Project Management Reviews - Latest Comments

Re: PMP Concepts: The Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

Randy Long — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:45:20 -0000

Love this article, Son. I have never used this tool before, but I think as I gain more projects, this is a good reference.
Thanks!

Re: How to get my 60 PMI PDUs for PMP Re-certification?

Allen Bass — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 10:59:25 -0000

pmp certification requirements says very good article. Thanks to you for that information.

Re: PMP Exam Tips: What to Write in Your PMP Exam Application

JOHN — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 00:09:06 -0000

For tips on passing the PMP exam, and appreciating the changes being introduced by PMI in the PMP exam with effect from 31 August 2011, read articles on:

http://www.modernprojectguide....

Re: PMP Exam Tips: How To Use The Tornado Diagram

JOHN — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 21:38:02 -0000

Characteristics Of Tornado Diagram:

•The greater the length of the bar, the more the project objective sensitivity to the feature under consideration
•The feature with the maximum effect is positioned at the highest level
•The bar terminals signify the minimum and maximum feature values

Benefits

•Helps the project manager, and his team to concentrate on the crucial project variables
•Arrange the variables with respect to their influence on the project goals
•Appreciate the impact of the variable, by the different project probabilities
•Make a decision regarding investment of funds

For tips on passing the PMP exam, and appreciating the changes being introduced by PMI in the PMP exam with effect from 31 August 2011, read articles on:

http://www.modernprojectguide....

Re: PMP Concepts: What are Activity Attributes?

Glen B. Alleman — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:10:14 -0000

Son,

You seem to be mixing several things together here. When you mention LOE, Discrete, and Apportioned Effort. Those are Earned Value terms. Apportioned effort is discrete EVT (Earned Value Technique).

Where does the WBS and the WBS dictionary come into this "activity" discussion?
As well in the earned Value world (since you mentioned LOE and Discrete) the specific people are defined in the RAM (responsibility Assignment Matrix), who's intersection with the WBS forms the Control Accounts, or Work Packages, or maybe Tasks for the project.

PMBOK says "The technique of decomposition, as applied to defi ning activities, involves subdividing the project
work packages into smaller, more manageable components called activities." The Work Package or similar sctivity is the key here, not a specific task. In the EV context, the Work Package would have a Work Authorization (likley at the Control Account level), where you would define the attributes of the "activity."

But like all good over generalized bodies of knowledge, this section (6.1.2.3) needs to have a domain and a context to be of much use.

So you might want to provide some example Domains where knowing the "attributes" of the "activity" provide actionable information to the team.

The EVT is part of the Work Package, and all work in the WP must use the same EVT. There can be multiple WBS's inside the same WP, not my recommendation but it happens as the project matures. Named resources cause all kinds of problems in EV systems, so we avoid those like the plague. Location and things like that might be useful, but HR systems can provide those much better, when the WP's and Control Accounts are loaded to them through the Performance Measurement Baseline.