Project Management Foundations

Question 1

How do projects get started?

Answer 1

When someone has a problem to solve or an opportunity to pursue.

Question 2

What is a project?

Answer 2

A project is a temporary endeavor that has a unique goal, and usually a budget.

Question 3

What is project management?

Answer 3

It is applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to achieve your project’s objectives.

Question 4

What are the five questions of project management?

Answer 4

1. What problem are you solving?
2. How are you going to solve this problem?
3. What is your plan?
4. How can you tell when you’re done?
5. How well did the project go?

Question 5

What problem are you solving?

Answer 5

Clearly defining what the project is supposed to accomplish is a big step toward making it a success.

Question 6

How are you going to solve this problem?

Answer 6

Whether you’re solving a problem, or pursuing an opportunity, you might have to choose from several possible strategies. Once you’ve picked out your approach, it’s time to flesh out your solution, gathering requirements, identifying deliverables, and defining project scope.

Question 7

What is your plan?

Answer 7

You have to identify the work to be done, in detail. How long it might take, the resources you need, and how much they cost. With that info in hand, you also need to spell out how you want things to happen in your project, like communication, managing changes, and so on.

Question 8

How will you know when you’re done?

Answer 8

Clearly defined objectives, requirements, measurable results.

Question 9

When you get to the end of the project, you’re ready to answer the last question:

Answer 9

How did the project go? Review the project. What worked well, what didn’t, why? How could we have done better?

Question 10

What are the five skills of a project manager?

Answer 10

1. Technical skills
2. Business expertise
3. Problem solving
4. Interpersonal skills
5. Leadership skills

Question 11

What are the technical skills of a project manager?

Answer 11

What goes into a project plan, building and fine tuning a project schedule, reading a Gant chart, using the critical path and measuring performance.

Question 12

What are the business skills of a project manager?

Answer 12

Making sure a project delivers value. You need to understand your organization’s business, what it does, and what it considers important.

Question 13

What is the project management life cycle?

Answer 13

1. Initiating
2. Planning
3. Executing
4. Monitoring
5. Closing

Question 14

Initiating

Answer 14

All about getting the commitment to start a project. To get that commitment, you start by defining the project. What’s the project supposed to accomplish. What’s the scope. What’s a rough estimate of the resources needed and the cost. You also identify the project stakeholders, and make sure they agree on what the project is. From there you ask for the approval to proceed.

Question 15

Planning

Answer 15

Where you figure out how you’re going to perform the project. In essence, planning answers the questions, what are we going to do? How are we going to do it? And how will we know when we’re done? When the plan is complete, it’s time to get approval to launch the project.

Question 16

Executing

Answer 16

Starts with launching a project. You bring your resources on board, get them settled in, and explain the rules you’re using to run the project. After that, everyone jumps in to put the plan into action.

Question 17

Monitoring

Answer 17

Means checking in to see what’s going on in the project and how that compares to what you planned. If the project is sliding off-track, you take action to get it back on course.

Question 18

Closing

Answer 18

You get the client to officially accept that the project is complete. You document the project performance, gather lessons learned, close contracts, and help resources move on to their next assignments.

Question 19

When each project management process group occurs one after another, it’s known as _____, or the ____, because the processes flow from one to the next.

Answer 19

When each project management process group occurs one after another, it’s known as traditional project management, or the waterfall approach, because the processes flow from one to the next.

Question 20

Waterfall project management works well when …

Answer 20

Waterfall project management works well when the project goal and solution are clearly defined, and the scope and deliverables are clear cut.

Question 21

Simple projects with very little uncertainty are great candidates for ______, because you know what needs to be done and how to handle issues that arise.

Answer 21

Simple projects with very little uncertainty are great candidates for waterfall project management, because you know what needs to be done and how to handle issues that arise.

Question 22

With many projects today, you don’t know what the solution looks like, so you have to figure it out as you go. This type of project requires _____.

Answer 22

With many projects today, you don’t know what the solution looks like, so you have to figure it out as you go. This type of project requires Agile.

Question 23

Agile project management goes through …

Answer 23

Iterations, sometimes called sprints, to deliver partial, yet production-quality solutions at regular intervals.

Question 24

What’s also good about Agile?

Answer 24

With this approach, the customer gets value from the project sooner. In addition, the customer’s feedback on what’s been delivered so far can help improve the overall solution. The customer has to be more involved than in traditional projects. Project teams tend to be smaller, more experienced, and able to work without much supervision.

Question 25

With agile project management, you then …

Answer 25

Develop detailed plans for each iteration. Executing is easier because you work on more than one iteration at a time. Another characteristic of agile projects is that you monitor and control them more closely, and teams tend to communicate faster and more frequently.

Question 26

A classic functional hierarchy is where …

Answer 26

Each person reports to only one supervisor.

Question 27

A matrix is where …

Answer 27

People report to both functional managers and project managers

Question 28

A projectized organization is where …

Answer 28

Most of the people work on projects.

Question 29

In a functional hierarchy, projects …

Answer 29

Aren’t the priority, making it difficult for projects to succeed.

Question 30

Matrix organizations support projects more than …

Answer 30

Pure hierarchies.

Question 31

A projectized organization gives …

Answer 31

Almost complete authority to project managers for their projects.

Question 32

During which process group does the project manager orient team members to the project and expectations?

Answer 32

Executing. At the beginning of the executing process group, you kick off the project, get resources on board, and explain the rules for the project.

Question 33

Your project seems to be going off track, so you take action to resolve the problem. In which project management process group are you working?

Answer 33

Monitoring and controlling. The process group checks on the status of the project and compares it to what was planned.

Question 34

Which organizational factor would you use when having to make a difficult decision?

Answer 34

The organization’s mission. When a project supports the organization’s mission, the project will likely get more support and resources, so the mission helps determine the best thing to do.

Question 35

Initiating a project is about getting …

Answer 35

Commitment to move forward.

Question 36

What is the first step in project initiation?

Answer 36

Assign a project manager who guides the project through the rest of the initiation process.

Question 37

Initiation boils down to …

Answer 37

Defining the project. You identify the problem the project is supposed to solve and gather information about the project, objectives, requirements, deliverables, and more.

Question 38

One you have an initial project definition, what’s next?

Answer 38

Preparing the project charter. This document formally authorizes the project and describes the authority of the project manager.

Question 39

What are stakeholders?

Answer 39

People who have a stake in the outcome of your project.

Question 40

Who can stakeholders include?

Answer 40

Customer, project sponsor, departments involved, or people working on the project itself.

Question 41

Why is knowing your stakeholders important?

Answer 41

You need to know what they expect from the project and how they contribute to it. It’s vital to understand stakeholders’ importance, influence, and interest in the project. That way, you can build relationships with influential stakeholders and make sure they’re satisfied with project results.

Question 42

What is the project customer?

Answer 42

A person or group with a problem to solve. The project customer brings three crucial things to a project. First, the customer funds the project. Second, the customer has a lot to say about what the project will do. Third, the customer approves deliverables from start to finish.

Question 43

What is the project sponsor?

Answer 43

The sponsor is someone who wants to see the project succeed and has enough formal authority to make that happen. A sponsor can help prioritize objectives, talk to stakeholders who aren’t being supportive, and suggest improvements to the project plan.

Question 44

What is a functional or line manager?

Answer 44

Functional managers run departments and are accountable for achieving their department’s goals. They also manage the people in their departments who are the ones you need to staff your project.

Question 45

How are team members stakeholders?

Answer 45

While they’re assigned to your project, their jobs depend on their assignments and may depend on how well they perform.

Question 46

How are departments stakeholders?

Answer 46

They are either people who affect the project or people who are affected by it, so they have a vested interest in how the project turns out.

Question 47

What is the first step toward project success?

Answer 47

Finding out what the customer really wants. The project goal is the end result that the customer desires.

Question 48

What is a goal in relation to project management?

Answer 48

A goal is something like a problem to solve, or an opportunity to take advantage of. It drives everything in the project.

Question 49

Where do you start in identifying the project goal?

Answer 49

You start by putting together a problem statement that clearly defines the problem or opportunity. One way to backtrack from a solution to the original problem or opportunity is to ask why.

Question 50

What is the next step after defining the project goals?

Answer 50

Identifying more detailed objectives. They help define project scope, the approach you choose, and the success criteria you have to meet.

Question 51

Why is it important to define your project strategy?

Answer 51

There is more than one way to achieve your project goal and objectives.

Question 52

Once you’ve identified possible strategies, you evaluate them. How?

Answer 52

A decision matrix helps you compare the options. Evaluate how each option satisfies the project objectives. Then rate the performance for each objective. Consider whether the strategy’s risks are acceptable.

Question 53

What is the next step after defining the project goal, objectives, and strategy?

Answer 53

Determine specifically what the project must deliver, known as requirements.

Question 54

Why is it important that you identify the correct requirements?

Answer 54

Because if you don’t identify the project’s true requirements, the stakeholders won’t be satisfied with the project results. And if you include requirements that aren’t necessary, the project will probably take longer and cost more than it should.

Question 55

Why can it be difficult to gather requirements?

Answer 55

Because stakeholders might describe their requirements incorrectly or provide inconsistent or contradictory requirements. The might leave out requirements they need or include nice to haves. Sometimes people who aren’t stakeholders try to squeeze their requirements into your project. In addition, stakeholders often balk at committing the time it takes to define requirements.

