LM6-CH4 TEXT

What resources must be planned once deliverables, WBS, tasks, schedule, and goals are understood?

People as key resource plus hardware/software tools and organizational processes, policies, and methodologies.

T/F: Once the project deliverables, WBS, tasks, initial schedule, and goals are understood, the resources required to complete the project must be planned.

TRUE

The key resource for most software projects is [blank].

people

These three types of resources should be considered and planned for how?

In concert with one another because certain tools may change needs/timing.

T/F: These three types of resources should be considered and planned for in concert with one another.

TRUE

These three types of resources should be considered and planned for in [blank] with one another.

concert

What determines staffing numbers, skills, and start times?

Tasks to be performed and project goals such as schedule.

T/F: The number of people, the type of people with different skills, and the point at which these people need to begin working on a project all depend on the tasks that need to be performed and the goals, such as schedule, of the project.

TRUE

Staffing depends on tasks and goals such as [blank].

schedule

What is HR management concerned with vs PM focus?

Recruiting, hiring, retaining, growing, coaching, firing; PM focuses on recruiting and hire timing.

T/F: Human resources management is concerned with the recruiting, hiring, retaining, growing, coaching, and firing of people, but software project managers will focus mostly on the recruiting effort and the timing of hiring the appropriate people

TRUE

Software project managers focus mostly on the [blank] effort and the timing of hiring.

recruiting

What are the two stages of recruitment and hiring?

Build skills matrix; develop hiring plan from it.

T/F: Recruitment and hiring proceed in two stages: 1.Based on the various tasks involved in the software project, a skills matrix is built. 2.Using the skills matrix, a hiring plan is developed.

TRUE

Recruitment and hiring proceed in two stages: build a [blank] matrix, then develop a [blank] plan.

skills; hiring

What does Table 4.1 describe and omit?

Needed skills and counts; omits acquisition/use timing.

T/F: Table 4.1 describes only the needed skills and the estimated number of those skilled resources; it does not lay out the timing at which the resources are acquired or used.

TRUE

Table 4.1 does not lay out the [blank] at which resources are acquired or used.

timing

What are direct vs indirect activities?

Direct lead to customer deliverables; indirect are planning/monitoring/education not leading to deliverables.

T/F: Direct activities for the software project include those associated with requirements specification, design, coding, manual-writing, testing, integration, and packaging tasks that lead to a customer deliverable.

TRUE

Indirect activities include those related to [blank], status monitoring, staff education, and other tasks that do not lead to a customer deliverable.

planning

Define direct and indirect project activities.

Direct lead to deliverables; indirect relate to planning/controlling/reporting of direct activities.

T/F: Direct project activities Activities that lead to a customer deliverable.

TRUE

T/F: Indirect project activities Activities that are related to the planning, controlling, and reporting of the direct project activities.

TRUE

Direct project activities lead to a customer [blank].

deliverable

What planning for post-release support is suggested?

Identify direct people who may remain for support/maintenance.

T/F: There will also be some preliminary thinking in terms of identifying some of the “direct” people who may remain after the project completion to perform customer support and maintenance.

TRUE

Identify “direct” people who may remain to perform customer [blank] and [blank].

support; maintenance

What must the HR plan matrix indicate?

Skill availability at right time with training/preparation; initial skills matrix shows counts by skill and time.

T/F: human resources plan matrix for the software project must indicate the availability of the needed skills at the appropriate time, with the proper training and preparation, to perform the designated tasks.

TRUE

An initial skills matrix provides an early view of the number of required human resources by [blank] set and by [blank].

skill; time

Why is gradual hiring realistic?

Scarcity of skilled people, assimilation needs, not all tasks parallel; early overstaffing costly and hurts morale.

T/F: Having extra people on board too early is not only costly but may also cause a morale problem.

TRUE

New members must become acquainted with the project; the [blank] approach facilitates assimilation.

tiered

What challenge follows a short peak and rapid ramp-down?

People placement dilemma; consider temporary personnel.

T/F: the project management team may face a people placement dilemma after this software project ends.

TRUE

This project may be a candidate for utilizing [blank] personnel to support a planned ramp-down.

temporary

Should plans be revisited after resource study?

Yes, revisit task and schedule plan post resource planning.

T/F: project managers often need to revisit the task and schedule plan after studying the resources plan.

TRUE

Project managers often need to revisit the [blank] and [blank] plan after studying the resources plan.

task; schedule

How much lead time per recruit?

Add an extra month per intake cohort, not per person.

T/F: For estimating lead time, it would be appropriate to add an extra month (or some other appropriate period) for each person who needs to be recruited and brought on board.

TRUE

If three people need to be brought on board, it is still [blank] month of lead time.

one

How does hiring differ with temps or outsourcing?

Recruiting effort differs when hiring temps or using outsourcing.

T/F: if the project managers decide to hire temporary personnel to fill out the team or to use an outsourcing approach, the recruiting effort may be somewhat different.

TRUE

Using [blank] personnel or [blank] may change the recruiting effort.

temporary; outsourcing

What is a people hiring matrix?

