PMP 2024 Test with complete solutions

Develop Project Charter - ANSWER-The process of developing a document to formally authorize a project or phase; outlines the project objectives and defines the authority of the PM Develop Project Management Plan - ANSWER-The process of defining, preparing, and coordinating all plan components and consolidating them into an integrated plan Direct and Manage Project Work - ANSWER-The process of leading and performing the work defined in the project management plan; Involved managing people, improving processes, requesting changes, and implementing approved changes Manage Project Knowlegde - ANSWER-The process of using existing knowledge and creating new knowledge; contributing to organizational learning Monitor and Control Project Work - ANSWER-The process of tracking, reviewing, and reporting the progress to meet the performance objectives defined in the project management plan Perform Integrated Change Control - ANSWER-The process of reviewing all change requests; approving changes and managing changes to deliverables, project documents, and the project management plan; includes communicating the decisions Close Project or Phase - ANSWER-The process of finalizing all activities across all of the Project Management Process Groups to formally complete a project or phase Plan Scope Management - ANSWER-The process of creating a scope management plan that documents how the project and product scope will be defined, validated, and controlled Collect Requirements - ANSWER-The process of determining, documenting, and managing stakeholder needs and requirements to meet objectives Define Scope - ANSWER-The process of developing a detailed description of the project and product (the project scope statement) Create WBS - ANSWER-The process of subdividing project deliverables and project work into smaller, more manageable components Validate Scope - ANSWER-The process of formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables Control Scope - ANSWER-The process of monitoring the status of the project and product scope and managing changes to the scope baseline Plan Schedule Management - ANSWER-The process of establishing the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing, and controlling the project schedule Define Activities - ANSWER-The process of identifying and documenting the specific actions to be performed to produce the project deliverables Sequence Activities - ANSWER-The process of identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities; defines the logical sequencer of work to obtain the greatest efficiency given project constraints Estimate Activity Durations - ANSWER-The process of estimating the number of work periods needed to complete individual activities with estimated resources Develop Schedule - ANSWER-The process of analyzing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints to create the project schedule model Control Schedule - ANSWER-The process of monitoring the status of the project to update the project schedule and manage changes to the schedule baseline Plan Cost Management - ANSWER-The process of defining how the project costs will be estimated, budgeted, managed, monitored, and controlled Estimate Costs - ANSWER-The process of developing an approximation of the cost of resources needed to complete project work Determine Budget - ANSWER-The process of aggregating the estimated costs of individual activities or work packages to establish an authorized cost baseline Control Costs - ANSWER-The process of monitoring the status of the project to update the project costs and managing changes to the cost baseline Plan Quality Management - ANSWER-The process of identifying quality requirements and/or standards for the project and its deliverables, and documenting how the project will demonstrate compliance with quality requirements and/or standards Manage Quality - ANSWER-The process of translating the quality management plan into executable quality activities Control Quality - ANSWER-The process of assessing performance and ensuring the project outputs are complete, correct, and meet customer expectations; verifying that the project deliverables meet the requirements specified by the stakeholders for acceptance Plan Resource Management - ANSWER-The process of defining how to estimate, acquire, manage, and utilize physical and team resources Estimate Activity Resources - ANSWER-The process of estimating the type and quantities of material, human resources, equipment, or supplies required to perform each activity Acquire Resources - ANSWER-The process of obtaining team members, facilities, equipment, materials, supplies, and other resources necessary to complete project work Develop Team - ANSWER-The process of improving competences, team member interaction, and overall team environment to enhance project performance Manage Team - ANSWER-The process of tracking team member performance, providing feedback, resolving issues, and managing team changes Control Resources - ANSWER-The process of ensuring that the physical resources assigned and allocated to the project are available as planned, as well as monitoring the planned versus actual utilization of resources and performing corrective action as necessary Plan Communications Management - ANSWER-The process of developing an appropriate approach and plan for project communications based on the information needs of the project stakeholders Manage Communications - ANSWER-The process of ensuring timely and suitable gathering, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, management, and monitoring of project communications Monitor Communications - ANSWER-The process of ensuring the communication requirements of the project and its stakeholders are met; ensures that the communications management plan is being followed Plan Risk Management - ANSWER-The process of defining how to conduct risk management activities for a project Identify Risks - ANSWER-The process of identifying individual project risks and overall project risks, and documenting them in the risk register and risk report Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis - ANSWER-The process of prioritizing individual project risks by assessing their probability of occurrence and impact as well as other characteristics; done in order to rank which risks are highest priority Perform Quantative Risk Analysis - ANSWER-The process of numerically analyzing the effect of individual project risks on the overall project objectives; assigns a value to the risks that have been ranked by qualitative risk analysis Plan Risk Responses - ANSWER-The process of developing options, selecting strategies, and agreeing on ways to address risk on the project ; will allocate resources needed to respond to risk if they happen Implement Risk Responses - ANSWER-The process of implementing agreed-upon risk response plans when risk has taken place Monitor Risks - ANSWER-The process of monitoring the implementation of agreed-upon risk response plans, tracking identified risks, identifying and analyzing new risks, and evaluating risk process effectiveness throughout the project Plan Procurement Management - ANSWER-The process of documenting project procurement decisions, specifying the approach, and identifying potential sellers Conduct Procurements - ANSWER-The process of obtaining seller responses, selecting a seller, and awarding a contract Control Procurements - ANSWER-The process of managing procurement relationships, monitoring contract performance, and closing out contracts Identify Stakeholders - ANSWER-The process of identifying project stakeholders regularly; analyzing and recording relevant information regarding their interests and involvement Plan Stakeholder Management - ANSWER-The process of developing methods to involve project stakeholders, centered on their needs, expectations, interests, and potential impact on the project Manage Stakeholder Engagement - ANSWER-The process of communicating and working with stakeholders to meet their needs and expectations; addressing issues and get them involved Monitor Stakeholder Engagement - ANSWER-The process of monitoring stakeholder relationships and engaging stakeholders through modification of engagement strategies and plans Budget At Completion (BAC) - ANSWER-The original budget of the project (no formula) Planned Value (PV) - ANSWER-The amount of money worth of work that should have been done PV = Planned % Complete * BAC Earned Value (EV) - ANSWER-The amount of money worth of work you actually completed EV = Actual % Complete * BAC Actual Cost (AC) - ANSWER-The amount of money you already spent on the project (no formula) Cost Variance (CV) - ANSWER-The difference between the work done and money spent *Should be positive for under budget, negative values indicate over budget CV = EV - AC Cost Performance Index (CPI) - ANSWER-The rate of how we are spending to actually earning on the project *Should be 1 and over for projects under budget CPI = EV / AC Schedule Variance (SV) - ANSWER-The difference between the amount of work we should have done vs. the amount actually done *Should be positive for ahead of schedule, negative values indicate behind schedule SV = EV - PV Schedule Performance Index (SPI) - ANSWER-The rate of how we are meeting the project schedule *Should be 1 and over for a project to be ahead of schedule SPI = EV / PV Estimate at Completion (EAC) - ANSWER-Forecasting the total cost of the project at the end based on the current spending rate of the project EAC = BAC / CPI Estimate to Completion (ETC) - ANSWER-Forecasting the amount that will be needed to complete the current project based on the current performance ETC = EAC - AC Variance at Completion (VAC) - ANSWER-The difference between the original budget and new forecasted budget *Should be positive for projects that will end at or under budget VAC = BAC - EAC To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI) - ANSWER-The performance that needs to be met to finish the project within the budget TCPI = (BAC - EV) / (BAC - AC) Portfolio Management - ANSWER-A collection of projects, programs, and operations managed as a group to achieve strategic (long term) objectives Program Management - ANSWER-a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually Phase Gate - ANSWER-Done at the end of the phase to decide whether to continue to the next phase or not; also called Phase Review; shouldn't start a new phase until you have reviewed the previously finished phase Project Coordinator - ANSWER-Weaker than the PM; handles administrative responsibilities for a project team; may be authorized to make decisions Project Expeditor - ANSWER-Weakest role of the PM world; staff assistant to the executive who has responsibility for the project; can make few if any decisions Project Management Office (PMO) - ANSWER-Organizational structure that standardizes the processes and facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools and techniques Supportive PMO - ANSWER-Supports the project manager, such as providing templates, trainings, or lessons learned from other projects Controlling PMO - ANSWER-Determined the framework or methodology and use of specific formal you don't report to them but they give you the methodology to follow Directive PMO - ANSWER-Controls the project; PM will be assigned and report to them Functional Organizational Structure - ANSWER-Groups staff members according to their area of expertise; requires the project team members to report directly to the functional manager *Functional Managers have the power over the resources, so the PM has less power Matrix Organizational Structure - ANSWER-3 types depending on PM's authority compared to the functional manager's authority Weak - more power to the functional manager Balance - equal Strong - more power to the PM Project Oriented Organizational Structure - ANSWER-PM has the greatest amount of authority; the project team is assigned to the project on a full-time basis and reports to the PM; no functional managers in this type of organization Alternative Analysis - ANSWER-Involves looking at different options or ways to accomplish something Root Cause Analysis - ANSWER-Used to identify the main underlying reason for a particular event Variance Analysis - ANSWER-Used to find the exact differences between things Trend Analysis - ANSWER-Looking at data over a period of time to see if a particular trend is forming Data Representation - ANSWER-Different ways that data could be shown to stakeholders; include flowcharts, histograms, matrixes, etc. Multicriteria Decision Analysis - ANSWER-Making a table that lists different types of criteria and then evaluating an idea based on those criteria (like picking a project team member based on their criteria including experience, certification, etc.) Autocratic Decision Making - ANSWER-When one person makes a decision for the entire team Work Performance Data - ANSWER-Raw data about the project components, not useful by itself, doesn't have any analysis applied to it *Usually the output of executing processes Work Performance Information - ANSWER-Information about the work that was performed compared to the plan; provides