Allen Quiz 4 w/ Ch.9

Friendship

ability to establish friendly personal relationships between the project manager and others

Money

ability to increase a worker's pay and benefits

Assignment

ability to influence a worker's later work assignments

Achievement (nAch) (McClelland)

achievers like challenging projects with achievable goals and regular feedback

Risk-neutral approach

achieves a balance between risk and payoff

According to McClelland's acquired-needs theory, people who desire harmonious relations with other people and need to feel accepted have a high need. a. social b. achievement c. affiliation d. extrinsic

affiliation

General definition of a project risk:

an uncertainty that can have a negative or positive effect on meeting project objectives

Theory y (McGregor)

assumes individuals consider work as natural as play or rest and enjoy the satisfaction of esteem and self-actualization needs

Theory x (McGregor)

assumes workers dislike and avoid work, so managers must use coercion, threats and various control schemes to get workers to meet objectives

Your project team has decided not to use an upcoming release of software because it might cause your schedule to slip. Which negative risk response strategy are you using? a. avoidance b. acceptance c. transference d. mitigation

avoidance

Your project involves using a new release of a common software application, but if that release is not available, your team has _______ plans to use the current release. a. contingency b. fallback c. reserve d. mitigation

contingency

Hygiene factors

could cause job dissatisfaction

Planning risk management

deciding how to approach and plan the risk management activities for the project

Collaborating

decision makers incorporate different viewpoints and insights to develop consensus and commitment

Progress reports

describe what the project team has accomplished during a certain period of time

Status reports

describe where the project stands at a specific point in time

Identifying risks

determining which risks are likely to affect a project and documenting the characteristics of each

Fallback plans

developed for risks that have a high impact on meeting project objectives, and are put into effect if attempts to reduce the risk are not effective

Secondary risks

direct result of implementing a risk response

Confrontation

directly face a conflict using a problem-solving approach

Herzberg's Motivational-Hygiene Theory

distinguished between motivational factors and hygiene factors

motivational factors

factors that cause job satisfaction

Various methods for distributing project information

formal, informal, written, and verbal

Management reserves

funds held for unknown risks that are used for management control purposes

Contingency reserves or allowances

funds included in the cost baseline that can be used to mitigate cost or schedule overruns if known risks occur

Implementing risk responses

implementing the risk response plans

Managing communication

includes creating and distributing project information

Theory z

introduced in 1981 by William Ouchi and is based on the Japanese approach to motivating workers, emphasizing trust, quality, collective decision making, and cultural values

Managing negative risks

involves a number of possible actions that project managers can take to avoid, lessen, change, or accept the potential effects of risks on their projects

Monitoring risks

involves monitoring implementation of risk response plans, tracking identified risks, identifying and analyzing new risks, and evaluating effectiveness of risk management throughout the entire project

Carrying out individual risk management plans

involves monitoring risks based on defined milestones and making decisions regarding risks and their response strategies

emotional intelligence

knowing and managing one's own emotions and understanding the emotions of others for improved performance

Suggestions for improving project communications

learning how to run more effective meetings, how to use e-mail, instant messaging, texting, kanban boards, and collaborative software more effectively, and how to use templates for project communications

A ____________ report is a reflective statement that documents important information learned from working on the project. a. kanban b. lessons-learned c. project archive d. progress

lessons-learned

overallocation

means more resources than available are assigned to perform work at a given time

Monitoring risk

monitoring identified and residual risks, identifying new risks, carrying out risk response plans, and evaluating the effectiveness of risk strategies throughout the life of the project

Performing quantitative risk analysis

numerically estimating the effects of risks on project objectives

Power: (nPow)(McClelland)

people with a need for power desire either personal power (not good) or institutional power (good for the organization)

Affiliation (nAff) (McClelland)

people with high nAff desire harmonious relationships and need to feel accepted by others, so managers should try to create a cooperative work environment for them

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

people's behaviors are guided or motivated by a sequence of needs

Expertise

perceived special knowledge that others deem important

At the bottom of Maslow's pyramid or hierarchy of needs are needs. a. self-actualization b. esteem c. safety d. physiological

physiological

Contingency plans

predefined actions that the project team will take if an identified risk event occurs

Forecasts

predict future project status and progress based on past information and trends

Performing qualitative risk analysis

prioritizing risks based on their probability and impact of occurrence

Risk events

refer to specific, uncertain events that may occur to the detriment or enhancement of the project

