Saturday, December 31, 2022

Management Yogi's Hybrid-Agile (CHAMP) Certification: 20 Free Questions and Answers (Part - 2)



This is in continuation of the earlier series of questions for Management Yogi's Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional (CHAMP) certification exam. 

I definitely suggest that you take both the parts together, when you try to attempt the questions. This way you will have continuation in your learning and get a better understanding on what kind of questions may come in your exam. 

Also, as mentioned in the previous series, to answer these questions, you need to have: 
  • Sound understanding of Hybrid-Agile Management.
  • Solid grasp on how Hybrid-Agile management can happen in the real-world. 
  • Good understanding of traditional (waterfall), Scrum and Kanban management.
  • Real world Hybrid-Agile management experience.
  • Critical thinking, logical reasoning, ability to think out of the box.  


Note: The newly enhanced Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional (CHAMP) certification has wider coverge, a number of tips and tricks (including a large number of Agile tips), a number of practice questions at the end of lessons. The questions in your CHAMP exam will be mostly situational with hands-on orientation. Hence, you need to prepare from that perspective.  

Again, I hope you enjoy doing these questions and it helps in your preparation for the CHAMP exam.


[This series - Part - 1]


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Question – 11: Following Hybrid models have been proposed by the PMO of your organization. They want you to review and confirm one of the models as you are a Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional (CHAMP). You disagree with one of the models because it’s not a Hybrid-ScrumBan approach. Which one of the following is that?
A Predictive followed by Kanban, then Scrum and finally predictive.
B Predictive followed by Scrum, then Kanban and finally predictive.
C Adaptive with Scrum, then Kanban and finally predictive.
D Adaptive with Kanban, then Scrum and finally adaptive.

Question – 12: A statue is getting built by a sculptor and his team. The master craftsman is continuously refining it along with the team members and showing it to the customer. Based on the customer’s feedback, again further refinement happens. What kind of life cycle is being used?
A Iterative
B Hybrid
C Iterative and incremental
D Incremental

Question – 13: A pharmaceutical company is developing medical drugs in a project involving high degree of complexity, and risk during the long development part of the project. However, this pharma company has matured and robust development phase, but equally long rollout phase, which is well defined and repeatable. Which kind of approach will BEST help the pharma company in such a case?

A A predominantly predictive approach with some agile components
B A predominantly agile approach with some predictive components
C A hybrid approach combining both predictive and agile
D A iterative and incremental approach 

Question – 14: A Sprint Burnup Chart for a Hybrid-Scrum project is shown below. For this chart ______________ filter and ____________ group are applied.


A Current Sprint, Sprint
B Sprint, Current Sprint
C Current Sprint, Current Sprint
D Sprint, Sprint

Question – 15: A Sprint Planning Board for a Hybrid-Scrum project is shown below. 



You want to show the % Complete value and for each task item (i.e., Card) in this board. What should you do?

A Customize the cards from the Global Settings
B Customize the cards from Sprint Tools > Sprints > Views > Customize Cards
C Add the % Complete field by double clicking on the cards
D Add the % Complete field Task Board Tools > Format > Customize > Customize Cards


Question – 16: For a Hybrid-Kanban project, following the cumulative flow diagram for the Kanban elements in the project.


The board has four workflow states or columns: (Kanban) Backlog, In progress, Next up and Done. What is the work in progress (WIP) for this Kanban board?

A 7
B 8
C Can’t be determined
D 10

Question – 17: For a support project, your team is fixing a number of tickers and you are using a Hybrid approach with some elements in Kanban. In the Task Board Sheet view, you have default values available as shown below. You want to know the actual work for the “In progress” items. What should you do?


A Go to Gantt Chart view to determine the actual work
B Add the “Actual Work” field or column to the Task Board Sheet view
C Add the “Actual Work” field, and then group by Board Status 
D Add the “Actual Work” field, group Board Status and then Work status

Question – 18: In your Hybrid-Kanban project reporting, you want to show all the Done items, as well as the In progress, Next up, and Kanban backlog items. Which view will be MOST suitable?

