IS 445 exam 3 study guide

lessons learned

As part of the Scrum Retrospect Sprint, the Scrum Master and Scrum Team meet to discuss the __________ throughout the Sprint. This information is documented so that it can be applied to future Sprints as needed and may result in Agreed Actionable Improvements to the Scrum processes.

6

As the number of people involved increases, the complexity of communications increases because there are more communications channels, or pathways, through which people can communicate. How many communication channels are there between four people?

Quality Improvement Tools and Techniques

Benchmarking - Quality Audits - Process Analysis: Lean, Kanban, Root Cause, Cause-and-effect diagrams

Project Procurement Management

Conduct Procurements is the process of obtaining seller responses, selecting a seller, and awarding a contract. • Prospective sellers do most of the work in this process by preparing their proposals and bids, normally at no cost to the buyer • The buying organization is responsible for deciding how to approach sellers and providing required procurement documents • Important documents created because of conducting procurements include contracts

Conflict

Conflict can be good; it often produces important results, such as new ideas, better alternatives, and motivation to work harder and more collaboratively • Project team members might become stagnant or develop groupthink, (conformance to the values or ethical standards of a group), if there are no conflicting viewpoints on various aspects of a project • Research suggests that: - Task-related conflict, which is derived from differences over team objectives and how to achieve them, often improves team performance - Emotional conflict, however, which stems from personality clashes and misunderstandings, often depresses team performance

True

Conflict can be good; it often produces important results, such as new ideas, better alternatives, and motivation to work harder and more collaboratively. T/F

Time

The project variable with the least amount of flexibility is ________, which diminishes no matter what happens on a project.

Benchmarking

The quality assurance technique that generates quality improvements by comparing specific project practices to those of other projects or within or outside of the organization is known as?

Starvation

The textbook discussed four common ways to close or terminate a project. Which approach is described by when a company chooses to terminate a project due to poor economic conditions, (or to avoid embarrassment), by decreasing the project's budget or ending funding?

Control Procurements

involves managing procurement relationships, monitoring contract performance, making changes and taking corrective actions as needed, and closing out contracts • The contractual relationship is a legal relationship and, as such, is subject to state and federal contract laws • Someone from the procurement or legal department in organizations usually closes out contracts

Scope Control

is a process for soliciting and monitoring changes to project scope - Stakeholders should be encouraged to suggest beneficial changes and discouraged from suggesting unnecessary changes

Forecasting Earned Value Management

is a project performance measurement technique that integrates scope, time, and cost data

Manage Stakeholder Engagement

is the process of communicating and working with stakeholders to meet their needs and expectations, address issues, and foster appropriate stakeholder involvement. • The key benefit of managing stakeholder engagement is that it allows the project manager to increase support and minimize resistance from stakeholders • Good teachers use several techniques to engage students; project managers also need to actively engage project stakeholders • Need to set the stage early so stakeholder engagement is expected and welcomed

Monitor Communications

is the process of ensuring the information needs of the project and its stakeholders are met. • Monitor Communications determines if the planned communications artifacts and activities have had the desired effect of increasing or maintaining stakeholders' support for the project's deliverables and expected outcomes. • Monitor Communications ensures that the right message with the right content (the same meaning for sender and receiver) is delivered to the right audience, through the right channel, and at the right time

Work Performance Data

• During project execution, project managers must collect, assess, and communicate work performance information • Many project managers, use the "management by wandering around" (MBWA) approach, meaning they informally observe and talk to project team members, suppliers, and other stakeholders as much as possible • The other formal communications used are status reports (ex. Milestones), survey results, and course evaluations, to address work performance on the project

Project Resource Management Overview

• Effective use of resources is crucial to project execution. The main processes project managers perform include acquiring resources, developing the team, and managing the team. • Key outputs include physical resource assignments, project team assignments, resource calendars, team performance assessment, change requests, and updates to the project management plan, enterprise environmental factors, and organizational process assets. • Resource calendars are simply calendars for each resource showing work assignment dates.

