WorksheetsProject Management Quiz
Total questions: 101
Worksheet time: 1hrs 16mins
The traditional competing constraints on a project are:
Time, cost, and profitability
Resources required, sponsorship involvement, and funding
Time, cost, and quality and/or scope
Calendar dates, facilities available, and funding
Which of the following is not part of the definition of a project?
Repetitive activities
Constraints
Consumption of resources
A well-defined objective
Which of the following is usually not part of the criteria for project success?
Customer satisfaction
Customer acceptance
Meeting at least 75 percent of specification requirements.
Meeting the triple-constraint requirements
Which of the following is generally not a benefit achieved from using project management?
Flexibility in the project’s end date
Improved risk management
Improved estimating
Tracking of projects
The person responsible for assigning the resources to a project is most often:
The project manager
The Human resources Department
The line manager
The executive sponsor
Conflicts between the project and line managers are most often resolved by:
The assistant project manager for conflicts
The project sponsor
The executive steering committee
The Human resources Department
Your company does only projects. If the projects performed by your company are for customers external to your company and a profit criterion exists on the project, then your organization is most likely:
Project-driven
Non–project-driven
A hybrid
All of the above are possible based upon the size of the profit margin
Match the development approach with its characteristic:
Waterfall approach
Well-defined and relatively stable scope, schedule, cost, resource needs, and risks.
The deliverable contains the capability to be considered as completed only after the final iteration.
Produce sufficient capability to be considered acceptable prior to the final iteration.
The iterations tend to get shorter and the product is more likely to evolve based on stakeholder feedback.
Match the development approach with its characteristic:
Incremental approach
Produce sufficient capability to be considered acceptable prior to the final iteration.
Well-defined and relatively stable scope, schedule, cost, resource needs, and risks.
The deliverable contains the capability to be considered as completed only after the final iteration.
The iterations tend to get shorter and the product is more likely to evolve based on stakeholder feedback
Match the development approach with its characteristic:
Iterative approach
Well-defined and relatively stable scope, schedule, cost, resource needs, and risks.
Produce sufficient capability to be considered acceptable prior to the final iteration.
The deliverable contains the capability to be considered as completed only after the final iteration.
The iterations tend to get shorter and the product is more likely to evolve based on stakeholder feedback
Match the development approach with its characteristic:
Adaptive approach
Produce sufficient capability to be considered acceptable prior to the final iteration.
The deliverable contains the capability to be considered as completed only after the final iteration.
Well-defined and relatively stable scope, schedule, cost, resource needs, and risks.
The iterations tend to get shorter and the product is more likely to evolve based on stakeholder feedback
The most common threshold limits on when to use the project management methodology are:
The importance of the customer and potential profitability
The size of the project (i.e., $) and duration
The reporting requirements and position of the sponsor
The desires of management and functional boundaries crossed
Project management methodologies often work best if they are structured around:
Rigid policies
Rigid procedures
Minimal forms and checklists
Life-cycle phases
A grouping of projects is called a:
Program
Project template
Business template
Business plan
Having too many life-cycle phases may be detrimental (tending to cause harm/harmful) because:
Executive sponsors will micromanage.
Executive sponsors will become “invisible”.
The project manager will spend too much time planning for gate review meetings rather than managing the phases.
The project manager will need to develop many different plans for each phase.
The major difference between a project and a program is usually:
The role of the sponsor
The role of the line manager
The time frame
The specifications
Which of the following would not be regarded as a secondary definition of project success?
The customer is unhappy with the deliverable, but follow-on business is awarded based on effective customer relations.
The deliverables are met but applicable laws are violated.
The customer is displeased with the performance, but you have developed a new technology that could generate many new products.
The project’s costs were overrun by 40 percent, but the customer funds an enhancement project.
A structured process for managing a multitude of projects is most commonly referred to as:
Project management policies
Project management guidelines
Industry-wide templates
A project management methodology
The most difficult decision for an executive sponsor to make at the end-of-phase review meeting is to:
Allow the project to proceed to the next phase based upon the original objective.
Allow the project to proceed to the next phase based upon a revised objective.
Postpone making a decision until more information is processed.
