Capstone - Chapter 3 ITPM

Planning in Scrum

- Create product backlog. - Create sprint backlog. - Create release backlog. - Plan work each day in the daily Scrum. - Document stumbling blocks in a list.

Initiating in Scrum

- Determine roles. - Decide how many sprints will compose each release and the scope of software to deliver.

Pre-initiation tasks

- Determine scope, time and cost constraints - Identify the project sponsor - Select the project manager - Develop a business case for a project - Meet with the project manager to review the process and expectations for managing the project - Determine if the project should be divided into 2 or more smaller projects

Monitoring and Controlling in Scrum

- Holding the sprint review and discussing challenges as part of the daily scrum - Resolve issues and blockers - Create and update burndown chart - Demonstrate the completed product during the sprint review meeting

Initiating Processes

- Include defining and authorizing a project or project phase. - Take place during each phase of a project - Required to end a project

Business Case includes: (pre-initiating)

- Introduction/Background - Business Objective - Current situation and problem/opportunity statement - Critical assumptions and constraints - Analysis of options and recommendations - Preliminary project requirements - Budget estimate and financial analysis - Schedule estimate - Potential Risks -Exhibits

Executing in Scrum

- Performing the daily work and sprint - Creating the potentially shippable product increment would fit under executing.

5 Project Management Process Groups **

1. Initiating 2. Planning 3. Executing 4. Monitoring 5. Closing

3 Artifacts in Scrum

1. Product Backlog 2. Sprint Backlog 3. Burndown Chart

4 Meetings in Scrum (that the ScrumMaster Facilitates)

1. Spring Planning Session 2. Daily Scrum 3. Spring Reviews 4. Sprint Retrospectives

8 Process groups of PRINCE2

1. Starting up a project 2. Planning 3. Initiating a project 4. Directing a project 5. Controlling a stage 6. Managing product delivery 7. Managing stage boundaries 8. Closing a Project

Six Sigma Methodologies

2 Main methodologies are used on Six Sigma Projects: DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) is used to improve an existing business process DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify) is used to create new product or process designs

Scrum team or development team

A cross-functional team of five to nine people who organize themselves and the work to produce the desired results for each sprint.

Stakeholder register

A document that includes details related to the identified project stakeholders. Public document. Includes Name, Position, Internal/External, Project Role and contact info

Product Backlog**

A list of features prioritized by business value.

kick-off meeting

A meeting held at the beginning of a project so that stakeholders can meet each other, review the goals of the project, and discuss future plans

Sprint Reviews

A meeting in which the team demonstrates to the product owner what it has completed during the sprint.

Sprint Retrospectives

A meeting in which the team looks for ways to improve the product and the process based on a review of the actual performance of the development team.

Sprint Planning Session

A meeting with the team to select a set of work from the product backlog to deliver during a sprint. This meeting takes about four hours to a full day.

PRojects IN Controlled Environments (PRINCE2)**

A project management methodology developed in the United Kingdom that defines 45 separate subprocesses and organizes these into eight process groups. De facto standard in the United Kingdom.

Daily Scrum

A short meeting for the development team to share progress and challenges and plan work for the day. Ideally the team members are in the same place, the meeting usually lasts no more than 15 minutes, and itis held at the same time and place each day.

Project Management Plan

Coordinates and encompasses information from all other plans.

Standard

Describes best practices for what should be done

Methodology

Describes how things should be done

Stakeholder Management Strategy

Results of the stakeholder analysis can be documented in the stakeholder management strategy. Includes: Names, Level of Interest, Level of Influence, potential management strategies for gaining support or reducing obstacles from stakeholder

Process

Series of actions toward a particular result

Burndown Chart**

Shows the cumulative work remaining in a sprint on a day- by-day basis.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

The WBS is a very important tool in project management because it provides the basis for deciding how to do the work. The WBS also provides a basis for creating the project schedule and for measuring and forecasting project performance.

Spring Backlog**

The highest-priority items from the product backlog to be completed within a sprint.

Product Owner

The person responsible for the business value of the project and for deciding what work to do and in what order, as documented in the product backlog.

Scrum Master

The person who ensures that the team is productive, facilitates the daily Scrum, enables close cooperation across all roles and functions, and removes barriers that prevent the team from being effective. - Scrum masters have authority over the process but not the people on the team

- Executing Tasks require the most resources and time, Followed by planning tasks. ** - Initiating and closing tasks are usually the shortest and require the least resources **

True

A project manager may need to make trade-offs between knowledge areas, such as between managing risk and resources

True

Agile approach is often used for projects in which the business team cannot clearly express the scope early in the product life cycle, but the team wants to provide a potentially shippable product earlier rather than later.

True

Always a good idea to have an agenda, action items and minutes for meetings

True

An agile project team typically uses several iterations or deliveries of software instead of waiting until the end of the project to provide one product.

True

An organization may initiate IT projects for several reasons, but the most important reason is to support business objectives.

True

Developers break down user stories into technical stories. Then they use technical stories to translate user requirements into the technical specifications necessary to create the defined user functionality.

