Project Time Management Techniques Quiz

Study Notes

Approaches to Estimation

Bottom-up estimating: Identifies resources needed for each individual activity in the WBS and sums them up for the entire project, detailed and accurate but time-consuming.
Top-down estimating: Starts with an overall budget or resource constraint and breaks it down into individual activities, quicker but less precise.
Analogous estimating: Uses data from similar past projects to estimate resource needs, fast but requires relevant historical data.
Parametric estimating: Employs statistical relationships between project characteristics and resource usage to estimate needs, efficient but relies on accurate historical data and well-defined relationships.

Factors to Consider in Estimation

Project scope and objectives: Clearly understand what the project needs to deliver and the required quality level.
Work breakdown structure (WBS): Breaks down the project into smaller, manageable tasks, aiding resource identification.
Activity complexity: Different activities might require different types and amounts of resources.
Resource availability: Consider if needed resources are readily available or require procurement.

Effective Project Time Management

Timely project completion: Meeting deadlines strengthens stakeholder trust and ensures project deliverables are available when needed.
Improved resource allocation: Effective scheduling optimizes resource utilization and helps avoid bottlenecks.
Reduced costs: Completing projects on time helps avoid schedule-related cost overruns.
Improved risk management: Proactive schedule monitoring helps identify and mitigate potential delays and their impact.

Project Networks

A visual representation of the relationships and dependencies between project activities.
Highlights critical paths that impact the overall project timeline.
Mapping relationships offers insights into project flow, task dependencies, and optimal resource allocation.

Gantt Charts

A horizontal bar chart that displays tasks against time, providing a quick and clear overview of a project schedule.
Components include:
- WBS tasks: Listed on the left side of the chart, each task represents a specific activity within the project.
- Timeline: Displayed across the top, the timeline shows the overall project duration.
- Gantt bars: Horizontal bars representing the duration of individual tasks.
- Dependencies: Arrows or lines connect tasks to show their relationships.
- Progress: Shading or color fills within the Gantt bars represent the completion percentage of each task.
- Baseline: A Gantt bar may be split in two, with one-half representing the planned schedule and the other representing the actual schedule.

Project Risk Management

A systematic process of identifying, analysing, and responding to project risks.
Key processes involved:
- Plan Risk Management: Establishes the framework for managing risks throughout the project.
- Identify Risks: Actively searches for potential threats and opportunities that could affect the project.
- Analyse Risks: Assesses the likelihood and impact of each identified risk, prioritizing them based on potential severity and probability.
- Develop Risk Response Strategies: Determines the appropriate response for each risk, considering options like avoidance, mitigation, transfer, or acceptance.
- Monitor and Control Risks: Tracks identified risks, monitors their status, implements responses as needed, and reassesses risks as the project progresses.

Benefits of Project Risk Management

Increased project success: Proactive risk management helps avoid negative impacts and capitalize on opportunities, leading to improved project outcomes.

Project Quality Management

Ensures a project meets quality requirements through planning, assurance, control, and continuous improvement processes.
Key processes involved:
- Quality Planning: Defines quality standards, control measures, and improvement strategies.
- Quality Assurance: Establishes procedures to ensure quality standards are met, such as audits and inspections for compliance.
- Quality Control: Monitors project quality and takes corrective action to meet established standards.
- Continuous Improvement: Measures, analyses, and identifies areas for improvement based on stakeholder feedback, then implements changes to enhance quality.

Quality Assurance (QA) vs Quality Control (QC)

Quality Assurance (QA): Proactive, preventative approach focused on processes and practices to ensure quality is built into the project from the start.
Quality Control (QC): Reactive, detection-based approach focused on identifying and correcting defects in finished deliverables.

Description

Test your knowledge on project time management techniques such as critical path method (CPM) and earned value management (EVM). Learn how effective time management can lead to timely project completion, improved resource allocation, reduced costs, and better risk management.