Course Three Readings Flashcards
1
Q
What is the point of milestones?
A
Milestones serve as check-in points along your project to make sure that you are headed in the right direction toward the end goal. Milestones also make projects more manageable;
pinpoint where in your project you will achieve major goals and make those points your milestones.
2
Q
A
- Don’t set too many milestones.
- Don’t mistake tasks for milestones.
- Don’t list your milestones and tasks separately
3
Q
p79 What is the purpose of the WBS?
A
It’s a tool that sorts the milestones and tasks of a project into a hierarchy, in the order they need to be completed.
4
Q
three main steps to follow when creating a WBS:
A
- Start with the high-level, overarching project picture. Brainstorm with your team to list the major deliverables and milestones
- Identify the tasks that need to be performed in order to meet those milestones.
- Examine those tasks and break them down further into sub-tasks.
5
Q
Six Rules to create a work breakdown structure:
A
- Include 100% of the work necessary to complete the goal.
- Don’t account for any amount of work twice.
- Focus on outcomes, not actions.
- A work package should take no less than 8 hours and no more than 80 hours of effort.
- Include about three levels of detail.
- Assign each work package to a specific team or individual.
6
Q
7 Reasons to use a WBS?
A
- Estimate the cost of a project.
- Establish dependencies.
- Determine a project timeline and develop a schedule.
- Write a statement of work (or SOW, one of your other acronyms).
- Assign responsibilities and clarify roles (use our roles and responsibilities template to outline duties).
- Track the progress of a project.
- Identify risk
7
Q
Best rules to follow when making a WBS:
A
- The 100% rule
- Mutually exclusive
- Outcomes, not actions. (ex: , a deliverable might be “the braking system” while actions would include “calibrate the brake pads.”)
- The 8/80 rule. (a work package should take no less than eight hours of effort, but no more than 80)
- Three levels. Generally speaking, a WBS should include about three levels of detail.
- Make assignments. Every work package should be assigned to a specific team or individual
7
Q
WBS Structure formats can be…(3)
A
1.Outline Structure
2. Hierarchical Structure (Table)
3. Tabular View-more intuitive way to show heirarchy using a table
8
Q
WBS Dictionary Purpose
A
formatted like the hierarchical structure, but it includes a brief description of each work package. When documenting a project, a WBS dictionary is often included in addition to a visualization of the WBS. It helps to clarify the scope of each task so that all team members understand their responsibilities..
9
Q
Pieces of a Project Plan:
A
tasks
milestones,
people,
documentation,
time
* Scope and goals
* Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
* Budget
* Management plans
10
Q
At the center of the project plan is:
A
the project schedule, which helps you estimate the amount of time it will take to complete the project and provides the team with a way to track the project’s progress against your goals.
11
Q
Where are project scope and goals captured initially?
A
Scope and goals - initially in charter. You can link to it in your project plan.
12
Q
What is the key to your project plan?
A
The WBS is key to your project plan since it breaks the work down into more manageable pieces.
13
Q
How should tasks be listed in the project plan?
A
Visible in one place with clear descriptions, owners, and due dates.
14
Q
What else should the plan contain related to these tasks?
A
Your project plan should also contain detailed milestones and statuses related to these tasks, which will help you and your team members visualize project progress.
15
Q
Other project plan documentation is helpful?
A
further documentation—such as a RACI chart—will help define roles and responsibilities and would be useful to add to your project plan. Keeping this documentation stored or linked in one place is a best practice for transparency and effective communication.
16
Q
Role of the budget in the project plan?
A
Throughout the life cycle of your project, the budget will need to be managed and monitored. The project budget is often linked to the project plan because it is heavily dependent on key elements of the project.
If someone in another department is managing the budget, make sure to have regular check-ins
17
Q
What specific management plans should be linked in the project plan?
A
Management plans—such as the change management plan, risk management plan, and communication plan—are all integral to keeping a project organized and on track and should be linked in your project plan
18
Q
Common time estimation mistakes and remedies?
A
- Elimination of tasks. It is possible that all of the tasks initially listed didn’t need to be completed. There may have been unnecessary work added in, and the team could have completed the project without it.
- Increased team size. Kendra could have addressed the potential schedule risk by requesting more resources early on in the project rather than trying to execute without the necessary resources.
- Streamlining of activities. There may have been some tasks that could have been done in parallel, or at least not in sequential order.
19
Q
How can optimism be a detriment in PM?
A
Be realistic when estimating time and effort for a project.
Take the time to carefully evaluate potential risks and the impact on the work, and talk to your team members about these challenges. Don’t be afraid to escalate potential concerns to management.
