1. Why do you think schedule issues often cause the most conflicts on projects?
[15 marks]
Many people are juggling many different tasks, both related to their jobs and their
personal lives. It is difficult to schedule good meeting times for all project
stakeholders, and face-to-face meetings are still important in various aspects of
projects. Many people also underestimate how long things will take and the degree to
which certain tasks depend on other tasks being completed. People do not like
wasting time, and poor time management often wastes time.
2. Define Project time management process. [15 marks]
According to PMI, project time management process is defined as:
1.
Activity definition: Identifying the specific activities that the project team
members and stakeholders must perform to produce the project deliverables.
2.
Activity sequencing: Identifying and documenting the relationships between
project activities.
3.
Activity resource estimating: Estimating how many resources a project team
should use to perform project activities.
4.
Activity duration estimating: Estimating the number of work periods that are
needed to complete individual activities.
5.
Schedule development: Analyzing activity sequences, activity resource
estimates, and activity duration estimates to create the project schedule.
6.
Schedule control: Controlling and managing changes to the project schedule.
One cannot determine activity sequencing or develop good activity duration estimates
unless one has a good understand of each activity, so it needs to perform activity
definition first.
3. How does activity resource estimating affect activity duration estimating?
[15 marks]
The duration of activities will vary based on the resources assigned to them. For
example, an expert at an activity should be able to do it in less time than a novice. The
number of resources assigned to an activity also affects its estimated duration.
4. Explain the difference between activity duration estimating and estimating the
effort required to perform an activity.
[20 marks]
The effort estimate related to how many hours will be spent performing an activity.
The activity duration estimate includes the effort as well as how much time passes on
a calendar in order to generate the project schedule. For example, an activity might
only take 8 work hours to complete, but if it is done one hour per workday, it will take
more than a week on the project’s Gantt chart.
5. Explain the following schedule development tools and concepts: Gantt charts,
critical path method, PERT, and critical chain scheduling. [20 marks]
Ans.:
A Gantt chart displays a project schedule in a calendar format. [5 marks]
The critical path for a project determines the earliest completion time for a project. [5
marks]
PERT is a network analysis technique where you apply a weighted average to
determine the duration estimate for tasks. [5 marks]
Critical chain scheduling accounts for resource constraints and suggests that you limit
multitasking of resources in creating project schedules and include project and
feeding buffers to protect the project completion date. [5 marks]
6. How can one minimize or control changes to project schedules?
[15 marks]
Answers will vary. It is important to develop realistic schedules and use leadership
and discipline to meet schedule deadlines.