pulled as capacity permits, rather than work being pushed into the process when requested.
What is needed to assemble a project team?
- estimate, aquire and manage teams of people as well as human resources required outside of the team
What is a stakeholder?
An individual group or org that may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project, programs, or portfolio
What is a stakeholder register?
a list of individuals or orgs who are actively involved in the project, whose interests may be negatively or positively affected by the performance or completion of the project and whose needs or expectations need to be considered
What is a resource management plan?
Project doc that identifies resources and how to acquire, allocate, monitor and control them
Contains:
Role/responsibilities: Defines roles, authority, responsibility, competence
whats in the plan: project org chart, resource mgmt, training strategies, team devt methods, resource controls, recognition plan
What is a RACI chart?
A common type of responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)
Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed statuses define the involvement of stakeholders in project activities- outlaid in table with R A C or I assigning to roles and tasks
What is a team skills appraisal?
Enable the team to holistically identify its strengths and weaknesses, assess opportunities for improvement, build trust, and establish effective communication
What are the pre-assignment tools?
Helps assess candidates before assigning and confirming team roles
Attitudinal surveys, specific assessments, structured interviews, ability tests, focus groups
What is a team charter?
A document that enables the team to establish its values, agreements, and its practices as it performs its work together
A team charter includes:
shared values, guidelines for communication, decision making guidelines, conflict resolution measures, meeting time/frequency and channel
What are ground rules?
clear expectations regarding the code of conduct for team members
What is conflict managment?
Apply strategies or resolutions methods to deal with disagreements
What are some conflict management approaches?
Withdrawal/avoid: smooth/accommodate: compromise/reconcile: force/direct: collaborate/problem solve:
Project agreement objectives
Reporting and verification criteria for objectives are an important part of the project agreement. the project mat also specify a Definition of Done
Traditional: identify each deliverable and objective acceptance criteria for each
Agile: deliverable will vary as the product backlog is added to, reprioritized and so forth
What is an agile negotiation strategy?
Exact deliverables will vary as the customer modifies, adds, and reprioritizes items in the product backlog
What is an traditional negotiation strategy?
An important objective clearly designates the project’s intended deliverables and how they will be measured and compensated
Prioritization techniques to determine objectives
Can include: review product backlog, kano model, MoSCoW (MSCW) analysis, paired comparison analysis, 100 points method
Resource calendars
Identify working days, shisfts and when specific resources are made available to the project
Lessons learned register
A project document used to record knowledge gained during a project so that it can be used in the current project and entered in the lessons learned repository
Special intervals when projects may require scheduled down time for various reasons
Examples:
Black out times when deliverables are handed over for implementation
Go Live- occurs at end of project timeline
Agile- uses iterations or numerous releases of aspects of the solution over the projects timeline
What are the methods to reach consensus?
Fist of five: closed fist disagreement, fist of 5 complete agreement
Roman voting: thumbs up or down (sometimes sideways for neutral)
Polling: hear opinions then vote
Dot voting: distribute dots equally, then each person allocates dots according to highest preference
What is consensus?
A collaborative process to reach a decision that everyone can support
What is the formula for 3 point estimating?
Asks the estimators to provide most likely (tM); optimistic (tO); and pessimistic (tP) estimates then divide by 3
tE= (tO + tM + tP) / 3
time estimated= (optimistic + most likely + pessimistic) / 3
Should you avoid using absolute time estimates in an agile approach?
Yes, Story Point techniques uses points, NOT time units, to estimate the difficulty of implmenting a user story. It’s an abstract measure of effort required to implment work
What’s another term for standard deviation?
One sigma
What is retrospective?
- A regular check on the effectiveness of quality processes
- look for the root cause of issues then suggest trials of new approaches to improve quality
- evaluate any trial processes to determine if they are working and should be continued, need adjusting or discontinued
What are the 5 phases of retrospective?
- set the stage
- gather and share data
- generate insights
- make decisions
- close
What are T shaped skills?
measured off of breadth of knowledge and depth of knowledge
T- Generalist
I- Specialist
What is the project vision?