Optimism is a trait of a great project manager and leader, but it can adversely affect your projects when it comes to time estimation.
20
Q
What is the Planning Fallacy?
A
The planning fallacy describes our tendency to underestimate the amount of time it will take to complete a task, as well as the costs and risks associated with that task, due to optimism bias. Optimism bias is when a person believes that they are less likely to experience a negative event.
21
Q
Who can fall victim to the Planning Fallacy?
A
The planning fallacy can happen to anyone, regardless of whether or not they have experience completing similar tasks.
22
Q
What is the best “optimistic” attitude to have in time estimation?
A
Remember to be “optimistically realistic” and push for the best outcome while still planning for the proper time to accomplish each task
23
Q
Critical Path
A
the list of required project milestones you must reach to complete the project schedule, as well as the mandatory tasks that contribute to the completion of each milestone.
24
Why the Critical Path is Critical?
It provides a quick reference for critical tasks.
Reveals which tasks will impact your project completion date negatively if their scheduled finish dates are late or missed.
Helps you define the resources you need, your project baselines, and any flexibility you have in the schedule.
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Steps in creating a Critical Path
1. Capture all tasks (ref. WBS)-focus on NEED to do. not nice to do.
2. arrange those tasks in order of completion by identifying dependencies.
3. Create a Network Diagram
4. Make time estimates.
5. Find the critical path.
26
What is One common way to visualize the critical path?
By creating a network diagram; these sequence tasks in the order in which they need to be completed, based on their dependencies. These
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Network Diagrams help visualize:
* The path of the work from the start of the project (excavation) to the end of the project (flooring)
* Which tasks can be performed in parallel (e.g., HVAC and plumbing) and in sequence (e.g., plumbing then insulation)
* Which non-essential tasks are NOT on the critical path
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What you add up to determine your Critical Path?
Add up the durations for all of your “essential” tasks and calculate the longest possible path,
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Two common ways to calculate the critical path:
Forward Pass and Backward Pass
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what are three ways to use
soft skills and gather
accurate estimates from your teammates?
asking the right questions (open ended), then folllow-up questions).
negotiating effectively, (partials)
practice empathy (ask re concurrent projects or scheduled vacation, etc)
31
What is bare minimum for a project plan?
Task ID # or name
Task Duration
Start and finish dates
Who is responsible for what
*add WBS numbers
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Kanban boards are used to:
* Give a quick visual understanding of work details and provide critical task information.
* Facilitate handoffs between stakeholders, such as between development and testing resources or between team members who work on related tasks.
* Help with capturing metrics and improving workflows.
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What is on the front of a physical Kanban card?
* Title and unique identifier: Make sure you have a quick reference for tasks and ID numbers.
* Description of work: Briefly describe the task to be accomplished. Remember that this is intended to be captured on something no larger than an index card.
* Estimation of effort: Estimate the amount of work it will take to complete the task. For example, you can write “small,” “medium,” or “large” to indicate the level of effort you think that task will involve.
* Who is assigned to the task: Indicate who is responsible for completing the task; ideally, one person per card.
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What is on the back of a physical Kanban card?
* Start date: Include the start date of the task for use in metrics, tracking, and ensuring that your time estimate is accurate.
* Blocked days: Indicate which days your task may be halted. A task can become blocked if it can’t continue to be worked on. For example, if you were supposed to receive a deliverable and it hasn’t been delivered yet, then your day may be blocked for this particular task.
* Finish date: As with any plan, it is important to track when the task is supposed to be finished. This allows you to ensure that your project is still on track to reach the end goal.
35
p.112 When are budgets generally created?
Budgets are typically created in the initiation and planning phases of your project.
36
How do budgets help control cost?
Budgets also help control your costs and act as the baseline for the financial portion of the project.
37
What are four, best practices for creating a project budget?
* Reference historical data: Your project may be similar to a previous project your organization has worked on. It is important to review how that project’s budget was handled, find out what went well, and learn from any previous mistakes.
* Utilize your team, mentors, or manager: Get into the habit of asking for your team to double check your work to give you additional sets of eyes on your documents.
* Time-phase your budget: Time-phased budgeting allows you to allocate costs for project tasks over the projected timeline in which those expenses are planned to take place. By looking at your tasks against a timeline, you can track and compare planned versus actual costs over time and manage changes to your budget as necessary.
* Check, check, and double check: Make sure that your budget is accurate and error-free. Your budget will likely require approval from another department, such as finance or senior management, so do your best to ensure that it is as straightforward to understand as possible and that all of your calculations are correct.
