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Engineering Management and Law > Week 4 - Project Management 1 > Flashcards

Week 4 - Project Management 1 Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the valley of death in business?

A

It is an image that shows how businesses fail and how funds are wasted

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2
Q

What do projects need to be a success?

A

Funding and the right ideas at the right time

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3
Q

What is disruptive innovation?

A

This is a new offering that disrupts an existing market. It eventually makes the old service or business model obsolete.

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4
Q

What is the Iron Triangle?

A

It is the interdependence between cost, time and scope

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5
Q

What is the waterfall approach to development?

A

It is the traditional approach where steps take place one after the other.

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6
Q

What are the 4(?) stages of the waterfall approach?

A

Design
Build
Test
Release

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7
Q

What are stages of the agile life cycle?

A

Envision, Speculate, Explore, Adapt, Close

The stages between speculate and adapt are iterative

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8
Q

What is different about the agile method to the waterfall method?

A

Agile involves iterations, stages can be repeated, with waterfall, it is hard to move back up the waterfall, hence the name.

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9
Q

What type of projects is the waterfall method more suited to?

A

They suit repeatable projects

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10
Q

What type of projects is the agile method more suited to?

A

Projects where innovation is an element

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11
Q

What is a project champion?

A

They are (usually) a senior executive who makes the case for a project

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12
Q

What are benefits of having a project champion?

A

Senior executives have the power to fight for the project
They can gain access to resources
They can communicate with multiple areas of firms

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13
Q

What are the risks of project championing?

A

Having the role of champion may cloud judgement about the project
Others may fear challenging a senior executive

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14
Q

What does MVP stand for?

A

Minimum Viable Product

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15
Q

What is the MVP in the agile process?

A

It is the minimum viable product, it is what you develop in a stage and then improve it with continuous improvement

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16
Q

Who can be involved to help gain commitment with a project?

A

The customers and the suppliers

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17
Q

Why is it good to involve the customer when securing commitment?

A

They are often best able to identify the required performance capabilities and minimum service requirements of a new product. Customers can also be businesses that sell to the end consumer, who are knwon as gatekeepers.

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18
Q

Why is it good to involve suppliers when securing commitment?

A

Involving suppliers as an alliance partner can improve product design, development, efficiency, reduce cost

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19
Q

What is a project?

A

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

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20
Q

Give some features of a project

A

They are complex, one time processes
They are limited by budget, schedule and resources
They are developed to resolve a goal or set of goals
They are customer focused

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21
Q

What are some general project characteristics?

A

They are ad hoc with a clear lifecycle
They are building blocks in the design and execution of strategies
They entail crossing functional and organisational boundaries
Outcomes of a project are the satisfaction of customer requirements within constraints

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22
Q

What are the differences between a project and a process?

A

A project is new - processes are repeated
A project has a one shot limited life, a process is ongoing
A project is more heterogeneous, a process is more homogenous
A project has greater uncertainty, a process has greater certainty
A project is outside of line organisation, a process is a part of it
A project upsets the status quo, a process supports it

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23
Q

What are the project success rates?

A

Software and hardware projects fail at a 65 percent rate

One of six IT projects has an overrun cost of 200 percent, schedule overrun of 70

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24
Q

What are the project lifecycle stages?

A

Conceptualisation
Planning
Execution
Termination

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25
Q

What is the quadruple constraint of project success?

A

Budget, Client Acceptance, Performance, Time, leading to success

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26
Q

What are the responsiblilities of a project manager?

A 
Selecting a team
Developing objectives and plan
Performing risk management
Cost estimating and budgeting
Scheduling
Managing resources
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27
Q

What are project stakeholders?

A

Individuals or groups who have an active stake in the project and can potentially impact (positively or negatively) its development

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28
Q

List some project stakeholders

A 
Parent organisation
External environment
Top management
Project team
Accountant
Clients
Other functional managers
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29
Q

What can have an impact on your project management?

A

Your organisational culture - autocratic vs democratic, telling vs participating vs delegating

30
Q

What must you do before choosing a project?

A

You must screen it!

31
Q

What are the 4 stages of screening a project?

A

Risk
Commercial
Internal operating (changes needed to firm operations)
Additional

32
Q

What does the risk stage of screening a project involve?

A

Technical, financial, safety, quality, legal

33
Q

What does the commercial stage of screening involve?

A

Expected return on investment, payback period, potential market share, long term dominance, initial cash outlay, ability to generate future business

34
Q

What does the internal operating stage of screening involve?

A

The need to develop/train employees, changes in workforce size or composition, changes in physical environment, changes in manufacturing or service operations

35
Q

What is involved in the additional stage of screening a project?

