IT Project Management Essentials

Introduction to Project Management

• The global economy spends nearly $10 trillion on projects.
• Over 16 million people professionally practice project management.
• IT projects frequently have poor results, often under scrutiny.
• Formal project management improves control of resources, customer relations, and development times, leading to cost reductions and higher quality.

Project Attributes

• A project has a unique purpose and is temporary.
• It's developed through progressive elaboration, requiring resources from various areas.
• A primary customer or sponsor provides direction and funding.
• Projects often involve uncertainty.

Project and Program Managers

• Project managers work with stakeholders, teams, and other people to reach project goals.
• A program encompasses a group of related projects.
• Programs are managed to obtain coordinated benefits and control over individual projects.

Project Portfolio Management

• Organizations manage projects and/or programs as a portfolio, treating them as investments contributing to the enterprise's success.
• Categories of IT projects: ventures, growth, and core projects.
• Venture: Transform the business.
• Growth: Grow the business.
• Core: Run the business.

Project Management Offices (PMOs)

• A PMO is an organizational group coordinating project management throughout an organization.
• PMOs are becoming more common, with increased use between 2000 and 2010.
• Reasons for PMO failure: Lack of executive support, too rigidly structured, not adapting to changed project needs, not aligned with corporate goals.

The Triple Constraint of Project Management

• Successful project management means balancing scope, time, and cost goals, satisfying the sponsor.

What is Project Management?

• Project management is applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to ensure project requirements are met.
• Nine knowledge areas.
• Core functions: Activities within a project.
• Facilitating functions: Supporting project activities.
• Integration function: Coordinates all other functions.

Project Management Tools and Techniques

• Project management tools and techniques aid in various aspects of project management, like Gantt charts and network diagrams.

Project Stakeholders

• Stakeholders are people involved in or affected by a project.

What Went Right? Improved Project Performance

• Successful IT project percentages have improved over time (from 1994 to 2010).
• Factors influencing the increase in successful projects: better project management practices & commitment by stakeholders.

Project Success

• Project success can be defined by meeting objectives, satisfying the sponsor/customer, or exhibiting a good balance of scope, time, and cost.

What Helps Projects Succeed?

• User involvement, executive support, clear business objectives, emotional maturity, optimizing scope, project management expertise, skilled resources, strong execution, and appropriate tools/infrastructure are critical for project success.

The Role of the Project Manager

• Project managers typically handle planning, scheduling, coordination, and working with various people to reach project goals.
• Experienced project managers influence success factors.

Suggested Skills for Project Managers

• Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), application area knowledge, standards, and regulations; along with project environment knowledge; general management knowledge and soft skills, are key skills for successful project management.

Important Skills and Competencies for Project Managers

• Project managers need strong people skills, leadership qualities, effective listening skills, integrity, and the ability to build trust. Conflict resolution, critical thinking, problem-solving, and balancing priorities.

Importance of Leadership Skills

• Leadership by example, long-term vision, and inspiring team members are crucial in project management.
• A project manager combines leadership and managing the details of meeting daily goals.
• Experienced project managers often need to be both leader and manager.

Different Skills Needed in Different Situations

• Project skills needed differ for large projects, those with high uncertainty, and novel projects.

Careers for IT Project Managers

• Job categories for IT project managers include Big Data/Analyst, Business/Systems Analyst, Database Admin/ Analyst, Networks/Security, Project Management, Software Development and Other IT skills.

Nine Hottest Skills

• Programming and application development, project management, help desk/technical support, networking, business intelligence, data centers, web 2.0, security, telecommunications.

The Project Management Profession

• The project management profession is growing due to increasing project complexity and globalization, and the role of professional organizations like the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Global Issues

• Worldwide business dynamics influence organizations' need to rethink project practices.
• Factors include the need for development of project managers; good portfolio management; effective utilization of project management techniques; applying Agile approaches; & clear project benefit metrics.

Project Management Certification

• The Project Management Institute (PMI) is an international professional society for project managers with over 380,000 members, offering Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification.
• CompTIA offers project+ certification.

Ethics in Project Management

• Project managers must adhere to ethical principles in their decision-making.
• The PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct is crucial for certification.

Project Management Software

• Many software products assist in performing project management tasks.
• Categories of software: Low-end, Midrange, and High-end tools.

Course Outline

• Covers Introduction to Project Management; Project Management Framework; Project Management Knowledge Areas; Healthcare IT Project Management.

