Project Management Test

Su is the project manager for a Bengaluru based video storage company. The allowable deviation for video compression time is ±150 milliseconds. They use a third party service which offers an API for video compression. The third party service delivers documentation with the latest version of the API which states that the requirements are being met as per specification. Su’s team conducts multiple quality tests on the API. The aggregate deviation found by her team is 155 milliseconds, but the team says this variation from the permissible deviation is negligible. What should Su do?

A: Allow the API since the third party vendor provided the product on time
B: Allow the API for now, but ask the third party vendor for an explanation
C: Document the low level of quality, allow the API to be used and work with the third party vendor to find a solution
D: Reject the API and ask the third party vendor to provide the product within the allowable deviation
E: Use the API for now, and start developing their own video compression API to use in the future
F: Halt the project and start developing their own video compression API

You are the project manager for a software product that is scheduled for launch in two weeks. Your team brings two bugs to your attention.

Bug 1, if unattended, could lead to loss of critical customer data but is hard to replicate. There's an estimated 2% chance it could occur under normal conditions.

Bug 2 affects the usability of a secondary feature and happens frequently. The feature is nice-to-have and does not impact core functionality.

To address these bugs, you have five options:

A) Delay the launch by one week and deploy resources to fix both bugs.

B) Proceed with the launch as scheduled, with a built-in monitoring system to alert if Bug 1 occurs. If it does, immediately release a patch. Bug 2 will be addressed in the next scheduled update.

C) Share the information about both bugs with the stakeholders, highlighting the potential risks and impacts, and ask them for guidance.

D) Ignore Bug 2 and deploy additional resources to fix Bug 1 without delaying the launch.

E) Delay the launch by two weeks to conduct a thorough investigation and ensure that both bugs are resolved.

What is the most suitable course of action according to project management principles?

You are the project manager of a software development team following Agile methodologies. Your team is planning for the next two-week sprint. The team's composition and capacity (in story points) for the upcoming sprint is as follows:

- 2 Backend Developers: 15 each
- 2 Frontend Developers: 15 each
- 1 QA Analyst: 15

On Day 5 of the sprint, the Product Owner introduces a new high-priority user story from a key stakeholder. This story, estimated at 5 story points, requires 2 points of backend work, 2 points of frontend work, and 1 point of QA.

Your team's current sprint status (utilized/total capacity) is:

- Backend Developers: 7/15 each
- Frontend Developers: 9/15 each
- QA Analyst: 10/15

Here are your options:

A) Reallocate 5 story points worth of work (in a way that it matches the new story requirements) from the team's current tasks to the Product Owner's high-priority story.

B) Reject the new story citing the team's current workload, and suggest considering it for the next sprint.

C) Ask the team to stretch their capacity by 5 points (appropriately distributed among team members) to accommodate the new story.

D) Remove a yet-to-be-started user story worth 5 points (requiring 2 backend, 2 frontend, and 1 QA points) from the current sprint to make room for the new story.

E) Split the high-priority story into two smaller stories and distribute it over the current and next sprint.

Which is the most appropriate course of action according to Agile project management principles?

A pharmaceutical company claims that their new drug, Xylanex, is highly effective in treating a specific medical condition. They provide statistical data from a clinical trial to support their claim. However, a group of scientists has raised concerns about the validity of the study design and potential bias in the data collection process. They argue that the results may be inflated and not truly representative of the drug's effectiveness.

Which of the following assumptions is necessary to support the pharmaceutical company's claim?

A: The clinical trial participants were randomly selected and representative of the target population.
B: The scientists raising concerns have a conflict of interest and are biased against the pharmaceutical company.
C: The statistical analysis of the clinical trial data was conducted by independent experts.
D: The medical condition being treated by Xylanex is widespread and affects a large number of individuals.
E: The pharmaceutical company has a proven track record of developing effective drugs for similar medical conditions.

Emma's cafe has been operating successfully for the last 6 years. Profits have been growing every year, with this year (2020) being their best year so far. As a thank you, Emma treated her staff to a meal at a Michelin star restaurant. 