Cancel the project
One way to validate the successful implementation of project management is by looking at the number and magnitude (quy mô) of the conflicts requiring:
Executive involvement
Customer involvement
Line management involvement
Project manager involvement
The major behavioral issue in getting an organization to accept and use a project management methodology effectively is:
Lack of executive sponsorship
Multiple boss reporting
Inadequate policies and procedures
Limited project management applications
Projects that remain almost entirely within one functional area are best managed by the:
Project manager
Project sponsor
Functional manager
Assigned functional employees
Standardization and control are benefits usually attributed to:
Laissez-faire management (e.g., allowing the team to make their own decisions and establish their own goals, also referred to as taking a hands-off style)
Project management on R&D efforts
Use of life cycle-phases
An organization with weak executive sponsorship
A project is terminated early because the technology cannot be developed, and the resources are applied to another project that ends up being successful. Which of the following is true concerning the first project?
The first project is regarded as a failure.
The first project is a success if the termination is done early enough before additional resources are squandered.
The first project is a success if the project manager gets promoted.
Large projects are managed by:
The executive sponsor
The project or program office for that project
The manager of project managers
The director of marketing
In which organizational form is it most difficult to integrate project activities?
Classical/traditional
Projectized
Strong matrix
Weak matrix
In which organization form would the project manager possess the GREATEST amount of authority?
Classical/traditional
Projectized
Strong matrix
Weak matrix
In which organizational form does the project manager often have the LEAST amount of authority?
Classical/traditional
Classical/traditional
Strong matrix
Weak matrix
In which organizational form is the project manager least likely to share resources with other projects?
Classical/traditional
Projectized
Strong matrix
Weak matrix
In which organizational form do project managers have the greatest likelihood of possessing reward power and have a wage-and-salary administration function? (The project and line manager are the same person.)
Classical/traditional
Projectized
Strong matrix
Weak matrix
In which organizational form is the worker in the greatest danger of losing his or her job if the project gets canceled?
Classical/traditional
Projectized
Strong matrix
Weak matrix
In which type of matrix structure would a project manager most likely have a command of technology?
Strong matrix
Balanced matrix
Weak matrix
Cross-cultural matrix
The document that officially sanctions the project is the:
Project plan
Feasibility study
Cost-benefit analysis
Project charter
In a multi-phase project, when are assumptions validated and risks analyzed?
As specified in the Project Governance document.
At the beginning of each phase.
At the end of the project.
At the end of each phase.
Which of the following would be the MOST appropriate thing to do during the initiating process group?
Create a detailed description of the project deliverables
Identify the root cause of problems
Ensure all project management processes a complete
Get familiar with the company culture and structure as it relates to the project
The role of the project sponsor during project initiation is to assist in:
Performing the project cost-benefit analysis
Performing the project feasibility study
Defining the project’s objectives in both business and technical terms
Developing the project plan
The high-level project schedule constraints have just been determined. What project management process group are you in?
Initiating
Executing
Monitoring and Controlling
Planning
The project charter is created in which project management process group?
Initiating
Closing
Planning
Executing
Which of the following is a valid way of evaluating the financial feasibility of a project?
Net present value (NPV)
Return on investment (ROI)
Internal rate of return (IRR)
All of the above
What are the maximum number of subsidiary plans a program management plan can contain?
10
15
20
Unlimited number
In which project management process group is the detailed project budget created?
Executing
Initiating
Before the project management process
Planning
The person who should be in control of the project during project planning is the:
Team member
Project manager
Functional manager
Sponsor
You inform the project sponsor that the project management plan will continuously increase in the level of detail as the project moves forward. In project management, what is this process known as?
Scope creep
Progressive elaboration
Resource planning
Life cycle
The work breakdown structure “control points” for the management of a project are the:
Milestones
Work packages
Activities
Constraints
Which of the following generally cannot be validated using a work breakdown structure?
Schedule control
Cost control
Quality control
Risk management
One of the most common reasons why projects undergo scope changes is:
Poor work breakdown structure
Poorly defined statement of work
Lack of resources
Lack of funding
The work packages in the WBS are at WBS level(s):
2 only
3 only
4 only
3 and 4
The performance measurement baseline is most often composed of three baselines:
Cost, schedule, and risk baselines
Cost, schedule, and scope baselines
Cost, risk, and quality baselines
Schedule, risk, and quality baselines
Which of the following is (are) the benefit(s) of developing a WBS to low levels?
Better estimation of costs
Better control
Less likely that something will “fall through the cracks”
All of the above
Baselines, once established, identify:
What the customer and contractor agree to
What the sponsor and the customer agree to
What the customer wants done but not necessarily what the project manager plans to do
What the project manager plans on doing but not necessarily what the customer has asked for
One of your contractors has sent you an e-mail requesting that they be allowed to conduct only eight tests rather than the ten tests required by the specification. What should the project manager do first?