Question 56

They are several techniques for gathering requirements. What are they?

Answer 56

1. Interviews.
2. Observe how people work.
3. Questionnaires and surveys.

Question 57

What can you do if documentation or results already exist?

Answer 57

You can identify requirements by analyzing documents or reverse-engineering products.

Question 58

What is the next step after gathering requirements? Why?

Answer 58

Next, you need to analyze the initial requirements to make sure they make sense. You might discover that you don’t have all the information you need, or that the requirements are inconsistent or duplicated.

Question 59

What is the next step after analyzing requirements?

Answer 59

Go back to your stakeholders to ask more questions and clarify their answers.

Question 60

When the requirements reach their final phase, what must be done?

Answer 60

Document the requirements. To ensure that the requirements are correct and everyone understands them, it’s important to write them in a clear, easy to understand language.

Question 61

What can help eliminate duplication and conflicts regarding requirements?

Answer 61

Organizing requirements into related categories.

Question 62

What are project deliverables?

Answer 62

The results that a project delivers.

Question 63

How do you determine if deliverables are what they’re supposed to be?

Answer 63

You need some way to measure them.

Question 64

What are project deliverable measurements called?

Answer 64

Success criteria.

Question 65

What do project deliverables help you do?

Answer 65

They help you define the project scope, which basically means what is and isn’t included in the project.

Question 66

Besides project scope, what do project deliverables help you do?

Answer 66

They help you measure progress while your project is underway.

Question 67

To document project deliverables, start by listing what?

Answer 67

The end deliverables or the results your project delivers at the end of the project.

Question 68

After listing end deliverables, what is the next step?

Answer 68

Document intermediate deliverables, which are delivered during the course of the project.

Question 69

To document intermediate deliverables, what should you do?

Answer 69

Try to define deliverables that can be accomplished in the time frame between status reports. That way you can evaluate progress based on the deliverables completed since the last report.

Question 70

Now that you’ve identified your deliverables, how can you tell if the ones you receive are what the stakeholders want?

Answer 70

You need quantifiable criteria you can measure them with.

Question 71

What is success criteria?

Answer 71

Definitions of what success looks like. They help you determine whether those deliverables are what you need.

Question 72

To be effective, success criteria should be?

Answer 72

Clear and quantifiable.

Question 73

What is another aspect of defining a project?

Answer 73

To identify project assumptions and risks.

Question 74

Why should you identify project assumptions?

Answer 74

Because during project initiation, there’s a good chance you won’t have all the information you need. To begin the project, you can make assumptions about that information.

Question 75

Later, when the project picture becomes clearer, you should do what with your project assumptions?

Answer 75

Revisit them and modify them if necessary.

Question 76

What is risky about project assumptions.

Answer 76

Different people make different assumptions. If those assumptions aren’t addressed and everyone isn’t on the same page, it can cause future problems.

Question 77

How do you uncover unspoken assumptions as you define and plan the project?

Answer 77

Ask people what they expect and what they envision when they think about the project.

Question 78

What is a project risk?

Answer 78

A risk is a situation or even that might occur that could affect your project positively or negatively.

Question 79

What makes a risk a risk?

Answer 79

That it’s uncertain.

Question 80

How should you mitigate risks?

Answer 80

Early on in the project, spend some time identifying risks that could affect the project, mainly so the management team can make an educated decision about whether or not to invest in the project.

Question 81

Assumptions and risks are management so long as you do what?

Answer 81

Identify them upfront.

Question 82

What is the culmination of project definition?

Answer 82

Project scope with a scope statement.

Question 83

What does project scope describe?

Answer 83

It describes the boundaries of the project, what is included in the scope of the project, and also what’s not included.

Question 84

Why is it important to get the project scope in writing?

Answer 84

Scope creep and the ability to remind stakeholders what they agreed to at the beginning of the project.

Question 85

What is the point of defining a project?

Answer 85

To give the project customer or management team the info they need to approve the project.

Question 86

What is a typical review process?

Answer 86

Stakeholder compares the project information to acceptable criteria that align with the organization’s goals.

Question 87

What are the three possible outcomes from a review?

Answer 87

The project is approved to proceed to planning, it’s denied, or it’s sent back for rework.

Question 88

When the project is approved to proceed to planning, what is the final step in initiation?

Answer 88

To create and distribute a project charter. This document authorizes and publicizes the project.

Question 89

What typically goes into a project charter?

Answer 89

The name of the project, the purpose of the project, a short summary of its goal and objectives, a high-level project description (which may include things like high-level success criteria, requirements, scope, risk, assumptions and constraints), a milestone schedule, cost estimate, and a list of stakeholders. It also includes a formal declaration of the sponsor’s support for the project.

