Lecture – 2

Project management context and

processes
 Learning objectives
• Describe the systems view of project management and how it applies
to SW projects

• Understand organizations, including the 4 frames, organizational

structure, and organizational culture

• Explain why stakeholder management and top management

commitment are critical for a project’s success

• Understand the concept of project phase and project life cycle, and
distinguish between project development and product development

2
 Projects can’t be run in isolation
• Projects must operate in a broad organizational environment
• Project managers need to take a holistic or systems view of a
project and understand how it is situated within the larger
organization
• Project managers need to use systems thinking:
– A system is a set of interacting components working with an
environment to fulfil some purpose
– Taking a holistic view of carrying out projects within
organizational context

3
 A Systems View of Project Management
• Senior managers must make sure that projects continue to
support current business needs
• 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, interacting components working within an
environment to fulfill some purpose

4
A Systems View of Project Management
– Systems analysis: problem-solving approach that requires:
• defining the scope of the system,
• dividing it into components,

• identifying and evaluating its problems,

• examining alternative solutions, and

• identifying a satisfactory solution

– Systems management: Address business, technological, and

organizational issues before making changes to systems

5
 Systems Approach

Systems Philosophy Systems Systems Analysis

Management

Business Organization Technology

Structural
Political Frame HR Frame Symbol Frame
Frame

Functional Project Matrix

6
Three Sphere Model for Systems Management
• The three-sphere model of systems management deals with the
business, organizational and technological aspects and/or
issues related to the project that should be defined and
considered in order to select and manage projects effectively and
successfully.

Business:
• A project should supplement or serve as an answer to the
business goals.

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 Cont’d…
• Business Issue:

– What will the project cost the company?

– What would be the impact of the website to the sales of the

magazine?

– What would be the cost of maintaining the whole system for

the website?

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 Cont’d…
Technology:
– The technological sphere should state the proper HW and SW
issues to be resolved
– Technological issues:
• What OS, server platform, scripting language and database
should be used?

• Does our current network setup allow employees to develop

this project or do we need an upgrades?

• What will be the server and desktop specifications?

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 Cont’d…
Organization:
– As for the organizational aspect, matters involving the
stakeholders should be taken into full consideration

– Organizational Issues:
• Do we have the existing manpower to develop the project?

• What is the higher management support required?

• Do we have infrastructure to complete the project?

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Cont’d…

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 Cont’d…
• If the project manager would be able to point out as early as
possible the aforementioned issues and integrate it to the project
it would definitely aid in determining if an organization should
invest and produce the project.

12
 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

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 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

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 Phases of the Project Life Cycle
• The final phase of a project life cycle focuses on:

– Ensuring that project requirements were met

– The sponsor approves completion of the project

• Project phases vary by project or industry, but some general phases

include

– concept

– development

– implementation

– support

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Phases of the Project Life Cycle

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 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

• Typical SDLC phases include planning, analysis, design,

implementation, and support

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 Product Life Cycles

• 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

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 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 release model: provides for progressive
development of operational software
• RAD model: used to produce systems quickly without
sacrificing quality
• Prototyping model: used for developing prototypes to clarify user
requirements

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Adaptive Software Development (ASD) life cycle

• Agile software development is a group of software development

methods in which requirements and solutions evolve through
collaboration between self organizing, cross-functional teams.

• It promotes adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early

delivery, continuous improvement and encourages rapid and
flexible response to change.

• It is a conceptual framework that focuses on frequently delivering

small increments of working software.

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Distinguishing Project Life Cycles and Product
Life Cycles
• The project life cycle applies to all projects, regardless of the
products being produced

• Product life cycle models vary considerably based on the nature

of the product

• Most large IT products are developed as a series of projects

• Project management is done in all of the product life cycle phases

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 Why Have 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

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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. how do
interest groups. Conflict people dress? how many
and power are key issues. hours do they work? how
do they run meetings? 23

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 Many Organizations Focus on the Structural
Frame
• Most people understand what organizational charts are
• Many new managers try to change organizational structure when
other changes are needed
• 3 basic organization structures
– Functional:- functional managers (vice president) report to
the CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
– 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

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Functional, Project, and Matrix Organizational
Structures