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Direct costs, These are costs for items that are necessary in order to complete your project - they include:
* Wages and salaries of employees and contractors
* Materials costs
* Equipment rental costs
* Software licenses
* Project-related travel and transportation costs
* Staff training
39
Indirect costs, which are costs for items which do not directly lead to the completion of your project but are still essential for the project team to do their work, include:
* Administrative costs
* Utilities
* Insurance
* General office equipment
* Security
40
Re-baselining
Re-baselining refers to when you update or modify a project's baseline as a result of any approved change to the schedule, cost, or deliverable content.
41
Primary steps in reserve analysis
1. Review all potential risks to your project and determine if you need to add buffer funds/contingency budget.
2. May also want to account for cost of quality in your overall project budget (all of the costs that are incurred to deliver a quality product or service, which can extend beyond material resources. - ex. redesign due to defects).
42
Cash flow
the inflow and outflow of cash on your project.
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CAPEX (capital expenses0
Are an organization's major, long-term, upfront expenses, such as buildings, equipment, and vehicles. They are generally for assets that the company will own and keep.
The company incurs these expenses because they believe they will create a benefit for the company in the future.
44
OPEX (operating expenses)
These are the short-term expenses that are required for the day-to-day tasks involved in running the company, such as wages, rent, and utilities. They are often recurring.
It’s a good idea to talk to your finance or accounting department when you start working on your project budget to see how they determine the difference between OPEX and CAPEX.
45
Contingency Reserves
Sometimes, a project hits a snag and incurs additional expenses. One way to prepare for unplanned costs is by using contingency reserves. Contingency reserves are funds added to the estimated project cost to cover identified risks. These are also referred to as buffers.
Ex: Contingency reserves can also be used to cover areas where actual costs turn out to be higher than estimated costs. For example, you may estimate a certain amount for labor costs, but if a contracted worker on your team gets a raise, then the actual costs will be higher than you estimated.
46
Contingency vs. Management Reserves
While contingency reserves are used to cover the costs of identified risks, management reserves are used to cover the costs of unidentified risks. For example, if you were managing a construction project and a meteor hit your machinery, you could use management reserves to cover the costs of the damage
47
Contingency vs. Management Reserves: How much $$?"
Contingency reserves are an estimated amount, whereas management reserves are generally a percentage of the total cost of the project.
To determine a project’s management reserves, you can estimate a percentage of the budget to set aside. This estimate is typically between 5–10%, but the amount is based on the complexity of the project.
48
p119 Budget pre-allocation
where your budget is already set before you even start the project. Some organizations follow strict budgeting cycles, which can lead to cost estimations taking place before the scope of the project is completely defined.
49
Fixed Contracts vs. Time and Materials contracts.
Fixed contracts are usually paid for when certain milestones are reached. Time and materials contracts are usually paid for monthly, based on the hours worked and other fees associated with the work, such as travel and meal expenses
50
Additional types of costs you may need to account for when calculating TCO include
Maintenance, warranties, supplies, required add-on costs, and upgrade costs.
(Think of ex: extra car expenses when you buy a vehicle)
51
TCO: Budget pitfall
(TCO) for project resources. TCO takes into account multiple elements that contribute to the cost of an item. It factors in the expenses associated with a product or service over its lifetime, rather than just upfront costs.
52
Scope Creep: Budget pitfall
when changes, growth, and other factors affect the project’s scope at any point after the project begins. It causes additional work that wasn’t planned for, so it can also impact your budget.
53
Four factors that can lead to Scope Creep...
* A vague Statement of Work (SoW)
* Conversations and agreements about the project that aren’t officially documented
* Unattainable timeframes and deadlines
* Last-minute asks from priority stakeholders
54
Five steps in typical procurement:
1. Initiating: planning what you need to meet your project goals
2. Selecting: deciding which suppliers and vendors to use
3. Contract writing: developing, reviewing, and signing contracts
4. Controlling: making payments and maintaining and ensuring quality
5. Completing: measuring your success
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Procurement: Initiating: Tip
decide which items will be internally procured and which items will be externally outsourced.
compare each of those items specifications, components, quality measurements, standards, and characteristics with your project’s requirements.
You may find that some of the items have features you don’t need. If you can identify those unnecessary features
56
Procurement: Selecting: Tip
After you’ve identified your preferred vendors and suppliers, interview them to learn more about their products and services. If possible, make site visits to see exactly how each vendor runs their business in person.
57
Procurement: Contracting: Tip
pay close attention to the inclusions and exclusions in the vendor’s offer.
