Mixed Deck — All CSM Topics Flashcards

In earned value management, the Budget at Completion (BAC) represents:

Answer: The total authorized budget for the entire project

BAC is the total approved budget assigned to the project scope and serves as the baseline against which performance is measured.

A CSM is using a burndown chart and notices the actual line is consistently above the ideal line. This indicates:

Answer: The team has more work remaining than the ideal pace requires

When the actual burndown line sits above the ideal line, remaining work exceeds what should be left at that point, signaling the team is behind pace.

What is the primary purpose of a balanced scorecard in software management strategy?

Answer: Align business activities to vision across financial, customer, process, and learning perspectives

The balanced scorecard translates an organization's vision into a set of performance measures spanning four perspectives to ensure holistic alignment.

A software organization aligns its IT strategy directly to business strategy by ensuring IT investments support organizational goals. This alignment is known as:

Answer: IT-business strategic alignment

IT-business strategic alignment ensures technology investments directly support and enable the organization's strategic objectives.

A software company conducts a competitive analysis and discovers it has a unique, hard-to-replicate algorithm. According to the Resource-Based View (RBV), this is best described as:

Answer: A sustainable competitive advantage

RBV holds that resources that are valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable (VRIN) create sustainable competitive advantage.

In software project management, what is a 'sprint' most closely associated with?

Answer: A time-boxed iteration in Agile/Scrum methodology

A sprint is a fixed-length iteration (typically 1-4 weeks) in Scrum where a usable product increment is delivered.

What is the PRIMARY purpose of a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system?

Answer: Centrally collecting and correlating security logs for threat detection

A SIEM aggregates and correlates log data from multiple sources to detect security incidents in real time.

What is the impact of over-allocation of resources in project management?

Answer: It can cause delays and reduce productivity

Over-allocation occurs when a resource is assigned more work than they can realistically complete within a given timeframe. This leads to burnout, decreased morale, and a drop in productivity as individuals struggle to manage an excessive workload. Ultimately, over-allocation can cause significant project delays, compromise quality, and increase the risk of errors.

Which of the following is an example of risk avoidance in a software project?

Answer: Dropping a high-risk feature from the project scope

Risk avoidance eliminates the risk entirely by removing its source, such as dropping a feature that introduces unacceptable risk.

In change management, what does a Change Advisory Board (CAB) primarily do?

Answer: Reviews and approves or rejects proposed changes

The CAB reviews proposed changes, assesses their risk and impact, and makes authorization decisions before changes are implemented.

In IT governance frameworks, which COBIT 5 domain is primarily responsible for ensuring that IT services are delivered effectively and efficiently?

Answer: Deliver, Service and Support (DSS)

The DSS (Deliver, Service and Support) domain in COBIT 5 focuses on the delivery of IT services and support operations.

What risk management concept describes the maximum tolerable downtime for a critical software system before business impact becomes unacceptable?

Answer: Recovery Time Objective (RTO)

RTO defines how quickly a system must be restored after a failure to avoid unacceptable business consequences.

Which of the following best describes 'active listening' in stakeholder meetings?

Answer: Fully concentrating, understanding, and responding thoughtfully to the stakeholder

Active listening involves full engagement with the speaker, including understanding their message, asking clarifying questions, and responding in a way that confirms comprehension.

A software manager needs to present negative project news to stakeholders. Which communication principle should guide this situation?

Answer: Be transparent, timely, and present the issue alongside a mitigation plan

Timely and honest communication paired with a mitigation plan maintains stakeholder trust and allows for collaborative problem-solving.

Which of the following scenarios represents a breakdown in stakeholder communication governance?

Answer: Two team members give contradictory project status updates to the same stakeholder on the same day

Contradictory updates to the same stakeholder indicate a lack of communication governance, including undefined ownership of communications and no single source of truth for project status.

In Bayesian decision theory applied to software quality management, what does the 'prior probability' represent?

Answer: The initial belief about the probability of an event before new evidence is observed

In Bayesian inference, the prior probability represents the belief or estimate about an event's likelihood before incorporating new data.

What is the purpose of a risk breakdown structure (RBS) in software project management?

Answer: To hierarchically categorize risks by source or type

An RBS organizes risks into a hierarchical structure by category (e.g., technical, external, organizational), helping ensure comprehensive risk identification.

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

Answer: Project Charter

The Project Charter formally authorizes the project and gives the project manager authority to use organizational resources.

What is the importance of continuing education in CSM professional practice?

Answer: To maintain current knowledge, meet certification requirements, and adapt to evolving industry standards

Continuing education ensures professionals stay current with new developments, technologies, and best practices in their field while fulfilling certification renewal requirements and providing better service to clients.

Which of the following BEST describes a version control branching strategy that uses short-lived feature branches merged frequently into the main branch?

Answer: Trunk-based development

Trunk-based development uses short-lived branches that are frequently integrated into the main (trunk) branch to reduce merge conflicts and support continuous integration.