Project Management until Midterm
(TRUE or FALSE) An well written email is an effective communication medium to resolve a misunderstanding.
False
(TRUE or FALSE) The Communication Management Plan addresses internal project communication; public relations activity manages communication from the project plan to the outside world.
False
(TRUE or FALSE) To minimize emails, a project manager should include multiple topics in a single mailing.
False
As a rule of thumb, only 2 levels of sub-tasks should be included on a WBS.
False
Conflict Management is not an important responsibility of a project manager.
False
Enterprise Environmental Factors include templates, processes and lessons learned archives.
False
For expediency sake, the Project Manager should create the WBS by themselves; too many people involved would bog down this very time critical activity.
False
In the waterfall model, one phase is begun slightly before the previous is finished producing a baton-passing effect
False
Multitasking is recommended in the Critical Chain Scheduling approach as a low-risk opportunity for schedule compression.
False
Only external deliverables (those that go to customers) are listed on the Project Scope Statement.
False
TRUE or FALSE: All practitioners of Lines of Code counting count code in the same way.
False
TRUE or FALSE: In using Lines of Code counting, declaration statements are excluded because they only set up variable space in memory, they aren't executable.
False
TRUE or FALSE: When counting Lines of Code, you should include white space because that will impact software maintenance.
False
The Staff Management Plan is another name for the Human Resources Plan.
False
The WBS groups together all the tasks on the Project Scope statement that need to occur in the same project phase.
False
The duration attribute of a task is equal to the effort it takes to complete that task.
False
There is a single, correct Life Cycle Model that should be selected for every single project.
False
System characteristics designed to meet customer wants or needs
Features
People who do the work should be responsible for insuring its quality
Feigenbaum
Compromising
Finding solutions that brings to all parties some degree of satisfaction.
A product can be used as it was intended
Fitness for use
What governing document is associated with the contract phase?
Functional specification
Degree to which a system performs to intended function
Functionality
Human Resources
Getting and keeping a good project team
Expectations Matrix
Goals prioritized by stakeholders
Besides a face-to-face meeting, what other media choice is particularly well suited to reinforcing one's authority?
Hard copy
What is the central question of Software Estimation?
How much person-effort is required to complete a task or project?
What is activity sequencing?
Identifying and documenting relationships between project activities
Risk
Identifying and managing uncertainty
Reward
Power to assign bonuses, or some other kind of incentive
Punishment (Penalty or Coercive)
Power to penalize team members
Forecast
Prediction of future status
The Human Resources Plan includes all of the following ***EXCEPT***
Process Improvement Plan
Which of the following Knowledge Area is NOT a "core function"?
Procurement Management
From our perspective, Software Project Management can be considered as a subset of which discipline?
Project Management
Who is the PMI?
Project Management Institute
Optimized engineering experimentation and quality through engineering design
Taguchi
Which of the following is NOT a project attribute typically tracked in scheduling?
Task quality metrics
What would generally NOT be included in a charter?
Test Plans
Which of the following lists places testing activities in a typical chronological order:
Unit, Integration, System Testing, User Acceptance Testing
Function Point Analysis attempts to align effort with what?
User functionality
Maintaining the initial WBS as a baseline for comparison against the eventual WBS provides a measure of what?
Variance
Scope Management Plan
handles changes to project
Time management plan
handles schedule changes
Risk Management Plan
identifies and mitigates known risk and plans for unknown risk
Process groups organize a project by
kind of work done
Quality Management Plan
manages defects, bugs, etc.
Cost Management Plan
manages to cost targets
Performing
project team members / stakeholders become efficient and work effectively together.
Storming
project team members / stakeholders learn to work together through disagreements and learning/understanding their roles and responsibilities
Norming
project team members and stakeholders begin to build good working relationships.
Collecting requirements process is part of the scope management process and plan
true
The spiral model is built around risk analysis
true
Stakeholders are important because they bring key knowledge areas and skillsets to the project
True
TRUE or FALSE: There are companies and professional organizations that maintain databases of project information for use by Project Managers.
