Project Management Notes

Question 1

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

Answer 1

Monitoring and Controlling. This phase checks on the status of the project and compares it to what was planned.

Question 2

The boss has asked you to research project management tools that will help with building and planning tasks on a timeline. Which type of tool would you most likely consider?

Answer 2

a scheduling program. Project managers typically use this tool to build and manage a project schedule.

Question 3

During which waterfall phase does the project manager bring the full team on board and orient them to the project and expectations?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Your organization runs numerous projects and wants to choose the most appropriate resources for each project team. Which of the following is the best tool for identifying project resources?

Answer 4

enterprise project management software. Enterprise project management software offers tools to find resources with the right skills and availability.

Question 5

You are hiring a new project manager to take over a project with several teams that often disagree on what they are supposed to do. Which competency would you feel is most important in a candidate for this situation?

Answer 5

strong leadership skills. This skill is needed to help guide and inspire the team to do the right things and work together.

Question 6

Which organizational factor is most important when you need to make a difficult decision?

Answer 6

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 7

Which of the following skills is not crucial for a project manager to possess?

Answer 7

accounting. Although project managers do need to understand aspects of finance, accounting skills can be provided by others.

Question 8

Camille wants to use the Agile approach on the project she will be managing. What significant benefit does the agile methodology provide?

Answer 8

the customer receives value from the project sooner.One of the key benefits to an agile methodology is that the customer receives value sooner, because partial solutions are delivered on a regular schedule.

Question 9

A project that you manage is behind schedule. You have identified an approach that would get the project back on track, but it would require you to break one of your organization’s policies. What is the best course of action?

Answer 9

Determine if the rule is one that can be broken and come up with an alternative plan of action if your approach doesn’t work.Some rules can’t be broken without severe consequences. If you determine that the rule can be broken, you can deliver earlier with minor consequences. You must have a plan for what you will do if you break the rule and don’t deliver earlier.

Question 10

Rosanne’s boss asks her to manage a project. Which question requires understanding of objectives, requirements, deliverables, and success criteria to answer?

Answer 10

How will you know when you are done? This question requires understanding of deliverables and success criteria, whereas the other questions do not require that information.

Question 11

James is managing a project in which he has some authority to make decisions. In which type of organizational structure is James most likely managing this project?

Answer 11

a matrix organization. This organizational structure can be weak or strong, but does allow the project manager to have some authority to make decisions.

Question 12

What are the components that differentiate a project from operational work?

Answer 12

a unique goal, a temporary endeavor, and usually a budget. The definition of a project is “a temporary endeavor that has a unique goal and usually a budget.”

Question 13

Ravi took on a system implementation project that he estimated would take six months to complete, but the work keeps continuing. What is the likely cause?

Answer 13

The project is not clearly defined.

Question 14

Sakait has done some extra work to appease a client. Now the client is asking her to do one more task, which is significant and not part of project scope. What should Sakait do?

Answer 14

Sakait should tell the client the task is not within scope and add the task using the change control process.This is the best approach for Sakait and would help to prevent any further scope creep.

Question 15

As part of the project definition, Bisa identifies risks for the project. What is the purpose of doing this during project initiation?

Answer 15

so management can decide whether the risks are serious enough to warrant denying the project. If the project has numerous, serious risks, management might decide to choose a different project that offers benefits without so much uncertainty.

Question 16

After the plan is approved and project work begins, Tara’s boss is not happy about a project delay for an upgrade. The vendor thought Tara’s team would do the upgrade, and Tara thought the vendor would do it. What was missed in this situation?

Answer 16

An assumption was not identified.Assumptions are created during the project initiation phase when you do not know everything that will happen, and thus this one was missed.

Question 17

Your boss has asked you to be the project manager of an approved software implementation project. Which project document identifies your authority and responsibilities?

Answer 17

a project charter. This document describes the scope, objectives, stakeholders, and the project manager’s authority and responsibilities for a project.

Question 18

Why is it important to document the project scope?

Answer 18

to remind stakeholders what they agreed to and to prevent scope creep. With the project scope in writing, you will be able to identify whether requests are within scope or need to be handled by change management.

