Answers vary. The example should include some reference to project goals (scope and quality), project constraints (budget and schedule), stakeholders, communication needs, and the project life cycle.
2. Why are more organizations using project management? If you were an executive, how would you justify your decision to use project management to the board of trustees? (Objective #1, Creating, p. 5)
Rapid growth and changes in industries – particularly information and communications technology.
Increasing customer demands for rapid introduction of new products and technologies.
Global competition driving down prices.
Increasingly complex products and services
3. Explain how to scale up or down the complexity of project planning and management tools and what effect, if any, this might have on the project life cycle. (Objective #2, Evaluating, p. 17).
A very small project might be to build a garage. This could be accomplished with very simple description of the resulting garage (scope), a firm fixed price contract with few provisions, a schedule for construction, and exchange of contact information. All of the planning might be accomplished with a very few short, simple documents. A much larger and more complex project might use many more documents for planning and control and many of the documents could have considerably more detail.
4. List and describe several issues that pertain to each stage of the project life cycle. (Objective #2, Remembering, pp. 7-8)
Initiating – when a project is proposed, planned at a high level, and key participants commit to it in broad terms;
Planning – starts after the initial commitment, includes detailed planning, and ends when all stakeholders accept the entire detailed plan;
Executing – includes authorizing, executing, monitoring, and controlling work until the customer accepts the project deliverables; and
Closing – all activities after customer acceptance to ensure project is completed, lessons are learned, resources are reassigned, and contributions are recognized.
5. Put the five project management process groups in order from the one that generally requires the least work to the one that requires the most. (Objective #3, Analyzing, p. 10)
Answers will vary. Students should be able to defend their answers. 5 process groups:
Probably the two that require less work are initiating and closing. While both should be done well, there are relatively fewer things to do on them.
Initiating – defines and authorizes a project or a project phase;
Closing – formalizes acceptance of project outcomes and the project is brought to a conclusion.
An argument could be made for which of these three have the most work. There are more planning processes, but accomplishing the work and making sure it is done and reported correctly also require a substantial amount of time.
Planning – defines and refines objectives and plans actions to achieve objectives;
Executing – directs, and manages people and other resources to accomplish project work;
Monitoring and controlling – collects data and checks progress to determine any needed corrective actions; and
6. Name the ten project management knowledge areas and briefly summarize each. (Objective #3, Understanding, p. 11)
Integration management – unifying and coordinating the other knowledge areas by creating and using tools such as charters, project plans, and change control.
Scope management – determining all the work that is necessary for project completion and ensuring it is accomplished;
Schedule management – defining, sequencing, and estimating duration, and resourcing work activities as well as developing and controlling the schedule;
Cost management – planning, estimating, budgeting, and controlling costs;
Quality management –planning, managing, and controlling quality;
Resource management – acquiring, developing, managing and controlling the project team;
Communications management – generating, collecting, disseminating, storing, and disposing of timely and appropriate project information;
Risk management – risk identification, analysis, response planning, implementing risk responses, and monitoring risks;
Procurement management – purchasing or acquiring product and services as well as contract management; and
Stakeholder management—identifying all possible stakeholders, analyzing their various needs and expectations, communicating with stakeholders throughout life of project.
7. Discuss how a project could be successful by some measures yet unsuccessful by others. (Objective #4, Analyzing, pp. 15-16).