True
Team building activities help group team cohesion and enhance project performance.
True
The Adaptive Software Development model recognizes that the Design stage is really a Speculation phase, since a "detailed" plan can't be developed up front.
True
The Critical Chain Scheduling approach recommends positioning schedule buffers at the project level instead of the task level.
True
The PERT technique couples three-point scheduling with a weighted averaging.
True
The PMI recognizes various areas of core Project Management competencies, and refers to those areas as Knowledge Areas
True
The V-Shaped model emphasizes testing throughout the Life Cycle
True
The WBS should include any deliverable or milestone that presents "high" risk.
True
The output(s) of one process in Project Management is/are the inputs of another process
True
The two main selection processes used for projects are benefits analysis and mathematical formulas.
True
The types, quantity and quality of project constraints drive the choice of a project lifecycle (such as Waterfall, Spiral, Agile or Xtreme).
True
The waterfall model is a more appropriate lifecycle model when the project is small and requirements are well understood up front
True
There is a certification process available for professional Project Managers
True
While the discipline of Project Management is relatively new, it is known that some project influences change over time and vary with culture
True
a project milestone is a task which typically has no duration, but marks a significant event.
True
What is a mission statement?
Typically a very short statement that defines a company
How many communication channels exist in a team with 6 members?
15
A common published productivity rate for US software engineers is as low as what per day?
6 lines
For those WBS items that are tasks, a rule of thumb for creating work packages is to decompose tasks to approximately how many hours of work?
80
What is the "WBS"?
A Work Breakdown Structure that provides a logical grouping of items on the Project Scope Statement and includes sub tasks as appropriate
What is "crashing"?
A bang-for-the-buck trade off in cost or scope to achieve low-cost schedule compression
Which of the following is NOT a purpose accomplished by a formal project initiation phase?
A company celebration party can now be held
What is a project "champion"
A key proponent for a project within a company
Withdrawal (Avoidance)
A party or all parties retreat from the conflict
What is Critical Path Analysis?
A path through the project tasks that reflects the absolute earliest time a project could be finished
What is an escalation plan?
A plan for raising issues or concerns up the chain of command
What is a weighted scoring tool?
A process for evaluating a project (or projects) on various dimensions, such as financials, risk, etc.
The financial hurdle is usually set higher in which kind of project?
A profit project
What is "fast tracking"?
A schedule compression technique of assuming risk and beginning some otherwise sequential tasks in parallel
What typically ends the project initiation stage?
A signed project charter
Who are Project Stakeholders?
ANYONE with a vested interest in a project
Tests performed to determine whether project work will be accepted or rejected
Acceptance decisions
Progress Report
Achievements during a designated reporting period
Confronting (Problem Solving)
Addressing the issue immediately. A win-win situation is the most desirable outcome
The Staff Management Plan includes all of the following ***EXCEPT***
All of the above are included in the Staff Management Plan.
What other uses are there for the WBS?
All of the above.
What is meant by the "scope" of a project?
All the activities involved in completing project deliverables
What calculation are you trying to make in estimating software effort?
Amount of effort required/productivity rate
What is "free float"?
Amount of slack or delay time you can allow without impacting any successor tasks
What is a "three point" estimate?
An estimate that reflects best case, probable, and worse-case scenarios
What is a project "Kill Point"?
An evaluation point after each phase to determine project go-ahead
What is a SWOT
An often brainstormed business activity in which current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are identified
What is a software defect?
Anything that has to be changed before final customer delivery
How do you convert from Function Points to Lines of Code?
Backfiring
Distinguished quality award
Baldridge
Which of the following is NOT a major area of Project Management responsibility -- as defined by the PMBOK?
Become one with nature
A quality improvement technique that compares a current product, service, or process to a similar one performed in a similar circumstance
Benchmarking
While it is accepted that a specification cannot be completed finished in early project development, which of the following is NOT a technique for lowering the risk associated with incomplete specs?
Berating your customer for not knowing what they want
Which of the following is NOT a process group?