Project hiring plan showing each resource and their time period including recruiting/assimilation.

T/F: People hiring matrix A project hiring plan shown in the form of a matrix or bar chart that indicates each specific human resource and the time period for which that person is associated with the project, including his or her recruiting and assimilation time.

TRUE

People hiring matrix indicates each resource and the [blank] period including recruiting and assimilation.

time

Who can receive the hiring matrix and what to include?

HR or recruiting company; include a skills description.

T/F: The people hiring plan matrix … can be turned over to the company’s human resources department or to a recruiting company … The matrix should be accompanied by a skills description

TRUE

The hiring matrix should be accompanied by a [blank] description.

skills

What does a comprehensive recruiting plan focus on?

JDs, titles, openings, priorities, comp/benefits, interviews, sourcing, bonuses, recruiter fees, timing.

T/F: A recruiting plan will focus on job descriptions, job titles, number of openings, priorities, compensation/benefits, interviewing process/managers, internal/external avenues, internal hiring bonuses, recruiter fees, and hiring timing.

TRUE

A recruiting plan includes priorities, compensation/benefits, and [blank] timing.

hiring

How can the hiring matrix be used later?

To monitor hiring status.

T/F: Later, the people hiring matrix may be used as a mechanism to monitor the hiring status;

TRUE

Later, the hiring matrix may be used to monitor the hiring [blank].

status

When is the project leader onboarded?

Month 0 along with requirements analyst; may still recruit the analyst.

T/F: the project leader himself or herself is brought on board during month 0 along with the requirements analyst, but the project leader may still be involved in the recruiting of the requirements analyst.

TRUE

The project leader is brought on board during month [blank].

0

What HR support is often forgotten?

Increase in indirect human resources support.

T/F: the needed increase in human resources support in areas indirectly related to the software project is all too often forgotten

TRUE

Increase in [blank] human resources support is often forgotten.

indirect

How should skilled people be viewed?

As human capital.

T/F: After all the effort and costs that are expended in their hiring, these skilled people should be viewed as “human capital.”

TRUE

Skilled people should be viewed as [blank] [blank].

human capital

Why track employee morale?

To keep morale high and prevent poaching; morale is a project attribute to monitor in POMA.

T/F: Employee morale is a project attribute that should be tracked and monitored throughout the monitoring phase (the “M” in POMA).

TRUE

Employee [blank] should be tracked and monitored throughout the monitoring phase.

morale

Why are processes and methodologies vital?

They are key resources for successful completion.

T/F: software processes and methodologies constitute a vital component of the resources needed for the successful completion of a software project.

TRUE

Software processes and methodologies constitute a [blank] component of needed resources.

vital

Is there a single software process?

No.

T/F: There is no single process for software development.

TRUE

There is [blank] single process for software development.

no

How broadly can a process apply?

To the entire lifecycle or a component.

T/F: a process may be applied to the entire software project life cycle or just to a specific component of the life cycle,

TRUE

A process may be applied to the entire life cycle or to a specific [blank].

component

Define software development process.

Ordered set of defined activities for requirements, design, coding, testing, release; may contain subprocesses.

T/F: Software development process An ordered set of defined activities that describe the defining of requirements, designing, coding, testing, and release for a software artifact.

TRUE

A process may contain some [blank], such as the design subprocess.

subprocesses

Define software methodology.

Set of rules and principles to achieve a goal and accomplish a task in development/support.

T/F: Software methodology A set of rules and principles defined to achieve a specific goal and to accomplish a specific task in the development or support of software.

TRUE

Software methodology is a set of [blank] and [blank].

rules; principles

What should PMs identify during planning?

Which processes and methodologies will be used.

T/F: In the project planning stage, the software project managers need to identify which processes and methodologies will be used.

TRUE

PMs must identify which [blank] and [blank] will be used.

processes; methodologies

What happens if methods aren’t defined/understood?

Confusion, missed schedules, poor quality, demoralized teams, project abandonment.

T/F: Many project failures have occurred when the confusion created by a lack of well-understood processes and methodologies resulted in missing schedules, poor product quality, demoralized teams, and possibly total abandonment of the project.

TRUE

Lack of well-understood processes can result in missing schedules and poor product [blank].

quality

What phases appear in all software cycles?

Requirements, design, implementation/programming, testing, product release.

T/F: In general, all software project cycles include some form of all or parts of the following phases: •Requirements processing •Design •Implementation and programming •Testing •Product release

TRUE

All software cycles include [blank], design, implementation, testing, and product release.

requirements processing

What must a project plan describe?

Which activities and how much of each are part of the project.

T/F: A software project plan must describe which of and how much of these activities are part of the specific project.

TRUE

A software project plan must describe which activities and how [blank] of them are included.

much

What must requirements management include?

Management of changes and modifications.

T/F: the requirements management process described in Chapter 1 needs to be expanded to include management of changes and modifications.

TRUE

Requirements management must include [blank] of changes and modifications.

management