A Task Board  
B Gantt Chart
C Kanban Board
D Backlog Board

Question – 19: You are Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional (CHAMP) and currently managing a Hybrid-Kanban project. To have a clear distinction between the traditional (waterfall) and Kanban part of the project, which field is MOST LIKELY to be used by you as a CHAMP?

A The Boolean custom field of “isAgile”
B The text custom field of “isAgile”
C The Boolean custom field of “isKanban”
D The number custom field of “isKanban”

Question – 20: A Kanban card is shown below for the Task Board view. 


Among fields shown in the card, what are the base fields?

A ID and Resource 
B ID, Resource and 100% Complete checkmark
C Resource, Task Summary Name and Duration 
D Duration, Start and Finish



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The question set is available in the embedded document below. The answers are also part of this document.

For all answers, subscribe to this site and send a mail (from your GMail id) to managementyogi@gmail.com.






Monday, December 26, 2022

Management Yogi's Hybrid-Agile (CHAMP) Certification: 20 Free Questions and Answers (Part - 1)



The
Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional (CHAMP) certification course and exam has been updated. Now it's based on the latest Hybrid-Agile management practices, latest of release MS Project software (MS Project Online Desktop Client), along with inputs, feedback and suggestions from CHAMP certified professionals. 

These questions are taken from the course:
Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional

As noted in the beginning, these qustions are prepared with feedback from many successful CHAMPs. Many have informed that the course is one of the most comprehensive courses seen.

To answer these questions, you need to have:
  • Sound understanding of Hybrid-Agile Management practices combing waterfall with Scrum, waterfall with Kanban as well as waterfall with Scrum and Kanban, together. 
  • Solid grasp on how Hybrid-Agile management can happen in the real-world, i.e., with MS Project Agile software. Practical, hands-on applicability is almost always overlooked in certification courses. In that sense, this certification is radically different. 
  • Good understanding of traditional (waterfall), Scrum and Kanban management.
  • Real world Hybrid-Agile management experience.
  • Critical thinking, logical reasoning, ability to think out of the box and also answering questions with speed and accuracy.  
This is first of the series have 10 questions and answers. The next part has another set of 10 questions with answers.

I hope you enjoy doing these questions and it helps in your preparation for the CHAMP certification exam.


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Question – 1: While tracking a Hybrid-ScrumBan project, you have taken a number of customer tickets on the fly and fixing them. Whenever you have a sufficient number of tickets available, you are releasing them as hotfixes. Currently, two new tickets came-up and you add them to the backlog of items. What should you do next?
A Associate them with the Show on Board and enable isAgile flag.
B Associate them with the Show on Board and enable both. isAgile and isKanban flags.
C Prioritize the items.
D Get it first approved from change control boards.

Question – 2: You are the leader of the project being executed with a Hybrid approach. To ensure the product backlog reflects the current need of the customer, what should you do?
A Have a strong product owner to get the right requirements.
B Consider continuous engagement between the customer and business representative.
C Build and review prototypes and release versions.
D Define and refine the scope throughout the life-cycle of the project.

Question – 3: Considering Stacey's complexity model, requirements uncertainty and technological complexity inform which two aspects?
A What and how 
B What and why
C How and when
D Who and how 

Question – 4: In a construction project, a builder started working on a room with fixtures, paint and other items. The builder finished one room and showed the customer the room before proceeding with work on another room. This is done to reduce customer dissatisfaction. What kind of life cycle is being followed by the builder?
A Iterative 
B Incremental
C Iterative and incremental
D Hybrid

Question – 5: For a Hybrid-Scrum the earned value metrics are shown in the below figure. It uses MS Project Agile EVM notations, where actual cost of work performed (ACWP) is actual cost (AC), budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP) is earned value (EV) and budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS) is earned value (PV). 


What can be said about this project?

A The project is over budget.
B The project is under budget, but ahead of schedule.
C The project is over budget, but ahead of schedule.
D The project is over budget, and behind of schedule.

