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Engineering Management and Law > Week 5 - Project Management 2 > Flashcards

Week 5 - Project Management 2 Flashcards

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1
Q

What questions should be considered in risk management?

A

What is likely to happen?
What can minimise the probability or impact of these events?
What cues will signal the need for action?

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2
Q

What is risk management defined as?

A

The art of identifying, analysing and responding to risk factors throughout the life of a project and in the best interest of its objectives

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3
Q

What is project risk defined as?

A

An uncertain event or condition that if occurs may have a positive or negative effect on project objectives

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4
Q

What are common types of project risk?

A 
Absenteeism
Resignation
Staff pulling away
Time overruns
Unavailable skills or poor training
Incomplete specs
Change of orders
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5
Q

What is a risk impact matrix?

A

It is a way of measuring risk, measuring the consequences and likelihood

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6
Q

What are some risk mitigation strategies?

A

Accept, minimise, share, transfer, contingency reserves, insurance, workaround, mentoring, cross training

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7
Q

What does control and documentation do?

A

Helps managers classify and codify risks, responses and outcomes

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8
Q

What are some common sources of project cost?

A

Labour, materials, subcontractors, equipment and facilities, travel

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9
Q

What are some problems with cost estimation?

A

Low estimates, unexpected difficulties, lack of definition, spec changes, external factors

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10
Q

What is contingency funding?

A

It is where funds are set aside for future unknowns, in case something unexpected happens

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11
Q

What are the benefits of contingency funding?

A

Recognises future unknowns, adds provision for plans for an increase in project cost, acts as warning signal to overdrawn budget

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12
Q

What does project scheduling require you to do?

A

Follow some laid-out steps in order to allow a schedule to take shape

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13
Q

What is project planning defined as?

A

The identification of the project objectives and the ordered activity necessary to complete the project

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14
Q

What is a project network diagram?

A

Any schematic display of the logical relationships of project activities

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15
Q

What is an early start date in project scheduling?

A

The earliest possible date an uncompleted activity can start

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16
Q

What is a late start date in project scheduling?

A

The latest possible date that an activity may begin without delaying a milestone

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17
Q

What is calculated in the forward pass of a project scheduling diagram?

A

Earliest start / earliest finish of an activity

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18
Q

What is calculated in the backward pass of a project scheduling diagram?

A

The late start / late finish data for a task in the network

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19
Q

What is the float in a Project Network Diagram?

A

The amount of time an activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying the finish of the project

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20
Q

What is the critical path in a project network diagram?

A

The path through the project network with the longest duration

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21
Q

What is the critical path method?

A

A network analysis technique used to determine the amount of schedule flexibility used to determine the minimum project duration

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22
Q

What does m, b and a stand for in beta distribution?

A 
most likely (m)
most pessimistic (b)
most optimistic (a)
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23
Q

What is the formula for activity duration?

A

(a + 4m + b) / 6

where a is most optimistic, b is most pessimistic and m is most likely

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24
Q

What is the formula for calculating activity variance?

A

((b - a) / 6) ^ 2

where a is most optimistic, b is most pessimistic

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25
Q

What are some ways of reducing a critical path?

A

Eliminate tasks on the path, plan serial tasks in parallel, overlap sequential tasks, shorten task duration

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26
Q

What is a Gantt chart?

A

A time phased network tracking tool

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27
Q

What are some benefits of Gantt charts?

A 
Easy to comprehend
They identify the schedule baseline network
Allow for updating and control
Identify resource needs
Easy to create
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28
Q

What is the project control cycle?

A

Setting a goal
Measuring progress
Comparing actual with planned
Taking action, recycling the process

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29
Q

What are milestones?

A

These are events or stages of a project that represent a significant accomplishment

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30
Q

What do milestones do?

A 
Signal completion of important steps
Motivate team
Offer re-evaluation points
Coordinate schedules
Identify review gates
Signal when work should start
Delineate work packages
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31
Q

What is Agile Project Management (Agile PM)

A

A new era in project planning that places a premium on flexibility and evolving customer requirements throughout the development process

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32
Q

What are some features of Agile PM?

A

You plan the work, then work the plan
Customer needs may evolve over the project
Importance of involving customer leads to incremental, iterative planning process

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33
Q

What are some unique features of Agile PM?

A

Recognises mistake of assuming once the initial project is planned, the project will be executed to original specs.
It is flexible - iterative system for managing projects with change and uncertainty
It is a rolling wave of continuous plan - execute - evaluate cycle
Emphasis on adaptation, flexibility, coordinated efforts of multiple disciplines

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34
Q

What is Agile PM often referred to as?

A

Scrum

35
Q

What is a sprint in Agile PM?

A

One iteration of the agile planning and executing cycle

36
Q

What are the stages in the agile cycle?

A

Plan-Execute-Evaluate

37
Q

What is the meaning of scrum in Agile PM?

A

The development strategy agreed to by all key members of the project

38
Q

What is time-box in Agile PM?

A

The length of any particular sprint, fixed in advance, during the scrum meeting

39
Q

What is a user story?

A

A short explanation of the ned user that captures what they do or need from the project

40
Q

What is a scrum master?

