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IT Project?

Managing Information Technology

IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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IT Projects are Difficult Are We perceive the same thing?

• Although reports vary considerably, IT projects
fail frequently
– According to the Standish Group, the failure rate
may approach 2/3 of IT projects
– Sauer, Gemino, and Reich (2007) report much
lower IT project failure rate with over 2/3 of
projects delivered close to on-time and on-budget
• Organizational IT project management greatly
affects the success of IT projects

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Goal of IT Project Management Triple Constraint

• Overall goal of project management is to
• Time, cost, and scope are called the triple
deliver a quality system on schedule and on
constraint
budget that meets the needs of the business
IT Project Management Goal – A change in one automatically changes at least
•Scope
•Time one of the others
•Cost

Scope

Time Cost

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Project Management Basics Project Management Institute

Project

• A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique

• The Project Management Institute (PMI) is an
product or service. It typically is a one-time initiative that can be
divided into multiple tasks, which require coordination and control,
international organization that provides
with a definite beginning and ending resources and certifications to help project
Project Management managers reach their project goals
• The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to a broad – Among their resources are the Project
range of activities in order to meet the requirements of a particular
project (PMBOK Guide, 3rd ed.) Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide
which details and attempts to standardize project
Program management practices
• A group of projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits
not available from managing them individually (PMI, 1996)

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Project Management Institute Strategic Management of IT

• The PMBOK Guide contains nine areas of • IT Portfolio Management
competency
1. Project Scope – Senior business and IT leaders manage how the
2. Project Time entire IT portfolio fits with the organization’s
3. Project Cost strategic vision
4. Human Resources • Decisions are made about the approval and
5. Quality Management prioritization of IT projects based on financial and
6. Risk Management strategic assessments
7. Project Communications • Individual projects and programs are undertaken only
8. Procurement after the assessing their fit with the overall IT portfolio
9. Project Integration

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Strategic Management of IT Strategic Management of IT

• New projects are typically submitted using a
IT portfolio management template to assist with prioritization

Program management

Project management Figure 12.2

(Vavre and Lane 2004)

Project A Project B Project C

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Strategic Management of IT Project Management Roles

• IT project prioritization scheme • All IT projects should have a project manager
– During the evaluation of IT projects, a and a project sponsor
categorization scheme is usually used to assist • Additionally, some projects will require a
managers in their decision making project champion for success
– The Denis et al. (2004) scheme:
• Each of these roles is important to project
Highly Desired /
Absolute Must Business-Critical Wanted Nice to Have success, especially in complex projects
•A mandate due to •Includes short-term •Valuable, but with •Projects with good
security, legal, projects with good longer time periods returns, but with
regulatory, or end- financial returns for returns on lower potential
of-life-cycle IT and portions of investment (more business
issues very large projects than a 12-month
already in progress period)

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Project Management Roles Project Management Roles

• Project Manager (PM)
– Typically systems projects are lead by IT project
managers who possess technical knowledge and
project management skills Knowledge
Skills
– A project manager’s main responsibility is to plan and
execute the project Project
Management
– The following non-technical skills are important for Skills

successful project management:

Effective IT project
management

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Project Management Roles Project Management Roles

• Project Sponsor
– Typically a business manager who “owns” the
project (the sponsor is paying for the project)
– The sponsor has several responsibilities to the
project:
• Fights for project approval
• Ensures project resources
– Funding
– Project team members
– It is critical for the project manager to have a
strong relationship with the sponsor
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• Project Sponsor
Tasks to Engage Sponsor
•Schedule regular meetings with the sponsor to ensure the project is on track,
according to current business priorities
•Create a list of expectations with the sponsor to clarify the project manager role and
the sponsor’s role
•Agree on how handoffs between the project manager and sponsor will occur
•Discuss the sponsor’s preferences for when and how project issues will be brought up
with the sponsor
•Learn how the sponsor will communicate the status of the project to peers and the
company’s top management
•Determine what metrics the sponsor will use to judge the completion of the project
•Agree on how the sponsor will participate in the post-project review
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Project Management Roles The Project Life Cycle

• Project Champion
• All successful projects pass through four
– A role played by a business manager with high
credibility generic phases along the path to completion
– Requires enthusiasm and excellent • We will discuss all four of the project phases
communication because all are crucial to project success
– Can be the same as the project sponsor, but often
more effective if the champion is a lower-level
business manager who is highly impacted by the Project Project
Project
Execution
Project
Initiation Planning Closing
project and Control

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Project Initiation Project Initiation

• Many dimensions of project feasibility are likely to be assessed in
• The first step in the project life cycle is project this phase
initiation – Economic
• Does this project give a positive financial return?

