Test Answers on Chapter 1: Modern Project Management – Flashcards
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Project Management
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provides people with a powerful set of tools that improves their ability to plan, implement, and manage activities to accomplish specific organizational objectives.
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Project Manager (v. Program Manager)
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easier to monitor their success, spans team unit and organization boundaries, not always in the hierarchy,manages more than just people
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Project Management beyond the set of tools
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It is a results-oriented management style that places a premium on building collabora-tive relationships among a diverse cast of characters
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A Project
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A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result
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What is project? (class)
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typically limited by time, has a budget, complex, non-routine, one time, and performance specifications designed to meet customer needs.
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A process
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is a set of interrelated activities that can be repeated with the expectation of similar results
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Major goal of a project
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To satisfy a customer's need
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Major Characteristics of a project
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1. An established objective. 2. A defined life span with a beginning and an end. 3. Usually, the involvement of several departments and professionals. 4. Typically, doing something that has never been done before. 5. Specific time, cost, and performance requirements.
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A Program
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A group of related projects designed to accomplish a common goal over an extended period of time
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Program Management
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The process of managing a group of ongoing, interdependent, related projects in a coordinated way to achieve strategic objectives
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The Project Life Cycle Four stages
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1. Defining 2. Planning 3. Executing 4. Delivering
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Project life cycle overlap
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we do not specifically do all the planning before executing, nor do you completely define before planning etc. More experience = less overlap
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Defining Stage of Product Life Cycle
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Specifications of the project are defined; project objectives are established; teams are formed; major responsibilities are assigned.
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Defining v planning
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Defining - these are the tasks needed to be done, these are steps that need to be taken Panning - assigning resources to, actually apply people to those tasks
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Tasks and responsibilities. Defining or planning stage?
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defining
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Planning Stage of Product Life Cycle
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The level of effort increases, and plans are developed to determine what the project will entail, when it will be scheduled, whom it will benefit, what quality level should be maintained, and what the budget will be.
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Executing Stage of Product Life Cycle
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A major portion of the project work takes place—both physical and mental. The physical product is produced (a bridge, a report, a software program). Time, cost, and specification measures are used for control. Is the project on schedule, on budget, and meeting specifications? What are the forecasts of each of these measures? What revisions/changes are necessary?
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Executing Stage of Product Life Cycle simply put
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actually doing
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Delivering Stage of Product Life Cycle (3 activities)
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1. delivering the project product to the customer - Delivery of the project might include customer training and transferring documents 2. redeploying project resources - Redeployment usually involves releasing project equipment/ materials to other projects and finding new assignments for team members. 3. post-project review - Post-project reviews include not only assessing performance but also capturing lessons learned
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Uniqueness of Project Managers from other forms of managers
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they manage temporary, nonrepetitive activities, to complete a fixed life project. They are typically the direct link to the customer and must manage the tension between customer expectations and what is feasible and reasonable.
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Current Drivers of Project Management
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Compression of the product life cycle, knowledge explosion, Triple bottom line, corporate downsizing, increased customer focus, small projects represent big problems
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What can small projects represent?
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Hidden costs not measured in the accounting system
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Project Governance
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Designed to improve project management in the whole organization over the long haul
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The rationale for integration of project management was to provide senior management with:
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An overview of all project management activities; A big picture of how organizational resources are being used; An assessment of the risk their portfolio of projects represents; A rough metric for measuring the improvement of managing projects relative to others in the industry; Linkages of senior management with actual project execution management.
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2 Dimensions within the actual execution of projects
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1. Technical side of the management process 2. Sociocultural side of project management
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Technical side of the management process
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consists of the formal, disciplined, purely logical parts of the process; includes planning, scheduling, and controlling projects
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Purpose of a clear project scope
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written to link the project and customer and to facilitate planning and control.
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Purpose of creation of the deliverables and work breakdown structures
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facilitates planning and monitoring the progress of the project.
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Purpose of work breakdown structures
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serves as a database that links all levels in the organiza-tion, major deliverables, and all work—right down to the tasks in a work packag
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The Sociocultural side of project management
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It centers on creating a temporary social system within a larger organizational environment that combines the talents of a divergent set of professionals working to complete the project.
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The socio-techncical dimensions of the project management process: sociocultural
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Leadership, problem solving, teamwork, negotiation, politics, customer expectations
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The socio-techncical dimensions of the project management process: technical
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scope, WBS, schedules, resource allocation, baseline budgets, status reports
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Science v. Art dimensions soci/tech
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Science - Technical Art - sociocultural
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entering daily sales receipts into ledger
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process - daily
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writing a new piano piece
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project - new
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the Chevrolet corvette
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program - not specify make model year the Chevrolet 2016 corvette would be a project
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developing a supply chain information sysem
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project - developing
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writing a term paper
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project - one time, everyone is different
