Exam 11: Advanced Topics in Planning and Scheduling: Agile and Critical Chain

The sprint portion of the Agile Project Management process is targeted to last:

An important element in critical chain scheduling is to change from a late-finish (procrastination) approach to an early-start approach.

The Central Limit Theorem states that if a number of probability distributions are summed, the variance of the sum equals the sum of the variances of individual distributions.

Traditional, highly structured approaches to planning and managing projects are recognized as being less effective for ________ than Agile Project Management.

Drum buffers are:

The first step in TOC methodology is to:

Agile Project Management is well-suited for instances where

The one element that Agile shares with traditional project management in a software development environment is that all testing is done at the very end of the project.

Which of these is a drawback for Agile Project Management?

A project consists of four consecutive tasks that have average duration and worst-case duration estimates (in days) as shown in the table. Use Newbold's model to determine the aggregated one sigma buffer for this project.

The term capacity constraint buffer refers to a safety margin separating different tasks scheduled to use the same resource.

A project consists of four consecutive tasks that have average duration and worst-case duration estimates (in days) as shown in the table. Use Goldratt's model to determine the aggregated buffer for this project.

Define and describe the function and interrelationship of a drum, drum buffer, and a capacity constraint buffer in CCPM.

Extreme programming advocates a large development staff, several times the number of programmers than would appear in a traditional software project, since the objective is to deliver the project quickly.

What takes place in the Scrum process?

What is aggregated buffer and how can the appropriate amount be determined?

Alexander Demetrius Dickson, ADD to his friends, has three big projects he is working on, and he can't seem to organize his time effectively. Each of the three projects, we'll call them A, B, and C, should take ten days to complete. He is currently contemplating two different approaches. Approach one is to work each project to completion before starting on the next. The problem with this approach is that he tends to burn out if he works on one task for an extended period of time. For every two days he works on one single task, he finds he must take a half day off. ADD's alternative is to multitask, that is, work on project A for a day, then switch to project B for a day, before switching to project C for a day. The problem with this approach is that there is a small setup time equaling one-quarter of a day associated with each transition. Use a Gantt chart to show the effect of each approach and determine which method is the best (has the overall fastest completion time) for performing this work.

What are the formal steps to apply CCPM to multiple project portfolios?

Your next project consists of 10 consecutive 8-day activities, each estimated by a different worker in your organization. Note that the estimators have not yet added any buffer to the 8-day figure. Your organizational culture dictates that you add your own safety margin of 30% into your estimates. The new project manager has just completed an excellent course in project management offered at the local university. When the first project meeting begins, he dazzles you with his wit and sophistication. You are considerably less charmed when he reveals that he has an exciting new technique for managing projects. He adheres to critical chain project management ideas and plans to create an overall project safety buffer after trimming the safety buffers from each of the 10 activities. How much closer has the project deadline moved?

A product backlog: