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Flashcards in Tools and Techniques Deck (58)
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1
Q

Communicating with users or potential users, as well as potential sellers.

Sometimes there are requirements to advertise, for example because of organizational polices or government requirements which may mandate public advertising or online posting of pending government contracts.

Used in:

Conduct Procurements (E)

A

Advertising

2
Q

A high-level summary timeline of the release schedule and the number of iterations or sprints in the release.

Used in:

Develop Schedule (P)

A

Agile release planning

3
Q

A form of estimating where activities and/or projects are compared to similar previous examples to generate an estimate.

See also bottom-up estimating, parametric estimating.

Used in:

Estimate Activity Resources (P)
Estimate Activity Durations (P)
Estimate Costs (P)
Part of:

Estimating techniques

A

Analogous estimating

4
Q

A structured, independent process used to determine if project activities comply with organizational and project policies, processes, and procedures.

Used in:

Manage Quality (E)
Monitor Risks (M&C)
Control Procurements (M&C)
A

Audits

5
Q

A conference to ensure all prospective sellers have a clear understanding of the procurement.

Also called contractor conferences, vendor conferences, or pre-bid conferences.

Used in:

Conduct Procurements (E)

A

Bidder conferences

6
Q

The technique of decomposing items into smaller components to estimate them individually.

See also analogous estimating, parametric estimating.

Used in:

Estimate Activity Resources (P)
Estimate Activity Durations (P)
Estimate Costs (P)
Part of:

Estimating techniques

A

Bottom-up estimating

7
Q

Manual or automated tools to assist with change and/or configuration management. At a minimum, the tools should support the activities of the Change Control Board (CCB).

Used in:

Perform Integrated Change Control (M&C)

A

Change control tools

8
Q

Administration of claims by either party against the other and asking for compensation. Used in procurement management.

Used in:

Control Procurements (M&C)

A

Claims administration

9
Q

Colocation involves placing many or all of the most active project team members in the same physical location to enhance their ability to perform as a team.

It can be temporary, such as at strategically important times during the project, or can continue for the entire project

Used in:

Develop Team (E)

A

Colocation

10
Q

Interactive communication — where two or more parties exchange information interactively (the most efficient form of communication)
Push communication — where information is pushed out to those who need to know (includes memos, letters, reports)
Pull communication — where recipients access the information at their discretion (intranet sites, knowledge repositories, etc.)
Used in:

Plan Communications Management (P)
Manage Communications (E)
A

Communication methods

11
Q

A model which describes how information is sent, received, and understood. The model has the following components:

Message — the encoded message
Medium — the communication method
Encode — translate the thought into language
Decode — translate the message back into meaningful thought
Noise — anything that interferes with either the transmission or understanding of the message
Feedback Message — an acknowledgement that the receiver has received and understood
Used in:

Plan Communications Management (P)

A

Communication models

12
Q

Communications requirements analysis considers the number of communication channels as an indicator of the complexity of the project’s communications.

Used in:

Plan Communications Management (P)

A

Communication requirements analysis

13
Q

Technologies for communications such as email, telephone, web meetings, and face-to-face meetings.

Used in:

Plan Communications Management (P)
Develop Team (E)
Manage Communications (E)
A

Communication technology

14
Q

A visual depiction of the product scope by showing a business system (process, equipment, computer system, etc.), and how people and other systems (actors) interact with it.

Context diagrams show inputs to the business system, the actor(s) providing the input, the outputs from the business system, and the actor(s) receiving the output.

Used in:

Collect Requirements (P)

A

Context diagram

15
Q

Risk responses that will only occur if certain events occur (triggers).

Used in:

Plan Risk Responses (P)

A

Contingent response strategies

16
Q

Aggregating the individual cost estimates by work packages in accordance with the WBS.

The work package cost estimates are then aggregated for the higher component levels of the WBS (such as control accounts) and for the whole project.

Used in:

Determine Budget (P)

A

Cost aggregation

17
Q

A method of developing and managing the project schedule. It uses the forward pass and backward pass to determine the longest path in a network diagram.

Used in:

Develop Schedule (P)
Control Schedule (M&C)
A

Critical path method

18
Q

A planning technique that subdivides the project scope and project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components. Used both in creating the WBS and in defining the activities.

Used in:

Create WBS (P)
Define Activities (P)
A

Decomposition

19
Q

Determines the order of sequence or an activity’s placement within the project schedule. The three types are:

Mandatory — hard logic, essential
Discretionary — soft logic, preferred
External — dictated by parties outside of the project
Used in:

Sequence Activities (P)

A

Dependency determination and integration

20
Q

A set of technical guidelines that may be applied during the design of a product for the optimization of a specific aspect of the design. The X in DfX can be different aspects of product development, such as reliability, deployment, assembly, manufacturing, cost, service, usability, safety, and quality.

Used in:

Manage Quality (E)

A

Design for X (DfX)

21
Q

Judgment based upon expertise in an application area, knowledge area, discipline, industry, etc. as appropriate for the activity being performed. Such expertise may be provided by any group or person with specialized education, knowledge, skill, experience, or training.

This technique is used in almost every process.

Used in:

Develop Project Charter (I)
Identify Stakeholders (I)
Develop Project Management Plan (P)
Plan Scope Management (P)
Collect Requirements (P)
Define Scope (P)
Create WBS (P)
Plan Schedule Management (P)
Define Activities (P)
Estimate Activity Resources (P)
Estimate Activity Durations (P)
Plan Cost Management (P)
Estimate Costs (P)
Determine Budget (P)
Plan Quality Management (P)
Plan Resource Management (P)
Plan Communications Management (P)
Plan Risk Management (P)
Identify Risks (P)
Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis (P)
Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis (P)
Plan Risk Responses (P)
Plan Procurement Management (P)
Plan Stakeholder Engagement (P)
Direct and Manage Project Work (E)
Manage Project Knowledge (E)
Implement Risk Responses (E)
Conduct Procurements (E)
Manage Stakeholder Engagement (E)
Monitor and Control Project Work (M&C)
Perform Integrated Change Control (M&C)
Control Costs (M&C)
Monitor Communications (M&C)
Control Procurements (M&C)
Close Project or Phase (C)
A

Expert judgment

22
Q

Acquiring funding for projects.

Used in:

Determine Budget (P)

A

Financing

23
Q

Reconciling the budget with any funding limits set for the project. In the case of a variance between the funding limits and the planned expenditures you will sometimes need to reschedule work to level out the rate of expenditures.

Used in:

Determine Budget (P)

A

Funding limit reconciliation

24
Q

Ground rules are defined in the team charter and set the expected behavior for project team members and other stakeholders.

Used in:

Manage Stakeholder Engagement (E)

A

Ground rules

25
Q

Reviewing historical information is essentially using models to make calculations. These models can assist in developing parametric estimates or analogous estimates.

Both the cost and accuracy of analogous and parametric models can vary widely, but are most likely to be reliable when:

Historical information is used
Parameters used in the model are readily quantifiable
Models are scalable and work for large and small projects
Used in:

Determine Budget (P)

A

Historical information review

26
Q

These give insight into areas of strengths and weaknesses, team members’ preferences, aspirations, how they process and organize information, how they make decisions, and how they interact with people.

Used in:

Develop Team (E)

A

Individual and team assessments

27
Q

Information management tools and techniques to create and connect people to information.

Used in:

Manage Project Knowledge (E)

A

Information management

28
Q

Activities such as measuring, examining, and validating to determine whether work and deliverables meet requirements and product acceptance criteria.

Can also be called reviews, product reviews, audits, and walkthroughs.

Used in:

Validate Scope (M&C)
Control Quality (M&C)
Control Procurements (M&C)
A

Inspection

29
Q

Tools and techniques for knowledge management including:

Networking
Online forums
Meetings
Communities
Work shadowing
Discussion forums and focus groups
Knowledge-sharing events
Workshops
Training
Used in:

Manage Project Knowledge (E)

A

Knowledge management

30
Q

A lead is an acceleration in a successor activity in a network diagram.

A lag is a delay in a successor activity in a network diagram.

Used in:

Sequence Activities (P)
Develop Schedule (P)
Control Schedule (M&C)
A

Leads and lags

31
Q

On projects, meetings tend to be one of three types:

Information exchange
Brainstorming, option evaluation, or design
Decision making
Used in:

Develop Project Charter (I)
Identify Stakeholders (I)
Develop Project Management Plan (P)
Plan Scope Management (P)
Plan Schedule Management (P)
Define Activities (P)
Estimate Activity Resources (P)
Estimate Activity Durations (P)
Plan Cost Management (P)
Plan Resource Management (P)
Plan Communications Management (P)
Plan Quality Management (P)
Plan Risk Management (P)
Identify Risks (P)
Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis (P)
Plan Procurement Management (P)
Plan Stakeholder Engagement (P)
Direct and Manage Project Work (E)
Develop Team (E)
Manage Communications (E)
Manage Stakeholder Engagement (E)
Monitor and Control Project Work (M&C)
Perform Integrated Change Control (M&C)
Monitor Communications (M&C)
Control Quality (M&C)
Monitor Risks (M&C)
Monitor Stakeholder Engagement (M&C)
Close Project or Phase (C)
A

Meetings

32
Q

Theories on how people, teams, and organizational units behave, useful and important for managing teams and dealing with people. Common theories include:

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Frederick Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory
David McClelland’s Acquired-Needs Theory
Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
William Ouchi’s Theory Z
Contingency Theory (Morse and Lorsch)
Goal-Setting Theory (Latham and Locke)
Expectancy Theory (Vroom)
Reinforcement Theory (Skinner)
Equity Theory (Adams)
Geert Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions
Used in:

Plan Resource Management (P)

A

Organizational theory

33
Q

Using an algorithm to calculate cost or duration based on historical data and project parameters.

Used in:

Estimate Activity Resources (P)
Estimate Activity Durations (P)
Estimate Costs (P)
Part of:

Estimating techniques

A

Parametric estimating

34
Q

Advance determination of physical or team resources for a project. This can occur if the project is the result of specific resources being identified as part of a competitive proposal or if the project is dependent upon the expertise of particular persons.

Used in:

Acquire Resources (E)

A

Pre-assignment

35
Q

A schedule network diagramming technique — schedule activities are represented by boxes (or nodes) and linked by one or more logical relationships to show the sequence in which the activities are to be performed.

Used in:

Sequence Activities (P)

A

Precedence diagramming method

36
Q

Finding solutions for issues or challenges, often including:

Defining the problem
Identifying the root-- cause
Generating possible solutions
Choosing the best solution
Implementing the solution
Verifying solution effectiveness
Used in:
Manage Quality (E)
Control Resources (M&C)
A

Problem solving

37
Q

A data analysis technique that follows the steps outlined in the Process Improvement Plan to increase the efficiency of the project management processes as part of continuous improvement.

Used in:

Define Scope (P)

A

Product analysis

38
Q

The system used to manage the project information, monitor and control the project, manage changes, and for other functions throughout the life of the project.

Used in:

Sequence Activities (P)
Estimate Activity Resources (P)
Develop Schedule (P)
Estimate Costs (P)
Direct and Manage Project Work (E)
Manage Team (E)
Manage Communications (E)
Implement Risk Responses (E)
Control Schedule (M&C)
Control Costs (M&C)
Control Resources (M&C)
Monitor Communications (M&C)
A

Project management information system (PMIS)

39
Q

Collecting and distributing project information to groups of stakeholders, regularly and on an exception basis The format of project reporting may range from a simple communication to more elaborate custom reports and presentations.

Used in:

Manage Communications (E)

A

Project reporting

40
Q

Predetermined lists of risk categories that might give rise to individual project risks and that could also act as sources of overall project risk.