Class Summary

• Covers Project Definition, Difference between projects, programs, and portfolios; Project Management Office.
• Includes certification opportunities for Project Managers

Chapter 2: Project Management & Information Technology

• Learning Objectives: Describes the systems view of project management in relation to IT.
• Understands organizations, organizational structures and culture.
• Explains importance of stakeholder management and top management commitment.

Projects Cannot Be Run In Isolation

• Projects cannot be run in isolation, they need to be managed.
• Project managers need to think systemically.
• Project managers need to consider how projects relate to the current business needs.

A Systems View of Project Management

• A systems approach to project management emerged in the 1950's.
• It includes systems philosophy, systems analysis, and systems management.

Three Sphere Model for Systems Management

• Discusses factors, like the business, the organization, and the technology, that influence the successful design and execution of projects.
• Questions are posed to understand the scope, costs, and impact on enrollment related to an IT project.
• Factors like the impact of the use of tablets on the college, costs, and enrolling students.

Perspectives on Organizations

• Different perspectives of organizations including the structural, human resources, political, and symbolic frame.

What Went Wrong?

• Only 12.5% of IT projects are successful.
• Poor leadership, lack of stakeholder management, and ineffective risk management contribute to the failure of projects.

Factors Influencing Success

• Organizational structure, culture, top management commitment, stakeholder management, commitment to IT, IT governance standards are important for influencing project success.

Organizational Structures

• Functional, Project, and Matrix are the three basic organizational structures.

Organizational Structure Influences on Projects

• A table comparing organizational structures and relating them to project characteristics.

Organizational Culture

• Organizational culture is a set of shared assumptions, values, and behaviors that characterizes organizational functioning.
• Includes member identity, group emphasis, people focus, unit integration, and control as key characteristics.

Top Management Commitment

• Top managers are key stakeholders in projects.
• Their commitment and support greatly influence project success.

Stakeholder Management

• Project managers must identify, understand, and manage relationships with all project stakeholders.
• Use organizational frames effectively to help meet stakeholder needs and expectations.

Organizational Commitment to IT

• Negative organizational attitudes toward IT make project success difficult.
• Having a CIO at an appropriate level helps projects succeed.
• Involvement by non-IT personnel to manage projects also improves commitment to IT projects.

IT Governance / Standards

• IT governance sets rules and controls key IT activities, including IT infrastructure, IT use, project management.
• Standards define guidelines, rules, procedures, and documentation for handling projects such as, the use of templates and forms.

Project Phases and the Project Life Cycle

• A project life cycle outlines project phases, defining deliverables, roles, and approval processes within each phase.
• A deliverable is a product or a service created or provided during a project.

Phases of the Traditional Project Life Cycle

• Key Phases: Project feasibility, Project acquisition, Concept, Development, Implementation, and Close-out are described to show a typical project timeline and phases.

Product Life Cycles

• The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a framework for describing project phases involved in developing and maintaining information systems.
• Predictive (Waterfall, Incremental Build, Prototyping, Spiral, RAD) and Adaptive (Adaptive Software Development) life cycle approaches are described.

Agile Software Development

• Agile software development centers on close collaboration among stakeholders and programming teams.

The Importance of Project Phases and Management Reviews

• Projects must succeed in passing through each phase and have management reviews at the end of each phase to ensure progress.
• These reviews are used to evaluate the project's progress, anticipate likely success, and determine ongoing compatibility with organizational goals.

What Went Right?

• The key to project success lies in recognizing when to stop working on a dead-end project rather than pushing through it.
• It's important to have mechanisms like executive steering committees to track projects throughout the process.

The Context of IT Projects

• IT projects are variable due to complexity, products created, involved application areas, and resource requirements.
• The project team members and technologies utilized are also factors influencing the project.

Article: Tech Project and Direction

• Discusses present trends in technology projects, their direction, and changes in projects due to economic situations.
• Identifies key projects & industries with high-growth potential.

Article: Project Management & Software Development

• Characteristics of software development projects are distinct from other project types.
• Common mistakes in project management.

Closer to Home... State Projects

• Discusses the success/failures of state IT projects, including main issues, recommendations, and their overall success.

Improving Likelihood of Success for IT Projects

• Several approaches to improve the likelihood of IT project success: value-driven, socio-technical, adherence to project management principles, and knowledge management.