status on deliverables *Usually the output of monitoring and controlling processes Work Performance Reports - ANSWER-The status report of the project; Takes all the work performance information and puts it together into one comprehensive document Laissez-Faire (leadership style) - ANSWER-The PM is hands-off allowing the team to make their own decisions Transactional (leadership style) - ANSWER-The PM is focused on the goals of the project and how to reward team members Servant Leadership - ANSWER-The PM is focused on removing obstacles from the team and giving the team what is needed in order to complete the work (mostly used on agile projects) Transformational (leadership style) - ANSWER-The PM tries to empower, motivate, and inspire the team Charismatic (leadership style) - ANSWER-The PM has high energy and is very enthusiastic, influences people around them Interactional (leadership style) - ANSWER-A combination of different leadership styles such as charismatic and transactional Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEF) - ANSWER-Conditions, not under the immediate control of the team, that influence, constrain, or direct the project, program, or portfolio. Organizational Process Assets (OPA) - ANSWER-Organization's assets such as information, policies, procedures, documents, or knowledge bases to help on projects (project templates, historical information, etc.) Integration - ANSWER-Bringing people / things together, an important thing the PM needs to do Business Documents - ANSWER-Contain information as to why a project should be initiated Business Case - ANSWER-Information that determines whether or not the project is worth the required investment; include market demand, customer request, organizational need, legal requirement Project Benefits Management Plan - ANSWER-Describes the main benefits that the project will produce once its completed and how to measure the benefits Project Charter - ANSWER-Formally authorizes the existence of the project and assigns the PM and their authority level; includes high level requirements and risks, preliminary project schedule and budget Assumption Log - ANSWER-A document used to record all assumptions and constraints throughout the project Process Improvement Plan - ANSWER-Defines how processes that are used on the project will be evaluated and improved Change Management Plan - ANSWER-Defines how change requests will be managed, controlled, and formally authorized Configuration Management Plan - ANSWER-Defines how documentation changes concerning the project's deliverables and processes will be managed Performance Management Baseline - ANSWER-A record of what the project had planned, scheduled, and budgeted in terms of scope, schedule, and cost performance Project Life Cycle - ANSWER-A representation of the generally sequential and sometimes overlapping project phases that a project typically goes through Management Review - ANSWER-A review by the PM, stakeholders, and management to evaluate whether the project has the expected performance or there is a necessity to take preventative or corrective actions Corrective Action - ANSWER-Fixing past errors Preventive Action - ANSWER-Fixing future errors Defect Repair - ANSWER-Modifying a non-conforming product or result Knowledge Management - ANSWER-The sharing of knowledge between stakeholders on a project used to foster project interaction such as networking, workshops, meetings Information Management - ANSWER-The collection, storage, dissemination, archiving, and destruction of information Lessons Learned Register - ANSWER-Updated whenever new knowledge within the project is discovered by any stakeholder; gathered throughout the the project, not just at the end Change Control Board - ANSWER-Group responsible for reviewing, evaluating, approving, deferring, or rejecting changes to the project and for recording and communicating such decisions Explicit Knowledge - ANSWER-Learned by reading Tacit Knowledge - ANSWER-Learned by experience Final Report - ANSWER-An output of the Close Project or Phase process that documents what happened on the project or phase, how successful it was, any variations from the baselines Product Scope - ANSWER-The features and functions that characterize a product, service, or result Project Scope - ANSWER-The work that is needed to be accomplished to deliver a product, service, or result with specific features and functions Scope Management Plan - ANSWER-How the scope will be defined, developed, monitored, controlled, and verified; Includes the process for preparing and maintaining Scope Statement and WBS and how change requests to the scope statement will be processed Requirements Management Plan - ANSWER-How the requirements will be analyzed, documented, and managed Prototype - ANSWER-A working model of a product that stakeholders can interact with and provide feedback on Requirement Documentation - ANSWER-How individual requirements are to be performed and why each requirement is important to the project Requirement Traceability Matrix - ANSWER-A table that links requirements to their source; used to help manage changes to the project scope Product Analysis - ANSWER-A tool in "Define Scope" - a detailed understanding of the project's product, service, or result; making sure the product meets the requirements Scope Statement - ANSWER-Describes in detail the project deliverables and the work that is required to produce those deliverables Decomposition - ANSWER-Breaking down each of the project deliverables into smaller components; the basic work package should be able to estimate its basic time, cost, and effort Scope Baseline - ANSWER-The approved version of a scope statement, work breakdown structure (WBS), and its associated WBS dictionary, that can be changed only through formal change control procedures WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) - ANSWER-The basis for estimating activity duration, assigning resources to activities, estimating work effort, and creating a budget; Used to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables, with each descending level representing an increasing level of detail of the project work WBS Dictionary - ANSWER-A document that details the contents of the WBS; provides detailed information on each node of the WBS Verified Deliverables - ANSWER-Completed project deliverables that have been checked and confirmed for correctness through the Control Quality process Accepted Deliverables - ANSWER-Deliverables that have met the acceptance criteria and have been signed off and approved by the sponsor or the customer Inspection - ANSWER-The measuring, examining, testing, and verifying to determine whether the work and the deliverables have met the requirements set forth in the Scope Baseline (also called a product review, audit, or walkthrough) Schedule Management Plan - ANSWER-How the project schedule will be planned, developed, managed, executed, and controlled throughout the phase or project Decomposition - ANSWER-Breaking down work packages into activities Rolling Wave Planning - ANSWER-A form of progressive elaboration; short-term work packages are defined in a lot of detail and long-term work packages may not be defined in any detail yet; as the project progresses, placeholders are removed and then decomposed as more details become available Activity List - ANSWER-A complete list of all scheduled activities that are required to be performed on the project; each activity should map back to only one work package (work packages can contain many activities) Activity Attributes - ANSWER-Additional information about each activity to execute the Activity List, such as predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and assumptions related to the activity Milestone List - ANSWER-This list details the project milestones and their attributes; used for project planning and helps determine how quickly the project is progressing Precedence Diagramming Method - ANSWER-A network diagram that shows activities in nodes and the relationship between each activity (finish to start dependencies, etc.) Mandatory Dependency - ANSWER-One activity MUST be completed prior to the subsequent activity beginning Parametric Estimating - ANSWER-Uses statistical relationship between historical data and other variables (ex: square footage, lines of code) to calculate an estimate for activity parameters Discretionary Dependency - ANSWER-Activities that are tied together but don't have physical limitations External Dependency - ANSWER-Dependency outside the control of the project team Internal Dependency - ANSWER-Project activities are within the control of the project team Lead - ANSWER-The amount of time a successor activity can be advanced with respect to a predecessor activity Lag - ANSWER-Time added to a project activity to delay its start time; also called waiting time Project Schedule Network Diagrams - ANSWER-System wide drawings which show the entire project work packages / activities from start to finish; also show logical relationships Analogous Estimating - ANSWER-Top-down estimating; relies on historical information to predict estimates for current projects; often used when there is limited information available; less accurate Three Point Estimate - ANSWER-Calculates an expected duration using a weighted average of 3 estimates - Optimistic, Pessimistic, Most Likely Bottom-Up Estimating - ANSWER-Breaking down the work to the lowest levels and then aggregating the work back up to find an overall duration; requires a lot of detail; takes a long time but highly accurate Reserve Analysis - ANSWER-Often called slack time, contingency reserve, time reserve, buffer; usually added because of risk factors Duration Estimates - ANSWER-The likely number of work periods required to complete an activity or work package Basis of Estimates - ANSWER-Shows how the estimates were developed and their ranges; includes assumptions and constraints made to create the estimate Schedule Network Analysis - ANSWER-Different techniques (critical path, critical chain, what-if analysis, and resource optimization techniques) to determine the length of the schedule; used to calculate the early start and early finish dates, late start and late finish dates Resource Optimization Techniques - ANSWER-A method to flatten the schedule when resources are over-allocated or allocated unevenly Resource Leveling - ANSWER-Start and finish dates are adjusted based on resource constraints with the goal of balancing the demand for resources; will change the critical path Resource Smoothing - ANSWER-Adjusts the activities of a schedule model such that the requirements for resources on the project do not exceed certain predefined resource limits; won't change the critical path Critical Path Method - ANSWER-A method used to estimate the minimum project duration and determine the amount of scheduling flexibility on the logical network paths within the schedule model Crashing - ANSWER-A form of schedule compression where you add resources to a project activity; always adds costs, may add additional risk Fast Tracking - ANSWER-A form of schedule compression where activities are performed in parallel; may not always add costs, might increase risk due to project rework Schedule Baseline - ANSWER-The original schedule with any approved changes to the schedule Schedule Data - ANSWER-Schedule templates that the team used to calculate durations, assumptions, constraints, or resource requirements Project Calendars - ANSWER-Identifies project shifts and work days Float - ANSWER-Also called total float or slack; the amount of time you can delay an activity without delaying the project end date Free Float - ANSWER-The amount of time you can delay an activity without delaying the next activity 3-Point Estimate (PERT) - ANSWER-Project Evaluation and Review Technique; A scheduling tool that uses a weighted average formula to predict the length of activities and the project Beta Distribution Formula / PERT Formula - ANSWER-(O + 4R + P) / 6 Cost Management Plan - ANSWER-Details how costs will be planned, structured, and controlled Definitive Estimate - ANSWER--5% - +10% Budget Estimate - ANSWER--10% - +25% Rough Order of Magnitude Estimate - ANSWER--25% to +75% Cost Aggregation - ANSWER-Details on what each schedule activity is scheduled to cost; these will be rolled up to each parent work package to determine total cost and budgetary requirements Contingency Reserves - ANSWER-Allow for future situations that may be partially planned for (identified risks); usually added to the PM plan Management Reserves - ANSWER-Allow for future situations that are unpredictable (unknown risks); not added to the PM plan Historical Information Review - ANSWER-Parametric or analogous estimates based on historical projects; best used when projects are very similar in nature Funding Limit Reconciliation - ANSWER-The project's current run rate versus what was planned over the life cycle of the project; sections of the project may need to be rescheduled due to budget limitation Cost Baseline - ANSWER-Includes the cost of all activities that are aggregated to work packages. The work packages and the contingency reserves are aggregated into