CHAPTER

THE
PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONTEXT

AND

Systems Thinking describes the holistic view of carrying out projects

within the context of the organization.

What is a Systems Approach?

Systems Approach emerged in the 1950s to describe a holistic and
analytical approach to solving complex problems that includes using a
systems philosophy, systems analysis, and systems management.
Systems Philosophy an overall model for thinking about things as
systems. Systems are sets of interacting components working within
an environment to fulfil some purpose.
Systems Analysis a problem-solving approach that requires
defining the scope of the system, dividing it into its components, and
then identifying and evaluating its problems, opportunities, constraints,
and needs. Once completed, the systems analyst then examines
alternative solutions for improving the current situation.
Systems Management addresses the business, technological, and
organizational issues associated with creating, maintaining, and
making changes to a system.
The Three-Sphere Model for Systems Management

Business

Organizatio
n

Technology

The Four Frames of Organizations

1. Structural frame deals with how the organization is structured and
focuses on different groups roles and responsibilities in order to meet
the goals and policies set by top management.
2. Human resources (HR) frame focuses on producing harmony
between the needs of the organization and the needs of the people.
3. Political frame addresses organizational and personal politics.
Politics in organizations take the form of competition among groups or
individuals for power and leadership.
4. Symbolic frame focuses on symbols and meanings.

Organizational Structures

Functional the hierarchy most people think of when picturing an

organizational structure.
Project staffs have a variety of skill needed to complete the projects
within their programs. People are hired specifically to work on
particular projects.
Matrix middle ground between functional and project structures.

Organizational Culture
- A set of shared assumptions, values, and behaviors that characterize
the functioning of an organization.

10 Characteristics of organizational culture according to Stephen P.

Robbins and Timothy Judge:
1. Member Identity
2. Group Emphasis
3. People Focus
4. Unit Integration
5. Control
6. Risk Tolerance
7. Reward criteria
8. Conflict Tolerance
9. Means-ends orientation
10.
Open-systems focus

PROJECT PHASES AND THE PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

A Project life cycle is a collection of project phases.

o It defines what work will be performed in each phases, and what
deliverables will be produced and when, who is involved in each
phases and how management will control and approve work
produced in each phases.

A Deliverable is a product or service, such as technical report, a training

session, a piece of hardware, or a segment of software code.

In early phases of a project life cycle;

o Resources needs are usually lowest
o Level of uncertainty is highest
In the middle phases of the project;
o The certainty of completing a project improves,
o More information is known about the project requirements and
objectives;
o And more resources are usually needed than the initial or final
phase.
The final phase of a project
o Focuses on ensuring the project requirements where met
o And assures that the project sponsor or the client approves its
completion.

Project phases vary by the project or industry, but some general

phases are often called:
o Concept
o Development
o Implementation
o Close-out
The first two traditional phases (Concept & Development) focus on the
plan and are often referred to project feasibility.
o Is your project feasible enough?
The last two phases (Implementation & Close-out) focus on delivering
the actual work and are often referred to as project acquisition.

Example:
Project Feasibility
Concept
Business Care

Sample of
deliverabl
es for
each
phases

Preliminary
estimate
2-level WBS

cost

Development
Project
Management Plan
Budgetary
cost
estimate
3+ level WBS

Project Acquisition
Implementation
Last
work
packages
Definitive
cost
estimates
Performance
Report

Close-out
Completed work
Lessons Learned
Customer
Acceptance

Project Life Cycles

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
- It is a framework for describing the phases involved in developing
information systems.
- Also known as Predictive Life Cycle, meaning that the scope of projects
can be clearly articulated and the schedule and costs can be accurately
predicted.
Some popular models of an SDLC includes:

Waterfall life cycle model

o Has well-defined, linear stage of system analysis, design,
construction, testing and support.
o The requirements will remain stable after they are defined.
Spiral life cycle model

o Was developed based on experience with various refinements of

the waterfall model as applied to large government software
projects.
o Most software is developed using an iterative approach rather
than a linear approach.
Incremental build model
o Provides progressive development of operational software, with
each release providing added capabilities.
Prototyping life cycle model
o Used for developing software prototypes to clarify user
requirements for operational software.
o It requires heavy user involvement, and developers use a model
to generate functional requirements and physical design
specification simultaneously
o Developers can throw away or keep prototypes, depending on
the projects
Rapid Application Development (RAD) life cycle model
o Uses an approach in which developers work with an evolving
prototype.
o This also requires heavy user involvement and helps to produce
system without sacrificing its quality.
o Example of this are Computer-Aided Software Engineering or
CASE, Joint Requirements Planning or JRT and Joint Application
Design or JAD to facilitate prototyping and code generation.

Adaptive Software Development (ASD)

- Assumes that software development follows an adaptive approach because
the requirements cannot be clearly expressed early in the life cycle
- Is also used to provide mode freedom that the perspective approaches.
Meaning the needs are discovered in a more free-form approach.
- Agile Software Development has become popular to describe new
approaches that focus on close collaboration between programming teams
and business experts

The Importance of Project Phases and Management Reviews

-

A project should successfully pass through each of the project phases in

order to continue to the next phase.
A management review should occur at the end of each project phases,
and more frequent management inputs are often needed.

These management review and inputs are important for keeping projects
on track and determining if projects should be continued, redirected or
terminated.

THE CONTEXT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS

Nature of Information Technology Projects

It is diverse.
Project Managers need to consider several factors due to the
unique context of information technology projects.
The diverse nature of these projects and the wide range of
business areas and technologies involved make information
technology projects especially challenging to manage.
Leading projects team members with a wide variety of specialized
skills and understanding rapidly changing technology are also
important considerations.
RECENT TRENDS AFFECTING
PROJECT MANAGEMENT

INFORMATION

TECHNILOGY

Globalization

Sharing or of information globally through blogging, podcasts and

open-source software.
It is important for project managers to address several issues
when working on global projects. Several key issues includes the
following
o
o
o
o

Communications
Trusts
Common Work Practices
Tools

Outsourcing

It is when an organization acquires goods and/or sources from an

outside sources

 Offshoring is sometimes used to describe outsourcing from another

country
o It is a natural outgrowth of globalization
It reduce costs of finding resources by this trend
Project managers should become more familiar with negotiating
contracts and many other issues, including working on and managing
teams.

Virtual Teams

Needed in globalization and outsourcing

It is a group of individuals who work across time and space using
communication technology (e.g Skype, IBM Sametime and etc).

Advantages

Increases competiveness and responsiveness by having a team of

workers available 24/7.
Lowering cost because many virtual workers do not require office
space or support beyond their home offices.
Providing more expertise and flexibility by having team members
from across the globe working anytime day or night.
Increasing the work/life balance for team members by eliminating
fixed office hours and the need to travel to work.

Disadvantages

Isolating team members who may not adjust well to working in a

virtual environment.
Increasing the potential for communications problems since team
members cannot use body language or other communications to
understand each other and build relationship and trust.
Reducing the ability for team members to network and transfer
information informally.
Increasing the dependence on technology to accomplish work.

Thanks!!!
!