1. Chapter 2: The Project Management and Information Technology Context
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition
Note: See the text itself for full citations.

2. Learning Objectives
Describe the systems view of project management and how it applies to information technology projects
Understand organizations, including the four frames, organizational structures, and organizational culture
Explain why stakeholder management and top management commitment are critical for a project’s success
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

3. Learning Objectives (continued)
Understand the concept of a project phase and the project life cycle and distinguish between project development and product development
Discuss the unique attributes and diverse nature of information technology projects
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

4. Projects Cannot Be Run in Isolation
Projects must operate in a broad organizational environment
Project manger need to consider projects within the organization context
Project managers need to use systems thinking:
A system is a set of interacting components working with an environment to fulfill some purpose
Taking a holistic view of carrying out projects within the context of the organization
Senior managers must make sure that projects continue to support current business needs
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

5. Case Study Tom Walter – Director of IT dept. in some college
Tom and his team developed plans to start requiring students to lease laptops at their college next year
In faculty meeting, chairs of other departments voiced against his idea for different reasons
Tom was in shock to hear his colleague response, especially after he and his staff spent a lot of time for planning
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

6. Case study (cont.) Tom worked in isolation with his staff
Unaware of the effect of the project on college and people
Did not identify project stakeholders, especially opponents
Did not use systems thinking
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

7. A Systems View of Project Management
A systems approach is an analytical approach to management and problem solving
Three parts include:
Systems philosophy: an overall model for thinking about things as systems
Systems analysis: problem-solving approach that requires:
defining the scope of the system,
dividing it into components,
identifying and evaluating its problems,
examining alternative solutions, and
identifying a satisfactory solution
Systems management: address business, technological, and organizational issues before creating or making changes to systems
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

8. A systems approach Systems Approach Systems management organization
Systems philosophy
Systems management
Systems Analysis
Business
organization
technology
Political frame
HR frame
Structural frame
Symbol frame
functional
project
matrix
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

9. Three Sphere Model for Systems Management
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

10. Understanding Organizations
Structural frame: Focuses on roles and responsibilities, coordination and control. Organization charts help define this frame.
Human resources frame: Focuses on providing harmony between needs of the organization and needs of people.
Political frame: Assumes organizations are coalitions (alliance) composed of varied individuals and interest groups. Conflict and power are key issues.
Symbolic frame: Focuses on symbols and meanings related to events. Organizational culture (how do people dress? how many hours do the work? how do they run meetings?
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

11. Organizational Structures
3 basic organization structures
Functional: functional managers (vice president) report to the CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
Project: program managers report to the CEO
Matrix: middle ground between functional and project structures; personnel often report to two or more bosses; structure can be weak, balanced, or strong matrix
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

12. Functional, Project, and Matrix Organizational Structures
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

13. Organizational Structure Influences on Projects
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

14. 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
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

15. Ten Characteristics of Organizational Culture
Member identity (loyalty)*
Group emphasis*
People focus
Unit integration*
Control
Risk tolerance*
Reward criteria*
Conflict tolerance*
Means-ends orientation
Open-systems focus*
*Project work is most successful in an organizational culture where these items are strong/high and other items are balanced
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

16. Organizational Culture (cont.)
Member identity: the degree to which employees identify with the organization rather than with their job/profession (high)
Group emphasis: the degree to which work is organized around groups rather than individuals (high)
People focus: the degree to which management’s decisions take into account the effect of outcomes on people within the organization (balance)
Unit integration: the degree to which units or departments within organization are encouraged to coordinate to each other (high)
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

17. Organizational Culture (cont.)
Control: the degree to which rules are used to control employee behavior (balance)
Risk tolerance: the degree to which employees are encouraged to be innovative and risk seeking (high)
Reward criteria: the degree to which rewards, such as promotion and salary increases, are allocated according to employee performance (high)
Conflict tolerance: the degree to which employees are encouraged to discuss conflict and criticism openly (high)
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

18. Organizational Culture (cont.)
Means-ends orientation: the degree to which management focuses on outcomes rather than on techniques used to achieve results (balance)
Open-system focus: the degree to which the organization monitors and responds to changes in external environment (high)
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

19. Stakeholder Management
Project objective is to satisfy stakeholders
Project managers must take time to identify, understand, and manage relationships with all project stakeholders
Stakeholders can be internal, external, involved, affected by the project
Using the four frames of organizations can help meet stakeholder needs and expectations
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

20. Case study Tom Walters did not use the four frame for organization
structural frame
Viewed only part of the structural frame (IT staff) internal stakeholders
The project has many stakeholders other than IT staff such as students and senior faculty of the college
HR frame
Did not identify who would most support or oppose requiring laptops
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

21. Case Study (cont.) Political Frame Symbol frame
Did not identify the main interest group that would be most affected by project outcomes
Symbol frame
Did not address what moving to laptops environment really means to the college. Should he did that, he could have anticipated some of the oppositions
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

22. The Importance of Top Management Commitment (support)
People in top management positions are key stakeholders in projects
A very important factor in helping project managers successfully lead projects is the level of commitment and support they receive from top management
Without top management commitment, many projects will fail
Some projects have a senior manager called a champion who acts as a key proponent for a project
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