Question – 6: The Cards shown in a Hybrid-Scrum project don’t have the % complete value available in board view. Your team members want this to be shown while visualizing the cards in the board views. What should you do?

A Add % Complete column in the Gantt Chart view for the cards.
B Use the “Show checkmark when 100% complete” base field for the cards.
C Add the “% Complete” additional field and customize the cards.
D Add “Show % complete” base field and customize the cards.

Question – 7: Multiple Sprints have been planned for a Hybrid-Agile project using MS Project Agile. You have used Manage Sprints commands under the Sprint Tools > Sprint group > Management command. This is depicted in the below figure.


What is incorrectly done in this case?

A All Sprints must be of similar durations, which is not the case above.
B A Sprint usually doesn’t have 5 weeks of duration.
C Every Sprint should start on Wednesday of the week.
D Every Sprint must be within 1 weeks to 3 weeks.

Question – 8: You are managing a Hybrid-Kanban project and currently reviewing the tasks (cards) in the Backlog Board view. However, as you complete the tasks and move them into the Done column, the tasks no longer show-up, which is surprising to you. It’s shown below.


What should you do?

A Don’t use the Backlog Board, as for Kanban, you only use the Task Board.
B Switch to Backlog Sheet view to see the done (completed) items.
C Hybrid-Kanban project should be tracked only in Gantt Chart
D It’s the expected behavior for Backlog Board view.

Question – 9: Currently, you are analyzing the features and sub-tasks for a Hybrid-Kanban project. You are using the Task Board Sheet view. Your sponsor wants to have a quick report on the work items, categorized and separated by the board status such as “In progress”, “Next up” or (Kanban) “Backlog” (or Not started). What should you do?
A This information can’t be available in Task Board Sheet view.
B Create a new pie chart report with Board Status value.
C Group the work items with the Board Status built-in group.
D Create a new column chart and apply Board Status grouping.

Question – 10: You are working in a Tiger conservation project in Hybrid-ScrumBan mode. A number of efforts to conserve the habitats are run with multiple Sprints. Currently you have generated a pie chart report, for which the % complete for the current Sprint’s tasks are shown below. Which one of the following is correct?


A The applied filter is Sprint 2, grouping is by Work Status and there is ID sorting.
B The applied filter is Current Sprint, grouping is by Board Status and there is no sorting.
C The applied filter is Agile Filter, grouping is Agile Group and sorting is by Sprint ID.
D The applied filter is Select Sprint, grouping is by Actual Work and there is no sorting.


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The question set is available in the embedded document below. The answers are also part of this document.

For all answers, subscribe to this site and send a mail (from your GMail id) to managementyogi@gmail.com.




Saturday, December 24, 2022

What’s New: Management Yogi's Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional (CHAMP)



I’m pleased to announce a complete update for the below unique, hands-on, practical oriented, comprehensive course:

CERTIFIED HYBRID-AGILE MASTER PROFESIONAL (CHAMP) 

This course was available to Hybrid-Agile practitioners by the end of last year, 2021. Since then, it has been used by many professionals around the world. It’s a complete video course on Hybrid-Agile Management with both theory and practical, covering Hybrid-Scrum, Hybrid-Kanban and Hybrid-ScrumBan

This is the only such course in the world with a very strong emphasis on hands-on, practical applicability and in-depth learning. Literally, there is no such certification in the world. You can make your search!

You can refer to the earlier post on this course in the below link:
https://www.managementyogi.com/2021/11/certified-hybrid-agile-master-with-ms-project-online-course.html

The updates have happened after months of preparation, inputs from users/learners of this course. A number of inputs have been taken from real-world Hybrid-Agile practitioners. Also, over the course of last year (2021) and this year (2022), I've published a number of articles which generated a number of questions and feedback. Hence, this update. 

For existing customers of this course all the below updates will be FREE of cost.

What’s New in the Course – CHAMP Certification?

Below are the top highlights for the updates to this certification course. 

