Deck 12: Managing IT Projects

Question 1

What is at the center of the project triangle?

A) Agility
B) Quality
C) Speed
D) Cost
E) Focus

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which one of the following software products is NOT an open source software release?

A) PERL
B) Open Office
C) Linux
D) Mozilla
E) Microsoft Office

Answer 2

E

Question 3

The project triangle includes 3 sides - time, scope and ________.

A) cost
B) product
C) event
D) quality
E) requirements

Answer 3

A

Question 4

To maintain balance in a project with a fixed budget and a well-defined scope, a project team will require flexibility ________.

A) with the deadline.
B) in spending.
C) with project quality.
D) with assumed risks.
E) in achieving the goals of the business case.

Question 5

An organization may convert from an old system to a new system by choosing to run both the old and new systems at the same time until the new system is fully accepted. This is known as __________.

A) Cutover
B) Parallel conversion
C) Direct cutover
D) Agile development
E) SDLC

Question 6

Which one of the following is NOT one of the four essential elements of any project?

A) Common project vocabulary
B) Project team
C) System evaluation
D) Project cycle plan
E) Project management

Question 7

In today's hypercompetitive business environment, firms that have strong project management skills have a higher likelihood of success because they are able to:

A) Spend money wisely.
B) Adapt processes and systems and therefore innovate faster than their competitors.
C) Optimize business processes.
D) Change and adapt in a slow yet methodical manner, reducing risk.
E) Utilize social and mobile platforms.

Question 8

This project cycle plan tends to be used for projects that have direct relationships between time and resources.

A) PERT
B) Gantt
C) CPM
D) NPV
E) Flowchart

Question 9

This development methodology is more traditional and more structured than other approaches.

A) Agile programming
B) Prototyping
C) Open source deployment
D) Software development life cycle (SDLC)
E) Critical path method (CPM)

Question 10

This project cycle plan chart looks very much like a bar chart and is easy for management to read because of its visual nature.

A) PERT
B) Gantt
C) CPM
D) NPV
E) Flowchart

Question 11

Increasing project success requires gaining commitment from stakeholders. All of the following help to sustain that commitment for the life of the project EXCEPT:

A) Continually reminding stakeholders of the project benefits
B) Placing key stakeholders on the project team
C) Encouraging the project sponsor to provide public support for the project
D) Surprising the stakeholders by keeping the system's workings a secret
E) Assigning the right leader to be the project sponsor

Question 12

To help with organization and complexity, a project manager will break a project up into:

A) Variables
B) Business processes
C) Subprojects
D) Infrastructure
E) Work

Question 13

What type of software is released under a license approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI)?

A) System Architecture Software (SAS)
B) Open System Software (OSS)
C) Shareware Software (SS)
D) Open Source Software (OSS)
E) Source System Software (SSS)

Question 14

A successful project begins with a ____________ that articulates the purpose and details of the project, benefits and costs, stakeholders, and required resources.

A) project plan
B) Gantt chart
C) business case
D) dashboard
E) strategy

Question 15

Scope may be divided into product scope and __________ scope.

A) project
B) cost
C) time
D) time
E) sequence

Question 16

Open source software __________.

A) is free.
B) requires an organization pay a per user fee.
C) is costly.
D) is not allowed to be modified.
E) is provided by software vendors like Microsoft and SAP.

Question 17

All of the following are indications that the project is successful EXCEPT:

A) Customers receive a significant benefit from the project.
B) The project meets its return on investment goal.
C) The project meets the established time and budget criteria.
D) The project prepares the organization for future success and growth.
E) The project profits are high and last for a very short time period.

Question 18

This is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.

A) project
B) event
C) scope
D) requirement
E) system

Question 19

What does PMO stand for?

A) Project Maintenance Office
B) Project Mission and Objectives
C) Product Maintenance Office
D) Project Mission Office
E) Project Management Office

Question 20

To reduce risk, a project should have which one of the following qualities.