Question 90

What can you also include in your project charter?

Answer 90

Information about the project manager, such as the project manager’s name, responsibilities, and brief description of the work the project manager does. Also, the extent of the project manager’s authority and the specific work the project manager has authority to perform, such as requesting resources or signing contracts.

Question 91

When the project has been authorized and your authority as project manager is common knowledge, you’re ready to do what?

Answer 91

Begin planning the project.

Question 92

After you get the go ahead to plan your project, what is the first thing you should do?

Answer 92

Identify the work that has to be done.

Question 93

What is a WBS?

Answer 93

Work Breakdown Structure. It helps organize work by divvying up the project work into manageable pieces so you can plan, track, and manage your project.

Question 94

How does creating a WBS help the project?

Answer 94

It’s easier to estimate time and cost for smaller chunks of work. After you estimate the small chunks, you can add them up to get an estimate for the entire project. By breaking work into smaller pieces, you have built-in checkpoints to measure progress on the project.

Question 95

A WBS contains what?

Answer 95

Two kinds of tasks: summary tasks and work packages.

Question 96

Summary tasks are what?

Answer 96

Are the higher-level tasks that summarize work in some way. They describe parts of the project. They could represent phases or deliverables or even work done by different groups in your organization.

Question 97

How many levels of summary tasks depends on what?

Answer 97

The size of the project. A few levels are enough for a small project. If a project is large or complex, you might have several levels of summary tasks.

Question 98

What are the lowest level tasks in the WBS?

Answer 98

Work packages. They spell out the lowest level project deliverables and the detailed work needed to deliver them.

Question 99

Breaking your project down into manageable pieces helps you do what?

Answer 99

Plan and manage your project effectively.

Question 100

What is the best way to build a work breakdown structure?

Answer 100

Start by using the scope statement and deliverables to identify the top level summary tasks. Then break down the summary tasks into smaller chunks. Intermediate deliverables come in handy for identifying lower level summary tasks and work packages.

Question 101

Why should you consider breaking down work to match the frequency of your status reports?

Answer 101

That way, you have measurable results and completed tasks for every status report.

Question 102

To give your team the info they need, what should you do with your WBS?

Answer 102

Create work package documents that describe the work that needs to be done in detail.
The level of detail in the work package document depends on how familiar the work is and the experience of the person assigned to the task.

Question 103

What does a work package document do besides describe the work?

Answer 103

It also identifies how you know the task is complete and whether it is completed correctly. For some tasks, you can include the corresponding deliverable and success criteria in a work package document. Otherwise, write up a description of what you will have when the task is complete and what it should look like.

Question 104

What are the two most common questions about a project?

Answer 104

1. How much time will it take?
2. How much will it cost?

Question 105

Why does estimating accurately matter?

Answer 105

You estimates could determine whether it makes sense to run the project because knowing those estimates affects both project schedule and cost.

Question 106

How do you start estimating time?

Answer 106

During initiating and planning, you might work with the core planning team to develop initial estimates. During project execution, you can get more accurate estimates from the people assigned to the tasks. You can use past experience or query the project team to determine a good estimate of 10%+/-

Question 107

Part of planning is to identify and document project roles and responsibilities, who reports to whom, and the skills needed to do the project work. What tool should be used to achieve this?

Answer 107

Resource management plan.

Question 108

What does the resource management plan also include?

Answer 108

Staffing plan, which describes everything about how you’ll staff the project.

Question 109

Where do you start when creating a resource management plan?

Answer 109

A responsibility matrix. This document spells out who can make or approve decisions, the groups performing work, and which groups need to be consulted or informed about what’s going on.

Question 110

A responsibility matrix includes what?

Answer 110

Four categories of responsibility: [R] means a group is responsible for performing work. [I] represents informed, which means a group gets information. [C] means that you consult a group about decisions. However, they aren’t accountable for the decision that’s made. [A] is for accountable, which means the group makes or approves decisions and delegates work.

Question 111

What is the second part of a resource management plan?

Answer 111

A project organization chart. It shows the hierarchy and reporting structure for people involved with the project.

Question 112

What is the third part of a resource management plan?

Answer 112

Identify the skills the project requires and how many people you need with those skills. A skills matrix helps to do that.

Question 113

How do you build a skills matrix?

Answer 113

Take a look at your work packages and identify the skills each package requires. Then create a matrix when tasks require a specific skill. Then you estimate the number of resources you need with each skill.

Question 114

What is the fourth part of a resource management plan?

Answer 114

Developing the detailed staffing plan. Identify where you plan to get resources. When do you need them? Identify any training they need and document resource-related processes, getting team members on board, handing out assignments, getting status updates, and releasing them from the project when their work is done.

