Project managementINTRODUCTION

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• 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).

Motivation for Studying Information Technology (IT) Project Management

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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.

*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.

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.

• 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.

Common Project Processes

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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 often-competing goals.

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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!

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

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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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Figure 1-2. Project Management Framework

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

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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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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.

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