Used in:

Identify Risks (P)

A

Prompt lists

41
Q

Prototyping is a method of obtaining early feedback on requirements by providing a model of the expected product before actually building it.

Examples of prototypes are small-scale products, computer generated 2D and 3D models, mock-ups, or simulations.

Storyboarding is also a prototyping technique showing sequence or navigation through a series of images or illustrations, useful for film, advertising, instructional design, and on software development projects.

Used in:

Collect Requirements (P)

A

Prototypes

42
Q

Using findings and recommendations from quality control processes, the findings of the quality audits, or problem solving to evaluate opportunities for improvement..

Used in:

Manage Quality (E)

A

Quality improvement methods

43
Q

Recognizing and rewarding desirable behavior is an essential part of team development.

Used in:

Develop Team (E)

A

Recognition and rewards

44
Q

Using a quantitative risk analysis model to reflect individual project risks and other sources of uncertainty.

Used in:

Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis (P)

A

Representations of uncertainty

45
Q

Resource Optimization Techniques include:

Resource leveling
Resource smoothing
Used in:

Develop Schedule (P)
Control Schedule (M&C)
A

Resource optimization

46
Q

The grouping of risks by category to better understand the risks and determine any common root causes.

Used in:

Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis (P)

A

Risk categorization

47
Q

A form of progressive elaboration planning where the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail while the work far in the future is planned at a relatively high level. As the work progresses detailed planning of the work to be performed in the near future is done as work is being completed during the current period.

See also progressive elaboration.

Used in:

Define Activities (P)

A

Rolling wave planning

48
Q

The over-arching technique used to develop the project schedule. It employs various analytical techniques such as the Critical Path Method, What-If Analysis and Resource Optimization to calculate Early Start and Late Start dates, as well as Early Finish and Late Finish dates.

Used in:

Develop Schedule (P)

A

Schedule network analysis

49
Q

The criteria for how you will rate seller proposals and select the seller.

Used in:

Plan Procurement Management (P)

A

Source selection analysis

50
Q

Alternative strategies for dealing with opportunities: escalate, exploit, share, enhance or accept.

Used in:

Plan Risk Responses (P)

A

Strategies for opportunities

51
Q

Alternative strategies for dealing with threats: avoid, exploit, transfer/share, mitigate/enhance, accept.

Used in:

Plan Risk Responses (P)

A

Strategies for overall project risk

52
Q

Alternative strategies for dealing with threats: escalate, avoid, transfer, mitigate or accept.

Used in:

Plan Risk Responses (P)

A

Strategies for threats

53
Q

Determining how to test or inspect the product, deliverable, or service to meet the goal for the product’s performance and reliability and the stakeholders’ needs.

Tests and inspections are industry dependent and can include alpha and beta tests in software projects, strength tests in construction projects, inspection in manufacturing, and field tests and nondestructive tests in engineering.

Used in:

Plan Quality Management (P)

A

Test and inspection planning

54
Q

An organized and constructed investigation conducted to provide objective information about the quality of the product or service under test in accordance with the project requirements.

Used in:

Control Quality (M&C)

A

Testing/product evaluations

55
Q

A technique to estimate the probable outcome of future events, based on very limited information, where three figures are produced based on prior experience and expert judgment:

Used in:

Estimate Activity Durations (P)
Estimate Costs (P)
Part of:

Estimating techniques

A

Three-point estimating

56
Q

The cost efficiency for the remaining work required to meet the target, expressed as the work remaining divided by the funds remaining.

Used in:

Control Costs (M&C)

A

To-complete performance index (TCPI)

57
Q

Activities designed to enhance the competencies of team members, which can be formal or informal.

Used in:

Develop Team (E)

A

Training

58
Q

Groups of people with a shared goal who fulfill their roles with little or no time spent meeting face to face, made feasible by the availability of communication technology such as email, audio conferencing, social media, web-based meetings, and video conferencing.

Used in:

Acquire Resources (E)
Develop Team (E)
A

Virtual teams