INFS 724 Project and

Change Management

Amit Deokar, Ph.D.

 Chapter 2

The Project Management and

Information Technology Context
Outline
 A systems view of PM
 PM success factors
 Project and product life-cycles
 The context of IT projects
A systems view of PM
A Systems View of Project Management
 A systems approach emerged in the 1950s to
describe a more analytical approach to
management and problem solving

 Systems thinking: describes a holistic view of

carrying out projects within the context of the
organization

 Systems philosophy: View things as

systems, interacting components working
within an environment to fulfill some purpose
A Systems View of Project Management
 Systems analysis: 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. After this, alternative solutions are
examined for improving the current situation, and an
optimal, or at least satisfactory, solution or action
plan, is identified and examined against the entire
system

 Systems management: Address business,

technological, and organizational issues associated
with creating, maintaining, and making a change to a
system
Three Sphere Model for Systems Management
Understanding Organizations

Structural frame: Focuses Human resources frame:

on roles and responsibilities, Focuses on providing
coordination and control. harmony between needs of
Organizational charts help the organization and needs of
define this frame. people.

Political frame: Assumes Symbolic frame: Focuses

organizations are coalitions on symbols and meanings
composed of varied related to events. Culture is
individuals and interest important.
groups. Conflict and power
are key issues.
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 organizational structures
 functional
 project
 matrix
Basic Organizational Structures
Organizational Structure Influences on
Projects
Project Organizational Structure Type
Characteristics
Functional Matrix Project
Weak Matrix Balanced Strong
Matrix Matrix
Project manager’s Little or none Limited Low to Moderate High to
authority Moderate to high almost total
Percent of Virtually none 0-25% 15-60% 50-95% 85-100%
performing
organization’s
personnel assigned
full-time to project
work
Who controls the Functional Functional Mixed Project Project
project budget manager manager manager manager
Project manager’s Part-time Part-time Full-time Full-time Full-time
role
Common title for Project Project Project Project Project
project manager’s Coordinator/ Coordinator/ Manager/ Manager/ Manager/
role Project Leader Project Project Program Program
Leader Officer Manager Manager
Project Part-time Part-time Part-time Full-time Full-time
management
administrative staff
PMBOK Guide, 2000, 19, and PMBOK Guide 2004, 28.
Organizational Culture
 Organizational culture is a set of shared
assumptions, values, and behaviors that
characterize the functioning of an
organization.

 Many experts believe the underlying causes

of many companies’ problems are not the
structure or staff, but the culture.
 Ten Characteristics of Organizational
Culture
 Member identity*  Risk tolerance*
 Group emphasis*  Reward criteria*
 People focus  Conflict tolerance*
 Unit integration*  Means-ends orientation
 Control  Open-systems focus*

*Project work is most successful in an organizational

culture where these characteristics are highly prevalent
and where the other characteristics are balanced.
Recognize the Importance of
Project Stakeholders
 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

 Using the four frames of organizations can help meet

stakeholder needs and expectations

 Senior executives are very important stakeholders

(champion – key proponent for a project)
An example - what went wrong?
 Many enterprise resource planning (ERP) projects fail due to
organizational issues. For example, Sobey’s Canadian grocery
store chain abandoned its two-year, $90 million ERP system due
to organizational problems.

 As Dalhousie University Associate Professor Sunny Marche

states, “The problem of building an integrated system that can
accommodate different people is a very serious challenge. You
can’t divorce technology from the socio-cultural issues. They have
an equal role.” Sobey’s ERP system shut down for five days and
employees were scrambling to stock potentially empty shelves in
several stores for weeks. The system failure cost Sobey’s more
than $90 million and caused shareholders to take an 82-cent
after-tax hit per share.*
*Hoare, Eva. “Software hardships,” The Herald, Halifax, Nova Scotia (2001)
PM Success Factors
What Helps Projects Succeed?
 According to the Standish Group’s report “CHAOS
2001: A Recipe for Success,” the following items help
IT projects succeed, in order of importance:
 Executive support
 User involvement
 Experienced project manager
 Clear business objectives
 Minimized scope
 Standard software infrastructure
 Firm basic requirements
 Formal methodology
 Reliable estimates
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.
Need for Organizational Commitment to
Information Technology (IT)
 If the organization has a negative attitude
toward IT, it will be difficult for an IT project to
succeed

