Unit 2: Project Management

Question 1

What is project management?

Answer 1

Planning, directing, and controlling resources in order to meet the technical, cost and time constraints of a project

Question 2

Three types pf development projects

Answer 2

• breakthrough ( entirely new projects, tech or activities)
• Platform projects ( upgrades or additions to existing tech, product families, or partnerships)
• Derivative projects ( product enhancements or incremental changes)

Question 3

Types of changes

Answer 3

• product
• process
• research and dev
• Alliance and partnership

Question 4

Three methods of structuring projects

Answer 4

• Pure project (A self contained team works full-time on the proect)
• Functional project (Team members are assigned from functional units of the organization)
• Matrix project ( Blends functional and pure project structures. Each project uses people from different functional areas. Dedicated PM decided which tasks to perform but the functional managers control with people to use)

Question 5

Pure Project Positives and Negatives

Answer 5

Question 6

Functional Project Pros and Cons

Answer 6

Question 7

Matrix project pros and cons

Answer 7

Question 8

Statement of work

Answer 8

A written description of the objectives to be acheived with a brief statement of the work to be done and a proposed schedule specifying milestones

Question 9

Task

Answer 9

A further subdivision of a project. Not longer than several months in durationand performed by one group or organization

Question 10

Work Package

Answer 10

A group of avtivities combined to be assignable to a single organizational unit. Provides a description of what is to be done, stat and completion dates, budget measures of performance and milestones

Question 11

Project milestone

Answer 11

A specific event in a project

Question 12

WBS

Answer 12

Defines the hierarchy of project tasks, subtasks, and work packages

The amount of detail or how many levels used depends on:

• the level that an individual or organization can be assigned responsibility and accountability for accomplishing the work package.
• The level at which budget and cost data will be collected during the project

Question 13

Activities

Answer 13

Pieces of work that consume time. They do not nessesarily require man hours ( ise wiating for paint to dry)

Question 14

What is the difference between CPM and PERT networks and why does the textbook treat CPM and PERT in a similar manner?

Answer 14

The only real difference is the treatment of the time estimates used in the to project formats

Question 15

What are the four steps of CPM?

Answer 15

1. Identify each activity and estimate how long it will take
2. Determine the required sequence of activities and construct a network reflecting the dependencies
3. Determine the critical path
4. Determine the early start / finihs and late start / finish schedule

Question 16

Slack time

Answer 16

The difference between late start time and early start time

Question 17

What is the difference between and early start schedule and a late start schedule

Answer 17

• ES lists all activities by their early start times
• LS lists all activities to start as late a possible without delaying the project

Question 18

How does slack effect activities on the critical path?

Answer 18

Activities on the critical path do not have any slack time. The network shown in Exhibit 3.6 has two different critical paths: A—B—D—F—G and A—C—F—G are 38 weeks, and A—C—E—G and A—D—E—G are 35 weeks. If you calculate the early start time and late start time, there would be zero slack time for all activities on the critical path. Activity E is the only one that has some slack time, which in this case is two weeks.

Question 19

What is the strength and limitation of a gannt chart?

Answer 19

Note that a Gantt chart is an excellent method of tracking simple projects. However, it is difficult to show the interrelationships of activities in large projects, and Gantt charts do not allow you to determine the all-important critical path.

Question 20

What are milestones and what is the best place to locate them?

Answer 20

the best place to locate milestones is at the completion of a major activity.

Question 21

What is Earned Value Management (EVM) and how can it be properly applied?

Answer 21

EVM provides a method for evaluating the relative success of a project at a point in time. EVM is a technique that combines measures of scope, schedule, and cost for evaluating project progress

• A project plan that identifies the activities to be accomplished
• A valuation of each activity work. For a project that generates revenue this is called Planned Value (PV) of the activity. For a project that is valuated based on cost this is called the Budgeted Cost of Work Schedule (BCWS)
• Predefined earning or costing rules (metrics) to quantify the accomplishment of work - called Earned Value (EV) or Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP)

Question 22

Three eastimates for an ativity time are

Answer 22

1. A - optimistic times
2. m - most likely time
3. b - poessimistic time

Question 23

Estimated time formula et

Answer 23

ET = ( a + 4m + b) / 6

Question 24

Variance of activity time formula

Answer 24

Question 25

Z value of a project formula

Answer 25

Question 26

Time Cost models

Answer 26

Extension of the critical path models that consider the trade-offs between the time required to complete and activity and the cost.

Question 27

Crashing

Answer 27

compression of the time to complete the project. Trade off between cost of: expediting an activity and sustaining the length of the projec

Question 28

Project indirect Costs

Answer 28

Costs associated with sustaining the project. Overhead, facilities, opportunity costs