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Project MGT and IT Context

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10 views

Project MGT and IT Context

cxcx

Uploaded by

emmanueladomako805
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Project

Management and
Information Technology
Context
A Systems View of Project Management

• A systems approach emerged in the 1950s to describe a


more analytical approach to management and problem
solving
• Three parts include:
• Systems philosophy: an overall model for thinking about things
as systems
• 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

3
Understanding Organizations
Structural frame: Human resources frame:
Focuses on roles and Focuses on providing
responsibilities, harmony between needs of
coordination and control. the organization and needs
Organization charts help of people.
define this frame.

Political frame: Symbolic frame: Focuses


Assumes organizations on symbols and meanings
are coalitions composed related to events. Culture
of varied individuals and is important.
interest groups. Conflict
and power are key issues.
Organizational Structures
• Three basic organization 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 weak, balanced, or
strong matrix
Figure 2-2: Functional, Project, and
Matrix Organizational Structures

6
Table 2-1: Organizational Structure
Influences on Projects
Project Organizational Structure Type
Characteristics
Functional Matrix Project
Weak Matrix Balanced Strong
Matrix Matrix
Project manager’s Little or none Limited Low to Moderate High to
authority Moderate to high almost total
Percent of Virtually none 0-25% 15-60% 50-95% 85-100%
performing
organization’s
personnel assigned
full-time to project
work
Who controls the Functional Functional Mixed Project Project
project budget manager manager manager manager
Project manager’s Part-time Part-time Full-time Full-time Full-time
role
Common title for Project Project Project Project Project
project manager’s Coordinator/ Coordinator/ Manager/ Manager/ Manager/
role Project Leader Project Project Program Program
Leader Officer Manager Manager
Project management Part-time Part-time Part-time Full-time Full-time
administrative staff
PMBOK Guide, 2000, 19, and PMBOK Guide 2004, 28.
Organizational Culture
• Organizational culture is a set of shared assumptions,
values, and behaviors that characterize the functioning of
an organization
• Many experts believe the underlying causes of many
companies’ problems are not the structure or staff, but the
culture
Ten Characteristics of Organizational
Culture
• Member identity* • Risk tolerance*
• Group emphasis* • Reward criteria*
• People focus • Conflict tolerance*
• Unit integration* • Means-ends
• Control orientation
• Open-systems focus*

*Project work is most successful in an organizational


culture where these items are strong/high and other
items are balanced
9
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 meet
stakeholder needs and expectations
• Senior executives/top management are very important
stakeholders
Best Practice

• IT governance addresses the authority and control for key


IT activities in organizations, including IT infrastructure, IT
use, and project management
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
Project Phases and the Project
Life Cycle
• 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
More on Project Phases
• In 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 middle phases of a project life cycle:


• The certainty of completing a project improves
• More resources are needed

• The final phase of a project life cycle focuses on:


• Ensuring that project requirements were met
• The sponsor approves completion of the project
Figure 2-3: Phases of the Traditional
Project Life Cycle

16
Product Life Cycles
• Products also have life cycles
• The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a
framework for describing the phases involved in
developing and maintaining information systems

• Systems development projects can follow:


• Predictive life cycle: the scope of the project can be clearly
articulated and the schedule and cost can be predicted

• Adaptive Software Development (ASD) life cycle: requirements


cannot be clearly expressed, projects are mission driven and
component based, using time-based cycles to meet target dates
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
The Importance of Project Phases and
Management Reviews
• A project should successfully pass through each of the
project phases in order to continue on to the next
• Management reviews, also called phase exits or kill
points, should occur after each phase to evaluate the
project’s progress, likely success, and continued
compatibility with organizational goals
The Context of IT Projects
• IT projects can be very diverse in terms of size, complexity, products
produced, application area, and resource requirements
• IT project team members often have diverse backgrounds and skill
sets
• IT projects use diverse technologies that change rapidly; even within
one technology area, people must be highly specialized
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

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