Quiz 3
PERT weighted average formula
(optimistic time + 4 X most likely time + pessimistic time) / 6
what attributes relate to stakeholder requirements?
- A description of the problem and its context • Results that stakeholders want from the system • Do not define the solution, other than for environment • Quality of results • Owned by stakeholders or their representatives (e.g. marketing)
arrow diagramming method (ADM) / Activity on Arrow (AOA)
- Activities are represented by arrows - Nodes or circles are the starting and ending points of activities - Can only show finish-to-start dependencies
precedence diagramming method (PDM)
- Activities are represented by boxes - Arrows show relationships between activities - More popular than ADM method and used by project management software - Better at showing different types of dependencies
how do you calculate the critical path?
- First develop a good network diagram - Add the duration estimates for all activities on each path through the network diagram - The longest path is the critical path
what are some reality checks to do for scheduling?
- First review the draft schedule or estimated completion date in the project charter - Prepare a more detailed schedule with the project team - Make sure the schedule is realistic and followed - Alert top management well in advance if there are schedule problems
what are the goals of scope control?
- Influence the factors that cause scope changes - Assure changes are processed according to procedures developed as part of integrated change control - Manage changes when they occur
what are some things to be cautious of when using project management software?
- Many people misuse project management software because they don't understand important concepts and have not had training - You must enter dependencies to have dates adjust automatically and to determine the critical path - You must enter actual schedule information to compare planned and actual progress
what are three-point estimates needed for?
- PERT - Monte Carlo simulations
what are some scheduling control suggestions?
- Perform reality checks on schedules - Allow for contingencies - Don't plan for everyone to work at 100% capacity all the time - Hold progress meetings with stakeholders and be clear and honest in communicating schedule issues
what are the three main techniques for shortening schedules?
- Shortening durations of critical activities/tasks by adding more resources or changing their scope - crashing - fast tracking
how can software assist in time management?
- Software for facilitating communications helps people exchange schedule-related information - Decision support models help analyze trade-offs that can be made - Project management software can help in various time management areas
what are the approaches to developing a WBS?
- analogy approach - top-down approach - bottom-up approach - mind-mapping - using guidelines
what documents for the scope baseline?
- approved project scope - WBS - WBS dictionary
what are some examples of stakeholder requirements?
- capabilities - performance - constraints
what are the project scope management processes?
- collecting requirements - defining scope - creating the WBS - verifying the scope - controlling scope
what are the project time management processes?
- defining activities - sequencing activities - estimating activity resources - estimating activity durations - developing the schedule - controlling the schedule
what are some activity duration estimating methods?
- duration - effort
what should project managers use when there are working with people issues?
- empowerment - incentives - discipline - negotiation
what are some examples of system requirements?
- functions - performance - constraints
what do milestones emphasize?
- important events - accomplishments on projects
what are the best practices for avoiding scope practices?
- keep the scope realistic - involve users in project scope management - use off-the-shelf hardware and software whenever possible - follow good project management processes
what are the three types of dependencies?
- mandatory dependencies - discretionary dependencies - external dependencies
what are some examples of milestones?
- obtaining customer sign-off on key documents - completion of specific products
what are the key inputs for preparing the project scope statement?
- project charter - requirements documentation - organizational process assets such as policies and procedures related to scope statements - project files/lessons learned
what are milestones useful for?
- setting schedule goals - monitoring progress
what activities should be included on a project schedule?
- the activity name - an activity identifier or number - a brief description of the activity
what are the two main formats for network diagrams?
