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Stages of team development

What are the stages of team development?

A. Forming, storming, norming, performing
B. Forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning
C. Withdrawing, smoothing, compromising, collaborating
D. Withdrawing, smoothing, compromising, collaborating, confronting

Answer: B. Forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning
The fourth edition of the PMBOK® now has five team development stages (adjourning is the new addition). Choices C and D are techniques for resolving conflict.

Formal project authorization

What is the name of the document that formally authorizes a project?

A. Project management plan
B. Requirements documentation
C. Project charter
D. Project scope statement

Answer: C. Project charter
According to the PMBOK®, Develop Project Charter is the process of developing a document that formally authorizes a project or a phase and documenting initial requirements that satisfy the stakeholders' needs and expectations.

Quality audit

You are performing a quality audit to determine whether or not your project team's testing activities follow your organization's project policies. What process are you working in?

A. Perform Quality Assurance
B. Perform Quality Audit
C. Perform Quality Control
D. Perform Quality Activities

Answer: A. Perform Quality Assurance
The key word in the question is audit. Auditing is a primary tool in the quality assurance. Essentially, you are auditing to ensure appropriate quality standards. There is no such process as Perform Quality Audit or Perform Quality Activities.

Project -- what's the official definition anyway?

According to PMI®, a project is a(n) __________ endeavor undertaken to create a __________ product, service, or result.

A. special, permanent
B. temporary, unique
C. approved, capable
D. organized, needed

Answer: B. temporary, unique
That definition has been associated with the term 'project' since the first version of the PMBOK®.

Defect frequency

Adam wants to show his stakeholders defect types ranked by frequency of occurrence. What tool should he use?

A. Pareto chart
B. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
C. Control chart
D. Cause and effect diagram

Answer: A. Pareto chart
Pareto charts are based on Pareto's Law (the 80/20 principle). This type of histogram shows categories of defects in order of frequency of occurrence. By ranking defect types this way, you could visually see which 20% of the causes to address in order to solve 80% of the problems.

Risk response strategy

While planning a project that involves building a unique product for a client, you decide to build a prototype in order to reduce the risk of not meeting expectations. This is an example of what type of risk response strategy?

A. Avoid
B. Transfer
C. Mitigate
D. Accept

Answer: C. Mitigate
Mitigating requires you to decrease the probability and/or impact of a particular risk. In this scenario, creating a prototype could reduce the chance that the risk triggers but even if it does, it could decrease the delta (gap).

Test the deliverable

The project you are managing is nearing its end. Your testing team is currently inspecting the final deliverable. Which process is your project on?

A. Verify Scope
B. Control Scope
C. Perform Quality Assurance
D. Perform Quality Control

Answer: D. Perform Quality Control
According to the PMBOK®, Quality Control is the process of monitoring and recording results of executing the quality activities to assess performance and recommend necessary changes. In short, inspection! Do not confuse quality control with scope verification, the latter involving a formal sign-off by the customer.

False information on the PMP® application

George, one of your co-workers, is applying to take the PMP® exam. When you ask him about the process, he tells you that although he does not have enough experience to qualify, he is simply increasing his actual project hours to fill any gaps. You know this is wrong and the best thing for you to do is:

A. Tell his manager that he is being unethical
B. Confront him and recommend that he apply for the CAPM® exam instead
C. Notify PMI® directly
D. Do nothing

Answer: C. Notify PMI® directly
Although confronting him or telling his manager seem appropriate, the best thing for you to do is to contact PMI
®. As a general rule, the safest bet is to report unethical behavior directly to the governing body, and in this case, it happens to be PMI®.

Situational heuristic

You, the project manager, have a deliverable due in three days, just in time for your client to showcase at her annual event. However, you just learned that a shipment has been delayed and it will push your delivery date out by a day. What is the first thing you should do?

A. Notify your client
B. Notify your manager
C. Evaluate the options
D. Assess the impact

Answer: D. Assess the impact
Any time you are in a scenario like this, the first two things you should do before notifying your manager or your client are to (1) assess the impact and (2) evaluate the options. In other words, take a look at what happened and figure out some alternatives. So by the time you have to communicate to your manager/client, you already have a story and recommendation ready to go.

