Belgrade, October 2011

Lecturer
Miodrag Ivkovi, MScE, PMP
Head of Wireless Access Network Planning & Development Department

Joint Stock Telecommunications Company Telekom Srbija Technical Division Planning & Development Function
miodragiv@telekom.rs

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Agenda
Time Management Tips and tricks Q&A

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Project Time Management

Koriena dokumentacija: Andy Crow The PMP Examp Fourth Edition Frank T Anbary Q & As for the PMBOK Fourth Edition Rita Mulcahy PMP Exam Prep Sixth Edition PMI - A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) 4ed

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Project Time Management

 Project Time Management is concerned primarily with resources, activities, scheduling and schedule management. PM should be in control of the schedule and not vice versa. The schedule is managed throughout the life of the project.

6.1. DEFINE ACTIVITIES

The process is often performed as soon as the scope has been baselined. After project scope statement, work brakdown structure and the WBS dictinionary have been created then it is common to create the activity list. - decompose work into activity detail - list represent all of the schedule activities thet need to take place for the project to be completed - use WBS and decompose the work packages until they represent schedule activities - activity list has to be complete and correct.

6.1. DEFINE ACTIVITIES - INPUTS

Scope Baseline (Scope statement, WBS, WBS dictionary) Enterprise Environmental Factor anything external to your project that affects your project - Company s organizational structure - Organization s values and work ethic - Laws and regulations where the work is being performed or where the product will be used - The characteristics of your project s stakeholders ( e.g. their expectations and willingness to accept risk) - The overall state of the marketplace for your project - Organization s infrastructure - The stakeholder or organization s appetite for risk

6.1. DEFINE ACTIVITIES - INPUTS

Organizational Process Assets typically divided into the category of processes, procedures and corporate knowledge - Templates for common project documents - Examples from a previous project plan - Organizational policies, procedures and guidelines for any area (risk, financial, reporting, change control) - SW tools - Databases of project information - Estimating data for budget or schedule components - Historical information - Lessons learned - Knowledge bases Special corporate competencies

6.1. DEFINE ACTIVITIES - TOOLS

Decomposition WBS is decomposed into smaller pieces, known as schedule activities. Rolling Wave Planning Rolling Wave Planning is a form of progressive elaboration planning where the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail and future work is planned at a higher level of the WBS. Therefore, work can exist at various levels of detail depending on where it is in the project life cycle. For example, during early strategic planning, when information is less defined, work packages may be decomposed to the milestone level. As more is known about the upcoming events in the near term it can be decomposed into activities.

6.1. DEFINE ACTIVITIES - TOOLS

Templates May exist from previous similar project, commercially available activity list or provided by the organization s project office Expert Judgment Used whenever the project team and the project manager do not have sufficient expertise. Inside or outside organization. Paid consultants or offer free advice.

6.1. DEFINE ACTIVITIES - OUTPUTS

Activity List All of the schedule activities that need to be performed in order to complete the project are compiled into the activity list. Each activity should be map back to one and only one work package. Activities are focused on the work that need to be done in order to execute the work packages. Each activity must be identified and documented. Activity Attributes May be stored with the activities list or be stored in a separate document (name of the person responsible for this activity, the parts that need to be procured before this activity may be started, location at which the work will be performed Milestone List Imposed dates (contractual obligation), schedule constraints, sponsor s request.

6.2. SEQUENCE ACTIVITIES

SEQUENCE ACTIVITIES Activity list defined in the Define Activity process is arranged in the order those activity must be performed. Process is about understanding and diagramming the relationships that activities have with each other (dependencies and sequences).

