Project Management Interview Questions and Answers
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Best Project Management Interview Questions and Answers
These days project management has become a very essential part of organizational structure. Almost all the companies have to deal with multiple projects and need professionals to accomplish the projects at a specified time with high accuracy. If you are one among the Project management aspirants and searching for the top project management interview questions then you have come to the right place. With an aim to eliminate your confusion and give you a roadmap to clear your Project management interview CourseJet has prepared a list of frequently asked Project management Interview questions and answers here.
There is a huge demand for highly skilled project management professionals due to the increased importance of delivering the projects at the right time, with the right quality, and to meet customer expectations. Preparing these Project management interview questions and answers for freshers and experienced will surely help you to crack the interview and land in your dream job. We at CourseJet also offer you the best project management training and certification program.
Top Project Management Interview Questions and Answers
Project management is a process to coordinate a team of the workforce to accomplish a given project on or before a specified time. The main objective of project management is to use the available resources effectively within the specified constraints. We have prepared a list of frequently asked Project management interview questions and answers which will help you in landing your dream job. Effective project management is very essential for the organization’s success and organizations across the world have already realized this fact. Increased importance for project management has created huge employment opportunities for skilled Project Management professionals.
All these top Project management interview questions and answers are suitable for the freshers as well as experienced. This blog consists of basic to advanced Project management interview questions which also covers the questions asked in the project management certification exam.
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Frequently asked Project Management Interview Questions
All these frequently asked project management interview questions and answers are grouped and presented here are based on industry experts’ opinion. Our project management interview questions are best suitable for all types of professionals who are working in different industries. We assure you that these Project Management interview questions for freshers and experienced will surely fill your mind with the required knowledge and help you crack your interview. Without wasting much time let’s get into the Project Management interview questions and answers part.
A project is a group of activities that helps in creating a product or service. A project involves a specific target and to achieve this target we have to use the specific resources in an optimal way. It is also called temporary work or one-time work. Each project has different departments who work accordingly to complete the tasks within the specified timeline.
Project management is a process that involves the proper implementation of methods, people, process, skills, knowledge, with an aim to achieve the desired outcomes of a project. There is not much difference between general management and project management. The key factor that makes a big difference between these two is that the general management has no timeline and it is an on-going process whereas the Project management contains a specific timeline, with the desired outcome and needs to be completed within the deadline. A project manager should have a clear knowledge of the 6Ps of project management which is Proper Planning Prevents Poor Project Performance.
The Project Management Life Cycle is a group of various tasks or activities that plays a major role in accomplishing a project successfully. Project Management allocating the tasks and simplifying them into manageable tasks. A typical project management life cycle is associated with the below mentioned 4 stages
Following are the four stages which typical project management associated with:
Initiation: It is the very first step of a project life cycle in which everything about the project is defined and resources are allotted. This stage plays a crucial role in the success of a project.
Planning: This stage involves the creation of a plan that acts as a guide throughout the project. TIn planning stage consists of cost, limitations, resources, time period, and a lot more. This stage predicts the amount of work needed and the risks associated with it.
Executing: This is the actual stage where the planning of the project is executed with the resources for achieving the desired objective of the project. At this stage, all the resources are being employed in an optimal way and everything is being recorded, tracked, and regulated. At this execution stage, you are also required to identify the issues and act with corrective actions.
Closure: This is an important stage of the project management lifecycle. During this stage, you need to make a review and finalize the tasks done so far to finish the project. At this stage, you need to finalize the task of all the process groups and disband the project team and the final task is to sign off the project with the customer by using the project closure report.
Following are the essential skills a project manager should possess to handle a project successfully:
- Communication
- Team management
- Leadership
- Risk Management
- Personal Organization
- Negotiation Power
Following are the essential areas in which you have to become a master in order to become a pro in project management:
- Continuous listening, observation, and an open mind to learn
- Get a clear idea of the client’s ideas and needs
- Have a clear understanding of your team and its capabilities
- Learn new skills
- Be friendly and support your team when needed
Gain complete knowledge of the tools that your company uses.
Every organization has a unique model and follows a certain process to perform things. And all this process shows the impact on doing the things and this impact is nothing but influence. And these all the influences need to be taken into consideration while executing a project. All the influence factors are stated in the project as an organizational environment factor.
It is very essential to prioritize the projects in order to attain the desired objective of the project.
The act of prioritization of tasks will help you in identifying the tasks that are urgent and tasks that can be done later. This will help you in achieving the desired results and completion of the project at the right time.
To prioritize the tasks you need to follow the following steps:
- Jot down the tasks and responsibilities
- Find the urgent and important tasks
- Evaluate the value of every task
- Organize the efforts based on the efforts needed
- Learn to say no when needed
- Stay flexible
Leadership quality is very essential, in fact, it is the first thing to manage any project manager should possess. Each human being is different and has a different leadership style to manage people. The leadership style is nothing but the behavior he or she uses while directing, motivating, and managing the team to make the teamwork effectively. A leader should have the ability to adapt to all types of situations and guide his teams accordingly.