Question 115

What does a resource management plan document?

Answer 115

Who does what, who reports to whom, the resources you need, and how you’ll manage them.

Question 116

How do you build a schedule from a WBS?

Answer 116

Put the tasks in the right sequence. Add dependencies or links to identify which tasks have to finish before other tasks can start, which tasks start at the same time, and so on. Next, add the time you estimate each task will take. Third, assign people to tasks. With this, you can calculate task duration. Finally, take into account other constraints like deadlines and when resources are available.

Question 117

What is one of the most important aspects of your project?

Answer 117

The schedule. It tells you how long the project will last and when you need the people who will do the work.

Question 118

What are the three key constraints you need to manage?

Answer 118

1. Project cost

Question 119

What should the project budget be?

Answer 119

It should be a realistic estimate of the cost to complete the project work. You estimate all the costs associated with completing the project work, including labor, materials, and other costs, like travel.

Question 120

What is the project budget?

Answer 120

It is the cost target you aim for as you manage a project.

Question 121

What are the two types of risk?

Answer 121

Risks you’re aware of, A.K.A known unknowns and risks you’re not aware of, A.K.A unknown unknowns.

Question 122

What can you do after identifying risks?

Answer 122

Fill out a Risk Information Form, including details such as: What objectives are in danger? What events can cause the risk to occur? What the consequences are? Who owns the risk?

Question 123

What are unknown unknowns?

Answer 123

Risks that you’re not aware of. They come from situations that are so unlikely they never occur to you.

Question 124

How do you plan for unknown unknowns?

Answer 124

By setting aside contingency funds and time for dealing with them.

Question 125

To minimize the effect of risks, you have to do what?

Answer 125

You first have to identify the risks that your project faces.

Question 126

What does a risk management plan document?

Answer 126

Which risks you’re going to worry about and how you plan to handle them.

Question 127

How do you begin your risk management plan?

Answer 127

First, identify which risks warrant managing. Start by evaluating how likely they are and how series their impact would be. It makes sense to manage risks that are at least fairly likely and serious.

Question 128

What are some risk responses you can use?

Answer 128

The easiest option is to accept the consequences.

Avoiding risk is another approach.

Mitigating risk means taking steps to reduce the consequences or impact of the risk.

Transferring risk means handing off the risk to someone else.

Question 129

How do you handle risks that have no response or risks you didn’t identify?

Answer 129

Contingency in time or funds.

Question 130

What is the final step in a risk management plan?

Answer 130

Defining how to monitor risks and measure responses. Create a risk log to summarize the risks you’ll manage. For each risk include a description of the risk, the events or circumstances that trigger the risk, the probability and impact, the response you’ve chosen, who will monitor the risk, the result you’ll expect from the response if you have to use it, and finally, the risk status.

Question 131

What does a risk management plan do?

Answer 131

Help protect your project from things that can go wrong.

Question 132

Since the success of a project depends on good communication, you must do what?

Answer 132

Set up a communication plan.

Question 133

What is a communication plan?

Answer 133

Tracking stakeholders and keeping them up to date on the project according to their role in relation to the project.

Question 134

What does quality management include?

Answer 134

Processes to make sure that a project satisfies it’s objectives and requirements.

Question 135

What is a quality management plan?

Answer 135

Your roadmap to meeting objectives.

Question 136

What does project quality translate into?

Answer 136

It translates into meeting the customers requirements and delivering on time and within budget. In the case of deliverables being products, quality also means conforming to specifications.

Question 137

What are the three components of a quality management plan?

Answer 137

First, there’s the quality for deliverables. The second part of the quality management plan is a quality assurance plan. This spells out the processes you use during the project to ensure that the final results meet the quality standards. Finally, you plan for quality control which means how you measure and monitor quality in the final deliverables.

Question 138

What is the bottom line of a quality management plan?

Answer 138

You examine or measure results to see if they meet the standard set.

Question 139

What is a big part of quality management?

Answer 139

Continuous improvement. If you find quality issues, you analyze the problems to see how to prevent them, or at least reduce their frequency. They help identify factors that could lead to problems. Those factors can help you figure out ways to prevent the problems.

Question 140

What does a Pareto diagram do?

Answer 140

It shows how many defects are generated by each cause. That way you can address the causes that produce the most defects first.

Question 141

What does a change management plan do?

Answer 141

A change management plan helps you add important changes into your project while keeping out ones that don’t make sense.

Question 142

What are the first steps of a change management plan?

Answer 142

First, you identify what you want to control like the project scope, requirements, and the schedule (or even the entire project plan).

Question 143

What are baseline documents?