Budgeting Process Group
What governing document is associated with the concept phase?
Charter
Identify one of the earliest life cycle models:
Code and fix
Identify a document to guide project communication:
Communication management plan
Project deliverables meet specifications
Conformance to requirements
Which conflict resolution mode is most favored by project managers?
Confrontation mode
Identify a quality control tool or technique that provides a graphic display of data capture of the results of a process over time.
Control Chart
Zero defect goal
Crosby
Status Report
Point in time snapshot of project status
A key concept in Six Sigma is improving quality by reducing what?
Defects
Fourteen points for management
Deming
Integration
Deploying all available tools and techniques to keep the project team working toward deliverables
Quality planning technique that helps to identify which project variables are most deterministic of project success
Design of experiments
Which project process contains the first Go/No Go or "Kill Point" of a project?
Develop Project Charter
Which process is NOT an integration management process?
Develop schedule
A outside supplier has been really difficult to work with in the past. A Project Manager decides that it would be too risky to begin co-development until a signed copy of the Functional Spec has been received from the supplier. What kind of schedule dependency does this reflect?
Discretionary
Communications Management Plan
Disseminates project information
Identify which of the following is NOT a popular way to estimate software effort:
Post-development crashing
In COCOMO refinements to software estimates, how are linear factors taken into account?
Each is multiplied by the KLOC count
The following are important outputs of the Initiating Process Group EXCEPT
Earned Value Analysis
Time
Establish and working to a project timeframe with clear delivery dates
What is the natural development progression of the Trade Off Triangle?
Establish the Scope, quote the work Time involved, and then multiply by work rates to get Cost
Cost
Establishing and tracking to a project budget
A software team has to interrupt work in order to re-locate to a new building. What kind of dependency does this create on a schedule?
External
What kind of Function Point category includes input screens?
External inputs
Co-Location (aka War Room) helps a project in all of the following ways ***EXCEPT***
Improve localization efforts
Collaborating
Incorporating multiple viewpoints that lead to a consensus on resolving an issue
At which level of the Capability Maturity Model does project success depend largely on heroic efforts of individuals?
Initial
Scope
Insuring exactly (no more, no less, nothing different) which deliverables define project completion
Which knowledge area ensures the project is performed in the right sequence at the right time?
Integration
Smoothing (Accommodating)
Involves down playing issues by down playing the importance of differences
Forcing
Involves pushing one viewpoint/resolution at the expense of the others
Fishbone diagrams for tracing quality problems
Ishikawa
What is the purpose of a Stakeholder Communication Analysis?
It identifies the type of, frequency and detail level that the various project reports identified in the Communication Management Plan should be made available to different project stakeholders
Importance of top-management commitment to quality
Juran
Expert
Knowledge in an specific area is recognized
The ease of performing maintenance on a product or feature
Maintainability
Before a software team can begin testing with hardware prototypes, they have to have access to the prototype units. What kind of dependency is this?
Mandatory
What project is identified as being the first example of modern Project Management approaches?
Manhattan Project
Identify a fiscal calculation that takes into account the "time value" of money:
Net Present Value
What time frame does a corporate Business Plan usually cover?
Often a multi-year plan that details long term corporate goals and objectives
What is the Program manager's "Trade Off" Triangle?
Often conflicting project goals of scope, budget, and time
In a study conducted by DeMarco and Lister, what had the greatest influence on software productivity?
Organizational Issues
Which is the more commonly used Network Diagram?
PDM
Which kind of network diagram supports parallel work of different categories?
PDM
Identify a quality control tool or technique referred to as the "80:20" rule because it looks at a project's biggest hitters for problem areas.
Pareto analysis
Identify a fiscal calculation that identifies the point at which a project recoups dollars and produces positive revenue:
Payback Analysis
How well a product or feature performs a customer's intended use
Performance
Project Management includes all of the following EXCEPT
Play time
Forming
Project team members/stakeholders are brought together as a team
All project activities related to meeting quality standards, including continuous improvements
Quality Assurance
Which of the following is NOT a main process involved in Project Quality Management
Quality Remediation
Issue Log
Registry of project concerns
The ability of a product or feature to perform as expected under normal conditions
Reliability
Which of the following activities is NOT part of the Sigma "DMAIC" improvement process?