6.2. SEQUENCE ACTIVITIES - INPUTS

Activity List Activity Attributes Milestones Project Scope Statement influence the order in which certain activities are performed. Ensure that nothing is missed. Organizational Process Assets

6.2. SEQUENCE ACTIVITIES- TOOLS

Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) or Activity-onNode (AON) PDM is method used in Critical Path Methodology (CPM) for construction a project schedule network diagram that uses boxes or rectangles, referred to as nodes, to represent activities and connect them with arrows that show the logical relationships that exist between them. Four types of logical relationships between activities: Finish-to-Start (FS) Start-to-Start (SS) Finish-to-Finish (FF) Start-to-Finish (SF) Dependency Determination Things that influence which activity must be performed first.

6.2. SEQUENCE ACTIVITIES - TOOLS

1. Mandatory Dependencies Mandatory dependencies are those that are contractually required or inherent in the nature of the work. The project team determines which dependencies are mandatory during the process of sequencing the activities. Mandatory dependencies often involve physically limitations, such as on construction project where it is impossible to erect the superstructure until after the foundation has been built or on an electronics project, where a prototype must be built before it can be tested. Mandatory dependencies are also sometimes referred to as hard logic.

6.2. SEQUENCE ACTIVITIES - TOOLS

2. Discretionary Dependencies The project team determines which dependencies are discretionary during the process of sequencing the activities. Discretionary dependencies are sometimes referred to as preferred logic or soft logic. Discretionary dependencies are established based on knowledge of best practices within a particular application area or some unusual aspect of the project where a specific sequence is desired, even though there may be other acceptable sequences.
3. External Dependencies must be considered but are outside of the project s control and scope (Law, standards)

6.2. SEQUENCE ACTIVITIES - TOOLS

Apply Leads and Lags The project management team determines the dependencies that may require a lead or a lag to accurately define the logical relationship. The use of leads and lags should not replace schedule logic. Activities and their related assumptions should be documented. A lead allows an acceleration of the successor activity. A lag directs a delay in the successor activity. Schedule Network Templates Examples a previous project, standard format issued by the project management office

6.2. SEQUENCE ACTIVITIES - OUTPUTS

Project Schedule Network Diagram It is not the schedule no start and finished date are assigned to the activities yet. Activities are simple arranged in the order they need to be performed on the project. Summary nodes or include a full representation of every activities in the project. Project Document Updates

6.3. ESTIMATE ACTIVITY RESOURCES

The process is all about analyzing the project s schedule activities to determine the resource requirements (number of resources, resources availability).

6.3. ESTIMATE ACTIVITY RESOURCES - INPUTS

Activity List Each activity in the list will be evaluated and the resources will be estimated for it. Activity Attributes Give expanded information on each activity in the activity list. Resource Calendar Provide dates that human and physical resources will be available. Enterprise Environmental Factors Organizational Process Assets

6.3. ESTIMATE ACTIVITY RESOURCES - TOOLS

Expert Judgment Alternative Analysis Alternatives may be helpful (outsourcing, purchasing rather than building one, using totally different approach to completely activity ..) Published Estimating Data Extensive data available through published Bottom-UP Estimating If activity cannot be estimated due to it is too complex or it has not been broken down enough than activities have to break down further into progressive smaller pieces of work until these pieces may be estimated for their resources requirements. Once these estimations have been performed, the pieces may be summed up from the bottom up to an activity level. Project Management Software Help to store and organize information, experiments with an alternatives, routine calculations

6.3. ESTIMATE ACTIVITY RESOURCES - OUTPUTS

Activity Resource Requirements Primary output of Estimate Activity Resources are resources required for each schedule activity. It should be documented with sufficient detail to explain the decision making process used to arrive at these estimates. Recourse Breakdown Structure RBS. Graphical and hierarchical , logically arranged from top to bottom. It arranges the resources by category and type. Project Document Updates

6.4. ESTIMATE ACTIVITY DURATIONS

Each activity in the activity list is analyzed to estimate how long it will take. Manu factors could influence duration of an activity: who will be doing the work, when they are available, how many resources will be assigned to this activity, amount of work contained in the activity.