Question 19

Rudolph, the project manager, is trying to obtain customer approval of project deliverables. It is taking longer than he anticipated because the customer wants to discuss the results. What is the most likely reason for these delays?

Answer 19

The success criteria aren’t clear and quantifiable. Success criteria that are unclear or not quantifiable can make it difficult to determine whether deliverables are acceptable.

Question 20

Banton is defining his project deliverables. Which statement describes what a project deliverable is?

Answer 20

Deliverables are the results that the project delivers and help define the project scope.

Question 21

Which technique would you most likely use to gather valid requirements and get buy-in from various departments?

Answer 21

focus groups. This type of requirements gathering is usually face-to-face and is best for obtaining buy-in or agreements from several groups.

Question 22

Project objectives help you flesh out a project by

Answer 22

defining project scope. Project objectives help identify the items you include in project scope.

Question 23

Your client has asked for a project that will fix productivity concerns with the customer service department. After asking “why” several times, you are able to determine the cause and create a

Answer 23

problem statement. This is what clearly defines the problem or opportunity that the project will address.

Question 24

Ramesh is creating objectives for his project. Which SMART step will help him identify actual progress?

Answer 24

Measurable. This SMART step refers to the objectives that make it easy to determine whether or not they have been achieved.

Question 25

The sponsor of Project T5 assigned you as the project manager, and the project has already been approved. What is the first thing you need to do as the project manager?

Answer 25

Review what has been done and complete any tasks not addressed.

Question 26

Krisha is gathering information on her stakeholders, such as department names, factors that motivate them, who they listen to, and their contributions on the project. What is this document called?

Answer 26

a stakeholder analysis. This document includes much of the information Krisha needs to effectively communicate with each stakeholder.

Question 27

You are managing a project that is implementing a new financial system. You need to include some of the finance department’s resources on the team. Which stakeholder should you approach?

Answer 27

a functional or line manager. This stakeholder is most accountable for the resources that are needed for a project.

Question 28

Several stakeholders for a project disagree on the priorities of many project objectives. Who would you ask first for help resolving this issue?

Answer 28

the project sponsor. The project sponsor wants the project to succeed and has enough authority to help you resolve issues, particularly with other stakeholders.

Question 29

You are the project manager for a healthcare system implementation project. The sponsor has asked you to create a project definition. What will the sponsor use this document for?

Answer 29

to decide whether to approve the project. By defining the project, the customer or sponsor can make an informed decision whether the project makes sense for the organization.

Question 30

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

Answer 30

Set a deadline for the project

Question 31

Raghbir has done all the project planning and is ready to obtain stakeholders’ approval. However, the stakeholders are not co-located. What is the best possible approach for getting their approval?

Answer 31

Have a video conference with all stakeholders.This is the best approach for achieving group collaboration and approval in a timely fashion.

Question 32

Jivan is preparing an agenda for the project plan approval meeting. Which item should she not include in her agenda?

Answer 32

schedule the project definition meeting. The project definition meeting is held during the initiation phase of the project before the plan is created.

Question 33

Angela is about to start the project plan for a financial system migration project. What information should she identify first because it drives most of the plan?

Answer 33

the work that must be done. The work that must be done determines the skills and resources you need, the effort the work will take, the cost, and more.

Question 34

Chloe is developing her risk management plan and wants to make sure that she can get early warning that a risk might occur. What is the key item she should document in her risk information forms

Answer 34

the events that might trigger the risk. If an event might trigger a risk, documenting these events will give you early warning.

Question 35

Candace is a new project manager and has asked for your help with the project budget. Which type of cost typically represents the largest portion of a project budget?

Answer 35

Labor equates to people and is the largest part of a project’s costs

Question 36

You are building your project schedule. You have the tasks in the right sequence. What is the next step you should take?

Answer 36

Add the time that you estimate for each task.Once you have tasks in the right order, you can add the estimated time for each task.

Question 37

Turkan is developing a resource management plan for his project. Which part of this plan articulates who makes decisions, who performs work, and who needs to receive status on the project?

Answer 37

responsibility matrix. This section details the responsibilities, decision makers, participants, and approvers.