Answer 143

The version of the change management plan that you control.

Question 144

What is the baseline?

Answer 144

The project requirements approved by the stakeholders.

Question 145

What are the typical components of a change management process?

Answer 145

The first process is documenting and submitting a change request. Include details about the requested change, the reason it’s needed, the business justification, and the results it should produce. Next, someone has to evaluate the request and estimate its impact. The evaluator determines whether the change is needed. If it is, the evaluator decides if the suggested approach is correct or if an alternative is required. Then, they estimate the effort and cost the change would require, the impact on the project, and whether it introduces risks. Third, the change review board reviews the evaluated change request and either approve, deny, or ask for more information. If accepted, the baseline documents must be updated. Finally, track where change requests are in your process.

Question 146

What does a change request log show?

Answer 146

It shows the status of submitted change requests, who’s in charge of the request, the impact estimate, current status, and at the end, actual impact.

Question 147

To mitigate overwhelm, what should you also include in your change management plan?

Answer 147

A process for emergency changes that need a rapid decision between meetings of the change review board.

Question 148

What is a procurement plan?

Answer 148

A plan for purchasing outside your organization.

Question 149

What does a procurement plan include?

Answer 149

First identify what you need to purchase. Second, document your procurement processes. The plan describes criteria for choosing vendors, the selection process, types of contracts you use and how you manage those contracts. Third, you describe your make or buy decision process. The last part of the procurement plan is a list of potential vendors who offer what you need. Describe how you researched vendors and contractors and the criteria for developing the list.

Question 150

What does procurement planning help?

Answer 150

It helps you make smart decisions about whether to purchase products and services and if you do, which products and services to procure.

Question 151

For resources outside your organization, what does the procurement process look like?

Answer 151

Solicitation, evaluation, selection, contracting, and ongoing management.

Question 152

What does solicitation begin with?

Answer 152

A request for proposal, RFP. It’s a typical way to ask vendors for proposals or bids.

Question 153

What does the RFP describe?

Answer 153

It describes the services or resources you need, when you need them and your budget for the work. Include the criteria you plan to use to select a vendor so companies can decide whether or not to bid. Don’t forget to include the instructions and deadline for submitting a proposal, and the date you’ll announce a decision.

Question 154

What is contracting?

Answer 154

It is when you prepare and sign a contract for the resources you need. Contracts usually include a statement of work, terms and conditions, deliverables, deadlines, and the price.

Question 155

What categories do contracts fall into?

Answer 155

Fixed-price, where the vendor is paid a fixed amount no matter how much time the work takes, or how much it costs. Time and materials contracts pay for time worked and expenses incurred. A cost-plus contract is like time and materials with the addition of penalties or rewards based on the vendor’s performance. With a retainer, you agree to pay for a specified amount of time and define the work as you go.

Question 156

Why is getting approval important?

Answer 156

You need stakeholders’ commitment to make the project a success. It’s important that the stakeholders understand what the project is about and buy into it.

Question 157

What is the general practice most companies use for accounting for unknown risks?

Answer 157

Set aside a percentage of the budget and project duration based on past projects. If you don’t have past experience, use 15%.

Question 158

What is a general practice for choosing the best estimate for cost?

Answer 158

Choose a point halfway between average and worst-case values.

Question 159

What is a network diagram?

Answer 159

A diagram that shows the sequence of tasks. Each task appears in a box with the task name, and perhaps other task info. Arrows drawn between boxes shows how the tasks are linked.

Question 160

What is a task dependency?

Answer 160

When one task controls the timing of another. The task in control is the predecessor and the one being controlled is the successor.

Question 161

What are the four types of task dependencies?

Answer 161

Finish-to-start is when the one task cannot be started until the predecessor is completed.

A finish-to-finish dependency means that the finish of one task controls the finish of another.

Start-to-start means that the start of one activity triggers the start of the other.

Start-to-finish means that the start of one task triggers the finish of another.

Question 162

How can you figure out which type of dependency to use?

Answer 162

Ask a few questions. Which task controls the other? Does the start of finish date of the first task control the second task? Does the predecessor control the start or finish of the successor?

Question 163

How does adding task dependencies to your tasks help your network diagram?

Answer 163

It gets your project tasks in sequence.

Question 164

What is the final piece of the scheduling puzzle?

Answer 164

How many people work on each task and when they’re available. With this info, you can see how long tasks take and when they should occur.

Question 165

Where do you assign resources to in your WBS?

Answer 165

Work packages, because they represent work that must be done.

Question 166

Where shouldn’t you assign resources?

Answer 166

Summary tasks and milestones. Summary tasks roll up work from lower levels and milestones don’t have duration.

Question 167

What do milestones do?

Answer 167

They show progress and other key project points.