6.4. ESTIMATE ACTIVITY DURATIONS - INPUTS

Activity List Activity Attributes Activity Resource Requirements Resources Calendars Project Scope Statements - defined in Define Scope Enterprise Environmental Factors Organizational Process Assets

6.4. ESTIMATE ACTIVITY DURATIONS - TOOLS

Expert Judgment Analogous Estimating (Top-Down) Previous actual time spent on the similar activity is used as the estimate for another similar activity. Usually this technique is combined with expert judgment and historical information to predict future. Parametric Estimating Useful for activities that are linear or easily scaled. It is not as effective for activities that have not been performed before or those for which little or no historical information has been gathered. - Regression analysis (scatter diagram) try to find mathematical formula - Learning curve scalable prediction

6.4. ESTIMATE ACTIVITY DURATIONS - TOOLS

Three-Point Estimates PERT (Program Evaluating and Review Technique) There are pessimistic, most likely (realistic) and optimistic estimates. Expected activity duration (EAD). To = (Tp + 4 x Tr +To) / 6 Standard deviation (SD) = (Tp - To) / 6 Activity Variance 2 Reserve Analysis Contingency is extra time added to an activity duration estimate. Response to risk.

6.4. ESTIMATE ACTIVITY DURATION - OUTPUTS

Activity Duration Estimates - for each activity in the activity list Project Document Updates

6.5. DEVELOP SCHEDULE

Most visible and important part of the project plan.

6.5. DEVELOP SCHEDULE - INPUTS

Activity List Activity Attributes Project Schedule Network Diagrams Activity Resource Requirement Resource Calendar Activity Duration Estimates Project Scope Statements constraints and assumptions relate to cost and time they need to be factored into this process. Enterprise Environmental Factors Organizational Process Assets

6.5. DEVELOP SCHEDULE - TOOLS

Schedule Network Analysis A group of technique used to create the schedule. General tool. Critical Path Method (CPM) The critical path method calculates the theorethical early start and finish dates, and late start and finished date, for all activities without regard for an resource limitations, by performing a forward and backward pass analysis through the schedule network. The resulting early and late start and finish dates are not necessarily the project schedule; rather, they indicate the time periods within which the activity could be scheduled, given activity durations, logical relationships, leads, lags, and other known constraints. A critical path is normally characterized by zero total float on the critical path. Networks can have multiple near critical paths risk to the project.

6.5. DEVELOP SCHEDULE - TOOLS

Critical Path Method (CPM) There are three types of float (slack): Total float (about project or milestone) Free float (about successor) Project float (about obligation to the customer or management) Float = Late Start Early Start = Late Finish Early Finish Forward pass Backward pass

6.5. DEVELOP SCHEDULE - TOOLS

Critical Chain Method Critical Chain Method is a schedule network analysis technique that modifies the project schedule to account for limited resources. Initially, the project schedule network diagram is built using duration estimates with required dependencies and defined constraints as inputs. The critical path is then calculated. After the critical path is identified, resource availability is entered and the resource-limited schedule result is determined. The resulting schedule often has an altered critical path. Duration buffer at the end of the critical chain Feeding buffer at each point of dependent task that feed the critical chain

6.5. DEVELOP SCHEDULE - TOOLS

Resource Leveling Your resource needs meet up with the organizational s ability to supply resource. What-If Scenario Analysis Monte Carlo analysis predicts likely schedule outcomes for a project and identify the areas of the schedule that are the highest risk. Shows no apparent risk activities and impact of changes on the schedule

6.5. DEVELOP SCHEDULE - TOOLS

Applying Leads and Lags The project management team determines the dependencies that may require a lead or a lag to accurately define the logical relationship. The use of leads and lags should not replace schedule logic. Activities and their related assumptions should be documented. A lead allows an acceleration of the successor activity. For example, on a project to construct a new office building, the landscaping could be scheduled to start 2 weeks prior to scheduled punch list completion. This would be shown as a finish-to-start with a 2-week lead. A lag directs a delay in the successor activity. For example, a technical writing team can begin editing the draft of a large document 15 days after they begin writing it. This could be shown as a start-to-start relationship with a 15-day lag.

