EBTM443 Key terms

Identify the four major areas for establishing ground rules on how the project team will operate.

1. Planning decisions, 2. Tracking decisions, 3. Managing change decisions, 4. Relationship decisions.

Identify and briefly describe the five ways to respond to identified risks.

1. Mitigate the risk; duplicate systems, backup systems, alternate technology development, 2. Avoid the risk; changing the project plan to eliminate the risk, 3. Transfer the risk; fixed-price contract, insurance, 4. Sharing the risk; find others to share the costs of the risk 5. Retain the risk; take preventative measures to reduce the risk such as training.

Identify and briefly describe the four patterns of activity identified by Ancona and Caldwell which lead to creating a high performance team.

1. Ambassador; aimed at representing the team to others and protecting the team from interference, 2. Task Coordinator; aimed at coordinating the team's efforts with other units and organizations, 3. Scouts; going out from the team to bring back information about what is going on elsewhere in the organization, 4. Guard; keeping information and resources inside the team.

Identify the four requirements for an effective project vision.

1. Communicate, 2. Strategic sense, 3. Passion, 4. Inspires others.

Identify and briefly discuss the four elements to establishing a team identity.

1. Effective use of meetings, 2. Co-location of team members, 3. Create a project team name, 4. Team rituals.

Identify and briefly describe the four types of lags giving an example for each type.

1. Finish-to-Start, 2. Start-to-Start, 3. Finish-to-Finish, 4. Start-to-Finish.

Identify and briefly discuss the four types of individual rewards recommended for project team members.

1. Letters of commendation, 2. Public recognition for outstanding work, 3. Job assignments, 4. Flexibility.

Identify the five strategies to manage conflict.

1. Mediate the conflict, 2. Arbitrate the conflict, 3. Control the conflict, 4. Accept the conflict, 5. Eliminate the conflict.

Identify and briefly discuss the four major steps in facilitating the group decision making process.

1. Problem identification, 2. Generate alternatives, 3. Reach a decision, 4. Follow-up.

Identify and briefly describe the four steps in risk management.

1. Risk Identification; all possible risks are identified, 2. Risk Assessment; risks are assessed in terms of importance and need for attention, 3. Risk Response Development; plans are developed to respond if the risk actually occurs, and 4. Risk Response Control; the actual response to the risk and controlling changes associated with the risks.

Identify and briefly describe the five commonly traded organizational currencies.

1. Task-related; the ability to contribute to others accomplishing their work, 2. Position-related; the ability to enhance others' positions within their organization, 3. Inspiration-related; the ability to enhance people's desire to make a difference and add meaning to their lives, 4. Relationship-related; the ability to form relationships that transcend normal professional boundaries and extend into friendship, 5. Personal-related; the extent to which one can help others feel a sense of importance and personal worth.

What are the two approaches used to develop project networks and identify the differences between them?

1. activity-on-node; where nodes depict activities and the arrows show flow and dependencies 2. activity-on-arrow; where nodes represent events and achievement of the activities is represented by the arrow connecting the nodes.

Identify and discuss the two major reasons for the integration of work packages into the project network failing in actual practice.

1. different people are used to define work packages and the network 2. the WBS is poorly constructed and not deliverable/output oriented.

What are the eight rules to follow in developing project networks?

1. flow left to right 2. activities cannot begin until all predecessors have been completed 3. arrows indicate precedence and flow 4. each activity should have a unique identification number 5. activity ID numbers must be larger than preceding ID number 6. looping is not permitted 7. conditional statements are not permitted 8. create a common start node for multiple start activities.

Identify and briefly describe the four common pitfalls that project teams may be subjected to.

1. groupthink, 2. bureaucratic bypass syndrome, 3. team infatuation, 4. going native.

Identify five of the six contradictions that an effective project manger must face.

1. innovate and ma0intain stability, 2. see the big picture while getting your hands dirty, 3. encourage individuals but stress the team, 4. hands-on/hands-off, 5. flexible but firm, 6. team versus organizational loyalties.

Identify at least five of the typical group dependencies that project managers must manage.

1. project team, 2. other project managers, 3. administrative support, 4. functional managers, 5. top management, 6. project sponsors, 7. subcontractors, 8. government agencies, 9. customers.