Following are the four types of leadership styles:
- Supportive
- Delegate
- Coaching
- Directing
A process is a defined way of doing tasks in project management for the completion of a project. Project management involves a series of processes and each process should be executed in a sequential way. Around there are 49 processes in a project management framework. The term process group is defined as a group of processes that are related through multiple stages of a project.
There are 5 process groups available in project management which are:
- Initiation
- Planning
- Executing
- Managing
- Closing
The team RAID is a short form of Risk, Assumption, Issues, and Dependencies. All these are essential areas and a project manager should have a sound knowledge of all these items:
- RISK is a factor that may show a negative or positive impact on the project and the final outcome of this result may result in unexpected outcomes or far away from the expected results.
- ACTIONS are the activities or tasks that need to be executed throughout the project.
- ISSUES: These are the roadblocks that you may come across during the project. Identifying and resolving the issues would help you in preventing project failover.
- DECISIONS: These are the decisions or choices you make in order to make the project successful.
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Knowledge Areas is an important technical aspect and plays an important role in project management. The 49 processes are the first knowledge areas and are combined based on the similarities they have. Following are the list of 10 knowledge areas of project management:
- Project Integration Management
- Project Schedule Management
- Project Quality Management
- Project Communications Management
- Project Procurement Management
- Project Scope Management
- Project Cost Management
- Project Resource Management
- Project Risk Management
- Project Stakeholder Management
Stakeholders are one of the highest authorities in any organization and play a major role in any project. It is very essential to maintain good relationships with the stakeholders to make the project successful. But there may be situations which are difficult to handle with stakeholders. At such times you should:
- Maintain a healthy relationship and accept their authority
- Understand their exact requirement
- Build a positive mindset
- Take their advice and respect their decisions
- Be honest with yourself
- Try to build a better connection
Maximize your communication
Every project is unique and has unique requirements, using a single project management methodology will surely not give you the desired results. Before you going to select any project management methodology you need to take the following criteria into consideration:
- Goals and organization values ‘
- Project limitations
- Key components of projects
- Risks associated with the project
- Stakeholders associated with the project
- The complexity of the project
- Cost and size of the project.
Following are the widely used tools for improving the process:
- Flow-charting
- Cause and Effect Analysis
- Comparing and Baselining a Process
- Hypothesis Testing
- Value-Stream Mapping
Teamwork is very essential for the success of any project and being a project manager it is very essential to use human resources properly. Following are the tactics you need to use to bring out the best output from your team members:
- Encourage them to think in their own way
- Try not to have any emotional confrontation with stakeholders and team members.
- Help the team members in the decision-making process
- Support the weaker ones by surrounding them with stronger mentalities
- Understand the core potential of your team members
- Develop a good follow up process
- Treat them as leaders
- Be flexible to let them go if there is no improvement in the performance.
- Appreciate and reward them for their contribution
This is a crucial document where everything is presented. The authorization of the project is done on this document and all the project activities are initiated based on the specifications of this document. Things like major requirements and the outcomes of the project were also presented on it.
The following table makes a comparison between issues and risks:
Risk | Issues |
Risk is associated with future time | Issues are related to present situations |
It may bring a positive or negative impact | Issues are always roadblocks or problems |
All the risks associated with the project are documented in the “Risk Register”. | Issues are listed in the “issue register” |
The response is based on the “ risk response planning” | The response to an issue is based on the “Issue workaround”. |
Having Proactive behavior helps the project managers to find the issues and fix them in advance with appropriate solutions. Being proactive helps them in achieving more awareness and control over the project. The project managers also have better tracking and which helps them in managing the changes quickly and attaining higher productivity. Proactiveness will also enable the managers to conduct meetings with the developers to find the right solutions to the problems. It also helps the managers to have more control over the project expenditure and helps them in minimizing the costs.
Work breakdown structure helps you know the activities that are needed for the completion of a project. It also lets you know the sub-topics of the pending tasks. The hierarchical structure of the WBS divides the main activities into sub-activities. In WBS we have the following two approaches:
- Top-down approach
- Bottom-up approach
Following are the two ways available for calculating the three-point estimation:
- Beta or PERT Distribution E = (P+4M+O)/6
- Triangular Distribution E = (P+M+O)/3
In the above formula the P = Pessimistic, O = Optimistic, and M= most likely.
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Following are the typical stages involved in any project:
Forming stage: This is the stage where all the team members unite for the first time and discuss the mission, vision, and problems associated with the project.
Storming: At this stage, all the team members share their insights and discuss the possibility of arising internal conflicts.
Norming: At this stage, the team will receive clear guidelines and tasks to be executed to accomplish the project.
Performing: By this stage each all the team members get to know about each other and build trust among them. Every team member should have gained a complete understanding of the project by this stage and learn to make independent decisions without the need for anyone’s supervision.
Adjourning: This is the last stage of the team forming process in which the entire project will be completed and delivered. This is the stage where the team is dissolved and the resources are ready to engage in any other project.