Interpreting Earned Value Numbers

• In general, negative numbers for cost and schedule variance indicate problems in those areas • Negative numbers mean the project is costing more than planned or taking longer than planned • Likewise, CPI and SPI less than one or less than 100 percent indicate problems

Common Ways to Close Projects

• Integration: • Addition: • Extinction: • Starvation:

Project Quality Management

• Key outputs of quality control include quality-control measurements, verified deliverables, work performance information, change requests, project management plan updates, and project documents updates • Outcomes are: - Acceptance decisions - Rework - Process adjustments

Monitoring and Controlling

• Monitoring and controlling involves regularly measuring progress to ensure that the project is meeting its objectives and addressing current business needs • The project manager and other staff monitor progress against plans and take corrective action when necessary • Every knowledge area is included in this process group. Several of the knowledge areas also include similar outputs that have been discussed in earlier chapters.

Project Deliverables

• Most project sponsors would say that the most important output of any project is its deliverables • Recall that deliverables are products or services produced or provided as part of a project

Change Request

• Often, several requests for changes emerge during project execution • Recall that a process for handling changes should be defined during project planning as part of the project management plan • It is important during project execution to formally and informally request appropriate changes

Individual and Group Communication Needs

• People are not interchangeable parts • Individuals prefer different ways to communicate - Consider the MBTI dimensions • Geographic location and cultural backgrounds also affect communications

Monitor and Control Project Work

• Process of tracking, reviewing, and reporting the overall progress to meet the performance objectives. • This allows the stakeholders to understand the current state of the project, recognize the actions taken to address any performance issues, and to have visibility into the future project status. • Earned value management reports are a powerful tool for monitoring and controlling overall project performance.

Create Deliverables

• Scrum Team works on the tasks in the Sprint Backlog to create Sprint Deliverables • Scrum board is often used to track the work and activities being carried out • Issues or problems faced by the Scrum Team could be updated in an Impediment Log

Possible Final Reports Topics

• Summary level description of the project or phase • Scope objectives, the criteria used to evaluate the scope, and evidence that the completion criteria were met • Quality objectives, the criteria used to evaluate the project and product quality, and the verification and validation information • Schedule objectives including planned and actual milestone delivery dates and reasons for variances • Cost objectives, including the acceptable cost range, actual costs, and reasons for variances • Summary of how the final project, service, or result achieved the benefits that the project was undertaken to address. • Summary of how the final project, service, or result achieved the business needs identified in the business plan. • Summary of any risks or issues encountered on the project and how they were addressed

Conduct Daily Standup

• The Daily Standup is a highly focused and timeboxed meeting for the Scrum Team to update each other on their progress and any impediments they may be facing by asking Three Daily Questions 1. What have I done since the last meeting? 2. What do I plan to do before the next meeting? 3. What impediments or obstacles (if any) am I currently facing?

Scrum Implement Overview

• The Implement phase is related to the execution of the tasks and activities to create a project's product. • These activities include creating various deliverables, conducting Daily Standup Meetings, and grooming (i.e., reviewing, fine-tuning, and regularly updating) the Product Backlog at regular intervals.

Groom Prioritized Product Backlog

• The Prioritized Product Backlog is continuously updated and maintained• A Prioritized Product Backlog Review Meeting may be held, in which any changes or updates to the backlog are discussed and incorporated into the Prioritized Product Backlog as appropriate.

Why Schedules Cause Conflicts

• Time is the variable with the least amount of flexibility; time passes no matter what happens on a project • Individual work styles and cultural differences may also cause schedule conflicts. - People who prefer the "P" vs. "J" in the MBTI profile may not like having schedules and deadlines - Different cultural views of time affect meeting schedules and attitudes toward work

Motivational Theories Frederick Herzberg

wrote several famous books and articles about worker motivation. He distinguished between the following: • Motivational factors: Factors that cause job satisfaction, such as achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, advancement, and growth • Hygiene factors: Factors that cause dissatisfaction if not present, but do not motivate workers to do more. Examples include larger salaries, more supervision, and a more attractive work environment

Issue Logs

• An issue log helps to document, monitor, and track issues that need to be resolved for effective work to take place.

Project Close-Out Meeting

• At this meeting, like the kick-off meeting, you should invite key project stakeholders • Some people call this close-out meeting a post-mortem since it is normally held after the project has died or been put to rest.

Closing Projects

• Closing projects or phases involves finalizing all activities and bringing the project or phase to an orderly end • It includes archiving project information, ensuring the planned work is complete, and releasing organizational resources • It often includes a final presentation and report • It is also important to reflect on what can be learned to improve future projects. • It is also important to plan for and execute a smooth transition of the project into the normal operations of the company

Direct and Manage Project Work

• Direct and Manage Project Work is the process of leading and performing the work defined in the project management plan and implementing approved changes to achieve the project's objectives. • The key benefit of this process is that it provides overall management of the project work and deliverables, thus improving the probability of project success.