1. The Course and Certification has been RENAMED.

Earlier the course was called “Certified Hybrid-Agile Master”. It has been renamed as “Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional” or simply CHAMP certification. It sounds better and post certification you can put it in your signature. 

Note: There is no extra certification cost. It's part of the course package.

2. TWO NEW Full-length Question and Answer sets.

This certification course now comes with two full length question sets. In earlier edition, the question sets were not available. The question sets will have 50 questions each with detailed answers. This will help you master the concepts of Hybrid-Agile management. 

3. A NEW Step-by-Step Guide for MS Project Agile installation.

MS Project Agile installation (MS Project Online Desktop Client) is a must to pursue this course. However, as seen in the last one year, quite a few struggle with the installation of the software. Hence, a step-by-step guide has been made available for all course subscribers. 

The step-by-step guide will be downloadable for you. 

You can learn the primary steps to install MS Project Online Desktop Client in this post. Detailed documentation for download will be available for course subsribers.

4. A NUMBER of NEW practice questions for every lesson.

In the earlier version of the course, no practice questions were available. Based on inputs from course subscribers, a number of practice questions have been added for every lesson.

You have to complete the videos, do the exercises and immediately attempt the practice questions. You will also have detailed answers available. This will help you master the concepts and prepare for the CHAMP certification exam. 

5. A number of NEW Agile Tips and Tricks.

The course now comes not only with tips and tricks for MS Project, but also tips and tricks with MS Project Agile with emphasis on Hybrid-Scrum, Hybrid-Kanban and Hybrid-Scrumban management. Together now you have 140 tips and tricks. All of these will be downloadable

Combining the tips given throughout the discussion of this course and new tips provided, you will have 100s of them. 

6. NEW Notes for Theory part of CHAMP course.

A number of learners (customers) of this course wanted to have theory notes of this course. It is not available for the theoretical aspect of Hybrid-Agile management. The practical aspects are demonstrated with videos. 

The theory notes will be downloadable for you.

7. Complete CHANGE for existing questions. 

The questions are now mostly situational. The question also has a mixture of theory (20%) and practical (80%). With this, you will have a better understanding of real-world Hybrid-Agile management.

Do note that you have to take the Certification Exam, which is part of the course package. These questions are also now completely changed.

8. UPDATED Videos in the CHAMP certification.

Few videos are updated with more detailed explanations. The course has been informed to be very exhaustive by Hybrid-Agile practitioners. These additions will add more depth to the course.

9. UPDATED Course Index File.

As the course has seen a number of changes, the index file has also been changed. It’s available towards the end of this post with the latest changes and updates.

Top Features: Certified Hybrid-Agile Master with MS Project

  1. Total Video Duration: 14+ hours [updated]
  2. Number of Videos: 138 [updated]
  3. Number of Lessons: 10 (+2) [1 new]
  4. Two full-length Q&A Sets: Each set 50 Q&As [newly added
  5. Total Number of questions, including lesson-end: 150 (approx.) [newly added]
  6. Total Exercises (Practical): 100+ [downloadable]
  7. End-course exam and credential as a Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional (or CHAMP)
  8. 140 of tips and tricks on MS Project and MS Project Agile [new, downloadable]
  9. Step-by-Step installation guide for MS Project [new, downloadable]
  10. In depth understanding of Hybrid Scrum, Hybrid Kanban, and Hybrid ScrumBan.
  11. Ability to apply the concepts with the Hands-On tool of MS Project Agile.
  12. Generate various reports such as Burndown/Burnup Chart, CFDs, Hybrid Sprint Reports, Histograms and Pie Charts, Earned Value reports, among many others.
  13. A large number of exercise and solutions files (over 100), which you can download, use and practice.
  14. A large number of tips and tricks points to know throughout the course.

The details on it this course, with information on additional features, are available also available at:

https://www.managementyogi.com/p/certified-hybrid-agile-master.html


What is the Certification Offered by CHAMP Course?

