PREFACE
This booklet contains the abstracts of invited papers and the short
biographies of the speakers and panelists at the PM Summit 2015
Academic Session, which took place in İstanbul, Turkey, 2-3 October 2015.
The six papers presented and the topics discussed in the panel by the
academic and professional experts in this area highlight the importance of
new trends in information systems project management.
Credit must go to the PMI Turkey Chapter for the organization of PM
Summit 2015 and Boğaziçi University Information Systems Research and
Application Center (InfoSys) for organizing the Academic Session.
We would like to thank all of the invited speakers and panelists for their
contributions to the PM SUMMIT 2015 and hope that the papers
presented and the topics discussed in the panel will assist in moving the
project management field forward.
Meltem Özturan
Director
Boğaziçi University
Information Systems Research and Application Center
Organization Committee
Meltem Özturan
Zuhal Tanrıkulu
Figen Bacıoğlu
CONTENT
PAPER PRESENTATIONS
How to Combine the Best of Project Management and Knowledge
Management
Sevinç Gülseçen
Beyond the Project Management: Knowledge Frontier
Sadi E. Şeker
Generational Change in the Workforce: Emerging Behavioural Traits of
Millennials in Project Teams and Organizations
Alessio Maria Braccini
Prioritization of the Critical Success Factors of an Agile Software
Development Process: A Case Study
Adem Karahoca
Reflections on Agile Transformation of Information Systems Development
Practice in a Telecom Company
Mehmet N. Aydın & Ebru Dilan
Consultants, heroes or villains in IT projects?
Selçuk Kıran
PANEL
Moderator: Meltem Özturan
Panelists
Arif Çağdaş Aydınoğlu
Özcan Ayyıldız
M.Erdal Balaban
Nuri Başoğlu
Prof. Sevinç Gülseçen is Chair of Informatics Department
and Director of Computer Research and Application Center
at Istanbul University. She received her BS degree from
İstanbul University, Faculty of Science, Department of
Astronomy and Space Sciences in 1984 and MS and PhD
degrees from İstanbul University, Faculty of Business
Administration, Department of Quantitative Methods in
1989 and 1993 respectively. Her research interests include ICT, System Analysis
and Design, Constructivist Learning, e-Learning and Knowledge Management.
How to Combine the Best of Project Management and
Knowledge Management
Sevinç Gülseçen1
Abstract - To meet the challenges of rapid market demands, organizations are becoming
more knowledge intensive in order to learn from past experiences and from others to
reshape themselves and to change in order to survive and prosper. Arguably the most
valuable resorce available to any organization today is its knowledge asset; which is stored
in patents, copyrights, corporate data warehouses, employees’ brains, processes and
information systems. Knowledge management focuses on how to identify, manage, share
and leverage all information assets-databases, policies and procedures, content and
employees’ expertise and experience to servet the organization. Modern organizations are
increasingly seen as knowledge-based enterprises in which proactive knowledge
management is important for competitiveness. Nonaka (1991) argues that successful
companies are those that consistently create new knowledge, circulate knowledge within
the organization and deploy the knowledge into new products rapidly (Yeong and Lim,
2010).
Project management as the Project Management Association of Japan (PMAJ 2005:16)
defines it, on the other hand, is the professional capability to deliver, with due diligence, a
project product that fulfills a given mission, by organizing a dedicated project team,
effectively combining the most appropriate technical and managerial methods and
techniques and devising the most efficient and effective work breakdown and
implementation routes.
In their study, Lierni and Ribiere (2008) conclude that it is reasonably certain that project
managers perceive the use of knowledge management practices as a positive influence on
the management of projects. They propose that in the project environments, knowledge
comes primarily from explicit knowledge sources but project managers could strongly
benefit from sharing and codifying tacit knowledge associated with the management of
former projects.
In this paper first we will define the knowledge management and its main components (Lee
and Hong 2002; Chung et al. 2001): organizational culture, processes and technology as
well as project management. Then we will discuss the Levin’s nine guidelines for
organization (Levin, 2010) to have successful implementation of integration of knowledge
management with project management. It is important to understand how knowledge
could be created via projects and how the knowledge is transferred to other project team
members in the form of tacit and explicit knowledge.
