Questions and Answers of Effective Project Management Traditional Agile Extreme Hybrid

Suppose the Scope Triangle were modified as follows: Resource Availability occupies the center, and the three sides are Scope, Cost, and Schedule. Interpret this triangle as if it were a system in
Where would you be able to bring about cost savings as a program manager for a company? Discuss these using the standard project constraints.
Consider a project management methodology that specifies only the six questions stated in the “Understanding the Fundamentals of Project Management” section of this chapter. All that is required
Discuss ways in which scope creep occurred on projects with which you have been associated. Was the project manager able to reverse scope creep? Is it possible to reverse scope creep? Defend your yes
Compare and contrast the PMI and business value definitions of project management. Include a list of advantages and disadvantages of each.
For each of the five PMLC models, identify the specific points where client involvement is needed. What specific actions would you take as project manager to ensure that involvement?
Where in each of the five PMLC models would you expect the most failures occur? Defend your answer.
Where in each of the five PMLC models would you expect the greatest risk? What mitigation strategies would you consider? Defend your choices.
For each of the five PMLC models, identify a project from your experience that would seem to have been a good fit. Would using that PMLC for that project have improved the outcome? Why?
Strategic planning horizons have changed from 5 years, to 3 years, and even to 1 year. This chapter advocates a continuous process that includes quarterly reviews of projects, programs, and
You are the HR manager for your enterprise. What information would you need in order to maintain an inventory of project managers that can effectively support the strategic plan? Take into account
From what you have learned about complex project management, what are the challenges you might expect to face in implementing the WBDC in a state supported community college? Build the WBDC
A big challenge in implementing the Co-Manager model is giving the client equal authority and responsibility in managing the project. The process co-manager has to relinquish authority and the
Other than the five Process Groups and ten Knowledge Areas approach taken by PMI, how else might you structure your approach to defining a project management methodology for your company?
As far as your company’s needs for a project management methodology are concerned, are any of the Process Groups incomplete? Do any of the Process Groups have superfluous processes that would not
Can you think of a sixth Process Group or eleventh Knowledge Area that your company would require of its project management methodology?
TPM depends heavily on being able to clearly define what the client needs. You cannot create a detailed project plan without that information. Within the framework of the TPM, what could you do if it
You have run the COS by the book, and your gut tells you that the client’s wants may be a bit too far-reaching. In fact, you have a strong suspicion that what they need is not what they have told
Give examples of projects from your experiences that have used TPM, APM, or xPM methodologies. What conclusions can you draw from those experiences?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of holding a JPPS session onsite versus offsite?
Your planning session seems to have reached an impasse. The planning team is divided between two ways to approach a particularly difficult part of the project. Approximately two-thirds of the team
Why is building the WBS by walking around the workspace or the e-mail space a ticket to failure?
The WBS identifies all of the work that must be done to complete the project. What would you do if the answer to a question posed as part of the work determines which of the two alternatives
Under what conditions might you choose to decompose an activity that meets all of the six completeness criteria? Give specific examples.
Can you think of any activities that would not meet all six completeness criteria, yet need not be further decomposed? Give specific examples.
You have used the three-point method to estimate the duration of a task that you know will be critical to the project. The estimate produces a very large difference between the optimistic and
Discuss a project on which you’ve worked where time was the major factor in determining the success or failure of the project. What did you do about cost considerations? Did the sponsor(s) agree
Prepare a simple budget showing an order of magnitude estimate, a budget estimate, and a definitive estimate. What did you have to do to bring each successive budget closer to the final working
The project network diagram has been constructed, and the project completion date is beyond the management-imposed deadline. You have compressed the schedule as much as possible by introducing
Even though all of your tasks have met the WBS completion criteria, what scheduling problems might prompt you to further decompose one or more of them, and how will that resolve the problems?
You are the project manager of a project to develop a new system for the company. You have two options for a resource to work on a specific programming task for your project. The task is not on the
You have three alternatives from which to choose. Identify and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative. What are the risks associated with each alternative? How might you
You have recently been promoted to the position of project manager. Your team consists of senior members of the technical staff, and it is time to establish the team operating rules. You expect some
Your project managers have been able to communicate very effectively with all of your clients except one. Getting feedback from this client has always been a nagging problem. What should you do?
Your past projects gave the client wide berth when it came to suggesting changes at any time they saw fit. Often they expressed an unbridled enthusiasm in making frequent changes, many of which were
A number of your clients seem to be abusing the change request process. You have seen an increase in the number of frivolous requests. These, of course, must be researched and resolved, and that
Discuss the concept of the work package as an insurance policy. How is it an insurance policy, and what might it contain that would make it an insurance policy?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of confirming the accuracy of status reports filed by your team members?