A risk ____________ is a document that contains results of various risk management processes, and is often displayed in a table or spreadsheet format. a. management plan b. register c. breakdown structure d. probability/impact matrix

register

A _____________________ maps the work of a project, as described in the WBS, to the people responsible for performing the work. a. project organizational chart b. work definition and assignment process c. resource histogram d. responsibility assignment matrix

responsibility assignment matrix

Withdrawl

retreat or withdraw from an actual or potential disagreement

Residual risks

risks that remain after all of the response strategies have been implemented

DISC profile photo

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General risk mitigation strategies for technical, cost, and schedule risks

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Herzberg's Motivational-Hygiene Theory picture

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Potential negative risk conditions associated with each knowledge area

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Project communications management overview

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decision tree example

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risk utility function graph

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sample risk breakdown structure

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sample stakeholder communications analysis

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top ten risk item tracking example

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topics addressed in a risk management plan

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hierarchy of needs

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A person who is risk- receives greater satisfaction when more payoff is at stake and is willing to pay a penalty to take risks. a. averse b. seeking c. neutral d. aware

seeking

Most experts agree that the best leaders are able to adapt their style to needs of the:

situation

intrinsic motivation example

some people love to read, write, or play an instrument because it makes them feel good

Extrinsic motivation example

some young children would prefer not to play an instrument, but they do because they receive a reward or avoid a punishment for doing so

A(n) ____________ report describes where a project stands at a specific point in time. a. status b. performance c. version d. earned value

status

Planning risk responses

taking steps to enhance opportunities and reduce threats to meeting project objectives

Risk utility

the amount of satisfaction or pleasure received from a potential payoff

Project risk management

the art and science of identifying, analyzing, and responding to risk throughout the life of a project and in the best interests of meeting project objectives

As the number of people involved increases:

the complexity of communications increases

Mirroring

the matching of certain behaviors of the other person

dictionary definition of risk

the possibility of loss or injury

Power

the potential ability to influence behavior to get people to do things they would not otherwise do

Estimated monetary value (EMV)

the product of a risk event probability and the risk event's monetary value

Main goal of monitoring communications

to ensure the optimal flow of information throughout the entire project life cycle

main goal of team development

to help people work together more effectively to improve project performance

52 percent of organizations report having job openings, and 33 percent say they are understaffed, while 42 percent say they are fully staffed but want to hire more people in order to expand

true

58 percent of businesses are concerned about the quality and quantity of IT talent available for hire

true

68 percent of IT firms report having a very challenging time finding new staff

true

93 percent of recruiters check out social media profiles of prospective hires

true

94 percent of IT professionals plan to pursue more training

true

A communications management plan of some type should be created for all projects to help ensure good communications

true

A recent article in PMI's Virtual Library explains how to avoid "the Titanic factor" in your projects by analyzing the interdependence of risks

true

Abraham Maslow argued that humans possess unique qualities that enable them to make independent choices, thus giving them control of their destiny

true

According to a global survey of 316 financial services executives, over 70 percent of respondents believed that the losses stemming from the credit crisis were largely due to failures to address risk management issues

true

After developing resource requirements, project managers must work with other people in their organizations to assign them to their projects or to acquire additional human or physical resources needed for the project

true

After identifying and quantifying risks, the organization must decide how to respond to them

true

Although there have been ups and downs in the IT labor market, there will always be a need for good IT workers

true

Amusing examples of miscommunications are common, especially when they involve the use of new technologies

true

An experienced facilitator should run the brainstorming session

true

As illustrated in Brooks' book The Mythical Man-Month, you cannot assume that a task originally scheduled to take two months of one person's time can be done in one month by two people

true

As organizations become more global, they realize they must invest in ways to improve communication with people from different countries and cultures

true

Before you can communicate with others, you have to have rapport

true

By 2020, ICT spending is projected to grow to nearly $5.5 trillion

true

By June of 2017, there were almost 4.3 billion mobile-broadband subscriptions

true

Collaboration is a key driver of overall performance of companies around the world

true

CompTIA found a gap between skills that employers wanted and what they actually found in the IT workforce

true

Conflict can be good

true

Conflict often produces important results, such as new ideas, better alternatives, and motivation to work harder and more collaboratively

true

Costs are associated with identifying risks, analyzing those risks, and establishing plans to address them

true

Danish researchers are working on a new device called Reachi to aid communications during natural disasters

true

Douglas McGregor popularized the human relations approach to management in the 1960s

true

During the April 2015 earthquake in Nepal, people turned to older technology like ham radios to communicate

true

During the late 1990s, the IT job market became extremely competitive. Today, many organizations again face a shortage of IT staff

true

Effective creation and distribution of information depends on project managers and project team members having good communication skills