A) High complexity
B) High clarity
C) Big in size
D) Large in budget
E) Lots of programmers.

Question 21

If someone wants a system cheaply, quickly, and with a large scope, we can conclude:

A) That desire represents the three sides of the Project Triangle
B) This is normally not possible: you can usually only achieve two of those three objectives at a time.
C) Management might be providing an impossible goal.
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 22

Integrating within the organization is a mechanism to manage project complexity, and includes frequent team meetings as an example.

Question 23

A research firm found that a majority of software projects are delivered late or over budget or simply fail to meet expectations.

Question 24

According to Brooks, adding extra personnel to a system project more often makes it later, not earlier.

Question 25

What is the name given to the department that develops project management skills, boosts efficiency for projects, and improves project delivery?

Question 26

A system development life cycle

A) Assures us that as some systems die others are born in a sort of "circle of life."
B) Is a chain of events that count down to the demise of a system.
C) Illustrates the steps needed to go from one stage to another: for example, analysis to design to construction to implementation to operation to maintenance.
D) Specifies how to build a prototype quickly then improve on it.
E) Is a self-propelled ride at the "Technology Amusement Park" in San Francisco.

Question 27

Small projects that are low in complexity and low in clarity are low in risk.

Question 28

Strong project leadership can trade off against strong project management processes. That is, if the leader is not strong, then processes can be strengthened to make up for it. And if the processes are weak, a strong leader is needed.

Question 29

To transform resources into profits, organizations combine two types of work - operations and ________.

Question 30

The maintenance and review phase is the longest phase of the software development lifecycle.

Question 31

In calling something a "project," the issues of uniqueness and temporariness are very important.

Question 32

These are the individuals and organizations that are involved in or may be affected by a given project.

Question 33

67% of projects fail, if you define success by:

A) Being on or under budget
B) Meeting performance criteria
C) Being completed on time
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 34

Adding more people to a project can be helpful, but most projects are not made more efficient by simply adding labor.

Question 35

The riskiest approach to system implementation is a parallel conversion.

Question 36

Open source software is free but often an organization will have to pay for training and technical support for the software.

Question 37

To support a common language and improve communication, a project manager should develop a private collection of acronyms and make frequent use of them.

Question 38

A project is a permanent endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.

Question 39

This is the term used to describe what happens when a project's scope increases after it has started.

Question 40

Prototyping and RAD can be used to minimize problems of defining a scope that is too broad or narrow at the beginning of a project.

Question 41

Match the three major project periods to Lewin's phases of the change model.

Question 42

Identify an example of project management software and the features/functionality you would expect it to provide.

Question 43

Classify the following organizational activity as either operations or a project.

Question 44

A good project manager defines a realistic project scope and then manages the project so that it can be completed on time and within _________.

Question 45

Match the description to the SDLC project phase it represents.

Question 46

Project risk is a function of these 3 determinants.

Question 47

Explain why in a project only two of the three project elements (cost, time and scoop) can be optimized and the third must be adjusted to maintain balance.

Question 48

What are the three outside elements of the project triangle?

Question 49

Match the development methodology with its characteristics.

Question 50

Match the activity to the SDLC project phase to which it belongs.

Question 51

How do companies manage risk? What are the factors that contribute to a high-risk project?
Matching

Question 52

Identify the following qualities as either being associated with operations or project work.

Question 53

List some strategies a manager should consider when trying to manage a project's technical complexity.

Question 54

Why does the addition of more people to a project not speed up the project efforts?

Question 55

This is the term used to describe Web apps that are created by combining existing applications, data, and infrastructure.

Question 56

This plan organizes the discrete project activities and orders them along a timeline, identifying the critical beginning and ending dates as well as necessary time and resources.

Question 57

Explain why IT projects are seen as just business projects involving significant amounts of technology.

Question 58

Agile development tends to be _______-oriented rather than process-oriented.

Question 59

List one example of open source software.

Question 60

Match the project responsibility as being that of the project manager or the project sponsor.