Chapter 2: The Project Management and

Information Technology Context

Projects Cannot Be Run in Isolation:

 Projects must operate in a broad organizational environment.

 Project managers need to use systems thinking: 
 Taking a holistic view of a project and understanding how it relates to the larger
organization.
 Senior managers must make sure projects continue to support current business needs.

A Systems View of Project Management:

 The term systems approach emerged in the 1950s to describe a holistic and analytical
approach to solving complex problems.

Three parts include:

 Systems philosophy: View things as systems, which are interacting components that
work within an environment to fulfill some purpose.
 Systems analysis: Problem-solving approach.
 Systems management: Address business, technological, and organizational issues before
making changes to systems.

Figure 2-1. Three Sphere Model for Systems Management:

Understanding Organizations:

 Structural frame:

Focuses on roles and responsibilities, coordination, and control. Organization charts help define this
frame.
  Human resources frame:

Focuses on providing harmony between needs of the organization and needs of people.

 Political frame:

Assumes organizations are coalitions composed of varied individuals and interest groups. Conflict and
power are key issues.

 Symbolic Frame:

Focuses on symbols and meanings related to events. Culture is important.

Three basic organizational structures:

 Functional: Functional managers report to the CEO.

 Project: Program managers report to the CEO.
 Matrix: Middle ground between functional and project structures; personnel often report to
two or more bosses; structure can be a weak, balanced, or strong matrix.

Organizational Culture:

Organizational culture is a set of shared assumptions, values, and behaviors that characterize the
functioning of an organization.

Ten Characteristics of Organizational Culture:

 Member identity*
 Group emphasis*
 People focus
 Unit integration*
 Control
 Risk tolerance*
 Reward criteria*
 Conflict tolerance*
 Means-ends orientation
 Open-systems focus*

Stakeholder Management:

 Project managers must take time to identify, understand, and manage relationships with all
project stakeholders.
 Using the four frames of organizations can help you meet stakeholder needs and expectations.
 Senior executives and top management are very important stakeholders.
Importance of Top Management Commitment:

 Several studies cite top management commitment as one of the key factors associated with
project success.

 Top management can help project managers:

 Secure adequate resources.
 Get approval for unique project needs in a timely manner.
 Receive cooperation from people throughout the organization.
 Learn how to be better leaders.

Need for Organizational Commitment to Information Technology (IT)

 If the organization has a negative attitude toward IT, it will be difficult for an IT project to
succeed.
 Having a Chief Information Officer (CIO) at a high level in the organization helps IT projects.
 Assigning non-IT people to IT projects also encourages more commitment.

Need for Organizational Standards:

 Standards and guidelines help project managers be more effective.

 Senior management can encourage:

-The use of standard forms and software for project management.

-The development and use of guidelines for writing project plans or providing status information.

-The creation of a project management office or center of excellence.

-A project life cycle is a collection of project phases that defines:

 What work will be performed in each phase.

 What deliverables will be produced and when.
 Who is involved in each phase.
 How management will control and approve work produced in each phase.

-A deliverable is a product or service produced or provided as part of a project.

In the early phases of a project life cycle:

-Resource needs are usually lowest.

-The level of uncertainty (risk) is highest.

-Project stakeholders have the greatest opportunity to influence the project.

In the middle phases of a project life cycle:

-The certainty of completing a project increases.

-More resources are needed.

In the final phase of a project life cycle:

-The focus is on ensuring that project requirements were met.

-The sponsor approves completion of the project.

WATERFALL MODEL:

Predictive Life Cycle Models:

 Waterfall model: Has well-defined, linear stages of systems development and support.
 Spiral model: Shows that software is developed using an iterative or spiral approach rather than
a linear approach.
 Incremental build model: Provides for progressive development of operational software.
 Prototyping model: Used for developing prototypes to clarify user requirements.
 Rapid Application Development (RAD) model: Used to produce systems quickly without
sacrificing quality.

Adaptive Life Cycle Models:

 Extreme programming (XP): Developers program in pairs and must write the tests for their own
code. XP teams include developers, managers, and users.
 Scrum: Iterative development in which repetitions are referred to as sprints, which normally last
thirty days. Teams often meet each day for a short meeting, called a scrum, to decide what to
accomplish that day.

Feasibility Analysis:
Components of a Feasibility Analysis include:

 Problem Statement
 Project Objectives
 Project Scope
 Description of Current Situation or Environment
 Cost and Benefit Analysis

 Implementation and Closure - This is a relatively short phase in the project.

 Project Design - This is the blueprint phase of a project.
 Project Development - This is often considered the build phase.
 On-going Support - This phase can extend many times longer than the actual project
work.
 Quality Checkpoints - At a point between each project phase, there should be a quality
checkpoint.

Chapter Summary:

 Project managers need to take a systems approach when working on projects.

 Organizations have four different frames: structural, human resources, political, and symbolic.
 The structure and culture of an organization have strong implications for project managers.
 Projects should successfully pass through each phase of the project life cycle.
 Project managers need to consider several factors due to the unique context of information
technology projects.
CHAPTER 3: THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS GROUPS: A CASE
STUDY
Project Management Process Groups - Project management can be viewed as a number of
interlinked processes.

The project management process groups include:

 Initiating processes
 Planning processes
 Executing processes
 Monitoring and controlling processes
 Closing processes
Developing an IT Project Management Methodology:

Agile software development is a form of adaptive software development. All agile methods
include an iterative workflow and incremental delivery of software in short iterations.

Rational Unified Process ( RUP) framework:

  RUP is an iterative software development process that focus on team productivity and
delivers software best practices to all team members

SIX SIGMA METHODOLOGIES: many organizations have projects that use Six Sigma
Methodologies.

 The work of many project quality expert contributed to the development of today’s Six
Sigma Principles.

Two main methodologies are used on Six Sigma projects:

 Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC) is used to improve an existing
business process.
 Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify (DMADV) is used to create new product or
process designs to achieve predictable, detect-free performance

 A business case captures the reasoning for initiating the project or task.
 It is often presented in a well-structured written document.
 The logic of the business case is that, whenever resources such as money or effort are
consumed, they should be in support of a specific business need.

Notice that the following information is included in this business case:

 Introduction/background
 Business objective
 Current situation and problem/opportunity statement
 Critical assumptions and constraints
 Analysis of options and recommendation
 Preliminary project requirements
 Budget estimate and financial analysis
  Schedule estimate
 Potential risks
 Exhibits

Project Initiation - Initiating a project includes recognizing and starting a new project or project
phase

-The main goal is to formally select and start off project.

Kick-off Meetings - It’s good practice to hold a kick-off meeting at the beginning of a project so
that stakeholders can meet each other, review the goals of each project and discuss future
plans.

Project Planning:

The main purpose of project planning is to guide execution.

Every knowledge area includes planning information

Key outputs included in the JWD project include:

-A team contract

-A project scope statement

-A work breakdown structure

-A project schedule, in the form of Gantt chart with all dependencies and resources entered

-A list of prioritized risks ( part of a risk register)

Project Monitoring and Controlling - Involves measuring progress toward project objectives,
monitoring deviation from the plan, and taking correction actions.
Summary:

- the five project management process groups are initiating, planning, executing,
monitoring and controlling, and closing.
- You can map the main activities of each group to the nine knowledge areas
- Some organizations develop their own information technology project management
methodologies.
- The JWD Consulting case study provides an example of using the process groups and
shows several important project document.