You correctly defined and introduced the Scope Bank to your client, who initially agreed to use it. However, the client seems to have forgotten their agreement. The Scope Bank needs a deposit in
I have advocated the use of a checklist as the acceptance test procedure for establishing that the project is finished. What other type of acceptance test procedure might you suggest? Be specific.
Can you suggest a cost/benefit approach to selling management on the value of the post-implementation audit? Be specific.
The post-implementation audit is vitally important in improving the practice and process of project management, yet it is always so difficult to get senior management and the client to allocate the
Suppose two projects have the same expected business value. Project A has a very high estimated business value along with a high probability of failure. Project B has a much lower estimated business
Planning APM, xPM, and MPx projects is done just-in-time, rather than at the beginning of the project as in TPM projects. How would you defend the statement that TPM projects take longer than any
How might your approach to risk management change as you move from the less risky TPM projects to the riskier APM, xPM, and MPx projects?
What might you do to increase meaningful client involvement?
Change is the bane of the TPM project manager and is a necessity for the APM project manager. Is the client likely to be confused about the role of change, and what would you do to mitigate that
Your Agile project has been progressing smoothly and until now, there have been few surprises. Without any warning, the client manager (your co-project manager) suddenly leaves the company and is
All of the ideas that are suggested come from the development team and not from the client team. You have correctly concluded that the final product will not be as good as it could have been if the
You are managing the Inventory Management subsystem project. Generate the RBS and choose the model you will use. Rank order the specific models from best fit to worst fit, and state your rationale
Referring to the case study, which subsystems would you develop using an Agile model? Be specific as to which model you would choose and why. List any advantages or disadvantages that will result
What sort of approach would you use for an Agile project if your client wasn’t willing or able to participate? What are the strengths and/or weaknesses of your choice?
What sort of approach would you use if your client was getting so involved with the project that it was adversely affecting the team’s productivity? What are the strengths and/or weaknesses of your
You are considering volunteering to manage a critical but very challenging project that has all the makings of an Adaptive project. You’ve been reading this book and have learned a great deal about
Clearly, the Monitoring and Controlling phase is very dependent upon the people on your team. APF gives team members great discretion in completing their work. If you were managing an APM project,
Compare what happens with a TPM project and an APF project when a team member is taken off the team and no longer available. What are the impacts on each approach? Which approach is least affected by
Defend the claim: APF is a lean Agile process. Your defense should show how APF possesses all seven Lean principles.
Generate the RBS for the PDQ factory location software application. Comment on the missing or partially defined functions and features. In generating the RBS consider such questions as these: How
What are the similarities and differences between an Adaptive PMLC model and an Extreme PMLC model? Be very specific.
If your choice of PMLC model could be either Adaptive or Extreme, which would you choose and why? Are there any conditions that would clearly suggest one model over the other? State your rationale.
Your organization has been very successful with projects that have been managed using Scrum. You have received a request for a new project and all conditions suggest that Scrum should be used with
If your PMO had to transition into a PSO to support its entire HPMgr community (CPMs and OPMs), what challenges would you foresee? With Chapter 7, “How to Plan a TPM Project,” as your template,
You have completed the first few increments and released deliverables to the client. They are now coming to you with changes to what has been released. These changes make sense, but will cause your
How would you manage the time between increments in an Incremental PMLC model? There is pressure for longer between-increment delays to allow the client to integrate the increment deliverables, and
What is the impact on your risk management plan for using a Rapid Development Waterfall model instead of a Linear PMLC model—that is, what risks are added and what mitigation plans would you put in
Are there any projects in the PDQ Case Study that would benefit from any of the PMLC models studied in this chapter?
Clients are always reluctant to get too involved in planning. What might you do to sell them on the idea that their full involvement in the HPM Framework is needed for this effort to succeed?
A member of your team is a systems analyst from the old school and just cannot adjust to APF. Her problem is that the client has decision-making authority over the direction that your software
You are the project manager over one of your company’s first HPM Framework projects. You are having trouble getting the client’s involvement. What would you do?
Suppose a project should have used a TPM approach, but you used APM. Comment on what might be different. Would the traditional approach have given you a better outcome? Why or why not? Be specific.
You are a senior project manager in your company. You have 15 years’ experience with them and a solid reputation for delivering successful projects. What might you, acting on your own, do to get
In the formation stages of a project, are there any distinct disadvantages to using the HPM Framework over xPM for an Extreme project? If so, identify them. In considering your answer, think about
Is HPM Framework or xPM more likely to waste less of the client’s money and the team’s time if the project were killed prior to completion? To answer the question, you have to consider when the