A

This is the person on the project team that is responsible for moving the project forward between iterations, removing impediments and solving disputes

41
Q

What is the sprint backlog?

A

Backlog of items selected for the sprint and a plan for delivering the sprint goal

42
Q

What is the burndown chart?

A

The remaining work in the sprint backlog

43
Q

What is the product backlog?

A

This is a prioritised list of everything that might be needed in the completed product and source of requirements for any changes

44
Q

What is the work backlog?

A

An evolving, prioritised queue of business and technical functionality that needs to be developed into a system

45
Q

What are stages in a sprint?

A 
Sprint planning
Daily scrums
Development work
Sprint review
Sprint retrospective
46
Q

What are some problems with agile?

A

Requires active user involvement
Scope creep
Hard to predict end product at the start
Requirements are kept to a minimum, so can lead to confusion
Testing is integrated throughout lifecycle - adds cost
Burden of frequent delivery
If misapplied, expensive with few benefits

47
Q

What is a retrospective?

A

It is a time where a team stops to reflect on how to become more effective - and then adjusting their behaviour accordingly

48
Q

What is said about learning from experience?

A

Is that it is not automatic

49
Q

What do retrospectives create?

A

The opportunity for participants to learn improvement

The opportunity to harvest the experience of the team

50
Q

Why should you look back in regards to project retrospectives?

A 
Identify needs for improvement
Builds motivation for change
Team actually designs the change
Can help build alliances when there are multiple teams
Offers closure (from bad experiences)
51
Q

Who designs the changes in regards to project retrospectives?

A

The team that was involved!

52
Q

Why do the team design the changes in regards to project retrospectives?

A

They are in the best position to identify, organise and prioritise problems.
Owning the changes means the team is the master of its process

53
Q

What do retrospectives provide in failed projects?

A 
Opportunity to learn from failure
A focus on improvement rather than blame
Close the door against similar adversity
Learning, growth, maturity
Experiences recalled help foster teams common focus
54
Q

What are retrospectives never about?

A

Blaming, naming or shaming

55
Q

Who is involved in retrospectives?

A

The team and scrum master must be invovled, it is good to involve external team members

56
Q

Who is never involved in a project retrospective?

A

The customer and management

57
Q

Who does a retrospective facilitate?

A

Professionals, scrum master, any team member

58
Q

What do we look for in retrospectives?

A

What went well (celebrate, recognise heroes, share good practice)
What did not go well (what to avoid, how to work differently)
What are we still puzzled about?

59
Q

When are retrospectives carried out?

A

At the end of the project
During the project:
- the end of each sprint (find out what we can put in the next sprint)
- at specified milestones
- after a project surprise (reactive retrospective)

60
Q

What are some goals of retrospectives?

A 
Capture effort data
Get the story out
Improve process, procedures, management and culture
Capture collective wisdom
Repair any damage to the team
Enjoy the accomplishment!
61
Q

What is the structure of a retrospective?

A 
Set the stage
Gather the data
Generate insights
Decide what to do
Close the retrospective
62
Q

What are some possible tools for retrospectives?

A

Fishbone diagrams, Pareto charts

63
Q

What do insights allow?

A

The team to step back, identify the bigger picture, grasp root causes.

64
Q

What emerges once insights have been gained?

A

The solutions

65
Q

When generating insights, what do we interpret?

A

Causes, effects, strengths and weaknesses

66
Q

How can we map stakeholders?

A

By using a matrix showing their level of attention and their power

67
Q

What is the problem with agile and the iron triangle?

A

Project management cannot be agile and fit within the iron traingle objectives without careful recognition of risks

68
Q

In what environments does agile work better within?

A

Low risk environments - you wouldn’t agile a plane!

69
Q

Where does a customer sit in the stakeholder matrix?

A

High attention and high power

70
Q

What do you need to do with customers?

A

Actively cultivate them

71
Q

How can project risks be mitigated?

A

Through the management of customer expectations

72
Q

How can project management risks be mitigated by management customer expectations?

A

Clarifying design limits, scope within budget, agreeing feasible and realistic goals, corroborating facts before starting

73
Q

Why should you work with the customer to establish facts?

A

Keeps them informed with cost/time/scope

Communicates design limits and allows for a safe and effective implementation

74
Q

What type of design should be made when working with the customer?

A

A feasible one that is an acceptable one

75
Q

How can customer expectations be met?

A

The 7Cs

76
Q

What are the 7Cs?

A 
Client
Clarity
Create
Change
Confirm
Continue
Close
77
Q

What does Client mean in the 7Cs?

A

Use expertise and experience to win the business

78
Q

What does Clarity mean in the 7Cs?

A

Understand the customer needs through meetings, interviews…

79
Q

What does Create mean in the 7Cs?

A

Scope and agree design specifications

80
Q

What does Change mean in the 7Cs?

A

Manage and implement the project

81
Q

What does Confirm mean in the 7Cs?

A

Clarify the project success

82
Q

What does Continue mean in the 7Cs?

A

Establish and implement post-project support

83
Q

What does Close mean in the 7Cs?

A

Maintain customer relationships for testimonials and winning of future projects

Engineering Management and Law (9 decks)

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