Schedule

Question 1

What is the key output of the Plan

Schedule Management process?

Answer 1

Schedule management plan

Question 2

What are the key outputs of the Define

Activities process?

Answer 2

Activity list
Activity attributes
Milestone list
Change requests

Question 3

What is the key output of the Sequence

Activities process?

Answer 3

Project schedule network diagram

Question 4

What are the key outputs of the Estimate Activity Durations process?

Answer 4

Duration estimates

Basis of estimates

Updates to project documents

Question 5

Describe the Develop Schedule process.

What are some of its key outputs?

Answer 5

An iterative process that creates a project schedule that is bought into, approved, realistic, and formal

Outputs:
Project schedule
Schedule baseline
Change requests
Schedule data

Question 6

What are the key outputs of the Control Schedule process?

Answer 6

Work performance information

Schedule forecasts

Change requests

Updates to the schedule management
plan, performance measurement
baseline, and project documents

Question 7

How does scheduling work in an

adaptive environment?

Answer 7

Adaptive teams form a general plan then try the first chunks of work and re-evaluate the next steps based on actual progress

Question 8

What is rolling wave planning?

Answer 8

Planning at a higher level and

developing more detailed plans when the work is to be done

Question 9

What do network diagrams show?

Answer 9

The network diagram shows just
dependencies (logical relationships)

If estimates and leads and lags are added to the diagram later in the schedule management process, it can also show the critical path

If plotted out against time (or placed
against a calendar-based scale), the
network diagram is a time-scaled
schedule network diagram

Question 10

What are the four types of logical
relationships between activities in the
precedence diagramming method?

Answer 10

Finish-to-start (FS): An activity must
finish before the successor can start

Start-to-start (SS): An activity must start
before the successor can start

Finish-to-finish (FF): An activity must
finish before the successor can finish

Start-to-finish (SF): An activity must
start before the successor can finish

Question 11

What are mandatory dependencies?

What are discretionary dependencies?

Answer 11

Mandatory: The order in which activities must be done, due to the inherent nature of the work or as required by a contract; also called hard logic

Discretionary: The order in which
the organization has chosen to have
work performed; also called preferred,
preferential, or soft logic

Question 12

What are external dependencies?

What are internal dependencies?

Answer 12

External: Dependencies based on the
needs of a party outside the project

Internal: Dependencies based on the
needs of the project; may be under the
control of the project team

Question 13

What is a lag?

What is a lead?

Answer 13

Lag: Waiting time inserted between
activities

Lead: How soon an activity can start
before its predecessor activity is
completed

Question 14

What is padding?

What is the problem with padding?

Answer 14

A pad is extra time or cost added to an
estimate because the estimator does not have enough information

Padding undermines the professional
responsibility of a project manager to
develop a realistic schedule and budget

Question 15

What are some estimating techniques

used in an agile environment?

Answer 15

Relative sizing

Affinity estimating

T-shirt sizing

Planning poker

Question 16

What is analogous estimating?

When is it done?

Answer 16

Analogous estimating uses expert
judgment and historical information to
predict the future

It can be done at various times, and the
level of accuracy depends on how closely the project or activity matches the past historical data used

Question 17

What is parametric estimating?

What tools might an estimator use to
create parametric estimates?

Answer 17

Parametric estimating involves creating
a mathematical equation using data from historical records or other sources, such as industry requirements or standard metrics, to create estimates

Regression analysis or a learning curve

Question 18

What is an example of a heuristic?

Answer 18

The 80/20 rule

A heuristic is a generally accepted rule,
or best practice

Question 19

What is the difference between
triangular distribution and beta
distribution?

Answer 19

Triangular distribution is a simple
average giving equal weight to each
of the three-point estimates when
calculating the expected activity
duration or cost; it uses the formula
(P + 0 + M)/3

Beta distribution is a weighted average
that gives stronger consideration to the
most likely estimate; it uses the formula
(P + 4M + 0)/6

Question 20

What is alternatives analysis?