- the arrow and precedence diagramming methods
what is the process for creating AOA diagrams
1. Find all of the activities that start at node 1. Draw their finish nodes and draw arrows between node 1 and those finish nodes. Put the activity letter or name and duration estimate on the associated arrow. 2. Continue drawing the network diagram, working from left to right. Look for bursts and merges. Burstsoccur when a single node is followed by two or more activities. A mergeoccurs when two or more nodes precede a single node. 3. Continue drawing the project network diagram until all activities are included on the diagram that have dependencies. 4. As a rule of thumb, all arrowheads should face toward the right, and no arrows should cross on an AOA network diagram.
critical chain scheduling
A method of scheduling that considers limited resources when creating a project schedule and includes buffers to protect the project completion date
__________________ is often achieved by a customer inspection and then sign-off on key deliverables
Acceptance
three-point estimate
An estimate that includes an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate, such as three weeks for the optimistic, four weeks for the most likely, and five weeks for the pessimistic estimate
buffers and PERT estimations
Buffer adds to pessimistic time
CPM
CPM is a network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration
how can communication software like email help assist in project scope management?
Communication software like e-mail and the Web help clarify and communicate scope information
probabilistic time estimates
Duration estimates based on using optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates of activity durations, or a three-point estimate
T/F a WBS item is the responsibility of several individuals
F It is the responsibility of only one individual, even though many people may be working on it
T/F the critical path is not able to change or be modified
F The critical path can change as the project progresses
T/F there can only be one critical path
F There can be more than one critical path if the lengths of two or more paths are the same
T/F requirement documents often only include text
F they can include text, images, diagrams, videos, etc.
T/F Project members do NOT need to be involved in developing the WBS
F they should be involved to ensure consistency and buy-in
T/F people doing the work should not create activity duration estimates, an expert should do this
F they should help, and experts should review them
what are the important tools and techniques for developing a schedule?
Gantt charts, critical path analysis, and critical chain scheduling, and PERT analysis
T/F A unit of work should appear at only one place in the WBS
T
T/F As time progresses, the scope of a project should become more clear and specific
T
T/F Each WBS item must be documented in a WBS dictionary to ensure accurate understanding of the scope of work included and not included in that item
T
T/F Effort does not normally equal duration
T
T/F In traditional estimates, people often add a buffer to each task and use it if it's needed or not
T
T/F It often takes several activities and a lot of work to complete a milestone
T
T/F Iterative approach to defining requirements will be required when requirements are unclear
T
T/F Many WBS tasks are vague and must be explained more
T
T/F The WBS must be a flexible tool to accommodate inevitable changes while properly maintaining control of the work content in the project according to the scope statement
T
T/F The critical path is notthe one with all the critical activities; it only accounts for time
T
T/F The work content of a WBS item is the sum of the WBS items below it
T
T/F when developing a schedule you use the results of other time management processes to determine the start and end date of the project
T
T/F The WBS must be consistent with the way in which work is actually going to be performed
T it should serve the project team first and other purposes only if practical
finish to finish dependency
This type of dependency includes one task that continues only as long as another task is in progress.
start-to-start dependency
This type of dependency indicates that the start of one task triggers the start of the second task.
multitasking
When a resource works on more than one task at a time
____________ is a network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration.
a) PERT b) A Gantt chart c) critical path method d) crashing
You cannot start editing a technical report until someone else completes the first draft. What type of dependency does this represent? a) finish-to-start b) start-to-start c) finish-to-finish d) start-to-finish
a) finish-to-start
Which tool or technique for collecting requirements is often the most expensive and time consuming? a) interviews b) focus groups c) surveys d) observation
a) interviews
Which of the following processes involves determining the policies, procedures, and documentation that will be used for planning, executing, and controlling the project schedule? a) planning schedule management b) defining activities c) estimating activity resources d) activity sequencing
a) planning schedule management
fast tracking
activities by doing them in parallel or overlapping them
crashing
activities by obtaining the greatest amount of schedule compression for the least incremental cost
feeding buffers
additional time added before tasks on the critical path
developing the schedule
analyzing activity sequences, activity resource estimates, and activity duration estimates to create the project schedule
resources
are people, equipment, and materials
A _____________ is a deliverable-oriented grouping of the work involved in a project that defines its total scope. a) scope statement b) WBS c) WBS dictionary d) work package
b) WBS
Which of the following statements is false? a) a resource breakdown structure is a hierarchical structure that identifies the project's resources by category and type b) duration and effort are synonymous terms c) a three-point estimate includes an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate d) A Gantt chart is a common tool for displaying project schedule information
b) duration and effort are synonymous terms
Scope ________________ is often achieved by a customer inspection and then sign-off on key deliverables. a) acceptance b) validation c) completion d) close-out
b) validation
critical chain scheduling scheduling removes...
