Comments on Deep Fried Brain Project - PM Certification Exam Prep Blog: PERT and CPM get Cozy

Hello Anon., Thanks for bringing it to my notice....

2010-08-10T09:20:11.956+08:00

Hello Anon.,

Thanks for bringing it to my notice. I can see the button, but it's quite possible that due to font size or some other issue, the button is hidden on your screen. Can you send me a screenshot of the page at harwinder dot bhatia at gmail dot com?

Thanks.

The submit button is not visible pert quiz .I woul...

2010-08-10T07:50:00.724+08:00

The submit button is not visible pert quiz .I would like to attempt and see

Hello again Anon., I had to edit your comments to...

2010-08-04T09:32:43.186+08:00

Hello again Anon.,

I had to edit your comments to remove the question to avoid any copyright issues. In general, please avoid copying and pasting the questions in any forums, unless you have taken explicit permission from the author or publisher.

Coming back to your comments, I see your point now. It was a trick question, and I hope the readers of this blog do not fall into such lame traps :) The question is really about CPM, not PERT.

The statement "The PERT estimate can only be calculated for the critical path of the project" is really saying that in CPM, we calculate the critical path from the estimate of activities on the critical path (which is obvious if you understand CPM). Whether you use PERT estimation or any other estimation technique, is irrelevant here.

Hope we are on the same page now.

Thanks for highlighting this point though. I'm sure others can benefit from it too.

Sorry I messed up raising my point. I was referrin...

2010-08-04T09:16:11.159+08:00

Sorry I messed up raising my point. I was referring to the question in pmstudy.com which is given below

==>> Question edited out by blog author <<==

Justification :
Since the tasks are not on the critical path of the project, we cannot determine the PERT estimate for the duration of the project. The PERT estimate can only be calculated for the critical path of the project.

Hi Anon., Thanks for your comment. I'm not ...

2010-08-03T15:16:14.824+08:00

Hi Anon.,

Thanks for your comment.

I'm not sure I understood your point clearly. The basis of CPM is the critical path. How do you calculate the project duration in CPM without knowing the estimate for the activities on the critical path?

Moreover how do we know which activities are on the critical path without knowing the estimate for all the activities on the project first?

Whether we use PERT or Monte Carlo or any other estimation technique is beside the point.

BR.

For the beneficial of your readers I would like to...

2010-08-03T12:42:20.690+08:00

For the beneficial of your readers I would like to add
If the tasks are not on the critical path of the project, we cannot determine the PERT estimate for the duration of the project. The PERT estimate can only be calculated for the critical path of the project. May be you can add a question in quiz :)

Hi Sreekanth, That's a very good question. I&...

2010-07-28T23:53:32.456+08:00

Hi Sreekanth,

That's a very good question. I'll be explaining exactly that in the next article, which should be published this weekend. Please stay tuned.

Thanks.

Sir, I want to know the exact use of standard devi...

2010-07-28T23:07:48.550+08:00

Sir, I want to know the exact use of standard deviation and variance. .
for example in this case, the project is to be completed in 48.5 days +/- 4.14 days ?

Hi Aviad, Thanks for your comments. You are right...

2010-07-26T09:47:03.547+08:00

Hi Aviad,

Thanks for your comments. You are right. It's not worth investing time in this if the goal is to just pass the PMP exam. I mentioned this caveat in the very first article of the series. It's similar to the way car owners treat their cars. Some people are only interested in driving their car and getting to their destination. But there are others who want to open the bonnet and dissect the engine. Both are right in their way. It's just a matter of interest.

I was quite intrigued by the probability and statistical concepts involved in this field. I also saw similar interest from people in some forums. So, I decided to explore further. I spent weeks learning about this topic from books, websites, papers, blogs etc., and really glad I did that. But maybe it was not the best topic for this blog.

I'm really glad to receive an honest feedback from you. I hope to get more feedback like this from other readers. It will help me make better topic selections in future.

Stay in touch.

Thanks again.

There are not more then 2-5 questions in all the e...

2010-07-26T03:11:35.468+08:00

There are not more then 2-5 questions in all the exam about PERT, is it worth to invest on learning and remember it? not sure