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    Quick Quizzes for Project Managers
    Quick Quizzes for Project Managers
    Quick Quizzes for Project Managers
    Ebook317 pages2 hours

    Quick Quizzes for Project Managers

    By Barbee Davis, PhD

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    About this ebook

    Quick Quizzes for Project Managers allows you to test your project management knowledge and expand your skills through story questions about interesting and mind-opening situations faced every day by project managers in the field. You choose what you think is the correct answer, and then check your choice. Each answer is followed by a short, specific explanation that gives you background detail on the topic and a problem solving approach you could try in your own organization. Many of the questions come from working project managers around the world, concerned with issues they face in real projects. This is a fun, quick approach to expand your practical project management knowledge.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherProject Management Institute
    Release dateSep 1, 2010
    ISBN9781935589747
    Quick Quizzes for Project Managers

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      Book preview

      Quick Quizzes for Project Managers - Barbee Davis, PhD

      all.

      Quick Quiz Questions

      Test Your Knowledge

      Each of pages in the following section will give you a typical project management scenario. Read each of the answers carefully and select what you think the correct answer should be.

      Turn to the Answer page numbers shown at the lower right and compare your ideas with the choice you will find there. After reading the additional information about this topic, take advantage of the Notes For My Projects: space, or the page margins, to capture your thoughts as to how you might use this in your projects or with your organization's teams. You might also wish to jot down ideas to discuss, or topics on which you would like to do further research.

      QUICK QUIZ 1 – GLOBAL TEAMS

      You've just had a new person from another region of the world added to your project team. What do you do?

      Plan an introduction meeting that all team members stop work to attend.

      Send the new team member a detailed copy of your work breakdown structure (WBS).

      Introduce yourself and welcome the new person via e-mail.

      Plan how to keep project work flowing around the clock.

      Test Your Knowledge – Answer on Pages 72-73

      QUICK QUIZ 2 – ESTIMATING TECHNIQUES

      Another project manager is management's favorite due to his or her low schedule times and small cost estimates. No one seems to notice that this project manager's estimates are seldom met, while you go unrecognized for providing more realistic figures up front. What do you do?

      Lower your own figures so you can compete.

      Call your spouse, friend or mother and ask to have this behavior stopped.

      File a complaint with Human Resources.

      Take this person to lunch and explain how he or she is being unethical.

      Talk to management about the accuracy of project estimates.

      Test Your Knowledge – Answer on Pages 74-75

      QUICK QUIZ 3 – PROJECT REPORTS

      No matter how carefully I plan, my project reports often show the project to be over budget and behind schedule. My team works hard, so how can I stop this discouraging trend?

      Bring all projects in on budget and on schedule with no exceptions.

      Start an educational campaign for your manager and team.

      Pad each activity with extra time and money.

      Ask customers where you can cut quality so that your projections are more on target.

      Look for a new job.

      Test Your Knowledge – Answer on Pages 76-77

      QUICK QUIZ 4 – RISK PLANS

      I know it's a best practice, but must I always prepare a formal risk management plan for every project? So many of the risks I have identified in the past never actually happened.

      The size of the risk management plan should be appropriate for the size, length and importance of the project.

      The time devoted to the risk management plan should be 10 percent of the length of the project.

      The risk management plan should always be done, unless you are too busy.

      When possible, do a risk management plan to avoid all possible risks.

      Test Your Knowledge – Answer on Pages 78-79

      QUICK QUIZ 5 – EARNED VALUE

      I just learned the Earned Value formulas and now parts of these formulas have new names. But frankly, we don't even do Earned Value calculations in my company. What am I missing?

      You're not missing anything. No one uses Earned Value anyway.

      Shhh! Your friends will be embarrassed that you don't use Earned Value.

      Nothing has changed. Parts of the formulas simply have new names that are a bit easier to understand.

      Earned Value is the profit left after the cost of supplies is deducted.

      Test Your Knowledge – Answer on Pages 80-81

      QUICK QUIZ 6 – LATE PROJECTS

      As the project manager, you keep telling your project team that tasks are behind schedule, but the projects still finish late. What do you do?

      Talk louder.

      Look at your own project management choices.

      Send the team a detailed copy of your work breakdown structure (WBS) in Microsoft Project®.

      Ask another project manager to speak to your team.

      Plan to keep project work flowing around the clock.

      Test Your Knowledge – Answer on Pages 82-83

      QUICK QUIZ 7 – CHOOSING TEAMS

      I have a high priority project coming up and I was told I can choose my own team. This is the first time I've had this privilege, and I don't quite know how to start. Any tips?