True

During the closing processes of any project, project team members must deliver the final product, service, or result of the project and update organizational process assets, such as project files and a lessons- learned report.

True

During the closing processes, the project team works to gain acceptance of the end products, services, or results and bring the phase or project to an orderly end. Key outcomes of this process group are formal acceptance of the work and creation of closing documents, such as a final project report and lessons-learned report.

True

Human resource issues often occur during project execution, especially conflicts.

True

In contrast, projects with less rigid constraints, experienced and preferably co-located teams, smaller risks, unclear requirements, and more flexible scheduling would be more compatible with an agile approach.

True

It is better to have a moderate or even small amount of success on an important project than huge success on a project that is unimportant.

True

Many of the project management activities occur as part of the planning process group

True

Many project sponsors and customers focus on deliverables related to providing the products, services, or results desired from the project. However, it is equally important to document change requests and update planning documents as part of execution.

True

Monitoring and controlling processes measure progress toward the project objectives, monitor deviation from the plan, and take corrective action to match progress with the plan.

True

Monitoring and controlling processes overlap all of the other project management process groups because changes can occur at any time.

True

Project management is an integrative endeavor. Decisions and actions taken in one knowledge area at a certain time usually affect other knowledge areas.

True

Project phases are not process groups

True

Projects can have different combinations of phases, but all projects and all project phases need to include all 5 process groups.

True

Projects with heavy constraints, inexperienced and dispersed teams, large risks, generally clear up-front requirements, and a fairly rigid completion date are best done using a predictive approach.

True

Research suggests that companies working to implement best practices should spend at least 20 percent of project time in initiating and planning

True

Strategic planning should serve as the foundation for deciding which projects to pursue

True

Tailoring the Project Management Process groups to meet individual project needs increases the chance of success in managing projects. **

True

The PMBOK Guide is a Standard, not a methodology

True

The best project managers spend more time on planning (and every other process group than executing). Spending more time on planning should lead to less time spent on execution, which should reduce the time and money spent on projects

True

The executing process group takes the actions necessary to complete the work described in the planning activities. The main outcome of this process group is delivering the actual work of the project.

True

The main purpose of project plans is to guide project execution

True

You can apply the process groups for each major phase or iteration of a project, or you can apply the process groups to an entire project.

True

Artifact

useful object created by people. An artifact can be called a deliverable in other project management approaches.

Issues

Items that do not have to be solved in next 24 hours

Blockers

Items that need to be addressed immediately

Initiating

Main outputs are project charger and stakeholder register.

Monitoring and controlling

Monitoring and controlling is the process of measuring progress toward project objectives, monitoring deviation from the current plan, and taking corrective action to match progress with the current plan.

Project Management Process Group

Progress from initiating activities to planning activities, executing activities, monitoring and controlling activities and closing activities

Rational Unified Process (RUP) Framework

RUP is an iterative software development process that focuses on team productivity and delivers software best practices to all team members

Closing in Scrum

Reflecting during the sprint retrospective would fit under closing

User Stories

User stories are short descriptions written by customers of what they need a system to do for them. These descriptions should be about three sentences long. They provide the basis for time estimates for the sprint planning meeting. User stories should be testable and small enough that programmers can complete and unit test their code in a timely manner.

Agile Methods

adaptive product life cycle used when deliverables have a high degree of change and a high frequency of delivery

Team Charter

an important tool to help a project team work together. Includes: Code of conduct, participation, communication, problem solving and meeting guidelines for the team

List of Prioritized Risks

as the project progresses, this information will be updated and expanded in a risk register, which also includes information on root causes of the risks, warning signs that potential risks might occur, and response strategies for the risks.

Process groups are not mutually exclusive

true - Monitoring and controlling occurs throughout project life span, meaning concurrently with initiating, planning, executing and closing processes.

Organization's Strategic Plan

expresses the vision, mission, goals, objectives, and strategies of the organization

Executing Processes

include coordinating people and other resources to carry out the various plans and create the products, services, or results of the project or phase. Ex: directing and managing project work, managing project knowledge, acquiring resources, conducting procurements

Planning Processes

include devising and maintaining a workable scheme to ensure that the project addresses the organization's needs. - To account for changing conditions on the project and in the organization, Project teams often revise plans during each phase of the project life cycle

Closing Processes

include formalizing acceptance of the project or project phase and ending it efficiently - Administrative activities are often involved in this process group, such as archiving project files, documenting lessons learned and receiving formal acceptable of the delivered work as part of the phase or project

Monitoring and Controlling Processes

include regularly measuring and monitoring progress to ensure that the project team meets the project objectives. - The project manager and staff monitor and measure progress against the plans and take corrective action when necessary - Ex: Reporting performance

Sprint

sprint normally lasts two to four weeks, during which specific work must be completed and made ready for review.

Stakeholder Analysis

technique that project managers can use to help understand and increase support of stakeholders throughout the project

Scope Statement

the scope statement lists the product characteristics and requirements, summarizes the deliverables, and describes project success criteria in detail.