Keywords - Knowledge management, Knowledge transfer, Project management, Project
lifecycle, Project success
1
İstanbul University, Informatics Department, İstanbul, Turkey
(gulsecen@istanbul.edu.tr)
Assoc. Prof. Şadi E. Şeker has completed his BSc. MSc.
and PhD. degrees in the Computer Science and
Engineering Departments. He has studied in artificial
intelligence subjects during his education. He also
studied as a post-doc researcher in the Computer Science
Department at UT Dallas about streaming data mining
and social networks. Besides his academic career, he has
founded and managed several companies in education,
consultancy and project management areas in his
professional career. He is currently working as an faculty staff in İstanbul
Medeniyet University, Business Department, Management Information System
Major Program and his active research topics are business intelligence, data
mining and social networks. Şadi Evren Şeker has numerous peer-reviewed
papers, books and patents and he has managed more than 10 mid or large-scale
projects.
Beyond the Project Management: Knowledge Frontier
Şadi E. Şeker1
Abstract - My original intention for the topic was, “all quite on western front, all novel on
knowledge front” about the information systems project management. Actually, the stress
on project management teams, especially for the information technology projects, and their
lifes was an attractive topic for many researchers in the last decades, but the problem
unique behaviour of information technology projects and workers was beyond many
research studies.
The rebellious approach to the project management has bringed up “A New Hope” to the
industry by agile manifesto, scrum masters’ manifesto or other novel approaches, powered
by the rebelious unique structure of information technology projects and workers. For the
last decade, “a new force awakens” with the inevitable impulse of knowledge economy and
dynamics of crowd source. This paper mainly focuses on the opportunites and threats of the
knowledge economy and crowd sourcing for project management operations mainly on
information technology field. Some questions will be raised are “How can crowds contribute
into project management?”, “How can a project manager benefit from the social
networks?”, “What are interactive project management alternatives?”, “Why <<Unfinished
Business>> in project management is more valuable?”.
Nothing is quite anymore for the project management, in a world where you can loose all
your investments and performance, or you can become a multi billion industry leader within
a few seconds in the social network, which is the “Brave new World”.
Let your mind start a journey thru a strange new world. Leave all
thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long
to be...Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar, and you'll live
as you've never lived before. – Erich Fromm
Keywords - Big data project management, Big data life cycle, Crowdsourcing, Knowledge
management, Integrated knowledge, Game theory, Delphi method
1
İstanbul Medeniyet University, Business Department, İstanbul, Turkey
(sadi.seker@medeniyet.edu.tr)
Dr. Alessio Maria Braccini is Senior Assistant Professor of
Organization Theory at the University of Tuscia,
Dipartimento di Economia e Impresa. He obtained his
PhD degree in Management of Information Systems from
the LUISS Guido Carli University, where he also worked
as a research fellow in the Research Center on
Information Systems. His main research interest
concerns the study of the affordances/hindrances of
ICT/IS on organizations and on the cooperation dynamics of individuals and
teams. His research papers appeared in international scientific journals amongst
which: Government Information Quarterly, International Journal of Accounting
Information Systems, Communications of AIS, Journal of Cases in Information
Technology (JCIT), and Journal of Knowledge Management Systems. He presented
his research results at national and international conferences (ICIS, ECIS, BIS,
WOA, itAIS). He served as a reviewer in several international scientific journals,
and as reviewer/programme chair/track chair/associate editor/member of the
programme committee or member of the organizing committee in several
national and international conferences.
Generational Change in the Workforce: Emerging
Behavioural Traits of Millennials in Project Teams and
Organizations
Alessio Maria Braccini1
Abstract - Generational change is currently on-going in all organizations with members of
the Millennials entering the workforces. As common in these moments of generational
change, the newcomers are expected to show different values and habits compared to the
incumbents. In this specific case, the Millennials are expected to be totally at ease, and
purportedly peculiarly skilled, with the usage of ICTs, thanks to the possibility they had to
interact with these tools since their youth. Millennials are in fact the first generation to be
born and grown up in a world permeated by ICTs. It has indeed been estimated that by the
age of 20 Millennials would have already spent several hundred hours using different ICT
tools to collect information, to explore the digital world, and to enter in contact and
entertain social relationships with peers, for cooperation or for leisure.
While there has been an extensive debate in the literature on the consequences of the
intense ICT usage exposure that at least a part of the members of this generation has had,
the focus was more on teaching and learning challenges for the digital natives. In few cases
the attention was addressed towards the outcomes in terms of behaviour in professional
contexts and in organizations. Now that Millennials are more and more entering the
workplace, and given the impact that ICTs have on fundamental organizational processes
(sense making, decision making, and knowing), consequences in terms of cooperation and
working dynamics in organizations and project teams due to different habits and
behavioural traits in a mixed workforce are expected.
