Chapter 24 Quiz: Project Planning and Task Management
Test your understanding of AI-assisted project planning concepts and workflows.
Question 1: Which of the following is the BEST description of AI's role in work breakdown structure (WBS) creation?
A) AI can generate a complete, accurate WBS that requires no modification B) AI reduces the blank-page problem by generating a starting structure that humans should review and refine C) AI should only be used for WBS creation when you have extensive experience with the project type D) AI WBS generation is only useful for projects lasting more than three months
Answer
**B** — AI reduces the blank-page problem by generating a starting structure that humans should review and refine. AI is excellent at generating initial project structures, but no AI output should be accepted without human review. The value is in reducing the cognitive cost of starting, not in producing a finished plan. Option A is incorrect because AI lacks project-specific context. Option C is wrong because AI is especially helpful when you're less experienced. Option D is wrong because AI is useful regardless of project duration.Question 2: When using AI for effort estimation in project planning, which approach is most appropriate?
A) Use AI estimates directly in project proposals since they reflect industry averages B) Multiply all AI estimates by 1.5 as a standard adjustment factor C) Use AI estimates as a starting point, then calibrate with your team's actual historical velocity D) Avoid using AI for effort estimation entirely since it has no predictive accuracy
Answer
**C** — Use AI estimates as a starting point, then calibrate with your team's actual historical velocity. AI duration estimates reflect general patterns, not your team's specific capability. They should always be validated against your team's actual performance on similar work. Option A is dangerous because it creates false confidence. Option B is arbitrary and doesn't account for the specific ways AI under- or over-estimates for your context. Option D is too restrictive — AI estimates have value as a starting framework even if they need calibration.Question 3: What is a pre-mortem in project management?
A) A meeting held before the project starts to assign roles and responsibilities B) A risk assessment technique that imagines the project has already failed and works backward to find causes C) A quality review process conducted before major milestones D) An AI technique for generating project plans from a brief
Answer
**B** — A risk assessment technique that imagines the project has already failed and works backward to find causes. The pre-mortem, developed by Gary Klein, is a prospective hindsight technique. By imagining the project has already failed, it bypasses the optimism bias that affects forward-looking risk assessment. It's distinct from risk registers because it generates specific, narrative failure scenarios rather than abstract risk categories.Question 4: You've asked AI to identify risks for your project. The AI returns a well-structured risk register with 20 items. What is the most important next step?
A) Present the risk register to stakeholders immediately — AI has covered all the key risks B) Add likelihood and impact ratings to each item C) Review the register with domain experts to identify which risks apply and what the AI missed D) Sort the risks alphabetically for easier reference
Answer
**C** — Review the register with domain experts to identify which risks apply and what the AI missed. AI risk brainstorming is based on general patterns across many projects. The most dangerous risks are often the organization-specific, context-specific ones that AI couldn't know about. Expert review serves two purposes: filtering out inapplicable risks and adding the idiosyncratic risks that AI missed. Option A skips the essential human review step. Options B and D are secondary tasks that should happen after expert review.Question 5: In project planning, what is the "critical path"?
A) The tasks that have been assigned to the most senior team members B) The tasks that involve the most technical complexity C) The sequence of dependent tasks that determines the minimum possible project duration D) The first set of tasks that must be completed before the project is approved
Answer
**C** — The sequence of dependent tasks that determines the minimum possible project duration. The critical path is the longest path of dependent tasks through the project network. Any delay on a critical path task delays the entire project. Non-critical tasks have "float" — they can be delayed by some amount without affecting the end date. Understanding the critical path allows project managers to focus risk management and acceleration efforts where they matter most.Question 6: Which AI limitation is most relevant when planning a highly novel project (one with little historical precedent)?
A) AI can only work with structured data formats B) AI's effort estimates reflect general patterns, not your specific novelty C) AI cannot generate work breakdown structures for novel projects D) AI-generated risk registers are less accurate than human-generated ones for any project type
Answer
**B** — AI's effort estimates reflect general patterns, not your specific novelty. Novel projects, by definition, lack comparable historical data. AI estimates for novel work may sound specific but are essentially interpolations from vaguely similar projects in the training data. This doesn't mean AI is useless for novel projects — it's still valuable for structure, risk brainstorming, and communication artifacts — but duration estimates require much more caution.Question 7: When adapting a status update for different audiences, what is the primary adjustment to make for an executive audience?