control account. The sum of all control accounts is the cost baseline. *The cost baseline represents the project cost, which includes the contingency reserves. The project budget = the cost baseline + management reserves S-Curve - ANSWER-A time phase view of the cost baseline, which typically shows the budget versus the actual spend on the project Earned Value Management (EVM) - ANSWER-Series of formulas to calculate the cost and schedule progression on the project; done during the monitoring and controlling phases; compares plan vs actuals Quality - ANSWER-The degree to which a set of inherit characteristics fulfill requirements Grade - ANSWER-A category assigned to deliverables having the same functional use but different technical characteristics; high grade = extra features; no grade = serves the function but no extra features Total Quality Management (TQM) - ANSWER-Everyone in the company is responsible for quality, looks at the underlying process of how a product is made Continuous Improvement (Kaizen) - ANSWER-Japanese Management term, a philosophy of continuous improvement by all parties, no matter how small the change ISO 9000 - ANSWER-Set of international standards to ensure the companies document what they do and execute what they document Just in Time Inventory - ANSWER-Inventory system in which goods are manufactured or purchased just in time for sale; inventory levels are near zero as possible Attribute Sampling - ANSWER-Method of measuring quality that consists of noting the presence (or absence) of some characteristic (attribute) in each of the units under consideration Variable Sampling - ANSWER-Method of measuring quality that rates results on a continuous scale to measure the degree of conformity Prevention - ANSWER-Keeping the errors out of the process Inspection - ANSWER-Keeping errors out of the hands of the customer Cost of Quality - ANSWER-All costs incurred over the life of the product ensuring it meets the quality of the project; includes the cost of conformance and cost of nonconformance Cost of Conformance - ANSWER-Costs to prevent errors such as for training, equipment, appraisal, testing, and inspections Cost of Nonconformance - ANSWER-Costs to fix errors such as for reworking, scrapping, and the loss of business Mind Mapping - ANSWER-A method used to visually organize information Control Chart - ANSWER-A time-ordered diagram that is used to determine whether observed variations are abnormal; Rule of 7 - if there are 7 points on the same side of the mean then something might be wrong, data points should go up and down; If there is anything above or below the control limits, that is a defect, need to fix the process Quality Management Plan - ANSWER-Defines quality standards that will be used for the project, quality control and management activities for the project, quality tools that will be used, and how to continually improve the processes Quality Metrics - ANSWER-Specifications on how quality will be measured during the control quality process (i.e. errors per line of code); An output of the plan quality management process Affinity Diagrams - ANSWER-A technique to group ideas together Ishiwaka Diagram / Fishbone Diagram - ANSWER-Shows causes and effects of defects Design for X - ANSWER-A technique that can be used to help design a product for a particular characteristic (cost, safety, reliability, etc.) Pareto Diagram - ANSWER-A histogram, ordered by frequency of occurrence, that shows how many results were generated by each identified cause *Uses the principle of 80/20 - normal the minority causes the majority of something Quality Reports - ANSWER-Includes information about quality issues on the project and recommendations on how to improve the processes being used Resource Management Plan - ANSWER-Part of the PM plan and is used to manage both physical and team resources; contains the roles and responsibilities, org chart, and project team resource management Team Charter - ANSWER-Document that outlines what will be acceptable behavior within the project; includes general rules of conduct for meetings, decision making, etc. Resource Requirements - ANSWER-Documents the number and types of resources needed to complete each activity; should be very detailed Resource Breakdown Structure - ANSWER-Hierarchical breakdown of resources by their categories and types Resource Calendars - ANSWER-Shows working shifts and availability for resources Tuckman's Stages of Group Development - ANSWER-Forming - team comes together Storming - conflict, disagreements Norming - agreements Performing - getting work done Adjourning - team breaking up after project Individual and Team Assessments - ANSWER-Used in the process of develop team to gain insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the team and its members McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y - ANSWER-Theory X - the assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy, avoid responsibility, and must be coerced / micromanaged to perform Theory Y - the assumption that employees are creative, enjoy work, seek responsibility, and can exercise self-direction Forms of Power - ANSWER-Reward Power - ability to give rewards Expert Power - SME (probably the best) Legitimate Power - formal power Referent Power - respect/personality of the manager Punishment Power - punishments associated when they fail (least desirable) Conflict Management Steps - ANSWER-1. Define the cause of the problem 2. Analyze the problem (cause and effect diagram) 3. Identify solutions 4. Implement the selected solution 5. Review the solution 6. Confirm that the solution solved the problem Communication Management Plan - ANSWER-Documents the types of information needs the stakeholders have, when the information should be distributed, and how the information will be delivered. Communication Methods - ANSWER-Push - i.e. email blast Pull - i.e. download information Interactive Communication - goes both ways, i.e. joint discussions Communication Requirements Analysis - ANSWER-Analyzing the communication needs of the stakeholders Communication Channels = n(n-1)/2 where n is the number of team members Encoder - ANSWER-The device or technology that encodes the message to travel over the medium Paralingual - ANSWER-The pitch, tone, inflections in the sender's voice affect the message being sent Noise - ANSWER-Interferes with the receiver's ability to understand the message Communication Styles Assessment - ANSWER-Technique to determine the ideal communication method, format, and substance for planned communication Project Reporting - ANSWER-Collecting and