BMGT Ch 5

Parametric modeling

A technique that uses project characteristics (parameters) in a mathematical model to estimate project costs.

Kanban board

A visual display of work progress in columns labeled To Do, In Progress, and Done.

Slack or Float

The amount of time an activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date.

Discretionary dependencies

The dependencies that are defined by the project team.

Mandatory dependencies

The dependencies that are inherent in the nature of the work being performed on a project.

External dependencies

The dependencies that involve relationship between project and non-project activities.

Analogous estimates, or top-down estimates

The estimates that use the actual cost of a previous, similar project as the basis for estimating the cost of the current project.

Effort

The number of workdays or work hours required to complete an activity.

Dependency, or relationship

The sequencing of project activities.

Critical Path

The series of activities that determine the earliest time by which the project can be completed; it is the longest path through the network diagram and has the least amount of slack or float.

Node

The starting and ending point of an activity on an activity-on-arrow network diagram.

Kanban

A Japanese term meaning visual board.

Activity

A distinct , scheduled portion of work performed during the course of a project.

Theory of Constraints (TOC)

A management philosophy that states that any complex system at any point in time often has only one aspect or constraint that is limiting its ability to achieve more of its goal

Kanban Method

A means to design, manage, and improve flow systems for knowledge work.

Scrum of Scrums

A meeting where representatives from each team coordinate efforts and dependencies.

Critical chain scheduling

A method of scheduling that takes limited resources into account when creating a project schedule and includes buffers to protect the project completion date.

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

A network analysis technique used to estimate project duration when there is a high degree of uncertainty about the individual activity duration estimates.

Activity-on-arrow (AOA) approach, or the arrow diagramming method (ADM)

A network diagramming technique in which activities are represented by arrows and connected at points called nodes to illustrate the sequence of activities.

Precedence Dia

A network diagramming technique in which boxes represent activities.

Critical path method (CPM), or critical path analysis

A network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration and show the amount of schedule flexibility on the network paths within the schedule model.

Timebox

A previously agreed upon time period during which a team works towards completion of a goal.

Fast tracking

A schedule compression technique where you do activities in parallel that you would normally do in sequence.

Network diagram

A schematic display of the logical relationships or sequencing of project activities

Milestone

A significant point or event in a projects.

Merge

A situation when two or more nodes precede a single node on a network diagram.

Activity list

A tabulation of activities to be included on a project schedule.

Crashing

A technique for making cost and schedule trade-offs to obtain the greatest amount of schedule compression for the least incremental cost.

Feeding buffers

Additional time added before activities on the critical path that are preceded by non-critical-path activities.

Buffer

Additional time to complete a activity, added to an estimate to account for various factors.

Bucket system

Agile estimating approach that is an extension of planning poker when there are a large number of user stories and the team is large.

T-shirt sizing

Agile estimating technique based on shirt sizes of S, M, L, XL, and XXL

Planning poker

Agile estimating technique where team members are given a set of playing cards with a sequence of numbers on them and asked to independently estimate the size of user stories.

Affinity estimates

An agile estimating approach where estimators first perform silent relative sizing of user stories, edit them together, and then place items in more specific sizes.

Bottom-up estimates

Cost estimates created by estimating individual activities and summing them to get a project total.

Murphy's Law

If something can go wrong, it will.

Activity attributes

Information that provides schedule-related information about each activity, such as predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and assumptions related to the activity.

Monte Carlo stimulation

Quantitative risk analysis technique that provides a probability distribution for outcome values for the whole project.

Duration

The actual amount of time spent working on an activity plus elapsed time.

Multitasking

When a resource works on more than one activity at a time.

Lead

When an activity can overlap a preceding one.

Parkinson's Law

Work expands to fill the time allowed.

Task

Work that is done in support of operational, functional, or project performance. Tasks are not part of the schedule (activities are shown on the schedule). Tasks include many management functions such as things done to manage the team, run a production line, or build relationships.

Cost baseline

A time-phased budget that project managers use to measure and monitor cost performance.

Relative Estimates

Agile estimating techniques (such as T-shirt sizing, planning, poker, or bucket systems) where user stories are compared to others or grouped by equivalent difficulty based on factors like risk, complexity, and required labor.

Three-Point Estimate

An estimate that includes an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate

Burst

An occurrence when two or more activities follow a single node on a network diagram.

Instead of creating a detailed scheduled for all of the activities required to complete an entire project, agile teams focus on the most valuable work they can complete within each iteration using an approach called ____. A. Timeboxing B. Release Planning C. Kanban D. Scrum of Scrums

Answer: A

What is the most common type of dependency between activities? A. Finish-to-start B. Start-to-finish C. Start-to-start D. Finish-to-finish

Answer: A

_____ is a technique for making cost and schedule trade-offs to obtain the greatest amount of schedule compression for the least incremental cost. A. Crashing B. Fast Tracking C. Critical Chain Scheduling D. Parametric Modeling

Answer: A

A(n) _____ normally does not have any cost or duration. A. Activity B. Milestone C. Critical Task D. Timebox

Answer: B

Which of the following statements is true? A. Agile projects include a detailed schedule for the entire project. B. Agile projects must still consider dependencies between activities. C. Agile projects do not require cost planning D. Agile projects never use Gantt Charts.

Answer: B

The _____ method is a networking diagramming technique used to predict total project duration. A. PERT B. MoSCoW C. Critical path D. Crashing

Answer: C

Which of the following is not agile estimating method? A. Planning poker B. Affinity estimating C. Parametric estimating D. Bucket system

Answer: C

Instead of discrete numbers or a range of numbers for estimates, agile projects use _____ estimates. A. Timeboxing B. Top-down C. Analogous D. Relative

Answer: D

The ____ must be the basis for a project cost estimate if you plan to create a cost baseline and use earned value management as part of monitoring and controlling costs. A. Project Schedule B. Cost Model C. Gantt Chart D. WBS

Answer: D

Using a(n) ______ approach to developing cost estimates requires a good deal of expert judgement and is generally less costly than others are, but it can also be less accurate. A. Bottom-Up B. Parametric C. Expert Judgement D. Analogous

Answer: D

Project buffer

The additional time added before a project's due date to account for unexpected factors.