Labor cost

While planning your budget, you decide to categorize your types of costs. Labor, the biggest cost on the project, is best categorized as a(n):

A. Fixed cost
B. Variable cost
C. Direct cost
D. Indirect cost

Answer: C. Direct cost
Direct costs are those that attribute directly to a particular project. Conversely, indirect costs typically benefit multiple projects, such as overhead costs. One way to look at fixed costs vs. variable costs is that the former do not change as production changes.

Contract communications

Contracts should typically be communicated through:

A. Informal written
B. Informal verbal
C. Formal written
D. Formal verbal

Answer: C. Formal written
Formal written communication should be used for project documents such as project charters, project plans, and contracts. As a general rule, if it needs sign-off, then you should take a formal written method. Most project communication, however, will fall into the other categories. These could include email (informal written), meetings (informal verbal), and presentations (formal verbal).

If we keep doing it, we'll get better, right?

Part of your project includes building one hundred widgets. You know that it will take longer and be more costly to do the first widget as opposed to the one-hundredth widget because of improved efficiency. This is known as:

A. Historical information
B. Bottom up estimating
C. Learning curve
D. PERT estimating

Answer: C. Learning curve
A learning curve will lead to improved efficiency since your team will be more experienced as they build the widgets. This is a form a parametric estimating.

WBS breakdown

While working on a WBS, breaking down work into manageable parts is known as:

A. Decomposition
B. WBS dictionary
C. Work package
D. Scope management

Answer: A. Decomposition
Work packages are the lowest level of a WBS. The process of getting to that point is called decomposition.

Lag or lead? Critical path or non-critical path?

Although you got your project schedule approved prior to starting it, your client just moved the target finish date up two days. In order to finish the project two days earlier, which of the following can you apply?

A. Add two days of lag to the critical path
B. Add two days of lag to a non-critical path
C. Add two days of lead to the critical path
D. Add two days of lead to a non-critical path

Answer: C. Add two days of lead to the critical path
Lag is a forced waiting period and therefore, would push the project out. Adding lead, also known as negative lag, would do the opposite -- overlap related tasks, which is what you will need to do in this example to finish sooner. However, only adding lead to the critical path would affect the end date. Although you can add lead anywhere, putting it on a non-critical path would not allow you to finish any sooner.

Contract types 101

After deciding to outsource a part of the project, your sponsor tells you that he wants a contract with the least amount of risk. What type of contract will you be seeking?

A. Fixed price
B. Time and materials
C. Cost plus fixed fee
D. Cost plus percentage of cost

Answer: A. Fixed price
Of the contract types listed, fixed price (aka firm fixed price or lump sum) is the safest bet for the buyer. In a fixed price contract for $100,000, the buyer knows exactly what she is getting (assuming the scope is clearly defined) and how much she is paying. If the work actually takes more than $100,000 to deliver, then it rests on the supplier.

Opportunity cost

During the project selection stage, you learn that the value of Project A is $100,000 and the value of Project B is $75,000. Ultimately, Project A was chosen. As a result, the opportunity cost of that decision is:

A. $100,000
B. $75,000
C. $25,000
D. $175,000

Answer: B. $75,000
The opportunity cost is simply the value of the project not chosen. There is no math involved.

Customary gifts

While working as a project manager for your company, you travel to another country to meet with the client. During that visit, the client gives you a package and tells you that it is customary in their country to offer gifts. However, your company policy does not allow you to accept gifts. Therefore, you should:

A. Refuse the gift
B. Accept the gift anyway
C. Refuse the gift at first but accept it if the client insists
D. Accept the gift and notify your manager

Answer: D. Accept the gift and notify your manager
Although you should refuse gifts as a general rule, if it is customary for someone in another country to offer a gift, simply accept it and notify your manager. This is the only exception to the rule of not accepting any gifts since it could potentially be a conflict of interest.

Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

When workers get an opportunity to contribute at their best, they reach a level that Maslow refers to as:

A. Esteem
B. Theory Y
C. Self-actualization
D. Theory X

Answer: C. Self-actualization
In Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, he calls the top level self-actualization, where an individual is working at his/her optimum. Only when the previous needs have been met can one attain the next. From bottom to top, the levels are physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization. Theory X and Theory Y are part of McGregor's theories and not associated with Maslow.

One sigma, two sigma, three sigma, six sigma!