Recent Trends Affecting IT Project Management

• Globalization, outsourcing, and virtual teams have a significant effect on IT project management.

Important Issues and Suggestions Related to

Globalization

• Key issues and suggestions related to globalization that need to be considered by project managers.

Outsourcing

• Organizations frequently use outsourcing as a way to reduce costs.
• To successfully integrate with outsourcing, organizations must focus on strategic IT investments that improve overall enterprise architecture.

Virtual Teams: Advantages/Disadvantages

• Virtual teams have advantages such as increased competitiveness, lower costs, more flexibility, and better work-life balance.
• They also have disadvantages like isolation, interpersonal issues, and communication difficulties and dependability on technology.

Approaches and Philosophy

• eXtreme Project Management (XPM) and Agile Project Management approaches are discussed.

Discussion

• Discusses the challenges in IT project management contrasted with traditional project management, and stakeholder management approaches.

Chapter Summary (Chapter 2)

• Summarizes important concepts: Systems approach, organizational frameworks (structural, human resource, political, and symbolic frames), project manager considerations in IT projects, and factors related to projects.

Chapter 3.1 Agile Project Management

• Gartner predicts agile development will be used in 80% of software development projects starting in 2012.
• Agile's gaining popularity reflects its ability to adapt to changing needs and demands of projects and is valuable in projects where the needs are not fully understood initially.
• Includes certifications, such as APMG-International and PMI—Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP), and Certified Scrum Master.

Agile Makes Sense for Some Projects, But Not All

• Discusses the ideal cases for applying agile approaches.
• Also identifies when they may not be appropriate.

PM Network: At Odds?

• Discusses misunderstandings and myths surrounding Agile projects.

Manifesto for Agile Software Development

• Describes the main tenets of agile development including the values of individuals, working software, customer collaboration, and responding to change.
• Also describes the importance of iterative and incremental software development and processes.

Scrum Framework

• Agile approaches, such as Scrum, are discussed in more detail, and the steps involved are presented.

Scrum Roles

• The roles needed for a Scrum approach to project management are described, including the product owner, the Scrum master, and the project team, in addition to stakeholders and agile mentors.

Scrum Artifacts

• A list of the artifacts (products or files) used for documentation in a scrum approach to project management, including the product backlog, the sprint backlog, and the burndown chart.

Scrum Ceremonies

• The ceremonies (meetings) in the Scrum framework, including sprint planning sessions, daily scrums, sprint reviews, and sprint retrospectives.

Product Backlog

• A product backlog is a prioritized list of requirements for the project.

Sprint Backlog

• List of requirements for a sprint (a time-box project).

Product vs. Sprint Backlog

• Describes the differences between product backlog and sprint backlog.

Burndown Chart

• A burndown chart helps visualize the remaining work in a project and how it relates to the schedule.

PM Network: Agile to the Rescue

• Discusses how an agile project was implemented.

Agile, the PMBOK® Guide, and a New Certification

• The PMI recognizes Agile methodology and offers certification.

Chapter 3.2 Process Groups: Case Study

• Describes the process groups that are used in project management: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing.

Percentage of Time Spent on Each Process Group

• Table illustrating percentages illustrating the time spent on each process for other project managers and alpha project managers.

IRS and PM Process

• IRS project management processes are discussed along with a statement about who is ultimately responsible for projects success/failure.

Process Groups & Knowledge Areas

• Comparing and contrasting process groups and knowledge areas, with specific examples in the process groups such as Planning.

Project Management Process Groups and Knowledge Area Mapping

• Table illustrating the process groups and knowledge area mapping that helps explain the intersection between these items.

Developing an IT Project Management Methodology

• Various methodologies utilized in IT Project Management.
• Examples include PRINCE2®, Agile®, RUP, and Six Sigma

Case Study: JWD Consulting's Project Management Intranet Site

• Presents a case study outlining the background, PM, Sponsor, and Stakeholders, & Project Description.

Project Pre-initiation

• Tasks performed by senior managers before starting a project, including defining constraints; identifying sponsor
• Selecting a project manager; and developing a business case.

JWD Pre-initiation

• The process of pre-initiation for a JWD project, including the costs, benefits, and calculation of ROI and payback time.

Project Initiation

• Tasks involved in recognizing, and starting a new project or phase, including development of a project charter and stakeholder register.