distributing project information; a tool in the Manage Communication process Individual Project Risk - ANSWER-An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative impact on one or more parts of the project Overall Project Risk - ANSWER-The risk exposure of the project as a whole; made up of the sum of the individual project risks plus other sources of uncertainty Event Risks - ANSWER-Future possible events; risks we can predict Non-Event Risks - ANSWER-Risks hard to predict Variability Risk - ANSWER-Type of non-event risk; Some aspect of a planned task or situation is uncertain Ambiguity Risk - ANSWER-Type of non-event risk; Uncertainties arising from lack of knowledge or understanding Risk Register - ANSWER-A list of all identified risks on the project, what reactions to this risk are, what the root causes are, and what categories the risks fall into; Individual Project Risks Risk Management Plan - ANSWER-Describes how risk management activities will be structured and performed Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS) - ANSWER-Part of the risk management plan, shows the different categories of risk on a project Document Analysis - ANSWER-A structured review of the different project documents that could include contracts, agreements, and different parts of the project plan SWOT Analysis - ANSWER-Done to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a project. This strengths and opportunities are positive risks, and the weaknesses and threats are the negative risks. By putting this into a quadrant diagram, the project team can see how strengths may offset threats, and vice versa. Risk Report - ANSWER-Explains the sources of overall project risks and summary information about the individual project risks Risk Probability and Impact Assessment - ANSWER-Investigates the likelihood that each specific risk will occur/ the potential effect on a project objective such as, schedule, cost, quality and performance Risk Probability and Impact Matrix - ANSWER-Outlines the probability and impact of risks on the project; multiples the probability score by the impact score and ranks the risks Risk Bubble Chart - ANSWER-Plots the probability of the risks or impact and the overall likelihood of the risks - shows all three dimensions of data Risk Data Quality Assessment - ANSWER-Evaluates the degree to which the risk is understood and the accuracy, quality, and reliability of the data Decision Tree Analysis - ANSWER-A type of analysis that determines which of two decisions is the best; The decision tree assists in calculating the value of the decision and determining which decision costs the least Escalate - ANSWER-outside the project team level Avoid - ANSWER-eliminate the risk entirely Transfer/Share - ANSWER-transfer/share ownership to a third party Mitigate - ANSWER-reduce the probability of the risk event Accept - ANSWER-deal with the risk (negative); take advantage of the opportunity but don't seek it (positive) Exploit - ANSWER-remove any and all uncertainty Enhance - ANSWER-increase the probability of the event happening Risk Audits - ANSWER-Done to determine the effectiveness of the risk management process Fixed Price Contract (Lump Sum) - ANSWER-The buyer pays one flat fee for all work in the contract; use when the scope is well defined; all risk is with the seller Agreements (Contracts) - ANSWER-A formal written document which should clearly outline the deliverables and results expected, including any knowledge transfer from the seller to the buyer; Can contain elements such as pricing and payment terms, inspections, warranties, incentives and penalties, and insurance and performance bonds Firm Fixed Price Contract - ANSWER-When the price is fixed and cannot be changed Fixed Price Incentive Fee Contract - ANSWER-When the fixed price includes any additional fee for meeting a target set forth in the contract Fixed Price Economic Price Adjustment Contract - ANSWER-Used to adjust the fixed cost over the life of the contract because of economic conditions Cost-Reimbursable Contract - ANSWER-When the buyer pays for the work expenses and then pays the seller a fee for their profit; the risk is with the buyer because the cost overrun or work expense is covered by the buyer Time and Material Contract - ANSWER-When the buyer pays for labor and material; the buyer takes all risk of cost overrun for both the labor and materials; should only be used when the scope is high-level Cost Plus Fixed Fee Contract - ANSWER-When the buyer pays for the work expense and then a fixed fee to the seller for a profit Cost Plus Inventive Fee Contract - ANSWER-When the buyer pays for the work expense and an additional fee if the target is met (like finishing by a certain date) Cost Plus Award Fee Contract - ANSWER-When the buyer pays the work expense and pays the award fee that is based on satisfaction of work Procurement Management Plan - ANSWER-A component of the project management plan that describes how a project team will acquire goods and services from outside the performing organization Procurement Strategy - ANSWER-Determines how to deliver the deliverables, types of contracts to use, what phases will be used to complete procurements Bid Documents - ANSWER-Documents used to solicit information, quotations, or proposals from potential sellers; generally include an RFP, RFQ, RFI Procurement Statement of Work - ANSWER-Describes the procurement item in sufficient detail to allow prospective sellers to determine if they can meet the requirements set forth by the buyer Source Selection Criteria - ANSWER-A set of attributes desired by the buyer which a seller is required to meet or exceed to be selected for a contract - cost, location, certification, experience Bidder Conference - ANSWER-Also called vendor conferences, meetings between the buyer and prospective sellers prior to proposal submission Independent Cost Estimates - ANSWER-Cost estimates done by an outside professional Claims Administration - ANSWER-How disputed changes can be settled when the buyer and the seller cannot reach an agreement Closed Procurements - ANSWER-The buyer provides the seller with formal written notice that the contract has been completed; no outstanding claims or invoices; project team have approved all deliverables beforehand Stakeholder Analysis - ANSWER-A technique for analyzing information to determine which stakeholders' interests to focus on and how to increase stakeholder support throughout the project; who are the stakeholders, how do they feel about the project, what are their roles, how would the project affect them, what is their