Managing Projects Flashcards
(39 cards)
Stages of Tuckman’s team development.
ON EXAM.
- Forming - High dependence on leader for guidance and direction. Unclear aim, objectives, and purpose.
- Storming - Team members clash through personality. Need to focus on goals to avoid distraction. Compromises may need to be made.
- Norming- (most dangerous because of group-think) agreement forms among team, roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted. Decisions made by group. Commitment and unity are strong. Team may engage in fun and social activities to further strengthen interactions.
- Performing - Strategically aware, clearly known what task is being done and why it needs to be done. High degree of autonomy.
- Adjourning - Task is complete.
Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Model and how it relates to Tuckman’s team development model.
ON EXAM.
- Directing - Leaders tell people what to do and how to do it. (forming)
- Coaching - Leaders provide info and direction, but more communication with group. ‘Sell’ message to get on board. (storming)
- Mentoring - leaders focus more on relationship and less on direction. Work with team, share responsibility. (norming)
- Delegating - Leader pass most of responsibility onto group. Leader monitors progress, however less involved in decisions. (performing)
Purpose of Scope Management & it’s 5 processes
Purpose: Define the project. (Including time constraints, budget etc.)
Arguably the most important component of the project management discipline.
Why: So that we do everything that needs to be done and nothing that doesn’t need to be done.
Can be broken into 5 processes that undertake a sequence: initiation, planning, definition, change control, and verification (week 2 group task)
Scope Creep
(When the project plan changes as it progresses.) This phenomenon is described as the increment growth in the scope of
the work as a result of a raft of little changes, each in itself of no great
concern, but collectively resulting in time and cost overruns.
Difficult to detect.
Gold Plating
Trying to get better quality of existing things that are in the quote. (E.g. basic level fans replaced by stainless steel with built in lights)
What is an estimate vs budget?
An ‘estimate’ = A guess.
Cost estimating: nature of costs can be ‘fixed’ or ‘variable’ (flexible). Variable linked to work items; if scope of work changes, cost of component can adjust accordingly.
A ‘Budget’ = An estimate set in stone.\
Cost budgeting: assign cost estimates to WBS, forms cost baseline against which actual performance can be compared and managed
What information does an ‘estimate’ and ‘setting the original budget’ use?
ESTIMATE: May be analogous (top-down) based on historical evidence / data;
May be bottom-up based on detailed pricing of activities;
Or a combination of the two.
BUDGET:
-It should be consistent with ‘historical evidence’ of what a project of this
type, scope and quality should cost.
-The initial estimates for cost and time at completion become benchmarks
against which project success can be judged.
-It is important that the agreed cost baseline is realistic and achievable.
3 constraints of budget
Time, money and people.
Difference between bottom-up and top-down Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
WBS = breakdown of all deliverable into individual activities.
Bottom-up WBS- When people don’t know what to do and it’s never been done before so they don’t know what is required. (Brainstorming)
Top-down WBS- When management knows what they are doing AKA decomposition. (Much more logical)
What is risk?
Risk = Uncertainty: opportunities involve making decisions about future events that have
some element of uncertainty attached to them. The level of this uncertainty can be measured.
Risk is our assessment of the impact of uncertainty.
- assumptions are dealt with as a project risk, who bears the risk is subject to contractual negotiation. (significant assumptions carry significant risks; Assume = ass out of you and me. Don’t assume)
Project Risk Management = process concerned with identifying, analysing and responding to risk attached to uncertain events. (Risk can be positive (beneficial) or negative (detrimental)
Concerns maximising the results from beneficial events, minimises consequences from adverse events.
Fit for Purpose
Test to show what you did met quality standards. Good enough to do the job it was designed to do.
Things to control in Project Scope (week 2 group task)
- Initiation - commencement of project and setting responsibilities. Important outcome is project charter. (Mission statement)
- Planning - define project in regard to particular needs and wants, criteria used to determine success.
Scope statement = defines scope of work.
Scope Management Plan = how project will be managed and change handled.
project objectives are expected outcomes/deliverables. - Change Management/Control - 3 activities:
- INFLUENCE factors that create scope changes to ensure any variations are beneficial.
- DETERMINE that scope change has occurred; critical to effectively managing project objectives.
- MANAGE actual changes so correctly implemented
- Close out project (lessons learnt & verification) - formal acceptance of project outcomes by stakeholders. Method used to determine acceptance = inspection.
How to create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- Break into task categories
- Global categories (catering)
- Detailed categories (getting alcohol) - Write dictionary at the bottom explaining what needs to happen for ambiguous tasks (BYO Alcohol)
- Schedule (Title, categories, activities)
Network Diagram- Steps to get a critical path.
ON EXAM.
Used to identify project duration.
1. Estimate duration & resources
2. Forward pass- earliest start & earliest finish
3. Backward pass- late finish & late start
4. Float (spare time)
5. Calculates critical path
During the float time, an activity can be delayed without delaying the project finish date.
The critical path is the longest path of the network diagram. The activities in the critical path have an effect on the deadline of the project. If an activity of this path is delayed, the project will be delayed.
What is involved in budgeting?
- Resources: Tangible / Intangible (money, time, space, human resources, materials)
- Cost (profit & risk)
- Acquisition
- Price (just actual cost)
- Estimate
- Budget
- Control
Difference between total float and free float?
Total float = The amount of time allowable to delay an activity without delaying the total project
Free float = effecting a single activity without effecting the whole project
What this means:
TF=Late finish - early finish (or LS - EF)
FF=Early start of next activity - Early finish (FF can only occur when 2 or more activities share common successor.)
Example here: http://www.deepfriedbrainproject.com/2009/08/total-free-float-cpm-network-diagram.html
Difference between quality and standard
Quality= General excellence of standard or level.
Standard= Used or accepted as normal or average.
Process by which you appoint an outsourcer
Outsourced Work:
- Risk
- Quality
- Time
- Cost
- Human Resource
Triple constraint
Time, budget and scope.
‘Steps necessary to identify risk’ and ‘principles of risk’
Steps to identify: 1. Brainstorming steps 2. Nominal group technique steps Principles of risk: 1. Identify all at the beginning, not as you do the project 2. Identify threats and opportunities
How do you manage risk? (List the steps)
- Risk identification (wet floor)
- Risk quantification (analysis: can cause broken hips)
- Risk response [development and control] (clean wet areas)
Lessons learnt from risk and uncertainty management
What went wrong?
What you did about it
What worked?
Trends (costs)
Define a stakeholder
Has a vested interest in the outcome or result of the project
Human resources processes
HR processes:
Organisational planning = identify, document, and assign project roles, responsibility, and reporting relationships
Staff acquisition = get HR needed (indiv or group) assigned to and working on project
Team development =
-SELECTION of the right people
-DEVELOPMENT of their skills
-MANAGEMENT of their interaction
