Second semester Flashcards
(173 cards)
1
Q
Leadership
A
The ability to inspire confidence and support among the people who are needed to achieve organizational goals
2
Q
traditional view of leadership
A
Emphasize technical side of projects
Less attention to the human side of projects
3
Q
Contemporary view of leadership
A
People-related issues function as the main obstacles to successful project completion
4
Q
Leaders vs managers
A
Leaders: Do the right thing, develop new processes, focus on people and inspire trust
Managers: Focus on systems, strive for control, do things right, maintain the status quo
5
Q
Leaders and managers complementary perspective
A
Balancing management role and leadership role
- Management is about coping with complexity, while leadership is about coping with change
- Both roles are needed for project success
6
Q
How do project managers lead
A
1) Acquire project resources
2) motivae and build teams
3) Have a vision and fighting fires
4) Communication
7
Q
Project champion/sponsor
A
The person within an organization implementing a project who takes on the burden of ensuring everyone involved is on board and behind the ultimate success of the project
8
Q
Common types of project champion
A
Creative originator, entrepreneur, godfather or project manager
9
Q
The five factor model (big five)
A
openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism
10
Q
Daniel golemans primal leadership
A
Visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and commanding
11
Q
Vermas standard model (Staes of team development) Or stages in groups developement
A
Forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning
12
Q
Conflict
A
A proecess that begins when you perceive that someone has frustrated or is about to frustrate a major concern of yours
13
Q
Types of conflict
A
Task conflict, relationship conflic, goal oriented conflict, administrative conflict, interpersonal conflict
14
Q
Dysfunctional conflict
A
conflict that leads to an overall decline in communication or performance of a group
15
Q
Negotiation
A
A process that is predicated on a managers ability to use his influence productively
16
Q
Project definition
A
A complex one time proces, limited by budget schedule and resources, developed with a goal and focused around a consumers
17
Q
Projects life cycle
A
- Conceptualization
- planning
- execution
- termination
18
Q
Emotional intelligence
A
A leaders ability to understand that effective leadership is part of the emotional and relational transaction between subordinates and themselves
19
Q
Four competencies determine a project leaders success
A
Understand and practice the power of appreciation
Remind people whats important
Generate a sustain trust
Align with the leaders
20
Q
Project scope
A
Everything about a project: work contents as well as expected outcomes
Includes: Naming all activities to be performed, the resources consumed and the end products that result.
21
Q
Scope management
A
The function of controlling a project in terms of its goals and objectives
Consists of
Concept, scope statement, work authorization, scope reporting, control systems and project closeout
22
Q
Conceptual development
A
The process that adresses project objectives by finding the best way to meet them
23
Q
Scope statement four parts
A
1.) Establish project goal criteria to include: cost, schedule, performance, deliverables, and
review and approval “gates”
2.) Develop management plan for project
3.) Establish a Work Breakdown Structure
4.) Create a scope baseline
24
Q
Baseline
A
The projects scope fixed at a specific point in time, for example the projects schedule start date
25
Emotions during project life
Forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning
26
Five tools for conflict resolution
Mediate, arbitrate, control, accept, eliminate
27
Risk management
The art and science of identifying, analyzing and responding to risk factors throughout the life of a project and in the best interest of its objectives
28
Project risk
An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives such as scope, schedule, cost or quality
29
Four stages of risk management
Risk identification, analysis of probability and consequences, risk mitigation strategies, control and documentation
30
Overall Probability of a risk formula
Pf = P(maturity) + P(Complexity)+P(dependency)/3
31
Overall Consequence risk impact matrix formula
Cf = C(cost)+C(schedule)+C(reliability)+C(performance)/4
32
Overall Risk factor formula
RF = Pf + Cf - (PF*CF)
33
Cost management
Encompass data collection, cost accounting and cost control
34
Cost accounting
Serve as the cief mechanisms for identifying and maintaining control over project costs
35
Activity based costing
assign costs to activities that use resources
Identify cost drivers associated with this activity
Compute a cost rate per cost driver unit or transaction
