Project Management - Chapters 1-4

In the Atkinson model of project success, a project's impact to the surrounding community would be classified as:

A Stakeholder Benefit.

A project typically has:

A defined start and end date.

Which of the following is accomplished through project management?

A software developer creates a new crash-proof operating system.

The technical side of project management emphasizes:

Budgeting.

A strategic perspective on project management might ask which of the following questions prior to undertaking a project?

Can we find the problem?

The most recent addition to the four criteria of project success is:

Client Acceptance.

Which of these factors are essentially complete opposites from an intensity perspective across the project life cycle?

Client Interest and Creativity.

Which of the following statements about clients is best?

Clients are concerned with receiving the project as quickly as they can possibly get it.

The most basic level in Kerzner's project management maturity model is:

Common Language.

ABC company compares the way they manage projects with the way rival NBC company manages projects. ABC company is engaged in:

Competitive Benchmarking.

Which of the following statements about project success criteria is best?

Completion time is an internal performance measure.

The amount of corporate investment is typically at its lowest in the:

Conceptualization Phase.

The degree of risk associated with the project is typically at its highest during the:

Conceptualization Phase.

Which of these factors are highly similar from an intensity perspective across the project life cycle?

Creativity and Resources.

A project that results in "doing the wrong things well" has ignored the:

Customer Satisfaction Goal.

Projects differ from classic organizational processes because projects are:

Discrete Activities.

Which statement regarding the Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) is best?

Each element of the iron triangle is represented by its own area.

The dimension of project success that is realized first (chronologically) is:

Efficiency.

Which of the following is an external stakeholder group?

Environmental Groups.

A company's culture has little impact on whether projects are successfully implemented.

False

Low inflation is a trigger for improved project management skills because:

Internal process improvement is accomplished via project management.

A business reality that makes effective project management critical is the fact that:

Product life cycles are compressing.

In the Atkinson model of project success, stakeholder benefits not accrued by the organization might include:

Social and Environmental Impact.

Which statement about stakeholders is best?

Stakeholders can potentially impact project development.

The group that provides raw materials or resources that the project team needs to complete the project is:

Suppliers.

Keith Monroe nails hundreds of pieces of culled lumber in the blazing July sun to form a parquet deck for his barn roof. He and his assistant are clearly in:

The execution stage of the project life cycle.

Which of these factors are essentially complete opposites from an intensity perspective across the project life cycle?

Uncertainty and Project Stake.

Studies of IT projects reveal that:

Up to 75% of software projects are cancelled.

There is no such thing as a project team:

With an ongoing, non-specific purpose.

Project members may be from:

A. Different Departments. B. Other Organizational Units. C. One Functional Area. D. All of the Above. Answer: D. All of the Above.

Which of the following types of activities is more closely associated with projects rather than processes?

An activity that establishes its own work rules.

Project management maturity models are NOT used to:

Ascertain all stakeholders relevant to a project in the conceptualization phase.

Geoffco's project manager names three individuals and requests a project budget of $3,000,000 for the new 8-Pod, a backpack-sized personal music player for 8-track tapes capable of holding up to 100 songs from the '60s and '70s. This important step takes place during _____ of the project life cycle.

Conceptualization.

Which of the following is NOT an element of strategic management?

Eliminating Cross-Functional Decisions.

Which of these countries is NOT identified in the text as having a developed economy with a substantial market?

Europe.

Client interest is typically at its lowest during the:

Execution Phase.

The commitment of financial, human, and technical resources is highest during the:

Execution Phase.

The degree of innovation and creativity is typically at its highest during the:

Execution Phase.

The man-hours requirement is typically at a peak during the _____ phase of the project life cycle.

Execution.

A project organization does not have functional departments.

False

A typical project stays within functional and organizational boundaries.

False

Acme uses no recognizable project management processes and has entertaining project meetings because each member has a unique way of reporting progress or lack thereof. Acme is most likely at the moderate level in the generic project management maturity model.

False

Developing vision and mission statements is an important tactical step in project management.

False

Most companies are well suited to allow for successful completion of projects in conjunction with other ongoing corporate activities.

False

One element of strategic management is cross-functional decision making.

False

Policies and procedures are examples of an organization's external environment.

False

Product life cycles are longer now than twenty years ago.

False

Projects are typically ongoing, day-to-day activities that have goods and services as outputs.

False

Since a business gains market share with day-to-day operations, senior managers value process management experience over project management experience.

False

Stakeholder analysis looks at a project's customers and determines whether their needs are being met.

False

The classic triple constraint standard for project performance is composed of time, cost, and client acceptance.

False

The initial goal and technical specifications of the project are developed during the planning stage.

False

The resource pool model of the project management office (PMO) works best when the PMO is generally viewed as a Level 1 support structure.

False

The special nature of projects relieves project managers from their routine of planning, organizing, motivating, directing, and controlling.

False

The use of bench-marking allows companies that are relatively immature at project management to achieve quantum leaps of improvement.

False

Typically, organizational culture consists of formally written rules and guidelines that members can refer to as needed.

False

The project maturity model developed by the Center for Business Practices would have _____ rings if a spider-web diagram were used.

Five.

Which of the following is an internal project stakeholder group?

Functional Managers.

A design project is completed on time, under budget, to the customer's satisfaction, and in adherence to the technical specifications agreed. The new product takes the market by storm and everyone associated with the project receives a coveted gold star. Under the four dimensions of project success model, the project still needs to show:

Future Potential.

The dimension of project success that is realized last (chronologically) is:

Future Potential.

A strategic element consisting of statements such as "A 5% increase in freshman to sophomore retention" and "A 10% increase in the six-year graduation rate" is best described as:

Goal.

Process management features _____ with respect to project management.

Greater certainty of performance.

The dimension of project success that is measured by both an internal and external criterion is:

Impact on the customer.

External stakeholders that are external to a project but possess the power to effectively disrupt the project's development are:

Intervenor Groups.

The behavioral side of project management emphasizes:

Leadership.

An information system project might be assessed by which of the following criteria?

Maintainability.

All groups that are affected by a project are known by this name:

Minions.

The highest priority among strategic choice elements is:

Mission.

Which of these strategic elements exists at a higher level than the others?

Objectives.

Carnegie Mellon's SEI Model, ESI International's Project Framework, and The Center for Business Practices all call their highest level of maturity:

Optimizing.

The project success criteria that functions as a quality check is:

Performance.

Individual activities and their durations are developed during the _____ phase of the project life cycle.

Planning.

A product is introduced into a market, gains the acceptance of a fickle public, and finally is supplanted by a new and improving offering. This phenomenon is known as the:

Product Life Cycle.

A strategic element that contains formally titled initiatives such as the Customer Survey Project, the Small Business Alliance Project, and the Employee Relations Project is most likely a:

Program.

The author's synthesis of all well-known maturity models states that moderate project management maturity is characterized by:

Project Management Training Programs.

A spider-web diagram is useful for:

Showing company performance on a number of criteria simultaneously.

The management department at the university decides to add a new program in restaurant, hotel, and institutional management. As part of the development process they hold focus groups consisting of area business leaders, current and former students, and restaurant and hotel owners. These groups can be described as:

Stakeholders.

The Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide definition of a project indicates that a project is:

Temporary.

The MBA redesign committee presents the results of their five-year project to their bemused Dean. They hope it is not just wishful thinking that they are in the:

Termination Phase.

The amount of corporate investment is typically at its highest in the:

Termination Phase.

The technical challenges that the project has to face are typically at their lowest during the:

Termination Phase.

Which of the following is NOT a project constraint?

The Customer Requirements.

Which of these is NOT characteristic of a project?

Traditional process management functions of planning, organizing, and controlling do not apply to project management.

A project exists outside of the standard line organization.

True

A project management office is designed to oversee or improve the management of projects without stripping responsibility from the project manager.

True

An important step in stakeholder management is the assessment of your own capabilities.

True

Any organization, no matter how initially unskilled in project management, can begin to chart a course toward the type of project organization they wish to become.

True

Client interest in a project is highest during the termination and conceptual phases.

True

Most effective project maturity models chart both a set of standards that are currently accepted as state-of-the-art as well as a process for achieving significant movement towards these benchmarks.

True

Organizational culture can be influenced a variety of ways, including by reward systems and key organizational members.

True

Projects, rather than repetitive tasks, are now the basis for most value-added in business.

True

Strategy, goals, and programs support the organizational mission.

True

Suppliers and competitors are possible intervenor groups in a project.

True

Technology, environment, rules, and reward systems can all contribute to a company's culture.

True

The Atkinson-Model for assessing project success gathers input from all of the project's stakeholders.

True

The business success dimension of project success determines whether the project achieved significant commercial success.

True

The emergence of global markets has made project management skills more critical.

True

The resource pool model of the project management office (PMO) provides skilled labor to an organization's projects.

True

The same project managed in the same fashion may succeed in one organization but fail in another.

True

The weather station model of the project management office (PMO) uses the PMO as only a tracking and monitoring device.

True