Question 38

Mei has obtained a graph showing duration data for past projects that follows a normal distribution. Which duration estimate provides the best chance for a project being selected and completed successfully?

Answer 38

the average of the worst-case value and the 50% probability value on the normal distribution. This choice is not so high that the project won’t get selected, yet it provides an 86% chance of delivering at or below your estimates.

Question 39

The IT department says that there are several products that do what the project needs. What is the most important thing that will help you choose the right product?

Answer 39

understanding your project needs. Understanding your project needs is the most crucial step towards making the best procurement decision. It allows you to create clear and prioritized requirements.

Question 40

Madhukant’s project includes testing software functions. Which part of the quality management plan would address the processes that will be used to ensure the software is meeting the standards?

Answer 40

quality assurance plan. This section articulates the processes Madhukant uses during the project to ensure the final results meet the quality standards.

Question 41

Your coworker has to develop a cost estimate but is unsure which is the best one based on a bell curve of costs for past projects. What is a general practice for choosing the best estimate?

Answer 41

Choose a point halfway between the average and worst-case values.This approach will give the project the best probability for overall success, including contingency.

Question 42

Linde has a tight budget for her project. She needs to potentially seek outside sources. Which plan should she consult to understand the products or services that are available?

Answer 42

the procurement plan. This plan describes the process for deciding whether to purchase projects and services, how to do it, and which are available to purchase.

Question 43

Your boss is asking you to take on a reengineering project. The company hasn’t run reengineering projects before, but has hired several project managers with reengineering experience. Which technique is best to use in this situation to estimate time and cost?

Answer 43

Delphi technique. This technique is best, as it requires anonymous input from experts from which you can take the averages for estimates.

Question 44

Your client has just asked you to make changes to some features in the project. What would you do first?

Answer 44

Ask the client to document and submit a change request form.This is the process that needs to be followed as part of the project’s change management process.

Question 45

The change review board can’t get through all the change requests that are submitted. They want to focus on requests with significant impact. What process change would you propose to allow the review board to focus on significant changes?

Answer 45

Set thresholds so you or team leads can decide what to do with small change requests. Setting thresholds for time and cost will reduce the number of change requests that the review board has to handle.

Question 46

When would you create a work package document that describes the work to be done in explicit detail?

Answer 46

the assigned resource is inexperienced. A detailed work package can provide an inexperienced person with guidance on what needs to be done, how it needs to be done, how to tell that the work is complete and completed correctly.

Question 47

The development team has encountered a problem with a software feature. They need to handle this problem quickly, but they can’t make a face-to-face brainstorming session because they aren’t local. Which alternative solution is best?

Answer 47

Videoconferencing is similar to face-to-face interactions and a next best thing to face-to-face sessions.

Question 48

Which factor is a test you can use to determine whether you have broken down the work to the right level?

Answer 48

The work package is between 8 and 80 hours to complete.This is a best practice project managers strive to achieve when testing whether work is broken down to the right level.

Question 49

You have created a risk management plan for your project. Which type of response would you use if the scope was changed to remove a risky section of the project?

Answer 49

avoidance. Changing the project scope to remove a risky section is an example of avoiding risk.

Question 50

George is building his work breakdown structure (WBS) to organize and distribute the project work to various departments. Which type of tasks would he use to represent a department’s responsibility?

Answer 50

summary tasks. These tasks are the higher-level tasks that organize work in some way, such as work for a department.

Question 51

One risk to your schedule is that a hard drive with customized software fails and you lose the work that was done. Resources on the project team regularly back up their work so they can resume work quickly after a hard drive failure. What type of risk management strategy do backups represent?

Answer 51

risk mitigation. Risk mitigation means you limit the impact or probability of the risk, which is what the team is doing by backing up their work regularly.

Question 52

Which of the following skills is not crucial for a project manager to possess?

Answer 52

Accounting.

Question 53

Izzy has finished identifying risks for her big project, but is unsure how to account for unknown risks from a time and cost perspective. What is the general practice most companies use for projects?

Answer 53

Set aside a percentage of the budget and project duration based on past projects. If you don’t have past experience, use 15%.This is a best practice most project managers use for contingency.