Multiply the cost driver rate times the volume of cost drive units used by the projects
36
Sequential logic
Is an activity network in which activities move linearly and sequential into each other
37
Nonserial sequential logic
Is an activity network in which activites move sequential but several activities can move parallel to each other meaning that they can occur at the same time
38
Critical path
The path through project network with the longest duration
39
Backward pass
Network calculations to determine late start/late finish for uncompleted tasks thorugh working backward through each activity in network
40
Concurrent activities
Are those in which the nature of the workallows for more than one activity to be accomplished at the same time
41
Activity duration formula
TE = a + 4m + b/6
a = most optimistic
b=least optimistic
m= most likely
42
Activity variance
s^2=(b-a/6)^2
a = most optimistic
b=least optimistic
m= most likely
43
Gnatt charts
Used to establish a time-phased network
Easy to comprehend, identify the schedule basebline network, allow for updating and control, identify resource needs and easy to create
44
Crashing
The process of accelerating a project
45
Activity on arrow activities
Are those what are represented by arrows. These are widely used in construction
46
Controversies in the use of networks
Networks can be too complex
Poor networks construction creates problems
Networks may be used inappropriately
Networks pose special dangers because contractors may create their own networks
Positive bias exists in PERT networks
47
Project Constraints
Physical, time, resource, mixed
48
Resource loading
The amount of individual resources a schedule requires during specific time periods
49
Resource usage table
used to show project team members thier given tasks and time expected to be spend on these tasks
50
Resource leveling
Refers to a process that adress the complex challenges of a projects constraints
51
Resource leveling objectives
To determine the resource requirements so that they will be available at the right time
2. To allow each activity to be scheduled with the smoothest possibel transition across resource usage levels
52
General procedure for leveling resources
Create a project activity network diagram.
- Develop resource loading table.
- Determine activity late finish dates.
- Identify resource overallocation.
- Level the resource loading table
53
Control cycles steps
Setting a goal
Measuring progress
Comparing actual with planned performance
Taking action
54
Milestones
Are events or stages of the project that represent a significant accomplishement
55
Earned value management
Recognizes that it is necessary to jointly consider the impact of time cost and project performance
56
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. Four things are necessary to promote the
| partnership idea between the project manager and the team
1) Exchange of purpose
2) A right to say no
3) Joint accountability
4) Absolute honesty
58
Five characteristics closely associated with effective project team leaders
1) Credibility
2) Creative problem-solver
3) Tolerance for ambiguity
4) Flexible management style
5) Effective communication skills
59
Seven essential project manager abilities
Organizing under conflict
experience
Decision making
productive creativity
Organizing with cooperation
Cooperative leadership
integrative thinking
60
Characteristics of effective project teams
A clear sense of mission
A productive interdependency
Cohesiveness
Trust
Enthusiasm
Result orientation
61
Model of punctuated equilibrium
Proposes that rather than evolution occuring as a steady state of gradual change, real nature change comes about through long periods of statis interuppted by some cataclysmic event that propels upward evolutionary adjustment.
62
Superordinate goal
An overall goal or purpose that is important to all functional groups involved, but whose attainment requires the resources and efforts of more than one group
63
Task outcomes
Refer to the factors involved in the actual implementation of the project
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Psychosocial outcomes
Represent the team members assessment that the project experience was worthwhile, satisfying, and productive
65
Project managers can take three practical steps to set the stage for teamwork to emerge
1) Make the project team as tangible as possible
2) Reward with good behavior
3) Develop a personal touch
66
Faulty attributions
Refer to our misconceptions of the reons behind anothers behavior
67
Faulty communication
Is a second and very common interpersonal cause of conflict. Faulty communication implies the potential for two mistakes: Communicating in ways that are ambiguous and lead to different interpretations, thus causing a resulting conflict, and unintentionally communicating in ways that annoy or anger other paries.
