Exercises

List all paths and calculate and determine the critical path for the Interviewing Users PERT diagram.
 

Chip enters Anna's office one day and says, "I think the project will be a good one, even though it's taking some long hours to get started." Anna looks up from her screen and smiles. "I like what you've done in getting us organized," she says. "I hadn't realized Microsoft Visio and Visible Analyst could help us with project management this much. I've decided to do a PERT diagram for the data-gathering portion of the project. It should help us plan our time and work as a team on parallel activities." "Can I take a look at the PERT diagram?" asks Chip. Anna shows him a screen with a PERT diagram on it (see Figure E3.1) and remarks, "This will help immensely. It is much easier than planning haphazardly." "I notice that you have Gather Reports, Gather Records and Data Capture Forms, and Gather Qualita- tive Documents as parallel tasks," notes Chip, gazing at the screen. "Yes," replies Anna. "I thought that we would split up the time that it takes to gather the information. We can also divide up the task of analyzing what we have learned." "I notice that you have a rather large number of days allocated for interviewing the users," notes Chip. "Yes," replies Anna. "This activity also includes creating questions, sequencing them, and other tasks, such as taking notes of the office environment and analyzing them. I've also assumed a standard of six productive hours per day." "After we interview the users, we will want to create a problem definition for the system, listing the issues and objectives," continues Anna. "Once this is finished, we'll have the users review it and assign weights. When this is complete, the next step is to create a list of user requirements." "Sounds like a good plan," Chip remarks after a thoughtful pause. "Should we get started with a ques- tion list?" Anna glances at her watch. "Not now, it's getting late. I think we've made a lot of progress in setting up our project. Let's call it a day, or should I say evening? Remember, I got us tickets for the football game." Chip replies, "I haven't forgotten. Let me get my coat, and we'll walk over to the stadium together." Walking across campus later, Chip says, "I'm excited. It's my first game here at CPU. What's the team mascot, anyway?" "Chipmunks, of course," says Anna. "And the team colors?" Chip asks, as they enter the stadium. "Blue and white," Anna replies. "Oh, that's why everyone's yelling, 'Go Big Blue!" Chip says, listening to the roar of the crowd.