true

Eli Lilly uses simulation to determine the optimal plant capacity that should be built for developing each drug

true

Every person is unique, so you cannot simply generalize based on a personality profile or other traits

true

Failure to communicate is often the greatest threat to the success of any project, especially IT projects

true

Finding, developing, and sharing relevant templates and sample documents are important tasks for many project managers

true

For example, many people use sensitivity analysis to determine what the monthly payments for a loan will be given different interest rates or periods of the loan

true

For large projects, the communications management plan should be a separate document

true

For projects to succeed, every project team member needs both types of skills

true

Fortune Magazine lists the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in the United States every year, with Google taking the honors for the eighth time in 2017

true

Gardner suggested the need to develop both interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence

true

General Motors uses simulation for forecasting its net income, predicting structural costs and purchasing costs of vehicles, and determining the company's susceptibility to different kinds of risk

true

Getting project information to the right people at the right time and in a useful format is just as important as developing the information in the first place

true

Good communication is vital to the management and success of IT projects

true

Good project managers are empathic listeners, and listen with the intent to understan

true

Group effects often inhibit idea generation

true

Hillson described the importance of good working relationships; especially between the project sponsor and project manager

true

Howard Gardner's book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences introduced the concept of using more than one way to think of and measure human intelligence

true

IT professionals need to develop empathic listening and other people skills to improve relationships with users and other stakeholders

true

If management rewards teamwork, they will promote or reinforce the philosophy that people work more effectively in teams

true

If problems exist, the project manager and team need to take action, which often requires changes to the earlier processes of planning and managing project communications

true

If there is a problem, know how it will affect the whole project and the organization, and recommend steps to take to mitigate a problem

true

Implementing risk responses involves putting the appropriate risk response plans into action

true

In 2013, Yahoo's CEO issued a memo stating that employees could no longer work from home, causing quite a stir throughout the world. Diebold's CEO took the opposite approach and started recruiting employees who wanted to work from home, luring the best and brightest workers from Yahoo and other companies cutting back on telecommuting

true

In a 2013 survey, risk management was a high priority

true

Interviewing people with similar project experience is an important tool for identifying potential risks

true

It is important to put information in context, especially if it's bad news

true

It is important to select the appropriate communication method and media

true

It is important to understand and pay attention to concepts of motivation, influence, power, effectiveness, emotional intelligence, and leadership in all project processes

true

It is often beneficial to have a facilitator from outside the project team assess how well communications are working

true

It is very important to consider the needs of individuals and the organization when making recruiting and retention decisions

true

It takes leadership to improve communication

true

It takes teamwork to successfully complete most projects

true

Japan's communications infrastructure damage after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake in March 2011 was unprecedented

true

Jobs available to IT professionals are expected to increase by 12 percent by 2024

true

Large, complex projects involving leading edge technologies often require extensive quantitative risk analysis

true

List the risks and then label each one as high, medium, or low in terms of its probability of occurrence and its impact if it did occur

true

Main executing process performed as part of project risk management is implementing risk responses

true

Managing communications is a large part of a project manager's job

true

Managing people is a vital component of project resource management

true

Many organizations are discovering how valuable project management software can be in communicating project information across the organization

true

Many organizations do a poor job of project risk management, if they do any at all

true

Microsoft Excel is a common tool for performing quantitative risk analysis

true

Mirroring is a technique to help establish rapport

true

Monte Carlo simulation can also help reduce schedule risk on agile projects

true

More sophisticated risk management software, such as Monte Carlo simulation tools, help develop models and use simulations to analyze and respond to various risks

true

Most companies spend a lot of money on technical training for employees, even when employees might benefit more from communications training

true

Most project managers agree that managing human resources effectively is one of the toughest challenges they face

true

Natural disasters often disrupt communications around the world

true

New hardware and software continue to become available to help improve communications.

true

Often, one of the biggest communication problems on projects is providing the most recent project plans, Gantt charts, specifications, meeting information, and change requests to stakeholders in a timely fashion

true

Oral communication also helps build stronger relationships among project personnel and project stakeholders

true

Organizations that do a good job of staff acquisition have good staffing plans

true

PMI introduced the PMI Talent Triangle® in 2015 to emphasize the need for more than technical skills for project managers

true

People are not interchangeable parts

true

People using kanban boards can tailor the concepts to meet their needs

true

Performance reporting keeps stakeholders informed about how resources are being used to achieve project objectives

true

Positive risk management is like investing in opportunities

true

Power is much stronger than influence, because it is often used to force people to change their behavior