A) Add more technical detail so executives understand the complexity B) Convert to a bulleted list format C) Lead with status and decisions needed; reduce to outcomes rather than activities D) Include all risks, even minor ones, so executives have complete information
答案 / Answer
**C** — Lead with status and decisions needed; reduce to outcomes rather than activities. Executive audiences need to know: (1) is this on track or not, (2) what decisions do they need to make, and (3) what business outcomes are affected. They typically don't need (and will not read) detailed task completion lists. The most common mistake in executive communication is burying the key message in the middle of a detailed status update.Question 8: The "red team" prompt technique in project planning asks AI to:
A) Generate a list of team members who could cause project delays B) Identify which project phases are most at risk of going over budget C) Actively criticize and find weaknesses in your project plan D) Assign risk ratings to each task in the WBS
Answer
**C** — Actively criticize and find weaknesses in your project plan. The red team technique takes an adversarial stance toward your plan, deliberately trying to identify where it will fail. By framing the prompt as "find the weaknesses" rather than "review this plan," you get more pointed, useful criticism. The adversarial framing overcomes AI's tendency toward diplomatic balance, producing more direct and actionable feedback.Question 9: Which of the following is an example of a "soft dependency" in project scheduling?
A) The design mockups must be approved before development begins B) The database schema must be finalized before any database code is written C) User testing would be more effective if the documentation is drafted first, but testing could begin without it D) The vendor contract must be signed before onboarding the vendor team
Answer
**C** — User testing would be more effective if the documentation is drafted first, but testing could begin without it. A soft dependency is one where sequence is preferred but not strictly required. Hard dependencies (A, B, D) represent constraints where a task literally cannot be completed until the predecessor is done. Identifying soft dependencies matters because it reveals opportunities to compress the schedule by starting tasks earlier than the default sequence might suggest.Question 10: What does "float" (or "slack") mean in project scheduling?
A) The additional budget allocated to high-risk tasks B) The amount of time a non-critical task can be delayed without affecting the project end date C) The time built into estimates to account for optimistic bias D) The gap between a team member's capacity and their current allocation
Answer
**B** — The amount of time a non-critical task can be delayed without affecting the project end date. Float is a property of non-critical path tasks. A task with 5 days of float can start up to 5 days late (or take up to 5 days longer) before it becomes a problem for the overall schedule. Understanding float helps project managers triage issues — a delay on a task with 10 days of float is very different from a delay on a task with zero float (a critical path task).Question 11: When using AI to generate user stories for agile development, which element is most important for the AI to include?
A) Precise technical implementation details B) Acceptance criteria in a testable format C) Estimates in story points D) Assignment to specific team members
Answer
**B** — Acceptance criteria in a testable format. User stories without acceptance criteria are ambiguous — the team may have very different ideas about what "done" means. Acceptance criteria in Gherkin format (Given/When/Then) provides testable, unambiguous definitions that drive both development and QA. Technical implementation, story point estimates, and assignments are important but secondary; a story with clear acceptance criteria and no estimate is more useful than a story with an estimate but no acceptance criteria.Question 12: The "planning theater" problem refers to:
A) Using Gantt charts instead of agile methods for project planning B) Presenting project plans in large group meetings rather than in writing C) Producing well-formatted plans that look complete but haven't involved genuine thinking D) Using AI-generated plans without crediting the AI to stakeholders
Answer
**C** — Producing well-formatted plans that look complete but haven't involved genuine thinking. "Planning theater" describes a pattern where the artifact of planning (a detailed plan document) substitutes for the process of planning (actually thinking through risks, dependencies, and feasibility). AI accelerates artifact creation so dramatically that the risk of planning theater increases — you can produce a 40-task WBS in minutes without ever having seriously thought about whether those tasks reflect reality.Question 13: When building a RACI matrix with AI, which information is most important to provide in your prompt?
A) The project management methodology being used B) The specific team members with their names and roles C) The organizational structure, decision-making culture, and who has formal vs. informal authority D) The budget breakdown by workstream
Answer
**C** — The organizational structure, decision-making culture, and who has formal vs. informal authority. RACI matrices fail most often not because tasks were missed, but because the accountability structure doesn't reflect organizational reality. AI can generate generic RACI frameworks quickly, but the "who" assignments require understanding of your specific organization — who actually makes decisions (not just who has the title), who has veto power, and how accountability actually works. This context is what AI lacks and what you must supply.Question 14: Which project management tool is most effective for generating AI-assisted status reports based on actual project data (not just documents)?
A) Notion AI B) Microsoft Word with Copilot C) Asana AI D) Google Docs with Gemini
Answer
**C** — Asana AI. Asana's AI integration works directly with structured task data — completion rates, due dates, assignees, and project health metrics. This means it can generate status reports based on the actual state of your project, not just whatever you've written in documents. Notion AI, Word Copilot, and Google Docs Gemini primarily work with text documents; they can help you write a status report but can't pull in live project data to make it accurate.Question 15: According to the chapter, what is the primary research-supported benefit of AI in project planning?
A) More accurate effort estimates than human planners B) Reduction in cognitive load by providing structures to react to rather than creating from scratch C) Better stakeholder alignment through AI-generated communications D) Elimination of scope creep through systematic requirements capture