What are the differences between BAC and EAC?
> The portfolio of projects is typically represented by compliance, strategic, and operations projects. What impact can this classification have on project selection?
> How are projects linked to the strategic plan?
> Describe the major components of the strategic management process.
> Discuss the pros and cons of the checklist versus the weighted factor method of selecting projects.
> Why should an organization not rely only on ROI to select projects?
> Pinyarat worked in the IT department of a diversified IT firm. She was describing the firm’s early encounters with critical-chain scheduling to a friend in another IT firm. Three years ago management decided to add 10 percent time to all activity estim
> In Chapter 6, Brian Smith, network administrator at Advanced Energy Technology (AET), was given the responsibility of implementing the migration of a large data center to a new office location. Careful planning was needed because AET operates in the hi
> International Capital, Inc. (IC), is a small investment banking firm that specializes in securing funds for small- to medium-sized firms. IC is able to use a standardized project format for each engagement. Only activity times and unusual circumstances c
> Why is it difficult to apply Agile PM to large-scale projects?
> What is iterative incremental development? Why is it useful for developing new products?
> Why is the traditional project management approach less effective when project scope and technology are not well known?
> What are the differences between a self-organizing team and a conventional project team?
> What similarities and differences exist between a traditional project manager and a Scrum master?
> You manage a hotel resort located on the South Beach on the Island of Kauai in Hawaii. You are shifting the focus of your resort from a traditional fun-in-the-sun destination to eco-tourism. (Eco-tourism focuses on environmental awareness and education.)
> What are the advantages of Agile PM? What are the disadvantages of Agile PM?
> You’ve just taken over a project from another project manager and have come back from a very uncomfortable meeting with your business sponsor. In the meeting, the sponsor told you how dissatisfied he is with the project’s performance to date and that he’
> Break into small groups and discuss the following question: What organizational, group, individual, and project factors do you think would promote the successful adoption of Agile PM methodologies like Scrum? Why?
> Kendra Hua had worked for six years as a software engineer in the IT department at Point 2 Point (P2P), a large freight moving company. She liked her job and the people she worked with. While she did some maintenance work, she worked primarily on project
> Why is it important to honor the customs and traditions of a country when working on an international project?
> What role do local intermediaries play in helping an outsider complete a project?
> How do environmental factors affect project implementation?
> How should you go about preparing yourself for an international project?
> What is culture shock? What can you do to reduce the negative effects of culture shock?
> Interview someone who has worked or lived in a foreign country for more than six months. a. What was his experience with culture shock? b. What did he learn about the culture of the country he lived in? c. What advice would he give to someone who woul
> The Custom Bike Company has set up a weighted scoring matrix for evaluation of potential projects. Below are five projects under consideration. a. Using the scoring matrix in the following chart, which project would you rate highest? Lowest? b. If the w
> Place in order the following countries in terms of what you would think would be the least to most corrupt: United States, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Australia, Hong Kong, Nepal, China, Kenya, Indonesia, Botswana, Greece, Chile. Use an Internet sea
> Try as best you can to apply the Kluckhohn-Strodtbeck cross-cultural framework to the four countries discussed in this chapter: Mexico, France, Saudi Arabia, and China. Where do you think these countries lie on each of the cultural issues?
> Michael Thomas shouted, “Sasha, Tor-Tor, we’ve got to go! Our driver is waiting for us.” Thomas’s two daughters were fighting over who would get the last orange for lunch that day. Victoria (“Tor-Tor”) prevailed as she grabbed the orange and ran out the
> On December 26, 2004, an earthquake reaching 9.1 on the Richter scale triggered a series of devastating tsunamis off the coast of Indonesia. They spread throughout the Indian Ocean, killing large numbers of people and inundating coastal communities acros
> What major information would you expect to find in a project review?
> Why is it difficult to perform a truly independent, objective review?
> How does the project closure review differ from the performance measurement control system discussed in Chapter 13?
> Advocates of retrospective methodology claim there are distinguishing characteristics that increase its value over past lessons learned methods. What are they? How does each characteristic enhance project closure and review?
> Why should you separate performance reviews from pay reviews? How do you do this?
> Comment on the following statement: “We cannot afford to terminate the project now. We have already spent more than 50 percent of the project budget.”
> Given the time-phased work packages, complete the baseline budget form for the project. Time-phased budget ($ 000) Week 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 1O Task Budget o 6 Activity 1 4 4 13 2 2 4 2 2 Activity 2 6 Activity 3 10 Activity 4 2 3 3 8 Activity 5 3 2 1 Tot
> Consider a course that you recently completed. Perform a review of the course (the course represents a project and the course syllabus represents the project plan).