68
Event risk formula
(probability of an event)*(Consequences of event)
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Systematic risk management comprises four distinct steps
1) Risk identification
2) Analysis of probability and consequences
3) Risk mitigation strategies
4) Control and documentation
70
Risks commonly fall into one or more of the following classification clusters
Financial risk
Technical risk
Commercial risk
Execution risk
Contractual or legal risk
71
Four risk factor identification methods for industry specific risks
1) Brainstorming meetings
2) Expert opinion
3) History
4) Multiple (or team based) Assessment
72
Risk breakdown structure
A source-oriented grouping of project risks that organizes and defines the total risk exposure of the project
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Low, Medium, and High Risk factor
Low risk: Rf< 0.3
Medium Risk: Rf = 0.3 to 0.7
High risk: Rf > 0.7
74
Task contingency
Used to offset budget cutbacks, schedule overruns, or other unforseen circumstances accruing to individual tasks or project work packages
75
Risk mitigation strategies
Managerial contingency (budget safety measure)
Insurance
Mentorin and cross training
76
Project risk analysis and management (PRAM)
Present a generic methodology that can be applied to multiple project environemtns and encompasses the key components of project risk management
77
Key features of the PRAM methedology
The recognition that risk management follows its own life cycle as much as a project follows a life cycle
The application of different risk management strategeis at various points in the project life cycle
The integration of multiple approaches to risk management into a coherent, synthesized approach
78
Nine phases of a comprehensive project risk assessment include the follwing steps
```
1) Define
") focus
3) Identify
4) Structure
5) Clarify ownership of risk
6)Estimate
7) Evaluate
8)Plan
9)Manage
```
79
Common sources of project costs
```
Labor
Material
Subcontractors
Equipement and facilities
Travel
```
80
Direct costs
Are those clearly assigned to the aspect of the project that generated the cost
81
Total direct labor costs formula
(Direct labor rate) * (Total labor hours)
82
Indirect costs
Overhead (Overhead costs include all sources of inderect materials, utilities, taxes, insurance, property and repairs, depreciation on equipement, and health and retirement benefits for the labor force
83
Nonrecurring costs
Those associated with charges applied once at the beginning or end of the project (preliminary marketing analysis, personelle training or outplacement servies
84
Fixed costs
Do not vary with respect to their usage
85
Variable costs
Those that accelerate or increase through useage
86
Normal costs
Those incurred in the routine process of working to complete the project according to the origional, planned schedule
87
Expedited cost
Unplanned costs incurred when steps are taken to speed up the projects completion
88
Crashing costs examples
Expended use of overtime, hiring additional temps, contracting with expernal resources or organizations for support
89
Ballpark estimates
Used when information or time is scarce and have an accuracy of +-30%
90
Comparative estimates
Based on assumption that historical data can be used as a frame of reference for current estimates on similar projects
91
Feasibility estimates
These estimates are based as a guideline on real numbers or figures delivered after the completion of the preliminary project design work
92
Definitiev estimates
These estimates can be given only upon the completion of most design work, at a point when the scope and capabilities of the project are quite well understood and has an accuracy of +-5%
93
Each doubling output of results in a reduction in time to perform the last iteration formula
Yx = aX^b
Yx = the time required for the steady stae x unite of output
a= the time required for the initial unit of output
X= the number of units to be produced to reach the steady state
b= The slope of the learning curve, represented as: log decimal learning rate/log 2
94
Function point analysis
A system for estimating the size of software projects based on what the software does
95
Function points
Are a standard unit of measure that represents the functional size of a software application
96
Common reasons for cost overruns are:
Low initial estiates
Unexpected technical difficulties
Lack of definition
Specification of changes
External factors
97
Top-Down budgeting
Requires the direct input from the organizations top management (this approach seeks to first ascertain the options and experiences of top management regarding estimated project costs
98
Bottom up budgeting
Begins inductively from the work breakdown strucutre to apply direct and indirect costs to project activities
99
Activity based costing (ABC)
A budgeting methods that assigns cost first to activities and then tot he projects based on each projects use of resources
100
Activity based costing consists of four steps
1) Identify the activities that consume resources and assign costs to them, as is done in a bottom up budgeting process
2) identify the cost dirvers associated with the activity. Resources, in the form of project personnel, and materials are key cost drivers
3) Compute a cost rate per cost driver unit or transaction. Labor, for example, is commonly simply the cost of labor per hours given as: Cost rate/unit