For example, the vendor’s offer may include charges for storing materials, using certain equipment, or labor. These are all things that you may be able to provide.
will almost always want to consult with a legal and compliance team to ensure that everything in the contract is ethical and legal.
58
Procurement: Controlling: Tip
ensure that the work is being done according to the terms of the contract. You will need to periodically review the performance and quality of each vendor.
remain professional but firm to ensure that all project requirements are being fulfilled and that all major milestones are being met on time and at cost.
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Procurement: Completing: Tip
will measure the success of your procurements. Ask yourself:
* Were the materials created good quality?
* Were there any issues with labor contracts?
* How were your relationships with vendors?
important to document any lessons learned. Take notes about how the procurement process went so you can use this information on a future project.
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What is on a good Scope of Work?
* There is a clear and concise purpose statement for the internal stakeholders and the vendor to review.
* The list of in-scope items is clear and specific.
* The list of out-of-scope items sets expectations up front, acting as a single source of truth for the project’s boundaries. ***
* The deliverables are clear and specific.
* The major milestones serve as checkpoints for the project’s progress. The milestones represent the agreed-upon deliverables that the vendor must meet to receive payment.
* The estimated hours to completion match the duration of the contract.
* The estimated completion date is ten business days from the contract start date.
* The payment terms are laid out clearly.
***So, for example, if Office Green wanted the vendor to continue training employees beyond the contract, they would need to submit a change request.
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Sole-Supplier Sourcing
In some situations, having a vendor who a company is already familiar with smooths the procurement process and works well for both parties. Ethical issues arise when other vendors aren’t even allowed to bid for contracts for which they are similarly qualified.
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Procurement: Interactions with state-owned entities...
There are some instances in which government agencies require an organization to adhere to stricter ethical standards than they might have otherwise
63
Four ethical behaviors that underpin the PMI code of ethics.
Honesty, responsibility, respect, and fairness
The Project Management Institute’s (PMI) code of ethics provides detailed guidelines to help ensure you maintain ethical conduct in your projects. (KNOW FOR TEST)
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Five steps in Risk Management (generally)
1. Identify the risk.
2. Analyze the risk.
3. Evaluate the risk.
4. Treat the risk.
5. Monitor and control the risk.
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p.128 - "Opportunity"
when identifying risks, it is important to also consider the good things that could happen. An opportunity is a potential positive outcome of a risk.
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Plan for risks and: _____________.
Three techniques to identify these.
You need to know what to do if things go wrong, but you should also make plans to seize opportunities.
By using techniques such as brainstorming and drawing on project history or prior experience, you can identify potential opportunities and outline how you will take advantage of them if they occur.
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Fishbone Diagrams
These diagrams help the team to brainstorm potential causes of a problem or risk and sort them into useful categories. They are a visual way to look at cause and effect.
These categories show the areas that you should focus on to mitigate that risk
68
Using fishbone Diag in risk planning vs. during execution phase?
When you use them in risk planning, you are trying to identify the possible causes of a problem that may or may not occur. When you use them in the execution phase, you are trying to find the root cause of an issue that has already occurred.
69
Four steps to create a fishbone diagram
* Define the problem
* Identify the categories
* Brainstorm the causes
* Analyze the causes
70
A single point of failure
is a risk that, if it were to materialize, could cause a significant amount of disruption to your project and could even shut it down.
Having only one SME familiar with a critical system on your team is an example of a single point of failure risk.
71
Four risk strategies
Avoid, Minimize, Transfer, Accept
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Risk Mitigation: Avoid
sidestep—or avoid—the situation as a whole.
Office Green example, the team could avoid this risk entirely by considering using another seed that is widely available in several locations.
73
Risk Mitigation: Minimize (aka:)
trying to minimize the catastrophic effects that it could have on the project
aka: "workarounds"
ex: Office Green team decided to use both the original South American supplier and another supplier from a neighboring country
74
Risk Mitigation: Transfer
shifts the responsibility of handling the risk to someone else.
ex: Office Green team could find a supplier in North America that uses the seeds from several other South American countries and purchase the seeds from them instead. This transfers the ownership of South American regulatory risks and costs to that supplier.
75
Risk Mitigation: Accept (Active vs. Passive)
you accept the risk as the normal cost of doing business.
Active acceptance of risk usually means setting aside extra funds to pay your way out of trouble.
Passive acceptance of risk is the “do nothing” approach. While passive acceptance may be reasonable for smaller risks, it is not recommended for most single point of failure risks.
ex. Office Green scenario, the project manager could schedule a meeting with project stakeholders to discuss the increase in South American taxes and how it could impact the project cost.