This course comes with an end-exam with a set of questions, which covers both theory and practical of Hybrid-Agile Management. 

The exam has 50 questions to be taken in 60 minutes (1 hour). To clear the exam, you need at least a 70% score. 

With completion of the course and clearing of the end course exam, you will receive the unique credential: Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional or CHAMP.

What is Full Money Back Guarantee for CHAMP Certification?

The premise is simple.

Go through the complete course for 15 days. 100% video content of this course will be available to you. If you don’t like the course, I’ll refund your full money. 

Note: You can also evaluate the videos before paying any money. Twenty (20) videos will be available for your evaluation, even before your purchase.

Applicability and Validity: CHAMP Certification

  • Theory Used: Hybrid-Agile Management combining Waterfall, Scrum and Kanban
  • Software Used: MS Project 2019 Online Desktop Client 
  • Theory Pre-requisite: Project Management, Scrum and Kanban Frameworks
  • Software Pre-requisite: MS Project 2021/2019/2016/2013 and MS Project 2021/2019/2016 Agile
  • Course Duration: 3 or 6 months from the date of purchase
  • Price: $95 USD / Rs 7,599 (for 3 months)
              $159 USD / Rs 12,719 (for 6 months)
  • Payment – paypal.me/managementyogi
    (Login, Send your payment to paypal account of ndsatya@gmail.com, Enter the amount; Invoice will be generated after payment)
    OR, you can pay via Bank Transfer or Payment. For this, please send a mail to managementyogi@gmail.com to get account the details.
  • Available since: November, 2021 (Updated December, 2022)
  • Primary Format: Video 
  • Course Extension: As per your need
    (Price calculation will pro-rata)
  • Status: Available
    (accessible via laptop/desktop)

Updated Course Index: CHAMP Certification

The complete course breakdown for the CHAMP certification course is shown below, with the new and updated ones highlighted in green. It details the hours of learning, number of videos and practice questions, full-length question sets along with various hands-on exercise details. You can scroll to see the full content.



Conclusion

With this certification course, you will have mastery over Hybrid-Agile Management. This uniquely credential of CHAMP also establishes you as a solid professional in Hybrid-Agile management space.


Thursday, December 08, 2022

A Deep Dive into Probability Distribution in Risk Management


Ever tossed a fair coin? I’d bet you have! At least in your childhood days while deciding which team would bat first in a baseball or a cricket match, or who would serve first in a badminton or tennis game. Every kid agrees to it because it’s unbiased. When you toss a fair coin, the chances of getting a head is 1/2 (0.5) or 50%. This is the division between the favorable outcome, which is a head and all possible outcomes (head and tail).

A coin toss is perhaps is the simplest introduction to probability, which informs chance or likelihood of occurrence of a random variable. The random variable here is getting a head. Let’s note the random variable as X and probability as P(X). Mathematically put:

Probability (Getting head) or P (X)

= Favorable number of outcomes of the event / Total number of possible outcomes

= 1 / 2 = 0.5 = 50%

Now, what’s the chance of getting a head when you toss a pair of coins together? In this case, the total number of possible outcomes is four: tail (first coin) and tail (second coin), tail and head, head and tail, and finally head and head. The values that the random variable can take are many, as shown in the below table:

As you can see, the possible values of X range from 0 to 2 (i.e., 0 head, 1 head, or 2 heads). This leads to the concept of distribution. Looking at the above table, we can see the frequencies of this random variable’s occurrences are 1, 2, and 1. This is distribution or frequency distribution. One could say: distribution is the possible values a random variable can take and how frequently these values occur.

Now, if I add probabilities to this random variable’s values, we get a probability distribution. This is depicted in below:

As shown in the above table:

  • We have all favorable outcomes for 0, 1, or 2 heads. These are represented in the first and second columns.
  • All possible outcomes are obviously four, and that’s shown in the third column.
  • P(X) is shown in the final column, and the probabilities are 25%, 50%, and 25%, respectively for 0, 1, or 2 heads. This is probability distribution. Summed up, it equals one.