6.5. DEVELOP SCHEDULE - TOOLS

Schedule Compression Complete the project schedule earlier without cutting the project s scope. Crashing A schedule compression technique in which cost and schedule tradeoffs are analyzed to dermine how to obtain the greatest amount of compression for the least incremental cost. Exaples of crashing could include approving overtime, bringing in additional resources, or paying to expedite delivery to activities on the critical path. Crashing only works for activities where additional resources will shorten the duration. Crashing does not always produce a viable alternative and may result in inceased risk/or cost. Fast tracking You re-order the sequence of activities so that some of the activities are performed in parallel or at the same time. It always increase risk to the project your ignore discretionary dependencies.

6.5. DEVELOP SCHEDULE - TOOLS

Scheduling Tool The tool performs mathematics and logic processes of building the schedule.

6.5. DEVELOP SCHEDULE - OUTPUTS

Project Schedule Project Network Diagram Bar Chart (Gantt Chart)- good tool to communicate with project team Milestone Chart represent key events for the project, communicate with high level management

6.5. DEVELOP SCHEDULE - OUTPUTS

Schedule Baseline Any baseline is the original plan plus all approved changes. Schedule baseline is created at the point at which the schedule is approved by the customer, the sponsor and the project Manager, functional manager and the team. Schedule Data Data which supports how this schedule was developed (schedule templates that were used, the activities and their attributes, estimated durations and any constraints and assumptions. Project Document Updates Resource requirements, activity attributes, risk logs, calendars etc.

6.6. CONTROLE SCHEDULE

Monitoring and controlling process. Compare schedule - time related performance to the plan. The project manager should be proactive. The schedule should be monitored continuously against the actual work performed to ensure that things stay on target. Control Schedule is performed from the moment schedule is developed until all scheduled activities have been completed.

6.6. CONTROLE SCHEDULE - INPUTS

Project Management Plan It contains schedule management plan and schedule baseline. The schedule management plan defines how the schedule will be managed and changed. Schedule baseline provides the latest approved version of the project schedule. Project Schedule Work Performance Information It gives information on how the work is being performed, trends and comparison against the schedule plan. Organization Process Assets

6.6. CONTROLE SCHEDULE - TOOLS

Performance Reviews Project manager can determine how the project is progressing against the schedule. Variance analysis It looks difference between what was scheduled and what was executed in order to understand any differences. These differences are analyzed to determine whether or not corrective action is required. Project Management Software Automates and simplified the analysis used in the other tools and techniques described for Control Schedule. Resource Leveling

6.6. CONTROLE SCHEDULE - TOOLS

What-If Scenario Analysis It analyzes multiple scenarios to find the best way to align the plan with reality. Adjusting Leads and Legs Always have some effect on the schedule even if they do not affect the delivery date. As the project management plan is executed, the leads and lags need to be adjusted to reflect reality. Schedule Compression Scheduling tool

6.6. CONTROLE SCHEDULE - OUTPUTS

Work Performance Measurements The Update performance index (SPI), schedule variance (SV) and other earned value measurements relevant to the schedule need to be calculated and communicated out. Organizational Process Assets Updates Change Requests Project Management Plan Updates If the schedule changed, impact to the project s scope and budget are to be expected. All changes need to be captured as updates. Project Document Updates This output captures all of the updates to project document that are not part of the project management plan. That include any project document that has changed as a result of Control Schedule.

Project Time Management - Q&A

1. The Project Time Management processes include: A. Activity Definition, Activity Sequencing, Activity Execution, Activity Duration Estimation and Activity Control

B. Define Activities, Sequence Activities, Estimate Activity Resources, Estimate Activity Durations, Develop Schedule Results and Control Schedule.
C. Identify Activities, Develop Schedule, Execute Activities, Control Activities and Monitor Schedule Result. D. Determine Activities, Estimate Activity Durations, Develop Schedules, Implement Activities and Report Activity Results.