> What are some of the lessons learned from a recent project in your organization? Was a retrospective done? What action plans were generated to improve processes as a result of the project?
> Imagine you are conducting a review of the International Space Station project. Research press coverage and the Internet to collect information on the current status of the project. What are the successes and failures to date? What forecasts would you ma
> Olaf Gundersen, the CEO of Wireless Telecom Company, is in a quandary. Last year he accepted the Maximum Megahertz Project suggested by six up-and-coming young R&D corporate stars. Although Olaf did not truly understand the technical importance of the pr
> How does a tracking Gantt chart help communicate project progress?
> Schedule variance (SV) is in dollars and does not directly represent time. Why is it still useful?
> How does earned value give a clearer picture of project schedule and cost status than a simple plan versus actual system?
> On day 51 a project has an earned value of $600, an actual cost of $650, and a planned cost of $560. Compute the SV, CV, and CPI for the project. What is your assessment of the project on day 51?
> In month 9 the following project information is available: actual cost is $2,000, earned value is $2,100, and planned cost is $2,400. Compute the SV and CV for the project.
> How would a project manager use the CPI?
> Hector Gaming Company Hector Gaming Company (HGC) is an educational gaming company specializing in young children’s educational games. HGC has just completed their fourth year of operation. This year was a banner year for HGC. The company received a larg
> Fatma settled down for lunch at the Yank Sing Chinese restaurant. She was early and took the time to catch up on her e-mail. Soon she would be joined by Jasper and Viktoria, two fellow 2014 grads from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Jasper worke
> Why is it important for project managers to resist changes to the project baseline? Under what conditions would a project manager make changes to a baseline? When would a project manager not allow changes to a baseline?
> Given the following project network, baseline, and status information, develop status reports for periods 2, 4, 6, 8 and complete the performance indexes table. Calculate the EACf and the VACf. Based on your data, what is your assessment of the current s
> Given the project network and baseline information below, complete the form to develop a status report for the project at the end of period 4 and the end of period 8. From the data you have collected and computed for periods 4 and 8, what information are
> * Part A. You are in charge of the Aurora Project. Given the following project network, baseline, and status information, develop status reports for periods 1–8 and complete the performance indexes table. Calculate the EACf and VACf. Ba
> The following data have been collected for a British health care IT project for two week reporting periods 2 through 12. Compute the SV, CV, SPI, and CPI for each period. Plot the EV and the AC on the summary graph provided. Plot the SPI, CPI, and PCIB o
> The following labor hours data have been collected for a nanotechnology project for periods 1 through 6. Compute the SV, CV, SPI, and CPI for each period. Plot the EV and the AC on the summary graph provided (or a similar one). Plot the SPI, CPI, and PCI
> Wil Fence is a large timber and Christmas tree farmer who is attending a project management class in the spring, his off season. When the class topic came to earned value, he was perplexed. Isn’t he using EV? Each summer Wil hires crews to shear fields o
> Scanner Project You have been serving as Electroscan’s project manager and are now well along in the project. Develop a narrative status report for the board of directors of the chain store that discusses the status of the project to da
> Assume you are a member of a class on project management. Each student will join a team of 5–7 students who will be responsible for creating, planning, and executing a fund raising project for a designated charity. The fund raising proj
> You are an assistant to Percival Young, president of G&L Construction. He has asked you to prepare a brief report on the status of the Shoreline Stadium project. Shoreline stadium is a 47,000-seat professional baseball stadium. Construction started
> Given the information provided for development of a catalog product return process for periods 1 through 5, assign the PV values (using the rules) to develop a baseline for the project. Compute the SV, CV, SPI, and CPI for each period. Explain to the own
> Given the information provided for development of a product warranty project for periods 1 through 7, compute the SV, CV, SPI, and CPI for each period. Plot the EV and the AC on the PV graph provided. Explain to the owner your assessment of the project a
> What does the term “escalate” refer to, and why is it essential to project success?
> What are the best practices used by firms to outsource project work?
> Why do firms outsource project work?
> How can a project manager influence customer expectations and perceptions?
> What does the acronym BATNA refer to and why is it important to being a successful negotiator?
> Why is the principled negotiation approach recommended for negotiating agreements on projects?
