Conquer Your Career: Scrum Master, Agile Coach & PMP Exam Prep (Part IV)

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Continued From Part III HERE

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Interview And Test Prep For Agile, Scrum And PMP Roles

QUES: What is PMIS?
ANS: Project management information system is how you store project information and how you access it.

QUES: What are the different ways you can measure the progress of your project?
ANS: There are many metrics that can be used in project management like units completed, cost ratio, incremental milestones, the 50-50 rule and of course talking to your team members and getting a clear understanding of where they stand.

QUES: What is the student syndrome in project management?
ANS: It is where a team member is using the strategy of planned procrastination. This eliminates potential safety margins and puts stress and pressure on the person to finish the task before the upcoming deadline.

QUES: What is the RACI chart?
ANS: A RACI chart, also called a RACI matrix, is a type of responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) in project management. The acronym RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed.

QUES: On what basis is the product backlog ordered?
ANS: Value, Risk, Priority And Necessity

QUES: What is the WBS dictionary?
ANS: It stands for Work Breakdown Structure and it is used to document everything in a Waterfall style project management system. A WBS dictionary is where the details of the tasks, activities, and deliverables of the work breakdown structure are located. The same thing a product backlog is used for the Agile project management methodology.

QUES: The PM is worried about a risk, what should he do first?
ANS: Update the risk register and follow the RACI chart, whom all should he keep in the loop, he needs to either do a one-one meeting with each one of them or update in an adhoc team meeting.

QUES: Your team members have acquired knowledge but haven’t shared to rest of team. This knowledge could potentially benefit everyone on the team, as a project manager, what should you do?
ANS: As a PM, you could schedule a meeting with team to have the members update the team on new knowledge.

QUES: What is the PERT Analysis?
ANS: The total of 5 steps is required to create a PERT chart for a project:
Identify all the tasks.
Determine task dependencies.
Connect the tasks.
Estimate time frames.
Manage the development and progress of the project.

QUES: What is the 3 point formula for PMP?
ANS: To calculate the three-point estimate, identify the optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates, then use the three-point estimate formula. The formula is E = (o + 4m + p)/6, where E is the estimate, o is the optimistic estimate, m is the most likely estimate, and p is the pessimistic estimate.
The optimistic estimate assumes that everything goes according to plan. The pessimistic estimate considers risks that could delay the project. The most likely estimate falls somewhere between the optimistic and pessimistic options and is based on the estimator’s best judgment.
Three-Point Estimating: A technique used to estimate cost or duration by applying an average or weighted average of optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely estimates when there is uncertainty with the individual activity estimates. See also analogous estimating, bottom-up estimating, parametric estimating, and program evaluation and review technique (PERT). – Source pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/lexicon

QUES: What is eXtreme programming?
ANS: It is a form of agile approach with focus on whole team & informative workspace, root cause analysis. This is the kind of programming, also known as XP, where we do pair programming, have 2 people per workstation, estimate using planning poker, is a test-first programming, and use metaphors for naming of processes. The core values of XP are simplicity, communication, feedback, courage, respect.

QUES: What are the different kinds of project delivery methodologies? And which one do you prefer? If this question is asked, this is one way to answer this.
ANS: The idea must be to get to the MVP(minimum viable product) the fastest. So that we can maximize the efficiency of the system that we are building or the service we’re trying to provide by doing this project.
In the regular world, we don’t usually see a pure Waterfall methodology. Because of the tight timelines, we use a stagger approach where there’s a slight overlap between design, development and testing for quick turnaround. Of course for really quick turnaround environments, we use the Agile methodology. For example, are we building a website or adding new features to an existing website. And that can determine our methodology. For one delivery, we use waterfall and an iterative project lifecycle. And for multiple deliveries, use Agile and incremental approach.

QUES: Who are the two people who can help prep for the PMP exam?
ANS: These guys are really amazing: Andrew Ramdayal and Rita Mulcahy. Search for them on YouTube.

QUES: What is Tuckman’s 5 stage model for team building?
ANS: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning

QUES: What is the most viable product – the MVP?
ANS: MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product – a very early form of a product that has but a set of core features to satisfy the users’ most basic needs. The idea here is to create something useful with the smallest possible investment of time and money. This is usually use in Agile methodology in project management.

QUES: What are the qualities of a great PM?
ANS: They must see themselves as a facilitator and a collaborative problem solver. Who has open dialogue and supports everyone on the team. They must be engaging stakeholders and delivery team in fast feedback loops. Every problem is an opportunity to pursue and make the existing system better. They must work with the purpose, people and process in mind.

QUES: What is Parkinson’s law?
ANS: Work expands to fill the time available for its completion (if you have 8 hrs to do a project, you’ll spend all 8 hours (not do earlier)).

QUES: What is the team charter?
ANS: It is a document that captures team values, communication guidelines, decision-making process.

QUES: What are the different aspects of a Project manager’s job?
ANS: There are there distinct domains that a PM has to manage. They are people, process and purpose.
PEOPLE: A PM must be able to manage conflicts, lead the team members towards a shared goal, empower the team and stakeholders to engage collectively.
PROCESS: A PM must be able to manage communications, assess and manage risks, plan budget, resources and schedules. Establish protocols for change management, and plan the project release and close event. They must be able to manage project compliance.
PURPOSE: A PM must be able to guide everyone to deliver on project benefits and value. They must evaluate and address external business environment changes for impact on scope.

QUES: How would you answer a question like: How does your day look like as a project manager?
ANS: Here’s how you can answer.
As a project manager, my day is pretty dynamic and filled with a lot of responsibilities. In the morning, I usually start by reviewing my schedule and prioritizing tasks for the day. I might hold a brief team meeting to discuss project updates and address any immediate issues.
A significant part of my day involves communication – liaising with team members, stakeholders, and other departments. This includes providing project updates, addressing concerns, and ensuring everyone is on the same page. I spend time monitoring project timelines, tracking progress, and identifying potential risks or roadblocks.
A good portion of my time is dedicated to project planning and documentation. I create and update project plans, timelines, and budgets, ensuring that we’re meeting our goals within the established parameters. I also collaborate with team members to develop strategies for overcoming challenges and optimizing project efficiency.
Meetings are a regular part of my day, ranging from status updates to more strategic discussions with stakeholders. Additionally, I allocate time for problem-solving, whether it’s addressing unexpected issues or refining project processes to enhance productivity.
Overall, my role involves a mix of strategic planning, communication, problem-solving, and collaboration. Adaptability is key, as each day brings its own set of challenges and opportunities.

QUES: What are the different kinds of tools that are used in Project management?
ANS: Proj. management tools that track the activities we are doing and what documents we are preparing, version control, documentation archive, Test management tools, bug tracking tools, Automation tools, Agile tools, information radiators like Kanban boards (displays content) etc.

QUES: When is the project considered complete?
ANS: A project is said to be complete, when the sponsors are happy, the deliverables that have been release are sent off to the operations team, the teams have done a retrospective, a team success event has been planned and release of all resources has happened. And documents are archived.

QUES: What is smoke testing?
ANS: Smoke testing is to make sure critical product/software works, at that stage, we don’t test details.

QUES: What are the steps that one should follow to close a project.
ANS: The first step is transfer deliverables to the client to ensure they have received everything. Then review the documentation and release the resources of the delivery team. Conduct a retrospective review and definitely do not forget to celebrate. Finally, archive the project documentation for future reference.

QUES: What are the different issues you have faced in any project?
ANS: No matter how similar or familiar, risks always change in projects. Compliance can be different for different regions our product is getting rolled out into. Sometimes what we think is a strategy can become a bottleneck during execution.

QUES: As a project manager, how do you ensure that the project faces minimal changes after it kicks off?
ANS: The first thing to remember is to have open communication among all the stakeholders of the project, this includes the sponsors, and the delivery team. The next thing is taking enough time to gather requirements to make sure all aspects of the product or service that is being built are being taken into consideration.
If the project charter is not being given to you, ask the sponsors and the stakeholders all the information and put it together yourself, then publish it to everyone who is involved so that they know that is your job as a project manager to make sure that everybody’s in the loop as far as requirements is concerned. Charter tells the business need. We need to track the project so that we can finish on time and on budget.

QUES: What is a project?
ANS: The entire life cycle from beginning to end to create a product or a service.

QUES: What are the 5 phases of a project?
ANS: Initiate
Plan
Execute
Monitor and control
And close.

QUES: What are the first things that a good project manager will do when assigned a new project?
ANS: The first thing that they will do is they’ll need to sit down with stakeholders to gather requirements, thereby identifying the deliverables that will lead to the project charter and defining the project scope and budget.

QUES: How will the budget come around by understanding?
ANS: By understanding the scope of the project, the resources it will take and the cost that the stakeholders are willing to put in.

QUES: What is a virtual fishbowl window?
ANS: It is a long video conferencing link people join at the start of the business day and end at end of day. Kind of a like a war room scenario to promote collaborative team work.

QUES: Who is a servant leader?
ANS: They work with the ultimate purpose, people and process in mind while executing any project.

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Find Part V HERE.

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Free Assessments, Interview Prep and Exam Certification Study Guides

Find the FREE resource HERE.

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NOTE: This is a living document, and I will keep adding questions and answers occasionally, so please keep checking this space.

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The Future Of Work Is Now

The Non-Cognitive Skills Needed For The Future, Our Hybrid Work Life And Much More

If you’re not careful you can follow your passion right into poverty. ~ Srini Rao

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