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1. Answere: B Project Time Management includes the process required to manage timely completion of the project. 6.1. Define Activities The process of identifying the specific actions to be performed to produce the project deliverables. 6.2. Sequence Activities The process of identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities. 6.3. Estimate Activity Resources The process of estimating the type and quantities of material, people, equipment or supplies to perform each activity. 6.4. Estimate Activity Durations The process of approximating the number of work periods needed to complete individual activities with estimated resources. 6.5. Develop Schedule The process of analyzing activity sequences, durations, resources requirements and schedule constraints to create the project schedule. 6.6. Control Schedule The process of monitoring the status of the project to update project progress and managing changes

Project Time Management - Q&A

2. In rolling wave planning. A. Focus is maintained on long-term objesctives, allowing nearterm objesctives to be rolled out as part of the ongoing wave of activities. B. The work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detailed and future work is planned at a higher level of the WBS.

C. The work far in the future is planned in detail for WBS components that are at a low level of the WBS.
D. A wave of detailed activities is planned during strategic planning to ensure that WBS deliverables and project milestones are achived.
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2. Answer B Rolling Wave Planing Rolling Wave Planning is a form of progressive elaboration planning where the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail and future work is planned at a higher level of the WBS. Therefore, work can exist at various levels of detail depending on where it is in the project life cycle. For example, during early strategic planning, when information is less defined, work packages may be decomposed to the milestone level. As more is is known about the upcoming events in the near term it can be decomposed into activities.

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3. The precedence diagramming method (PDM): A. Uses boxes or rectangles to represent activities. Therefore, it is also called activity-on-node (AON). B. Uses a probalistic approach to scheduling project activities. C. Is a time-phased graphical representation of the arrow diagramming method (ADM) and swows durations of project activities as well as their dependences. D. Is more accurate than the critical path method for scheduling when there are uncertainties about the durations of project activities.
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3. Answer A Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) PDM is method used in Critical Path Methodology (CPM) for construction a project schedule network diagram that uses boxes or rectangles, referred to as nodes, to represent activities and connect them with arrows that show the logical relationships that exist between them.

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4. The duration of the acivity is affected by all of the following except: A. The estimated activity resource requirements. B. The resources assigned to the acctivity. C. The availabality of the resources assigned to the activity. D. Using the precedence diagramming method (PDM) for scheduling actvities instead of using the Critical Path Method (CPM).

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4. Answere: D The estimated activity resource requirements will have an effect on the duration of the activity , since the resources assigned to the activity and the availability of those resources will significantly influence the duration of most activities. For example, if additional or lower-skilled resources are assigned to an activity, there may be reduced efficiency or productivity due to increased communication, training, and coordination needs.

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5. The fast tracking method of schedule compression involves:
A. The use of industrial engineering techniques to improve productivity, thereby finishing the project earlier than originally planned. B. Performing in parallel activities that are normally performed in sequences, which may result in rework and increased risk C. Going on a mandatory overtime schedule to complete the project on schedule or earlier if possible. D. Assigning dedicated teams to critical path activities to achieve project schedule objectives.

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5. Answer B Schedule Compression Fast tracking. A schedule compression technique in which phases or activities normally performed in sequence are performed in parallel. An example is constructing the foundation for a building before completing all of the architectural drawings. Fast tracking may result in rework and increased risk. Fast tracking only works if activities vam be overlapped to shorten the duration.