buffers from individual tasks and creates project buffers or feeding buffers
how would you create a milestone on a Gantt chart?
by entering tasks with a zero duration, or you can mark any task as a milestone
Assume that you have a project with major categories called planning, analysis, design, and testing. What level of the WBS would these items fall under? a) 0 b) 1 c) 2 d) 3
c) 2
Project management software helps you develop a _________________ , which serves as a basis for creating Gantt charts, assigning resources, and allocating costs. a) project plan b) schedule c) WBS d) deliverable
c) WBS
What type of diagram shows planned and actual project schedule information? a) a network diagram b) a Gantt chart c) a Tracking Gantt chart d) a milestone chart
c) a Tracking Gantt chart
As the project manager for a software development project, you are helping to develop the project schedule. You decide that writing code for a system should not start until users sign off on the analysis work. What type of dependency is this? a) technical b) mandatory c) discretionary d) external
c) discretionary
__________________refer(s) to all the work involved in creating the products of the project and the processes used to create them. a) deliverables b) milestones c) scope d) product development
c) scope
Gantt charts
charts provide a standard format for displaying project schedule information by listing project activities and their corresponding start and finish dates in a calendar format
what is a system requirement?
condition that must be met or possessed by a system, product, service, result, or component to satisfy a contract, standard, specification, or other formal document
finish-to-start dependency
control and chronology work in the same direction in this dependency. After the predecessor task finishes, the successor task starts.
controlling the schedule
controlling and managing changes to the project schedule
controlling scope
controlling changes to project scope throughout the life of the project
what does scope control involve?
controlling changes to the project scope
what is the longest path with the least amount of slack/float through the network diagram called?
critical path
What symbol on a Gantt chart represents a slipped milestone? a) a black arrow b) a white arrow c) a black diamond d) a white diamond
d) a white diamond
Predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and assumptions are all examples of ______________ a) items in an activity list b) items on a Gantt chart c) milestone attributes d) activity attributes
d) activity attributes
___________________ is a method of scheduling that considers limited resources when creating a project schedule and includes buffers to protect the project completion date. a) parkinson's law b) scrum c) critical path analysis d) critical chain scheduling
d) critical chain scheduling
Which of the following is not a best practice that can help in avoiding scope problems on IT projects? a) Keep the scope realistic b) Use off-the-shelf hardware and software whenever possible c) follow good project management processes d) don't involve too many users in scope management
d) don't involve too many users in scope management
Which of the following statements is false? a) growing grass was on the critical path for a large theme park project b) the critical path is the series of activities that determine the earliest time by which a project can be completed c) a forward pass through a project network diagram determines the early start and early finish dates for each activity d) fast tracking is a technique for making cost and schedule trade-offs to obtain the greatest amount of schedule compression for the least incremental cost
d) fast tracking is a technique for making cost and schedule trade-offs to obtain the greatest amount of schedule compression for the least incremental cost
What approach to developing a WBS involves writing down or drawing ideas in a nonlinear format? a) top-down b) bottom-up c) analogy d) mind mapping
d) mind mapping
Which of the following is not a suggestion for improving user input? a) develop a good project selection process for IT projects b) have users on the project team c) co-locate users with developers d) only have meetings as needed, not on a regular basis
d) only have meetings as needed, not on a regular basis
discretionary dependencies
defined by the project team; sometimes referred to as soft logic and should be used with care since they may limit later scheduling options
collecting requirements
defining and documenting the features and functions of the products produced during the project as well as the processes used for creating them
Managers often cite _________________ as one of their biggest challenges
delivering projects on time
Gantt chart symbol means: arrows
dependencies between tasks
requirements management plan
describes how project requirements will be analyzed, documented, and managed
backward pass
determines the late start and finish dates
what does activity definition involve?