4) assign costs to projets by multiplying the cost driver rate times the volume of cost driver units consumed by the projects
101
Budget contingencies
The allocation of extra funds to cover these uncertainties and improve the chances that the project can be completed within the time frame origionally specified
102
Murphys law
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong
103
Network diagram
a Schematic display of the projects sequential activities and the logical relationship between them
104
Concurrent activities
Activities that happen simultanioursly
105
Merge/burst activities
Merge: Many activities finish inn one
Burst: Many activities follow one
106
Activity duration can be estimated in 3 ways
1) Experience
2) Expert opinion
3) Mathematical deriviation
107
Deterministic estimation
activity durations are fairly predictable; that is, they do not consider variation in the activity competion time
108
Forward pass
An additive process that calculates the earliest times an activity can begin and end
109
Laddering
A technique that allows us to redraw the activity network to more closely sequence project subtasks to make the overall network sequence more efficient
110
Hammock activities
Can be used as summaries for some subsets of the activities identified in the overall project network
111
Among the methods for shrinking the critical path are
Eliminate tasks on the critical path
Peplan serial paths to be in parallel
Overlap sequential tasks
Shorten the duration of critical path tasks
Shorten early tasks
Shroten longest tasks
Shorten tasks that cost the least to speed up
112
Lag (in preceding relatioships)
Refers to the logical relationship between the start and finish of one activity and the start and finish of another
113
Four logical relationships between tasks
1) finish to start (a type of logical sequencing)
2) finish to Finish (Two linked activities share a similar completion point)
3) Sart to start (Often two or more activities can start simultaneously or a lag takes place between the start of one activity after an earlier activity has commenced)
4) start to finish (When a successors finish is dependent upon a predecessors start
114
Benefits of Gantt chars
1) They are easy to read and comprehend
2) They identify the project network coupled with its schedule baseline
3) They allow for updating and project control
4) They are useful for identifying resource needs and assigning resource to tasks
5) They are easy to create
115
Crashing
The process of accelerating a project
116
Reasons to crash a project
1) the initial schedule may be too aggressive
2) Market needs change and the project is in demand earlier than anticipated
3) The project has slipped considerably behind schedule
4) The contractual situation proveds even more incentive to avoid schedule slippage
117
Primary methods for accelerating a project are the follwoing
Improve the productivity of existing project resources
Change in working method employed for the activity, usually by altering hte technology and types of resources employed
Compromise quality and/or reduce project scope
Fast-track the project: Looking for ways to rearrange the project schedule in order to move more of the critical path activities from sequential to parallel (concurrent) relationships
Use overtime
Add resources to the project team.
118
Brooks law
Argues that adding resources to ongoing activites only delays them further (due to additional time and training needed to bring these extra resources up to speed on the task negates the positive impact of actually adding staff)
119
We can calculate various combinations of time/cost trade-offs for a projects crash options by determining the slope for each activity using what formula
Slope = Crash cost- normal cost/ normal time - crash time
120
Dummy activities
Are used in AOA networks to indicate the existence of precentet relationships between activities and their event nodes
121
Critical path method criticisms
Networks can become too large and complex to be meaningful
Faulty reasoning in network construction can sometimes lead to voersimplification or incorrect representations
networks are sometimes used for tasks for which they are not well suited
Networks used to control behavior of subcontractors have special dangers
There is a strong potential for positive bias in PERT estimations used in network construciton
122
Mixed constraint project
Primarily resource constrained but may contain some activities or work package elements that are time constrained to a greater degree
123
What is the best method for establishing the existence of resource conflicts across project activities
resource-loading charts
124
Resource loading
Refers to the aount of individual resources that a schedule requires during specific time periods
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Resource leveling (smoothing) has two objectives
1) to determine the resource requirements so that they will be available at the right time
2) To allow each activity to be scheduled with the smoothest possible transition across resource usage levels
127
Some simple heuristics for prioritizing resource allocation include
Activities with the smalles amount of slack
Activities with the smallest duration
Activities with the lowest activity identification number
Activities with the most successor tasks
Activities requiring the most resources