This presentation will discuss the early results of a research project aiming at studying the
consequences of specific behavioural traits associated with ICT usage intensity in members
of the Millennial generation on their behaviour in workgroups and project teams. A set of
behavioural traits, recognized by the literature as associated with intense ICT usage, and
related both to the interaction with technology and interaction with peers, will be
presented and discussed, along with the related implications both for research, and for
managers, to face the challenges, and exploit the opportunities, provided by the presence
of this heterogeneity in the workforces.
Keywords - Changing workforce, New generation on the workplace, Digital natives,
Millennials
1
Tuscia University, Economy and Enterprise Department, Tuscia, Italy
(abraccini@unitus.it)
Prof. Adem Karahoca is cofounder and head of Software
Engineering Department of Engineering Faculty at
Bahçeşehir University in İstanbul. His research interests
are web based learning systems and intelligent web
based education tools, software standards, software
project management, ITIL, IT services management,
human computer interaction, data mining and web
mining, business intelligence, mobile information
systems and hospital information systems. He has 23 ICT
related books in Turkish language. He has edited a data
mining book in English. Also, he has written 30 articles that indexed in SCI and
engineering index, and more than 100 proceeding papers. He has already
supervised 80 Master of Science students and 4 PhD students.
Prioritization of the Critical Success Factors of an Agile
Software Development Process: A Case Study
Adem Karahoca1
Abstract - While software is an important for all facets of the modern world, software
development itself is not a perfect process. Agile software development methods have
recently emerged as a new and different way of developing software as compared to the
traditional methodologies. Agile software development aims at fast, light and effective
development that supports customer’s business without being chaotic or rigours. However,
Agile practices is known little about how effective and efficient are over the traditional
methodologies, and what their success factors are. There have been several disparate
anecdotal evidences about the success of software development projects using agile
methodologies and research in this subject is still scant in the academic circles. In this study,
we aimed to provide a consolidated picture of the different predictors of agile software
development success and investigated the critical success factors and usage of certain core
practises of agile software development projects using quantitative approach. By
conducting a survey, we examine what makes these practices beneficial for certain
situations and prepared weighted, prioritized list of possible critical success factors by using
Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process techniques. The results revealed that seven critical
success factors are vital for agile software development projects. a)Using integrated
development environments that can provide continuous code integration, b)Using
Frameworks that can provide rich and rapid development infrastructure, c)Using
Frameworks that can provide database integration, d)Pre-architectural modelling, e)
Preliminary requirements modelling , f)Design for maintenance, g) Evolutionary design. This
survey was conducted among software development professionals, gathering survey data
from different kind of projects and different countries across the Europe. Based on the
research results, we finally set up some recommendations for practitioners to reflect upon
and improve their own software development process. The main findings of this study are
important to consider the whole context when implementing a certain practice. For some
contexts, certain practices do not fit for the purpose and this has to be realized. However,
certain shortcomings of a specific practice might be reduced or even eliminated if
implemented in combination with other practices.
Keywords - Agile software development, Critical success factors, Agile practices,
Fuzzy AHP
1
Bahcesehir University, Software Engineering Department, İstanbul, Turkey
(adem.karahoca@eng.bahcesehir.edu.tr)
Assoc. Prof. Mehmet N. Aydin, a faculty member in
MIS Department of Faculty of Engineering and Natural
Sciences at Kadir Has University, has provided
organizations with proven expertise in the emerging
field of cloud computing, agile approaches to
organizational
change
and
service-oriented
information systems development, IT Offshoring,
innovative ubiquitious computing applications. Prior to
joining the Kadir Has University. Dr. Aydin worked at
the Institute for Innovation and Technology Management, Ryerson University,
Toronto, Canada and at the Department of Information Systems and Change
Management of University of Twente, the Netherlands. He has published over 40
articles as journal papers (e.g., Journal of Database Management, Information
Frontiers, Journal of Enterprise Management), book chapters (e.g., Springer series
on Lecture Notes in Computer Science) conference proceedings (IFIP 8.1, CAISE).
His contribution to the research field of method engineering is laudable and cited
in various studies.
Ebru Dilan is Instructor of Management Information
Systems (MIS), Faculty of Engineering and Natural
Sciences (FENS) at the Kadir Has University, since 2012.