true

Procter & Gamble uses simulation to model foreign exchange risk

true

Project communications management involves planning communications management, managing communications, and controlling communications

true

Project management is number three on Computerworld's hottest tech list

true

Project management software can provide different views of information to help meet various communication needs

true

Project managers must continually assess their team's performance

true

Project managers must lead their teams in performing various project activities

true

Project managers often recommend that people take specific training courses to improve individual and team development

true

Project managers say they spend as much as 90 percent of their time communicating

true

Project managers should know how a major problem might affect the bottom line of the organization, and one should use leadership skills to handle the challenge

true

Project resource management includes the processes required to make the most effective use of the people involved with a project

true

Project risk management does not stop with the initial risk analysis

true

Project teams can use one of the many software products available to assist in project communications through the Web, which vary considerably in price and functionality

true

Project teams sometimes use workarounds—unplanned responses to risk events—when they do not have contingency plans in place

true

Providing examples and templates for project communications saves time and money

true

Psychology literature shows that individuals produce a greater number of ideas working alone than they do through brainstorming in small, face-to-face groups

true

Qualitative analysis can also identify risks that should be evaluated quantitatively

true

RSA Animate used a whiteboard drawing technique to summarize key points from Pink's book in a YouTube video called "Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us"

true

Regardless of the current job market, acquiring qualified IT professionals is critical

true

Research suggests that task-related conflict often improves team performance, but emotional conflict often depresses team performance

true

Risk is an uncertainty that can have a negative or positive effect on meeting project objectives

true

Risk management is an investment

true

Risk management is often overlooked in projects, but it can help improve project success by helping select good projects, determining project scope, and developing realistic estimates

true

Risk registers can be created in a simple Microsoft Word or Excel file or as part of a sophisticated database

true

Seek first to understand, as author Stephen Covey suggests in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

true

Several colleagues and managers want to know the people working on their projects and develop a trusting relationship with them

true

Several studies show that IT projects share some common sources of risk

true

Software can help in producing a simple responsibility assignment matrix or resource histograms

true

Some organizations make the mistake of only addressing tactical and negative risks when performing project risk management. David Hillson suggests overcoming this problem by widening the scope of risk management to encompass both strategic risks and upside opportunities, which he refers to as integrated risk management

true

Study by Ibbs and Kwak shows risk management has the lowest maturity rating of all knowledge areas

true

Study showed there are regional differences in how people in various countries prefer to communicate with one another

true

Team-based reward and recognition systems can promote teamwork

true

Technology can facilitate the process of creating and distributing information, when used effectively

true

The Times online provides the Sunday Times list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For," a key benchmark against which U.K. companies can judge their performance as employers

true

The number one strategy to handle understaffing is requiring workers to put in more hours

true

The project manager and project team members should prepare a lessons-learned report

true

The project manager and project team should use expert judgment, project management information systems, data representation, interpersonal and team skills, and meetings to assess how well communications are working

true

The project team should review project documents as well as corporate risk management policies, risk categories, lessonslearned reports from past projects, and templates for creating a risk management plan

true

There is no one best way to be a leader

true

Those who are risk-seeking have a higher tolerance for risk and their satisfaction increases when more payoff is at stake

true

To improve project communications, project managers and their teams must develop their communication skills

true

Utility rises at a decreasing rate for people who are risk-averse

true

When they find areas in which individuals or the entire team can improve, it's their job to find the best way to develop their people and improve performance

true

Working Mothers Magazine lists the best companies in the U.S. for women based on benefits for working families

true

Worldwide banking and insurance sectors will spend about $78.6 billion on risk information technologies and services in 2015, growing to $96.3 billion by 2018

true

You can draw a decision tree to help find the EMV

true

You cannot manage risks if you do not identify them first

true

You cannot totally separate technical skills and soft skills when working on IT projects

true

Young project professionals are sometimes more willing to take risks with unique or untested approaches, but they should take the time to find out what other, more experienced people might feel about the circumstances of a project before making up your mind about potential risks

true

only 66 percent of companies said they often build it into their strategy planning decisions

true

• Individual employees are more likely to enroll voluntarily in classes to learn the latest technology than in classes that develop soft skills

true

workarounds

unplanned responses to risk events

Compromise

use a give-and-take approac

Five dysfunctions of teams

• Absence of trust • Fear of conflict • Lack of commitment • Avoidance of accountability • Inattention to results

Considerations for Agile/Adaptive Environments (project risk management)

• All types of projects should share knowledge related to risks as quickly as possible and keep documents up to date • Risk is considered during each iteration for agile/adaptive projects, which does elevate its importance • Changing priorities can be addressed more easily by changing the product backlog for each iteration