Answer 20

Alternatives analysis involves evaluating the impact of each option on project constraints, including financial investment versus time saved and level of risk

This process will result in the
determination of the best approach to
completing project work within the
constraints

Question 21

What are some inputs to Estimate

Activity Durations?

Answer 21

Activity list and activity attributes
Assumption log
Lessons learned register
Resource breakdown structure
Resource requirements
Project team assignments
Resource calendars
Risk register

Question 22

What is required for bottom-up

estimating?

Answer 22

An accurate WBS

Question 23

What is the difference between T-shirt

sizing and planning poker?

Answer 23

They are both adaptive estimating
techniques, but T-shirt sizing assigns
effort and number of user stories of each feature in terms of T-shirt sizes, while planning poker uses cards to assign a relative unit (such as story points) to each user story with the goal of building an agreed-upon estimate of the work

Question 24

What are the two types of reserves being evaluated in reserve analysis?

Answer 24

Contingency reserves and management reserves

Question 25

What is a schedule model?

Answer 25

The schedule model consists of all the project data that will be used to calculate the schedule, such as the activities, duration estimates, dependencies, and leads and lags. The project schedule is an output of the schedule model.

Question 26

What is the critical path method? What is near-critical path?

Answer 26

Critical path method: Determining the longest duration path through the network diagram, the earliest and latest an activity can start, and the earliest and latest it can be completed Near-critical path: The path closest in duration to the critical path; the closer in length the critical and near-critical paths are, the more the risk to the project

Question 27

Define total float, free float, and project | float.

Answer 27

Total float: The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project end date or an intermediary milestone Free float: The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of its successor(s) ``` Project float: The amount of time the project can be delayed without delaying the externally imposed project completion date required by the customer or management (also referred to as positive total float) ```

Question 28

What are the two formulas for | calculating float?

Answer 28

Late start (LS) - Early start (ES) Late finish (LF) - Early finish (EF)

Question 29

How does the critical path help us | manage the project?

Answer 29

Helps prove how long the project will take Shows which activities have float and can therefore be delayed without delaying the project Provides information needed to compress the schedule during project planning and whenever there are changes Helps determine where to focus your project management efforts Helps determine which activities have more risk associated with them Helps determine if a delayed activity needs immediate attention

Question 30

What is the difference between crashing and fast tracking?

Answer 30

``` Crashing involves adding or adjusting resources in order to compress the schedule while maintaining the original project scope, while fast tracking involves compressing the schedule by doing more critical path activities in parallel ```

Question 31

What is Monte Carlo analysis?

Answer 31

A technique that uses computer software to simulate the outcome of a project, based on the three-point estimates (optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely) for each activity and the network diagram Monte Carlo analysis is also used as a risk management tool to quantitatively analyze risks

Question 32

What is resource optimization?

Answer 32

Finding ways to adjust the use of | resources

Question 33

What is the difference between resource leveling and resource smoothing?

Answer 33

``` Resource leveling is a resource optimization technique that allows you to level the peaks and valleys of the schedule from one month to the other, resulting in a more stable number of resources ``` Resource smoothing is a modified form of resource leveling, where resources are leveled only within the limits of the float of their activities, so the completion dates of activities are not delayed

Question 34

What is velocity?

Answer 34

The measure of a team's capacity for work for each iteration, it allows the team to gauge how much work they will be able to do in the future based on the work they have completed in the past

Question 35

In an agile project, what is the difference between a release and an iteration?

Answer 35

An iteration is a short, timeboxed development period, typically one to four weeks in duration A release is a group of iterations that results in the completion of a valuable deliverable on the project

Question 36

What are cumulative flow diagrams used for?

Answer 36

Tracking and forecasting the delivery of value. CFDs can help the project manager gain insight into project issues, cycle times, and likely completion dates.

Question 37

What are the main presentation formats for a schedule?

Answer 37

Network diagrams Bar charts Milestone charts

Question 38

What do simple bar charts show? What do milestone charts show?

Answer 38

Bar charts: Progress reporting and control; they are weak planning tools Milestone charts: High-level project status; they only show major events

Question 39

How often is reestimating done?

Answer 39

At least once during the life of the | project