Chapter 3: Planning the Project

True/False

1. Defining resource needs is not necessary on small projects.

Response: See section3.1

Level: medium

2. A representative of senior management should be invited to the project launch meeting.

Response: See section 3.3

Level: medium

3. The primary purpose of the launch meeting is to develop the project plan and budget.

Response: See section 3.3

Level: medium

4. The initial project meeting is just to coordinate the project, so areas of responsibility do not need to be discussed.

Response: See section 3.3

Level: medium

5. The project plan should begin with a complete description of all agreements made with the client or any third party.

Response: See section 3.1

Level: medium

6. As a rule of thumb, the lowest level tasks in a typical project should not take longer than two days to complete.

Response: See section 3.3

Level: medium

7. The start and finish date of a project must be specified before the action plan can be completed.

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

8. It is acceptable to restrict the launch meeting to brainstorming a problem.

Response: See section 3.3

Level: medium

9. It is not possible to overdo it when it comes to project planning.

Response: See section 3.1

Level: medium

10. Predecessors must be listed in the WBS because they are critical for scheduling.

Response: See section 3.3

Level: easy

11. Lack of planning is a major contributor to project’s failure.

Response: See section 3.1

Level: medium

12. You can depict who is responsible for a task on a RACI.

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

13. RACI stands for remove all cost information.

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

14. Taken together the RACI and the Work Breakdown Structure may be used to determine the importance of each task listed.

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

15. The salary requirements of human resources are a required element in the project plan.

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

16. The work breakdown structure is one way to separate project activities by their level of importance.

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

17. The RACI matrix is a tool to organize the cost in your project plan.

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

18. A limitation of traditional project management planning tools is that they do not address the flow of information.

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

19. The letters used in the RACI matrix help link a person and a task for accountability purposes.

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

20. Mind mapping is a whole-brain approach that is particularly applicable to project management.

Response: See section 3.4

Level: easy

21. One of the problems with mind mapping is that it is relatively difficult to convert into work breakdown structure (WBS).

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

22. The design structure matrix can be used to identify potential rework situations due to the flow of information in a project.

Response: See section 3.4

Level: Medium

23. While the design structure matrix can help identify potential rework situations, typically nothing can be done to avoid them.

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

24. The project baseline plan is the open, honest, and frequent communication between the interested parties of a project.

Response: see section 3.3

Level: medium

25. The project manager can plan at all levels of the project.

Response: see page 85

Level: medium

26. Mind mapping is a planning tool.

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

Multiple Choice

27. The results of the launch meeting include:

a) finalizing the project team

b) finalizing the project’s schedule

c) finalizing the project’s budget

d) the project’s scope is understood

e) selecting the project champion

Response: See section 3.3

Level: medium

28. Marcus is asked by higher management to create a document that provides a high level description of a project that has not yet been approved. The document should describe the major deliverables of the project and should provide the financial and strategic justification for the project. In this scenario, Marcus needs to prepare a _____.

a) project baseline

b) RACI matrix

c) work breakdown structure

d) project charter

e) contingency plan

Response: See section 3.1

Level: difficult

29. Renee, a project manager, is responsible for developing a project plan for her new project. To do so, she needs to consider all the tasks that would need to be done to produce the deliverable and make a list of them. In this scenario, Renee needs to prepare a(n) _____ for the project.

a) FMEA chart

b) RACI Matrix

c) work breakdown structure

d) project charter

e) contingency plan

Response: See section 3.3

Level: difficult

30. Duncan, a project manager, has to create a work breakdown structure (WBS) for a new project. He gathers the project team and provides them with a pad of sticky-notes. After defining the project objectives and the major activities that would need to be done to achieve those objectives, he asks his team members to write all the tasks that they think would be required to complete the project on the sticky-notes. These notes are then stuck on a wall in a sequential manner. In this scenario, Duncan uses a(n) _____ to create the WBS.

a) FMEA chart

b) Langley histogram

c) project baseline

d) Gozinto chart

e) RACI matrix

Response: See section 3.3

Level: difficult

31. Suzanne, a human resources manager in an event management company, is assigned the task of arranging a farewell dinner for the CEO of the company. She uses Microsoft Project (MSP) to create a work breakdown structure list for this task. The MSP creates a list of Level 1 tasks, Level 2 tasks, and so on. Suzanne then adds appropriate descriptions to each task. While doing so, Suzanne should ensure that:

a) the generality of each task is roughly at the same level.

b) each task takes the same amount of time.

c) each task requires the same amount of resources.

d) the level of employee knowledge required for each task is roughly the same.

e) each task covers multiple objectives of the project.

Response: See section 3.3

Level: difficult

32. Robert, a project manager, created a work breakdown structure (WBS) for his new project. He then used the data from the WBS to create a table that assigned responsibilities to each team member and helped organize the project team. In this scenario, Robert created a(n)_____.

a) Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) chart

b) RACI Matrix

c) Langley histogram

d) Gozinto chart

e) contingency plan

Response: See section 3.4

Level: difficult

33. Imelda, a professor of management studies, wants to organize a collaborative project with her students to help them understand various aspects of marketing. She writes down the project goal in a circle in the center of a large sheet of paper. She and her students then brainstorm to identify the tasks that must be done to achieve the goal. She asks the students to write each task in a circle on the sheet and draw lines connecting the various circles. In this scenario, Imelda is using a process called _____.

a) Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)

b) RACI matrix

c) hierarchal planning

d) mind mapping

e) contingency analysis

Response: See section 3.4

Level: difficult

34. Roger is a scientist who is developing a new drug to cure cancer. He lists five possible ways in which the drug might fail. He ranks the severity of the consequences of each failure, the likelihood of each failure's occurrence, and the ease of detection of each failure on a scale of 1 to 10. In the context of Failure Mode and Effect Analysis, which of the following failures has the highest Risk Priority Number (RPN)?

a) Failure one with a severity of 4, a likelihood of 4, and an ease of detection of 7

b) Failure two with a severity of 7, a likelihood of 5, and an ease of detection of 2

c) Failure three with a severity of 8, a likelihood of 4, and an ease of detection of 4

d) Failure four with a severity of 5, a likelihood of 5, and an ease of detection of 6

e) Failure five with a severity of 2, a likelihood of 4, and an ease of detection of 7

Response: See section 3.5

Level: difficult

35. Sharon, a project manager, is working on a new project with a team of six members. She allocates work to each member who then works independently. The members are asked to refrain from experimentation and rigidly follow the project scope. Sharon coordinates the work of the members and provides them with feedback confidentially. The given scenario exemplifies the use of _____.

a) Agile Project Management

b) the traditional waterfall approach to project management

c) the Responsible-Accountable-Consult-Informed Matrix

d) a Gozinto chart

e) mind mapping

Response: See section 3.4

Level: difficult

36. Janet, a project manager, receives a complex marketing project. She needs to make sure that the client receives regular updates about the project and that the project team is flexible enough to accommodate any changes in the project scope. She also needs to ensure that feedback is provided at the completion of each project milestone. In this scenario, Janet should use _____ to plan the project.

a) a Langley histogram

b) a logic chart

c) a risk profile

d) systems engineering

e) Agile Project Management (APM)

Response: See section 3.4

Level: difficult

37. The manager of a project causes a catastrophic failure in the project that threatens the timely delivery of the project. Frank, another project manager, is asked to take over. He initiates a backup plan created by him, and he takes critical steps to recover from the setback and salvage the project. In this scenario, Frank is most likely using a(n) _____.

a) Langley histogram

b) logic chart

c) risk profile

d) FMEA chart

e) RACI matrix

Response: See section 3.5

Level: difficult

38. What is the primary purpose of creating a work breakdown structure?

a) to draw the project plan as a chart or tree

b) to make sure important tasks are identified

c) so that all team members can see what others are working on

d) to assign budget numbers to tasks

e) to make sure team members can communicate effectively

Response: See section 3.3

Level: medium

39. Which of the following is used to show linkages between people and tasks?

a) the work breakdown structure

b) the RACI

c) the Project Action Plan

d) the Project Resource Diagram

e) the Concurrent Engineering Chart

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

40. Which of the following is not a category in the RACI matrix?

a) Responsible

b) Interpret

c) Accountable

d) Consult

e) Inform

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

41. The first task of a newly appointed project manager is

a) to negotiate the project’s budget

b) to negotiate with functional managers for key resources

c) to develop a work breakdown structure for the project

d) to review the project objectives with senior management

e) to develop a linear responsibility chart for the project

Response: See section 3.3

Level: medium

42. A(n) __________________ shows the set of all tasks in a project arranged by task level?

a) RACI Matrix

b) Work Breakdown Structure

c) Gantt chart

d) Design Structure Matrix

e) Aggregate Project Portfolio

Response: See section 3.4

Level: easy

43. According to the text, the use of sticky-notes can be particularly useful for constructing a(n)

a) RACI matrix

b) Work Breakdown Structure

c) Gantt chart

d) Design Structure Matrix

e) Aggregate Project Portfolio

Response: See section 3.3

Level: medium

44. In order to prepare a mind map, you need to start with:

a) the maximum allowable cost of the project

b) a definition of role of the working professional programs (WPPs)

c) a means of evaluating the results

d) the most detailed tasks

e) a statement of the project’s objectives

Response: See section 3.4

Level: easy

45. Entries above the diagonal in the Design Structure Matrix indicate

a) tasks that need to be shortened

b) tasks that have no resources assigned to them

c) tasks that are on the critical path

d) potential rework situations

e) tasks with no predecessors

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

46. In the Design Structure Matrix

a) the rows correspond to tasks and the columns correspond to resources

b) both the rows and columns correspond to tasks

c) the rows correspond to tasks and the columns correspond to functional departments

d) the rows correspond to resources and the columns correspond to tasks

e) the rows correspond to resources and the columns correspond to functional

departments

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

47. FMEA stands for

a) Financial Methods and Efficiency Analysis

b) Failure Modes and Effect Analysis

c) Full Monetary Expenditure Accrual

d) Financial Measurement of Expenses Accrued

e) Factor Mode and Efficiency Analysis

Response: See section 3.5

Level: medium

48. Which of the following is most closely associated with FMEA?

a) risk priority number

b) game theory

c) expected value

d) simulation

e) program budgeting

Response: See section 3.5

Level: medium

49. Which of the following is not a sub-process associated with risk management?

a) risk identification

b) risk measurement

c) qualitative risk analysis

d) quantitative risk analysis

e) risk response planning

Response: See section 3.5

Level: medium

Short Answer

50. What is the primary function of a project plan?

Response: See section 3.1

Level: medium

51. List some of the results of the project launch meeting.

Response: See section 3.3

Level: medium

52. Define hierarchical planning.

Response: See section 3.3

Level: medium

53. Explain the process of developing a WBS.

Response: See section 3.3

Level: medium

54. What are the key concepts behind mind mapping?

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

55. Explain how to construct a Design Structure Matrix.

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium

56. What are some options for eliminating potential rework situations when they are discovered in the Design Structure Matrix?

Response: See section 3.4

Level: medium