IFSM DQ

IT Project Management

In this course, we will briefly overview what project management entails

and the role of a project manager. To become a good project manager,

you should complete further study in this area. Project management

certificates are offered by universities such as UMUC, and there is at least

one recognized certification authority—the Project Management Institute

(PMI). PMI evaluates both your experience as well as your knowledge

before a certification is awarded, because project management is best

learned from a combination of classroom study and real‐world

experiences. To best understand a discussion of project management, you

should be familiar with the following definitions:

Term Definition Examples

project temporary endeavor

undertaken to create a

unique product, service,

or result with a specific

start and end

build a house; write a research

paper; plan a wedding.

project scope describes the work that

must be accomplished

to complete the project

three‐bedroom, two‐bath house

completed and occupancy

certificate obtained; research

paper submitted to professor;

wedding held

Learning Resource

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Term Definition Examples

project

manager

"expert" responsible for

planning, managing, and

controlling all aspects of

a project

construction manager; student;

wedding planner

project

management

the application of

knowledge, skills, tools,

and techniques to

project activities to

meet project

requirements

Overseeing the construction for

building the house; developing the

"to‐do" list for researching and

writing the research paper;

defining activities for the wedding

planning notebook

project

deliverables

concrete, tangible

outcomes, results, or

products generated as a

result of a project

drywall completed on new house

construction; first draft of research

paper written; wedding invitations

printed

milestones key dates when specific,

critical tasks or groups

of activities are

completed

March 15: electrical wiring

completed; May 1: research

completed; June 1: reception hall

booked

contingency anticipating delays or

problems, and having an

alternative solution or

strategy planned

backup plumber and electrician

identified in case primary

contractors are unavailable;

reserve an extra day before the

paper is due in case of delay; have

tents ready in case it rains on the

wedding day

What is the role of a project manager? Is the role of an IT project manager

different? A project manager must control the four key variables

associated with any project: time (schedule), resources (human and

financial), scope of work, and quality. The project manager leads the

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development of a project plan that takes all of these into consideration.

Depending on the organization and scope of a project, there may be both

a business project manager and a technical project manager assigned to

an IT project. It is essential that the business owns the solution (fully

responsible for its success). IT's role is to help the business identify the

best technology solution for the business problem.

Project Management

Variables

Frequently, trade‐offs are required during the establishment and life of a

project. Project management is the science of making intelligent,

conscious trade‐offs. While it is likely impossible to eliminate problems

within a project of any size, having a sound project management

methodology puts in place a process and means with which to deal with

issues as they arise. As things change, the project manager must adjust

the four variables to keep them in balance. For instance, the budget may

be limited, which can restrict the scope of the work and the number of

people who can work on the project. Or, the project may have a firm

deadline, which can drive costs up since more people would have to be

hired to complete the project on time. When any one of the four variables

changes, it will have an impact on at least one (and often more than one)

other variable. Time, Cost and Scope are often referred to as the Triple

Constraints of project management as a change in any one of these three

has an impact on the others and the project quality. A strong project

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manager pays close attention to the project plan and the progress of the

project against the plan, and manages the variables appropriately to

ensure successful completion of the project. Successful completion is

accomplished if the project is delivered on time, stays within the allocated

budget, and performs the required functions correctly. This role is the

same for any project manager, including an IT project manager.

The project methodology provides the structure and processes to define

and plan a project, monitor its progress, and evaluate its end result. A

standard methodology also provides for consistency, allows the process

to be refined and improved over time by incorporating lessons learned,

and increases the transferability of skills among team members. Project

methodologies include project initiation, project planning, and project

execution.

Project Initiation

The first step is the selection of strategic projects. However, the project

manager does not select the projects alone; usually that is done by senior

management after the presentation of a business case that outlines the

business need (problem or opportunity) and options for potential

solutions (how to address the need rather than specific products). Often a

feasibility study is undertaken to determine the viability of the effort and

potential solutions. The feasibility study can also include cost estimates

and identify potential risks.

