Project Management and Critical Path Essay

What is project management, and what are its main objectives? What is the relationship between tasks and events, or milestones? What is a work breakdown structure? How do you create one? What are task patterns, and how can you recognize them? Compare the advantages and disadvantages of Gantt and PERT/CPM charts. Define the following terms: best-case estimate, probable-case estimate, and worst- case estimate, and describe how project managers use these concepts. How does a project manager calculate start and finish times? What is a critical path, and why is it important to project managers? How do you identify the critical path? What are some project reporting and communication techniques? What is risk management, and why is it important? In Poor Richard’s Almanac, Benjamin Franklin penned the familiar lines: â€Å"For the want of a nail the shoe was lost, for the want of a shoe the horse was lost, for the want of a horse the rider was lost, for the want of a rider the battle was lost, for the want of a battle the kingdom was lost — and all for the want of a horseshoe nail.† Looking at the outcome in hindsight, could project management concepts have avoided the loss of the kingdom? Explain your answers. At Countywide Construction, you are trying to convince your boss that he should consider modern project management techniques to manage a complex project. Your boss says that he doesn’t need anything fancy, and that he can guess the total time by the seat of his pants. To prove your point, you decide to use a very simple example of a commercial con- struction project, with eight tasks. You create a hypothetical work breakdown struc- ture, as follows: Prepare the foundation (10 days). Then assemble the building (4 days). When the building is assembled, start two tasks at once: Finish the interior work (4 days) and set up an appointment for the final building inspection (30 days). When the interior work is done, start two more tasks at once: landscaping (5 days) and driveway paving (2 days). When the landscaping and driveway are done, do the painting (5 days). Finally, when the painting is done and the final inspection has occurred, arrange the sale (3 days). Now you ask your boss to estimate the total time and write his answer on a piece of paper. You look at the paper and see that his guess is wrong. 1. What is the correct answer? 2. What is the critical path? 3. Create a Gantt chart that shows the WBS. 4. Create a PERT/CPM chart. ————- What are the five questions typically used in fact-finding? What additional question can be asked during this process? What is a systems requirement, and how are systems requirements classified? What are JAD and RAD, and how do they differ from traditional fact-finding methods? What are their pros and cons? What is total cost of ownership (TCO), and why is it important? Provide examples of closed-ended, open-ended, and range-of-response questions. What are three types of sampling, and why would you use them? What is the Hawthorne Effect? Why is it significant? What is a functional decomposition diagram (FDD) and why would you use one? Explain how to create an FDD. What are agile methods, and what are some pros and cons of this approach? To what three different audiences might you have to give a presentation? How would the presentation differ for each? ——– A group meeting sometimes is suggested as a useful compromise between interviews and questionnaires. In such a group meeting, one systems analyst meets with and asks questions of a number of users at one time. Discuss the advantages and disad- vantages of such a group meeting. ——- Elmwood College Situation: The school is considering a new system that will speed up the registration process. As a systems analyst, you are asked to develop a plan for fact-finding. 1. List all the possible techniques that you might use. 2. Describe an advantage for each technique. 3. Suppose the development budget is tight. How might that affect the fact-finding process? 4. What are five important questions to use during fact-finding?