Question 168

What is the critical path?

Answer 168

It is the longest sequence of tasks in your schedule. It is the place to look when you want to keep your project on time or deliver it early.

Question 169

Why is the critical path critical?

Answer 169

Because any delay on that path delays the finish date of the project. If you can figure out how to shorten the critical path, you can shorten the project schedule.

Question 170

How do you tell which tasks are on the critical path?

Answer 170

They don’t have any slack, also known as float. Just like a string with no slack, critical tasks can’t move without affecting the project finish date.

Question 171

A task has two sets of start and finish dates. How?

Answer 171

The early start and early finish are the earliest possible dates the task could start or finish based on its dependencies with other tasks. The late start and late finish are the latest possible dates without delaying the tasks that follow.

Question 172

What is a forward pass?

Answer 172

When you start at the project start date and use task duration and dependencies to calculate when they finish.

Question 173

How do you calculate the late start and late finish dates?

Answer 173

You calculate these dates by working backwards from the end of the project, or the backward pass.

Question 174

What is the critical chain method?

Answer 174

It is a slightly different take on the critical path. You schedule tasks to occur as late as possible and helps prevent delays in the project finish date.

Question 175

What are the benefits of the critical chain method?

Answer 175

You don’t have to spend money on the project until you absolutely have to. It focuses on resource limitations to identify the important tasks to manage. It gives you buffers against deadlines.

Question 176

How does critical chain work?

Answer 176

You start by scheduling tasks with the most limited resources, so you use those people as effectively as possible. The approach uses buffers to give a project breathing room, so that the finish date isn’t delayed.

Question 177

What are a few techniques to shorten the project schedule?

Answer 177

Fast-tracking means you overlap tasks that normally occur one after the other. The best tasks to fast-track are the longest tasks on the critical path. But it also increases risk.

Crashing means you spend additional money to shorten the schedule, like paying for more people or expedited delivery of key materials.

Cutting project scope.

Question 178

What is a crash table?

Answer 178

It shows the cost to crash each critical task and the duration you eliminate by crashing them.

Question 179

When do you define the project baseline?

Answer 179

Once the stakeholders have approved the project plan.

Question 180

What is the baseline?

Answer 180

A collection of the approved project documents like requirements, the schedule, budget, spread sheets, etc.

Question 181

What can you do with baseline documents?

Answer 181

You can compare actual project performance to see how the project’s doing.

Question 182

What is not something milestones do?

Answer 182

Summarize schedule and cost performance. Milestones don’t have duration or assigned resources, so they can’t summarize cost. However, looking at only milestones does provide one type of high-level summary of the schedule.

Question 183

What is not a required part of creating a project schedule?

Answer 183

What time people start working each day.

Question 184

When are Agile projects great?

Answer 184

When business needs change frequently or the business wants to receive value sooner.

Question 185

How does Agile work?

Answer 185

By frequently delivering small chunks of product known as features. With Agile, work is performed in time periods called iterations or sprints. The goal of each iteration is to deliver a complete, ready to use feature.

Question 186

What is the difference between waterfall and Agile?

Answer 186

The waterfall approach defines the scope of the project and then estimates the time, cost, and quality to deliver that scope. Agile looks at time, cost, and quality as fixed elements. Then you figure out which features you can produce given those constraints.

Question 187

What is the Agile methodology?

Answer 187

It starts with the envision stage, where you define the goal and the boundaries of the project. You then repeat the speculate, explore, and adapt stages to develop and test features. At the end of the project, you perform a closing stage to wrap things up.

Question 188

What is change control?

Answer 188

It is done by prioritizing the backlog of features, and risk is managed with frequent releases.

Question 189

What is the envision stage of Agile?

Answer 189

The envision stage is the start of your project. You define the project goal and objectives and figure out who you need on your team. You also set up the guidelines for how you’ll run the project. When envisioning is done you’ll have a project definition that spells out the project customer, goal, objectives, scope, stakeholders.

Question 190

How does Agile differ from waterfall after the envision stage?

Answer 190

For each iteration, you cycle through the speculate, explore, and adapt stages, instead of doing so for the whole project.

Question 191

What is the speculate stage of Agile?

Answer 191

When the business and technical teams identify the features to include in the current iteration.

Question 192

What is a feature?

Answer 192

A small function or deliverable that addresses a business need.

Question 193

Why is the first iteration speculate stage long than the following ones?

Answer 193

Because you identify and estimate all the features for the project, which is called the backlog. When the features list is complete, the business and technical teams review the features and prioritize them. Once the prioritized feature list is approved by the customer or sponsor, you can create the iteration, milestone, and release plan.

Question 194

What does the release plan do?