128
Resource loading table
Is creaded through identifying the project activities and their resources required to completion and applying this information to the project schedule baseline
129
Basic steps necessary to produce a resource leveled project schedule
1) create a project activity network diagram
2) From this diagram, create a table showing the resources required for each activity, the activity durations, and the total float available
3) Develop a time-phased resource-loading table that shows the resources required to complete each activity, the activity early starts, and the late finishes
4) Identify any resource conflicts and begin to smooth the loading table using one or more of the huristics for prioritizing resource assignment across activities
5) Repeat step 4 as often as necessary to eliminate the source of resource conflicts. Use your judgement to interpret and improve the loading featurs of the table. COnsider alternative means to minimize schedule slippage; for example, use overtime during peak periods
130
Resource-loading chars
Are used to display the amount of resources reuqires as a function of time on a graph
131
In constucting a resource-loading chart that illustrates the time-limited nature of resource scheduling, there are six main steps to follwo
1) Create the activity network diagram
2) Produce a table for each activity, the resource requirements, the duration, early start time, slack, and late finish time
3) List the activities in order of increasing slack (or in order of latest finish time for activities with the same slack)
4) Draw an initial resource-loading chart with each activity scheduled at its earliest start time, building it up following the order shown in step 3. This process creates a loading chart with the most critical activities at the bottom and those with the greatest slack on the top
5) rearrange the activities within their slack to create a profile that is as level as possible within the guidelines of not changing the duration of activities or their dependence
6) Use your judgement to interpret and improve acitivity leveling by moving activities with extraslack in order to "smooth" the resource chart across the project
132
Splitting
Is an activity means interruption the continuous stream of work on an activity at some midpoint in its development process and applying that resource to another activity for some period before returning the resource to complete the origional task
133
Any system used to resolve the complex problems with multiproject resource allocation has to onsider the need, as much as possible, to minimize the negative effects of three key parameters
1) Schedule slippage
2) Resource utilization
3) in-process inventory
134
In process inventory
Represents the amount of work waiting to be completed but delayed due to unavailable resources
135
Gap analysis
Refers to any measurement process that first determines the goals and then the degree to which the actual performance lives up to those goals
136
Project S-curve
Represents the typical form of relationship where time (shown on x) is compared with money expended (shown on the y)
137
Tracking gantt chart
Is useful for evaluating project performance at specific points in time
Allows the project team to constantly update the projects status by linking tasks completion to the schedule baseline. It identifies the stage of completion each task has attained by a specific date within the project
138
Planned value
The authorized budget assigned to scheduled work
Defines, at any given point, the physical work that should have been accomplished to that point in time
139
Earned value
A measure of the work performed expressed in terms of the budget
The real budget cost or value of the work that has Acually been performed to date
140
Actual cost of work performed
The realized cost for the work performed on an activity during a specific time period
141
Schedule vairance + formula
A measure of scheudle performance expressed as the difference between the earned value and the planned value (Ev-Pv)
142
Cost variance + formula
A measure of the cost performance expressed as the difference between the earned value and the actual cost of work performed (EV-AC)
143
Schedule performance index + formula
The rate at which project performance is meeting schedule expectations up to a point in time
SPI = EV/PV
144
Cost performance index
The rate at which project performance is meeting cost expectations during a given period of time
CPI = EV/AC
145
Budgeted cost at completion
This value representst he total budget for a project
146
Five steps in earned value management
1) Clearly define each activity or task that will be performed on the project including its resource needs as well as a detailed budget
2) Create the activity and resource usage schedule
3) Develop a "time-phased" budget that shows expenditures across the projects life
4) Total the actual costs of doing each task to arrive at the actual cost of work performced (AC)
5) Calculate both a projects budget variance and schedule variance while it is still in process
147
Cumulative CPI formula
Cumulative EV/ Cumulative AC or CPI^C = EV^C/AC^C
148
Cumulative SPI formula
Cumulative SPI = Cumulative EV/ CUmulative PV or
SPI^C = EV^C/PV^C
149
O/100 rule
The simplest and perhaps least effective method requires that a project activity be assigned a value of 0 until the point the activity is finished, at which time the value switches to 100%
