PMP Practice Questions #144
As a Project Manager, you’re analyzing the Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) for your ongoing software development project to evaluate its progress and pinpoint potential bottlenecks or issues. While scrutinizing the diagram, you observe a decrease in the slope of the diagram’s last segment. What does this decreasing slope in the final section of the Cumulative Flow Diagram signify?
A) An increase in the volume of incoming work, suggesting potential overloading.
B) A decrease in the volume of work being completed, indicating a slowdown in progress.
C) An increase in the pace of work completion, reflecting enhanced team efficiency.
D) Stability in the project’s workflow, indicating that the amount of work in progress is being sustained at a steady rate.
Analysis
The Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) is a powerful visual tool used in project management, especially within Agile approaches, to track and forecast project progress. It shows the amount of work in different stages of a project over time, helping managers identify bottlenecks and understand workflow dynamics. The scenario presents a software development project where the PM observes a decrease in the slope of the diagram’s last segment, typically representing completed work. This change in slope is critical as it directly impacts project throughput and efficiency.
Analysis of Options:
Option A: An increase in the volume of incoming work, suggesting potential overloading. This option suggests that an increasing slope at the “Done” column would indicate overloading. However, the prompt specifies a decreasing slope, which does not correlate with an increase in incoming work. Thus, this option is not supported by the CFD’s indicated dynamics as it misinterprets the relationship between work inflow and the slope of the “Done” segment.
Option B: A decrease in the volume of work being completed, indicating a slowdown in progress. A decreasing slope in the “Done” column of the CFD indicates that fewer tasks are being completed over time, which directly points to a slowdown in project progress. This interpretation aligns with the observed change in the diagram and suggests reduced throughput, making it the most relevant and accurate choice based on the given information.
Option C: An increase in the pace of work completion, reflecting enhanced team efficiency. This option contradicts the observed data. An increase in the pace of work completion would be represented by an increasing slope in the “Done” column, indicating that more tasks are being completed over time, thereby showing improved efficiency. Therefore, this option is incorrect as it is the exact opposite of the scenario described.
Option D: Stability in the project’s workflow, indicating that the amount of work in progress is being sustained at a steady rate. Stability in workflow would typically be indicated by a flat, unchanging slope in all segments of the CFD, not just the “Done” column. A decreasing slope in the “Done” column while others remain unchanged suggests changes in project dynamics rather than stability. This option fails to accurately reflect the implications of the described decrease in the slope.
Conclusion: The correct interpretation of the decrease in the slope of the “Done” column in a Cumulative Flow Diagram is that it signifies a slowdown in the volume of work being completed. This slowdown could be due to various factors such as resource issues, increased complexity at later stages, or inefficiencies in the workflow. Option B is the most accurate response based on the scenario provided, aligning with the principles taught about CFDs in project management training.
PMP Exam Content Outline Mapping
| Domain | Task |
|---|---|
| People | Task 6: Plan and manage schedule |
Topics Covered
- On-Demand Scheduling
- Cumulative Flow Diagram
