Faculty of Computing
Bahir Dar Institute of Technology - Bahir Dar University
Software Project Management - Seng4011
Chapter 03 - Tutorial Questions
October 2025
Provide comprehensive and well-explained answers to each of the following questions.
1. Explain how a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is further decomposed into activities in
project management. Why is this breakdown important for project scheduling and control?
2. Given a WBS where one work package is “Develop User Interface Module”, show how this
work package can be broken down into activities.
3. A project team decides to start Task B only after completing Task A, even though both could
technically be done at the same time.
A. What type of dependency is this?
B. What logic justifies it, and what potential impact could it have on the project schedule?
4. Explain how mandatory and external dependencies differ in terms of project control. Give an
example of each in a software development project.
5. Match each dependency type below with the most suitable relationship type (Finish-to-Start,
Start-to-Start, Finish-to-Finish, or Start-to-Finish), and justify your choice:
A. The design must be approved before coding begins.
B. Testing can begin once development starts and proceed in parallel.
C. Documentation can only finish after testing is complete.
D. The backup system must start before the old system stops.
6. Your software development team is assigned to develop 200 user interface screens for a web
application. From historical data, you know that a similar team develops 5 screens per day on
average.
A. Estimate the activity duration using the parametric estimating method.
B. If the team estimates that the optimistic time (O) is 35 days, the most likely time (M)
is 40 days, and the pessimistic time (P) is 50 days, estimate the duration using the
three-point (PERT) estimation method.
7. Given activity list with immediate predecessors and expected time. Answer the questions
below. Activities Immediate Expected
A. Draw the network diagram. Predecessors time(day)
B. Identify the critical path. A - 1
B - 2
C. Calculate Early Start (ES), Early Finish
C - 3
(EF), Late Start (LS), Late Finish (LF) and
D A 4
Slack (Float) for each activity.
E B 5
D. Suppose the project is planned to kick of
F B 4
November 01, 2025 and assume that the G C 6
team won’t work on weekends and on H D, E 6
holidays. If 10 November 2025 is holiday, I G 2
calculate project completion date. J F, H, I 3
8. A software development project consists of the following activities:
A. Calculate the expected time (TE) and variance for each activity.
B. Identify the critical Activity Immediate Optimistic Most Pessimistic
path and compute the Predecessors (O) Likely (M) (P)
A — 2 4 8
expected project B — 1 2 3
duration. C A 2 3 6
D A 1 2 5
C. What is the
E B, C 3 5 9
probability of F D 2 4 6
completing the G E, F 1 2 4
H C 2 3 5
project in 19 days?
I G, H 2 3 6
D. What is the
scheduled completion date if a 75% probability of completion is desired?
E. What is the probability of completing the project in 20 days?
9. Answer the following questions.
A. What is the main focus of the Critical Chain Method (CCM) in project scheduling?
B. Define a critical chain. How does it differ from the critical path?
C. What are feeding chains in CCM, and why are they important?
D. Explain the purpose of buffers in CCM and list the three types.
E. Why are project buffers considered a “cushion” for the entire project?
F. How do resource buffers help in maintaining project schedule?
G. A project manager notices that a feeding chain is consistently delaying the start of
critical tasks. Which type of buffer can mitigate this issue?
H. Compare and contrast critical path method (CPM) and critical chain method (CCM) in
one sentence.
10. A project has the following tasks with durations (in days) and assigned resources:
A. Identify the critical chain considering
Task Duration Depends Resource
resource constraints. on
A 4 – R1
B. Indicate where project, feeding, and B 3 A R2
resource buffers should be placed. C 2 A R1
D 5 B R3
C. Explain why each buffer is necessary.
E 3 C R2
F 4 D, E R1
11. A project manager is planning a small software project. The project has the following tasks and
durations:
Task Duration Predecessor
A. Draw a Gantt chart showing the (days)
A – Requirement 3 –
schedule of tasks. Analysis
B. Identify any overlapping tasks. B – Design 4 A
C – Development 6 B
C. Indicate the earliest project D – Testing 3 C
E – Deployment 2 D
completion date.
12. A project manager is handling a project with limited resources. Explain the key difference
between resource leveling and resource smoothing and give an example scenario where each
would be applied.
13. A project’s critical path was determined using CPM. After applying resource leveling, the
project manager notices that the critical path has changed. Explain why this happens and how
it can affect project management decisions.
14. A project has strict deadlines, limited resources, and multiple concurrent tasks. Explain which
resource optimization technique you would apply and why. Discuss any limitations.
15. A project has the following tasks, durations, and resource assignments:
Constraints: ask Duration Predecessor Resource
• Resource R1 can work on only one task (days)
A 4 – R1
at a time. B 3 A R2
C 5 A R1
• Project deadline is strict. D 2 B R1
E 3 C R3
F 2 D, E R2
A. Identify any resource conflicts in the initial schedule.
B. Apply resource leveling to resolve conflicts. Indicate the new start/end dates and if
project duration changes.
C. Apply resource smoothing to optimize resource usage without changing the project
deadline.
16. project has the following two activities:
• Activity A: Duration 10 days
• Activity B: Duration 6 days, dependent on Activity A
A. If a lead of 3 days is applied to Activity B, on which day can Activity B start?
B. If instead a lag of 2 days is applied, on which day will Activity B start?
17. A project’s critical path has a total duration of 30 days. Management wants to reduce it to 24
days.
A. Explain how fast tracking (perform activities in parallel) could be applied to achieve
this goal and what risks it may introduce.
B. Explain how crashing (add resources to shorten durations) could be applied and what
the potential cost implications are.
18. A construction project is behind schedule. The project manager notices that two sequential
activities—foundation work (10 days) and framing (8 days)—could be partially overlapped.
Additionally, extra workers could be hired for framing to shorten it by 2 days.
A. Identify which schedule compression techniques could be applied here.
B. Calculate the new project duration if both techniques are applied.
C. Draw a small diagram showing leads, lags, and schedule compression effects
19. List out and describe outputs of Schedule Development Process
20. A construction project is halfway completed. The project manager finds that the original plan
assumed every team member would work at 100% capacity and no time was allocated for
weather-related delays. Unexpected rain has halted work for five days.
A. What mistake occurred during the initial scheduling process?
B. Which schedule control techniques should now be used to handle this situation?
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