Mentoring & Coaching Pert 4 - Project Scope Management

You are planning the must-have features of a new product in detail so that work can begin and the product can be released to the market as early as possible. The future features are unknown at the moment and will depend on what the competitors release. You will plan these features in greater detail later on. As you and your team create the work breakdown structure (WBS), what will you use to indicate future features?

• Control accounts

• WBS dictionary

• Work packages

• Planning packages

Answer explanation

Planning packages are used in a WBS to represent future features that are not yet defined in detail. They allow for flexibility in planning while indicating areas where more information will be added later.

The product owner meets with the project team members to discuss the user stories for the next iteration. The product owner points out the user stories that hold the highest value, while the team indicates which user stories bear the highest risk. By the end of the meeting, the user stories in the iteration backlog are prioritized, and the team knows how to develop them. What process have the product owner and the team just performed?

• Develop Schedule

• Kano analysis

• Backlog refinement

• Risk assessment

Answer explanation

The product owner and the team performed backlog refinement, where they prioritized user stories based on value and risk, ensuring the iteration backlog is clear for development.

During a meeting to determine the requirements for a software development project, everyone agrees to include a particular feature except the director of finance who is adamant that it is too costly. After a lengthy debate, the director of finance changes his mind and agrees to the inclusion of the feature. The decision is finally made to move forward with the feature. What decision-making technique has been used in this scenario?

• Plurality

• Unanimity

• Majority

• Autocratic decision-making

Answer explanation

The decision-making technique used is Unanimity, as all members, including the initially opposed director of finance, ultimately agreed to include the feature, indicating a consensus was reached.

A change request has been approved to add scope to a project. The change allows the project to be completed a month later with a budget increase of $10,000. What should the project manager do next?

• Add resources to bring the schedule back on track

• Use management reserves to cover the cost of the change

• Update the requirements management plan

• Communicate the change to the relevant stakeholders

Answer explanation

The project manager should communicate the change to the relevant stakeholders to ensure everyone is informed about the new scope, timeline, and budget. This step is crucial for maintaining transparency and alignment.

A company has been contracted to develop software for a hydroelectric plant. The project management plan specifies Scrum as the development approach. A few sprints into the project, regulators notify the performing organization that due to new environmental laws, safety features originally not included in the scope baseline will need to be built into the software. What is the project manager’s best course of action?

• Issue a change request to update the project management plan and, once approved, ensure that the scope baseline is updated

• Conduct a root cause analysis with the product owner to determine why the safety features were not included in the scope in the first place

• Use the MoSCoW model of prioritization to groom the scope baseline and categorize the new safety features as "should have"

• Discuss the new features with the team during sprint planning and if the team agrees, ask them to implement the features in the next sprint

Answer explanation

The best course of action is to issue a change request to update the project management plan. This ensures that the new safety features are formally integrated into the scope baseline, maintaining project compliance with regulations.

Gold plating had been an issue with your current software development project. However, you found that ever since instituting daily stand-up meetings, no more features or functionalities that the customer did not request have been introduced into the project. What is your best course of action to prevent gold plating for the remainder of the current project and on future projects?

• Bring up the topic during the project retrospective

• Capture the best practice in the lessons learned register

• Gold plating adds customer value and should not be prevented

• Ensure that the scope management plan includes daily stand-up meetings

Answer explanation

Ensuring that the scope management plan includes daily stand-up meetings will institutionalize the practice of regular communication, preventing gold plating by keeping the team focused on only the requested features.

A project manager has been assigned to a project and requested to review its charter. The charter emphasizes that the project will need to succeed within an environment of frequently changing conditions. As the project manager meets with the sponsor to provide comments, the sponsor asks for the project manager's recommendation on approaching this project. What should the project manager recommend?

• Limit change request after the first iteration is complete

• Adopt any relevant agile practices that enhance adaptability

• Ensure that all team members are I-shaped specialists

• Enhance resiliency by developing a comprehensive risk register

Answer explanation

The project manager should recommend adopting agile practices to enhance adaptability, as these practices are designed to accommodate frequent changes and improve responsiveness to evolving project conditions.

The product owner, along with input from the project team, defines and prioritizes the project backlog, calculates the total story points, and, based on a preliminary estimate of velocity, determines an anticipated delivery date for a software development project. Senior leadership is concerned that the estimated release date will not meet the urgent business need. What is the best course of action for the product owner?

• Use the WBS to determine what features have the highest value

• Work with the project team and relevant stakeholders to determine the minimum viable product (MVP)

• Use a burndown chart to track progress against the required release date

• Submit a change request to update the schedule baseline to coincide with the desired release date

Answer explanation

The best course of action is to work with the project team and stakeholders to determine the minimum viable product (MVP). This approach allows for prioritizing essential features to meet urgent business needs while managing delivery timelines.

A project has been chartered with so many unknowns and little clarity as to how the products are to be built and designed even though it is extremely clear to all that something has to be done and fast. What is the best approach for the project manager to take?

• Ensure all stakeholders are in agreement on the product and project scope at the start, then progress towards one solution

• Establish an evolving product roadmap, then define and refine the scope as the project progresses

• Stabilize the primary project requirements before any project team members are acquired

• Create a program of different projects to see which one works best

Answer explanation

Establishing an evolving product roadmap allows for flexibility in defining and refining the project scope as new information emerges, which is crucial in a project with many unknowns and urgent needs.

A project manager currently in the process determining , documenting, and managing stakeholder needs and requirements. Due to sensitive nature of the project , there is concern that some stakeholders will not provide candid feedback unless confidentiality is maintained What's the project manager's best course of action?

• Conduct interviews to elicit information from stakeholders by talking to them directly

• Use brainstorming to generate and collect multiple ideas related to project requirements

• Hold a focus group to learn about stakeholder expetation and attitude about the project

• Use multicriteria decision analysis to provide a systematic analytical approach for establishing criteria

Answer explanation

Conducting interviews allows the project manager to maintain confidentiality, encouraging stakeholders to provide honest feedback about their needs and requirements, which is crucial for sensitive projects.