Software includes several features related to human resource management:

• Assigning and tracking resources • Leveling resources • Resource usage reports • Overallocated resource reports • To-do lists

Pink suggests that managers focus on motivators:

• Autonomy • Mastery • Purpose

General Advice on Managing Teams

• Be patient and kind with your team • Fix the problem instead of blaming people • Establish regular, effective meetings • Allow time for teams to go through the basic team-building stages • Limit the size of work teams to three to seven members • Plan some social activities to help project team members and other stakeholders get to know each other better • Stress team identity • Nurture team members and encourage them to help each other • Acknowledge individual and group accomplishments • Take additional actions to work with virtual team members

Project managers can apply Covey's seven habits to improve effectiveness on projects:

• Be proactive • Begin with the end in mind • Put first things first • Think win/win • Seek first to understand, then to be understood • Synergize • Sharpen the saw

Guidelines to use e-mail as a more effective communication tool

• Be sure to send information to the right people • Use meaningful subject lines and limit the content of emails to one main subject • Be as clear and concise as possible • Reread your e-mail before you send it • Limit the number and size of e-mail attachments • Delete e-mail that you do not need to save or that does not require a response • Make sure the virus protection software is up to date • Respond to e-mail quickly • If you need to keep e-mail, file each message appropriately

Suggestions for identifying risks: tools and techniques

• Brainstorming • The Delphi Technique • Interviewing • SWOT analysis

Key outputs of implementing risk responses

• Change requests • Project documents updates

After assessing team performance and related information, the project manager must make several decisions:

• Changes to be requested • Corrective or preventive actions • Updates needed

types of power

• Coercive • Legitimate • Expert • Reward • Referent

Steps of a Monte Carlo analysis

• Collect the most likely, optimistic, and pessimistic estimates for the variables in the model • Determine the probability distribution of each variable • Select a random value based on the probability distribution for each variable • Run a deterministic analysis or one pass through the model • Repeat steps three and four many times to obtain the probability distribution of the model's results

Considerations For Agile/Adaptive Environments (Project communications management)

• Communications should be up to date, easily available, and reviewed regularly with stakeholders • Communication is among the more important factors for success in project management • Technology can aid in the communications process and be the easiest aspect of the process to address, it is not the most important • Improving an organization's ability to communicate is vital; often requires a cultural change in an organization that takes a lot of time, hard work, and patience

Main quantitative risk analysis techniques

• Decision tree analysis • Simulation • Sensitivity analysis

Guidelines to help improve time spent at meetings

• Determine if a meeting can be avoided • Define the purpose and intended outcome of the meeting • Determine who should attend the meeting • Provide an agenda to participants before the meeting • Prepare handouts and visual aids, and make logistical arrangements ahead of time • Run the meeting professionally • Set the ground rules for the meeting • Build relationships

Suggestions for Improving Project Communications

• Develop better communication skills • Run effective meetings • Use e-mail and other technologies effectively • Employ templates for project communications

DISC profile dimensions

• Dominance • Influence • Steadiness • Compliance

People are perceived as behaving primarily in one of four zones, based on their assertiveness and responsiveness (Social Styles Profile):

• Drivers • Expressives • Analyticals • Amiables

Tools that can assist in resource estimating

• Expert judgment • Various estimating approaches • Data analysis • Project management software • Meetings

Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator dimensons

• Extrovert/Introvert (E/I) • Sensation/Intuition (S/N) • Thinking/Feeling (T/F) • Judgment/Perception (J/P)

Several important concepts that can help with good communications

• Focus on group and individual communication needs • Use formal and informal methods for communicating • Distribute important information in an effective and timely manner • Set the stage for communicating bad news • Determine the number of communication channels

tuckman model of team development

• Forming • Storming • Norming • Performing • Adjourning

communications management plan

• Guides project communications • Varies with the needs of the project, but some type of written plan should always be prepared

Risk register contents

• Identification number for each risk event • Rank for each risk event • Name of each risk event • Description of each risk event • Category under which each risk event falls • Root cause of each risk • Triggers for each risk; indicators or symptoms of actual risk events • Potential responses to each risk • Risk owner or person who will own or take responsibility for each risk • Probability and impact of each risk occurring • Status of each risk

Proactive organizations are addressing human resource needs, such as:

• Improving benefits • Redefining work hours and incentives • Finding future workers

Distributing Information in an Effective and Timely Manner important considerations

• Include detailed technical information that affects critical performance features of products or services • Document any changes in technical specifications that might affect product performance • Report bad news • Have short, frequent meetings