Identify five of the six aspects of leading by example.

1. standards of performance, 2. ethics, 3. urgency, 4. problem solving, 5. priorities, 6. cooperation.

Identify five of the eight traits associated with being a successful project manager.

1. systems thinker, 2. personal integrity, 3. proactive, 4. emotional intelligence, 5. general business perspective, 6. effective time management, 7. skillful politician, 8. optimist.

Identify at least six items that may be included on a Risk Profile.

1. technical requirements, 2. Design, 3. Testing, 4. Development, 5. Schedule, 6. Budget, 7. Quality, 8. Management, 9. Work Environment, 10. Staffing, 11. Customer 12. Contractors.

Positive synergy

A characteristic of high-performance teams in which group performance is greater than the sum of individual contributions.

Time buffer

A contingency amount of time for an activity to cover uncertainty—for example, availability of a key resource or merge event.

Change management system

A defined process for authorizing and documenting changes in the scope of a project.

Gantt chart

A graphic presentation of project activities depicted as a time-scaled bar line.

What is a hammock activity and give an example?

A hammock activity identifies the use of a resource over a segment of the project. Thus its duration is determined by the duration of other activities. The example used in the text was for a color copier during specific phases of a project.

Risk breakdown structure (RBS)

A hierarchical depiction of the identified project risks arranged by risk category and subcategory that identifies the various areas and causes of potential risks.

Systems thinking

A holistic approach to viewing problems that emphasizes understanding the interactions among different problem factors.

What is a lag and why would you need to use one?

A lag is the minimum amount of time a dependent activity must be delayed to begin or end. They occur during laddering and avoid delays and they are also used to constraint the start and finish of an activity.

Risk profile

A list of questions that addresses traditional areas of uncertainty on a project.

Management by wandering around (MBWA)

A management style in which managers spend the majority of their time outside their offices interacting with key people.

Management reserve

A percentage of the total project budget reserved for contingencies. The fund exists to cover unforeseen, new problems—not unnecessary overruns. The reserve is designed to reduce the risk of project delays. Management reserves are typically controlled by the project owner or project manager. See budget reserve.

Contingency plan

A plan that covers possible identified project risks that may materialize over the life of the project.

Team building

A process designed to improve the performance of a team.

What is a risk profile and what benefits does it provide to risk management?

A risk profile is a list of questions that address traditional areas of uncertainty on a project. The questions have been developed and refined from previous, similar projects. These profiles are generated and maintained by the project office and are updated and refined during the life of the project. This historical file assists in identifying risks for future projects.

Risk register

A risk register details all identified risks, including descriptions, category, and probability of occurring, impact, responses, contingency plans, owners, and current status.

Hammock activity

A special-purpose, aggregate activity that identifies the use of fixed resources or costs over a segment of the project—e.g., a consultant. Derives its duration from the time span between other activities.

Nominal group technique (NGT)

A structured problemsolving process in which members privately rankorder preferred solutions.

Groupthink

A tendency of members in highly cohesive groups to lose their critical evaluative capabilities.

Risk severity matrix

A tool used to assess the impact of risks on a project.

What is a virtual project team?

A virtual project team is one in which the team members are geographically situated so that they may seldom, if ever, meet face-to-face as a team. Electronic communications such as the Internet, e-mail, and teleconferencing are the primary means of communication

Mitigating risk

Action taken to either reduce the likelihood that a risk will occur and/or the impact the risk will have on the project.

Activity-on-arrow (AOA)

Activity-on-arrow method for drawing project networks. The activity is shown as an arrow

Activity-on-node (AON)

Activity-on-node method for drawing project networks. The activity is on the node (rectangle).

"All the eight traits of being a good project manager can be trained."

Agree or Disagree and support your conclusion. Some can be trained or acquired but items such as being an optimist, personal integrity, and being proactive are not easily developed unless there is a predisposition to display them.

"Strong leadership is not always necessary to successfully complete a project." Agree or disagree and support your conclusion.

Agree. Well-defined projects that encounter no significant surprises require little leadership.

Burst activity

An activity that has more than one activity immediately following it.

