Need Help
Student 1:
Hi,
Project is a temporary goal that a team or an organization undertakes in order to create a unique product or service. A project different from a day-to-day activity, this is because project(s) are temporary, it will have a start, a goal, a defined objective, and a scope that must be achieved by the defined end time (Project Management Institute, n.d.). On top of the above-mentioned, projects heavily rely on the effective management of triple-constants, time, quality & cost. The key attributes of a project are that,
1. A project will always have a start and end dates
2. Requires resources from multiple teams or areas in an organization to achieve one common goal
3. Involves uncertainty and changes to scope
4. Has budget limitation that impacts utilization of resources and supplies
5. Will always need a stakeholder or a sponsor
In my experience, I learnt that he role of top management / business leadership commitment is key for a project to yield fruitful results as many projects aren’t completed due to lack of leadership support & commitment. Involvement of top management in our project helped us team in getting key decisions and changes related to infrastructure, architecture, network & operations quickly. Leadership involvement during initiation/kick-off ensured that the impacted teams that are on the other side of the organization co-operated more readily than usual. Having the top management involved in the project helped our team in getting additional resources and support when required that otherwise could have resulted in delay or even termination of the project. IT projects are filled with unique challenges in every step, some of them are,
1. Scope change in the middle of the project
2. Delivery delays due to miscommunication of scope between impacted teams (Ramachandran, 2017)
3. Remote stakeholders that make output delivery and decision-making difficult (Ramachandran, 2017)
Absence of pre-defined project management practices that jeopardizes the delivery when blockers appear (Ramachandran, 2017)
Thanks,
Vamshi
References
Project Management Institute. (n.d.). What is Project Management? Retrieved from Project Management Institute: https://www.pmi.org/about/learn-about-pmi/what-is-project-management
Ramachandran, K. (2017, September 18). 5 IT Project Management Challenges and How to Overcome Them. Retrieved from Capterra: https://blog.capterra.com/it-project-management-challenges-and-how-to-overcome-them/
Student 2:
IT Management
What is a project, and what are its main attributes? How is a project different from what most people do in their day-to-day jobs?
A project is a venture towards developing a certain product or services which is unique, is a mostly a collaborative practice which is planned and organized to follow particular order so as to achieve. For an activity to be referred to as a project, there are some attributes that must be displayed. This includes; projects are unique and mostly temporary because they aim to solve a specific problem then they are dismissed. (Jenkin, Chan & Sabherwal, 2019)
Projects are deemed to be different from the day-to-day jobs because they have sponsors and its purpose is clearly outlined. The goals and objectives drive the project as t has the starting and expected completion dates.
Discuss the importance of top management commitment and the development of standards for successful project management. Provide examples to illustrate the importance of these items based on your experience on any type of project.
Top management commitment to the project is very important, this is because they give hope and moral support to the team developing the project. It means that organization is offering support to all the required needs to make the project successfully. Sometimes when support of the top management is not seen, it may mean that they are against the project and hence adoption may become a challenge. They are important also in pulling resources together, approvals and the whole organizational cooperation. (Tracy & Yolande, 2019)
Standards development to achieving a successful project management are very crucial as they are used as the guidelines and procedures to the team members. They are all guided by the rules and regulations posed on the standards outline.
Discuss the unique challenges that an IT project presents.
There are various challenges to which IT project faces which includes; the mid-project changes and adjustments, this are mostly brought up by clients and may necessitate a whole changeover of the project. Poor communication between the operating teams is another challenge which may lead to slow delivery of the objectives. Poor project management skills by the top management is another big challenge because they are the steering team.
References
Jenkin, T. A., Chan, Y. E., & Sabherwal, R. (2019). Mutual Understanding in Information Systems Development: Changes within and across Projects. MIS Quarterly, 43(2), 649–671. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2019/13980
Tracy A. Jenkin & Yolande E. Chan (2019). Mutual Understanding in Information Systems Development: Changes Within and Across Projects.
Student 3:
Hi,
A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result” (Project Management Institute, 2017). The project is a unique endeavor that is short term, should have a sponsor, stakeholders, users, change in requirements, roadblocks, need resources with various skills, and have uncertainty. Projects are quite different from day-to-day activities as projects have objectives, goals, milestones, start and end dates, various resources. A r day-to-day resource activity includes - attend meetings, accomplish small goals, communicate with co-workers to get things done, resolve challenges, inform the team about progress. Therefore, a project is different from day-to-day activities, although there are some similarities between them.
Top management commitment is a crucial aspect in setting up the important in standards and for a successful run of the project. Leadership can sponsor and approve the funds for the project, acquire required resources for the project, get assistance and cooperation from other project teams, guide the project teams, resolve the dependencies, encourage the successful project team members. For example, in one of my projects, our project team has a blocker where we need information from another team to move forward in our project. We have attempted to reach this other team many a time but haven’t received the information that is needed. Finally, we have communicated this issue to top management and requested their help. The top management has then involved in the process and used their power to get the information that we need. In this way, the top management will always help when we need something and ensure that projects are progressing smoothly without impediments. IT project face the following challenges:
· Change in priorities: An IT project priority always changes based on the stakeholder views and users’ complaints. So, IT project team should be agile to adapt to those changes.
· Poor communication between IT and business: One of the major challenges for IT projects is poor coordination and lack of communication between IT and business. Therefore, the project managers must ensure that every requirement and feedback is communicated effectively in a timely manner to get the issues resolved.
· Lack of User Input: A lack of end-user input can create chaos when the final product is delivered in the market. So, a successful project involves proper user input and feedback after a large functionality is developed and released in the market. This ensures that the needs of the end-user are addressed and makes the organization to stay competitive in the market.
Thanks,
Prasnnna
References
Project Management Institute. (2017). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (6th Edition ed.). Project Management Institute.