JWD Project Charters and Kick-off Meetings

• Discusses the format for a project charter; and details about a typical kick-off meeting.

JWD Stakeholder Mgmt Output: Register and Strategy

• Presents a stakeholder management register that includes names, titles, role.
• Provides potential strategies for managing stakeholders based on their level of interest and influence.

Project Planning

• The purpose is to guide execution. Every knowledge area includes planning information.
• This section describes the process and documentation employed in the JWD project.

Figure 3-4. JWD Consulting Intranet Site Project Baseline Gantt Chart

• Presents a Gantt chart for the project, outlining tasks, milestones, and expected duration.

List of Prioritized Risks

• A list of prioritized risks associated with the JWD consulting intranet site project.

Project Executing

• Illustrates an example report on JWD project milestones, focusing on each phase of the project, identifying the person or people responsible, and reporting status and issues.

Execution Processes

• The tasks involved in executing a project plan.

Project Monitoring and Controlling

• The responsibilities of monitoring and adjusting project activities to meet objectives are outlined.

Project Closing

• Procedures and activities involved with project completion.

Chapter Summary (Chapter 5)

• Summary of what was discussed in this chapter including the topics within Project Scope Management, and the roles and responsibilities during each phase.

Chapter 6: Project Time Management

• Focuses on the significance of project schedules and aspects impacting schedule conflicts.

Planning Schedule Management

• Explains project scheduling management policies and procedures.
• Includes accuracy levels and formats for schedule reports and work descriptions to achieve projects objectives.

Defining Activities

• Explanation of work breakdown structures (WBS) and their function and components.
• Activity definition and the detail levels needed for tasks and scheduling.

Activity Lists and Attributes

• Discusses the components of an activity list and activity attributes for project scheduling.

Milestones

• Briefly examines milestones in project management, which are key events with no duration, contributing to project schedule management.

Sequencing Activities

• Emphasizes the importance of dependencies, logical relationships, and sequencing in project scheduling.
• Three types of dependencies are discussed: mandatory, discretionary, and external.

Network Diagrams

• Explain the role of network diagrams and their use in project scheduling.

Arrow Diagramming Method

• Explains the Arrow Diagramming Method's role in project scheduling as a schematic displaying project activities and sequencing.

Estimating Activity Resources

• Importance of understanding the type and quantity of resources involved (people, equipment, and materials) for estimating activity durations.

Activity Duration Estimating

• Explains the difference between estimating duration time and effort required to complete a task.

Three-Point Estimates

• Describes how to use optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic duration estimates for activity durations.

Developing the Schedule

• Explains how to develop project schedules using established time management processes.
• Explains types of important tools and techniques in project scheduling.

Gantt Charts

• Explains the use of Gantt charts for visually displaying project schedules to determine dependencies and timelines.

Adding Milestones to Gantt Charts

• Explains how milestones help in project management for tracking progress and success.

Tracking Gantt Chart

• Demonstrates how to use tracking Gantt charts for project progress evaluation, by comparing planned and actual schedules.

Critical Path Method (CPM)

• Explains the Critical Path Method (CPM), its importance in project time management, and how to calculate the longest path.

Calculating the Critical Path

• Steps of how to calculate the critical path, the longest path, on a project using its network diagram.

More on the Critical Path

• Discusses situations where multiple critical paths might exist and how critical paths can change as projects evolve.

Using the Critical Path to Shorten a Project Schedule

• Discusses how to shorten critical paths through scheduling adjustments using various techniques.

Importance of Updating Critical Path Data

• Importance of frequent updates to the project schedule to ensure appropriate time management and the ability to respond to unexpected circumstances.

Controlling the Schedule

• Discusses the goals for project schedule control and how to apply various tools and techniques to analyze and manage schedule changes.

Reality Checks on Scheduling

• Discusses reality checks to ensure schedule management plans are realistic and to prepare for potential problems.

Using Software to Assist in Time Management

• Discusses use of software, such as spreadsheet and project management software, to assist in project time management.

Chapter Summary (Chapter 6)

• Summarizes critical concepts in time management.

Chapter 7: Project Cost Management

• Introduction to project cost management and its importance.

Importance of Project Cost Management

• Importance of meeting budget goals in projects, and studies showing average cost overruns for IT projects in the past.
• Ranges from 180% in 1994 to 43% in 2010.

What is Cost and Project Cost Management?

