Week 5 Flashcards

1
Q

Risk formal definition

A

Uncertain event which, if it occurs, can influence a project objective
Can map risks to a matrix of consequence vs likelihood

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2
Q

Common types of risk

A

Absenteeism
Time overruns
Unavailable skills
Incomplete project specifications

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3
Q

Mitigation strategies for risks

A
Accept
Minimise
Share
Transfer
Contingency reserves
Insurance
Workaround
Mentoring
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4
Q

Project price components

A

Cost and profit
Costs (Direct, indirect and contingency)
Direct costs (Materials, labour, equipment)
Indirect costs (Project overhead, G&A overhead

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5
Q

Importance of contingency funding

A

Recognises future unknowns

Acts as a warning signal that your project is overrunning on its budget

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6
Q

Estimate duration of an activity with beta distribution

A

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

a = most optimistic time
m = most likely time
b = most pessimistic time
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7
Q

Estimate activity variance using beta distribution

A

S**2 = ((b-a)/6) **2

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8
Q

Critical path definition

A

The critical path is the longest path from end to end in a network diagram which determines the absolute shortest project length
Float values in each node are all 0 usually

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9
Q

Float definition

A

Difference between the earliest and latest start

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10
Q

Reducing the critical path

A
Eliminate tasks
Parallelise tasks
Overlap sequential tasks
Shorten the duration on critical path tasks
Shorten early/long/easy/cheap tasks
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11
Q

Milestones definition

A

Events that represent an accomplishment

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12
Q

Agile project management emphasis

A

Flexibility, evolving customer requirements
Plan the work then work the plan
Importance of evolving customer requirements leads to an incremental iterative planning process

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13
Q

Plan-execute-cycles

A

Scrum process regognizes: Once you plan a project, you will execute it to said specifications.
However, projects are prone to change
Rolling wave process of continuous “plan-execute-evaluate” cycles

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14
Q

Agile overview/terminology

A
Each cycle is a sprint, timebox is the length of a given sprint, timebox is agreed in a scrum meeting
User stories (Explanation of what the system should do from the end-user perspective)
Take user stories and turn them into a product backlog
Visualize which user stories need to be completed in each sprint in a burndown chart
Work backlog details any business/technical functionality you need to develop
Scrum master is the person responsible for moving the project forward
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15
Q

Sprint stages

A
Sprint planning
Daily scrums
Development work
Sprint review
Sprint retrospective
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16
Q

Issues of agile development

A

Risk of scope creep
Increased cost (testing integrated into development)
Less ability to predict what the final product will resemble
Extra burden on product owners
Requirement of close collaboration between the scrum team and customers

17
Q

Retrospectives

A

One of the 12 agile principles
Team steps back, examines the way they work, analyses it and identifies ways they can improve
Occurs at regular intervals
Team designs the changes as they’re best placed to do so
Necessary since learning from experience is not automatic
Never about blaming, naming or shaming

18
Q

Retrospective benefits

A

Identify needs for improvements
Build motivation to change work dynamics
Build cross-team alliances
Offer closure (from bad experiences)

19
Q

Who’s involved in a retrospective?

A

Must (Team and scrum master)
Good to have (External team members)
No way (Customer and management)

To facilitate retrospective (Professional, scrum master, any team member)

20
Q

Retrospective questions

A

What went well?
What didn’t go well?
What are we puzzled about? (Clear up any confusion and recognise/document what the team learnt)

21
Q

Retrospective times

A

Occur at the end of the project and after each sprint/milestone
Improvements can be input into the next sprint
Can also be reactive after a project surprise

22
Q

Goals of retrospectives

A
Quantify effort expended on a project
Ensure everyone knows the whole story
Improve processes/procedures/culture
Capture collective wisdom (temporary teams so collective wisdom outlives breakup of the team)
Repair team damage
Enjoy accomplishments
23
Q

Retrospective structure

A

Set the stage -> Gather data -> Generate insights -> Decide on action -> Close retrospective

24
Q

Generating insights

A

Interpreting causes, effects, strengths and weaknesses

Fishbone diagrams/pareto charts/et al.

25
Agile/Iron triangle differences
Cannot be both without careful recognition of the risks being taken Agile methods rely on flexible and ill-defined objectives Wreak havoc on the iron triangle Agile accounts for the customer more continuously Agile works better in low-risk environments where the process has been somewhat standardised
26
7 Cs for meeting customer expectations
``` Client Clarity Create Change Confirm Continue Close ```
27
Stakeholders in a project
Need to account for suppliers and competitor expectations Customers are both highly attentive and powerful (Need to be actively cultivated) Gadflies (High attention, low power) Sleeping giants (Low attention, high power)
28
Managing customer expectations
``` Project risk mitigation Clarify design limits Agree feasible, realistic goals Scope within budget Corroborate the facts before starting ```
29
Collaborating with the customers
Helps you out of any problems you might get into during a project as opposed to rigidly focusing on the iron triangle Establish the facts Keep customer informed regarding developments such as cost/time/scope Clearly communicate design limits Train for safe, effective implementations Make a feasible design acceptable
30
Risk throughout the life of a project
Period of highest risk impact throughout the final stage of the project Opportunity and risk decrease through out project life Amount at stake increases through out project life
31
Resource-limited schedule
Start and finish dates reflect expected resource availability
32
Project control cycle
Setting a goal -> Measuring progress -> Comparing actual with planned -> Taking action and recycling the process
33
Product owner in agile
Person representing the stakeholders and serving as the "voice of the customer"
34
Product backlog in agile
A prioritized list of everything that might be needed in a completed product and source of requirements for any changes