Her special focus is on Project Management,
Information Technologies Project Management,
Software Development Methods & Techniques, and
Agile Methods. Before joining to Kadir Has University,
she worked as instructor at Bilkent University, School
of Applied Technology and Management, Department
of Business Information Management between 1997
and 2012. During her 15 years of tenure with Bilkent
University, she received “The Distinguished Teacher
for the Year 2010 Award”. She is qualified for visiting Haaga-Helia University of
Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland for the framework of Erasmus-Teaching Staff
Mobility in year 2010. Before joining to Bilkent University, she had worked in the
industry as technical expert carrying project coordination, project planning,
monitoring and controlling between 1993 and 1997. She has BSc degree of
Geological Engineering from Hacettepe University in 1993; MBA degree from
Atılım University in 2007.
Reflections on Agile Transformation of Information
Systems Development Practice in a Telecom Company
Mehmet N. Aydın1 , Ebru Dilan2
Abstract - The idea of agility in information systems context has well received in both
research and practice context. The effects of adopting agile information systems
development (ISD) approaches and methods can be examined at enterprise, project and
individual levels. In this research, we focus on the project level and further take into account
the other levels as contextual factors to better understand agile transformation of ISD
practice in a telecom company. More specifically we examine how specific elements of an
agile method (that is, technical and process fragments) have been adopted in those projects
having distinguishing characteristics. We identify an extent to which the technical and
process fragments have been adopted and furthermore pinpoint underlying reasons for this
adopting act. We employ an interpretative case study method to articulate agile adoption
experience of a telecom company and look into transforming acts and mindset changes at
enterprise and individual levels. One of the major findings shows that even ISD
improvements due to agility are perceived in the case organization the challenges are on
the way to achieve true and complete agile transformation. That is, the pace of change and
perceived benefits can be associated with the tip of iceberg. The case study further helps us
to discuss research and practical implications of agile transformation.
Keywords - Project management, Agile methods, Adoption, Information systems
development
1
Kadir Has University, Management Information Systems Department, İstanbul, Turkey
(mehmet.aydin@khas.edu.tr)
2
Kadir Has University, Management Information Systems Department, İstanbul, Turkey
(ebru.dilan@khas.edu.tr)
Dr. Selçuk Kıran is working as Instructor in Namik
Kemal University Management Department since 2011.
He graduated from German School in 1991, and from
Bogazici University Electrical & Electronics Engineering
in 1998. While he was studying Biomedical Engineering
graduate program at the same university, he worked as
Research Assistant in BU MIS department. In 2001, he
moved to Europe to work for Accenture (a
multinational IT consultancy company). He worked in various IT projects in Europe
for six years. After moving back to Turkey, he continued his education. In 2011, he
graduated from BU MIS Graduate program by writing the master’s thesis
“Consumer Loyalty in the Online Environment”. In 2015, he has got his PhD from
Istanbul University Management Department by writing the doctoral thesis “The
Impact of Social Networks on E-Commerce”.
Consultants, heroes or villains in IT projects?
Selçuk Kıran1
Abstract - All companies, from start-ups to well-established ones, hire information
technology consultants to engage them in their in-house IT projects or to adapt a standard
software to their businesses. Consultants provide analysis, advice and training; they
develop solutions for organizations in need of improvement. They are expected to bring a
certain level of expertise together with the latest technological advancements that a
company cannot achieve with internal resources only. Duties of IT consultants vary by
industry, specialty and volume, but generally include performance assessment of a
business' existing systems, strategic planning and implementation of the new system or
processes. Attitude of companies towards consultants differ, depending on their size and
know-how level of their employees, coupled with the track-record of past projects.
Sometimes they are welcomed and treated as a hero, in other times they may be held
responsible for everything that went wrong, as a scape goat. Examples for both cases are
numerous across all industries. Consultants may have the expertise necessary to achieve
business goals but they are not always familiar with the corporation culture, which may
become the biggest risk for achieving their goals. So whatever they do, they are all alone at
the front. This research examines the value added by consultants together with their
potential damages, and tries to assess if their services are well-appreciated or simply
redundant, e.g. teaching the job to people who know it better than them.
Keywords - Consulting, IT project management, Software development
1
Namık Kemal University, Business Administration Department, Tekirdağ, Turkey
(selcuk.kiran@gmail.com)
Panel
New Trends in Information Systems Project Management
Moderator: Meltem Özturan1
Meltem Özturan is Professor at Department of
Management Information Systems in Boğaziçi
University and also the director of Information Systems
Research and Application Center of the same university.
She received her BS degree in Industrial Engineering,
MS and PhD degrees in Quantitative Techniques. Dr.