Empathic listening

All of the following are forms of formal communication EXCEPT. Status Reports E-mails Empathic listening Web pages

Get your point across

All of the following are one of Stephen Covey's seven habits EXCEPT: Be Proactive Think win/win Sharpen the Saw Get your point across

Suppliers are not delivering as promised.

All project teams face numerous problems, some can be avoided by doing a good job of planning. All of the following should have been addressed during the Project Planning phase before the Project Execution phase begins EXCEPT: Suppliers are not delivering as promised. Project stakeholders are not sufficiently involved in project decision-making. The project objectives/scope are unclear. Project Sponsor and/or senior managers are not very supportive of the project.

Project Risk Management

Implement Risk Responses is the process of implementing agreed-upon risk response plans. Key outputs include change requests and project documents updates (i.e., issue log, lessons learned register, project team assignments, risk register, and risk report)

11.1 Demonstrate and Validate Sprint: SRR

In this process, the Scrum Team demonstrates the Sprint Deliverables to the Product Owner and relevant stakeholders in a Sprint Review Meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to secure approval and acceptance of the product or service by the Product Owner.

Scope Creep

It is difficult to create a good project scope statement and WBS. Even when the project scope is well defined, many projects suffer from_______

Formal and Information Communications

It is not enough for project team members to submit formal status reports to their project managers and other stakeholders and assume that everyone who needs to know that information will read the reports • In fact, many people may prefer to have an informal, two-way conversation about project information • Project managers must be good at nurturing relationships through good communication

Project Communications Concepts

Key concepts include: • Formal and informal communications • Nonverbal communications • Using the appropriate communications medium • Understanding individual and group communication needs • The impact of team size on project communications

Tacit

Manage Project Knowledge is the process of using existing knowledge and creating new knowledge to achieve the project's objectives and contribute to organizational learning. The type of knowledge that is derived from experience and thinking, but can't be codified is which type of knowledge?

Managing Quality

Manage Quality is the process of translating the quality management plan into executable quality activities that incorporate the organization's quality policies into the project.

True

Most Project Sponsors would say that the most important output of any project is its deliverables. (t/f)

True

Team-building activities can include using physical challenges and psychological preference indicator tools, such as the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Wilson Learning Social Styles Profile. T/F

Sprint Burndown

The ________ Chart is a graph that depicts the amount of work remaining in the ongoing Sprint.

MBWA

The approach where project managers informally observe and talk to project team members, suppliers, and other stakeholders as much as possible is known as what?

Groupthink

What is the phenomenon where project team member might tend agree with decisions of others to avoid conflict, which may lead to team stagnation?

Smooth/Accommodate

Which conflict management approach focuses on de-emphasizing areas of differences and emphasizes areas of agreement?

Progress report

Which type of performance report describes what the project team has accomplished during a certain period?

True

You cannot control stakeholders, but you can control their level of engagement by monitoring their overall project relationships. One method to track their engagement is by using a Stakeholder Engagement Assessment Matrix.

Overallocation

_______ means more resources than are available are assigned to perform work at a given time.

Scope validation

________ involves formal acceptance of the completed project deliverables by the project customer or designated stakeholders

Knowledge transfer

________ is the process of communicating knowledge that was developed by one person, or in one part of an organization, to another person or other parts of an organization.

Intrinsic; Extrinsic

________ motivation causes people to participate in an activity for their own enjoyment, while ________ motivation causes people to do something for a reward or to avoid a penalty.

tacit knowledge

experience thinking competence commitment deed 95%

Manage Project Knowledge

is the process of using existing knowledge and creating new knowledge to achieve the project's objectives and contribute to organizational learning. There are two types of knowledge, Explicit knowledge and Tacit knowledge.

Performance reports

keeps stakeholders informed about how resources are being used to achieve project objectives.

