PMP Exam 2021/2022 Questions and Answers

Actual Cost - ANSWER The realized cost incurred for the work performed on an activity during a specific time period Organizational Breakdown Structure - ANSWER A hierarchical representation of the project organization ...

Actual Cost - ANSWER The realized cost incurred for the work performed on an activity during a specific time period Organizational Breakdown Structure - ANSWER A hierarchical representation of the project organization, which illustrates the relationship between project activities and the organizational units that will perform those activities Predecessor Activity - ANSWER An activity that logically comes before a dependent activity in a schedule. Rework - ANSWER An activity performed to correct a nonconforming product. Three-Point Estimate - ANSWER A mathematical technique employed to account for uncertainty in cost or duration estimates, wherein a most likely, an optimistic and a pessimistic estimate are used. Unknown-Unknown - ANSWER A risk event that cannot be proactively identified or managed. Work Package - ANSWER The work defined at the lowest level of the work breakdown structure for which cost and duration can be estimated Attribute Sampling - ANSWER A technique where a deliverable is tested against a standard and is usually pass or fail. Meetings - ANSWER A gathering of a group of stakeholders to discuss, and/or decide the outcome, of issues, or to share, transmit or receive information. Control Schedule - ANSWER The process of monitoring the current status of the project schedule, determining the degree and cause of any variances, and recommending any necessary changes. Project Management - ANSWER The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements Estimate Costs - ANSWER The process to estimate the approximate amount of money needed to complete each activity. Plan Cost Management - ANSWER The process to develop the cost management plan, which contains all of the tools, methodologies, processes and procedures to plan, estimate, and monitor spending on the project. Reserve Analysis - ANSWER The technique employed to compare the amount of reserve on hand, to the amount of risk that remains. Schedule Model - ANSWER A representation of the plan for executing the project's activities, including durations, dependencies, and other planning information, used to produce a project schedule along with other scheduling artifacts Conflict - ANSWER A condition of disagreement that exists between two or more stakeholders. Epic - ANSWER This is an oversized backlog item that would need to be decomposed into smaller component user stories to be completed within a single sprint? Apportioned Effort - ANSWER An activity where effort is allotted proportionately across certain discrete efforts and not divisible into discrete efforts. (Note: Apportioned effort is one of three earned value management [EVM] types of activities used to measure work performance) What are story points? - ANSWER An arbitrary unit of measure for the relative size of a user story Residual Risk - ANSWER The amount of the original impact of a risk that remains after implementation of a response plan. Discrete Effort - ANSWER An activity that can be planned and measured and that yields a specific output. (Note: Discrete effort is on of three earned value management [EVM] types of activities used to measure work performance) Manage Stakeholder Engagement - ANSWER The process of ensuring stakeholders are properly involved throughout the lifecycle of the project, and managed according to the stakeholder management plan. What are the two parts of the Sprint Planning meeting? - ANSWER Part 1: The "what" - led by the Product Owner Part 2: The "how" - led by the Development Team Expectancy Theory - ANSWER This theory that hypothesizes an individual presumes to be rewarded for their work. They will remain motivated as long as the rewards meet their expectations and desires. Schedule Buffers - ANSWER A concept used in critical chain method scheduling, wherein time is added to the various paths of the network diagram based upon the amount of risk in the preceding path. Document authorizing a project? - ANSWER Project Charter Plan Quality Management - ANSWER The process to write a quality management plan, which demonstrates how the project will comply to the quality standards. Risk Breakdown Structure - ANSWER A hierarchical representation of risks that is organized according to risk categories Procurement Audits - ANSWER A technique applied to gather lessons learned specifically for the procurement process. Project Expeditor - ANSWER A staff assistant to a mid-level manager, has very little, if any, decision-making ability, and is primarily responsible for ensuring resources are available when needed. Project Manager - ANSWER The person who is solely responsible for meeting the project objectives. Milestone - ANSWER A significant point in a project, program, or portfolio. Project Management Information System (PMIS) - ANSWER A collection of various systems used to manage the inputs and outputs of the project management processes. Delphi Technique - ANSWER A technique used to gain consensus of a group of stakeholders when multiple levels of experience, politics, or conflict is present. Sometimes called blind requirements gathering. Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory - ANSWER The theory that hypothesizes the notion that the amount of pay an employee receives does not satisfy, but it will prevent dissatisfaction. Control Costs - ANSWER The process of monitoring cost performance on the project, determining the cause and degree of any variances and recommending any necessary changes. Black Swan - ANSWER A term used in risk to identify an extremely low probability, yet extremely high impact threat. Schedule Performance Index - ANSWER A measure of schedule efficiency expressed as the ratio of earned value to planned value. Formula: EV / PV Estimate at Completion - ANSWER The expected total cost of completing all work expressed as the sum of the actual cost to date and the estimate to complete Schedule Variance - ANSWER A measure of schedule performance expressed as the difference between the earned value and planned value. Formula: EV - PV Successor Activity - ANSWER A dependent activity that logically comes after another activity in a schedule What is the difference between coaching and mentoring? - ANSWER Mentoring is for transfer of knowledge and coaching is done to improve performance Baseline - ANSWER The approved version of work product, or the schedule, budget, or scope, which can be changed only through formal change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison. Determine Budget - ANSWER The process to determine how much money will be needed for the project, when it will be needed, and to develop the cost baseline. Portfolio - ANSWER Projects, programs, subportfolios, and operations managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives Early Finish Date - ANSWER In the critical path method, the earliest point in time when the uncompleted portions of a schedule activity can finish based on the schedule network logic, the data date, and any schedule constraints Workaround - ANSWER A response to a threat that has occurred, for which a prior response had not been planned or was not effective Rolling Wave Planning - ANSWER An iterative planning technique in which the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail, while