Özturan published, as an author or as a coauthor,
scientific papers on her main research areas which are
development and management of information systems,
business process management, e-adoption, e-learning, artificial neural network
applications and project management.
1
Boğaziçi University, Management Information Systems Department, İstanbul, Turkey
(meltem.ozturan@boun.edu.tr)
Panel
New Trends in Information Systems Project Management
Panelist: Arif Çağdaş Aydınoğlu1
Arif Çağdaş Aydınoğlu completed his PhD about
"Developing Geo-data Exchange Model for Turkey" in
2009. He worked about Spatial Data Infrastructure and
Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe
(INSPIRE) in UGent-Belgium for 1 year and in ITC-the
Netherlands for 3 months, and in the Geo-database
Management Center of TUDelft-the Netherlands for 8
months. He was appointed to Istanbul Technical
University (ITU) as an assistant professor in 2009 and completed some
governmental projects about determining policies and geo-data specifications for
building Turkey National GIS (TUCBS) and Urban GIS (TRKBISS). He started to work
in Gebze Technical University (GTU) as an associated professor in 2014. In EC
Joint Research Center (JRC), His Post-Doc. focuses on capacity building activities
for practicing INSPIRE Turkey in 2015. Besides, he gives GIS courses, worked as
vice-director of GIS research center and Applied Science Institute, and
managed/consulted GIS projects about disaster management, Urban GIS, and
transportation planning.
1 Gebze
Technical University, Geomatics Engineering Department, Kocaeli, Turkey
(arifcagdas@gmail.com)
Panel
New Trends in Information Systems Project Management
Panelist: Özcan Ayyıldız1
Özcan Ayyıldız joined the IT industry as a software
engineer at Opera Technologies. In 2005, he assisted
the establishment of Dinamik Çözüm, where he served
as an assistant general manager for five years, also
becoming a shareholder of the company. He left
Dinamik Çözüm in 2010 to join Hexagon Group as a
Software Projects Manager. Mr. Ayyıldız currently
serves as an ERP and Software Manager of HEAT, a IT
firm established within the group of Hexagon in 2012.
Throughout his career, Ayyıldız worked as an analyst, software engineer and
project manager in major ERP projects in Turkey. He took part in more than 20
ERP projects and more than 10 custom software solutions projects. He also
offered several seminars and lectures at universities, with a view to raising
awareness about ERP. A graduate of Istanbul University Computer Engineering
Department, Özcan Ayyıldız is married and has a daughter.
1 HEAT
Information Technologies, İstanbul, Turkey
(ozcan.ayyildiz@heat.com.tr)
Panel
New Trends in Information Systems Project Management
Panelist: M. Erdal Balaban1
Mehmet Erdal Balaban is Professor in Faculty of
Business Administration of Istanbul University. He
holds both a B.Sc. and M.S. in Mathematics from
Science Faculty of Hacettepe and master degree at
the Computer Science of Bogaziçi University. He
earned Ph.D. Degree at the Quantitative Methods,
School of Business Administration, İstanbul University
in 1983. In 1980 he became an associate professor in
1989 and in 1996 he was given the professorship.
Between 2003-2006, he had been the Department
Chair of Quantitative Methods, School of Business Administration, Istanbul
University. Between 2001-2002, at “Ball State University, USA” he worked as a
visiting scholar and between 2006-2007 he taught as a visiting professor at the
department of “Information Systems and Operations Management (ISOM)”.
Balaban, who has been carrying out studies and research in the fields of
“Quantitative Analysis for Business Decisions”, “Information Systems” and “Data
Mining and Machine Learning”, He has published many scientific articles and
papers both nationally and internationally. Prof. Balaban is the honorary member
of Informatics Association of Turkey, Istanbul Branch and also Mathematicians
Association.
1
İstanbul University, Faculty of Business Administration, İstanbul, Turkey
(mebalaban@gmail.com)
Panel
New Trends in Information Systems Project Management
Panelist: Nuri Başoğlu1
Nuri Basoglu is Professor in the Department of
Industrial Design, İzmir Institute of Technology, also
steering the innovation efforts at the university. His
research interests are technology and innovation
management, project management, customer-focused
product development, socio-technical aspects of
technology, technology adaptation, human computer
interfaces and information systems strategies. He has
produced and commercialized some business and project management
applications. He has published two books and many articles in various information
and innovation management journals and gave talks on various conferences. He
received his BS in Industrial Engineering, MS and PhD in Business Administration.
1
İzmir Institute of Technology, Industrial Design Department, İzmir, Turkey
(nuribasoglu@iyte.edu.tr)