Take Our Tough Quiz About Project Management
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A: It's a Statement That Clearly and Concisely Expresses What the Customer Needs Accomplished and How to Do It.
Q: What is a concept of operations, or ConOps? -
A. This Details All Hardware, Software, Services, Data and Facilities Required for System Development, Deployment and Sustainment.
Q: What is a work breakdown structure, or WBS? -
A: It's a Tool Which Ensures That Project Scope, Requirements and Deliverables are Connected.
Q: What is a requirements traceability matrix, or RTM? -
A: This Describes Your Project's Staff Hierarchy.
Q: What is an organizational breakdown structure, or OBS? -
A: It Represents the Intersection of the WBS and OBS, i.e., "Who" is Doing "What."
Q: What is the responsibility assignment matrix, or RAM? -
A: This is an Integrated, Networked Schedule Which Contains All Detailed Work Packages and Planning Packages Required for the Project.
Q: What is the integrated master schedule, or IMS? -
A: This is a Time-Phased Budget Plan for Accomplishing Work, Used to Measure Contract Performance.
Q: What is a performance measurement baseline, or PMB? -
A: These Capabilities and Characteristics are So Important, That Failure to Meet Them Can Cause the Reevaluation, Reassessment or Termination of the Project.
Q: What is a key performance parameter, or KPP?
So you think you really know your project management lingo? If so, we're going to challenge you here with a pretty difficult Jeopardy!-style quiz about the various, acronym-thick terminology used to describe important documents and tools needed to support a major project. The terms are compiled in a section of a new book, Performance-Based Project Management: Increasing the Probability of Project Success (Amacom). In the book, author Glen B. Alleman provides detailed best practices for how to proceed with a major project from inception to completion. Included are principles which help CIOs and project leaders assess needed business capabilities; plan and schedule work; and determine how to bring it in on time and within budget while minimizing risk. Frankly, it's a pretty daunting feat. So to get an edge, it's best to brush up on commonplace project-management language. A 30-year veteran of project management, Alleman has worked for organizations in the aerospace, Department of Defense and enterprise-information industries. Have fun with our quiz, and —as always—no Googling the answers. For more about the book, click here.