the work in the future is planned at a higher level Acquire Project Team - ANSWER The process used to obtain the team necessary to complete the project objectives. What are the characteristics of a well structured product backlog? - ANSWER DEEP - Detailed Appropriately, Estimated, Emergent, and Prioritized Communication Management Plan - ANSWER A component of the project, program, or portfolio management plan that describes how, when, and by whom information will be administered and disseminated Identify Risks - ANSWER The process of determining which opportunities and threats may affect the project. Gantt Chart - ANSWER A bar chart of schedule information where activities are listed on the vertical axis, dates are shown on the horizontal axis, and activity durations are shown as horizontal bars placed according to start and finish dates Customer - ANSWER The recipient of the goods and services, or products of the project. Resource Breakdown Structure - ANSWER A hierarchical representation of resources by category and type Resource Management Plan - ANSWER A component of the project or program management plan that describes how the roles and responsibilities, reporting relationships, and staff management will be addressed and structured Earned Value - ANSWER The estimated and approved amount, for specific work that has been completed. Usually expressed in terms of currency (dollars). Physical Percent Complete - ANSWER An estimate expressed as a percent of the amount of work that has been physically completed on an activity or a work breakdown structure component Autocratic - ANSWER A group decision-making technique where one individual makes the choice for the entire group. Quality vs. Grade - ANSWER The difference between a product that fulfills requirements versus a category assigned to a products that have the same functional use but different technical characteristics. Risk Register - ANSWER A project document used to record a list of risks and other risk-related information as it becomes available. Salience Model - ANSWER A tool that assists with the classification of stakeholders based on the their power, legitimacy and urgency. What does IRR stand for? - ANSWER Internal Rate of Return Level of Effort - ANSWER An activity that does not produce definitive end product and is measured by the passage of time. (Note: Level of effort is one of three earned value management [EVM] types of activities used to measure work performance) Procurement Statement of Work - ANSWER The explicit sections of the project's statement of work, WBS and WBS dictionary that pertain to a particular procurement Who holds the formal authority to abnormally terminate a sprint? - ANSWER Product Owner Late Finish Date - ANSWER In the critical path method, the latest possible point in time when the uncompleted portions of a schedule activity can finish based on the schedule network logic, the project completion date, and any schedule constraints Phase Gate - ANSWER A review at the end of a phase in which a decision is made to continue to the next phase, to continue with modification, or to end a project or program Program Management - ANSWER The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to a program to meet the program requirements and to obtain benefits and control not available by managing projects individually What is a "Scrum-butt?" - ANSWER A haphazard or partial approach to implementing agile practices. We use Scrum, but we don't do daily stand-ups because we can't corral everyone at the same time. A good user story has characteristics encapsulated by the acronym INVEST. What are these characteristics? - ANSWER Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, and Testable Communication Channels - ANSWER A formula used to determine the maximum number of communications pathways within a given set of team members. Formula: [N(N-1)]/2 Probability & Impact Matrix - ANSWER A tool that can be used to quickly identify the overall rating of a risk, based upon its probability of occurrence and its expected impact. Requirements Management Plan - ANSWER A component of the project or program management plan that describes how requirements will be analyzed, documented, and managed Closed Procurements - ANSWER An output of the process to formally close each procurement, usually presented in formal written form. Tornado Diagram - ANSWER A horizontal type of bar chart where data categories are listed vertically, so that the largest bar appears at the top of the chart, and the smallest bar appears at the bottom. Normally used with and is an outcome of a sensitivity analysis. WBS Dictionary - ANSWER A document that provides detailed deliverable, activity, and scheduling information about each component in the work breakdown structure Mutual Exclusivity - ANSWER A term used to logically identify two events that cannot occur at the same time. Stakeholder - ANSWER An individual, group, or organization who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project, program, or portfolio Effort - ANSWER The number of labor units required to complete a schedule activity or work breakdown structure component, often expressed in hours, days, or weeks Project Schedule - ANSWER An output of a schedule model that presents linked activities with planned dates, durations, milestones, and resources Cost Management Plan - ANSWER A component of a project or program management plan that describes how costs will be planned, structured, and controlled Fait Accompli - ANSWER A French word for is complete, and in negotiations it is used as a tactic when attempting to deflect the conversation away from an negotiable issue Control Quality - ANSWER The process of verifying that each deliverable meets the quality standards. Organizational Charts & Position Descriptions - ANSWER A tool used to identify the organization of the project, lines of reporting, and descriptions of the various functions. Control account - ANSWER A management control point, usually used in earned value, to bring actual cost, actual scope and actual duration, and compared it to the baseline, usually at a level above the work packages of the WBS. Finish-to-Start - ANSWER A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot start until a predecessor activity has finished Resource Smoothing - ANSWER A technique applied to reduce or eliminate over-allocations of resources assigned to project activities, using only the available amount of float, which preserves the project completion date. Risk Category - ANSWER A group of potential causes of risk Statistical Independence - ANSWER A term used when calculating probabilities, in that the occurrence of one event has no effect on the occurrence of another event. To calculate the probability of these types of events, you multiply the probability of the first event by the probability of the other event. Communications Management - ANSWER The knowledge area that contains all the processes to ensure proper planning, development, collection, distribution, storage, retrieval and ultimate disposition of project information. Resource Leveling - ANSWER A technique applied to reduce or eliminate over-allocations of resources assigned to project activities, often resulting in an extended project completion date. Cost Management - ANSWER The knowledge area which contains all of the processes to ensure the project is completed within the approved budget. Defect - ANSWER Any imperfection in a product or project component, where that