• The main deliverable for this phase is the – Operational

• How will the project impact the organization’s operations?
project charter – Technical
• Does the organization have the technology and expertise required?
– Schedule
Project Charter • Is it possible to finish the project in the required schedule? How is the
project’s schedule impacted by other timelines?
• A document that describes a project’s objectives, scope, – Legal or contractual
assumptions, and estimated benefits • Does the project have any legal conflicts?
– Political
• Is there support for the project from the relevant stakeholders?
Project Project Project Execution Project
Initiation Planning and Control Closing

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Project Planning Project Planning

• The second phase of the project life cycle is 1. Scheduling
– The first step of scheduling is generally a work
project planning breakdown analysis
• The primary deliverables for this phase of the
Work Breakdown Analysis
project are the statement of work and project
• A basic management technique that systematically subdivides blocks of
plan work down to the level of detail at which the project will be controlled
• There are three major components of this phase
– Once the work is broken into tasks, time estimates are
1. Scheduling assigned to each task based on past experience
2. Budgeting – It is important to consider task dependencies when
creating the master schedule with project milestones
3. Project
Staffing Project Project Execution Project
Initiation Planning and Control Closing
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Project Planning Project Planning

2. Budgeting 2. Budgeting
– Approaches to estimating – Purposeful inaccurate estimations of the budget
• Bottom-up can have adverse effects
– Based on work-breakdown
• Top-down (parametric estimating)
– Highballing (or budget padding)
– Used with not enough is known about the project to create a • Overestimation of project costs
work-breakdown • Projects may not be approved because of higher costs
– Inexperienced cost estimators often make the – Lowballing
following mistakes:
• Underestimating project costs
• Too optimistic in their assessments
• Used to gain approval of questionable projects
• Leave components out that should be estimated
• Do not use a consistent methodology • Often lead to project failures when overbudget

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Project Planning Project Planning

3. Staffing 3. Staffing
– To succeed, a project must contain the right IT skills mix of the
professionals assigned to the project – One method of obtaining skilled professionals is
– An effective project manager must have the ability to estimate
the skill type, proficiency level, quantity, and time required for to utilize outside contractors
personal to complete project tasks • It is important for organizations to transfer knowledge
– Some staff may require training for the project
from contractors to employees to remove future
• Some organizations have created Centers of Excellence where
employees can learn additional skills that may be required for future dependency on the contractors
projects
• This can increase project risk because of uncertainty
– Outside contractors
• Important to transfer knowledge from contractors to employees to in the contractor’s expertise and behavior
remove dependency
– Teambuilding
– Incentives

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Project Planning Project Planning

• Primary deliverables from the planning phase • Primary deliverables from the planning phase
– Statement of Work – Statement of Work
Projectof Plan
– Statement Work – Project Plan
• A high-level document for the customer that describes what the • Additionally, two types of charts commonly
project will deliver and when accompany these documents
Project plan – PERT (or CPM)
• A formal document that includes the project’s schedule, – Gantt
budget, and assigned resources that is used by the project
manager to guide the execution and control of the project

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Project Planning Project Planning

• Gantt Chart
• Program Evaluation and Review Technique
(PERT) or Critical Path Method (CPM)
Figure 12.5

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Project Execution and Control Project Execution and Control

• The third phase of the project life cycle • Communication with stakeholders is critical
• The deliverable for this phase is the completed
project • Status reporting should be simple and clear
• Most projects exhibit the following
characteristics
1. Risk and uncertainty are highest at the start of the Figure 12.7
project (Roman 1986)
2. The ability of the project stakeholders to influence
the outcome is highest at the start of the project
3. Cost and staffing levels are lower at the start of the
project and higher toward the end
Project Project Project Execution Project
Initiation Planning and Control Closing