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6. Together with your team, you applied three-poin estimation on a Critical path which consist of two activities. The following duration uncertainties are all calculated assuming a +/- 3 sigma Confidence interval. The duration uncertainty defined as pessimistic minus optimistic estimate of the first activity is 18 days; the second estimate has an uncertainty of 24 days. Applying the PERT formula for paths, what is the duration uncertainty of the entire path?
A. 21 days B. 30 days C. 42 days

D. No statement is possible from the information given

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6. Answer: B Sigma1 Sigma2 18/6 = 3 24/6 = 4

SigmaTot = (Sigma12 + Sigma22) = (9+16) = 5 3 SigmaTot = +/- (3 x 5) = +/-15

Project Time Management Q&A

7. Inputs to the Define Activities process are:
A. Work breakdown structure, project schedule and network diagram.

B. Project schedule, progress reports and change requests.

C. Project network diagram, constraints and assumptions D. Scope baseline, enterprise environmental factors and organizational process assets.

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6. Answere: D Define Activities Inputs: 1. Scope Baseline 2. Enterprise Environmental Factors 3. Organizational Process Assets

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8. Which is typically not specified in a document referred to as Activity attributes? A. The person executing the work in a schedule activity

B. Schedule activity identifiers, codes and descriptions

C. Schedule activity predecessors and successors D. The cost baseline assigned to the schedule activity

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8. Answer: D Reference PMBOK@Guide 4th Ed. page 136.

Project Time Management Q&A

9. Bar charts show A. The level of effort for an activity.

B. Activity start and end dates, as well as expected durations.

C. Availability of resources assigned to perform project activities. D. Relative priority of activities.

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9. Answere: B Bar Chart shows activity start and end date with expected duration.

Project Time Management Q&A

10. The customer has called a project team member to request a change in the project s schedule. The team member asks you what the procedure is for handling schedule changes. Where should you refer the team member to help him understand the procedure? A. The project office. B. The change control board.

C. The schedule management plan.

D. Inform the team member that the customer is always right.

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10. Answere: C The schedule management plan, is part of project plan. This is the best source of information on how changes to the schedule are to be handled. A is incorrect because the project office s job is to define standards not to make decisions on tactical item such as this. B is incorrect because the change control board may not even exist, and if it does exist, it is usually approves or rejects scope changes. D would be the worst choice. The customer is not always right when it comes to requesting changes. Procedure should be defined and followed in order to improve the project s chances of success.

Project Time Management Q&A

11. If schedule activities are not properly decomposed, which of the following would not be an expected outcome? A. The team encounters difficulty estimating cost and time. B. The team encounters difficulty in building the schedule. C. The team encounters difficulty in calculating earned value.

D. The team encounters difficulty in creating the responsibility assignment matrix.

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11. Answered: D This is a problem many project manager have faced. As you answer this question, keep in mind that WBS nodes are decomposed into work package first. Then schedule activities are decomposed from the work packages. A, B, C all relate to problems you would have if the schedule activities are not properly decomposed, but D is related to the work packages, and you are not given anything in the question that suggest there is a problem with the way they were decomposed.

Project Time Management Q&A

12. Crashing differs from fast tracking because crashing: A. Usually increase value. B. Usually increase the cost. C. Usually saves more time. D. Usually saves more money.

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12. Answer: B Crashing adds more resources to an activity. This is usually increases the cost due to the law of diminishing returns which predict that 10 people usually cannot complete an activity in half the time that 5 people can. The savings from crashing are rarely linear. A is incorrect because crashing does not directly affect the project value. C is incorrect because crashing may or may not save the more time than fast tracking depending on the situation. D is incorrect because crashing usually costs more money than fast tracking.

Project Time Management Q&A

13. You are advising a project manager who is behind schedule on his project. The sponsor on his project is very unhappy with the way things have progressed and is threatening to cancel the project. The sponsor has accepted a revised due date from the project manager but did not allow any increased spending. Which of the following would represent the best advice for the project manager in this case?
A. Fast track the schedule.

B. Ask senior management for a new sponsor within the organization.

C. Crash the schedule. D. Talk with customer to see if budget may increased without the sponsor s involvement.
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13. Answer: A In this case, you must compress the schedule without increasing the cost. Fast tracking does not directly add cost to the project and is the best choice in this case. B is incorrect. The sponsor is paying for the project. Do this, and your sponsor will probably be asking for a new project manager instead! C is incorrect because crashing usually adds cost to the project and that is not allowed in this scenario. D is incorrect because the sponsor authorizes budget. Doing an end-run around the sponsor and going to the customer would be very inappropriate.

