Project Planning & Scheduling Flashcards

Which document formally authorizes the existence of a project and grants the project manager authority to apply resources?

Answer: Project charter

The project charter is the document that formally authorizes a project and empowers the project manager to use organizational resources.

A drafting project team is using a Kanban board. Tasks are organized in columns: 'To Do,' 'In Progress,' and 'Done.' This is an example of:

Answer: Visual project management / agile workflow

Kanban boards are a visual agile workflow tool that tracks task status through defined stages, limiting work in progress.

Schedule variance (SV) in Earned Value Management is calculated as:

Answer: Earned Value minus Planned Value

SV = EV - PV; a negative SV means the project is behind schedule relative to planned progress.

A project manager adds two weeks of buffer time at the end of a drafting project to absorb unexpected delays. This buffer is called:

Answer: Contingency reserve

Contingency reserve is planned buffer added to the schedule to handle identified risks and uncertainties.

Which project scheduling approach divides work into fixed-length iterations with regular deliverables?

Answer: Sprint-based (Agile/Scrum) scheduling

Agile/Scrum uses fixed-length sprints (typically 1–4 weeks) to deliver incremental value and adapt to change.

When estimating activity durations for a drafting project, the 'analogous estimating' technique relies on:

Answer: Expert judgment based on similar past projects

Analogous estimating uses historical data from similar previous projects as the basis for estimating current project durations.

A project network diagram shows Task A (5 days) → Task B (3 days) → Task C (4 days) on one path, and Task A (5 days) → Task D (8 days) → Task C (4 days) on another. What is the critical path duration?

Answer: 17 days

Path 1: A(5)+B(3)+C(4)=12 days; Path 2: A(5)+D(8)+C(4)=17 days; the critical path is the longer path at 17 days.