April 10 (Ch 18): Managing Organizational Projects

No one would think of building an office complex by turning loose 100 different construction teams to build 100 different rooms, with no single blueprint or agreed-upon vision of the completed structure. Yet this is precisely the situation in which many large organizations find themselves when managing information technology projects. Organizations routinely over-schedule their resources (human and otherwise), develop redundant projects, and damage profitability by investing in nonstrategic efforts that do not contribute to the organization’s bottom line. Project management offers a strategic framework for coordinating the numerous activities associated with organizational projects.

Business leaders face a rapidly moving and unforgiving global marketplace that will force them to use every possible tool to sustain competitiveness. A good project manager understands not only the fundamentals of project management, but also how to effectively deal with change management and risk management. This chapter explores project management, change management, risk management, and outsourcing in detail.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

18.1 Explain the triple constraints and its importance in project management.
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. The triple constraint includes three interdependent variables - time, scope, and resources. If one changes, they all must change.

18.2 Describe the fundamentals of project management.
The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines a project as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.

• Project deliverables are any measurable, tangible, verifiable outcome, result, or item that is produced to complete a project or part of a project. Examples of project deliverables include design documents, testing scripts, and requirements documents.
• Project milestones represent key dates when a certain group of activities must be performed. For example, completing the planning phase might be a project milestone. If a project milestone is missed, then chances are the project is experiencing problems.
• Project manager is an individual who is an expert in project planning and management, defines and develops the project plan, and tracks the plan to ensure the project is completed on time and on budget. The project manager is the person responsible for executing the entire project plan.
• Project management office (PMO) is an internal department that oversees all organizational projects. This group must formalize and professionalize project management expertise and leadership. One of the primary initiatives of the PMO is to educate the organization on techniques and procedures necessary to run successful projects.

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Content attributed to Business Driven Technology (Customized WMU Edition)
Baltzan & Phillips.