CLL Project Planning & Execution 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In lean project planning, what does a 'pull planning' session primarily accomplish?
- Assigns tasks top-down from management
- Engages the team to work backward from milestones to identify handoffs (Correct answer)
- Creates a push schedule based on resource availability
- Documents risks and issues for the project register
Correct answer: Engages the team to work backward from milestones to identify handoffs
Pull planning engages the team to work backward from project milestones, identifying handoffs and commitments collaboratively.
Question 2: Which metric best measures whether a lean project is delivering value reliably over time?
- Total labor hours consumed
- Percent Plan Complete (PPC) (Correct answer)
- Number of change orders issued
- Budget variance percentage
Correct answer: Percent Plan Complete (PPC)
Percent Plan Complete (PPC) measures the reliability of weekly commitments, indicating whether the team delivers what it promises.
Question 3: A lean project team discovers a constraint that is slowing delivery. According to the Theory of Constraints, what should be the FIRST response?
- Add more resources to all workflow steps
- Identify and exploit the constraint before subordinating other processes to it (Correct answer)
- Immediately elevate the constraint by purchasing new equipment
- Redesign the entire project plan to avoid the constraint
Correct answer: Identify and exploit the constraint before subordinating other processes to it
The first step is to identify and then exploit the existing constraint by maximizing its throughput before taking any other action.
Question 4: What is the primary purpose of a project charter in lean project execution?
- To authorize spending beyond the approved budget
- To define scope, objectives, and authority so the team has a clear mandate (Correct answer)
- To replace the A3 report for complex projects
- To document defects found during execution
Correct answer: To define scope, objectives, and authority so the team has a clear mandate
A project charter formally defines scope, goals, stakeholders, and sponsor authority, giving the team a clear mandate to proceed.
Question 5: During project execution, a lean leader notices tasks are frequently moved from 'complete' back to 'in progress.' What does this most likely indicate?
- The team is over-reporting progress
- Definition of Done criteria are unclear or inconsistently applied (Correct answer)
- The project scope is too large
- Sprint velocity is too high
Correct answer: Definition of Done criteria are unclear or inconsistently applied
Tasks cycling back to in-progress typically signal that the team lacks a shared, clear Definition of Done.
Question 6: In lean project management, 'obeya' (war room) is best described as:
- A software dashboard for remote tracking
- A shared physical or virtual space where visual project information is displayed for daily team coordination (Correct answer)
- A weekly executive steering committee meeting
- A kaizen event format used at project close
Correct answer: A shared physical or virtual space where visual project information is displayed for daily team coordination
Obeya is a dedicated space displaying all critical project visuals, enabling transparent, real-time coordination by the entire team.
Question 7: When scoping a lean project, which technique helps prevent scope creep by explicitly listing what is NOT included?
- RACI matrix
- Out-of-scope statement in the project charter (Correct answer)
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) level 5 detail
- Risk register
Correct answer: Out-of-scope statement in the project charter
Explicitly documenting what is out of scope in the charter sets boundaries and provides a reference to deflect scope creep.
CLL Project Planning & Execution 2
In lean project planning, what does a 'pull planning' session primarily accomplish?