HINF 611: HEALTHCARE IT

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

WEEK 4 - 5
Prof. Bakheet Aldosari
Founding Chair & Professor
Today Session
# Topic Reading Due in Class
WEEK 4-5 Project Management and Kathy Schwalbe Ch. 2
Information Technology
Context

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Learning Objectives
• Describe the systems view of project management and how
it applies to information technology (IT) 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
• 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 IT
projects
• Describe recent trends affecting IT project management,
including globalization, outsourcing, virtual teams, and agile
project management

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Projects Cannot Be Run In Isolation

• Projects must operate in a broad

organizational environment
• Project managers need to use systems
thinking:
– taking a holistic view of carrying out projects
within the context of the organization
• Senior managers must make sure
projects continue to support current
business needs

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A Systems View of Project Management

• A systems approach emerged in the

1950s to describe a more 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
– Systems management: address business,
technological, and organizational issues
before making changes to systems
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Figure 2-1. Three Sphere Model for
Systems Management

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Figure 2-2. Perspectives on
Organizations

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Organizational Structures

• 3 basic organization structures

– Functional: functional managers report to
the CEO
– 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

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Figure 2-3. Functional, Project, and
Matrix Organizational Structures

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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

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Stakeholder Management

• 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/top management are
very important stakeholders
• See Chapter 13, Project Stakeholder
Management, for more information
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The Importance of Top Management
Commitment
• 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.
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How Top Management Can Help Project
Managers
• Providing adequate resources
• Approving unique project needs in a
timely manner
• Getting cooperation from other parts
of the organization
• Mentoring and coaching on
leadership issues

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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 encourage more commitment

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Need for Organizational Standards

• Standards and guidelines help project

managers be more effective
• Senior management can encourage
– the use of standard forms and software
for project management
– the development and use of guidelines
for writing project plans or providing
status information
– the creation of a project management
office or center of excellence
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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, and
– 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
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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
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Figure 2-4. Phases of the Traditional
Project Life Cycle

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Figure 2-4. Phases of the Traditional
Project Life Cycle

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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

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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

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Figure 2-5. Waterfall and Spiral Life Cycle
Models

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Spiral Life Cycle Model

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Waterfall vs Iterative/Incremental

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Incremental vs Iterative

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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
• Introduce build, buy, mine, commission
options
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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

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Recent Trends Affecting IT Project
Management
• Globalization
• Outsourcing: Outsourcing is when an
organization acquires goods and/or
sources from an outside source.
Offshoring is sometimes used to describe
outsourcing from another country
• Virtual teams: A virtual team is a group of
individuals who work across time and
space using communication technologies
• Agile project management

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Important Issues and Suggestions
Related to Globalization
• Issues
– Communications
– Trust
– Common work practices
– Tools
• Suggestions
– Employ greater project discipline
– Think global but act local
– Keep project momentum going
– Use newer tools and technology
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Outsourcing

• Organizations remain competitive by using

outsourcing to their advantage, such as
finding ways to reduce costs
• Their next challenge is to make strategic IT
investments with outsourcing by improving
their enterprise architecture to ensure that IT
infrastructure and business processes are
integrated and standardized (See Suggested
Readings)
• Project managers should become more
familiar with negotiating contracts and other
outsourcing issues

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Political Reasons for Failed Projects

• Some may feel the project threatens their job

• Stakeholders may feel that their working condition will
worsen
• Stakeholders dislike additional control the project
entails
• Engineers are unhappy with the project lead
assignment (hope to gain control after destroying the
project)
• Offshore outsourcing: engineers may feel they have to
train off shore individuals who will do the same work for
less pay
• Stakeholders in some projects may be competitors in
other fields (e.g., when companies develop a limited
alliances)

Johann Rost, IEEE Software, Nov 2004, page 102 31

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
• Recent trends affecting IT project management
include globalization, outsourcing, virtual teams,
and Agile
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For Next Session
# Topic Reading
WEEK 07 Midterm exam Kathy Schwalbe Ch. 1 and 2

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8/24/2024 34