Question 54

Kendra has a project team of varying skills and experience. Since the WBS task names are short and may not be enough for the team members to know what to do, what should Kendra do?

Answer 54

Kendra should have her team leaders create work package documents. These documents describe the work that needs to be done in detail. They are created for new or less-experienced team members.

Question 55

The project customer and other stakeholders have approved your project plan. After you save the project baseline, those documents will be under the control of the

Answer 55

change management process. The baseline documents represent anything that you want to control with change management. Any changes to the baseline are change requests.

Question 56

Which type of dependency is most common in project schedules?

Answer 56

finish-to-start. This type of dependency is best here because it means the finish of one task controls the start of the next task.

Question 57

Milestones can be used in many ways. What is not something that milestones do?

Answer 57

. 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 58

A stakeholder project review meeting is estimated for a one-day duration. There are eight stakeholders. How many work hours do the stakeholders spend in this meeting?

Answer 58

64. The task duration is one day each for eight stakeholders, so the amount of work hours per day needs to be multiplied by each resource

Question 59

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

Answer 59

what time people start working each day. Duration is determined by the number of people assigned, the percentage of their regular work schedule allocated to the task, and the days that resources are or are not available to work. The start of the work day usually doesn’t affect duration.

Question 60

You have quite the diversified team in experience, skills, and hours they work. Which best practice should you follow to help ensure your schedule is as realistic as possible?

Answer 60

Add notes to your schedule to document resource changes and the reasons for the changes.To keep track of resource changes, it is best to add notes to your schedule with the reasons for the changes.

Question 61

Now that your project is underway, all resource assignments are running late. What is the likely cause?

Answer 61

not taking into account the hours that resources spend on non-project work each day. Non-project time affects everyone in the organization, which is why this is the most likely cause of every resource being behind schedule.

Question 62

Which activity is not part of the Adapt stage?

Answer 62

Review what has been completed and what is still on the backlog to choose the features for the next iteration.

Question 63

The Agile team is building and implementing features. The team lead runs a daily meeting to review the status on completed and incomplete work. Which Agile stage is the team in?

Answer 63

explore. This is the stage in which the team is working on the features assigned to the current iteration.

Question 64

The customer has identified several new features since the original backlog was built.You are performing agile PM. What do you do to address them?

Answer 64

At the beginning of the next iteration, re-estimate, reevaluate, and re-prioritize the backlog features to decide which ones to include in the iteration.The customer can add features at any time, at which point you estimate and prioritize them in the backlog. Because things can change, at the beginning of each iteration, you re-estimate, reevaluate, and reprioritize backlog features before you decide which ones to add to that iteration.

Question 65

The Agile project management lifecycle

Answer 65

includes activities similar to a Waterfall approach but performed in a different order and with different emphasis. Agile project management includes activities similar to Waterfall. In Agile, planning, execution, control, and closing are performed in iterations. In addition, Agile project management activities emphasize things differently, such as interacting and documenting when needed.

Question 66

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

Answer 66

speculate, explore, adapt. These are the three stages a team cycles through for each iteration.

Question 67

How can using an Agile approach help a company improve delivery?

Answer 67

by using an iterative approach to deliver value sooner. The goal of using iterations or sprints is to deliver a complete, ready-to-use feature that is of value to the customer.

Question 68

Which choice is not a characteristic of Agile project management?

Answer 68

no documentation. Agile projects produce less documentation than a traditional Waterfall approach. They do not totally eliminate documentation.

Question 69

You need to resolve a serious disagreement over requirements between the project customer and another key stakeholder. What is the key communication technique to choose for this situation?

Answer 69

Hold a face-to-face meeting or videoconference.A face-to-face meeting or videoconference is preferred for difficult or crucial conversations because people can not only hear what the other person says, but also notice body language and facial expressions.

Question 70

Callahan just completed the planning phase. Now he needs to have a kickoff meeting with the team. What is not something covered in the kickoff meeting?

Answer 70

a detailed review of the project plan. A detailed review of the project plan is NOT needed at the kickoff meeting. A high-level review is more appropriate for a kickoff meeting.

