Chapter 2: The Project Management Context and Processes

1
Chapter 2The Project Management Context and
Processes

• adopted from PMIs PMBOK 2000 and
• Textbook Information Technology Project
  Management
• (author Dr. Kathy Schwalbe)

2
Contents

• Three Sphere Model
• system philosophy, system analysis and system
  management
• Project Life Cycle
• Concept, development, implementation and support
• Project life cycle vs product life cycle
• Management reviews in project phases
• Organization structure
• Success factors in project management
• Project Management job functions 15
• Skill required in project manager
• Project management process
• initiating, planning, executing, controlling and
  closing
• PM processes vs knowledge areas

Chapter 2
3
Projects Cannot 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
• See example in opening and closing case to
  illustrate this concept

Chapter 2
4
A Systems View of Project Management

• A systems approach emerged in the 1950s to
  describe a more analytical approach to management
  and problem solving
• Three parts include
• Systems philosophy
• View things as systems, interacting components
  working within an environment to fulfill some
  purpose
• Systems analysis
• problem-solving approach
• Systems management
• Address business, technological, and
  organizational issues before making changes to
  systems

5
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
• matrix
• weak, balance, strong
• projectized

Chapter 2
6
Organizational StructuresFunctional
7
Organizational StructuresProjectized
8
Organizational Structuresmatrix
9
Organizational Structure Influences on Projects
PMBOK Guide, 2000, p. 19
The organizational structure influences the
project managers authority, but remember to
address the human resources, political,and
symbolic frames, too.
10
Recognize the Importance of Project Stakeholders

• Recall that project stakeholders are the people
  involved in or affected by project activities
• Project managers must take time to identify,
  understand, and manage relationships with all
  project stakeholders
• Senior executives are very important stakeholders

Chapter 2
11
What Helps Projects Succeed?

• According to the Standish Groups report CHAOS
  2001 A Recipe for Success, the following items
  help IT projects succeed, in order of importance
• Executive support
• User involvement
• Experience project manager
• Clear business objectives
• Minimized scope
• Standard software infrastructure
• Firm basic requirements
• Formal methodology
• Reliable estimates

Chapter 2
12
Need for Top Management Commitment

• Several studies cite top management commitment as
  one of the key factors associated with project
  success
• Top management can help project managers secure
  adequate resources, get approval for unique
  project needs in a timely manner, receive
  cooperation from people throughout the
  organization, and learn how to be better leaders

Chapter 2
13
Fifteen Project Management Job Functions

• Define scope of project
• Identify stakeholders, decision-makers, and
  escalation procedures
• Develop detailed task list (work breakdown
  structures)
• Estimate time requirements
• Develop initial project management flow chart
• Identify required resources and budget

• Evaluate project requirements
• Identify and evaluate risks Prepare contingency
  plan
• Identify interdependencies
• Identify and track critical milestones
• Participate in project phase review
• Secure needed resources
• Manage the change control process
• Report project status

Northwest Center for Emerging Technologies,
"Building a Foundation for Tomorrow Skills
Standards for Information Technology,"Belleview,
WA, 1999
14
Skills of PM

• Technical skills
• two schools of thought
• rich technical skills
• little technical skills gt leave the technical
  details to others
• depends on the size and complexity of the
  project, and project team

• Personal skills
• manage by example
• positive attitude
• define expectation
• be considerate
• be direct
• open and never conceal problems
• escalate it to senior management if it is too big
  to handle

15
Skills of PM (2)

• Management Skills
• need to understand the business aspect
• key skills planning, communications,
  organization, finance, skill, team building and
  HR skills

• Coping skills
• high in EQ
• being flexible
• being persistent and firm when necessary
• being creative,
• being patient but able to differentiate between
  patience and action
• being able to handle large amounts of continuous,
  often stress!

16
Most Significant Characteristics of Effective and
Ineffective Project Managers
Effective Project Managers Ineffective
Project Managers

• Sets bad example
• Not self-assured
• Lacks technical expertise
• Poor communicator
• Poor motivator

• Leadership by example
• Visionary
• Technically competent
• Decisive
• Good communicator
• Good motivator
• Stands up to upper management when necessary
• Supports team members
• Encourages new ideas

17
Role of Project Manager
18
Project Management Process

• Project management can be viewed as a number of
  interlinked processes
• The project management process groups include
• initiating processes
• planning processes
• executing processes
• controlling processes
• closing processes

Chapter 2
19
Overlap of Process Groups in a Phase (PMBOK
Guide, 2000, p. 31)
20
Summary

• Three Sphere Model
• system philosophy, system analysis and system
  management
• Project Life Cycle
• Concept, development, implementation and support
• Organization structure
• functional, project and matrix
• Success factors in project management
• many, but most important is management support
• Project Management job functions 15
• define, identify, develop, estimate participate
  and report
• Skill required in project manager
• communications skill, organizational skill, team
  building, leadership skills, coping skill and
  technical skill
• Project management process
• initiating, planning, executing, controlling and
  closing

21
Quiz 1

• The most common non-behavioral reason for
  projects being completed behind schedule and over
  budget is
• A. Selecting the wrong person as the project
  manager
• B. Selecting the wrong person as the sponsor
• C. Accepting a high-risk project
• D. Ill-defined requirements
• E. All of the above
• see note page for answer

22
Quiz 2

• The most common definition of project success is
• A. Within time
• B. Within time and cost
• C. Within time, cost and technical performance
  requirements
• D. Within time, cost, performance and accepted by
  the customer/user
• E. None of the above
• see note page for answer

23
Quiz 3

• Which of the following organizations has the best
  technical project control?
• A. matrix
• B. functional
• C. projectized
• D. B and C
• E. A and B
• see note page for answer

24
Quiz 4

• What are the top 2 critical success factor of an
  IT project?