Project management
INTRODUCTION
Motivation for Studying Information Technology
(IT) Project Management
• IT projects have a terrible track record.
• A 1995 Standish Group study (CHAOS) found that only 16.2 percent of IT projects
were successful in meeting scope, time, and cost goals.
• Over 31 percent of IT projects were canceled before completion, costing over $81
billion in the U.S. alone.*
*The Standish Group, “The CHAOS Report” (www.standishgroup.com) (1995). Another reference is Johnson, Jim, “CHAOS: The
Dollar Drain of IT Project Failures,” Application Development Trends (January 1995).
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Management, Fourth Edition
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What Is a Project?
• A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique
product, service, or result.”*
• Operations is work done to sustain the business.
• A project ends when its objectives have been reached, or the project
has been terminated.
• Projects can be large or small and take a short or long time to
complete.
Information Technology Project
Management, Fourth Edition
*PMI, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK® Guide) (2004), p. 5.
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Project Attributes
A project:
• Has a unique purpose.
• Is temporary.
• Is developed using progressive elaboration.
• Requires resources, often from various areas.
• Should have a primary customer or sponsor.
• The project sponsor usually provides the direction and funding for
the project.
• Involves uncertainty.
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Management, Fourth Edition
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What is project management?
Definitions
• Application of knowledge , skills , tools and techniques to project activities to achieve project
requirements.
• Organizing and managing resources so the project is completed within defined scope, quality,
time and cost constraints
Project management is accomplished through the application and integration of the project management
processes of :
• Initiating
• Planning
• Executing
•
Monitoring
• Controlling
• and closing.
Common Project Processes
• Initiating : Once a decision is made to go on with the project , a project
charter is created (which define what is to be done to meet the
requirements of the customer ). It define the authority , responsibility , scope
boundaries
• What could happen when scope is not defined ? Team may misinterpret what is required of them and this can be very
costly.
• Planning :
• Poor planning is the major cause of failures
• Many of us are task oriented and see planning as waste of time
• Failure to plan means can be no actual control of the project.
• Executing : implementing the project plan, because without plan there will
be no control of the project, in case of difficulty or deviation , take corrective
actions to get back on track ( some people give up and abandon the plan.)
Common Project Processes
• Monitoring and Controlling : Control is exercised by comparing where
project work is to where it is supposed to be , then taking action to
correct for deviations from target (Naturally small deviations are always
present and are ignored unless they exceed some pre-established
threshold). The plan tells where the work should be ( without a plan
you do not know where you should be , so control is impossible , by
definition ).
• Closing : Once the product is produced to the customer´s satisfaction ,
the project is considered finished. A lessons-learned review should be
done before the project is considered complete.
The Triple Constraint
• Every project is constrained in different ways by its:
• Scope goals: What work will be done?
• Time goals: How long should it take to complete?
• Cost goals: What should it cost?
• It is the project manager’s duty to balance these three oftencompeting goals.
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Management, Fourth Edition
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Figure 1-1. The Triple Constraint of Project
Management
Successful project management
means meeting all three goals
(scope, time, and cost) – and
satisfying the project’s sponsor!
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Scope of the project
• The scope of a project should remain constant throughout the life of the
job.
• Unforeseen problems or an inadequately defined problem the most
common reason for scope changes is that something is forgotten.
• In most cases the magnitude (scope) of the work increases, as a result of
overlooked details.
Project Management is not just scheduling
• Schedule is a major tool used to manage project , but it is not nearly as
important as developing a shared understanding of what the project is
supposed to accomplish or constructing a good work breakdown
structure (WBS) to identify all the work to be done
Nine Project Management Knowledge Areas
• Knowledge areas describe the key competencies that project managers
must develop.
• Four core knowledge areas lead to specific project objectives (scope, time, cost, and
quality).
• Four facilitating knowledge areas are the means through which the project
objectives are achieved (human resources, communication, risk, and procurement
management).
• One knowledge area (project integration management) affects and is affected by all
of the other knowledge areas.
• All knowledge areas are important!
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Management, Fourth Edition
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Figure 1-2. Project Management Framework
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Management, Fourth Edition
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Professional Project manager knowledge area
• Project Integration Management
Every activity must be coordinated or integrated with every other one in order to achieve the
desired project outcome.
• Project Scope Management
includes authorizing the job , developing a scope statement ( boundaries of the project) ,
subdividing the work into manageable components with deliverables, verifying that the amount of
work planned has been achieved and control scope change.
• Project Time Management
Developing a schedule that can be met , then controlling work to ensure that this happens.
Professional Project Manager Knowledge Area
• Project Cost Management
Estimating the cost of resources (people , equipment , materials).
Costs are budgeted and tracked to keep the project within the budget.
• Project Quality Management
Ensure that the product is of high quality.
Include Quality assurance (planning to meet quality requirement) and quality control
(Control if they conform to requirements).
• Project Human resource Management
Identifying people needed to do the job, defining their role , responsibilities and
reporting relationships , acquiring those people and managing them as the project is
executed.
Professional Project Manager Knowledge Area
• Project Communication Management
Planning , executing and controlling the acquisition and dissemination of all information
relevant to the need of all project stakeholders (project status , accomplishments, events that
may affect other stakeholders or projects, and so on)
• Project Risk Management
Systematic process of identifying , quantifying, analyzing and responding to project risks.
• Project Procurement Management
Procurement of necessary goods and services for the project. It involves deciding what must
be procured .
Project Manager Roles and Interactions
Suggested Skills for Project Managers
• Project managers need a wide variety of skills. They should:
• Be comfortable with change.
• Understand the organizations they work in and with.
• Lead teams to accomplish project goals.
• Project managers need both “hard” and “soft” skills.
• Hard skills include product knowledge and knowing how to use various project
management tools and techniques.
• Soft skills include being able to work with various types of people.
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Management, Fourth Edition
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Suggested Skills for Project Managers
• Communication skills: Listens, persuades.
• Organizational skills: Plans, sets goals, analyzes.
• Team-building skills: Shows empathy, motivates, promotes esprit de
corps.
• Leadership skills: Sets examples, provides vision (big picture), delegates,
positive, energetic.
• Coping skills: Flexible, creative, patient, persistent.
• Technology skills: Experience, project knowledge.
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Management, Fourth Edition
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Why IT Projects Succeed
1. Sound project management processes
2. Project tied to the organization’s business goals
3. Senior management commitment
Why IT Projects Succeed
4. Good change management
5. Detailed requirements
6. Realistic schedule
7. Good stakeholder relationships
Why IT Projects Succeed
8. Empowered project manager
9. Skilled and appropriate team members with defined
roles and responsibilities
10. Availability of funding
What makes this all work?
A good, solid professional project manager