Then, they might decide to actively accept the risk by setting aside additional funds to source the seeds from another supplier, if necessary, or to passively accept the risk of not receiving the seeds at all this season
76
Dependencies
A relationship between two project tasks in which the completion or the initiation of one is reliant on the completion or initiation of the other.
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Finish to Start (FS)
Task A must be completed before Task B can start. This is the most common dependency in project management. It follows the natural progression from one task to another.
78
Finish to Finish (FF)
Task A must finish before Task B can finish. (This type of dependency is not common.)
Example: Earlier in the day, you baked a cake and started decorating it and ran out of frosting. You can’t finish decorating the cake (Task B) until you finish making the icing (Task A).
79
Start to Start (SS)
Task A can’t begin until Task B begins. This means Tasks A and B start at the same time and run in parallel.
You need to take the train home after work. You can’t get on the train (Task B) until you pay for the train ride (Task A).
80
Start to Finish (SF)
Task A must begin before Task B can be completed.
One of your friends calls to tell you he’ll be late. He can’t finish his shift (Task B) and leave work until his coworker arrives to start her shift (Task A).
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pg 143: dependency graphs
82
Four tips for effective communication
1. Recognize and understand individual differences
2. Brainstorm and craft the appropriate message
3. Deliver your message
4. Obtain feedback and incorporate that feedback going forward
83
How to Recognize and understand individual differences (4)
* Not making assumptions about your audience’s backgrounds, identities, or experiences.
* Being mindful of your own biases.
* Using appropriate, professional, and neutral language.
* Including, respecting, and being curious about diverse points of view.
84
Five ways to Brainstorm and craft the appropriate message?
* What channels can your audience use to contact you or the team?
* Are you conveying information?
* Are you asking for input?
* Are you clarifying an issue?
* Are you resolving a problem?
Some team members may require detailed information, while others may only need an overview. you should be sure to identify the purpose of the message, state the information or request clearly and concisely, and stay on topic.
85
Deliver your message: considerations?
* Avoid including any sensitive or potentially private information.
* Assume everyone at the company will receive the communication.
think about which methods are available and appropriate for communicating with various members of your team, whether that is in person, in a video conference, over the phone, via email, or in a meeting.
Choosing the right method is especially important if you have team members or stakeholders in different regions and time zones.
86
Four ways to Obtain feedback and incorporate that feedback going forward?
* Checking to make sure your message was clear.
* Asking them for feedback.
* Encouraging open communication.
* Responding to questions quickly.
In this final step, you will obtain feedback from your audience to ensure that your message was received as you intended.
87
Before creating a communication plan, what four areas should you consider?
* Project stakeholders: Have you created a RACI chart or stakeholder map of all your stakeholders? Who is your audience? Who will need to be informed at different points during the project life cycle?
* Communication frequency and method: When and how often should you check in with your stakeholders? What methods of communication do they prefer? How much detail does each stakeholder need?
* Goals: What is the goal of your communication? Do you need a response? Are you trying to encourage engagement or simply providing an update?
* Barriers: Are there any time zone limitations? Language barriers? Do some stakeholders require time to reply or respond (e.g., an executive)? Are there any privacy or internet access issues?
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Four Communication Plan development tips
* Add a column for notes. Project management is not one-size-fits-all, and there are a lot of pieces that need to be tracked
* Use formatting to highlight any key details in the plan. Is there a launch announcement or an urgent decision needed for the project to move forward? Highlight these pivotal elements in a different font color or size to stress their importance.
* Ensure that the team can access your document. Share the plan with your team. Allowing your team to review the document ensures that they are aware of the plan and gives them a chance to offer feedback. Sharing the document also serves as an extra check to make sure you aren’t missing any crucial pieces.
* Test your plan. If you are sending a team-wide email or link, send a test email to yourself or a colleague. If you are planning a virtual presentation, be sure to test the visual, audio, and other technical aspects in advance.
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Reasons to check in, after Communication Plan is sent out?
Scheduling routine check-ins will help you understand what is and is not working so you can improve your plan.
You want to ensure that your communication plan gets the right information to the right stakeholders at the right time.
Additionally, make sure to double check that key stakeholders have not changed over time
90
How to evaluate where you may be over- or under-sharing information or missing stakeholders?
* Anonymous survey forms
* Polls or open feedback sessions during team meetings
* One-on-one conversations and check-ins with key stakeholders
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p. 154-159 REVIEW
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