Important PECB ISO 21502 Lead Project Manager Exam Questions

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.

Lily claimed that the team composition cannot be reassessed or revised once the project plan is authorized to be executed. Is this acceptable?

Scenario:

Leute is a low-cost airline, headquartered in Wien, Austri

a. The company aims to offer passengers optimal options regarding its services and gain the lead role among other competitors in the airline industry. Recently, Leute experienced a major drop in revenue due to negative reviews from customers in various online platforms. To increase its profit and enhance customer satisfaction, the company decided to expand its in-flight services by offering entertainment, such as movies, audio books, and games, food for purchase in economy and full meals in premium cabins, and comforts, such as blankets and pillows. For the implementation of this project and future projects of the airline, the CEO of Leute, Michaele Wagner, decided to follow the guidelines of ISO 21502 on project management.

Initially, Allison, the project manager, created a short document in which she justified and summarized all project aspects, including: the nature and purpose of the project, the objectives of the project, key milestones of the project and the time needed to complete the project, and the audience that the project targets.

Afterward, Allison held a meeting with Michaele during which she presented this document and briefly explained each of its points. After a considerable amount of analysis and discussions, the project initiation was approved by Michaele. In addition, a team of eighteen members was authorized to start with the project activities.

While undertaking the project activities, Allison ensured that each work package takes longer than 8 hours, but less than 80 hours, so that they would be completed in 1 to 10 working days. In addition, during this phase, several changes were made in the predefined aspects of the project, which were approved by Nick Todd, the project sponsor. For instance, initially, the project delivery was set to be completed after six months. However, considering how the project was implemented and the time required for the completion of each phase, the deadline for the project completion was postponed for another two months. These changes were also reflected in the business case, which was updated accordingly.

A month after the project execution began, Allison conducted an earned value analysis to measure the progress of the project up to that stage. She measured how efficiently the work was being performed with regard to its budgeted cost, after which she concluded that it was going according to the plan. Moreover, she organized a meeting with relevant project stakeholders in order to communicate the progress report to them.

Based on scenario 3, Allison conducted the earned value analysis to measure the efficiency of work being performed with regard to its budgeted cost. Which of the following metrics did Allison use in this case?

Which of the following statements regarding the difference between traditional and agile methodologies is correct?

According to ISO 21502, why should the organizational strategy be used?

Scenario:

Mallebare is an American company which designs and manufactures gaming accessories. Apart from keyboards, mice, and controllers, the company also manufactures high-quality headsets for which it is widely known. Recently, upon the request of numerous gamers, the company decided to manufacture mousepads too. For this project, Luke, the CEO of the company, assigned Ross, a senior designer of the company, as the project manager, whereas Smith, a senior engineer, was assigned as project sponsor. In addition, Luke stated the project should be complete within three months, as the company is aiming to promote the mousepads in a major gaming tournament. Lastly, Luke required them to utilize the guidelines of ISO 21502 to manage the project.

Initially, Ross mobilized the team and held a meeting with them to discuss and develop the project plan. He asked the team members to ensure that major functional aspects of the project are covered in the project plan and to identify any issue that might arise throughout the project life cycle. Ross explained that this request comes as a result of the tight deadline of the project and the team must develop a concise plan. Ross added that the plan will not be changed in any circumstance and will be followed in detail.

Following that, Ross and the team discussed the engagement of all relevant stakeholders throughout the project. Ross used a power/interest matrix to categorize all stakeholders in four different groups, where the tournament organizers were categorized as stakeholders with low interest but high power in the project. On the other hand, end users, the gamers, were categorized as stakeholders with high interest and high power in the project, so the project team created a survey to determine their needs and requirements.

Moreover, Ross was aware of the importance of effective communication for the success of the project. Therefore, he developed a communication plan which would ensure that each individual involved in the project gets the right information in a timely manner. The plan indicated that ad hoc discussions would be conducted in more complex and personal cases, whereas notes and text messages would be used for transmitting simple and factual information. Ross claimed that this model had been successful in previous projects conducted by the company because it allows faster processing of information and includes natural use of language. In addition, Ross determined that a relationship among project team members needs to be established to ensure productive work.

Ross required the team to develop a concise plan which will be followed in detail and that will not be changed in any circumstance. Is this compliant with ISO 21502?