power authority? Preapproved Seller List - ANSWER-List of sellers that have been properly vetted by the organization and can be used as potential sellers on a project Seller Proposals - ANSWER-An offer from a vendor who is being considered as a provider of a product or service; should be acquired before the PM can negotiate and select the seller; an input to the Conduct Procurements process Stakeholder Mapping / Representation - ANSWER-Method to categorize stakeholders; use of power/interest grid, power/influence grid, impact/influence grid, or stakeholder cube which maps a stakeholder's interest, power, and influence Salience Model - ANSWER-Classifies stakeholders based on their power, urgency, and legitimacy Power - level of authority Urgency - immediate attention Legitimacy - how appropriate is their involvement Directions of Influence - ANSWER-Groups stakeholders on the basis of how they influence the project: Upwards (senior management) Downwards (team members) Outwards (external vendors, government, public, end-users) Sidewards (peers such as other PMs) Stakeholder Register - ANSWER-A document containing stakeholders' contact information, role on the project, communication requirements, expectations of the project, how they are affected by the project, and power influence level Stakeholder Engagement Assessment Matrix - ANSWER-A matrix that compares current and desired stakeholder engagement levels; 5 levels of engagement: Unaware Resistant Neutral Supportive Leading Stakeholder Engagement Plan - ANSWER-A component of the project management plan that documents how the team will keep the stakeholders engaged on the project and what types of approaches will be used for engagement Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools - ANSWER-While processes and tools will likely be necessary on our projects, we should focus the team's attention on the individuals and interactions involved; projects are ultimately about people and problems get solved by people, not processes Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation - ANSWER-Focus on delivering value vs. paperwork - delivering software that does what it should comes first before creating documentation Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation - ANSWER-Be flexible and accommodating instead of fixed and uncooperative; shared definition of "done" Responding to Change over Following a Plan - ANSWER-Spend effort and energy responding to changes Product Owner - ANSWER-Designated person that represents the customer on the project *prioritizes the product backlog Agile Project Manager / Scrum Master - ANSWER-Manages the agile project Product Backlog - ANSWER-Project requirements from the customers listed in order of priority Sprint Planning Meeting - ANSWER-Meeting done by the agile team to determine what features will be done in the next sprint Sprint Backlog - ANSWER-Work the team selects to get done in the next sprint Sprint - ANSWER-A short iteration where the project teams work to complete the work in the sprint backlog (1-4 weeks typically); each spring includes a sprint planning meeting, daily scrum (stand up meeting), the actual work, a sprint review meeting, and the sprint retrospective Daily Stand Up Meeting - ANSWER-A quick meeting each day to discuss project statuses led by the Scrum Master (usually 15 mins) Sprint Review Meeting - ANSWER-At the end of the sprint, an inspection is done by the customers; designed to gather feedback from stakeholders on what the team has completed Sprint Retrospective - ANSWER-Meeting done to determine what went wrong during the sprint and what went right; lessons learned for the sprint Partial Completed Product - ANSWER-Customer demos the product and provides feedback; this feedback adjusts the next sprint's priorities Release - ANSWER-Several sprints worth of work directed to operations for possible rollout and testing Extreme Programming (XP) - ANSWER-Software development centric agile method; core values: Simplicity - reducing complexity, waste, extra features Communication - everyone knows what's expected of them and what other people are working on Feedback - failing fast, get impressions of correctness early Courage - allowing work to be visible to others, editable, allow for feedback Respect - everyone is accountable for the success or failure o the project Seven Wastes of Lean - ANSWER-Partially Done Work Extra Processes Extra Features Task Switching Waiting Motion Defects Kanban Development - ANSWER-Core Principles: Visualize the workflow Limit WIP - keeping the amount of work in progress items low increases the visibility of issues and bottlenecks Manage Flow - by tracking the flow of work, issues can be identified and changes can be measured for effectiveness Manage Process Policies Explicitly Improve Collaboration Kanban System / Task Board - ANSWER-An "information radiator" - ensures efficient diffusion of information Can be drawn on a whiteboard or use Kanban software (whiteboard of wall is best) Makes iteration backlog visible, serves as a focal point for the daily meeting Little's Law - ANSWER-Cycle times are proportional to queue lengths (we can predict completion times based on queue size) Simple Scheme - ANSWER-A method of prioritization, ranking items as priority 1, priority 2, priority 3, etc.; can be problematic as many times might become the first priority MoSCoW Prioritization - ANSWER-A method of prioritization; Must have Should have Could have Would like to have, but not at this time Dot Voting Or Multi Voting - ANSWER-A method of prioritization where each person gets a certain number of dots to distribute to the requirements Monopoly Money - ANSWER-A method of prioritization where each person gets fake money to distribute the funds to what features they value most 100-Point Method - ANSWER-A method of prioritization where each person is given 100 points and they distribute those points to requirements they want to prioritize Kano Analysis - ANSWER-Helps to understand the customer's satisfaction Delighters/Exciters Satisfies Dissatisfiers - if a feature isn't there it will make them very dissatisfied Indifferent Minimal Viable Product (MVP) - ANSWER-A set of functionality that is complete to be useful, but small enough not to be an entire project, usually a module in a software Stakeholder Stewardship - ANSWER-Looking after everyone involved on the project, ensuring they have everything needed to complete the project successfully Agile Chartering - ANSWER-High-level agreement, authority to proceed, focuses on how project will be conducted Agile Modeling - ANSWER-Different modeling techniques that help establish the shared vision, should be lightweight or "barely sufficient" Use Case Diagrams - ANSWER-Shows how users would use and interact with the application / system Data Models - ANSWER-Logical data structures that detail the relationships among data elements using graphics or pictures Screen Designs - ANSWER-Simple "screenshots" of how the application will look Wireframes - ANSWER-Quick mock-up of a product, low-fidelity prototyping; clarify what "done" looks like Personas - ANSWER-Quick guides or reminders of key stakeholders and interests; helps team focus on valuable features to users Shu-Ha-Ri Model - ANSWER-A model of skill mastery; Obey, Moving Away, Finding Individual Paths; when you first learn a new skill you'll follow the rules exactly, as you get better you find your own ways of doing things Burnup Chart - ANSWER-Work that has been done; A graph that tracks the project's completeness in an upward curve against the project timeline Osmotic Communication - ANSWER-Information flows that occur as part of everyday conversation Burndown Chart - ANSWER-Work that remains to be done; A graph that shows the cumulative work remaining in a sprint on a day-by-day basis Velocity Chart - ANSWER-Graphs the completion rate of the team over time and helps predict future iterations Risk Burndown Chart - ANSWER-A chart that depicts cumulative project risk severity over time Progressive Elaboration/Rolling Wave Planning - ANSWER-Planning at multiple points in time as data becomes available Value Based Analysis and Decomposition - ANSWER-Assessing and prioritizing the business value of work items, and then planning accordingly; Value-Based Decomposition breaks down the requirements and prioritizes them Coarse -Grained Requirements - ANSWER-Keeping requirements "coarse" and then progressively refining them; delays decisions on implementation until the last possible moment Timeboxing - ANSWER-Short, fixed-duration periods of time in which activities or work are undertaken; if work isn't completed within the time period it gets moved to another timebox Agile Estimation - ANSWER-Different techniques are used to determine which pieces of work can be done within a release or iteration; Ideal time refers to the time it would take to complete a task assuming zero interruptions or unplanned problems User Stories - ANSWER-Business functionality within a feature that involves 1-3 days of work; acts as an agreement between customers and development team; every requirement is a user story; Effective user stories should be independent, negotiable, valuable, estimatable, small, and testable Decomposition of Requirements - ANSWER-Epics -- Features -- Stories -- Tasks Three C's of User Stories - ANSWER-Card, Conversation, Confirmation Relative Sizing and Story Points - ANSWER-Assigning points to each story using a number relative to the other story points (sometimes using the Fibonacci sequence); complexity, work effort, and risk should all be included in the estimate; Affinity Estimating: group estimates into categories or collections T-Shirt Sizing: place stories in sizes of t-shirts Wideband Delphi - ANSWER-A group-based estimation approach using a panel of experts anonymously; used to prevent bandwagon effect, groupthink, HIPPO decision making (highest paid person's opinion) Planning Poker - ANSWER-A group-based estimation approach using cards with the Fibonacci sequence; facilitator would read a user story and everyone would place a card down that they think should be assigned to the user story Story Maps - ANSWER-High-level planning tool where stakeholders map out what the project priorities are early in the planning, serves as the "product roadmap" once complete - shows what features will be delivered and what is included in each release Iteration 0 - ANSWER-Iteration to complete tasks before the development work occurs, doesn't build anything Development Iteration - ANSWER-Building the product increment Iteration H - ANSWER-Hardening sprint or release, done at the end to clean up codes or producing documentation Architectural Spike - ANSWER-Period of time dedicated to proof of concept Risk-Based Spike - ANSWER-Team investigates whether a new method, process, or tool will reduce or eliminate risks Iteration Planning - ANSWER-Meeting run by the delivery team to discuss the user stories in the backlog, select the user stories for the iteration, break down the user stories into tasks and estimate the tasks Release Planning - ANSWER-Meeting with all stakeholders to determine which stories will be done in which iterations for the upcoming release Technical Debt - ANSWER-Backlog of work caused by not doing regular cleanup; the solution is refactoring (cleaning up) Lead Time - ANSWER-How long something takes to go through the entire process Cycle Time - ANSWER-How long something takes to go through a part of the process (a component of lead time); long cycle time leads to increased amounts of WIP Cycle Time = WIP / Throughput Throughput - the amount of work that can be done in a time period Lagging Metrics - ANSWER-information on something that has already happened Leading Metrics - ANSWER-information on something that is about to occur Risk Burndown Chart - ANSWER-Shows the severity of risk over time Kaizen - ANSWER-Continuous improvement; focus on the team to implement small incremental improvement; Plan Do Check Act cycle Value Stream Map - ANSWER-Flowchart that documents processes and flows to help determine which processes add value; aims to eliminate waste Project Pre-Mortem - ANSWER-Team meeting that looks at possible things that can cause failure during a project before they take place Gulf of Evaluation - ANSWER-When what one person described is different from how another interpreted it Agile Improvement Process - ANSWER-Plan, Develop, Evaluate, Learn Predictive Life Cycle - ANSWER-Fixed requirements, activities are performed once for the entire project, single delivery, goal is to manage cost Iterative Life Cycle - ANSWER-Dynamic requirements, activities are repeated until correct, single delivery, goal is the correctness of solution Incremental Life Cycle - ANSWER-Dynamic requirements, activities are performed once for a given increment, frequent smaller deliveries, goal is speed Agile Life Cycle - ANSWER-Dynamic requirements, activities are repeated until correct, frequent smaller deliveries, goal is customer value via frequent deliveries and feedback Sprint Goals - ANSWER-Clear objectives set before the beginning of a sprint: set by the product owner and delivery team collaboratively