> Break into groups of four to five students. Assign half of the groups the role of Owner and the other half the role of Contractor. Owners: After saving for many years you are about to hire a contractor to build your “dream home.” What are your objective
> The National Oceanic Research Institute is planning a research study on global warming in Antarctica. The 16-month network schedule is presented below. It is followed by budgets for each activity. Create a time-phased budget for the research project in t
> Sitting in her office, Karin Chung is reviewing the past four months of the large corporate accounting software installation project she has been managing. Everything seemed so well planned before the project started. Each company division had a task for
> Shell Case Fabricators (SCF) designs and builds shell casings that enclose electronic products such as calculators, cell phones, modems. Typically the cases are plastic or plastic compounds. SCF has six different production lines that cover different ty
> Goldrush Electronics (GE) produces a range of electronic products. GE has a strong commitment to project management. GE operates as a projectized organization with each project organized as a fully dedicated team. The compensation system is based on a 40
> Chad Cromwell, head of university housing, gazed up at the tower at Buxton Hall and smiled as he walked toward the landmark building. Buxton Hall was built in 1927 as a residential complex for over 350 students at Pacifica State University. At the time B
> For what kinds of projects would you recommend that a fixed-price contract be used? For what kinds of projects would you recommend that a cost-plus contract be used?
> What are the fundamental differences between fixed-price and cost-plus contracts?
> What are the elements of an effective project vision? Why are they important?
> What are the differences between the five-stage model of team development and the punctuated equilibrium model?
> What can a project manager do to avoid some of the pitfalls of a highly cohesive project team?
> What are the unique challenges of managing a virtual project team?
> The technical and sociocultural dimensions of project management are two sides to the same coin. Explain.
> When would it be appropriate to hold a formal team-building session on a project?
> What is the difference between functional and dysfunctional conflict on a project?
> Why should a project manager emphasize group rewards over individual rewards?
> Assume that you have the following decision-making options: (1) make the decision on your own with available information, (2) consult others before making a decision, and (3) call a meeting and reach a consensus, seeking to arrive at a final decision eve
> Amber Briggs looked nervously at her watch as she sat at the front of a large table in the cafeteria at Kerzner Office Equipment. It was now 10 minutes after 3:00 and only 10 of the 14 members had arrived for the first meeting of the Kerzner anniversary
> Franklin Equipment, Ltd. (FEL), with headquarters and main fabrication facilities in Saint John, New Brunswick, was founded 75 years ago to fabricate custom-designed large machines for construction businesses in the Maritime Provinces. Over the years its
> Tran was taking his dog Callie on her evening walk as the sun began to set over the coastal range. He looked forward to this time of the day. It was an opportunity to enjoy some peace and quiet. It was also a time to review events on the Ajax project an
> Why is it critical to keep the project sponsor informed?
> What does the exchange model of influence suggest you do to build cooperative relationships to complete a project?
> Why is a conductor of an orchestra an appropriate metaphor for being a project manager? What aspects of project managing are not reflected by this metaphor? Can you think of other metaphors that would be appropriate?
> What are some of the key environmental forces that have changed the way projects are managed? What has been the effect of these forces on the management of projects?
> What is the difference between leading and managing a project?
> Why is trust a function of both character and competence?
> Why is it important to build a relationship before you need it?
> What differences would you expect to see between the kinds of influence currencies that a project manager in a functional matrix would use and the influence a project manager of a dedicated project team would use?
> You are the project manager for the Seaburst construction project. So far the project is progressing ahead of schedule and below budget. You attribute this in part to the good working relationship you have with the carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and
> You returned from a project staffing meeting in which future project assignments were finalized. Despite your best efforts, you were unable to persuade the director of project management to promote one of your best assistants, Jack Nietzche, to a project
> You are managing the renovation of the Old Princeton Landing Bar and Grill. The project is on schedule despite receiving a late shipment of paint. The paint was supposed to arrive on 1/30, but instead arrived on 2/1. The assistant store manager apologize
> You are a test engineer on the Bridge project at Ryman Pharmaceuticals in Nashville, Tennessee. You have just completed conductivity tests of a new electrochemical compound. The results exceeded expectations. This new compound should revolutionize the in
> You are responsible for installing the new Double E production line. Your team has collected estimates and used the WBS to generate a project schedule. You have confidence in the schedule and the work your team has done. You report to top management that
> You work for a large consulting firm and were assigned to the Gold Star LAN project. Work on the project is nearly completed and your clients at Gold Star appear to be pleased with your performance. During the course of the project, changes in the origin