Project Time Management Q&A

14. Senior management has called you in for a meeting to review the progress of your project. You have been allocated 15 minutes to report progress and discuss critical issues. Which of the following would be best to carry with you in this case: A. Milestone chart. B. The project network diagram.

C. An expert from each functional area of the project so that all questions may be answered.
D. Project status reports from you team members.

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14. Answer: A Milestone charts show the high level status, which would be appropriate given the audience and time allocated for this update.

Project Time Management Q&A

15. All of the following choices represent inputs to the Estimate Activity Resources process except: A. Activity list.

B. Enterprise environmental factor.

C. The actual resource cost of the last project. D. Organizational process assets.

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15.Ansver: C
Estimate Activity Resources Inputs 1.Activity List 2. Activity Attributes 3. Resource Calendars 4. Enterprise Environmental Factors 5. Organizational Process Assets

Project Time Management Q&A

16. Which Develop Schedule tool inserts non-working buffer time to be managed by the project manager? A. Critical chain method. B. Critical path method. C. Resource leveling. D. Schedule modeling.

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16. Answer: A The critical chain method provides a buffer to be used by the project manager to protect the critical path. Typically, the team is not aware of this buffer.

Project Time Management Q&A

17. Which of the following choices best fits the description of a project manager applying the technique of what-if scenario analysis?
A. Using project management software to build three version of the project schedule. B. Using Monte Carlo analysis to identify what would happen if schedule delays occurred. C. Using critical path method to analyze what would happen if the critical path actually occurred. D. Discussing with the functional managers what they would do if certain project team member quit the project early.

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17. Answer: B What-if analysis can take on many forms but the form you are most likely to see on the exam is Monte Carlo analysis, which throws a large number of scenarios at the schedule to see what would happen if on or more bad scenarios occurred.

Project Time Management Q&A

18. If senior management tells you The latest project we did like this one cost us almost five million dollars, what estimating method is being used: A. Delphi technique. B. Principe of equivalency of activities. C. Analogous estimating.

D. Bottom-up estimating.

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18. Answer: C In this example management is providing you with analogous estimates. These estimates use actual costs from previous projects (historical information or organizational process assets) to produce estimates for a similar project.

Project Time Management Q&A

19. Analogous duration estimating is: A. The same as bottom-up estimating. B. Frequently used to estimate project duration when there is a limited amount of detailed information about the project. C. Similar to multiple duration estimating. D. Generally more accurate than other duration estimating methods when expert judgment is used.

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19. Answer: B Analogous Estimating uses parameters such as duration, budget, size, weight, and complexity from a previous, similar project, as the basis for estimating the same parameter or measure for a future project. When estimating durations, this technique relies on the actual duration of previous, similar project as the basic for estimating the duration of the current project. It is a gross value estimating approach, sometimes adjusted for known differences in project complexity. Analogous duration estimating is frequently used to estimate project duration when there is a limited amount of detailed information about the project for example, in the early phases of a project. Analogous estimating uses historical information and expert judgment. Analogous estimating is generally less costly and time consuming than other techniques, but it is also generally less accurate.

Project Time Management Q&A

20. Some colleague told you that they are planning, executing, monitoring and controlling a project by use of milestones only with durations between 1 and 4 weeks. What do you think?

A. The approach is erroneous. A milestones is a significant point with zero duration to highlight achievements. B. It is a good approach as long as the milestones reflect fixed or imposed dates during the project lifecycle only. C. It is a good approach if the milestones are used for reviews between consecutive project phases only. D. It is a good approach because it saves from progress measurement on activities and work packages.

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20. Answer: A Reference PMBOK@Guide 4th Ed. page 430.