Seven Basic Tools of Quality (ASQ)

1. Cause-and-effect diagrams: Help you find the root cause of quality problems 2. Check sheets: Also called a tally sheet, are structured forms for collecting and analyzing data 3. Control charts: Illustrate the results of a process over time and show if a process is in control 4. Histograms: Show a bar graph of a distribution of variables 5. Pareto charts: Help you identify and prioritize problem areas 6. Scatter diagrams: Show if there is a relationship between two variables 7. Stratification: A technique used to separate data to see patterns in data. - A run chart displays the history and pattern of variation of a process over time. - A flow chart is a graphical display of the logic and flow of processes that help you analyze how problems occur and how processes can be improved

Conflict Management

1. Confrontation or problem-solving: Directly face a conflict (high/high). 2. Compromise/Reconcile: Use a give-and-take approach (medium/medium). 3. Smooth/Accommodate: De-emphasize areas of differences and emphasize areas of agreement (low/high). 4. Force/Direct: The win-lose approach (high/low). 5. Withdrawal/Avoid: Retreat or withdraw from an actual or potential disagreement (low/low).

Issue

A matter under question or dispute that could impede project success and potentially hurt team performance is known as a(n) what?

Addition:

A project creates a new product or service that results in a new unit in the organization, such as a department, division, or company

Extinction:

A project ends because it was successful and achieved its goals, or it was unsuccessful or superseded; termination by murder is when there is a sudden end to a project.

• Starvation:

A project ends by decreasing its budget or suddenly ending funding; also known as withdrawal of life support

Integration:

A project is completed, and products and services created are integrated into operations; most common approach

Motivational Theories David McClelland's

Acquired-Needs Theory states that specific needs are acquired or learned over time and shaped by life experiences, including: • Achievement (nAch): People with a high need for achievement like challenging projects with achievable goals and lots of feedback • Affiliation (nAff): People with high nAff desire harmonious relationships and need to feel accepted by others, so managers should try to create a cooperative work environment for them • Power: (nPow): People with a need for power desire either personal power (not good) or institutional power (good for the organization). Managers should provide institutional power seekers with management opportunities

Pareto chart

According to the American Society for Quality (ASQ) a chart that contains bars in a descending order and a line graph is called what?

Slipped milestone

According to the textbook, when a milestone activity is completed later than was originally planned, it is known as what?

Project Cost Management

Cost control includes monitoring cost performance, ensuring that only appropriate project changes are included in a revised cost baseline, and informing project stakeholders of authorized changes to the project that will affect costs • To-complete performance index (TCPI), which is a measure of the cost performance that must be achieved on the remaining work to meet a specified goal, such as the BAC or EAC • Outputs include work performance information, cost forecasts, change requests, project management plan updates, and project documents updates

New management style

Direct and Manage Project Work is the process of leading and performing the work defined in the project management plan and implementing approved changes to achieve the project's objectives. The key outputs from this process include all of the following EXCEPT: Deliverables, Work performance data, Issue logs, New management style

Send out a survey

During project execution, project manager's can direct and manage stakeholder to complete the project by doing all of the following EXCEPT: Develop and use soft skills, Send out a survey, Provide a supportive organizational culture, Break the rules when needed

Project Integration Management

During project execution, the project manager must direct and manage stakeholders to complete the project. Coordinate planning and execution • Develop and use soft skills • Provide a supportive organizational culture. • Break the rules when needed • Capitalize on product, business, and application area knowledge • Use project execution tools and techniques

Positive risk responses

Escalation of risk Risk exploitation Risk sharing Risk enhancement Risk acceptance

Negative risk responses

Escalation of risk Risk avoidance Risk acceptance Risk transference Risk mitigation

Baseline

Project managers and their teams can determine how well the project is meeting scope, time, and cost goals by entering actual information and then comparing it to the ________.

workarounds

Project teams sometimes use ________, which are unplanned responses to risk events, when they do not have contingency plans in place.

Motivation

Psychologists, managers, coworkers, teachers, parents, and most people in general still struggle to understand what motivates people, or why they do what they do • Intrinsic motivation causes people to participate in an activity for their own enjoyment • Extrinsic motivation causes people to do something for a reward or to avoid a penalty • Maslow suggested that people's behaviors are guided or motivated by a sequence of needs

Nonverbal Communication

Research poses the theory that in a face-to-face interaction, 58 percent of communication is through body language, 35 percent is through how the words are said, and a mere 7 percent is through the content or words that are spoken • Even if the actual percentages are different in verbal project communications today, it is safe to say that it is important to pay attention to more than just the actual words someone is saying • Nonverbal communications, such as a person's tone of voice and body language, are often more important than

Implemented Solutions to Problems

Some common problems encountered during project execution are described in this chapter, but project managers must be creative and flexible in dealing with problems that occur on their projects. 1. The project sponsor and/or other senior managers are not very supportive of the project. 2. Project stakeholders are not sufficiently involved in project decision-making. 3. The project manager is inexperienced in managing people, working in a particular organization, or understanding the application area of the project. 4. The project objectives/scope are unclear. 5. Estimates for time and cost goals are unreliable or unrealistic. 6. Business needs/technology changes have impacted the project. 7. People working on the project are incompetent or unmotivated. 8. There are poor conflict-management procedures. 9. Communications are poor. 10. Suppliers are not delivering as promised.