Question 71

Your project meetings run longer than planned and you’re determined to start and finish them on time in the future. What technique would you implement to accomplish this?

Answer 71

Create an agenda with topics and time estimates so you can move topics that exceed their time to the parking lot to be handled later. An agenda with the topics you need to discuss and the time you plan to spend on each one is the most important step to take to keep meetings on time. If a topic hasn’t been resolved within its time frame, you can add it to the parking lot to handle outside the meeting (or schedule another meeting for that topic).

Question 72

You have a project committee meeting with all stakeholders. What is the key step you need to take to make the meeting effective for the stakeholders?

Answer 72

Identify the purpose of the meeting and results you need from the stakeholders.Stakeholders are busy and want to help, thus it is important they understand the purpose and what you need from them.

Question 73

Your team asks a lot of questions about their assignments. Although they turn to you to make decisions, they sometimes test the boundaries of what they can do. What stage of team building are they in

Answer 73

Forming. A forming team isn’t comfortable with what their goal is, so they ask a lot of questions. They need answers and direction. As they become more comfortable in their roles, they may challenge the project manager.

Question 74

You are project managing a team of 10 people. Lately, one of your team members is not performing up to par. What is the least likely approach you should use to handle this situation?

Answer 74

Quickly find another team member to take over.This is a hasty reaction, and does not display an effective working relationship, convey respect, or motivate others. In addition, other team members might not be available to take over.

Question 75

There’s a conflict on Mack’s virtual project team. Which approach is best to address the conflict?

Answer 75

a video or phone conference. This is the best approach for a conflict that arises among a team, and it provides everyone a chance to work through the conflict.

Question 76

A change request submitted by the project sponsor has an effect on several other projects within the organization. If the change request appears to be a positive addition to the project, who should you ask to approve the change request?

Answer 76

the organization’s executive board. Typically, you need to go to the executive board for approval when a change request affects other projects.

Question 77

Camille receives a change request that will probably affect the project’s business case. How should she manage this change?

Answer 77

She should have the customer approve the change request.This is the first step to take when a change request affects the project’s business case.

Question 78

Pam owns several risks in a project. What is Pam’s first action as a risk owner?

Answer 78

Proactively implement risk responses before the risks become issues.Before a risk even occurs, Pam will proactively implement risk responses to avoid, mitigate, or plan contingencies for the risk.

Question 79

What do you use to specify what will be tested in project acceptance tests.

Answer 79

Deliverables and success criteria. You use the deliverables and success criteria developed during the planning stage in order to design acceptance tests. These acceptance tests confirm the deliverables do what they’re supposed to do according to the success criteria.

Question 80

What is a reason that you might not be able to tailor your project in some ways?

Answer 80

The project is in a highly regulated industry that has specific project management requirements.Some regulated industries require specific project management deliverables, in reporting, governance, and so on.

Question 81

What is not something you would tailor in a project?

Answer 81

the project objectives. The project objectives help drive most aspects of projects and are set (and might be modified by) the leadership team. You do not tailor them.

Question 82

Who applies the principles for effective project management?

Answer 82

anyone who works on projects. The project management principles can be applied by anyone working on projects.

Question 83

Which factor could directly affect the strategy and portfolio changes that the leadership team makes?

Answer 83

the value realized from project-related work. The actual realized value is the primary driver for changes that the leadership team makes to its organizational strategies, which also affect the organization’s portfolios, programs, and projects.

Question 84

What is the initial driver for what the value delivery system does within an organization?

Answer 84

the organizational vision of senior leadership. Although other factors affect actions within the value delivery system once project work is underway, the initial driver for value is senior leadership’s vision for the organization.

Question 85

Estimating a project using the Delphi technique is an example of which type of tool?

Answer 85

method. A method is a way to achieve an outcome or result. Estimating is a method for determining the work, cost, and time a project will require.

Question 86

While each performance domain places on a specific topic, what is the overarching focus of all performance domains?

Answer 86

delivering outcomes, benefits, and value. The seventh edition of the Project Management Body of Knowledge includes performance domains which emphasize delivering outcomes, benefits, and value.