Hence, we can say that probability distribution for a random variable describes how probabilities are distributed over the values of the random variable.

Discrete and Continuous Distribution

Distribution can be discrete or continuous. Discrete means you are getting an integer number (1 head or 2 heads). You don’t say that you will get 0.33 head! Considering another example of counting the number of children in households of a locality, you will come-up with results such as 0 child, 1 child, 2 children, etc. You won’t get 0.57 child!

You may be laughing now – what’s 0.33 head or 0.57 child!? Good to see you smiling. Smiling lessens stress and helps in understanding.

All random variables; however, are not discrete. For example, let’s say you are determining the distribution of age, weight, or height of people in a locality. Considering height, it can be anything: 5 feet, 5.5 feet, 5.85 feet, 6.1 feet, and so on. In such a case, the distribution is continuous. So, this distinction is important: at a high-level, there are two types of random variables – discrete and continuous and respective probability distributions – discrete probability distribution and continuous probability distribution.

Now, combining all, i.e., probability, distribution and probability distribution, I've the following consolidated tip.

But, how does all of this fit into Risk Management? Risk Managers don’t toss coins or calculate heads/tails in an experiment. That’s kids’ games and not for grown-up men or women! Perhaps; although, child play teaches the basics neatly.

Probability Distribution and Risk Management

With the above basics, let’s consider another example to understand probability distribution from the perspective of risk management. You are going to a friend’s house. It may take you one hour to reach your destination if you encounter no obstacles. If there is heavy traffic, it’s possible that you may not get there for three hours. With less traffic, it’s more likely to take 2 hours. Hence, you can say there are three possibilities:

  • Minimum (or Optimistic) travel duration = 1 hour
  • Most likely travel duration = 2 hours
  • Maximum (or Pessimistic) travel duration = 3 hours

In this case, the random variable (X) is the “travel duration.” Can you conclusively say which one of the estimates is correct? Unlikely, because other factors such as traffic conditions are involved. Now, if I add chances to these numbers, then we get probability distributions. I’ve prepared the below video to explain in more detail [Duration: 05m:33s]. For better audio-visual experience, you may want to go full HD and plug-in your earphones.


Importance of Probability Distribution *** UPDATED ***

In project risk management, the concept of probability distribution is applied to estimation. Continuing with our previous example, when we estimate, we take the most likely outcome of two hours, which is not correct because we’ve forgotten to consider other possibilities.

We can (and should!) consider possible scenarios, not just the most likely one. In other words, instead of saying an activity in a project is going to take “X” number of days, we also can consider other days using a distribution. For each duration in the distribution, there is a probability available.

This can be done for all the activities or tasks of the project, which in turn impacts the project schedule and cost. This enables us to build a more realistic plan.

Now that we have understood the basics of probability, distribution, and probability distribution, let’s look at the various types used in risk management.

Triangular Distribution *** UPDATED ***

Triangular distribution is the most common type of distribution used.  Named triangular because of the shape of the curve, this refers to there being no pre-existing data, but only expert opinions or judgment.

Symmetrical Triangular Distribution

The below distribution is triangular and symmetrical.

                                 

By looking at the graph above, we can say: There is approximately a 30% chance of the duration being 6 days, a full chance of the duration being 8 days’, and also a 30% chance of the duration being 10 days.”

Asymmetrical Triangular Distribution

Do note that the triangle shown need not be symmetric. Asymmetrical diagrams are shown below:

From here, you can calculate the durations with respective chances or probabilities.

Let’s take another example of a project, once with a task of Product Requirement Documentation (PRD) Preparation with an estimated 5 days duration. This is the most likely estimate, but we do not have the minimum and maximum value.

By using the Primavera Risk Analysis (PRA) software tool, the triangular distribution is depicted as below:

                                

The durations can be 4, 5, or 6 days (shown in the X-axis). The respective chance for minimum, likely, and maximum values are entered when you perform a duration risk analysis. This is demonstrated in a video in the later part of this article.