Project Scope Management

The main monitoring and controlling processes performed as part of project scope management are validating scope and controlling scope

Project Schedule Management

The main process performed as part of project time management is controlling the schedule or schedule control • Project managers often cite delivering projects on time (schedule control) as one of their biggest challenges • As projects proceed, especially during the middle and latter stages of the project, schedule issues become the predominant source of conflict • The goal of schedule control is to know the status of the schedule, influence the factors that cause schedule changes, determine whether the schedule has changed, and manage changes when they occur

False

The process for handling changes should be defined in the project execution phase of a project. T/F

Project Communications Management

The process of managing communications involves gathering information to create, distribute, store, retrieve, and dispose of project communications in accordance with the communications management plan - Disposal does not mean discarding. It means putting documents in a defined place, and document retention regulations may determine document disposal policies.

Scrum Review and Retrospect

This phase is concerned with reviewing the deliverables and the work that has been done and determining ways to improve the practices and methods used to do project work

Lessons Learned

Throughout each project life cycle, lessons are learned and opportunities for improvement are discovered. • As part of a continuous improvement process, documenting lessons learned helps the project team discover the root causes of problems that occurred and avoid those problems in later project stages or future projects. • What worked well—or didn't work well— either for this project or for the project team? • What needs to be done over or differently? • What surprises did the team have to deal with? • What project circumstances were not anticipated? • Were the project goals attained? If not, what changes need to be made to meet goals in the future?

Explicit Knowledge

data information documents records files 5%

Progress reports

describe what the project team has accomplished during a certain period

Status reports

describe where the project stands at a specific point in time

11.2 Retrospect Sprint: SRR

in this process, the Scrum Master and Scrum Team meet to discuss the lessons learned throughout the Sprint. This information is documented as lessons learned which can be applied to future Sprints. • Often, because of this discussion, there may be Agreed Actionable Improvements or Updated Scrum Guidance Body Recommendations.

Quality assurance

includes all the activities related to satisfying the relevant quality standards for a project and to provide continual quality improvement

Scope validation

involves formal acceptance of the completed project deliverables by the project customer or designated stakeholders - Acceptance is often achieved through customer inspection and then sign-off on key deliverables

Integrated change control

involves identifying, evaluating, and managing changes throughout the project's life cycle 1. Influence the factors that cause changes to ensure that changes are beneficial 2. Determine that a change has occurred 3. Manage actual changes as they occur

Monitor Risks

involves implementing the risk response plans, while continuing to identify and analyze new risks and evaluate risk process effectiveness • Carrying out individual risk management plans involves monitoring risks based on defined milestones and making decisions regarding risks and their response strategies • Project teams sometimes use workarounds—unplanned responses to risk events—when they do not have contingency plans in place

Monitor Stakeholder Engagement

involves monitoring overall project stakeholder relationships and adjusting strategies and plans for engaging stakeholders as needed • You cannot control stakeholders, but you can control their level of engagement

Motivational Theories Douglas McGregor

popularized the human relations approach to management in the 1960s • Theory X: Assumes workers dislike and avoid work, so managers must use coercion, threats and various control schemes to get workers to meet objectives • Theory Y: Assumes individuals consider work as natural as play or rest and enjoy the satisfaction of esteem and self-actualization needs

Forecasts

predict future project status and progress based on past information and trends

Controlling Resources

process should be performed continuously in all project phases and throughout the project life cycle. • Controlling resources involves ensuring that the physical resources, (equipment, materials, facilities, and infrastructure), are assigned and released at the right time, right place, and right amount for the project to continue without delays. • Making effective use of team members is addressed under the Manage Team process

Knowledge Transfer

• Employee knowledge or human capital is a key asset • Knowledge transfer is the process of communicating knowledge that was developed by one person or in one part of an organization to another person or other parts of an organization