developing a more detailed WBS and supporting explanations to understand all the work to be done so you can develop realistic cost and duration estimates
It is very _________________ to create a good scope statement and WBS for a project
difficult
for large IT projects it is helpful to _______________ development into categories called elicitation, analysis, specification, and validation
divide requirements
Gantt chart symbol means: lighter horizontal bars
durations of tasks
estimating activity resources
estimating how many resources a project team should use to perform project activities
estimating activity durations
estimating the number of work periods that are needed to complete individual activities
what is the most common dependency?
finish to start
verifying scope
formalizing acceptance of the project deliverables
before estimating activity durations, you must _______
have a good idea of the quantity and type of resources that will be assigned to each activity
how can spreadsheets help assist in project scope planning?
help to perform financial calculations and weighted scoring models and to develop charts and graphs
how can word processing software help assist in project scope management?
helps create several scope-related documents
how can project management software help in project scope management
helps in creating a WBS, the basis for tasks on a Gantt chart
sequencing activities
identifying and documenting the relationships between project activities
defining activities
identifying the specific activities that the project team members and stakeholders must perform to produce the project deliverables
duration
includes the actual amount of time worked on an activity pluselapsed time
mandatory dependencies
inherent in the nature of the work being performed on a project, sometimes referred to as hard logic
external dependencies
involve relationships between project and non-project activities
scope verification
involves formal acceptance of the completed project scope by the stakeholders
WBS
is a deliverable-oriented grouping of the work involved in a project that defines the total scope of the project
WBS dictionary
is a document that describes detailed information about each WBS item
resource breakdown structure
is a hierarchical structure that identifies the project's resources by category and type
PERT
is a network analysis technique used to estimate project duration when there is a high degree of uncertainty about the individual activity duration estimates
network diagram
is a schematic display of the logical relationships among, or sequencing of, project activities
requirements traceability matrix (RTM)
is a table that lists requirements, various attributes of each requirement, and the status of the requirements to ensure that all requirements are addressed
activity list
is a tabulation of activities to be included on a project schedule
work package
is a task at the lowest level of the WBS
mind-mapping approach
is a technique that uses branches radiating out from a core idea to structure thoughts and ideas
buffer
is additional time to complete a task
activity/task
is an element of work normally found on the work breakdown structure (WBS) that has an expected duration, a cost, and resource requirements
deliverable
is produced as part of a project (both product and processes), such as hardware or software, planning documents, or meeting minutes
decomposition
is subdividing project deliverables into smaller pieces
free slack/free float
is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any immediately following activities
total slack / total float
is the amount of time an activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying the planned project finish date
slack/float
is the amount of time an activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date
variance
is the difference between planned and actual performance
effort
is the number of workdays or work hours required to complete a task
dependency/relationship
is the sequencing of project activities or tasks
scope baseline
is used to measure performance in meeting project scope goals
what are controlling the schedule goals?
know the status of the schedule, influence factors that cause schedule changes, determine that the schedule has changed, and manage changes when they occur
milestone
milestone is a significant event that normally has no duration
Gantt chart symbol means: black diamonds
milestones
Many people like to focus on meeting _______________, especially for large projects
milestones
what does critical chain scheduling attempt to minimize?
multi-tasking
You __________ determine dependencies in order to use critical path analysis
must
project buffers
or additional time added before the project's due date
critical path
path for a project is the series of activities that determines the earliest time by which the project can be completed
WBS is a foundation document that provides the basis for . . .