150
The 50/50 rule
Under this decision rule, an activity that has been started automatically receives a valueation of 50% completed. That value remains attached to the work package until the activity has been completed, at which time it becomes 100% completed
151
Percentage complete rule
Under the precentage complete rule, the projet manager and team members mutually agree on a set of completion milestones, whether they are based on quarters thirds or some other values. Then on a regular basis, the status of each in process work package in the project is updated
152
The 10 critical sucess factors in formulating the Project implementation profile (PIP)
1) project mission
2) Top management support
3) Project plans and schedules
4) Client plans and schedules
5) Personnel
6) Technical tasks
7) Client acceptance
8) Monitoring and feedback
9) Communiaction
10) Troubleshooting
153
Natural termination
When the project has achieved its goals and is moving toward its logical conclusion
154
Unnatural t ermination
When a shift in political, economic, customer or technological conditions has rendered the project without purpose
155
Four main reasons for project termination
Termination by extinction (this process occurs when the project is stopped due to either a successful or an unsuccessful conclusion)
termination by addition (This approach concludes a project by institutionalizing it as a formal part of the partent organization)
Termination by integration (The projects resources, including the project team, are reintegrated within the organizations existing structure flowwing the conclusion of the project
Termination by starvation (sometimes projects cannot be continued because of general budget cuts, but an organization may keep a number of them on file so that when the economic situaion improves, the projects can be reativated
156
BOOT
Build own operate and transfer
157
Four principles cover properly postproject reviews
Objectivity (Unbiased critical reveiw of the project as someone without an agenda)
Internal consistency (a logical and well constructed procedure must be established and followed when conducting reviews)
Replicability (A standardized review process should yield similar findings regardless of who conducts the evaluation
Fairness (members of the project team must perceive that the review was conducted fairly, and without agendas, and intended to higlight both successes and failures
158
To gain maximum benefit from lessons learned meetings, project teams hsould follow three important guidelines
1) establish clear rules of behavior for all parties to the meeting
2) Describe, as objectively as possible, what occurred
3) fix the problem, not the blame
159
Six categories of dynamic project factors that determine if a project is candidate for early termination
1) statistic factors
2) task-team factors
3) sponsorship factors
4) Economic factors
5) Environmental factors
6) user factors
160
Two common types of claims that can arise in the event of project closure are
Ex gratia claims (Claims that a client can make when there is no contractual biasis for the cali but when the client thinks the project organization has a moral or commercial obligation to compensate it for some unexpected event
Default claims by the project company in its obligations under the contract (when contractual claims are defaulted due to the failure of a project to be completed and delivered, the client firm may have some legal claim to cost recovery or punitive damages
161
Arbitration
Refers to the formalized system for dealing with grievances and adinistering corrective justice to parties in a bargaining situation. It is used to obtain a fair settlement or resolution of disputes through an impratial third party
162
Elements in the final project reprot include an evaluation of a number of project and organizational factors including:
Project performance
Administrative performance
Organizational structure
team performance
Techniques of project management
Benefits to the organization and the customer
163
Expected cost formula
Task estimated cost x Task contingency multiplier
164
Fully loaded cost of labor Formula
Hourly rate * Hours needed * Overhead charge *
| Personal time
165
Configuration control
Includes procedures that monitor emerging project scope against the origional baseline
166
Design control
Relates to systems for monitoring the projects scope, schedule and cost during the design phase
167
Trend monitoring
The process of tracking the estimated cost, schedules, and resources needed against those planned
168
Documentation control
ensures that important documentation is compiled and disseminated in an orderly and timely fashion
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Acquisition control
Monitors systems used to acquire necessary project equipment, materials, or services needed for project development and implementation
171
Specification control
Ensures that project specifications are prepared clearly, communicated to all concerned parties, and changed only with proper authorization
172
screening model
Allows managers to make the best choices among alternatives within the usual constraints of time and money
173
Five important issues managers should consider when evaluating screening models
1) Realism
2) Capability
3) Flexibility
4) Ease of use
5) cost
6) compatibility
