Risk Register from Task 1

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Chapter 10 - Exercise 3

How many different communication channels does a project team with six people have? How many more communications channels would there be if the team grew to 10 people?

Number of communications channels =

Therefore:

With 6 team members -

communication channels = (6*(6-1))/2 = 30/2 = 15

With 10 team members -

communication channels = (10*(10-1))/2 = 90/2 = 45

This model of representing communication channels provides a clear visual and mathematical representation of the different communication paths available within a team environment.

Chapter 9 - Exercise 1

Your company is preparing to launch an important new project starting January 1, which will last 1 year. You estimate that you will need one full-time project manager, two full-time business analysts for the first six-months, two full-time senior programmers for the whole year, four full-time junior programmers for the months of July, August and September, and one full-time technical writer for the last three months. Use Microsoft Excel to create a stacked column chart showing a resource histogram for this project, similar to the one shown in Figure 9-6. Be sure to include a legend to label the types of resources needed. Use appropriate titles and axis labels.

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This chart is a useful tool, which at a glance enables project managers to determine which staff will be where, and when.

Chapter 8 - Exercise 3

To illustrate a normal distribution, shake and roll a pair of dice 30 times and graph the results. It is more likely for someone to roll a six, seven or eight than a two or twelve, so these numbers should come up more often. To create the graph, use graph paper or draw a grid. Label the x-axis with the numbers 2 through 12. Label the y-axis with the numbers 1 through 30. Fill the appropriate grid for each roll of the dice. Do your results resemble normal distribution? Who or why not?

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As predicted there were more 6, 7 and 8’s rolled in this test and only one 2 and one 12.
Therefore I would say that this graph is representative of a normal distribution.

I found this task to be an insightful demonstration of applied statistics. I've often found this an area which is difficult to grasp, however this exercise makes sense of the theory.

Chapter 8 - Exercise 2

Create a pareto diagram based on the information in the table below. Add a column for “% of total” and “cumulative %”.

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Chapter 7 - Exercise 5

Create a spreadsheet to calculate you projected total costs, total revenues, and total profits for giving a seminar on cost estimating. Below are some of your assumptions:

• You will charge $600 per person for a two-day class


• You estimate that 30 people will register for and attend the class, but you want to change this input.


• Your fixed costs include $500 total to rent a room for both days, setup fees of $400 for registration, and $300 for designing a postcard for advertising.


• You will not include any labour costs for this estimate, but you estimate that you will spend at least 150 hours developing materials,, managing the project, and giving the actual class. You would like to know what your time is worth given different scenarios.


• You will order 5000 postcards, mail 4000, and distribute the rest to friends and colleagues.


• Your variable casts include the following:
  a. $5 per person for registration plus four percent of the class fee per person to handle credit card processing; assume everyone pays be credit card.
  b. $0.40 per postcard if you order 500 or more.
  c. $0.25 per postcard for mailing and postage
  d. $25 per person for lunch and beverages
  e. $30 per person for class handouts

Be sure to have input cells for any variable that might change, such as the cost of postage, handouts and so on. Calculate your profits based on the following number of people who might attend: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60. In addition, calculate what your time would be worth per hour based on the number of students. Try to use the Excel data table feature showing the profits based on the number of students. If you are unfamiliar with data tables, just repeat the calculations for each possibility of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 students. Print your results on one page, highlighting the profits for each scenario and what your time is worth.

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This was of tabulating data is a nice way of showing a range of outcomes for a cost estimate model. It particularly highlights the value increase in labour as the attendees increase.