A clear vision of the desired objectives and how it aligns with the orgs strategic goals. Might include:
- key desired objectives
- key features/benefis
- differentiators
Formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities
Project charter
What are the project charter contents?
- Assigned PM and responsibility / authority level
- name and authority of project sponsor
- requirements, objectives, risk, etc
What is the project overview statement?
Communicates enterprise -wide the intent and vision of the project
- written with brevity and clarity
- captures objective, problem of oppty, criteria for success
What does the kickoff meeting consist of?
Meeting goals:
- establish project context, assist in team formation, ensure team alignment to the overall project vision
Activities:
- define vision statement, estimation of effort, prioritization, product backlog
What is iteration planning?
A collaborative agile ceremony, sometimes called sprint planning, for the team and the customer to:
- review the highest prioritized user stories or key outcomes
- ask questions
- agree on forecasts for story completion in the current iteration
What are some Agile Ceremonies?
Scrum Sprint planning meeting Sprint Daily standups Sprint review Print retrospective
what are sprint boards?
help to visualize work and enable the team and stakeholders to track progress as work is performed
promote visibility and maximize efficiency and accountability
What is a product box collaboration game?
Techniques used to explain an overarching solution. Helps to understand:
- different types of users of a solution
- their priorities and likes/dislikes
- key aspects of a solution that drive the most critical value aspects
What is a business case?
- documented economic feasibility
- establishes benefits of project components
- provide a basis for authorization of further project activities
Business needs document contain
- provide high-level deliverables
- prerequisite of formal business cases
- describe requirements- what needs creating and or performing
Project implementation plan
- consider all stakeholders, schedules, risks, budgets, quality standards
- identify deliverables- due at end of project
- identify project outputs- delivered throughout the project
Rolling wave plan
an iterative planning technique in which the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail, while work further in the the future is planned at a higher level
Rolling wave planning is
- used in agile or predictive approaches
- a form of progressive elaboration applied to work packages, planning packages, and release planning
- decompose work down to the known level of detail during strategic planning
- decompose work packages into activities as work progresses
Progressive elaboration
The iterative process of increasing the level of detail in a project mgmt plan as greater amounts of info and more accurate estimates become available
What is the agile PM methodology?
- team works collaboratively with the customer to determine the project needs
- the coordination of the customer and the team drives the project
What is the predictive / plan driven PM methodology?
- project needs, requirements and constraints are understood and plans are developed accordingly
- plans drive the project forward
What is the hybrid driven PM methodology?
- combines strategies from the agile or predictive as required
- can switch approaches based on need, changing work requirements or circumstances
Insert details on life cycles
Scope management plan is..
A component of the project or program management plan that describes how the scope will be defined, developed, monitored, controlled and validated
Scope management plan contains..
- should include processes to prepare a project scope requirement
- enables the creation of WBS from the detailed project scope statement
- establishes how the scope baseline will be approved and maintained
- specifies how formal acceptance of the completed project deliverable will be obtained
- can be formal or informal, broadly framed or highly detailed
What are the scope management tools and techniques
- expert judgement
- alternative analysis
- meetings
Project requirements
The actions, processed, or other conditions the project needs to meet e.g. milestone dates, contractual obligations, contraints, etc.
Product requirements
The agreed upon conditions or capabilities of a product, service, or outcome that the project is designed to satisfy
Project scope
The work performed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions
Product scope
The features and functions that characterize a product, service or result
Project and product scope contain..
- Predictive: the scope baseline for the project is the approved version of the project scope statement, WBS, and associated WBS dictionary
- Agile-Backlogs: including product requirements and user stories, reflect current project needs
- Measure completion of project scope against the project mgmt plan
- measure completion of the product scope against product requirements
Tolerances…
Enterprise environmental factors (EEFs)
Conditions (internal or external) not under the control of the project team, that influence, constrain, or direct the project at organizational, portfolio, program or project level
Organizational process assets (OPAs)
Plans, processes, policies, procedures and knowledge bases specific to and used by the performing org. these assets influence the mgmt of the project
EEFs and OPAs..