There may be different communication modes available but choosing the one which suits your project requirements is very essential. Following are the different types of communication styles used by a project manager:
- Written
- Face-to-Face
- Electronic
- Responsive
It is a hybrid contractual arrangement and consists of both fixed-price contracts as well as cost-reimbursable contracts. Time and Material contracts mainly come into use where there is no chance of knowing the specific end of a project. It is widely deployed when the contract is generally used in projects where there is most likely to change the project requirements.
When you deliver the final project to the customer the customer may be unsatisfied with the project work or the way you have done the work. It is your responsibility to make the customer happy with the project. In order to turn the unsatisfied customer into a satisfied one we use the following tactics:
- Show the customers that their satisfaction is your first priority
- Get a clear idea of the reasons for their unsatisfiedness
- Understand the modifications they are looking to have
- Try your level best to bring the changes they want
- If the changes are not possible convince the customer with the right information.
It is a widely used statistical technique for making the right decisions. This principle helps you in selecting an important or limited number of tasks that can bring a desired or good amount of effect. The Pareto principle is also known as the 80/20 rule which means 20% percent of right actions will bring you 80% of results. It plays a major role in handling large projects effectively.
The triple constraint triangle is a combination of 3 major components which are also called as the major constraints of any project. The Triple constraint triangle is a combination of the following three factors:
- Time
- Scope
- Cost
The central theme of all these 3 key factors is to bring quality in the work.
Following are the types of risks associated with a project:
- Cost Risk
- Performance Risk
- Schedule Risk
- Technology Risk
- Resource Risk
- Legal Risk
- Market Risk
- Governance Risk
- Strategic Risk
- External Risk
- Operational Risk
There are different techniques available to define the project scope which include: Requirement Analysis, Product Breakdown, Systems Analysis, Systems Engineering, Value Engineering, Value Analysis, Value Engineering, and Alternatives Analysis.
Baselines are refined and finalized plans before the project execution starts. The project baselines are the beginning versions of plans related to a project which include the time schedule, communication plan, quality plan, cost plan, etc. This baseline is used for tracking the project performance.
Besides all the knowledge you have to manage a project effectively still you need other qualities or skills to make the project successful. Being a project manager it is very essential to have core qualities such as Attitude, leadership qualities, core personality characters, etc. Leadership qualities and team management skills will help in achieving the project goals very quickly.
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Following are the relevant knowledge areas for the execution of a project:
- Time and cost management
- Scope management,
- Quality management
- Project integration knowledge area
- Communication management knowledge
- Procurement and risk management
- Human resources management
Following are the important processes associated with project integration:
- Project charter development
- Project management plan development
- Project execution and monitoring
- Project closing
- An integrated change management plan
SOW stands for the statement of work and it is a document that contains detailed information of the project outcomes which include products, results, or services expected from the project. Typically the SOW is given by the customers who give you the project for development.
There are many things associated with the Scope management and this process involves things like defining project scope, collecting requirements, verifying scope, and creating WBS. The procedure of controlling the scoping process should minimize scope creep.
There is an integrated change control system and all the requested changes will be thoroughly analyzed by the change control board. Whatever the changes that are approved by the change control board are included in the document changes and are taken into consideration while executing a project.
Following are the three techniques used for estimating activity time estimates:
- Parametric estimates
- Analogous estimates
- Three-point estimates
There are two methods available for compressing the project time schedule which are:
- Crashing
- Fast-tracking
Crashing: In this method, we can optimize the schedules by utilizing the available time flats and also by maintaining the costs under control.
Fast-tracking: In this method, a few selected activities are accelerated by applying additional resources or by paying overtime to the working resources.
The effort variance is the difference between the estimated effort and the effort actually required. Frequent monitoring of work will help you in finding the variance in efforts and help you act on taking appropriate actions.
Following are the different risks a project can come across:
- Technical risks
- Internal risks
- External risks etc
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This a special document and contains all the identified risks associated with a specific project. This document also contains a list of actions.
Yes, sometimes there are chances while identifying the risks you may come across or find some opportunities as well.
The project team while assessing the risk factor the project team also estimates the probability of the impact that a project can get from the specific risk.
It is a contract in which a seller is agreed to supply specific material or services at a fixed price till the completion of the project.
The core purpose besides having the plan for procurement management is to ensure that the products are procured at the best price and they are available to the right team at the right time.
The Procurement administration helps you in monitoring and ensuring that all the open procurement contracts are functioning as expected.
The project management landscape is changing day by day and it has become essential to look after all the aspects of a project. If a project manager is not having professionalism and integrity there are a wide range of chances where many things go wrong. Sometimes the project may go wrong or fall into failure.
Yes, but in general we see a lot of people problems between the teams as well as within the teams. If you find any unhealthy relationship between the teams it must be resolved quickly in order to escape the outcome of this unhealthy relationship. A project manager should also know a bit about psychology in order to understand the behavior of his teammates and stakeholders.
A milestone is defined as a point of a project in which a specific result or outcome is achieved as a part of a project
A program is defined as a set of projects and is well managed to achieve an overall goal. The project is defined as an initiation undertaken for a single or set of purposes. A portfolio is nothing but a collection of programs, projects, events, and this portfolio helps the organizations in achieving the desired business goals.
Conclusion
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