MBA Information Technology Management: Managing Software Projects and Common Mistakes - Pr, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Introduction to Business Management

Download MBA Information Technology Management: Managing Software Projects and Common Mistakes - Pr and more Study Guides, Projects, Research Introduction to Business Management in PDF only on Docsity! 1 MBA 8125 Information technology Management Professor Duane Truex III IS Project Management Introduction © 2007, Keil, Storey, Stuckey & Truex Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Agenda • Software Engineering – Managing Software Projects 2 Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Managing Software Projects • Cost of Errors • Schedule Estimation and Planning • Project Risk • Project Evaluation • Classic Mistakes Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Relative Cost of Repairing Errors Source: Haag et al. Management Information Systems for the Information Age 5 Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Classic Mistakes of Project Management • Personnel Mistakes • Customer Mistakes • Process Mistakes • Product Mistakes • Technology Mistakes Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management • Undermined Motivation • Weak players / problem employees / heroics • Adding personnel to already late project [Brook’s law: adding more people to a late project makes the project later.] • Noisy, crowded work surroundings Personnel Mistakes 6 Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Sponsor/Customer Mistakes • Unrealistic expectations • No stakeholder buy-in • Insufficient user input • Wishful thinking Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Process Mistakes • Overly optimistic schedules • Failure to manage unique risks • Contractor failure • Insufficient planning • Abandonment of plans • Shortchanged process / quality assurance 7 Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Product Mistakes • Feature creep • Developer gold-plating • Schedule slip / added tasks • Advancing state of art Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Technology Mistakes • Silver bullet tools • Overestimated savings from tools • Switching tools in middle 10 Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management WHAT DEFINES A PROJECT? Project Definition “[A] project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. Temporary means that every project has a definite beginning and a definite end. Unique means that the product or service is different in some distinguishing way from all similar products or services.” -Project Management Institute (1996) Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Projects • Companies use projects and operations to generate revenue. • Projects are temporary endeavors that have a fixed start and stop date and time. • Operations are ongoing, repetitive tasks that are performed until they are changed or replaced. • Project managers may break projects into sub- projects depending upon the work. 11 Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management High High High Lump sum for project Uncertain Shorter duration Less formal Small Higher Informal Very important Very important Temporary Unique Low Low Low Hourly or weekly wage High certainty Longer duration More formal Large Lower Formal Less important Less important On-going Repetitive Labor skills Training time Worker autonomy Compensation system Material input requirements Suppler ties Raw Materials inventory Scheduling complexity Quality control Information flows Worker-mgmt communication Duration Product or service ProjectsOperationsCharacteristics Fig. 11.1 Characteristics of operational and project work Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management What is 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 expectation from a project. • Involves continual trade-offs • Manager’s job to manage these trade-offs. 12 Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Typical Project Management trade-offs • Scope vs. Time – Product and project scope. – Scope creep can occur. • Cost vs. Quality – The quality of a system will normally impact its cost. • Identified requirements vs. Unidentified requirements • User needs vs. User expectations • Differing needs and expectations vs. diverse stakeholders Tim e Cost Scope Quality of outcome Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Project Management Activities • The project manager will typically be involved in: – Ensuring progress of the project according to defined metrics.. – Identifying risks. – Ensuring progress toward deliverables within time and resource constraints. – Running coordination meetings. – Negotiating for resources on behalf of the project. 15 Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management PROJECT ELEMENTS: Essential Components • There are four components essential for any project. These elements are necessary to assure that the project will have a high probability of success. – Common Project Vocabulary: so all team members can communicate effectively (since many are new this is very important). – Teamwork: to insure all parts of the project come together effectively and correctly (make sure to clearly define the teams objectives). – Project cycle plan: method and schedule to execute the project (Gantt charts, CPM, and PERT diagrams). – Management of the project is needed so that it is coordinated and executed appropriately Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Project Cycle Plan • The project cycle plan organizes discrete project activities, sequencing them into steps along a time line. • Identifies critical beginning and ending dates and breaks the work spanning these dates into phases • The three most common approaches are: – Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) (Figure 11.3) – Critical Path Method – Gantt chart (Figure 11.4) 16 Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Figure 11.3 PERT Chart Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Figure 11.4 GANTT Chart 17 Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Deployment or production phase Deactivate phase Verification phase Develo pment phase Source selection phase Acquisition planning phase System specification phase Concept definition phase User require- ment definition phase. Generic Project Cycle Template Manufactur-ing, sales & support phase Production phase Internal test phase Engineer model phase Product develop- ment phase Product proposal phase Product definition phase Product requirement phase Typical High Tech Commercial Business Distribution phase Publication phase Draft report phase Collection and analysis phase Collection planning phase Information use specification Research concept definition User requirement definition Investigation Task Force Deployment/ Dissemination Period Production PeriodRequirements Definition period Figure 11.5 Project cycle template Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Aspects of Project Cycle Work. • The manager must attend to the following aspects of the work throughout the project cycle: – Technical - includes all activities related to satisfying the technical and quality requirements. – Budget - describes all activities related to the appropriation of project funds by executive management and the securing and accounting of funds by the project manager. – Business - encompasses all activities related to the management of the project and any associated contracts. 20 Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Project Control • Effective project management requires the exercise of control. • Must be sufficient to minimize risks while maximizing the likelihood of meeting or exceeding requirements. • Effective project control involves five variables: – The nature and number of entities that require control – Control standards – Control authority – Control mechanisms – Variance detection Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Project Visibility • Communication management among team members and between the team and any project stakeholders is essential. • Techniques range from the old-fashioned approach sometimes called “managing by walking around” to the more technological approaches of video conferencing, e-mail and voice mail. • One effective technique to raise visibility uses a project information center comprised of physical displays in a central location 21 Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Project Status • Status checks measure the project’s performance against the plan to alert everyone to any needed adjustments to budget, schedule, or other business or technical aspects of the project. • The status of these elements should be evaluated in a combined format, since they interrelate. Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Corrective Action • Corrective techniques can place the project back on track after a variation from the plan is detected • Examples of these reactive techniques include adding work shifts, lengthening work hours, and changing leadership 22 Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Project Leadership • Strong project leaders skillfully manage team composition, reward systems, and other techniques to focus, align, and motivate team members • In organizations that have developed strong processes for project management and professionals trained for this activity, the need for aggressive project leadership is reduced • Strong project leaders are needed to help the organization develop project competency to begin with (see Figure 11.11). Professor Truex MBA 8125 Information Technology management Project Leadership Project Management Process More leadership Needed Less leadership Needed No PM process Team is new to PM process Team does not value process PM process exists Team is fully trained in process Team values process Figure 11.11 Project leadership vs. project management process