Change the scope baseline.
Ask the contractor to put forth a change request.
Look at the penalty clauses in the contract.
Ask your sponsor for his or her opinion.
One of your contractors sends you an e-mail request to use high quality raw materials in your project stating that this will be value-added and improve quality. What should the project manager do first?
Change the scope baseline
Ask the contractor to put forth a change request
Ask your sponsor for his or her opinion
Change the WBS
The change control board, of which you are a member, approves a significant scope change. The first document that the project manager should updated would be the:
Scope baseline
Schedule
WBS
Budget
The shortest time necessary to complete all of the activities in a network is called the:
Activity duration length
Critical path
Maximum slack path
Compression path
Which of the following cannot be identified after performing a forward and backward pass?
Dummy activities
Slack time
Critical path activities
How much overtime is scheduled
Which of the following is not a commonly used technique for schedule compression?
Resource reduction
Reducing scope
Fast-tracking activities
Use of overtime
A network-based schedule has four paths, namely 7, 8, 9, and 10 weeks. If the 10-week path is compressed to 8 weeks, then:
We now have two critical paths.
The 9-week path is now the critical path.
Only the 7-week path has slack.
Not enough information is provided to make a determination.
The major Disadvantages of using bar charts to manage a project is that bar charts:
Do not show dependencies between activities
Are ineffective for projects under one year in length
Are ineffective for projects under $1 million in size
Do not identify start and end dates of a schedule.
The first step in the development of a schedule is a:
Listing of the activities
Determination of dependencies
Calculation of effort
Calculation of durations
Reducing the peaks and valleys in manpower assignments in order to obtain a relatively smooth manpower curve is called:
Manpower allocation
Manpower leveling
Resource allocation
Resource commitment planning
Activities with no time duration are called:
Reserve activities
Dummy activities
Zero slack activities
Supervision activities
Optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely activity times are associated with:
PERT
GERT
PDM
ADM
The most common “constraint” or relationship in a precedence network is:
Start-to-start (SS)
Start-to-finish (SF)
Finish-to-start (FS)
Finish-to-finish (FF)
A network-based technique that allows for branching and looping is:
PERT
GERT
PDM
ADM
If an activity on the critical path takes longer than anticipated, then:
Activities not on the critical path have additional slack.
Activities not on the critical path have less slack.
Additional critical path activities will appear.
None of the above
You have an activity where the early start is week 6, the early finish is week 10, the latest start is week 14, and the latest finish is week 18. The slack (total float) in this activity is:
4 weeks
6 weeks
8 weeks
18 weeks
A project where the scope evolves as the work takes place is called either progressive planning or:
Continuous planning
Rolling wave planning
Synchronous planning
Continuous re-estimation planning
The three common classification systems for estimates includes all of the following except:
Parametric estimates
Quick-and-dirty estimates
Analogy estimates
Engineering estimates
The most accurate estimates are:
Parametric estimates
Quick-and-dirty estimates
Analogy estimates
Engineering estimates
Which of the following is considered to be a bottom-up estimate rather than a top-down estimate?
Parametric estimates
Analogy estimates
Engineering estimates
None of the above
Which of the following would be considered as a cost-estimating relationship (CER)?
Mathematical equations based upon regression analysis
Learning curves
Cost–cost or cost–quantity relationships
All of the above
If a worker earns $30 per hour in salary but the project is charged $75 per hour for each hour the individual works, then the overhead rate is:
100%
150%
250%
None of the above
Information supplied to a customer to support the financial data provided in a proposal is commonly called:
Backup data
Engineering support data
Labor justification estimates
Legal rights estimates
Estimating pitfalls can result from:
Poorly defined statement of work
Failure to account for risks in the estimates
Using the wrong estimating techniques
All of the above
The source of many estimating risks is:
Poorly defined requirements
An inexperienced project manager
Lack of management support during estimating
All of the above
The calculation of the total cost of a product, from R&D to operational support and disposal, is called:
Birth-to-death costing
Life-cycle costing
Summary costing
Depreciation costing
What is a document that outlines how the team will operate and work together?
Team charter
Resource management plan
Project charter
Team acquisition plan
If project time and cost are not as important as the number of resources used each month, which of the following is the BEST thing to do?
