Movie: Project Management will be used to review some key principles that will be included in the exam questions.

Q1. How old is informal project management?

A.  Evident in history-pyramids, great battles, Roman empire roads and infrastructure projects, railways in the 1800's bridges, turnpike hiways in the USA. 

Q. 2 What was the role of modern military in the formalization of project management.?

A. It formalized it. Contract were so large with so many vendors, suppliers and teams that a formal approach to managing the complexity was needed This was called Project Management. The 1956 Polaris Missile and Submarine were built using formal project mgt. 

    Control over subcontractors.

    Task and team organization more effective 

Q. Why is trying to make a marriage work not a project?

A. Because getting married is a project, final date the wedding day - once you are married you are into Operations. Trying to stay married never ends therefore it is not a project

Q. What were some other example of Project Management in this video.

A.  A Car Rally, Woolworths Supply chain management, engineering in a car parts manufacturer, the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

Q. What are the three objectives that every project manager has?

A. To bring the project in on time, on budget and at the desired quality.

Q. What would be the task list items look like for this video? How would you develop the summary tasks and why?

A. The usual task list. Think of everything in any order and write them down. Then look for relationships and group them together under headings (Summary Tasks) that describe what will be accomplished. E.G. Shoot video. Control Budget. Write script.

Q. Show relationship of the task list to WBS, schedule, Responsibility Matrix and budget.

A. this is a vital point to understand. The project always revolves around the WBS because that's what tells people what they have to do and what it is going to cost, and how long it is going to take. Therefore it impacts on all above.

Q. The project manager kept getting feedback from the client - what is this process called.

A. this is another critical point. Monitoring. You monitor-gather information so you can control what need to be done to keep the project on plan. It is done mainly through the Execution phase because that's when most thing's can go wrong because of people, equipment, poor planning etc.

Q. What is another name for the bar charts? Answer-Gantt.

Q Give an example of resource leveling.

A. Allocate extra money to commission the contractor to put more people on the job to finish it on the scheduled date. i.e. they had more money than they had time so they leveled off the resources

Q. Change management involves what key elements?

A. Involving people who do the job and keeping them informed. Vital point.

Q. Motivating the team- what were some of the methods used in the movie

A. As above, plus regular meetings, showing them their part of the project (responsibility), showing their role on the Gantt charts and schedule, ensuring they understand their WBS work package, asking how far they have completed their tasks.

Q. How would you define a critical path. Show by a drawing.

A. e.g. Draw a diagram with two paths, with a total of ten tasks, label each task with a letter of the alphabet,  allocate your own times for each path and then define the critical paths.

Q. Why would Project Management software be useful on large projects?

A. Communication to others re: the relationship of their role to other team members, co-ordination of activities, instant calculations of feasibility.

Q. If you are using software to manage a project do you still need project manager who has strong  people skills?

Yes. Project management is always a combination of art and science. Once the process is in place the people end becomes the most important part.