Ch 1. Project Management Framework

What are some examples of tangible elements that a project can deliver?

1. Monetary assets 2. Stockholder equity 3. Utility 4. Fixtures 5. Tools 6. Market share

The end of the project is reached when one or more of the following is true:

1. The project's objectives will not or cannot be met 2. The objectives will not or cannot be met 3. Funding is exhausted or no longer available for allocation to the project 4. The need for the project no longer exists 5. The human or physical resources are no longer available 6. The project is terminated for legal cause or convenience

What is a project?

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.

Which one of the following is TRUE about power of the project managers in different organizational structures?

A strong matrix maintains many characteristics of project-oriented organization, where much of the authority rests with the project manager.

Which one of the following is a strategic execution framework that keeps the entire organization focused on the overall strategy and provides guidance on how to prioritize, manage, execute, and measure projects, programs, portfolios, and other organizational work and practices to achieve a better result, improved performance, and a substantial advantage over the competitors?

Organizational Project Management (OPM)

You are a team member working on a software application project. You realize that the project manager is choosing a project life cycle that has a predictive life cycle in which scope, schedule, and cost are determined in the early stage of the project prior to starting project work to produce the deliverables. This type of project life cycle is also known as:

Plan-driven project life cycle

You are managing a group of related or unrelated projects or programs and other works to achieve specific strategic business objectives and goals. You are a:

Portfolio manager

True or False, repetitive elements may be present in some project deliverables and activities.

True, the repetition does not change the fundamental and unique characteristics of the project work.

You are overseeing the implementation of the internal website of your organization to view the company's event calendar. Your role is to coordinate activities, resources, equipment, and information on the project, but you have limited authority in making project decisions and have to negotiate with the functional manager to get required resources for your project. Which kind of organization are you working in?

Weak Matrix

You took over a software development project from another project manager who just left the company. You realize that the project is in a mess as there is a lack of management control and the previous project manager managed the project without much project organization. You decided to develop specific work plans for each of the 30 work packages and soon realize that the plan would help each phase, but would not control the integration of those phases into a cohesive whole. To your surprise, you also find out that there are no clearly defined project deliverables. You are in a desperate need to organize the project as soon as you can. What will be the BEST course of action?

Adapt a life cycle approach to the project.

Success in portfolio management, which can be generally described as a group of projects or programs and other works to achieve a specific strategic business goal, is generally defined as:

Aggregate performance of of all components (projects, programs, and other related work).

Which one of the following PMO structures mostly provides guidelines, policies, and templates and requires compliances and usually has a moderate level of control over projects and programs?

Controlling

All project phases conclude with a review of the deliverables and related work (phase exits or stage gates or kill points) for the purpose of:

Determining if the project should continue and the next phase should be initiated.

All of the following are examples of Organizational Process Assets EXCEPT:

Existing facilities and infrastructure Enterprise Environmental Factors are things that impact the project but are not part of the project itself. Existing facilities and infrastructure are Enterprise Environmental Factors.

All of the following are examples of Organizational Process Assets EXCEPT:

Existing facilities and infrastructure.

Project Management Office (PMO), which is a centralized organizational unit to oversee and coordinate the management of projects and programs under its domain throughout the organization, has all of the following functions EXCEPT:

Identify and develop the organization's methodology, administrative practices, guidelines, policies, procedures, and rules.

What happens during a predictive life cycle?

In a predictive life cycle, the project scope, time, and cost are determined in the early phases of the life cycle. Any changes to the scope are carefully managed. Predictive life cycles may also be referred to as waterfall life cycle.

What happens during an iterative life cycle?

In an iterative life cycle, the project scope is generally determined early in the project life cycle, but time and cost estimates are routinely modified as the project team's understanding of the product increases. Iterations develop the product through a series of repeated cycles, while increments successively add to the functionality of the product.

The level of power and authority of a project manager may fluctuate due to various factors. Typically, how much power and authority a project manager will have depends on which of the following?

The organizational structure.

You have been assigned a project manager to implement a new and innovative smartphone application in a balanced matrix organizational structure. You experience difficulties in obtaining and assigning project resources in your project due to which one of the following factors?

The power and authority are shared between you and the functional manager, and you do not have full authority over the project and its funding.

What are some intangible elements a project could deliver?

1. Goodwill 2. Brand recognition 3. Public benefit 4. Trademarks 5. Strategic alignment 6. Reputation

What are the four factors organizational leaders initiate projects in response to?

1. Meet regulatory, legal, or social requirements 2. Satisfy stakeholder requests or needs 3. Implement or change business or technology strategies 4. Create, improve, or fix products, processes, or services

Which one of the following is generally considered to be the characteristic of operational works?

It is a continuing endeavor that produces many identical or nearly identical products or provides repetition.

As a project manger in a balanced matrix organization, what type of authority do you have?

Low to moderate

You just completed a critical data center project for your organization. Currently the support team is conducting ongoing operations and maintenance to ensure that all routers, switches, firewalls, PCs, servers, and digital storages are operating as planned. A large portion of your project budget is allocated to maintenance and operations to run the data center smoothly. You will be sending out daily status updates and resolving issues but there is no need for planning or providing documentation. This ongoing operations and maintenance is extremely important to the products of your data center project and should be considered as:

Not a part of your project.

What is the name of PMI's organization maturity model for project management that helps to determine the level of ability of an organization deliver the desired strategic outcomes in a reliable, controllable, and predictable manner?

OPM3

What is the name of PMI's organization maturity model for project management that helps to determine the level of ability of an organization to deliver the desired strategic outcomes in a reliable, controllable, and predictable manner?

OPM3 is the PMI's organizational project management maturity model.

You are managing a group of related projects to accomplish a common objective. You are a:

Program Manager

You are overseeing a project to implement a new video game console. Since everything is not known upfront, you take the approach of defining and developing the product by incremental steps and continually reviewing and adjusting processes, assumptions, requirements, and decisions throughout the project life cycle as the project progresses. You are engaged in which of the following?

Progressive elaboration It's defined as moving forward in increments and adding more detail as the project progresses.

The management framework within which project decisions are made is called:

Project Governance

Which one of the following is the logical breakdown of what needs to be done to produce the project deliverables and is sometimes referred to as the performing organization's methodology for projects?

Project Life Cycle

The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to satisfy the project needs by establishing project objectives, identifying project requirements, managing stakeholders, and balancing project constraints (i.e., cost, time, quality, scope, risk, and others) is referred to as:

Project Management

Which one of the following is NOT true about functional organizational structure?

Project work is considered to be priority work in all functional groups.

A project life cycle is a representation of the generally sequential and sometimes overlapping project phases that a project typically goes through. All of the following statements about the project life cycle are true EXCEPT:

Stakeholder influence is lowest at the start and increases as the project proceeds.

Which one of the following PMO structures mostly serves as a project repository, plays a consultative role and usually has a low level of control over projects and programs?

Supportive