Perform a Monte Carlo analysis
Fast track the project
Perform resource leveling
Analyze the life cycle costs
Your project management plan results in a project schedule that is too long. If the project network diagram cannot change but you have extra personnel resources, what is the BEST thing to do?
Fast track the project
Level the resource
Crash the project
Risk analysis
What does a resource histogram show that a responsibility assignment matrix does not?
Time
Activity
Interrelationships
The person in charge of each activity
During project planning in a matrix organization, the project manager determines that additional human resources are needed. From whom would he request these resources?
Project manager
Functional manager
Team
Project sponsor
A project manager must publish a project schedule. Activities, start/end times, and resources are identified. What should the project manager do NEXT?
Distribute the project schedule according to the communications management plan
Confirm the availability to the resources
Refine the project management plan to reflect more accurate costing information
Publish a bar chart illustrating the timeline
During project staffing, the primary role of senior management is in the selection of the:
Project manager
Assistant project managers
Functional team
Executives do not get involved in staffing.
During project staffing, the primary role of line management is:
Approving the selection of the project manager
Approving the selection of assistant project managers
Assigning functional resources based upon who is available
Assigning functional resources based upon availability and the skill set needed
A project manager is far more likely to succeed if it is obvious to everyone that:
The project manager has a command of technology.
The project manager is a higher pay grade than everyone else on the team.
The project manager is over 45 years of age.
Executive management has officially appointed the project manager.
Most people believe that the best way to train someone in project management is through:
On-the-job training
University seminars
Graduate degrees in project management
Professional seminars and meeting
In staffing negotiations with the line manager, you identify a work package that requires a skill set of a grade 7 worker. The line manager informs you that he will assign a grade 6 and a grade 8 worker. You should:
Refuse to accept the grade 6 because you are not responsible for training
Ask for two different people
Ask the sponsor to interfere
Be happy! You have two workers.
You priced out a project at 1,000 hours assuming a grade 7 employee would be assigned. The line manager assigns a grade 9 employee. This will result in a significant cost overrun. The project manager should:
Reschedule the start date of the project based upon the availability of a grade 7
Ask the sponsor for a higher priority for your project
Reduce the scope of the project
See if the grade 9 can do the job in less time.
As a project begins to wind down, the project manager should:
Release all nonessential personnel so that they can be assigned to other projects
Wait until the project is officially completed before releasing anyone
Wait until the line manager officially requests that the people be released
Talk to other project managers to see who wants your people
Which of the following is not one of the sources of authority for a project manager?
Project charter
Job description for a project manager
Delegation from senior management
Delegation from subordinates
Which form of power do project managers that have a command of technology and are leading R&D projects most frequently use?
Reward power
Legitimate power
Expert power
Referent power
If a project manager possesses penalty (or coercive) power,
he or she most likely also possesses:
Reward power
Legitimate power
Expert power
Referent power
A project manager with a history of success in meeting deliverables and in working with team members would most likely possess a great deal of:
Reward power
Legitimate power
Expert power
Referent power
Most project managers are motivated by which
level of Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs?
Safety
Socialization
Self-esteem
Self-actualization
You have been placed in charge of a project team. The majority of the team members have less than two years of experience working on project teams and most of the people have never worked with you previously. The leadership style you would most likely select would be:
Telling
Selling
Participating
Delegating
You have been placed in charge of a new project team and are fortunate to have been assigned the same people that worked for you on your last two projects. Both previous projects were very successful and the team performed as a high-performance team. The leadership style you would most likely use on the new project would be:
Telling
Selling
Participating
Delegating
A project manager provides a verbal set of instructions to two team members on how to perform a specific test. Without agreeing or disagreeing with the project manager, the two employees leave the project manager’s office. Later, the project manager discovers that the tests were not conducted according to his instructions. The most probable cause of failure would be:
Improper encoding
Improper decoding
Improper format for the message
Lack of feedback on instructions
A project manager who allows workers to be actively involved with the project manager in making decisions would be using which leadership style?
Passive
Participative/ democratic
Autocratic
Laissez-faire
A project manager who dictates all decisions and does not allow for any participation by the workers would be using which leadership style?
Passive
Participative/ democratic
Autocratic
Laissez-faire
A project manager that allows the team to make virtually all of the decisions without any involvement by the project manager would be using which leadership style?
Passive
Participative/democratic
Autocratic
Laissez-faire
A project can be considered on schedule if
A. All tasks are completed on time
B. Some tasks are delayed but do not affect the overall schedule.
C. No one reports on the project's progress.
D. Team members feel they have done a good job
