Planning and scheduling exercises: applied practice: open practice pack: learner worksheet

1. planning-scheduling-applied-s01-q01

Task A takes 2 days and must finish before task B, which takes 3 days. Task C takes 4 days and depends on nothing. Enough people are available to run A and C at the same time. What is the shortest possible duration?

1. 4 days
2. 5 days
3. 9 days
4. 6 days

Answer:

2. planning-scheduling-applied-s01-q02

Task A must be complete before task B can begin. What is that relationship called?

1. A resource constraint
2. A milestone
3. A finish-to-start dependency
4. A lag

Answer:

3. planning-scheduling-applied-s01-q03

Two tasks are logically independent, neither needs the other's output, but both require the same single test rig.

1. A resource conflict: they must be sequenced in the plan even though nothing logically requires an order
2. A finish-to-start dependency between the two tasks
3. A milestone clash
4. Not a scheduling issue, since neither depends on the other

Answer:

4. planning-scheduling-applied-s01-q04

To recover time, two tasks that were planned in sequence are overlapped so the second starts before the first is finished. What is the principal cost of doing this?

1. Materials become more expensive
2. It always requires additional people
3. It removes all float from the plan
4. Rework risk rises, because the downstream task starts on information that is not yet final

Answer:

5. planning-scheduling-applied-s01-q05

What is a milestone in a schedule?

1. A task that has no cost attached to it
2. The longest task in the plan
3. A point in time marking that something has been achieved; it consumes no duration itself
4. A deadline imposed on the project from outside

Answer:

6. planning-scheduling-applied-s02-q01

A task is estimated at 10 person-days. Five people are assigned to it. How long will it take?

1. 2 days
2. 2 days plus a small margin
3. 10 days, since the total effort is unchanged
4. Fewer than 10 days but usually well over 2: some parts cannot be divided, and coordination cost rises with team size

Answer:

7. planning-scheduling-applied-s02-q02

The resource sheet shows one person assigned full-time to three different tasks during the same week.

1. The plan is infeasible as drawn: resolve the over-allocation by moving tasks or reassigning the work
2. It is workable if they prioritise well
3. It is workable provided the tasks are small
4. It will resolve itself as the tasks progress

Answer:

8. planning-scheduling-applied-s02-q03

The only person qualified for a critical task is on approved leave for the two weeks in which it is scheduled.

1. Assume the leave can be moved if the project needs it
2. Reschedule the task, bring it forward, or arrange qualified cover, and update the committed date to match
3. Start the task with someone less qualified and have it reviewed later
4. Shorten the task so it fits before the leave begins

Answer:

9. planning-scheduling-applied-s02-q04

The sponsor pulls the delivery date forward by a month. The scope is fixed and the estimate was already tight.

1. Ask the team to work harder for the remaining period
2. Reduce the quality bar so the work goes faster
3. Either cost or scope has to move; if neither does, the new date is not achievable and should be reported as such
4. Extend working hours until the new date is met

Answer:

10. planning-scheduling-applied-s02-q05

Where is a project's contingency best held?

1. Centrally, released against identified risks, so that it stays visible and its use is a decision
2. Inside each task estimate, where the work actually happens
3. At the very end of the project, after the last deliverable
4. Held privately by each team lead for their own area

Answer:

11. planning-scheduling-applied-s03-q01

What is the critical path?

1. The most expensive activities in the project
2. The activities carrying the greatest technical risk
3. The longest chain of dependent activities: any delay on it delays the whole project
4. The activities the customer considers most important

Answer:

12. planning-scheduling-applied-s03-q02

A task with 3 days of float slips by 2 days. What is the effect?

1. The project end date slips by 2 days
2. The end date is unchanged, but only 1 day of float now remains, so the task needs watching from here
3. Nothing at all changes
4. This chain immediately becomes the critical path

Answer:

13. planning-scheduling-applied-s03-q03

A task that is not on the critical path slips by more than its available float.

1. Nothing happens; only critical tasks affect the end date
2. The float is simply recalculated with no other effect
3. The critical path cannot change, by definition
4. That chain becomes critical, and the project end date moves by the amount of the excess

Answer:

14. planning-scheduling-applied-s03-q04

Where should a schedule buffer be placed to protect a delivery date?

1. As a single buffer at the end of the chain it protects
2. Inside each task's own estimate, so each task is protected
3. Before the first task, so the project starts with slack
4. Spread evenly across every task in the plan

Answer:

15. planning-scheduling-applied-s03-q05

Two parallel chains both feed the same milestone. One has zero float; the other has six days.

1. Give both chains equal management attention
2. Concentrate on whichever chain contains more calendar days
3. Concentrate on whichever chain contains more tasks
4. Manage the zero-float chain as critical, while tracking the other against its six days of float

Answer:

16. planning-scheduling-applied-s04-q01

A task on the critical path finishes three days early.

1. Pull the dependent work forward if resources allow, so the gain is not silently absorbed
2. Hold the plan as it was; early finishes cause confusion downstream
3. Reduce the next task's estimate by three days
4. Note the saving and report it at the end of the project

Answer:

17. planning-scheduling-applied-s04-q02

A task on the critical path is going to finish a week late.

1. Add a week to the end date and carry on
2. Ask the following teams to make the week back
3. Hold the published dates and see whether it recovers
4. Reforecast the affected chain and the end date, then communicate the new date together with what caused the slip

Answer:

18. planning-scheduling-applied-s04-q03

Mid-project, a stakeholder asks for an extra deliverable, describing it as small.

1. Decline; the scope was agreed at the outset
2. Absorb it, since it is small and refusing looks unhelpful
3. Estimate it, show what it would displace or what it adds to the date, and let the sponsor choose
4. Agree to it and add it after the current end date

Answer:

19. planning-scheduling-applied-s04-q04

The weekly report has shown the same task as '90% complete' for three weeks running.

1. Accept it; the task is nearly finished
2. Treat percent-complete as unreliable: ask what work remains, expressed in days, and what is blocking it
3. Escalate immediately to the project sponsor
4. Reassign the task to somebody else

Answer:

20. planning-scheduling-applied-s04-q05

The project plan is three weeks out of date because nobody has been updating it and everyone now works from memory.

1. Produce a more detailed plan so that its value is obvious to everyone
2. Rebuild it at a level of detail the team will actually maintain, and set a short regular update rhythm
3. Accept that this project is better run without a plan
4. Have one person keep it updated from their own assumptions

Answer: