PMI Scheduling Professional Certification (PMI-SP) Practice Exam

Which technique is NOT used for estimating activity duration?

1. Expert Judgment

2. Parametric Estimating

3. Agile Estimating

4. Bottom-Up Estimating

The correct answer is: Agile Estimating

While Agile Estimating is indeed a technique used within Agile project management, it is not primarily recognized as a conventional method for estimating activity duration in traditional project management contexts. The other techniques listed—Expert Judgment, Parametric Estimating, and Bottom-Up Estimating—are foundational methods specifically designed for evaluating how long activities will take to complete in a structured project management environment. Expert Judgment involves relying on the insights and experience of individuals with specialized knowledge or expertise relevant to the tasks being estimated. This can help provide nuanced estimates based on historical data or expert opinions. Parametric Estimating utilizes statistical relationships between historical data and other variables to calculate activity durations. This can be particularly effective when similar past projects provide reliable data that can be applied. Bottom-Up Estimating requires decomposing the project into smaller, manageable components and estimating the duration for each of those components in detail, then aggregating up to determine the overall activity duration. This method ensures a comprehensive approach to calculating time frames. In contrast, Agile Estimating typically emphasizes relative sizing and velocity over definitive time-based estimates, making it less applicable for traditional activity duration estimations within the framework of PMI methodologies.