ITM750 IS PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Advantages of Using Formal Project Management

• Better control of financial, physical, and human resources

• Improved customer relations

• Shorter development times

• Lower costs and improved productivity

• Higher quality and increased reliability

• Higher profit margins

• Better internal coordination

• Positive impact on meeting strategic goals

• Higher worker morale

A 1995 Standish Group Study found that only….

16.2% of IT projects were successful in meeting scope, time, and cost goals; over 31% of IT projects were canceled before completion

PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that….

over half of all projects fail and only 2.5% of corporations, consistently meet their targets for scope, time, and cost goals for all types of project.

What is a Project

• Is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create
  a unique product, service, or result”

• Operations is work done to sustain the business

• Projects end when their objectives have been reached or
  the project has been terminated

Examples of IT Projects

• A team of students creates a smartphone application and
  sells it online

• A company develops a driverless car

• A government group develops a system to track child
  immunizations

• A global bank acquires other financial institutions and
  needs to consolidate systems and procedures

Top Strategic Technologies for 2018 Gartner (Examples of IT Projects)

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Foundation
• Intelligent Things
• Cloud to the Edge
• Immersive Experience

Gartner predicted that by 2014… (Media Snapshot)

• there would be more than 70 billion mobile application downloads every year, but it was almost double

• Facebook is by far the most downloaded app, and the most popular category of all apps continues to be games

• As of March 2017, Android users could download 2.8 million different apps, and Apple users could download 2.2 million

Project Attributes

• Has a unique purpose

• Is Temporary

• Drives Change and enable value creation

• Is developed using progressive elaboration

• Requires resources, often from various areas

• Should have primary customer or sponsor
  - The project sponsor usually provides the direction and funding for the project

• Project managers work with project sponsors, team, and other people involved in a project to achieve project goals

Project Constraints

Successful project management means meeting all three goals (scope, time, and cost) and satisfying the project’s sponsor

Project Stakeholders

Are the people involved in or affected by project activities

Stakeholders include:

• The project sponsor

• Banks and other financial institutions

• The project manager

• The project team

• Support Staff

• Suppliers

• Opponents to the project

Project Management Knowledge Areas

Describe the key competencies that project managers must develop

Project managers must have knowledge and skills in all 10 knowledge areas

Scope, Schedule, Cost, Quality, Resource, Communications, Risk, Procurement, Stakeholder, and Project Integration Management

Project management tools and techniques assist…

Project managers and their teams in a various aspects of project management

Some specific ones include

• Project charter, scope statement, and WBS (scope)

• Gantt charts, network diagrams, critical path analysis, critical chain scheduling (time)

• Cost estimates and earned value management (cost)

PMBOK Guide Sixth Edition lists tools and techniques based on their purpose:

• Data Gathering

• Data Analysis

• Data representation

• Decision making

• Communication

• Interpersonal and team skills

• Ungrouped

The Standish Group’s CHAOS studies show improvements in the statistics for IT Projects:

• The number of successful projects was 29% in 2015

• 62% of small projects were successful, 6% of large, 9% of medium, and 21% of moderate size

• 39% of all agile projects were successful compared to 11% of
  waterfall projects

There are several ways to define project success

• The project met scope, time, and cost goals

• The project satisfied the customer/sponsor

• The results of the project met its main objective, such as making or saving a certain amount of money, providing a good return on investment, or simply making the sponsors happy

Top three reasons why federal technology projects succeed

• Adequate funding

• Staff expertise

• Engagement from all stakeholders

Research findings show that companies that excel in project delivery capability:

• Use a integrated toolbox

• Grow project leaders

• Develop a streamlined project delivery process

• Measure project health using metrics, like customer satisfaction or return on investment

Program and Project Portfolio Management

• About one-quarter of the world’s gross domestic product
is spent on projects
• Two important concepts that help projects meet
enterprise goals:

• Use of programs

• Project portfolio management

Programs

• is “a group of related projects managed in a coordinated manner to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually”

• Examples of common programs in the IT field include infrastructure, applications development, and user support

• A program manager provides leadership and direction for the project managers heading the projects within the program

Examples of common programs in the IT Field include….

Infrastructure, applications development, and user support

A program manager provides…

Leadership and direction for the project managers heading the projects within the program

As part of project portfolio management…

Organizations group and manage projects and programs as a portfolio of investments that contribute to the entire enterprise’s success

Portfolio Managers help their organizations….

Make wise investment decisions by helping to select and analyze projects from a strategic perspective.