23. How Top Management Can Help Project Managers
Providing adequate resources (HR, FR)
Approving unique project needs in a timely manner (SW, HW needs, financial support as the project run)
Getting cooperation from other parts of the organization (encourage functional manager to cooperate with project managers)
Mentoring and coaching on leadership issues (give advices for project managers in leadership and encourage them to take classes to develop their leadership skills and assign funds and time to do so)
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

24. Need for Organizational Standards
Standards and guidelines help project managers be more effective
Senior management can encourage:
The use of standard forms, templates, and software for project management
The development and use of guidelines for writing project management plans or providing status information
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

25. 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
Project can have different life cycles
A deliverable is a product or service produced or provided as part of a project
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

26. More on Project Phases In early phases of a project life cycle:
Resource needs are usually lowest
The level of uncertainty (risk) is highest
Project stakeholders have the greatest opportunity to influence the project
In middle phases of a project life cycle:
The certainty of completing a project improves
More resources are needed
The final phase of a project life cycle focuses on:
Ensuring that project requirements were met
The sponsor approves completion of the project
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

27. Phases of the Traditional Project Life Cycle
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

28. Project life Cycle
Concept and development phases focus on planning – project feasibility
Implementation and close-out phases focus on delivering the actual work – project acquisition
A project should successfully complete each phase before moving to next phase
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

29. Concept phase
Manager develops a business case, which describes the need for the project and its basic concepts
A preliminary rough cost estimate is developed
A work breakdown structure (WBS) is created
WBS outlines project work by decomposing the work tasks into different levels
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

30. Concept phase – case study
Tom could have created a committee from faculty and staff to develop a business case that studies:
need of increasing the use of technology on campus
its alternative ways
its effects on students, faculty, and staff
Estimate initial cost of establishing laptop technology on campus
WBS divides the work into three levels
A competitive analysis for, say, five campuses
Survey for students and staff
Rough assessment for the effect of the project on cost and enrollment
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

31. Development phase
Project team creates more detailed project management plans
More accurate cost estimate
More thorough WBS
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

32. Development phase – case study
Project team would have to put a project management plan
Decide whether student should lease or purchase laptops
What type of SW and HW
How much to charge students
How to handle training
More accurate cost estimate, if it is too high compared to the benefits, the project should be canceled in the development phase before wasting time and money in the next phases
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

33. Implementation phase Lowest level in WBS (work package)
Deliver the required work
Definitive or very accurate cost estimate
Provide performance report to stakeholders
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

34. Implementation phase-case study
Obtain the required HW and SW, install network equipment, deliver the laptops to students, collecting fees, provide training to students, faculty and staff
Other people may be involved in this phase such as faculty, security, …
The project team would have to report results (success/failure) to stakeholders
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

35. Close-out All work is completed Report customer acceptance
Close-out any activities related to laptops project
Report customer acceptance
Survey for students, faculty, and staff
Team work would have to report experience and lesson learned (learned lesson report)
Share lessons and experience with other college campus
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

36. 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
Systems development projects can follow
Predictive life cycle: the scope of the project can be clearly articulated and the schedule and cost can be predicted
Adaptive Software Development (ASD) life cycle: requirements cannot be clearly expressed, projects are mission driven and component based, using time-based cycles to meet target dates
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

37. Predictive Life Cycle Models
Waterfall model: has well-defined, linear stages of systems development and support
Spiral model: shows that software is developed using an iterative or spiral approach rather than a linear approach
Incremental build model: provides for progressive development of operational software
Prototyping model: used for developing prototypes to clarify user requirements
Rapid Application Development (RAD) model: used to produce systems quickly without sacrificing quality
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

38. Waterfall model for SDLC
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

39. The Importance of 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
Project may be continued, redirected, or terminated
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

40. Management review-Case study
At the end of the concept phase, Tom and his project team could have
Presented information to faculty, staff, and students that describe different opinions for increasing the use of technology on campus
An analysis of what competing colleges were doing
Results of a survey of local stakeholders’ opinion on the subject
This presentation is a management review
Suppose the study reported that 90% of student opposed the idea, then the college may decide not purse the project
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

41. Diversity in IT Projects
Project nature: IT projects can be very diverse in terms of size, complexity, products produced, application area, and resource requirements
Team Members Characteristics: IT project team members often have diverse backgrounds and skill sets
Technologies: IT projects use diverse technologies that change rapidly; even within one technology area, people must be highly specialized
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

42. IT project Nature IT projects are very diverse
Small number of people work in a small HW- oriented project(installing HW and associated SW)
Hardware can be diverse (personal computers, mainframe, network equipments, small mobile devices
Network environment could be wireless, phone-based, cable-based, satellite,…
Hundreds of people can work in a large software development project
Type of SW could vary from a simple standalone excel application to a global e-commerce system
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

43. Team members characterstics
people work in IT have different background
Business, mathematics, liberal arts, computer science
People work in a diversity of jobs
Business analyst, database analyst, HW engineer, SW engineer, programmer, …
Java programmer, XML programmer, C/C++ programmer
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

44. Diverse Technologies
Business analyst uses different technology than that used by HW specialist
Database analyst might have hard time understanding security specialist
A COBOL programmer can not be of much help in a Java project
People use different technologies
Technologies change very fast
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

45. Chapter Summary
Project managers need to take a systems approach when working on projects
Organizations have four different frames: structural, human resources, political, and symbolic
The structure and culture of an organization have strong implications for project managers
Projects should successfully pass through each phase of the project life cycle
Project managers need to consider several factors due to the unique context of information technology projects
Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition