PMI ACP Quiz 12

The project manager is the ultimate risk manager in agile projects. He or she watches out for any imbalance that may arise between customer-driven value, the expectations of the business, and the practicability of completing a project; and then carefully takes measured risks on addressing these imbalances. The business case provides guidance in how to achieve the best-value solution.

The project balance sheet serves as a framework of the value, risk, and the capability and capacity of the business. By comparing these elements, the business is able to measure achievements with respect to both business expectations and challenges.

The project balance sheet, when implemented, may be shown in three forms: (1) that all entries in the business column can be connected to a balancing entry in the project column; (2) that they drive all entries in the project column; and (3) that they determine the limitations and expectations on all entries in the project column.

It is the project sponsor who has the knowledge and expertise about the business and the market. The project manager does not have this expertise. However, the project sponsor does not always have an understanding of project management which is the expertise of the project manager. They must collaborate with each other to bridge their understanding of the project.

Relevant historical performance would be helpful in formulating a business case as well as current performance data. Note that only relevant – not all – historical performance should be considered. A study of historical performance of related projects will provide an understanding of what factors created the current target opportunity.

In a Level 0 business case, the requirements need not just be about solutions for bugs and warranty repairs. They may also involve new features and functionality which, at Level 0, do not change the relationship with the customer, supply chain, or other commitments.

In a Level 1 business case, opportunities do not materially alter the model or the value of the business. They do not sacrifice other business units and, in effect, are not risky to the business in scope. Projects in a Level 1 business case are not game-changers for the business.

In a Level 2 business case, opportunities may lead to the introduction of a new business model. This means that it could significantly alter the business culture and impact relationships in various areas of the business.

It is the benefits from the balanced scoreboard that is included in the business case content. This refers to the benefit proposition – the payback to the investors of the project – as well as the methods through which it will be measured.

When creating a business case content, business readiness involves identifying who will drive the organization. It also involves identifying other relevant organizations to the project such as sales, distribution, warranty support, etc.

Level 2 projects are huge projects which are not often executed by a single small team. This does not however mean that agile methods cannot be applied in Level 2 projects. The scale of these projects however adds risk due to the added complications in management and technical parameters.

Quality is thought of as an outcome objective because it appears to customers along with project outcomes. As such, it is distinct from cost, schedule, and other resources which are viewed as input objectives.

Economic value is considered a best value when there is no better opportunity for customers other than the product. When both the customer and sponsor think that product quality is equal to or higher than the price to be paid, then economic value is deemed as best value.

In agile projects, the term customer is treated in the broad sense. They are the people who pay regardless of whether they are internal or external to the organization. This may include sponsors, executives, and the product’s end users.

Quality principles are shown not through quality products but through quality practices. The principles support the value and, in effect, determine the limits on the behavior and action that should be implemented within the organization.

Quality values in a relationship involve a respect for every individual in the organization. This means that the contribution of each member is acknowledged regardless of whether they are role models in the organization. The environment is constructive for everyone.

In agile methods, it is a universal principle not to self-optimize. Instead, one should work for the benefit of the team and the project. Team work is important and everyone’s views are respected including differences in opinions.

In agile methods, it is a quality principle to allow users to influence functional design. However in doing so, they also have a responsibility to consider the best value for the enterprise. They cannot seek to change functional design at the expense of the enterprise not getting any value.

The goals and principles of a project should mirror the principles of quality practices. They should match with the quality elements of the balanced scorecard and align with the principles and values of the enterprise.

In agile projects, the deployment task motivates members to treat quality practices as natural and routine. Deployment is primarily a communications task of informing and educating members including documenting standards and benchmarks. But it’s not just the mere act of informing. Instead it also leads to internalization making project principles seem like personal principles to the members.

To measure quality goals relevant to whether the customer was satisfied with the value achieved from the product, subjective measures can be used such as Very Good, Good, Average, Bad, Very Bad. This will effectively determine whether the customer was satisfied with the feature and functionality of the product.

In a deployment task for agile projects, audit procedures are carried out to evaluate performance on vital practices that raise the quality. These procedures do not get minimized despite the caution that overly intrusive audit processes may alter results.

Although developing a quality performance scorecard involves the error condition frequency, this consideration refers to the number of times the errors occurred – not resolved. Other considerations include the error condition, the error condition probability, and the error impact.

Frederick Winslow Taylor’s principle states that managers have responsibilities to design efficient and effective processes and procedures. This means that there is no space for waste in the system. Every step in a process must have a purpose and their results should be measurable.

When it comes to the staff, Taylor is not agile-oriented as he considers them interchangeable based on job description instead of individual talent. He is also centered on business efficiency more than innovation and customer influence. For Taylor, quality is a responsibility that must be fulfilled outside of the mainstream work.

Lean means streamlining the flow from one step to another to minimize unproductive idle time. This gives way to the removal of batch queues, thereby replacing it with real-time procedures and, in effect, minimizes overhead set up time.

The concept of pull is central to lean and agile methods. It is the most crucial part of the relationship between the customer and developer. In a pull concept, the features and functions of a product are driven by the desire of the customer instead of the developer’s whim.

Chance cause is one of the two variables in processes (the other one is assignable cause). It does not always appear in the process and occurs indiscriminately in frequency and intensity. Chance cause can be minimized by creating performance limits for any particular procedure.

Assignable cause is one of the two variables in processes (the other one is chance cause). It is systemic and can be corrected as well as minimized economically. It is different from chance cause in that chance cause occurs randomly in frequency and intensity.

Joseph Juran’s line of agile thinking gave higher priority to the customer over following a plan. He was more customer focus and believed in the concept of fitness to use. Juran acknowledged the customer’s idea of product value and usability. If a product function is not useful on a daily basis to the customer, then that function cannot be deemed valuable.