Project Management Ch. 6
Estimating activity durations
estimating the number of work periods that are needed to complete individual activities
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 plus elapsed 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
Slack/Float
is the amount of time an activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date
Crashing
obtaining the greatest amount of schedule compression for the least incremental cost
Gantt 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
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
Murphy's Law
states that if something can go wrong, it will
Parkinson's Law
states that work expands to fill the time allowed
project charter
A draft schedule for a project is most likely to be found in a _____
resource breakdown structure
A hierarchical representation of resources by category and type.
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
forward pass
A network diagramming technique that determines the early start and early finish dates for each activity
backward pass
A project network diagramming technique that determines the late start and late finish dates for each activity
-Project schedule model development -The scheduling methodology -Level of accuracy and units of measure -Control thresholds -Rules of performance measurement -Reporting formats -Process descriptions
A schedule management plan includes:
network diagram
A schematic display of the logical relationships or sequencing of project activities
milestone
A significant event that normally has no duration on a project; serves as a marker to help in identifying necessary activities, setting schedule goals, and monitoring progress
Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
A technique used for constructing a schedule model in which activities are represented by nodes and are graphically linked by one or more logical relationships to show the sequence in which the activities are to be performed.
Start to Start
An activity relationship type that requires the current activity to start before its successor can start.
three-point estimate
An estimate that includes an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate
probabilistic time estimates
Duration estimates based on using optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates of activity durations instead of using one specific or discrete estimate
Defining activities
In project time management, the main goal of _____ is to ensure that the project team has complete understanding of all the work they must do as part of the project scope so they can start scheduling the work.
controlling the schedule
In project time management, the process of_____ primarily involves checking and managing changes to the project schedule.
Time
Managers cite delivering projects on ______ as one of the biggest challenges
-Specific -Measurable -Assignable -Realistic -Time-framed
Milestones should be
True
T/F: A schedule management plan includes information which describes the format and frequency of schedule reports required for the project.
False
T/F: In a critical path analysis, the shortest path is what drives the completion date for the project.
False
T/F: In project time management, the primary output of defining activities is a schedule managementplan.
True
T/F: The technique of fast tracking can result in lengthening the project schedule
Free slack/float
The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any immediately following activities
Total slack/float
The amount of time an activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying the planned project finish date
longest path
The critical path is the _________ through the network diagram and has the least amount of slack or float
Estimating activity resources
estimating how many resources a project team should use to perform project activities
An activity attribute provides more schedule-related information about each activity than an activity list.
Which of the following is a difference between an activity list and an activity attribute?
Theory of Constraints (TOC)
a management philosophy developed by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and introduced in his book The Goal.
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
CPM
a network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration
feeding buffers
additional time added before tasks on the critical path
buffer
additional time to complete a task
Developing the schedule
analyzing activity sequences, activity resource estimates, and activity duration estimates to create the project schedule
Controlling the schedule
controlling and managing changes to the project schedule
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
Planning schedule management
determining the policies, procedures, and documentation that will be used for planning, executing, and controlling the project schedule
Fast tracking
doing them in parallel or overlapping them
Activity List
tabulation of activities to be included on a project schedule that includes -the activity name -an activity identifier or number -a brief description of the activity
Effort
the number of workdays or work hours required to complete a task
critical path
the series of activities that determines the earliest time by which the project can be completed