Answer 194

This plan outlines all the features, when they’re scheduled in the iterations, and when they’ll be implemented in the organization.

Question 195

Each time you start another speculate stage, what must you do?

Answer 195

You have to re-estimate, reevaluate, and re-prioritize the the features to decide which ones to include in the iteration, like features that weren’t completed and are now back in the backlog, or new features that were identified since the original backlog was build and the next features in the backlog you want to include.

Question 196

What is a key concept with the Agile approach?

Answer 196

You stop working on features when the iteration is scheduled to end, even if the features aren’t done. If features are incomplete, you put the incomplete work into the backlog to address it in a future interation.

Question 197

What is the explore stage mostly about?

Answer 197

Building and implementing features, with short daily meetings to keep things on track reviewing the status on completed and incomplete work.

Question 198

What is a close phase?

Answer 198

Tying up loose ends. You reconcile the project financials. You work with resource managers to reassign team members. You communicate the project results to the customer and stakeholders.

Question 199

What are the names for the stages in an Agile iteration?

Answer 199

Speculate, explore, adapt.

Question 200

Executing a project starts with what?

Answer 200

Lining up the people and other resources you need to perform the work.

Question 201

What is a kick-off meeting for?

Answer 201

To show team members their assignments, who they’re working with, and how the project’s going to go.

Question 202

What is a project notebook?

Answer 202

A place to store project information, like your project plan, specifications, documents, and reports.

Question 203

What does project execution represent?

Answer 203

Performing all the work you identified in the work breakdown structure.

Question 204

What kicks in at the same time as executing?

Answer 204

Monitoring and controlling your project. Monitoring means collecting data and where the project stands. Controlling is about correcting course to get your project back on tracking.

Question 205

What is the first step to a productive meeting?

Answer 205

Identify the purpose of the meeting and the results you need, like approval to move forward, or to resolve the issue.

Question 206

What is a facilitator?

Answer 206

The person who kicks off the meeting with a brief introduction, the purpose of the meeting, the agenda topics, the attendees, and the ground rules for interaction. They can coax people to participate and wrangle the conversation back on topic.

Question 207

What is one model for typical team phases?

Answer 207

Forming, storming, norming, and performing.

Question 208

What is forming?

Answer 208

Individuals are just starting to form a team. They aren’t sure of their goal and who does what. As a leader, you have to clearly define the team’s goals and give them direction.

Question 209

What is storming?

Answer 209

Storming teams have difficultly making decisions because of disagreements. You have to help them stay focused on their goals and help them make decisions. Communication will help.

Question 210

What is norming?

Answer 210

When the team understands their common goal and everyone pitches in to be successful.

Question 211

While work is underway, what must be done?

Answer 211

You need to track how things are going, what’s been done, what’s left to do, and what it cost.

Question 212

What are the exceptions to the change request approval process?

Answer 212

If a change request affects the project’s business case. In that case, the customer needs to approve it. If a change request affects other projects, take the request to your organization’s executive board. Emergencies are another special case.

Question 213

What does owning a risk mean?

Answer 213

Before a risk occurs, you proactively implement risk responses. That means you take steps to avoid, mitigate, or plan contingencies for the risk. Then you watch for signs that high-priority risks are unfolding. Also watch for the events that trigger a contingency plan. When a risk occurs, launch the response you planned. Then, track the results. Finally, regularly report risk status and update the risk log and detail sheet.

Question 214

What is earned value analysis?

Answer 214

It’s based on three measures calculated through the project status date. First, you measure planned value. Second, earned value is the amount of money you’ve earned by completing work (budgeted cost of work performed). The third measure is the actual cost for the completed work. A graph of these values helps you see whether your project is on schedule and within budget.

Question 215

What is budgeted cost of work scheduled?

Answer 215

How much you plan to spend to complete the work scheduled through the status date.

Question 216

How does a Gantt chart help with seeing where your project stands?

Answer 216

It compares the current schedule to your baseline plan. The position of the task bars in the timescale shows whether tasks are ahead of, behind, or right on schedule. It shows how long the project will take and which variances exist.

Question 217

What do variance values show?

Answer 217

The exact difference between your baseline and current schedule.

Question 218

What is the most important part of closing?

Answer 218

Getting the customer to agree that the project completed successfully.

Question 219

How can you improve the performance of future projects?

Answer 219

By identifying what worked well, what didn’t, and how things can be done together.

Question 220

A closeout report is primarily used to

Answer 220

Share a summary of the project with others.

Question 221

To get detailed values of project schedule and cost performance look at ___ and ____.

Answer 221

Schedule variance; cost variances.

Question 222

What does it mean when earned value is above planned value?

Answer 222

More work has been completed than planned, and the task or project is ahead of schedule.