planning and managing project schedules, costs, resources, and changes
PERT uses _____________________________ time estimates
probabilistic
activity attributes
provide more information such as predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and assumptions related to the activity
scope
refers to all the work involved and not involved in creating the products of the project and the processes used to create them
what determines the scope?
requirements
analogy approach
review WBSs of similar projects and tailor to your project
what does sequencing activities include?
reviewing activities and determining dependencies
defining scope
reviewing the project charter and requirements documents to create a scope statement
what is one of the main reasons for conflicts on projects especially during the second half of the project?
schedule issues
network diagrams are the preferred technique for _______
showing activity sequencing
what is the most confusing dependency?
start to finish
a lag time between tasks is often used with what kind of dependency?
start to start
top-down approach
start with the largest items of the project and break them down
bottom-up approach
start with the specific tasks and roll them up
Murphy's Law
states that if something can go wrong, it will
Parkinson's Law
states that work expands to fill the time allowed
____________________ helps projects succeed more than good PERT charts
strong leadership
creating the wbs
subdividing the major project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components
Gantt chart symbol means: thick black bars
summary tasks
what do we translate stakeholder requirements into?
system requirements
start to finish dependency
the predecessor occurs after the successor. And the start of the predecessor controls the finish of the successor.
system requirements are often worded as...
the system shall do...
stakeholder requirements are often worded as...
the user shall be able to ...
what happens if one or more of the activities on the critical path takes longer than planned?
the whole project schedule will slip unless the project manager takes corrective action
forward pass
through the network diagram determines the early start and finish dates
what triple constraint has the least amount of flexibility in a project?
time; it passes no matter what happens
what is the ultimate goal of developing a schedule?
to create a realistic project schedule that provides a basis for monitoring project progress for the time dimension of the project
what is more difficult than creating a good scope statement and WBS for a project?
to verify project scope and minimize scope changes
what attributes relate to system requirements?
• An abstract representation of the solution • What the system does • Do not define the design • How well it does it • Owned by systems engineers
what are some suggestions for improving user input?
• Develop a good project selection process and insist that sponsors are from the user organization • Have users on the project team in important roles • Have regular meetings with defined agendas, and have users sign off on key deliverables presented at meetings • Deliver something to users and sponsors on a regular basis • Don't promise to deliver when you know you can't • Co-locate users with developers
what are some suggestions for reducing incomplete and changing requirements
• Develop and follow a requirements management process • Use techniques such as prototyping, use case modeling, and JAD to get more user involvement • Put requirements in writing and keep them current • Create a requirements management database for documenting and controlling requirements • Rank and prioritize requirements; pay more attention to high ranking requirements • Provide adequate review, inspection and testing throughout the project life cycle (including systems development life cycle) • Review changes from a systems perspective • Inform and discuss project impact of changes with stakeholders • Emphasize completion dates to help focus on what's most important • Allocate resources specifically for handling change requests/enhancements • Trace change requests to requirements • Have a structured change management system
what tasks can be done to collect requirements for a project?
• Interviewing • Focus groups and facilitated workshops • Using group creativity and decision-making techniques • Questionnaires and surveys • Observation • Prototyping • Software tools
what are the symbols in a Gantt chart?
◦Black diamonds: milestones ◦Thick black bars: summary tasks ◦Lighter horizontal bars: durations of tasks ◦Arrows: dependencies between tasks
what are some important issues to consider in estimating resources?
◦How difficult will it be to do specific activities on this project? ◦What is the organization's history in doing similar activities? ◦Are the required resources available?
what are the tools and techniques used for controlling a schedule
◦Progress reports ◦A schedule change control system ◦Project management software, including schedule comparison charts like the tracking Gantt chart ◦Variance analysis, such as analyzing float or slack ◦Performance management, such as earned value
what does SMART criteria stand for in regards to milestones?
◦Specific ◦Measurable ◦Assignable ◦Realistic ◦Time-framed
