INTRODUCTION TO

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
 INTRODUCTION
 The world as a whole spends nearly $10
trillion of its $40.7 trillion gross product on
projects of all kinds
 More than 16 million people regard project
management as their profession
 The overall information and communications
technology market grew by 6 percent to
almost $3 trillion in 2010

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 MOTIVATION FOR STUDYING
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT)
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
 IT Projects have a terrible track record, as described
in the “What Went Wrong?”

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ADVANTAGES OF USING FORMAL
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
 Better control of financial, physical, and human
resources
 Improved customer relations
 Shorter development times
 Lower costs
 Higher quality and increased reliability
 Higher profit margins
 Improved productivity
 Better internal coordination
 Higher worker morale
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 WHAT IS A PROJECT?
A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to
create a unique product, service, or result” (PMBOK®
Guide, Fifth Edition, 2012)

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Information Systems Project Management
PROJECT ATTRIBUTES
 A project
 has a unique purpose
 is temporary
 is developed using progressive
elaboration
 requires resources, often from various
areas
 should have a primary customer or
sponsor
 The project sponsor usually provides
the direction and funding for the
project
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 involves uncertainty
 PROJECT AND
PROGRAM MANAGERS

 Project managers work with project

sponsors, project team, and other people
involved in a project to meet project
goals
 Program: group of related projects
managed in a coordinated way to obtain
benefits and control not available from
managing them individually (PMBOK®
Guide, Fifth Edition, 2012)

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 PROGRAM AND PROJECT
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
 A program is “a group of related projects
managed in a coordinated way to obtain
benefits and control not available from
managing them individually” (PMBOK®
Guide, Fifth Edition, 2012)
 A program manager provides leadership
and direction for the project managers
heading the projects within the program

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PROJECT PORTFOLIO
MANAGEMENT
Organizations group and
manage projects and
programs as a portfolio
of investments that
contribute to the entire
enterprise’s success

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 SAMPLE PROJECT
PORTFOLIO APPROACH

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT
OFFICES
 A Project Management Office (PMO)
is an organizational group responsible for
coordinating the project management
function throughout an organization

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 THE TRIPLE CONSTRAINT
OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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 WHAT IS PROJECT
MANAGEMENT?
“the application of knowledge, skills, tools
and techniques to project activities to meet
project requirements” (PMBOK® Guide, Fourth
Edition, 2012)
Stakeholders Core Functions

Information Systems Project Management

Facilitating 13
Functions
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
KNOWLEDGE AREAS
 Knowledge areas describe the key
competencies that project managers
must develop

 Core Functions

 Facilitating Functions

 Integration Function

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS AND
TECHNIQUES
 Project management tools and
techniques assist project managers and
their teams in various aspects of project
management
network diagram

Gantt chart

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 What Went Right?
Improved Project
Performance
40%
35%
30% 37%
31%
25%
20% 1994
21% 2010
15%
10% 16%
5%
0%
Successful IT Failed
WHY THE
IMPROVEMENTS?
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PROJECT SUCCESS
 There are several ways to define
project success:
 Triple Constraint
 Customer/Sponsor Satisfaction
 The results of the project met its main
objective

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WHAT HELPS PROJECTS
SUCCEED?*
1. User involvement
2. Executive support
3. Clear business objectives
4. Emotional maturity
5. Optimizing scope
6. Agile process
7. Project management expertise
8. Skilled resources
9. Execution
10. Tools and infrastructure
*The Standish Group, “CHAOS Activity News” (August 2011). 18
Information Systems Project Management
THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT
MANAGER
 Job descriptions vary, but most include
responsibilities like planning, scheduling,
coordinating, and working with people to
achieve project goals
 Remember that 97% of successful
projects were led by experienced project
managers, who can often help influence
success factors

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SUGGESTED SKILLS FOR
PROJECT MANAGERS
 The Project Management Body of
Knowledge
 Application area knowledge, standards, and
regulations
 Project environment knowledge
 General management knowledge and skills
 Soft skills or human relations skills

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TEN MOST IMPORTANT SKILLS AND
COMPETENCIES FOR PROJECT
MANAGERS
1. People skills
2. Leadership
3. Listening
4. Integrity, ethical behavior, consistent
5. Strong at building trust
6. Verbal communication
7. Strong at building teams
8. Conflict resolution, conflict management
9. Critical thinking, problem solving
10. Understands, balances priorities
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 CAREERS FOR IT PROJECT
MANAGERS
 In a 2012 survey, IT
Total
Curre
nt
Gro
wt
h
executives listed the
Job Categories
Empl
oyees
Ra
nk
“nine hottest skills”
they planned to hire for
Rank

in 2013
Big Data / Analyst 6 1
Business/Systems 3 3
Analyst (tie)

 Project management
Database Admin / 7 3 (tie)
Analyst
5 5
Networks / Security
Project 4 2
was second only to
Management
Software 2 6 programming and
Development
Other IT 1 7 application
development
Skills( Primarily
Help Desk)

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THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT
PROFESSION
 The profession of project management is
growing at a very rapid pace
 It is helpful to understand the history of
the field, the role of professional
societies like the Project Management
Institute, and the growth in project
management software

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT
CERTIFICATION
 The Project Management Institute (PMI) is
an international professional society for
project managers with 380,000 members
worldwide in 2012
 Project Management Professional (PMP) has
documented sufficient project experience, agreed
to follow a code of ethics, and passed the PMP
exam
 Certified Associate in PM (CAPM) is achievable
with less experience
 CompTIA offers another certification option
 CompTIA Project+ has less requirements but is
not
Information as
Systems Projectwell
Managementrecognized as PMP 24
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
SOFTWARE
 There are hundreds of different products to
assist in performing project management

 Three main categories of tools:

 Low-end tools
 Midrange tools
 High-end tools

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT
SOFTWARE
 Various software includes:
 BaseCamp
 Clarizen
 Collabtive (open source)
 dotProject (open source)
 OneDesk
 Genius Inside
 PlanBox

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