Below are 3 statements about Emma, her staff and her cafe. Can you help us decide whether the 3 statements are "True", "Probably True", "Insufficient Data to Say True or False", "Probably False", or "False".

1. Emma's staff members are happy.
2. Emma's cafe did well in 2016.
3. Emma is rich.

A: True
B: False
C: Probably True
D: Probably False
E: Insufficient Data

Statement: Ivory started a new startup. We know for a fact that almost all startups fail within the first 2 years. 
Conclusion: Ivory's startup will fail.
Does the conclusion follow from the statement?

You are a Scrum Master in an organization that is transitioning to Scrum. You have multiple Scrum Teams working on different parts of a large software product. Each team is working on different features, but those features have dependencies on one another. For example, Team A is working on a feature that cannot be completed until Team B completes another feature.

During the Sprint Planning, Team A chose a user story from its backlog that depends on the completion of a user story from Team B’s backlog. However, Team B can't guarantee that their user story will be done in the next sprint.

What should be the Scrum Master's approach to handle this scenario following Scrum principles?

A: Have Team A start working on the dependent user story with the hope that Team B finishes their part within the sprint.
B: Ask Team A to choose a different user story for this sprint that doesn't depend on Team B's work.
C: Arrange a joint session between Team A and Team B to revise their sprint plans, ensuring dependent user stories are completed in the same sprint.
D: Merge Team A and Team B for the next sprint to ensure they work together on the dependent user stories.
E: Delay the start of Team A’s sprint until Team B completes their user story.

Here’s a sprint burndown chart for team A at SpaceY Inc:

Here’s a sprint burndown chart for team B at SpaceY Inc:

We know the following about the graphs:

- Red line is the the ideal line: projected slope that depicts how the team progress would look like
- Black line is the actual effort line
- Story points are represented on Y-axis
- And time in weeks is represented on X-axis

Which of the following statements are true about SpaceY teams:

P: Team A started slowly and was moving behind schedule. Yet, they managed to finish the sprint in time
Q: Team A is working hard towards meeting the deadline but isn’t updating the burndown chart throughout the process, only at the end.
R: Team A’s next sprint’s capacity should be burned down or decreased so that the team can have to complete tasks/story points from the previous sprint
S: Team B started slowly but eventually caught up
T: Team B might have overestimated the project’s timeline

Emily is a product owner for a new application being built at Whalesforce Inc. To maintain visibility into project status, Emily has cut the project into chunks which different teams will be responsible for:

- DevOps team (DoT) will set up the servers. They have no dependencies and will take 4 weeks to set things up.
- Design team (DT) will design the screens for the application, have no dependencies and need 3 weeks to wrap up.
- Front-end team (FT) will need the designs to start the work, and will take 5 weeks to create the front-end components.
- Backend team (BT) will need input from DoT and DT to start designing the backend system, and will take 3 weeks to release the backend APIs.
- Security team (ST) will require server details from DoT, and will need 3 weeks to give a go-ahead.
- Integration team (IT) will require the front-end components and backend API to set up the integration. They will launch the application in 3 weeks.

The project is marked for internal release once IT and ST teams give a go-ahead.

Emily wants to communicate the best-case estimate for the internal release of the project to the major stakeholders. Can you help her with the estimate?

Seloitte hires PopTal for developing a new mobile application. PopTal team follows Agile methodology for development and estimates the whole project to take up to 1000 points. In the first sprint the team commits to work on the following stories:

Story 1 - 6 points
Story 2 - 10 points
Story 3 - 16 points

The team completes Story 1 and 3 but only completes eighty percent of Story 2. Pick the correct statements:

A: The average velocity of the first sprint is 22 points
B: The average velocity of the first sprint is 30 points
C: Based on the average velocity, the product owner can notify the stakeholders that the project will take roughly 45 sprints to finish (assuming team size and members remain the same)
D: Based on the average velocity, the product owner can notify the stakeholders that the project will take roughly 33 sprints to finish (assuming team size and members remain the same)