Merge activity

An activity that has more than one activity immediately preceding it.

Project vision

An image of what the project will accomplish.

Opportunity

An opportunity is an event that can have a positive impact on project objectives.

What is functional conflict and why should it be encouraged?

As long as disagreements further the objectives of the project, then conflict is functional. It should be encouraged because honest professional differences of opinion often will lead to the best solutions. The challenge is to keep it from becoming dysfunctional.

What is the difference between budget reserves and management reserves?

Budget reserves are controlled by team participants and have been identified for known risks that have a low chance of occurring and are directly associated with specific work packages. Management reserves are controlled by the project manager and cover items which were unforeseen usually at the total project level.

Compare and contrast budget reserves and management reserves.

Budget reserves are for known risks associated with specific work packages and controlled by the project managers. Management reserves are for unforeseen risks associated with the overall project and are controlled by upper management.

Team rituals

Ceremonial actions that reinforce team identity and values.

What is Change Control Management and what function does it perform?

Change Control Management is the formal process for making and tracking changes once a project has started. Any changes must be detailed and accepted by the project team. Risks associated with making changes are thus assessed and documented.

What is a Gantt chart and what advantages does it have over project networks?

Gantt charts are bar charts where activities are displayed as bars on a horizontal time-scale. They are easy-to-read and provide a clear overview of the project schedule and progress against that schedule.

Brainstorming

Generating as many ideas/solutions as possible without critical judgment.

Concurrent engineering

Crossfunctional teamwork in new-product development projects that provides product design, quality engineering, and manufacturing process engineering all at the same time

Task-related currencies

Influence based, helping someone else do their work.

"Managing a project and leading a project is essentially the same thing." Agree or disagree and support your conclusion.

Disagree, they are very different. Managing is associated with the structure of the project (planning, organizing, controlling, and corrective action) where leading is needed when the objectives of the project require changing to meet outside demands.

Functional conflict

Disagreement that contributes to the objectives of the project.

Dysfunctional conflict

Disagreement that does not improve project performance.

Avoiding risk

Elimination of the risk cause before the project begins.

Leading by example

Exhibiting the behaviors you want to see in others.

What is meant by the term groupthink and identify four symptoms?

Groupthink refers to the tendency of members in highly cohesive groups to lose their critical evaluative capabilities resulting in quick decision making with little consideration of alternatives. Symptoms include 1. illusion of invulnerability, 2. whitewash of critical thinking, 3. negative stereotypes of outsiders, 4. direct pressure.

What is the laddering approach to project networks and why would you use this approach?

In laddering, lengthy activities are segmented into small pieces so that successor activities can begin prior to the completion of the initial activity. This effectively reduces the overall project time. The text used a laying pipeline example to illustrate.

Describe the relationship between the likelihood of a risk event occurring and the cost of fixing the risk event as a project proceeds through its life cycle.

In the early stages of the project life cycle the probability of a risk event occurring is greater than at any other time and the cost to fix it is lower than at any other point. As time passes the probability of occurrence drops lower and lower while the cost rises.

Stakeholder

Individuals and organizations that are actively involved in the project, or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected as a result of project execution or completion. They may also exert influence over the project and its results.

Personal-related currencies

Influence based on enhancing another person's self-esteem.

Relationship-related currencies

Influence based on friendship.

Inspiration-related currencies

Influence based on inspiration (opportunity to do good, be the best, etc.).

Position-related currencies

Influence based on the ability to enhance someone else's position within an organization.

What is "management by wandering around" and why would it be useful to project managers?

MBWA is the spending of time outside the office and making contact with key players to keep abreast of developments, anticipate potential problems, provide encouragement, and reinforce the objectives and vision of the project.

How should a risk assessment be conducted?

Not all identified risks deserve attention, some are trivial and others are serious threats. The Scenario analysis is the easiest and most commonly used technique for analyzing risks. Each risk is assessed in terms of 1. what the risk are, 2. the outcomes of the event's occurrence, 3. the severity of the event's impact, 4. the probability of the event occurring, 5. when the event may occur 6. the interaction with other parts of the project or other projects.

Parallel activity

One or more activities that can be carried on concurrently or simultaneously.

