Question 26
Scenario:
Oakniture is a furniture manufacturer located in Bristol, England. It is known for its kitchen tables made out of different types of wood, such as chestnut, walnut, and oak. In early 2022, Lana, one of the senior researchers of the company, conducted a feasibility study to determine if there is a market for oak wood coffee tables, which indicated that the demand for oak wood coffee tables is relatively high. As such, Lana prepared a project brief and presented it to the top management of the company. The project brief included information on the project context and project objectives. After several discussions, the top management agreed that the project should be undertaken, but lastly, they asked Lana about the project duration. Lana claimed that the project duration cannot be determined and such information was not provided in the project brief; however, she added that the project duration will mainly depend on the competencies of the project team and on Oakniture's suppliers of wood.
Following that, the top management initiated the project and assigned Tom, the operations director, as the project manager, and Lana as the project sponsor. To manage the project, they decided to use the guidelines of ISO 21502.
Initially, Tom defined the governance and management framework alone, and then he mobilized the team and assigned the roles and responsibilities to each team member. In addition, Tom and the project team identified the stakeholders and developed the project plan. To ensure effective management of each project phase, Tom used a work breakdown structure (WBS) to organize project activities. Tom presented the project activities in the WBS by linking task dependencies and showing project milestones. In addition, Tom calculated the duration of each work package by determining the early start and early finish dates. Regarding the relationship between work packages, Tom required the project team to perform tasks in the predetermined order, regardless of any resource shortages they might experience.
A week after the project implementation began, Tom collected and analyzed data regarding the progress of the project. To keep everyone up to date, he held a meeting with Lana and project stakeholders.
Question:
Lana did not provide any information regarding the project duration in the project brief. Is this acceptable?
Question 27
Scenario:
Tricko is a clothing manufacturer headquartered in Milano, Italy. The company was founded in 2010 by Mario, a famous Italian fashion designer. Over the last few years, the company has seen immense growth and now has a chain of stores across multiple European cities. Following industry trends, the top management of Tricko concluded that the company should establish an online store. As such, they required Lily, an experienced IT engineer, to develop a brief for this potential project. After several meetings and discussions, the top management approved the project brief and assigned Lily as the project manager. For this project, she was instructed to use the guidelines of ISO 21502 on project management.
Lily initiated the project by mobilizing the project team, which included four web developers, two network engineers, and one systems analyst. In order to ensure that every team member is fully aware of their roles and responsibilities, Lily developed team performance domains which would link each project activity with the individuals responsible for undertaking it. She explained to the team members that it is important to clearly understand their roles and responsibilities, considering that the team composition cannot be reassessed or revised once the project plan is authorized to be executed. In addition, Lily defined in a document the project's contribution to the overall objectives of Tricko, which reflected the relevant project requirements and their associated acceptance criteria.
Following that, Lily worked with the project team to discuss project costs. She suggested the team initially establish cost estimates only for the first phase of the project and then for the entire project. In addition, she required cost estimates to be expressed in currency valuations and in labor hours. One of the network engineers suggested that each team member should provide an estimate, and then the team should reach an agreement for a joint estimate. On the other hand, one of the developers suggested establishing an estimate for the costs after the closure of the project, such as advertising and promotion costs. Lily agreed with their suggestions and asked them to provide a total estimate as soon as possible.
Based on the total estimate provided by the project team, Lily developed the project budget and created a list of project activities, divided them into smaller items, and assigned a budget for each item.
Question:
Lily claimed that the team composition cannot be reassessed or revised once the project plan is authorized to be executed. Is this acceptable?
Question 28
Scenario:
Oakniture is a furniture manufacturer located in Bristol, England. It is known for its kitchen tables made out of different types of wood, such as chestnut, walnut, and oak. In early 2022, Lana, one of the senior researchers of the company, conducted a feasibility study to determine if there is a market for oak wood coffee tables, which indicated that the demand for oak wood coffee tables is relatively high. As such, Lana prepared a project brief and presented it to the top management of the company. The project brief included information on the project context and project objectives. After several discussions, the top management agreed that the project should be undertaken, but lastly, they asked Lana about the project duration. Lana claimed that the project duration cannot be determined and such information was not provided in the project brief; however, she added that the project duration will mainly depend on the competencies of the project team and on Oakniture's suppliers of wood.
Following that, the top management initiated the project and assigned Tom, the operations director, as the project manager, and Lana as the project sponsor. To manage the project, they decided to use the guidelines of ISO 21502.
Initially, Tom defined the governance and management framework alone, and then he mobilized the team and assigned the roles and responsibilities to each team member. In addition, Tom and the project team identified the stakeholders and developed the project plan. To ensure effective management of each project phase, Tom used a work breakdown structure (WBS) to organize project activities. Tom presented the project activities in the WBS by linking task dependencies and showing project milestones. In addition, Tom calculated the duration of each work package by determining the early start and early finish dates. Regarding the relationship between work packages, Tom required the project team to perform tasks in the predetermined order, regardless of any resource shortages they might experience.
A week after the project implementation began, Tom collected and analyzed data regarding the progress of the project. To keep everyone up to date, he held a meeting with Lana and project stakeholders.
Question:
Tom asked the project team to perform tasks in the predetermined order, regardless of resource shortages.
What rule did Tom follow in this case?
Question 29
What does ISO 21502 provide?