ME2016 Partial Exam 1

SMART

Specific: defined output. Measurable: Can be checked for completion. Achievable: realistic goals. Realistic: Feasible within company’s context. Time-bound: has a deadline.

The Iron (project) Triangle

Time, quality, scope. You have to choose what to prioritize, optimize, or accept trade offs.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A hierarchical decomposition of a project into smaller, manageable components

or tasks, facilitating better planning and control.

Front-end Phase

The early stages before the formal project life cycle begins, where the decisions about governance and conceptual solutions are made.

Risk strategy

Plan for a specific risk. Avoid: change the plan to mitigate a specific risk, mitigate: take actions to lower the probability, transfer: transfer risk to another party, accept: decide to deal with the consequences if it happens.

Pre-mortem Analysis

A brainstorming method where you imagine the project has already failed and where you work backwards to identify why.

Scope creep

Uncontrolled or continuous growth in a project’s scope, due to poor definition or control.

Uncertainty profiles

Variation, Foreseen uncertainty, unforeseen uncertainty, chaos

Forward pass

Finding early dates

Early start

The earliest an activity can begin. ES=highest EF of all immediate predecessors.

Early Finish

EF = ES + Duration

Backward Pass

Finding late dates

Late Finish

The latest an activity can finish without delaying a project. LF = lowest LS of all immediate successors.

Late Start

LS = LF - Duration

Total Float

The total delay possible for an activity without delaying the entire project. TF = LS - ES or LF - EF

Free Float

The delay possible for an activity without delaying the next activity. FF = (smallest ES of successors) - EF

Critical path

The longest path through the network diagram; determines the minimum project duration. Activities on the path always have zero float (TF=0).

Probabilistic Expected Duration

Used when there is a chance of a rework. E(T) = (P_success x T_success) + (P_Failure x T_Failure)

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

Used to find the expected duration of a single activity when you have three estimates. Estimates: Optimistic (T_min), Most Likely (T_likely), and Pessimistic (T_max). T_expected = (T_min + 4 (T_likely) + T_max)/6