      Post a list and let people volunteer.

      Tell your manager you'd prefer the team be chosen for you.

      Go ahead and start a work breakdown structure (WBS) and see who and what you need.

      Use the team you worked with last time.

      Test Your Knowledge – Answer on Pages 84-85

      QUICK QUIZ 8 – MEANINGFUL COMMUNICATION

      I know that project managers may spend up to 90 percent of their time in communication, but that seems like a lot. How do I spend that much time in a meaningful way?

      It depends on your project management experience and that of your team.

      Do extra reports, charts and graphs for your team to help them see exactly where the project stands.

      It depends on the number of members on your team. A smaller team means you do less communication.

      Surf the Internet.

      Test Your Knowledge – Answer on Pages 86-87

      QUICK QUIZ 9 – RUNNING COSTS

      I know how much my projects cost at the end when all the accounting is complete, but by then it's too late to change anything. What should I do to figure costs while I'm running the project?

      Nothing. It's a lot of work and no one will know the difference.

      Ask the accounting department to copy you on all company reports they prepare.

      Use the Earned Value cost formula and review the results on a periodic basis.

      Use the Earned Value cost formula to calculate the profit.

      Test Your Knowledge – Answer on Pages 88-89

      QUICK QUIZ 10 – PURCHASED SOFTWARE

      We've just invested a lot of money in a state-of-the-art software tool, but we're not seeing the huge jump in the success of our projects, which we anticipated. What's wrong?

      The fault may not be with the software, but with the way you are using it.

      You have been misled. Software is a useless tool to manage projects.

      You need to contact your information technology staff. They have set it up incorrectly.

      You have purchased the wrong software. Choose a major brand and all your projects will succeed.

      Test Your Knowledge – Answer on Pages 90-91

      QUICK QUIZ 11– BUSINESS VALUE

      I know that projects are chosen for the business value and return on investment they can deliver, but my projects don't bring in any revenue. Should I still do them?

      If your projects are not bringing in revenue, they are merely operational sets of tasks and have no business value. Turn them over to a junior team member.

      Your projects have marginal value, but stop work on them if opportunities for revenue-generating projects appear.

      You should continue to do your projects. They improve the organization's infrastructure and are therefore more valuable than revenue-generating projects.

      Many less exciting projects deal with compliance or operational issues, but they still add substantial business value. So work on them with pride.

      Test Your Knowledge – Answer on Pages 92-93

      QUICK QUIZ 12 – PROJECT STOPLIGHTS

      My organization uses the stoplight method: green, yellow and red indicators, to track the health of our projects. But sometimes it seems misleading. Is this method the best one?

      This method is the best one, so your mathematical formulas must be inaccurate.

      This method can be a good indicator of project health, but it is easy to misinterpret what the colors mean.

      This is not a good method to use, since the range of numbers set to trigger green, yellow or red stoplight indicators can vary widely.

      This method tells you when a project should be stopped and abandoned, so it is mandatory as a part of best practices.

      Test Your Knowledge – Answer on Pages 94-95

      QUICK QUIZ 13 – GOOD ENOUGH

      I struggle with the scope of my projects, as I see additional things that need to be included, although the customer or internal department says the scope is good enough as it is. Is it all right to settle for good enough?

      Good enough is never acceptable if you know how to make a project better.

      The customer is always right, so just do what they ask and know that you could have made this project much better if allowed to do so.

      The customer's wishes outline the scope for the project, but you should be clear on which decisions are theirs and which belong to the project manager.

      Customers never know as much as an experienced project manager, so agree to their scope now, but later include the extras that you know they need.

      Test Your Knowledge – Answer on Pages 96-97

      QUICK QUIZ 14 – PROJECT SPONSOR

      Upper management assigned a sponsor to my project. He has contacted me to say he has never done this before and to ask what he is supposed to do. What do I tell him?

      Ask him to schedule 30 minutes with you right away so you can discuss his role and brief him on the project.

      Tell him you will bring him the Project Plan to sign and then his responsibilities are over.

      Say that project sponsors are supposed to solve all conflicts between your team and the other departments of the organization. You'll call him frequently.

      Tell him he needs to find extra money for your project, as typically projects run over budget and take longer than scheduled.

      Test Your Knowledge – Answer on Pages 98-99

      QUICK QUIZ 15– AGILE METHODS

      The programmers on my project want to use the new agile methodology. It's not stressed in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), so am I allowed to use it as a project manager?

      Tools and techniques not covered in the PMBOK® Guide should not be used by project managers as they are always

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