A

Patent protection, impact on company’s image, strategic fit, prioritisation

36
Q

What is the payback period?

A

It is a way of determining how long it takes a project to reach a breakeven point

37
Q

How do you calculate the payback period?

A

Payback Period = Investment / Annual Cash Savings

38
Q

What does Net Present Value forecast?

A

It forecasts the current value of a project

39
Q

What is the internal rate of return?

A

It is the minimum rate of return a project must meet before it is worthy of consideration - the higher the better

40
Q

What is leadership defined as?

A

The ability to inspire confidence and support among the people who are needed to achieve organisational goals

41
Q

What is the difference between managers and leaders?

A

Leaders do the right thing, managers do things right
Leaders innovate, managers administer
Leaders command respect, focus on people and inspire trust, managers demand respect, focus on systems and strive for control.
Leaders focus on potential and have long term goals, managers focus on the bottom line and have a short term view

42
Q

What are the 9 characteristics of an effective project manager?

A 
Leads by example
Visionary
Technically competent
Decisive
A good communicator
A good motivator
Stands up to top management
Supports team members
Encourages new ideas
43
Q

What are hard details when discussing what project managers actually manage?

A

These are technical details

44
Q

What are soft details when discussing what project managers actually manage?

A

These are people issues

45
Q

What is critical for a project manager to do?

A

Maintain strong contact with all stakeholders

46
Q

What does emotional intelligence refer to?

A

A leaders ability to understand that effective leadership is part of the emotional and relational transaction between subordinates and themselves

47
Q

What are the 5 elements of emotional intelligence?

A 
Self-awareness
Self-regulation
Motivation
Empathy
Social skills
48
Q

What is the PMI?

A

The Project Management Institute

49
Q

What are the 4 things the PMIs code of ethics say project managers consist of?

A

Responsibility
Respect
Fairness
Honesty

50
Q

What should be established when starting a project?

A

A scope statement

51
Q

What does WBS stand for?

A

Work Breakdown Structure

52
Q

What is the Work Breakdown Structure?

A

It is a hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the project deliverables

53
Q

What are the six main purposes of the WBS?

A 
Echoes project objectives
Organisation chart for the project
Creates logic for tracking costs, schedule and performance specifications
Communicates project status
Improves project communication
Demonstrates control structure
54
Q

What does the scope statement consist of?

A

Goal criteria
Management plan
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Scope baseline

55
Q

What is a Project Work Package?

A

It forms the lowest level in WBS, it has a deliverable result, has one owner, may be considered a project itself, may include milestones, should fit organisational procedures and culture, size may be expressed in labour hours, calendar time, cost…

56
Q

What do effective project teams have?

A

Clear sense of mission, productive interdependency, cohesiveness, trust, enthusiasm, results orientation

57
Q

Why do project teams fail?

A

Unclear goals, poorly defined team roles, lack of motivation, poor communication and leadership, turnover among project members, dysfunctional behaviour

58
Q

What does Tuckman say about teamwork?

A

It is a developing process with a number of stages before a team becomes more efficient and effective

59
Q

What are the 5 stages of Tuckmans teamwork process?

A

Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning

60
Q

What happens in the forming stage of Tuckmans model?

A

Goals are defined as well as acceptable behaviour

61
Q

What happens in the storming stage of Tuckmans model?

A

Conflict concerning ideas

62
Q

What happens in the norming stage of Tuckmans model?

A

Closer relationships and cohesiveness forms, agreements

63
Q

What happens in the performing stage of Tuckmans model?

A

The team gets on with tasks

64
Q

What happens over time with Tuckmans model?

A

Teams start of as immature, inefficient and ineffective, but they become more mature and therefore efficient and effective

65
Q

What is conflict?

A

A process that begins when you perceive that someone has frustrated or is about to frustrate a concern of yours.

66
Q

What is principled negotiation?

A

Separating the people from the problem
Focusing on interests not positions
Inventing options for mutual gain
Insisting on using objective criteria

67
Q

What are some sources of organisational conflict?

A

Reward systems
Scarce resources
Uncertainty
Differentiation

68
Q

What are some interpersonal sources of conflict?

A

Faulty attributes
Faulty communication
Personal grudges and prejudices

69
Q

What are the two areas for sources of conflict?

A

Organisational and interpersonal

70
Q

What are the stages for avoiding latent conflicting?

A

Conflict emergence, conflict escalation, stalemate, de-escalation (negotiation), dispute settlement, post-conflict peacebuilding

Engineering Management and Law (9 decks)

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