Schedule Management Flashcards
Theory of Constraints
Examine the most limiting factor in our process and improve it so that it’s no longer a constraint.
To decompose project activities you need these three things:
Scope baseline, EEFs, OPAs
Rolling Wave Planning
An iterative planning technique in which the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail while work further in the future is planned at a high level
Activity List includes:
scheduled activities required on the project and an activity identifier and a scope of work description in sufficient detail to ensure the project team members understand what work is required to be completed
Lead
The amount of time a successor activity can be advanced with respect to a predecessor activity.
Lag
The amount of time a successor activity will be delayed with respect to a predecessor activity
Law of diminishing returns
When one factor used to determine the effort required to produce a unit of work is increased while all other factors remain fixed, a point will eventually be reached at which additions of that one factor start to yield progressively smaller or diminishing increases in output
Level of Effort
Needed to manage scope but are not required to complete scope
Discrete Effort Activities
Activities required to complete project scope
Apportioned Effort Activities
The project management work, QA, Integrated Change Control, and Communications
Activity on Node Diagram
designed to show which activities must be completed in order for other activities to commence. This is referred to as “finish-to-start” precedence – meaning one activity must be finished before the next one can start.
Precedence Diagramming Method
Arrows used to represent the relationship and the dependencies of the work packages
Analogous Estimating
Using historical information / previous similar projects to estimate a projects duration
Critical Path Method
used to estimate the minimum project duration and determine the amount of schedule flexibility on the logical network paths within the schedule model
Schedule Network Analysis
a graphical representation of a schedule showing each sequenced activity and the time it takes to finish each one
Three-Point Estimates
Find the average of the optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic (O+ML+P)/3=Estimate
PERT Estimates
Program evaluation and review technique (beta distribution) (O+(4ML)+P)/6=estimate
Free Float
An activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any successor activities
Total Float
An activity can be delayed without delaying project completion
Project Float
A project can be delayed without passing the customer expected completion date
Forward Pass
Early Start + Duration - 1 = Early Finish
Backward Pass
Late Finish - Duration + 1 = Late Start
Monte Carlo Simulation
a quantitative risk analysis technique which is used to understand the impact of risk and uncertainty in project management
Resource Leveling Heuristic
Limits labor in a time period and often extends the project schedule
Resource Smoothing
Resource smoothing is used when the time constraint takes priority. The objective is to complete the work by the required date while avoiding peaks and troughs of resource demand. Resource leveling is used when limits on the availability of resources are paramount.
Allows you to add more labor to effort-driven activities. By adding more labor, or effort, you are reducing the duration of the activity
Crashing
Score the difficulty of the tasks needed to complete a user story in a sprint
Story Points
Allows the project manager to make decisions based on conditions outside of the project, best practices, or guidelines
Soft Logic
States that work will expand to fulfill the time allotted to it. Bloated tasks will take all the time allotted. Management reserve should be used instead
Parkinson’s Law
A portion of the project schedule allotted for time overruns on activities
Contingency Reserve
Allows activities to operate in tandem with each other rather than sequentially
Fast Tracking
A bar chart that represents the duration of activities against a calendar. The length of the bars represents the length of activities, while the order of the bars represents the order of activities in the project.
Gantt Chart
