Information Systems Project Management

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(No Transcript)
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Information Systems Project Management

• Information Systems Project Management
• Time Management
• Guest Speaker

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Time Management

• We have the distinct pleasure of having Jeff
  Cohen with us this evening
• Jeff was one of the key resources on my project
  management team at Convergys, and it was my
  pleasure to promote Jeff as one of my last acts
  before leaving Convergys
• He was tasked with working with all of the
  project plan managers and overall release plan
  managers to get coherent work plans schedules
  together
• Jeff continues to work with the plan managers,
  and has added a new role of project manager of
  some of the subsidiary database development plans
  to his repertoire
• Hes here tonight to tell you what its like
  working on a project management team at a large
  global software services provider

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Time Management

• My Background
• BS - University of Florida - 05/01
• MS - University of Central Florida - 12/02
• MC - George Washington University - 03/04
• PMP - Project Management Institute - 09/04

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Time Management

• Convergys - 06/02
• Introduced to formal Project Management
• Formal - Previous jobs (marketing shows,
  networking implementations), Community Action
  Projects, House, Wedding
• Awesome! Organization, Planning, Controlling,
  Budgeting, Checkpoints, Management

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Time Management

• Convergys to Date
• Project Management Office
• Release Management Support
• Database and Architecture Project Manager
• Same company but worlds apart
• Different Policies, procedures, deliverables
• Consistent Building relationships, managing
  unlimited work with limited time and resources

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Time Management

• Level One Project Manager
• Responsible for everything
• Positives
• Challenges, opportunities, deadlines ?, learning
• Worked with different people
• Helped others understand
• Provided data for critical decisions
• Interacted with different levels

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Time Management

• Challenges
• Accurate data / tight schedules / critical high
  visibility decisions
• Always going in different directions
• New and unfamiliar assignments (great learning
  opportunities)

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Time Management

• All positions and companies are demanding,
  rewarding, and challenging
• Project Managers
• Are held to a different standard
• Have a different set of expectations
• Are respected

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Time Management

• While working on Johns Release Management Team
• Weekly
• Answered 150 questions
• Taught 5 - 15 end users
• Sent 100 emails
• Provided management and schedule data using
  various tools Crystal Reports, Visio, Excel,
  Word, PowerPoint, Microsoft Project, Project
  Workbench for Windows, etc.
• Responsible for everything from A Z

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Time Management

• A Few Examples
• Schedules (Project Plans)
• Resources and Resource Constraints
• Capacity Modeling
• Earned Value
• Status Reports
• Time Management Systems
• Issue Tracking Systems
• Standards Definition, Process Improvement

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Time Management

• Release Commit Process
• Commit to set number of hours with client
• Project Plans
• Hours, Dates
• Imports, baselines, re-imports, re-baselines
• Appropriate resources included / time estimated
• Gantt Charts - UTP Dates
• Allocation Reports
• Plan Summary Reports

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Time Management

• Numerous iterations
• Teamwork with Plan Managers, Feature Managers,
  Release Managers
• Verifying data in multiple locations
• Understanding and resolving discrepancies
• Adjustments for incorrect baselines
• Finding hidden hours, generic resources
• Having very limited time

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Time Management

• Almost every single item I was responsible for
  centered around time management / schedules
• Important topic
• I feel its the most widely applied PMBOK
  Knowledge Area
• Answers important questions
• Are we on time, on schedule, will we make this
  date, can we make an earlier date, what is the
  impact on the next date, what has to happen
  first, what are we waiting on .

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Time Management

• Daily use of the concepts from your Time
  Management Classes
• Activity Definition, Activity Sequencing,
  Activity Resource Estimating, Activity Duration
  Estimating, Schedule Development, Schedule
  Control, Work Breakdown Structures, Gantt Charts,
  Dependencies, Lag, Lead
• Relate to everyday tasks
• Prioritizing activities, developing schedules,
  understanding task dependencies, learning how to
  find and exploit any lag and lead time.

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Time Management

• Convergys and Clients Executive Management
  teams relied on our schedule to help determine
  project health
• Key data was needed to make important decisions
• Project success or failure hinged on the accuracy
  of our data
• My responsibility was to make sure the reported
  data was accurate, and that the underlying
  schedule was both realistic and achievable

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Time Management

• Convergys is an extremely large, truly global,
  Software Development company
• Offices cover the entire world
• Within our Business Unit, employee base was split
  30 in Cincinnati, 30 in Orlando, and 40 in
  India (and a small percent in KC)
• My immediate manager was located in Cincinnati.
  Later gained team members in Cincinnati and India.

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Time Management

• Staffing in India went from a small to the 40
  rather quickly during my tenure!
• Went from knowing we had a few developers in
  India to
• Having an immediate team member located in the
  India office
• Having managers, project managers, end users,
  system test resources, development resources --
  enough resources to staff an entire company --
  located in India

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Time Management

• The benefits were countless
• Coverage in the evening
• New policies and procedures
• Efficiencies to be gained
• Knowledge to be shared
• New skill sets and perspectives

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Time Management

• And the challenges were countless, too
• Different dialects
• Different work ethics
• Different holiday schedules
• Unclear reporting structures
• Unclear expectations
• Difficult names
• Learning curves
• Fears
• U.S. - Job loss
• India - Disposability

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Time Management

• Learning curve for everyone involved
• Took a lot of time to work through
• Still working through

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Time Management

• Things that surprised me the most
• Communication styles - Always reiterate what you
  say, in a different way
• Commitment - Their culture does not believe in
  saying no. Commit to something even if not
  likely able to complete
• Comfort - They must become very comfortable with
  you before they will indicate there is a problem

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Time Management

• Things that surprised me the most (cont)
• Expectations Provide them immediate support,
  respect. Not earned, but expected.
• Expectations Value their team members
  enormously
• Invited and expected to attend peers wedding in
  India

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Time Management

• Things that challenged me the most
• Not providing accurate status
• Not asking questions out of fear
• Arbitrary and inaccurate direction / guidance
• Feeling like different organization (hierarchy,
  contact information)
• Locating people, phone tag, work schedules

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Time Management

• Challenges India team members are facing
• Lack of training during the initial new hire
  stages
• U.S. assumes that India is trained and aware of
  various manuals, databases, systems, procedures,
  etc.
• Lack of personal touch its all virtual
• Lack of emotional understanding. Certain values
  have significant meaning to India resources but
  are hardly understood by U.S. resources.

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Time Management

• Challenges India team members are facing
• Feeling left out of meetings where a local (U.S.)
  joke is shared but not understood
• Lack of support and knowledge transfer from the
  U.S. resources due to threats of insecurity
  does not help everyone win

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Time Management

• Challenges India team members are facing (cont)
• Resources follow different standards. U.S. uses
  PMBOK while India uses CMMI.
• Communication barriers. Waiting an entire day to
  have a question answered, to receive access to a
  database, etc.

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Time Management

• Important - realize their ways are not bad
• Differences may seem unfair, surprising,
  unrealistic
• Everyone is different. Everyone has their own
  culture, beliefs, interests, motivations, and
  hobbies.
• Responsibility to understand your peers
• Essential to learn from and respect our
  differences

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• Thank you for your time!

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• Any questions for Jeff before he leaves?

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Next Class

• Well be finishing up our coverage of Time
  Management with a group exercise in project
  network / schedule development
• If theres time, well begin our study of Cost
  Management
• Reading
• No assignment
• Have a good and productive week!