PMI ACP Quiz 21

The contracting process that we know today changes in dominance from the project output side to the project input side. This is not aligned with agile principles where the focus is on the output. This conflict in dominance always exists in any contracted arrangement.

A commission that can be achieved only if a project phase is completed earlier than planned shows the dominance being on the output side (not on the input side). That is, depending on whether the output is done earlier, then a commission will be provided. This is unlike the rest of the statements which are not based on the output and had to be provided regardless of the actual output in the future.

Milestone planning must effectively combine traditional and agile work processes. This is an important condition for a successful shift in dominance and allegiance. The other three conditions are strategic intent, scope, and quality.

Project monitoring is not supposed to store crucial information from various processes only to store them for a more effective use in the future. Apart from needing the information to be accurate and relevant, it has to ensure that they are timely and can be used to meet the current and changing circumstances of the project.

Project monitoring keeps track of necessary data to ensure that the project continues to be aligned with the business goal. It must be noted that it does not gather and analyze all available data. Instead, only information that are deemed useful should be tracked.

The process of monitoring and controlling requires that the execution be based on the strategic intent. However it is not carried out via stationary tactics. The strategic intent is stationary however one should employ tactics that are emergent and iterative.

Requirements are expected to get altered as frequently as needed to adapt to the different needs of the customers. The paradox is that requirements are thought to be in need of stability so results can be predicted. However the reality is that requirements always change. This is necessary to ensure that the customer gets the best possible value.

In agile methods, scope serves as the variable among cost, quality, and schedule because it always evolves, changes, and adapts to the needs of the customers. It is what makes agile projects remarkably distinct from traditional projects where a constantly evolving scope becomes an enormous challenge

Planning for scope and requirements is not executed with longer timeframes. Instead, planning is done using shorter frameworks that are more time-sensitive. These frameworks are called rolling waves.

The adaptive method yields results that have a wider scope and complexities than those predicted through basic combination and use of project rules. It manifests the quality of emergence and is influenced by feedback. The input is affected by output effects which call for the entire process to balance the mix of both input and output.

In a Kano analysis chart, the attributes which lie along the horizontal axis demand sustained funding although this does not mean that there is an equivalent value in customer loyalty and satisfaction. These are the features that the customer expects in every product.

The modular architecture is the blueprint of any system comprised of independent black boxes that are mutually linked together. The good thing about this arrangement is that one component may be replaced (or another may be added) without affecting the rest of the system. Other types of architecture are layered architecture and application architecture.

The goal of planning is to set standards and benchmarks which shall serve as goals in producing great outcomes. Without planning, it will be impossible to determine whether the project is on the right track. Any result will eventually be acceptable if no plan was put in place to guide the project.

An ideal project trajectory is where customer satisfaction is achieved while remaining within the acceptable error limit of cost and schedule. A project trajectory describes the direction of project management aspects such as planning, estimating, communicating, and executing.

The release signifies the end of the project and may serve as the marker for done. In theory, every agile project becomes zero base following a release in that it might even be considered complete. Hence, any particular release may serve as a marker for “done” for any agile project.

In an enterprise context, a portfolio of plans is especially valuable as it creates points of coordination and integration for massive projects. This is especially true for agile projects where planning is close to the work, and where multiple plans are involved and are all regularly evolving.

During meetings, solutions to problems encountered during the day are not really discussed. Factors that hinder progress are discussed along with an evaluation on whether the daily plan was a success or not. Issues identified are for the project manager to tackle.

Risk is a condition that influences project goals and may lead to a wide range of probabilities for which insight is available. It is different from uncertainty for which no insight or little knowledge is available. Risk becomes an uncertainty if no insight is found regarding its probabilities.

For an agile practitioner, contract requirements that are constant and identified are unmanageable at worst and meaningless at best. This is because project circumstances change and issues may arise which were not initially foreseen. Hence the requirements need to change in order to deliver the best outcome despite the change in circumstances. Some requirements initially identified may also end up being useless due to the evolving project circumstances.

In a successful shift of allegiance and dominance, the strategic intent has to be stationary while the scope has to be tactically emergent and iterative. The intent has to govern the business direction and so should be stationary. However the scope of the project is expected to encounter changes and so should be approached through tactical emergence and iteration.

The quality is the dominant control mechanism in agile projects. It is the top priority and is the ultimate goal of the project. The quality of the output should determine how the input should be utilized depending on what will give best value to the customer, including on aspects where the customer does not have a say.

When monitoring and controlling using agile methods, a dialogue is made part of the process which encourages honesty, transparency, and informality. Agile practitioners do not employ a domineering approach when managing project execution. It is detrimental to project and ultimately adds no value.

When agile principles are observed in project monitoring, not all information are sensed, gathered, measured, and evaluated to influence outcomes. Instead, only the information that matters are the ones that get monitored. If a particular information has no use to advance the project goals, then there is no value in collecting said information.

Monitoring and controlling forms a closed loop when the execution is monitored, control is applied to the execution, and the effects of the applied control is then again monitored. Hence it becomes monitor-control-monitor which becomes a closed loop that repeats as frequently as necessary.

The agile change management paradigm believes that change is expected and even encouraged to achieve optimum customer satisfaction within the limits of best value. This is different from the traditional change management paradigm where change is discouraged once plans are set to motion.

When employing a hybrid methodology in change management, change to open interfaces is managed via traditional methods. Change management is characterized by encapsulating the processes whereby change to open interfaces is not ideal and hence is not supported. It is not altogether impossible but any change will call for a change in management regulations which will require intervention by the change management authority.

When managing change inside a black box using hybrid methodology, agile methods inside the black box encourage change while traditional methods minimize the change. The traditional aspect controls the change that the agile methods provoke, thereby creating a balance in change management.

When performing risk management, decoupling the effects means managing the issues that arise in a black box by grouping the functions within that black box with containment in mind. It is more of an architectural concern but it greatly fits the black box ideal.

In agile project management, the people who provide the money have a vote on what it means when the project is done and whether the project is done. They also have a vote on all strategic attributes of the project.