CHP 1: AN OVERVIEW OF IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Transcription

1 1 CHP 1: AN OVERVIEW OF IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT Slides by: Ms. Shree Jaswal

2 TOPICS TO BE COVERED Introduction The state of IT project management Context of project management Need of project management Project goals Project life cycle & IT development Extreme project management Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) 2

3 WHAT IS A PROJECT? Project involves single definable purpose or end item. Every project is a unique one time activity for doing something which wasn t done before or doing something differently than what was done before. Diversity of projects can be measured in terms of amount of effort, complexity, number of groups involved, number of skills involved, types of resources 3

4 CHARACTERISTICS OF A PROJECT Project has a customer/sponsor i.e. direct beneficiary from the project s success It has a definable purpose or end-product It has a unique purpose i.e. it produces unique product /service It is temporary in nature i.e. it ends when either - its goal is achieved or it is realized that its goal cannot be achieved or if realized that its need has ceased to exist Project involves an element of unfamiliarity and risk 4

5 CHARACTERISTICS OF PROJECT,CONTD It cuts across organizational lines i.e. they need skills and talents from multiple professions and organizations. Project involves uncertainties e.g. changes in technology, organization structure, requirements Project evolves in progressive fashion i.e. various aspects of the project are defined in detail as the project progresses Project requires varied resources e.g. manpower, money, material, equipment, facilities, IT Project has defined start and finish dates 5

6 INTRODUCTION Definition of a project: The PMI has defined project as A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service In the broadest sense a project is a specific, finite task to be accomplished. IT projects are organizational investments. When an organization builds or implements an IT solution it expects a ROI To improve the chances of success in achieving the ROI, a discipline called IT/ software project management has emerged. 6

7 THE STATE OF IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT Why Projects Fail CHAOS STUDY 7

8 CHAOS STUDY 8

9 IMPROVING THE LIKELIHOOD OF SUCCESS Value-driven approach: IT projects must provide value to the organization which could come in terms of better customer service, more efficient business processes, lower costs or expanded market share. Socio-technical Approach: IT professionals must understand the business and be actively creative in applying the technology in ways that bring value to the organization. Similarly clients must become stakeholders in the project. 9

10 IMPROVING THE LIKELIHOOD OF SUCCESS Project Management Approach: Applying project management principles and tools across the entire organization should be part of a methodology- step-by-step activities, processes, tools, quality standards, controls & deliverables that are defined for the entire project. processes and infrastructure resources expectations competition efficiency and effectiveness Knowledge Management Approach: knowledge management is a systematic process for acquiring, creating, synthesizing, sharing and using information, insights and experiences to transform ideas into business value. lessons learned best practices 10

11 CONTEXT OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT Project Definitions A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to accomplish a unique purpose. Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project 11

12 CONTEXT OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT Why project management? It is an effective approach that addresses a wide variety of organizational opportunities and challenges It focuses on reducing costs and product cycle times in turn having a direct impact on an organization s bottom line and competitiveness 12

13 CONTEXT OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT Managing a project includes: Identifying requirements Establishing clear and achievable objectives Balancing the competing demands for quality, scope, time and cost. Adapting the specifications, plans and approaches to the different concerns and expectations of the various stakeholders. Attributes of a project: 1. Time frame 2. Purpose 3. Ownership 4. Resources 5. Roles 6. Risks and assumptions 7. Interdependent tasks 8. Organizational change 9. Operating in an environment larger than the project itself 13

14 ATTRIBUTES OF A PROJECT: 1. Time frame: because of the temporary nature of the project it must have a definite beginning and end. 2. Purpose: a project s goal must be to produce something tangible and of some value to the organization. Eg: system, software, recommendations based on a study..etc. 3. Ownership: although a project may have many stakeholders a project should have a clearly defined sponsor. The sponsor may be an executive, the end user, customer or the client who has the ability and desire to provide direction, funding and other resources to the project. 14

15 ATTRIBUTES OF A PROJECT: 4. Resources: they provide the means for achieving a project s goal and also act as a constraint. Triple constraint: scope, schedule and budget must remain in a sort of equilibrium to support a particular project goal. This relationship is referred to as the triple constraint. Scope Project goal & expectations Schedule Budget 15

16 ATTRIBUTES OF A PROJECT: 5. Roles: IT projects require different individuals with different skill sets. A typical project may include: Project manager (PM) or leader Project sponsor Subject matter expert (SME) Technical expert (TE) 6. Risks & assumptions: Risk can arise from many sources which maybe internal or external. Eg for Internal risk- key member leaving project midway. Eg. For External risk- dependency on other contractors or vendors. Assumptions are a form of risk that are introduced in project in terms of forecasts or predictions. 16

