Appendix 2: Chapter Questions

1. Everyone has been involved in projects. What is the largest project you have been involved in? (You do not have to have been the project manager, but could have played another role.)
   1. Write one sentence that describes the objective of the project.
   2. Describe specifically how this project meets the definition of a project used in this textbook. (How is it unique? What were the time constraints? If it is over, how did you know it was over? If it is ongoing, how will you know when it is over?
   3. What was your role? Were you the project manager, a volunteer, some other role? If you were not the project manager, who was?
   4. Was the project part of a larger portfolio or program of projects?
   5. Who else was involved?
   6. What was the budget?
   7. Did you anticipate any risks at the outset? Did the project experience any outside forces that caused a change in either the objectives or the approach to achieving those objectives?
2. In what ways can the following activities be seen as projects? In what ways do they resemble ongoing, routine business activities? Feel free to add assumptions and details to describe how the activity might be a project in one context and routine in another.
   1. Reading the chapter before attending a university lecture.
   2. Taking the bus to work each day.
   3. Piloting an aircraft between Vancouver and Fiji.
   4. Teaching a course for the first time; teaching the same course every semester.

1. Go online and search for project life cycle models. Identify at least two that are different from the PMI model, and compare and contrast the phases. Be sure to cite your sources.
2. How does the application of a phased approach to project management vary in different industries? Do you think that the phases work the same in construction as they do in event management or software development?

1. Identify a major public infrastructure project that is either underway, complete, or proposed in your region. This could be a bridge, road, building, or something of that nature. For the project you have identified, think of as many stakeholders and stakeholder groups as you can. Create a three-column table. In column 1, list the stakeholders. In column 2, list what each stakeholder wants to get from the project. In column 3, list the influence each stakeholder has over the project.
2. How can the stakeholders change over the course of a project? Give examples of changes in who the stakeholders are, and also in how their interests or influence over the project might change throughout the term of the project.

1. Software project decision point.
   1. You need to determine an interest rate to use—select an interest rate and explain why you think this number should be used. Use it in your calculations in item 1.2.
   2. Given the information below on options 1 and 2, carry out three forms of analysis: breakeven, ROI, and NPV.
   3. Make a recommendation on which way to proceed, based on the TCO for each option.

• Option 1: Purchase the FunSoft package: Cost $200,000 for software and $85,000 for hardware in year one; with $50,000 to customize it and a $40,000 annual licensing fee for the life of the contract. There will be an annual saving of $61,000 due to the layoff of a clerk.
• Option 2: Purchase the SoftComm package, which will operate on the vendor’s hardware: Cost $250,000 for a five-year license, payable half up front and half during the first year of implementation. The maintenance contract, at $75,000 a year, includes all currently identified modifications to the software for the first three years. The clerk’s hours will be cut by half, for a saving of $25,000 a year.

In both cases, sales are expected to increase from the current $1 million a year, by 10% per year each year (over each year’s previous year’s sales) after full implementation.

Assume a five-year life for the software.

1. A project to put on a major international sporting competition has the following major deliverables: Sports Venues, Athlete Accommodation, Volunteer Organization, Security, Events, and Publicity (which has already been broken down into pre-event publicity and post-event publicity.) Prepare a WBS for any single major deliverable on the list. Remember the 100 percent rule, and number your objectives.

Your team has been asked to test and document enhancements to a web application that allows buyers to purchase custom-printed canvas shoes. The tasks and dependencies are as follows:

• Create a testing plan

Once the testing plan is ready, your team can:

• Test the user interfaces
• Test the database
• Test the network
• Write the documentation first draft

When the user interface tests are complete, you can:

• Perform user testing—enlist some users to test the user interface

When the database and network testing are complete, you can:

• Perform integration testing—network with the database

When the user testing of the user interface and the database testing are complete, you can:

• Perform integration testing—database, network, and user interface

When all integration testing and user testing are complete, you can:

• Perform system testing

Then you can:

• Review and revise documentation

After all other tasks are complete, you can:

• Obtain management approval

Duration estimates for the tasks:

1. Create a network diagram and a Gantt chart for the project tasks. Ask your instructor if you are permitted to use software such as Microsoft Project to help you prepare your diagrams.
   1. What is the planned duration for the testing project?
   2. What is the critical path for the testing project?
   3. For each task NOT on the critical path, calculate the amount of slack available.
   4. If the user testing of the user interface takes 15 days, what will the impact be on the project duration?
2. Go online and find at least two sites with definitions of fast tracking and crashing a project schedule.
   1. Prepare proper reference citations for the sites you located, using APA style.
   2. In your own words, write definitions for project fast tracking and project crashing.
   3. Consider the plan you prepared for the software system testing project in question 1 above. If you were informed by management that you must reduce the planned duration of the project by five days, describe how you, as a project manager, could crash or fast track this project. Be specific in identifying exactly what could be changed in the project plan for each option.
   4. (continuation of question 2.3) If the request to speed up the project occurs after day 25 of the original schedule, what is the only option available?
3. Go online and research the difference between total slack and free slack.
   1. Prepare proper reference citations for the sites you located, using APA style.
   2. Write definitions of total slack and free slack in your own words.
   3. Why would the distinction between different forms of slack be important to a project manager?