If 1 sigma is equal to 68.26% and 6 sigma is equal to 99.9997%, what does 2 sigma equal?

A. 74.52%
B. 81.24%
C. 88.79%
D. 95.46%

Answer: D. 95.46%
2 sigma is 95.46% while 3 sigma is 99.73%.

PERTy formula

The PERT formula is typically calculated as:

A. (O+M+P)/6
B. (O+4M+P)/6
C. (O+M+P)/3
D. (O+4M+P)/3

Answer: B. (O+4M+P)/6
PERT is a weighted average, typically with emphasis on the most likely (M). So if you're going to calculate 1x optimistic plus 4x most likely plus 1x pessimistic, that's six variables. Therefore, you would divide by six to get a weighted estimate.

Critical path, show us the way

After making a small change to your project schedule, you realize now that you have two critical paths. Therefore, the project:

A. Will cost less
B. Must be modified to allow only one critical path
C. Has increased risk
D. Cannot be accomplished

Answer: C. Has increased risk
A critical path is the longest path (and the shortest amount of time possible) it takes to complete the project. If you have two critical paths, that means you have less flexibility in your schedule. As a result, you have increased risk. You can actually have as many critical paths as necessary but of course, the more you have the riskier the project becomes.

Why am I creating a risk management plan again?

The purpose of a risk management plan is:

A. Indicate the probability and impact of each risk
B. Monitor risks on the project
C. Describe how risk will be managed on the project
D. Identify risks on the project

Answer: C. Describe how risk will be managed on the project
As with any management plan, the key is to describe how something will be managed. The key word being 'how'. You do not actually do anything with the risks at this point; rather simply documenting the process of managing risk. The other choices on the list refer to other risk processes.

Win-win conflict resolutions

Which of the following conflict resolutions leads to a win-win outcome?

A. Confronting
B. Smoothing
C. Compromising
D. Withdrawal

Answer: A. Confronting
Although many of us associate the word with a negative connotation, confronting actually leads to a win-win result. Confronting is also known as problem solving or collaborating. Although compromise is the second best choice, it leads to a lose-lose outcome since both parties give something up. Smoothing and withdrawal are temporary and lead to win-lose.

CPI and SPI: The under-rated indicators

Six months into a year long project your CPI is 0.8. However, your SPI is 1.2. This means that the project is:

A. Ahead of schedule and under budget
B. Ahead of schedule and over budget
C. Behind schedule and under budget
D. Behind schedule and over budget

Answer: B. Ahead of schedule and over budget
For both Cost Performance Index (CPI) and Schedule Performance Index (SPI), 1.0 is exactly as planned, over 1.0 is good and under 1.0 is bad. So in this case, the CPI is bad and SPI is good. In this example, the CPI means you are getting $0.80 of value out of every $1 spent (see CPI -- what is it trying to tell me?) while the SPI means you are progressing at 120% (i.e. 20% better than planned) of the baseline.

CPI -- what is it trying to tell me?

As the project manager with a cost conscience sponsor, you have been monitoring earned value throughout the year long project. At the halfway point, you report that the CPI is 0.8. This means that the project is:

A. Ahead of schedule
B. Under budget
C. Behind schedule
D. Over budget

Answer: D. Over budget
The Cost Performance Index (CPI) determines how much value you are earning per $1 spent. A CPI of 1.0 means you are on target and means that for every $1 you are putting into the project, you are getting $1 of value in return. Therefore, a CPI of 1.5 means that you are getting $1.50 for every $1 you put in, which is a good thing. Conversely, a CPI of 0.8 represents only getting $0.80 per $1, not so good. In short, over 1.0 is good, under 1.0 is bad.

Continuous improvement

In order to continuously improve, you must have:

A. Procedures
B. Lessons learned
C. Staff management plan
D. Management buy-in

Answer: B. Lessons learned
Without creating lessons learned documents, an organization cannot methodically improve future projects.

Organization types

Which of the following organization types does the project manager have the most power?

A. Functional
B. Weak matrix
C. Strong matrix
D. Projectized

Answer: D. Projectized
Projectized organizations grants project managers with total control of their projects. That means team members report directly to the project manager. Functional organizations, conversely, provides project managers with the least amount of power since the team members report to a functional, or line of business, manager.

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