Law of reciprocity

People are obligated to grant a favor comparable to the one they received.

What is the bureaucratic bypass syndrome and why is it to be avoided?

Project teams are often licensed to get things done without having to go through normal protocols of the parent organization. If bypassing the normal channels becomes a way of life, it results in rejecting policies and procedures. This may alienate other workers who must follow protocol and eventually may cause them to find ways to thwart the project team.

Budget reserve

Reserve setup to cover identified risks that may occur and influence baseline tasks or costs. These reserves are typically controlled by the project manager and the project team. See management reserve.

What is a Risk Severity Matrix and what does it do?

Risks are placed on a matrix that has Likelihood as the vertical axis and Impact as the horizontal axis. Risks in the upper right corner are considered major, those further left are considered moderate, while the rest are considered minor. The matrix is usually color-coded with the major risks in red, moderate risks in yellow and minor risks in green. It is an easily read graphical representation of a project's risks.

Scenario analysis

Scenario analysis is the easiest and most commonly used technique for analyzing risks.

Transferring risk

Shifting responsibility for a risk to another party.

What is total slack and how do you determine it?

Slack is the amount of time specific activities can be delayed without causing the project to miss its completion date. It is calculated by subtracting the Early Start date from the Late Start date (SL = LS-ES) or subtracting the Early Finish date from the Late Finish date (SL = LF-EF).

Virtual project team

Spatially separated project team whose members are unable to communicate face to face. Communication is usually by electronic means.

In the network computation process what is a forward pass and what three things does it determine?

Starting with the first activity, each path is traced forward through the network, adding times until the end of the project. This determines 1. how soon each activity can start, 2. how soon each activity can finish, and 3. how soon the entire project can be completed.

In the network computation process what is a backward pass and what four things does it determine?

Starting with the last activity, each path is traced backward through the network, subtracting times until the beginning of the project. This determines 1. how late each activity can start, 2. how late each activity can finish, 3. the critical path, and 4. how long can each activity be delayed without changing the completion date.

Activity

Task(s) of the project that consumes time while people/equipment either work or wait.

Emotional intelligence (EQ)

The ability or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self and others.

What is the Concurrent Engineering Approach and why should project managers be aware of it?

The chainlike sequence of finish-to-start relationships is replaced by a series of start-to-start lag relationships as soon as meaningful work can be initiated for the next phase. The resulting overlap of tasks slightly increases risk but results in a much shorter schedule.

Risk

The chance that an undesirable project event will occur and the consequences of all its possible outcomes

From the perspective of project management, what does the term going native reference?

The customer's interest takes precedence over the parent organization's interest, leading to scope creep and open defiance of corporate policy and interests.

Sensitivity

The likelihood that the critical path(s) will change once the project begins to be implemented.

Critical path

The longest activity path(s) through the network. The critical path can be distinguished by identifying the collection of activities that all have the same minimum slack.

Identify and compare and contrast The old-fashioned view of managing projects and the new perspective of managing projects.

The old-fashioned view of managing projects emphasized directing and controlling subordinates; the new perspective emphasizes managing project stakeholders and anticipating change as the most important jobs.

Identify and briefly describe the parts of a Risk Response Matrix and explain how one would be used.

The parts are: the risk event, the response, contingency plan, trigger, and who is responsible. It is used for summarizing how the project team plans to manage risks that have been identified.

Social network building

The process of identifying and building cooperative relationships with key people.

Describe the process for identifying project risks.

The project manager pulls together a risk management team consisting of core team members and other relevant stakeholders and uses brainstorming and other techniques to identify project risks. Focus should be on the WBS and the risks associated with the deliverables.

Lag relationship

The relationship between the start and/ or finish of a project activity and the start and/or finish of another activity. The most common lag relationships are (1) finish-to-start, (2) finish-to-finish, (3) start-tostart, and (4) start-to-finish.

Identify and briefly discuss the key to exercising influence within an organization.

Trust. Trust is an elusive concept and may be seen as a function of character (doing the right thing) and competence (knowing the right things to do). Both are needed and take time to build.

Project kick-off meeting

Typically the first meeting of the project team.

Proactive

Working within your sphere of influence to accomplish something.