While building the schedule model, this triangular distribution can be noted as Triangle (4, 5, 6) or Triangle (4; 5; 6).

Uniform Distribution

In rectangular distribution, you can use a maximum value and a minimum value, but not any most likely value. In the below example, we have a uniform (or rectangular) distribution.

Looking at it, we might say: The task has a minimum duration of 4 days, but a maximum duration of 12 days

You can use Uniform Probability Distributions when you specify the extremes of uncertainty of the activity under consideration and when the intermediate values have equal chances of occurring. It is also possible when you cannot draw any inference on the possible distribution shape.

Taking our previous example of the PRD Preparation task, which is estimated to be 5 days, using PRA, we have the following values for Uniform distribution:

Like Triangular distribution, while building the schedule model, this distribution can be noted as Uniform (4, 6).

Beta Distribution *** UPDATED ***

Beta distribution, like triangular distribution has also three possible values – worst case, most likely, and best case. Like the triangular model, it also gives more weightage to the most likely case. We have seen one example of Beta distribution in the earlier video.

Unlike the triangular distribution, the shape for beta distribution is smoother and the tails in Beta distribution taper off less quickly. A sample beta distribution curve is shown below:

Beta distribution can also be symmetric or asymmetric in shape. The notations happen like Beta (6, 8, 10). As you can see above, there can be many values close to the most likely values, and it slowly tapers off towards the minimum or maximum ends.

Using the PRA software tool, for our task, PRD Preparation, a Beta (or BetaPert) distribution will come out as below:


Do note that along with the triangular distribution, beta distribution is another frequently used probability distribution.

Normal Distribution

Normal distribution is defined by the mean of a planned (or remaining duration) activity for an activity and standard deviation (SD) of the activity.

This distribution is used if there is historical information available. Normal distribution also has a bell-shaped curve like Beta, but considers SD to calculate the worst (and best) case scenarios. 

For our example (task of PRD Preparation with a duration estimate of 5 days), we note the normal distribution as Normal (5,1), where 5 is the mean and 1 is the SD.

Discrete Distribution

In a discrete distribution model, the duration of an activity under consideration can have a number of integer values, but without any intermediate values. In other words, the distribution is discrete, rather than continuous like in a triangle, beta, or uniform.

In the above sample, the activity has discrete distribution of values 6, 10, 18, and 20. 

Considering our task of PRD Preparation, the discrete distribution will be seen as below with the PRA tool. The distributions are 2, 3, 4, and, 5 with respective weighting factors of 10, 20, 30 and, 50, respectively. This can be noted as Discrete ({2, 3, 4, 5}, {10, 20, 30, 50}).


Practical Example and Demonstration

With this understanding, let’s take a practical look using MS Project and Primavera Risk Analysis. The video [Duration: 05m:42s] demonstrates a project plan with fixed activity estimates. It’s next imported to the PRA tool and analyzed with various probability distributions for the activities of the project.


Conclusion

Probability distribution is very important when you use quantitative risk analysis, which involves a number of mathematical modeling and sampling. Managers or planners can also deploy advanced probability distributions such as lognormal distributions, cumulative distributions, general distributions, among others. The above video explains a few of these.

We have come a long way and seen a number of examples. I propose just one more exercise. I promise it won’t be difficult, provided you have read the content sincerely. Going back to our first examples of coin tosses, can you answer these:

  • What’s the probability distribution of getting a head when you toss three coins?
  • What are the values that the random variable can take?

If you are getting four values for the random variable of getting a head and when all your probability distributions are summed-up to equal one, then you have well understood the concept. 

I welcome your thoughts, feedback, and suggestions in the comment section below.


* This article is dedicated to the memory of my father, the late Harendra Nath Dash, who passed away three years ago on June 11, 2019. He first introduced me to the concept of probability and statistics. It was mesmerizing then, and I still remember it. I wish this article to be a tribute to him and his teachings.

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This article was first published by MPUG.com on 7th June, 2022. The current one is updated.