• Discusses what costs are and why cost management is important for project management.
• Importance of preparing good cost estimates.

Project Cost Management Processes

• Describes three important processes in managing project costs including: Planning, Estimating, and Budgeting.

Figure 7-1. Project Cost Management Summary

• Summary of the main processes for project cost management: Planning and Monitoring & controlling.

Basic Principles of Cost Management

• Discusses basic principles including profit margins, life-cycle costing, & cash flow analysis and the need to account for intangible, direct, and indirect costs and to use time value of money as resources are used over time.

Basic Principles of Cost Management

Cash flow analysis

• Analyzes the annual costs and benefits of a project and resulting cash flow.
• Discusses organizational trends for failing to allocate sufficient early-phase project funds.

Types of Costs and Benefits

• Tangible costs are costs that are easy to measure in monetary terms; intangible costs are those that are not easy to measure in monetary terms.
• Different types of costs exist including: Direct, Indirect, Sunk costs, and Reserves costs.

More Basic Principles of Cost Management

• Discusses sunk costs and the importance of projecting future situations. Explains how to use this information to determine if it is worthwhile to spend a lot of resources on a project.

Planning Cost Management

• Explains planning cost management policies, procedures, and documentation.
• Includes accurate measures, organizational procedures, thresholds, rules of performance measurement, reporting formats, and process descriptions.

Estimating Costs

• Discusses the importance of estimating project costs seriously.
• Outlines the types and typical problems related to estimating IT costs.

Table 7-2. Types of Cost Estimates

• Table summarizing different types of cost estimations, when they are typically used, and level of accuracy.

More on Cost Estimates

• Explores estimated cost accuracy as project progresses.

Cost Estimation Tools and Techniques

• Discusses cost-estimating tools and techniques including analogous/top-down methods, bottom-up methods, three-point estimations, and parametric modeling.

Typical Problems with IT Cost Estimates

• Discusses common difficulties in estimating IT costs.

Determining the Budget

• Details of the cost budgeting process and the need for a cost baseline.

Figure 7-4. Surveyor Pro Project Cost Baseline

• Illustrates a sample cost baseline using a table organized by work breakdown structure (WBS) items.

Controlling Costs

• Focuses on managing changes within the project budget using monitoring cost performance and adhering to the cost baseline to ensure projects stay on track.

Earned Value Management (EVM)

• Introduces earned value management (EVM): a project performance technique that integrates scope, schedule, and cost.
• Explains the different components of EVM, including planned value (PV), actual cost (AC), earned value (EV), and rate of performance (RP).

Earned Value Management Terms

• Defines key terms related to earned value management (EVM) used in project performance measurement: planned value (PV), actual cost(AC), earned value (EV).

Rate of Performance

• Explains the calculation for the rate of performance (RP) to measure accomplished work versus the planned timeline goals.

Cost Variance (CV) and Schedule Variance (SV)

• Definitions and explanations of cost variance (CV) and schedule variance (SV), along with how to use them for analyzing project costs and schedules.

Cost Performance Index (CPI)

• Explains the calculation for the cost performance index (CPI) in measuring project performance in cost, in comparison to budget estimations, and how to interpret whether a project is under or over budget based on the CPI.

Schedule Performance Index (SPI)

• Explains how the schedule performance index (SPI) is measured to understand project performance within the time budget.
• Explains the meanings of CPI scores less than 100% or greater than 100.

Rules of Thumb for Earned Value Numbers

• Explains the application of rules of thumb for interpreting earned value data.

Example

• Provides an example on how to calculate project earned value.

Table 7-5. Earned Value Formulas

• Table of common formulas for calculating Earned Value Metrics (EVM) such as earned value (EV), planned value (PV), cost variance (CV), schedule variance (SV), cost performance index (CPI), schedule performance index (SPI), estimate at completion (EAC).

Figure 7-5. Earned Value Chart for Project after Five Months

• Presents a sample chart illustrating EVM.

Using Software to Assist in Cost Management

• Discusses the use of software for cost management such as spreadsheets and specialized project management software.

Chapter Summary (Chapter 7)

• Summarizes topics within project cost management, including planning cost management; cost estimation tools and techniques; determining the budget; and controlling costs.

Test your knowledge on key aspects of IT project management, including the roles of project managers, essential skills, and common challenges. This quiz covers insights from industry leaders and focuses on successfully navigating the complexities of IT projects.