Week 1
Question 1
A project deliverable refers to the intended results of approved tasks arising from the project requirement whereas a project requirement refers to the detailed requisite gathered by the project manager in form of questionnaires, surveys, and other analytical tools from the stakeholders to achieve the project’s goal (Raza, 2019). Essentially, project deliverables are the expectations of the stakeholders for the intended goal while project requirement is a component of the project activity to achieve the project goal.
Engineering reports, proposals, design drawings and strategic report are some examples of project deliverables (Shirazi, Kazemipoor & Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, 2017). An example of a project requirement for an electronic warranty project is an existing workflow allowing documents to be electronically signed by different stakeholders rather than through email.
Question 2
A project scope statement serves as a necessary communication documents because It outlines the goals of a project, the project deadlines and also the relationships that shape the project. The project scope statement helps in minimizing risks, avoiding distractions and also ensuring that the project stays within the budget so that the goal of the project can be achieved (Shirazi, Kazemipoor & Tavakkoli-Moghaddam,2017).
Week 2
Question 1
To achieve an effective stakeholder engagement, the project manager needs to begin by identifying the stakeholders early enough. The project manager should also create a platform whereby the stakeholders can talk to one another. The project manager should also seek to understand all the stakeholders by listening to their perspectives. He should also focus on engaging stakeholders in estimates as the project progresses (Cuppen et al., 2016). He should also collaboratively work with the stakeholders in breaking down their projects into deliverables to have a better understanding of their tasks. The project manager should also focus on managing expectations as well as ensuring that effective communication is achieved by developing and maintaining a communications plan.
Question 2
The requirements elicitation tools are will use are;
- Surveys
- Focus groups (Cuppen et al., 2016)
Question 3
A MoSCoW technique divides the project requirements based on priority. The first category is the ‘must-haves’ category which entails mandatory requirements and without them, the project fails. The second category is the ‘should haves’ category which entails additional and much desired requirements which are of high priority though not vital for a usable end product (Butt, Naaranoja & Savolainen, 2016). The third category is the ‘could haves’ category for requirements that can be considered suppose there is time left. The last category is the ‘would haves’ category involving requirements that are wished to be used in the future and tend to be impossible to realize them and take a lot of time.
An example of a must haves category is the financial resources which a project cannot progress without it.
Week 3
Question 1
Scope definition plays the role of defining the role of stakeholders and defining the procedures of the projects. It acts as a communication tool that helps in ensuring that stakeholders, as well as team members, get to understand the project’s scope (Marthasari, Suharso & Ardiansyah, 2018). Effective scope management plays an important role in ensuring the success of a project by avoiding challenges which the project is likely to encounter due to unruly project requirements and a bloating scope. Effective scope management helps in establishing control mechanisms aimed at addressing factors that might lead to changes in the course of the project life.
Question 2
Best practices components for an effective project scope statement include;
- Project objective
- Product description
- Assumptions
- Limitations
- Expected outcomes
- Justification Marthasari, Suharso & Ardiansyah, 2018)
Week 4
Question 1
The WBS plays an important role in helping a project team to define a project plan. It presents a hierarchy of deliverables and project tasks. The WBS helps the team members by preventing the work from slipping through cracks. This is because the WBS plays the role of showing the project deliverables as well as the precise work that is required to be completed (Kerzner, 2017). Essentially, the WBS assists in guiding the project team on what needs to be done and in what manner does it need to be organized. The WBS also offers the project team members with a better understanding of the general project plans and also offers them a clue of the impact that their efforts have on the project. WBS also enhances and facilitates cooperation among the project team along with the stakeholders.
Question 2
The following process is used to create a verifiable WBS;
- The first phase entails understanding the scope of the project and the objectives
- The next step involves determining the major deliverables
- Next is determining the work packages.
- Develop a WBS dictionary outlining the definition as well as the scope of every element within the WBS.
- Create the right WBS format (Kerzner, 2017)
Week 5
Question 1
The 100% rule is an essential principle guiding the development, evaluation as well as the decomposition of the Work Breakdown Structure. Essentially, the 100% rule is a vital part of the WBS methodology, whereby this rule applies and its associated concepts are vital to assure the usefulness and the accuracy of applying the rule (Heagney, 2016).
The 100% rule asserts that the WBS entails 100% of the work that the project scope has defined and also capturing all variables. Therefore, this helps the project manager in verifying the project requirements and deliverables by ensuring that all the project requirements and deliverables are compatible with the project scope.
Question 2
The traceability matrix assists the project manager together with the project team to make sure that user acceptance of the deliverables is achieved. This is done by ensuring that the project team captures and measures the level of accuracy of the project deliverables to ensure that the project goal is achieved (Heagney, 2016). It helps both the project manager and the project team to understand, analyze and test the deliverables to determine their user acceptance.
Week 6
Question 1
The main differences between Agile and Waterfall are that requirements in Waterfall are normally defined almost at the beginning of the project and might be subjected to change control in the rest of the project phases. In the waterfall, the cost of change can be substantial. For Agile, deliverables are created and also accepted incrementally based on shorter iterations and equivalent (Shirazi, Kazemipoor & Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, 2017). Unlike Waterfall, Agile is usually defined around every iteration instead of at the beginning of the project in one requirement phase (Shirazi, Kazemipoor & Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, 2017). The similarity between the two is that both have the same goal which is delivering a quality product in an efficient, responsible and also in a predictable way. Both prioritize project deliverables to ensure that the goal of the project is met.
Question 2
Effective project governance helps in preventing project scope creep by ensuring a single point of accountability is applied to the project scope. Through effective project governance, issues are managed and resolutions made. Moreover, the distribution of information is done effectively and clearly (Shirazi, Kazemipoor & Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, 2017). Effective project governance also plays a role of outlining roles, relationships as well as the responsibility of the project stakeholders. All these help to prevent project scope creep. In essence, effective project governance is considered an important aspect in ensuring the success of a project.