Project Management Flashcards
What is the primary goal of project management?
To achieve project objectives within defined constraints such as scope, time, and budget.
A/an ________ is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.
A. Business operation
B. Project
C. Program
D. Deliverable
Answer: B
Projects have a defined beginning and end.
Operations are ongoing.
Programs are collections of projects that are managed in a coordinated fashion to support the portfolio.
Portfolio is the collection of programs and operations managed as a group to achieve a strategic objective.
The five phases (“process groups”) of project management are initiation, planning, __________, monitoring and controlling, and closing.
Answer: execution
These are also called the Project Life Cycle
Note that Cost&Staffing are generally inversely proportionate to Risk&Uncertainty as a project moves through these phases
What is a project stakeholder?
Any individual, group, or organization that can affect or is affected by a project.
Types include:
Which project management methodology focuses on delivering projects in an iterative and incremental manner?
A. Predictive
B. Waterfall
C. Agile
D. Portfolio
Answer: Agile
Waterfall is an aspect of Predictive Project Life Cycles, and describes how the project phases progress in a predictable, stepwise fashion. Scope is relatively fixed. Focus is on planning.
Adaptive/Agile Project Management (aka change-driven project life cycles) are a rapid/shorter subtype of Iterative and Incremental Project Life Cycles which repeat the project phases iteratively (typically with longer iterations than Agile cycles), and Scope is adjusted with each iteration. Agile uses rolling wave planning in which initial plans are detailed and later plans are high level. Agile Enables continuous quality improvement (CQI). Examples of Agile Project Management include Scrum, XP, Kanban, and Crystal.
What is the purpose of a project charter?
To formally authorize a project and and provide project manager with authority to use resources.
Which of the following is NOT a project constraint?
A) Scope
B) Time/schedule
C) Money/cost
D) Satisfaction
E) People
D) Satisfaction
Constraint = limiting factor that impacts the execution of the project
Triple Constraint
- cost + schedule + scope = quality
Or
- money + time + people = scope/quality
This diagram shows how to adjust for specific issues. However, if there aren’t enough issues (ie insufficient resources), then you might have to adjust the scope/final product instead.
What technique uses decomposition to break down a project into smaller, manageable components?
A. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
B. Traceability Matrix
C. Use Cases
D. Resource Leveling
Answer: A. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) which uses Gantt Charts to visually outline the plan and progress of a project, including scheduling/timelines, task sequences/phases, critical tasks, and deadlines.
Which of the following may not be true of the critical path in project management?
A. It is the longest path through a project.
B. It is the path with the most steps.
C. It indicates the shortest possible duration of a project.
D. It assumes unlimited resources.
Answer: C
Remember that the critical path with the most steps isn’t necessarily the longest in duration.
The critical path is the longest sequence of tasks that determines the minimum project duration, and it assumes unlimited resources.
(Sidebar: by contrast, the Critical Chain Method is a scheduling method that presumes limited resources.)
Also, there can be more than one critical path.
The critical path can be determined via a PERT Diagram (Project Evaluation and Review Technique) which allows flexibility by evaluating 3 times: Optimistic, Most Likely, and Pessimistic.
Note: there may also be a Critical Path Method which can also be used to determine the critical path, and it uses fixed times and does NOT allow flexibility.
Here is an example of a critical path that does happen to also have the most steps.
Which of the following is a common project management tool?
A) Stakeholder register
B) Context diagram
C) Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis
D) Resource calendar
E) All of the above
Answer: E these are all project management tools, though in different phases of the project.
Stakeholder register is a detailed list of all stakeholders including contact info and info about their influence, impact, and expectations for the project. Helpful in project initiation.
A context diagram is a visual representation of project scope. Helpful in project initiation.
A Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis can be used to determine resource allocation when there are multiple resources available, and/or to assess multiple projects with competing priorities. Involves weighted scores. See slide below.
A resource calendar shows when resources can be used and allocated. Helpful in project planning and execution.
What is scope creep? How do you measure it? Why does it happen?
Scope creep is when the current project scope has expanded beyond the baseline project scope (presumably without adjustments to time, cost, and resources).
An important project monitoring/controlling tool is scope variance analysis which seeks to measure and determine the cause of scope creep.
Scope creep is often due to poor definition of scope, especially poor/lack of definition of what is OUT of scope.
What does the term ‘deliverable’ refer to in project management?
A specific product, output, capability or result that must be produced to fulfill project objectives and complete the project.
An organization is about to start a project. Which of the following could be used to outline the roles and responsibilities of team members?
A) Project Charter
B) RACI Matrix
C) Risk Register
D) Gantt Chart
B) RACI Matrix
What is the role of a project manager?
To lead the project team, manage resources, satisfy needs for “task, team, individual” and ensure successful project delivery.
The __________ process involves monitoring, testing, and measuring project performance to identify variances from the plan.
controlling
When adopting a new software or system, project controlling tools include:
- unit testing
- integration testing
- regression testing
- parallel testing (test 10-20% of cases in new system, in parallel with the prior system. hardest to do but most valuable)