Project Planning

Once senior management approves the business case and allocates

resources, the project manager ensures the project plan is fully developed

and executed according to plan. The project plan provides the road map

for the project. The project manager is responsible for building a realistic

plan to achieve the desired results and then monitoring to ensure that

tasks are completed on schedule, resources are available as planned, and

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key milestones and deliverables are met. Clearly defining the project

scope and business requirements are key to project planning. A smart

project manager makes sure that his or her plan has SMART criteria. The

SMART criteria below will help to ensure that clear, understandable and

measurable objectives have been established for the project:

Specific

Measurable

Agreed upon

Realistic

Time framed

These objectives are documented in the project plan and used throughout

the project's life to help keep the project on track. A sound project plan is:

easy to understand—Tasks and deliverables are specifically presented

in commonly understood, well‐defined terms.

readable—Graphical representation follows standard structure and

layout.

communicated to all key stakeholders—Those involved and affected

know what the plan is.

appropriate to the project's size, complexity, and importance—The

plan is not overly involved or complicated for a minor, small‐cost,

short‐term project, and is not too general and abbreviated for a

complex, high‐cost, long‐term, high‐priority project.

prepared by the team—Project team members contribute to the

project plan development, rather than a project manager developing

it in a vacuum.

Project Execution

This is where the project plan provides the roadmap, and the project work

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is carried out. The project manager monitors progress against the plan,

managing any changes and mitigating risks as they become known.

Project risk management involves identifying potential events or

conditions that could have a negative effect on the project, estimating the

impact if the risk occurs, determining a mitigation strategy to reduce the

likelihood of the risk occurring, and identifying what will be done if the

event or condition actually arises. Keep in mind that the job of the project

manager is to stay on top of all the variables and manage the cost,

schedule (time), scope, and quality. Routine status reports are an

important part of tracking the progress of the project. This monitoring

process helps the project manager keep time, cost, and scope in balance.

He or she must seek additional resources (money or people) or a schedule

change (time) when the scope increases, and must be able to articulate

the effect on quality if additional resources or a schedule change are not

authorized. The project manager is responsible to senior leaders to

monitor the variables, keep leadership informed, and propose solutions

for changes as they occur.

For our purposes, we will assume that a correct business process redesign

occurred and the best solution was chosen. So what do we need from a

project management perspective? It would seem easy enough: plan the

work and work the plan, and voilà! The solution is implemented on

schedule and on budget.

Of course, anyone who has participated in a project knows that it rarely

happens that way. Building a house gets complicated because two solid

weeks of rain delay the pouring of the concrete. You thought you could

conduct your term paper research on Saturday, but a friend had a ticket

for the big game and you could not decline his offer; therefore, you didn't

gather the information so you could begin writing your paper on Sunday.

And planning a wedding—there are so many potential issues there—the

bridesmaids hate their dresses, the caterer backed out, the organist broke

her wrist, and so forth. You get the idea; even the best‐planned project

will have challenges.

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The four variables are interdependent; you cannot change one without

affecting the others. For example:

Decreasing a project's time frame means either increasing the cost of

the project or decreasing the scope of the project to meet the new

deadline.

Increasing a project's scope means either increasing the project's

time frame or increasing the project's cost (or both) to meet the

increased scope changes.

Decreasing a project's resources (either people or money) will

necessitate a reevaluation of the scope and/or the quality. The scope

may need to be reduced to avoid decreasing the quality. If the scope

must remain unchanged, quality will suffer.

Increasing a project's quality requirements will require more time and

money to incorporate more perfection and test all possible outcomes

for correctness.

Having a well‐prepared project plan can help reduce the risk of project

failure, but it cannot eliminate the possibility of failure. There are many

reasons why even a well‐planned project can fail. Some common project

problems result from mismanagement (Whitten & Bentley, 2008, p. 81):

failure to establish upper‐management commitment to the project

poor expectations of management (expectations of users and

managers not in agreement, or expectations change over the life of

the project)

premature commitment to budget and schedule

overly optimistic

mythical man‐month (unrealistic estimate of the amount of work an

individual can perform on the project)

inadequate people‐management skills

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failure to adapt to business change

insufficient resources

failure to work the plan

As you review this list, how many of these causes are related to hardware,

software, or other technology issues? Right—none! This indicates that it is

frequently the human aspect of projects that creates most of the

problems and greatly increases the risk of failure. Therefore, the

importance of paying attention to the softer skills of managing people on

IT projects cannot be overemphasized.

If you look back at the list of causes of project failures, you will see that

many connect to one or more of these interrelated elements. For

example, premature commitment to budget and schedule will definitely

affect the time and cost variables. Let's relate this cause to our earlier

examples.