Several tools and techniques are available to assist in managing project teams:

• Interpersonal and team skills • Project management information systems • Conflict management

Even with all of the technology available, many organizations have problems communicating on global projects, including:

• Issues with timing, audio, and video • Differences in culture and language

risk register

• List of identified risks and other information needed to begin creating a risk register • Contains the results of various risk management processes and that is often displayed in a table or spreadsheet format • Tool for documenting potential risk events and related information

Guidelines to help use other communication tools more effectively

• Make sure that your team is using a good tool • Be sure to authorize the right people to share your collaborative documents • Make sure that the right person can authorize changes to shared documents and that you back up files • Develop a logical structure for organizing and filing shared documents

Psychologists and management theorists have devoted much research and thought to the field leading people at work, which includes:

• Motivation theories • Influence and power • Effectiveness • Emotional intelligence • Leadership

Team-building activities

• Physical challenges • Psychological preference indicator tools

Main processes in project communications management

• Planning communications management • Managing communications • Monitoring communications

Project resource management components

• Planning resource management • Estimating activity resources • Acquiring resources • Developing the project team • Managing the project team • Controlling resources

Project resource management processes

• Planning resources • Estimating activity resources • Acquiring resources • Developing the team • Managing the team • Controlling resources

Many project management software products also provide tools to enhance communications, such as:

• Portfolio management • Resource management • Project collaboration

Risk quantification tools and techniques

• Probability/impact matrixes • The Top Ten Risk Item Tracking • Expert judgment

Ways to influence

• Project managers who use work challenges and expertise to influence people projects are more likely to succeed • Projects are more likely to fail when project managers rely too heavily on authority, money, or penalty

Resource Management Plan contents

• Project organizational charts • Responsibility assignment matrixes • Staffing management plan and resource histograms • Team charters

Start using empathy more effectively by doing the following:

• Put aside your viewpoint • Validate the other person's perspective • Examine your attitude • Listen to the entire message that the other person is trying to communicate • Ask what the other person would do

Top Ten Risk Item Tracking

• Qualitative risk analysis tool that helps to identify risks and maintain an awareness of risks throughout the life of a project • Involves establishing a periodic review of the top ten project risk items • Includes the current ranking, previous ranking, number of times the risk appears on the list over a period of time, and a summary of progress made in resolving the risk item

Basic response strategies for negative risks

• Risk avoidance • Risk acceptance • Risk transference • Risk mitigation • Risk escalation

Basic response strategies for positive risks

• Risk exploitation • Risk sharing • Risk enhancement • Risk acceptance • Risk escalation

Risk report contents

• Sources of overall project risk • Important drivers of overall project risk exposure • Summary information on risk events

Communications management plan contents

• Stakeholder communications requirements • Information to be communicated, including format, content, and level of detail • Who will receive the information and who will produce it • Suggested methods or technologies for conveying the information • Frequency of communication • Escalation procedures for resolving issues • Revision procedures for updating the communications management plan • A glossary of common terminology

SWOT analysis

• Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats • Helps identify the broad negative and positive risks that apply to a project

Considerations for Agile/Adaptive Environments

• Teams are important on all types of projects, as is collaboration, problem solving, and knowledge sharing • On agile projects, team members are usually fully dedicated to a single team

The talent triangle includes:

• Technical project management • Strategic and business management • Leadership

Important considerations for managing communications

• Use of technology • Appropriate methods and media to use • Performance reporting

Monte Carlo analysis

- simulates a model's outcome many times to provide a statistical distribution of the calculated results • Predict the probability of finishing by a certain date or the probability that the cost will be equal to or less than a certain value

Interactive communication

- two or more people interact to exchange information via meetings, phone calls, or video conferencing - Most effective way to ensure common understanding

In face-to-face interactions, how is most information conveyed? a. By the tone of voice b. By the words spoken c. By body language d. By the location

By body language

Risk Management Plan

Documents the procedures for managing risk throughout a project

Project Resource Management

Making the most effective use of the human and physical resources involved with a project

Performing Quantitative Risk Analysis

Often follows qualitative risk analysis, but both can be done together

McClelland's Acquired-Needs Theory

Specific needs are acquired or learned over time and shaped by life experiences

___________ are indicators or symptoms of actual risk events, such as a cost overrun on early activities being a symptom of poor cost estimates. a. Probabilities b. Impacts c. Watch list items d. Triggers

Triggers

Identifying Risks

Understanding what potential events might hurt or enhance a particular project

Simulation

Uses a representation or model of a system to analyze the expected behavior or performance of the system