Project Portfolio Management → Strategic Goals

• Are we working on the right projects?

• Are we investing in the right areas?

• Do we have the right resources to be competitive?

👉 Big-picture: Are we choosing the right projects and investments for the organization?

Project Management → Tactical Goals

• Are we carrying out projects well?

• Are projects on time and on budget?

• Do project stakeholders know what they should be doing?

👉 Execution: Are we actually managing the chosen projects properly?

Best Practice

Is an optimal way recognized by industry to achieve a stated goal or objective

Robert Butrick suggests that organizations need to follow basic principles of project management (Best Practice)

• Make sure your projects are driven by your strategy. Be able to demonstrate how
each project you undertake fits your business strategy, and screen out unwanted
projects as soon as possible
• Engage your stakeholders. Ignoring stakeholders often leads to project failure. Be
sure to engage stakeholders at all stages of a project, and encourage teamwork
and commitment at all times

Organizational project management

Framework in which portfolio, program, and project management are integrated with organizational enablers in order to achieve strategic objectives

Venture (IT Project Portfolio Categories)

Transform the business

Growth (IT Project Portfolio Categories)

Grow the business

Core (IT Project Portfolio Categories)

Run the business

Discretionary costs (IT Project portfolio categories)

• Venture

• Growth

Nondiscretionary costs (IT Project portfolio categories)

Core

The Role of the Project Manager

• Project managers must work closely with the other
stakeholders on a project, especially the sponsor and
project team
• They are also more effective if they are familiar with the
10 project management knowledge areas

• And the various tools and techniques related to project
  management

Project Manager Job Description

• Job descriptions vary, but most include responsibilities like planning, scheduling, coordinating, and working with people to achieve project goals
• Project management is a skill needed in every major ITfield, from database administrator to network specialist to technical writer

A few questions to ask yourself to know if you would be a good project manager

• Do you get frustrated by bad bosses? Do you think you could do a better job?
• Are you interested in understanding the big picture of how organizations work and how your individual work or your project fits in?
• Have you had other leadership roles, such as being a team captain, president of a club, or entrepreneur of a small business? Did you enjoy it? Did others think you did a good job?
• Are you good at mentoring others? Do people ask you for help in developing their skills or your advice on what to do?

Suggested Skills for Project Managers

• The Project Management Body of Knowledge
• Application area knowledge, standards, and regulations
• Project environment knowledge
• General management knowledge and skills
• Soft skills or human relations skills

Six traits of highly effective project managers as follows:

• Be a strategic business partner
• Encourage and recognize valuable contributions
• Respect and motivate stakeholders
• Be fully vested in success
• Stress integrity and accountability
• Work in the gray/Be able to deal with ambiguity

The talent triangle includes:

• Technical project management skills
• Strategic and business management skills
• Leadership skills

Leadership Styles Include:

• Laissez-faire
• Transactional
• Servant leader
• Transformational
• Charismatic
• Interactional

Careers for IT Project Managers

• In a 2017 survey, IT executives listed the “ten hot tech skills” they planned to hire for in 2017
• Project management was second only to full-stack software development
• Even if you choose to stay in a technical role, you still need project management knowledge and skills to help your team and organization

The Project Management Profession

• The profession of project management is growing at a very rapid pace

• It is helpful to understand the history of the field, the role of professional societies like the Project Management Institute, and the growth in project management software

In the 1990s, many companies began creating PMOs to…

Help them handle the increasing number and complexity of projects

Project Management Office (PMO)

Is an organizational group responsible for coordinating the project management function throughout an organization

Several global dynamics are forcing organizations to rethink their practices:

• Talent development for project and program managers is a top concern
• Basic project management techniques are core competencies
• Organizations want to use more agile approaches to project management
• Benefits realization of projects is a key metric

The Project Management Institute (PMI)

•Is an international professional society for project managers founded in 1969
• Has continued to attract and retain members, reporting more than 500,000 members worldwide by late 2017
• There are communities of practices in many areas, like information systems, financial services, and health care
• Project management research and certification programs continue to grow

Ethics in Project Management

• Loosely defined, is a set of principles that guide our decision making based on personal values of what is
“right” and “wrong”
• Project managers often face ethical dilemmas
• In order to earn PMP® certification, applicants must agree to PMI’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
• Several questions on the PMP® exam are related to professional responsibility, including ethics

Low-end tools (Project Manager Software)

Midrange tools (Project Manager Software)

High-end tools (Project Manager Software)

Also called enterprise project management software, often licensed on a per-user basis