ITEC 3505 AI NOTES WEEK 2

Agile Project Management: This approach uses iterations to develop a product that satisfies customers and stakeholders. Progress is reviewed and priorities are re-evaluated to maintain alignment with customer needs and company goals1. It is related to rolling wave planning1. Agile PM is useful for developing breakthrough technology or essential features. It also allows for continuous integration, verification, and validation, frequent demonstrations of progress, and early detection of defects2.

•

Best Practice: IT governance is considered a best practice and addresses the authority and control for key IT activities, including IT infrastructure, IT use, and project management3. It helps ensure the effective and efficient use of IT to achieve organizational goals, improve IT management, and derive improved value from IT investments3....

•

Chief Information Officer (CIO): Having a CIO at a high level in the organization can benefit IT projects5.

•

Deliverable: A deliverable is a product or service that is produced or provided as part of a project6.

•

Functional Organizational Structure: In this structure, functional managers report to the CEO7.

•

Globalization: Globalization is a recent trend affecting IT project management and presents issues related to communications, trust, common work practices, and tools8.... Suggestions for dealing with globalization include employing greater project discipline, thinking globally but acting locally, considering collaboration over standardization, keeping project momentum going, and using newer tools and technology9.

•

IT Governance: IT governance addresses the authority and control for key IT activities in organizations, including IT infrastructure, IT use, and project management3. A lack of IT governance can be dangerous4.

•

Matrix Organizational Structure: A matrix structure is a middle ground between functional and project structures where personnel may report to two or more bosses. It can be weak, balanced, or strong7.

•

Offshoring: Offshoring is sometimes used to describe outsourcing from another country9.

•

Organizational Culture: Organizational culture is a set of shared assumptions, values, and behaviors that characterize the functioning of an organization10. It defines goals and products, including what products the organization should produce, how and where they should be produced, and for whom the products should be produced10. Experts believe that the underlying causes of many companies’ problems are related to culture10. Project work is most successful in an organizational culture where member identity, group emphasis, unit integration, risk tolerance, reward criteria, conflict tolerance, and open-systems focus are strong/high and other items are balanced11.

•

Organizational Project Management: This is a framework in which portfolio, program, and project management are integrated with organizational enablers to achieve strategic objectives7.

•

Outsourcing: Outsourcing is when an organization acquires goods and/or sources from an outside source8.... Organizations remain competitive by using outsourcing to reduce costs12. Project managers should become familiar with global and procurement issues12.

•

Phase Exits: Also called management reviews, phase gate reviews, or kill points, these should occur after each phase to evaluate a project’s progress, likely success, and continued compatibility with organizational goals13....

•

Phase Gate Reviews: Also called management reviews, phase exits, or kill points, these should occur after each phase to evaluate a project’s progress, likely success, and continued compatibility with organizational goals13....

•

Predictive Life Cycle: Systems development projects can follow a predictive life cycle15. The waterfall model is a predictive life cycle model with well-defined, linear stages of systems development and support15.

•

Product Life Cycle: Products also have life cycles15.

•

Project Life Cycle: A project life cycle is a collection of project phases that defines what work will be performed, what deliverables will be produced and when, who is involved, and how management will control and approve the work16. In early phases, resource needs are usually lowest, the level of uncertainty is highest, and project stakeholders have the greatest opportunity to influence the project17. In middle phases, the certainty of completing a project improves and more resources are needed17. The final phase focuses on ensuring that project requirements were met and that the sponsor approves completion of the project17.

•

Project Organizational Structure: In this structure, program managers report to the CEO7.

•

Project Stakeholder Management: Project stakeholder management is one of the 10 knowledge areas and is important because project managers must identify, understand, and manage relationships with all project stakeholders11....

•

Rapid Application Development (RAD) Model: This model is used to produce systems quickly without sacrificing quality13.

•

Rolling Wave Planning: Agile PM is related to the rolling wave planning and scheduling project methodology1.

•

Spiral Model: This model shows that software is developed using an iterative or spiral approach rather than a linear approach15.

•

Stakeholder: Project managers need to identify, understand, and manage relationships with all project stakeholders11. Senior executives/top management are very important stakeholders18.

•

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC): The SDLC is a framework for describing the phases of developing information systems15.

•

Systems Approach: A systems approach emerged in the 1950s as a holistic and analytical approach to management and problem-solving19.... Project managers need to use systems thinking and take a holistic view of projects within the context of the organization19. A systems approach requires that project managers view their projects in the context of the larger organization21.

•

Systems Analysis: This is a problem-solving approach that involves defining the scope of the system to be studied and dividing the scope into component parts for identifying and evaluating problems, opportunities, constraints, and needs20.

•

Systems Management: This involves addressing business, technological, and organizational issues before making changes to systems20. It includes creating, maintaining, and modifying a system20.

•

Systems Philosophy: An overall model for thinking about things as systems20.

•

Virtual Teams: A virtual team is a group of individuals who work across time and space using communication technologies9. Advantages of virtual teams include lowering costs, providing more expertise and flexibility, increasing competitiveness and responsiveness, and improving work/life balance12.... Disadvantages include isolating team members, increasing the potential for communications problems, reducing the ability for team members to network and transfer information informally, and increasing dependence on technology22. Factors that help virtual teams succeed include team processes, trust/relationships, leadership style, and team member selection1....

•

Waterfall Model: This model has well-defined, linear stages of systems development and support