Report
Product Scope
Requirements that relate to the product of the project
Project Scope
Requirements that relate to the work performed for the project deliverables
Identify a fiscal calculation that evaluates revenue generated as a percentage of investment dollars:
Return on Investment
Action taken to bring rejected work into compliance
Rework
Which single word best completes the blanks in the following statement: Project Scope Management is about making sure the Project Team is working on the ______ things, all the ____ things, and only the _________ things.
Right
In this course, we are taking the position that Project Management is essentially what?
Risk Management
Presumably, what causes the most conflict on projects?
Schedule
Which of the following Scope Management activities involves a "plan to get a plan"; in other words, a process by which the Project Manager will produce a Scope Statement?
Scope Planning
Procurement
Selecting and managing external resources
Identify a quality control tool or technique that utilizes placement of seven data points as an indication of potential quality problems.
Seven Run Rule
Communication
Sharing appropriate information with all shareholders in appropriate ways
What is a use scenario?
Short descriptions of a customer using a project
Identify a quality control tool or technique that is a process or system of continuous improvement to achieve a specified defect threshold per million.
Six Sigma
Which conflict resolution mode de-emphasizes differences while emphasizing areas of agreement?
Smoothing mode
Identify a quality control tool or technique that identifies a representative subset of the population and inspects that subset for information that can be inferred about the general population.
Statistical Sampling
Screen displays or reports generated by system operation
System outputs
Which of the following is NOT an approach for developing the WBS?
The Magic 8-Ball
In Extreme Programming, what document is written before the software?
The Test Plan
What is "total slack"?
The amount of time a task can be delayed without impacting the overall project completion date
Quality
The correct project work is done, and is done well
What is a "work package"?
The lowest level of task included on the WBS
Which of the following is NOT a reason why completing a Scope statement can be difficult?
The pressures of Software Program Management may send you in to a deep depression that prohibits you from creating a Scope Statement
In COCOMO refinements to raw estimation, how are non-linear factors taken into account?
They are added together, and this sum becomes a power to which KLOC's are raised
Project Management Lifecycle
This lifecycle deals with Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Control and Closeout. An example would be PMI's project processes.
Product Lifecycle
This lifecycle deals with the Conception, Growth, Maturity, Decline and Withdrawal. An example would be Windows Me.
Project Lifecycle
This lifecycle deals with the flow of how the project team will work through project activities. An example would be Xtreme Programming.
What is the purpose of Project Quality Management?
To ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.
A Program Manager should understand the context of his/her project well enough to select an appropriate Life Cycle model.
True
According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory, "Self-Actualization" can only be fulfilled once the previous need levels are satisfied.
True
In Extreme Programming, software development is conducted in pairs.
True
Integration Management is really about managing to the Project Management Plan.
True
Organizational Charts are a visual tool used to communicate roles, responsibilities and reporting channels.
True
In Lines of Code counting approach, when is a perfect count available?
When the code is finished
What is the phased model an appropriate life cycle model choice?
When the product has lots of independent features to be developed
What technique can be utilized to insure an expert opinion software estimate is not vulnerable to just one person's opinion?
Wideband Delphi
Procurement Management Plan
Works with outside vendors
What is the main purpose of the Project Charter?
authorizes the project
Human Resource Management Plan
builds and keeps a cohesive team
Project Management Plan
collects all individual management plans
The Project Scope Statement performs or identifies all of the following tasks EXCEPT
considered the 'high level' overview of the project.
The Project Chart is
constructed on a "high-level"
All of the following are a project manager's responsibility in regards to Human Resources Management **EXCEPT**
create project job descriptions and responsibilities for all project stakeholders
Referent
derived from loyalty to group
Legitimate
direct reporting structure is conveyed and understood