17 ATTRIBUTES OF A PROJECT: 7. Interdependent tasks: Sometimes the delay of one task can affect other subsequent, dependent tasks. Some tasks may undergo progressive elaboration wherein the tasks will be conducted in steps or increments. 8. Organizational change: Projects are planned organizational change. System that is a technical success could end up being an organizational failure due to resistance to change. 9. Operating in an environment larger than the project itself: the projects selected, the technical infrastructure and the role of IT for each organization are different. The project team must understand both the technical & organizational variables so that the project can be aligned properly with the structure & strategy of the organization. 17

18 NEED OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT Nature of projects and environment have changed. Modern projects involve great technical complexity and require much diversity of skills. Managers are subjected to constrained resources. Limited time schedules and environmental uncertainty while directing large temporary organizations. To cope with complex kind of activities and great uncertainty, new forms of project organization and new practices of management have evolved. 18

19 PROJECT GOALS The purpose of project management is to direct the project to achieve three goals Budget is the specified or allowable cost for the project Schedule is the time period over which the work will be done and the target date for when it will be completed Performance requirements specify what is to be done to reach the final result. They include features for final product, technological specifications, quality and quantity measures 19

20 PROJECT LIFE CYCLE & IT DEVELOPMENT Definitions: Project Life Cycle (PLC): It is a collection of logical stages or phases that maps the life of a project from its beginning to its end in order to define, build and deliver the product of a project i.e the info sys. Deliverable: It is a tangible and verifiable product of work. Eg. Project plan, design specifications..etc. Phase exits, stage gates, or kill points: They are the phase-end review of key deliverables that allow the organization to evaluate the project s performance and to take immediate action to correct any errors or problems. Fast tracking: It is starting the next phase before approval is obtained which sometimes reduces the project s schedule. 20

21 GENERIC PROJECT LIFE CYCLE 21

22 PHASES/STAGES OF PLC Define project goal Plan project Answer questions (What, why, how, who, et al) Baseline plan Baseline plan Close project Evaluate project 22

23 SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE SDLC: sequential phases or stages an information system follows throughout its useful life. Phases/Stages Planning Analysis Design Implementation Maintenance and Support 23

24 IMPLEMENTING SDLC: Structured Approaches: Waterfall Method 24

25 IMPLEMENTING SDLC: Structured Approaches: Waterfall Method 1 characteristic of waterfall model is that a great deal of time and effort is spent in early phases getting requirements and design right because it is more expensive to fix a bug or add a missing requirement in the later phases of the project. An advantage of this model is that it allows us to plan each phase in detail so that the project schedule and budget can be computed by summing the time and cost estimates for all the tasks defined in each phase. This approach is still used today especially for large government systems and by companies that develop shrink wrap or commercial software packages. This model may work well when the project team is inexperienced or less technically competent. It takes too long to develop systems and it does not embrace the idea that changing requirements are inevitable. 25

26 IMPLEMENTING SDLC: Iterative Systems Development Approaches: Rapid Application Development (RAD): It attempts to compress the analysis, design, build and test activities of the SDLC into a series of short iterations or development cycles. Prototyping: Similar to RAD, it is an iterative approach to systems development where the user and developer work closely together to develop a partially or fully functional system as soon as possible. Often a prototype may be developed to discover or refine system requirements specs (SRS) Spiral Development: Spiral model breaks up a software project into a number of mini projects that address one or more major risks until all the risks have been addressed. 26

27 IMPLEMENTING SDLC: Iterative Systems Development Approaches: Agile systems development/ Extreme Programming(XP): XP is most commonly known agile methodologies. Under XP, the system is transferred to the user in a series of versions called releases (which are developed using several iterations spanning a few weeks or months). Each release is a working system that includes only one or several functions that are part of the full system specifications. XP includes no. of activities: User stories OO model Class diagram Acceptance test per user story Release if acceptance test passed 27

28 THE PLC VS THE SDLC The Project Life Cycle (PLC) focuses on the phases, processes, tools, knowledge and skills for managing a project while the system development life cycle (SDLC) focuses on creating & implementing the project s product the information system. See fig in next slide. 28

29 THE PLC VS THE SDLC 29

30 EXTREME PROJECT MANAGEMENT Doug DeCarlo defines XPM as: The art and science of facilitating and managing the flow of thoughts, emotions and interactions in a way that produces valued outcomes under turbulent and complex conditions: those that feature high speed, high change, high uncertainty and high stress. Since most projects are not stable or predictable, an XPM approach does not try to change that reality; rather it attempts to deal with it through increased flexibility and adaptability. XPM takes a more holistic view of planning and managing projects. XPM leadership focuses on enabling people to discover best solutions and self correct themselves as needed. 30

31 PROJECT MANAGEMENT BODY OF KNOWLEDGE (PMBOK) 31

32 PROJECT MANAGEMENT KNOWLEDGE AREAS 1. Project integration management 2. Project scope management 3. Project time management 4. Project cost management 5. Project quality management 6. Project human resource management 7. Project communication management 8. Project risk management 9. Project procurement management 32

33 33 THANK YOU!