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 Organizational Structure Influences on Projects
Organization Type Matrix
Project Functional Weak Matrix Balanced Strong Matrix Projectized
Characteristics Matrix
Project Manager's Little or Limited Low to Moderate High to
Authority None Moderate To High Almost Total
Percent of Performing
Organization's Virtually 0-25% 15-60% 50-95% 85-100%
Personnel Assigned Full- None
time to Project Work
Project Manager's Role Part-time Part-time Full-time Full-time Full-time
Common Title for Project Project Project Project Project
Project Manager's Role Coordinator/ Coordinator/ Manager/ Manager/ Manager/
Project Leader Project Leader Project Officer Program Manager Program Manager
Project Management
Administrative Staff Part-time Part-time Part-time Full-time Full-time

PMBOK Guide, 2000, p. 19

The organizational structure influences the project manager’s authority,

but remember to address the human resources, political and symbolic
frames, too. 27
 What Helps Projects Succeed?
• According to the Standish Group’s report CHAOS 2001: A Recipe for
Success, the following items help IT projects succeed, in order of
importance:
– Executive/managerial support
– User involvement
– Experienced project manager
– Clear business objectives
– Minimized scope
– Standard software infrastructure
– Firm basic requirements
– Formal methodology
– Reliable estimates 28
 Need for Top Management Commitment
• Several studies cite top management commitment as one of the
key factors associated with project success

• People in top management positions are key stakeholders in

projects

• A very important factor in helping project managers successfully

lead projects is the level of commitment and support they receive
from top management

• Without top management commitment, many projects will fail

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How Top Management can help project managers
• Providing adequate resources

• Approving unique project needs in a timely manner (HW, SW

needs, financial support as the project run)

• Getting cooperation from other parts of the organization

(encourage functional manager to cooperate with project
managers)

• Mentoring and coaching on leadership issues (give advices for

project managers in leadership and encourage them to take
classes to develop their leadership skills and assign funds and
time to do so) 30
 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 encourage more

commitment

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 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

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 Suggested Skills for a Project Manager

• Communication skills: listening, persuading

• Organizational skills: planning, goal-setting, analyzing

• Team Building skills: empathy, motivation, esprit de corps

• Leadership skills: set examples, be energetic, have vision (big picture),

delegate, be positive

• Coping skills: flexibility, creativity, patience, persistence

• Technological skills: experience, project knowledge

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 Most Significant Characteristics of Effective and
Ineffective Project Managers
Effective Project Managers Ineffective Project Managers

 Lead by example  Set bad examples

 Are visionaries  Are not self-assured
 Are technically competent  Lack technical expertise
 Are decisive  Are poor communicators
 Are good communicators  Are poor motivators
 Are good motivators
 Stand up to upper management
when necessary
 Support team members
 Encourage new ideas

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 The context of software projects
• SW projects can be very diverse in terms of size, complexity,
products produced, application area, and resource requirements

• SW project team members often have diverse backgrounds and

skill sets

• SW projects use diverse technologies that change rapidly; even

within one technology area, people must be highly specialized

36
 Recent trends affecting software project
management
• Globalization: lower trade and political barriers and the digital
revolution have made it possible to interact almost
instantaneously with billions of other people across the planet

• Outsourcing: outsourcing is when an organization acquires

goods and/or sources from an outside source; offshoring is
sometimes used to describe outsourcing from another country

• Virtual teams: a virtual team is a group of individuals who work

across time and space using communication technologies

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 Important tools and suggestions related to
globalization
• Issues
– Communications

– Trust

– Common work practices

– Tools

• Suggestions
– Employ greater project discipline

– Keep project momentum going

– Use newer tools and technology

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 Outsourcing

• Organizations remain competitive by using outsourcing to their

advantage, such as finding ways to reduce costs

• Their next challenge is to make strategic IT investments with

outsourcing by improving their enterprise architecture to ensure
that IT infrastructure and business processes are integrated and
standardized (see Suggested Readings)

• Project managers should become more familiar with negotiating

contracts and other outsourcing issues

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 Advantages of virtual teams
• Increasing competiveness and responsiveness by having a team
of workers available 24/7

• Lowering costs because many virtual workers do not require

office space or support beyond their home offices

• Providing more expertise and flexibility by having team members

from across the globe working any time of day or night

• Increasing the work/life balance for team members by

eliminating fixed office hours and the need to travel to work

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 Disadvantages of virtual teams
• Isolating team members

• Increasing the potential for communications problems

• Reducing the ability for team members to network and transfer

information informally

• Increasing the dependence on technology to accomplish work

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