Of all the collaboration technologies that were studied, three were more commonly present in high-performing companies than in low-performing ones:

Web conferencing, audio conferencing, and meeting-scheduler technologies

Work Challenge

ability to assign work that capitalizes on a worker's enjoyment of doing a particular task

Budget

ability to authorize others' use of discretionary funds

Penalty

ability to cause punishment

Promotion

ability to improve a worker's position

Intuitive/Thinking types

are attracted to technology fields

Best practices

can be applied to include the best places for people to work

intrapersonal intelligence

capacity to understand oneself, one's feelings, and motivations

interpersonal intelligence

capacity to understand the motivations, intentions, and desires of others

Extrinsic motivation

causes people to do something for a reward or to avoid a penalty

Intrinsic motivation

causes people to participate in an activity for their own enjoyment

Greatest threat to many projects is a failure to:

communicate

Every project should include some type of:

communications management plan

Groupthink

conformance to the values or ethical standards of a group; can develop if there are no conflicting viewpoints

Smoothing

de-emphasize areas of difference and emphasize areas of agreement

people

determine the success and failure of organizations and projects

A staffing management plan often includes a resource ___________ , which is a column chart that shows the number of resources assigned to the project over time. a. chart b. graph c. histogram d. timeline

histogram

Many people prefer ________ communications

informal

Pull communication

information is sent to recipients at their request via websites, bulletin boards, e-learning, knowledge repositories like blogs, and other means

One of the main features of kanban is visualizing workflow, which is often done by using:

kanban boards

Authority

legitimate hierarchical right to issue orders

Number of communications channels =

n(n-1)/2 where n is the number of people involved

Suppose there is a 30 percent chance that you will lose $10,000 and a 70 percent chance that you will earn $100,000 on a particular project. What is the project's estimated monetary value? a. −$30,000 b. $70,000 c. $67,000 d. −$67,000

$67,000

Probability/Impact Matrixes calculate:

risk factors

Important output of the risk identification process

risk register

For small projects, the communications management plan can be part of the team contract

true

Research shows a need to improve project risk management

true

Forcing

win-lose approach

Other broad categories of risk help identify potential risks, such as:

• Market risk • Financial risk • Technology risk • People risk • Structure/process risk

Delphi Technique

• Used to derive a consensus among a panel of experts who make predictions about future developments • Provides independent and anonymous input regarding future events • Uses repeated rounds of questioning and written responses and avoids the biasing effects possible in oral methods

Sensitivity Analysis

• Used to show the effects of changing one or more variables on an outcome • Spreadsheet software, such as Microsoft Excel, is a common tool for performing this

Benefits of resource leveling

• When resources are used on a more constant basis, they require less management • May enable project managers to use a just-in-time inventory type of policy for using subcontractors or other expensive resources • Results in fewer problems for project personnel and accounting department • Often improves morale

Controlling Resources

- Ensuring physical resources assigned to the project are available as planned - Also involves monitoring the planned versus actual resources utilization and taking corrective actions as needed

Resource leveling

- a technique for resolving resource conflicts by delaying tasks - Main purpose is to create a smoother distribution of resource usage

Push communication

- information is sent or pushed to recipients without their request via reports, e-mails, faxes, voice mails, and other means • Ensures that the information is distributed, but does not ensure that it was received or understood

Resource loading

- refers to the amount of individual resources an existing schedule requires during specific time periods - Helps project managers develop a general understanding of the demands a project will make on the organization's resources and individual people's schedules

Project risk management processes

1. plan risk management 2. identify risks 3. perform qualitative risk analysis 4. perform quantitative risk analysis 5. plan risk responses 6. Implementing risk responses 7. monitoring risks

If you add three more people to a project team of five, how many more communication channels will you add? a. 2 b. 12 c. 15 d. 18

18

What do many experts agree is the greatest threat to the success of any project? a. Lack of proper funding b. A failure to communicate c. Poor listening skills d. Inadequate staffing

A failure to communicate

Qualitative Risk Analysis

Assess the likelihood and impact of identified risks to determine their magnitude and priority

Thamhain and Wilemon: ways to have influence on projects

Authority Assignment Budget Promotion Money Penalty Work Challenge Expertise Friendship

Resource Management Plan

Can be separated into a human resource management plan and a physical resource management plan

Which method for conflict management should be used when both the task and the relationship are of high importance? a. Compromise b. Confrontation c. Collaboration d. Smoothing

Confrontation

Conflict handling modes

Confrontation Compromise Smoothing Forcing Withdrawal Collaborating

Which risk identification tool involves deriving a consensus among a panel of experts by using anonymous input regarding future events? a. Risk breakdown structure b. Brainstorming c. Interviewing d. Delphi technique

Delphi technique

Which of the following is not a recommendation for improving project communications? a. You cannot overcommunicate. b. Project managers and their teams should take time to develop their communications skills. c. Do not use facilitators or experts outside of the project team to communicate important information. d. Use templates to help prepare project documents.

