Project Management Fundamentals

Question 1

Framework: Project Management Institution (PMI), Project Management Body Of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide:

Answer 1

A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result

Question 2

Framework: Association for Project Management (APM):

Answer 2

A project is a unique, transient endeavour, undertaken to achieve planned objectives, which could be defined in terms of outputs, outcomes or benefits

Question 3

Framework: ISO 21500:2012

Answer 3

A project consists of a unique set of processes consisting of coordinated and controlled activities with start and end dates, performed to achieve project objectives

Question 4

Framework: Prince2

Answer 4

A temporary organisation that is needed to produce a unique and predefined outcome or result at a prespecified time using predetermined resources.
Or a management environment that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to a specified Business Case.

Question 5

Key Project Characteristics

Answer 5

• Driven by business (organization) needs and have concrete objectives/results
• Temporary, have a definite Beginning and End
• Consume “Resources”
• Involve Risk
• Have defined Roles and Responsibilities
• Have Visibility

Question 6

Programme:

Answer 6

A group related project managed in a coordinated way

Question 7

Portfolio Management:

Answer 7

Selection, prioritisation and control of an organisation’s projects/programmes according to its strategic objectives and ability to deliver

Question 8

Project Management:

Answer 8

The application of processes, methods, knowledge, skills and experience to achieve the project objectives

Question 9

Project Processes:

Answer 9

Activities to be carried out during the project.

Or sequences of stages that each project goes through.

Question 10

Main process groups of a project (from ISO 21500 AND PMI):

Answer 10

• Initiating
• Planning
• Controlling (monitoring)
• Implementing (executing)
• Closing

Question 11

Environments for Developing:

Answer 11

Development Environment

Question 12

Environments for Testing:

Answer 12

• Integration Environment
• User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Environment
• QA Environment, linked to Production/Live/Staging Environment

Question 13

Environments for Release:

Answer 13

Production/Live/Staging Environment

Question 14

Environments for Disaster:

Answer 14

• Disaster Recovery Environment
○ Will have a replica of the main data centre in another location in case of a disaster so the service can continue running
○ Disaster Test: once or twice a year, the main site is deliberately terminated and the service is completely run from the disaster site to supervise the functionality

Question 15

The end product is intangible -

Answer 15

The end product is harder to be seen. IT Project Managers and other stakeholders cannot see progress by simply looking at the artefact that is being constructed

Question 16

Degree of uniqueness -

Answer 16

Most software projects are usually different in a number of ways from previous projects. Even managers who have significant experience may find it difficult to anticipate issues. IT Systems are extremely hum intensive and humans are non linear systems

Question 17

Degree of Uncertainty/Change -

Answer 17

Requirements of most IT projects change during the project due to a number of reasons (business needs, market changes)

Question 18

Degree of Inter-dependencies -

Answer 18

IT Systems rarely live in isolation and there exists a significant degree of interdependencies to other systems/overall IT environment. A change of defect may trigger a cascade of effects

Question 19

Communication/Common Terminology -

Answer 19

There is often a lack of common vocabulary between IT and Business people and even between IT people, mainly due to the proliferation of terms, lack of standardization, the pace of technology evolution, inter-alia