Project Cause of Failure

Building a

House

estimating the construction budget with insufficient research

into the current costs of construction materials, or assuming

stable pricing

Preparing a

research paper

planning your schedule to complete the paper without

considering other course assignments or personal

requirements

Planning a

wedding

establishing a budget for "dear old dad" without obtaining the

costs of catering the reception

Scope Management

Failure to manage the scope of a project will result in scope creep—the

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natural tendency of projects to become bigger than originally intended,

with detrimental impact on cost, time, and outcome. Using our previous

examples, some scope creep occurs when while building a house, we

decide to add a home theater in the basement; you decide to add a

PowerPoint presentation to your research paper; and the wedding

reception entertainment changes from Cousin George, the DJ, to an

eight‐piece jazz ensemble.

Since almost no project goes exactly according to plan, the project

manager needs a tool to detect and manage the changes. The process of

change management is this tool. The project manager documents all

approved changes, revises the project plan accordingly, and then

continues managing and monitoring the project.

To minimize inadvertent scope creep, effective project managers define

a change management process specifically related to the project. (This is

different from the organizational change management strategies that

relate to generally managing the changes within the organization that a

new solution may create.) At the risk of oversimplifying this concept, for

the purposes of our discussion, we are talking about a structured process

(part of an overall project management methodology) to address changes

in requirements or expectations on the specific project outcome.

As you can imagine, changes affect resources. A change may require

additional staff hours, hardware and/or software costs, testing, systems

configurations, and/or the assessment of impact on related IT

components. There are times when these changes are necessary to

maximize the intended business solution, address some unforeseen

problem, or meet a changing business strategy or requirement. Having a

structured methodology in place means that the change is treated as a

potential mini‐project:

The requirements are documented and analyzed.

The impact (time, money, and other resources) is analyzed, and the

effects on budget and schedule are defined.

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At this point, the business sponsor or project owner may decide

whether or not to proceed with the change.

In many larger organizations, a change control board (CCB) exists for just

such situations. Representatives from the affected areas review the

documentation and decide whether or not to proceed. If the decision is to

proceed, the additional impact is inserted into the project plan, and

appropriate adjustments are made.

What Makes an Effective Project Manager?

The critical skills needed for IT or business project managers are the

ability to (1) manage people and (2) manage the project effectively. The

project team can be staffed with technical expertise, but it is much more

difficult, if not impossible, to make up for a project manager's

shortcomings in the areas of understanding the business and addressing

the human aspects. Project managers must also address team issues to

help guide the project team. People should be recognized for their

contributions and successes and held accountable for failing to meet

commitments. Far too often, members of project teams know things

aren't going well, but bolster themselves by vowing to get caught up next

week. Addressing problems as early as possible in the project allows time

to make corrections and help keep the project on target.

If we look back at our definition of project manager, it seems like this

individual bears most of the responsibility for making projects successful.

Although he or she may delegate various tasks, the buck frequently stops

with the project manager. Because of the many hats project managers

wear, the variety of skills they must have, and the constant juggling act

they must perform, it is no wonder that highly capable and skilled project

managers can be scarce and are in great demand. Let's look at the skills,

or competencies, a good project manager must have.

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Project Manager Competencies

Competencies Description

business

achievement

connects projects with corporate strategy and

objectives

partners with and involves stakeholders throughout

the process

provides quality perspective

people

management

communicates effectively

facilitates team process

coaches team members to work cohesively and

fosters a spirit of collaboration

provides resources and training to develop team

members

prepares, monitors, and controls project plan—

gathers input and adjusts as needed

problem‐solving displays initiative to show creativity and innovation

calculates risks and prepares contingencies

applies critical thinking to problem resolutions

provides systems perspective

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Competencies Description

influence understands and is sensitive to interpersonal

motivations and behaviors of others

is aware of corporate political landscape and can

navigate it effectively

understands the implications of project decisions and

manages risks

knows how to enlist cooperation and build consensus

among business managers, users, and IT staff

self‐management displays self‐confidence, but with humility

"walks the talk"

has personal accountability

works well under pressure and adverse conditions

Successful project managers combine knowledge and skills with

experience in participating and managing projects. Lessons learned from

past projects can help inform best practices to be applied to future

projects. Consistent application of a sound project management

methodology along with strong interpersonal and leadership skills enable

project managers to help organizations gain strategic advantage through

successful project delivery.

References

Whitten, J. L., & Bentley, L. D. (2008). Introduction to systems analysis

and design. New York, NY: McGraw‐Hill.

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