 Having a Chief Information Officer (CIO) at a

high level in the organization helps IT projects

 Assigning non-IT people to IT projects also

encourages more commitment
Project and Product Life
Cycles
Project Phases and the Project Life
Cycle
 A project life cycle is a collection of project phases that defines
What work will be performed in each phase.
 What deliverables will be produced and when.
 Who is involved in each phase.
 How management will control and approve work produced in
each phase.
 A deliverable is a product or service produced or provided as
part of a project
 Project phases vary by project or industry, but some general
phases include
 concept
 development
 implementation
 support
Phases of the Project Life Cycle
Why Have Project Phases and
Management Reviews?
 A project should successfully pass through
each of the project phases in order to
continue on to the next
 Management reviews (also called phase exits
or kill points) should occur after each phase
to evaluate the project’s progress, likely
success, and continued compatibility with
organizational goals
 What Went Right?
"The real improvement that I saw was in our ability to
in the words of Thomas Edison know when to
stop beating a dead horse.…Edison's key to success
was that he failed fairly often; but as he said, he
could recognize a dead horse before it started to
smell...as a result he had 14,000 patents and was
very successful…In IT we ride dead horses failing
projects a long time before we give up. But what
we are seeing now is that we are able to get off them;
able to reduce cost overrun and time overrun. That's
where the major impact came on the success rate.”

Cabanis, Jeannette, "'A Major Impact': The Standish Group's Jim Johnson On Project Management and IT Project
Success," PM Network, PMI, September 1998, p. 7
Product Life Cycles
 Products also have life cycles
 The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
is a framework for describing the phases
involved in developing and maintaining
information systems
Examples of software development
processes
 The waterfall model has well-defined, linear stages of
systems development and support
 The spiral model shows that software is developed
using an iterative or spiral approach rather than a
linear approach
 The incremental release model provides for
progressive development of operational software
 The prototyping model is used for developing
prototypes to clarify user requirements
 The RAD model is used to produce systems quickly
without sacrificing quality
The context of IT projects
The Context of IT Projects
 IT projects can be very diverse in terms of
size, complexity, products produced,
application area, and resource requirements
 IT project team members often have diverse
backgrounds and skill sets
 IT projects use diverse technologies that
change rapidly. Even within one technology
area, people must be highly specialized
 Fifteen Project Management Job
Functions*
 Define scope of project
 Identify stakeholders,  Identify and evaluate risks
decision-makers, and  Prepare contingency plan
escalation procedures  Identify interdependencies
 Develop detailed task list  Identify and track critical
(work breakdown structures) milestones
 Estimate time requirements  Participate in project phase
 Develop initial project review
management flow chart  Secure needed resources
 Identify required resources  Manage the change control
and budget process
 Evaluate project  Report project status
requirements
*Northwest Center for Emerging Technologies, "Building a Foundation for Tomorrow:
Skills Standards for Information Technology,"Belleview, WA, 1999
Project Management Skills
 Leadership
 Communications
 Problem Solving
 Negotiating
 Mentoring
 Process and technical expertise
 Most Significant Characteristics of Effective
and Ineffective Project Managers
Effective Project Managers Ineffective Project Managers
 Lead by example  Set bad examples
 Are visionaries  Are not self-assured
 Are technically competent  Lack technical expertise
 Are decisive  Are poor communicators
 Are good communicators  Are poor motivators
 Are good motivators
 Stand up to upper management
when necessary
 Support team members
 Encourage new ideas