Project Management

Question 1

What are the elements of the project triangle?

Answer 1

Time, Cost, Scope, Quality

Question 2

What is Project Management?

Answer 2

Project Management is the process of planning, organizing, and managing tasks and resources to accomplish a defined objective, usually within limitations on time, resources, and/or cost.

Question 3

Project management is necessary when:

Answer 3

• You have multiple critical milestones over time
• The relationships between subtasks are complex (dependencies, etc.)

Question 4

Define project tasks.

Answer 4

The activities that take time and consume resources.

Question 5

What are project milestones?

Answer 5

A milestone does not take time or consume resources. It is usually a significant point in a project which defines where you are and is verifiable by others.

Question 6

What is a dependency in a project plan?

Answer 6

A relationship between tasks that determines the order in which activities need to be performed.

Question 7

Describe the expectations of a Project Manager.

Answer 7

• Organization (Conserve resources, Timely and accurate project communication)
• Project (develop, communicate and execute the plan on time, within budget, and up to specifications)
• Team (Provide direction, opportunity to contribute, recognition for a job well done)

Question 8

What does proactive monitoring mean when managing a project?

Answer 8

Verifying progress toward milestones prior to their due dates and identifying progress issues in time to mitigate missed milestones.

Question 9

What are the options for recovery when a milestone is in jeopardy of being missed?

Answer 9

• Cut back on the scope of your activity
• Increase resources
• Skip project steps (such as piloting, CAP development, etc.) and go straight to implementation
• Re-plan and move project milestones out.

Question 10

What is the critical path and why is it important to consider?

Answer 10

The critical path consists of those tasks from beginning to end with the longest cumulative duration. Any delay in tasks on the critical path will delay the overall project. The critical path may change if other tasks are delayed or added.

Question 11

What are the minimum project planning requirements?

Answer 11

• A dedicated project leader
• A documented objective for the project, including timeline, budget, performance criteria, exit criteria, and customer CTQs
• A list of activities required to complete the project, associated time estimates, and who is responsible
• A schedule showing how the activities are interrelated and expected start and end times
• Risk assessment
• Routine Progress Reports to the team and your Champion

Question 12

What is scope creep?

Answer 12

The addition of new and/or significantly altered requirements or CTQs after scope definition.

Question 13

How should risks be phrased/structured?

Answer 13

IF… BY…THEN

Question 14

What tools do we use to identify and manage risk?

Answer 14

• Risk Matrix/FMEA
• Critical Path analysis

Question 15

What are the strategies for dealing with risk?

Answer 15

• Risk Avoidance – Reduce the probability of the risk occurring (Negative)
• Risk Enhancement – Increase the probability of the risk occurring (Positive)
• Risk Mitigation – Working to reduce the impact of the risk if it occurs (Negative)
• Risk Exploiting – Working to enhance the impact of the risk if it occurs (Positive)
• Risk Escalation – Shifting of the risk to a higher level of the organization or to an external group (i.e. insurance)
• Risk Acceptance – Watch for further development but no active management plan in place