- projects exist and operate in environments that may influence them, favorably or unfavorably
- are two major categories of project influences
What are some internal and external Enterprise environmental factors (EEFs)
What are some assets for Organizational process assets (OPAs)
Document analysis
Technique used to gain project requirements from current documentation evaluation
Focus groups
An elicitation technique that brings together prequalified stakeholders and subject matter experts to learn about their expectations and attitudes about a proposed product, service, or result
Questionnaires and surveys
Benchmarking
Comparison of actual or planned products, processed, and practices to those of comparable orgs to identify best practices, generate ideas for improvement and provide a basis for measuring performance
Benefits of benchmarking
- Evaluates and compares a business or project’s practices with others
- Identifies best practices in order to meet or exceed them
Interviews
A formal or informal approach to elicit info from stakeholders by talking with them directly
Benefits of interviews
- Helps to identify a stakeholder’s reqs, goals, or expectations for a project
- use to identify/define features and functions of desired projects deliverables
What are some group decision making techniques?
Voting:
Autocratic decision making:
Multicriteria decision analysis:
Types of voting
Unanimity:
Majority:
Plurality:
Agile methods:
What are 2 types of data representation?
Mind Mapping
Affinity Diagram
What does mind mapping do for data representation?
Consolidates ideas created through individual brainstorming sessions into a single map to reflect commonality and differences in understanding and to generate ideas
What does an affinity diagram do for data representation?
Allows large numbers of ideas to be classified into groups for review and analysis
Observations
A technique used to gain knowledge of a specific job role, task, or function in order to understand and determine project reqs
Facilitated workshops
Organized working sessions led by qualified facilitators to determine project requirements and to get all stakeholders together to agree on project outcomes
Context diagrams
Visual depiction of product scope, showing a business system (process, equipment, computer system, etc.) and how people and other systems interact with it
Storyboarding
a prototyping method using visuals or images to illustrate a process or represent a project outcome
Prototyping
Assists in the process of obtaining early feedback on reqs by providing a working model of the expected product before building
Requirements documentation
- describes how individual reqs meet prject business needs
Types of requirements
- business
- stakeholder
- transition and readiness
- quality
- project
- solutions (functional and non-functional)
What are 4 types of nonfunctional requirements?
- availability
- capacity
- continuity
- security
Requirements management plan
A component of the project or program mgmt plan that describes how requirements will be analyzed documented and managed
Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)
Links product requirements from their origin to the deliverables that satisfy them
What is involved in collecting project requirements?
Review
- scope mgmt plan
- reqs mgmt plan
- stakeholder engagement plan
- project charter
- stakeholder register
Project scope statement
The description of the project scope, major deliverables, assumptions and constraints
What are some scope tools and techniques?
- Expert judgement:
- Facilitation:
- Product analysis:
- Multi criteria decision analysis
- Alternatives analysis
Product Analysis
Tool to define scope by asking questions about a product and forming answers to describe the use, characteristics and other relevant aspects of the product
Product analysis consists of..
Product breakdown: Requirement analysis: Value analysis: Value engineering: Systems engineering: Systems analysis:
Work breakdown structure (WBS)
A hierarchical decomposition of a project’s total scope of work to accomplish project objectives and create the required deliverables
Code of accounts
Numbering system that uniquely identifies each component of WBS
WBS dictionary
Provides detailed deliverable, activity, and scheduling info about each component in the WBS
Decomposition
A technique of dividing and subdividing the project scope and deliverables into smaller more manageable parts
Control account
A mgmt control point where scope, budget, actual cost and schedule are integrated and compared to earned value for performance measurement
Planning package
A WBS component below with the control account with known work content but without detailed schedule activities
Work package
the work defined at the lowest level of the WBS for which cost and duration are estimated and managed
Scope baseline
Approved version of a scope statement, WBS and its associated WBS dictionary, that can be changes using formal change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison to actual results
Scope baseline components include
Project scope statement, WBS, work packages, planning packages, WBS dictionary
Product backlog
A list of the expected work to deliver the product
Iteration backlog
include items from the prodcut backlog that can conceivably be completed within the time period based on the team’s capability
User stories
Short descriptions of required functionality; told from user’s POV
Models Across different performance domains
Methods Across different performance domains
Artifacts Across different performance domains
Project Lifecycles Snapshot
The agile scrum framework
