The key objective of any projects is to deliver specific outcomes on time and within budget. This apparently simple goal is surprisingly difficult to achieve according to countless research reports. The following 10 questions test your knowledge and wisdom in project management. Answers will be given at the end of the quiz.

 
1. What most distinguishes projects from day-to-day operation?
(a) It has a definite budget.
(b) It has to deliver specific outcomes at a predefined time.
(c) It brings changes to the organization.
(d) It requires planning.
 
2. If you are only allowed one tool to manage a project, which of the following would you choose?
(a) Work breakdown structure
(b) Gantt chart
(c) Resource chart
(d) Risk register
 
3. Do you agree project management is an isolated discipline being used by only a few specific industry sectors?
(a) Yes. Only industry sectors such as construction and IT are using project management.
(b) Yes. Project management requires lots of mathematical skills that only engineers can handle.
(c) No. Although not essential, it is trendy to apply some project management concepts.
(d) No. Project management is now adopted by all industry sectors for projects large and small, and is absolutely essential for successful project delivery.
 
4. Risk is a difficult subject in project management because:
(a) Risk involves something unknown.
(b) People tend to believe a risk will not occur until it actually does.
(c) Some risks are unpredictable and hence impossible to manage.
(d) Some risks such as natural disaster or fire are impossible to prevent.
 
5. Changes are inevitable for every project. The implication is:
(a) Project planning is not important as it will always be changed later.
(b) A proper change control process has to be implemented.
(c) It is mandatory to have customer signoffs for all planning documents to avoid subsequent changes.
(d) Skills in handling changes are more important than those in project planning for a project manager.
 
6. The biggest challenge to a project manager in team management is:
(a) Most project team members are expert in specific areas and consider the project manager not technically competent.
(b) Many team members are employed on contract basis and busy looking for another job near the end of a project.
(c) There are too many communication channels both within and outside the team.
(d) Most of the time a project manager has to manage the team without formal authority.
 
7. Which of the following factors can definitely make a project fail?
(a) The project team does not have insufficient skills.
(b) The customer raises a lot of change requests.
(c) The project team fails to communicate and build up working relation with the customer.
(d) A key team member is pulled away from the project due to changing priority.
 
8. Quality, schedule and cost are three important objectives of any projects. Which of the following statement is true?
(a) Their relative importance compared to each other varies from project to project and has to be decided by the stakeholders involved.
(b) Quality is of equal importance to schedule and cost in today? projects; though in the past schedule and cost take precedence over quality.
(c) They are usually called the triple constraints of project performance.
(d) Quality is a performance objective for customer, whereas schedule and cost are performance objectives for the project team.
 
9. When a project needs to procure equipment or services from the outside, vendor management is a serious challenge for the project team because:
(a) Vendors are motivated by self interests.
(b) Contractual matters involve legal knowledge which is a difficult subject for most project teams.
(c) Vendor usually pursues a different interest than the project team. For example, vendor is more concerned about profitability whereas the project team is concerned about on time delivery of the project.
(d) Vendors present a security threat to the project team, as proprietary company information may easily be leaked to the outside world.
 
10. Which of the following statements about 'power and politics' is true for projects?
(a) Power and politics are unavoidable in any projects because stakeholders?interest and sometimes power will be affected. The only way to balance interests and power among stakeholders is through political process.
(b) Power and politics are to be avoided in order to deliver a successful project.
(c) Politics are distasteful to most people and damaging to organizations. It is critical to build up stakeholders' relationship to such an extent that no politics exist within a project environment.
(d) A project team should focus on technical deliverables of the project. As long as people get good results from a project, they will not turn to politics to achieve their needs.