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Project Execution and Control Project Execution and Control

• Managing Project Risk • Managing Project Risk
– All projects carry risk and some IT projects (e.g., – The risk exposure profile changes over time
enterprise projects) involve considerable risk of • Risk decreases over time as the organization’s stake
failure increases
– Early warning signs of project failure

(Frame 1994)
(Kappelman et al. 2006)

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Project Execution and Control Project Execution and Control

• Managing Project Risk
• Managing Project Risk
– Project managers go through several phases
when managing risk – Three overall strategies are utilized for managing
(Mohtashami et al. 2006) risk
Exchange Strategy Reduction Strategy Avoidance Strategy

• An unknown risk or • By allocating to the • An alternative technical

known critical risk is project the best human approach to a problem
exchanged for a more resources available, a may be chosen in order
acceptable level of risk. specific project risk can to avoid risk exposure
For example, the risk can be reduced
be shifted to a third
party by subcontracting
with another
organization under a
fixed-cost contract for a
specific project
deliverable

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Project Execution and Control Project Execution and Control

• Managing Business Change • Multistage change models
– New systems can lead to major changes in – As change management has become a more
business processes important component of IT projects, several
– Due to these changes, IT projects often require change models have been proposed to help
change management to overcome resistance to managers think about change
the new system – Two important change models we will consider:
• Lewin/Schein Change Model
Change Management
• Kotter Change Model
• The ability to successfully introduce change to individuals
and organizational units

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Project Execution and Control Project Execution and Control

• Multistage change models • Multistage change models
• Lewin/Schein Change Model • Kotter Change Model
1. Establish a sense of urgency
2. Form a powerful guiding coalition
3. Create a vision
4. Communicate the vision
5. Empower others to act on the vision
6. Plan for and create short-term wins
7. Consolidate improvements and produce still more change
8. Institutionalize new approaches

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Project Execution and Control Project Closing

• Managing conflict • Even when the project deliverables are
– Project managers may have conflict on their teams complete, successful organizations include a
or with other stakeholders
– Strategies may vary depending on situation, but
final closing stage to review project success
overall there are five modes of conflict resolution • A post-project review is used to share lessons-
(Kerzner 2006)
1. Confronting – a collaborative, problem-solving approach
learned during the project
where both parties try for a win-win – Typical questions during this phase may include:
2. Compromising – each party gives something up • What went right on this project?
3. Smoothing – minimizing the differences between the
parties • What went wrong on this project?
4. Forcing – competing or dominant; one party goes all out to • What would you do differently on the next project,
win based on yourProject
Project experience with this project? Project
Project Execution
5. Avoiding – removal of one party from the conflict Initiation Planning and Control Closing

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Special Issue `
• Managing Complex IT Projects Special Issue • Managing Complex IT Projects

• Complexity increases with resources are off-

"Complexity must be accepted as a part of the site and offshore
systems development world for the future“
- Hugh Ryan

• To overcome this complexity, many organizations use consulting firms to (Poria 2004)
take advantage of their expertise performing similar projects in other
firms
• Three critical success factors have been identified in large, complex
projects:
1. The business vision was an integral part of the project
2. A testing approach was used at the program level (not just at the individual
application level)
3. The projects used a phased-release approach (rather than a single-release
rollout strategy)
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Special Issue • Managing Virtual Teams Special Issue • Managing Virtual Teams

Virtual Team
• Kostner (1996) identified six strategies for
managing virtual teams
• Project teams that are geographically dispersed and
communication through information technology
Six Leadership Secrets for Managing Remote Workers
• These teams can bring together individuals with • Aim to build trust through every interaction
expertise that cannot meet face-to-face • Create symbols and structures that unify the dispersed work group
• These teams introduces additional project risks • Establish ongoing opportunities for the team to learn more about
each other, both professionally and personally
– Differences in communication norms • Develop a daily alignment tool to focus the effort of the team
– Unfamiliarity with a different culture • Be scrupulously fair in treating all team members
– Lack of trusting relationships across team members • Be crystal clear about project objectives

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