Do not use facilitators or experts outside of the project team to communicate important information.

Which of the following is not part of project resource management? a. Duration estimating b. Acquiring resources c. Developing the project team d. Managing the project team

Duration estimating

Interviewing

Fact-finding technique for collecting information in face-to-face, phone, e-mail, or virtual discussions

Team-based reward and recognition systems

Focus on rewarding teams for achieving specific goals

What are the five stages in Tuckman's model of team development, in chronological order? a. Forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning b. Storming, forming, norming, performing, and adjourning c. Norming, forming, storming, performing, and adjourning d. Forming, storming, performing, norming, and adjourning

Forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning

DISC Profile

Four-dimensional model of normal behavior

Brainstorming

Group attempts to generate ideas or find a solution for a specific problem by amassing ideas spontaneously and without judgment

Classifications for communication methods

Interactive communication Push communication Pull communication

______________________ causes people to participate in an activity for their own enjoyment. a. Intrinsic motivation b. Extrinsic motivation c. Self-motivation d. Social motivation

Intrinsic motivation

Which of the following is not a guideline to help improve time spent at meetings? a. Determine if a meeting can be avoided. b. Invite extra people who support your project to make the meeting run more smoothly. c. Define the purpose and intended outcome of the meeting. d. Build relationships.

Invite extra people who support your project to make the meeting run more smoothly

Monitoring Risks

Involves ensuring the appropriate risk responses are performed, tracking identified risks, identifying and analyzing new risk, and evaluating effectiveness of risk management throughout the entire project

Developing the Resource Management Plan and Team Charter

Involves identifying and documenting project resources, roles, responsibilities, skills, and reporting relationships

Using Probability/Impact Matrixes to Calculate Risk Factors

Lists relative probability of a risk occurring on one side of a matrix or axis on a chart and the relative impact of the risk occurring

Which of the following is not a process in project communications management? a. Planning communications management b. Controlling communications c. Managing communications d. Managing stakeholders

Managing stakeholders

risk factors

Numbers that represent the overall risk of specific events based on their probability of occurring and the consequences to the project if they do occur

likelihood of advanced discovery

Often viewed at a program level rather than a project level

Which risk management process involves prioritizing risks based on their probability and impact of occurrence? a. Planning risk management b. Identifying risks c. Performing qualitative risk analysis d. Performing quantitative risk analysis

Performing qualitative risk analysis

The Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator

Popular tool for determining personality preferences and helping teammates understand each other

What term describes information that is sent to recipients at their request via websites, bulletin boards, e-learning, knowledge repositories like blogs, and other means? a. Push communications b. Pull communications c. Interactive communications d. Customer communications

Pull communications

________ power is based on a person's individual charisma. a. Affiliation b. Referent c. Personality d. Legitimate

Referent

lessons-learned report

Reflective statement that documents important information they have learned from working on the project

Rapport

Relation of harmony, conformity, accord, or affinity

What technique can you use to resolve resource conflicts by delaying tasks? a. Resource loading b. Resource leveling c. Critical path analysis d. Overallocation

Resource leveling

____________ is an uncertainty that can have a negative or positive effect on meeting project objectives. a. Risk utility b. Risk tolerance c. Risk management d. Risk

Risk

What strategy can a project manager use to deliver bad news? a. Tell a joke first. b. Tell senior management as soon as possible so they can develop alternatives and recommendations. c. Ask the project champion to deliver the news. d. Set the stage by putting the news into context, emphasizing the impact on the bottom line.

Set the stage by putting the news into context, emphasizing the impact on the bottom line.

________________ is a quantitative risk analysis tool that uses a model of a system to analyze its expected behavior or performance. a. Simulation b. Sensitivity analysis c. Monte Carlo analysis d. EMV

Simulation

Relationships are based on trust, and collaboration is continuously improved using regular feedback

True

decision tree

a diagramming analysis technique used to help select the best course of action in situations in which future outcomes are uncertain

risk breakdown structure

a hierarchy of potential risk categories for a project

watch list

a list of risks that are low priority, but are still identified as potential risks

Planning Risk Management main output

a risk management plan