IFSM 380 DISC 7&8

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

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

Learning Resource

Term Definition Examples

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 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 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 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 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.

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

• 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 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.

• 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.

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

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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