1: Introduction to Project Management
IT4306 – IT Project Management
Level II - Semester 4
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Intended Learning Outcomes
• At the end of this lesson, you will be able to;
• Explain what a project is, provide examples of information
technology projects, list various attributes of projects, and describe
the triple constraint of projects
• Describe project management and discuss key elements of the
project management framework, including project stakeholders, the
project management knowledge areas, common tools and
techniques, and project success factors
• Describe the role of the project manager by describing what project
managers do, what skills they need
• Describe the importance of ethics in project management
• Identify project management software
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List of sub topics
1.1 What is a Project
a. Advantages of project management
b. Examples of information technology projects
c. Project attributes
d. The triple constraint
1.2 What is Project Management?
a. Project stakeholders
b. Project management knowledge areas
c. Project management tools and techniques
d. Project success factors
1.3 Program and Project Portfolio Management
a. Programs
b. Project Portfolio Management
c. Organizational Project Management
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List of sub topics
1.4 The Role of the Project Manager
a. Job description
b. Skills for project manager
c. PMI Talent Triangle® and the Importance of Leadership Skills
d. Careers for IT Project Managers
1.5 The Project Management Profession
a. History of Project Management
b. The Project Management Institute
c. Project Management Certification
d. Ethics in Project Management
e. Project Management Software
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Worldwide Interest on Projects and
their Management
• Many organizations today have a new or renewed interest
in project management.
• Computer hardware, software, networks, and the use of
interdisciplinary and global work teams have radically
changed the work environment.
• The U.S. spends $2.3 trillion on projects every year, or
one-quarter its gross domestic product, and the world as
a whole spends nearly $10 trillion of its $40.7 gross
product on projects of all kinds.*
*PMI, The PMI Project Management Fact Book, Second Edition,
2001.
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International Status of IT Projects
• IT projects have a terrible track record.
– A 1995 Standish Group study (CHAOS) found that only
16.2 percent of IT projects were successful in meeting
scope, time, and cost goals.
– Over 31 percent of IT projects were canceled before
completion, costing over $81 billion in the U.S.
alone.*
*The Standish Group, “The CHAOS Report” (www.standishgroup.com)
(1995). Another reference is Johnson, Jim, “CHAOS: The Dollar Drain of
IT Project Failures,” Application Development Trends (January 1995).
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Observation
It is really hard to find project that has ever
finished on time, within budget
to requirement
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1.1 What Is a Project?
• A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to
create a unique product, service, or result.”*
• 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.
*PMI, A Guide to the Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (2004), p. 5.
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Advantages of Managing Projects
• Better control of financial, physical, and human
resources.
• Improved customer relations.
• Shorter development times.
• Lower costs.
• Higher quality and increased reliability.
• Higher profit margins.
• Improved productivity.
• Better internal coordination.
• Higher worker morale (less stress).
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About projects
• A project ends when its objectives have been
reached, or the project has been terminated.
• Projects can be large or small and take a short or
long time to complete.
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Examples of projects
• Developing a new product or service
• Acquiring/Implementing a software product
• Constructing a building or facility
• Running a campaign for political office
• Implementing a new business process
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Examples of IT Projects
• A help desk or technical worker replaces
laptops for a small department.
• A small software development team adds a new
feature to an internal software application.
• A college campus upgrades its technology
infrastructure to provide wireless Internet access.
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Example – A Simple Project
• Buying a Birthday Gift
– Goal: Purchase a birthday gift for friend.
– Scope: Decide on a suitable gift, then shop to find
it.
– Complexity: To find a suitable gift, you should be
familiar with your friend's tastes. Gift should be
nice but affordable.
– Completion: Limited to this birthday.
– Product: A suitable gift that is wrapped and ready
to give.
• Exercise
• Describe a simple project from your own experience in
terms of the project structure described earlier.
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Examples of IT Projects
• A cross-functional task force in a company decides
what software to purchase and how it will be
implemented.
• A television network develops a system to allow viewers
to vote for contestants and provide other feedback on
programs.
• A government group develops a system to track child
immunizations.
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Project Attributes
• A project:
– Has a unique purpose.
– Is temporary.
– Is developed using progressive elaboration.
– Requires resources, often from various areas.
– Should have a primary customer or sponsor.
• The project sponsor usually provides the
direction and funding for the project.
– Involves uncertainty.
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Projects vs. Operations
• Common
Characteristics
•Projects •Operations
•Performed by • Ongoing
• Temporary people
• Unique • Repetitive
•Limited Resources
•Planned,Executed
and Controlled
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What Triggers a Project?
• A market demand
• A business need
• A customer request
• A technological advancement
• A legal requirement
• A social need
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The Triple Constraint
• Every project is constrained in different ways by its:
– Scope goals: What work will be done?
– Time goals: How long should it take to
complete?
– Cost goals: What should it cost?
• It is the project manager’s duty to balance these
three often-competing goals.
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The Triple Constraint of Project Management
Successful project
management
means meeting
all three goals
(scope, time, and
cost) – and
satisfying the
project’s sponsor!
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1.2 What is Project Management?
• Project management is “the application of
knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project
activities to meet project requirements.”*
*PMI, A Guide to the Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (2004), p. 8.
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Project Management involves:
• Managing competing demands on Scope, Time, Cost
and Quality attributes.
• Managing Stakeholders with differing needs and
expectations.
• Managing identified requirements.
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Project Stakeholders
• Stakeholders are the people involved in or
affected by project activities.
• Stakeholders include:
– Project sponsor
– Project manager
– Project team
– Support staff
– Customers
– Users
– Suppliers
– Opponents to the project
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Project Management Framework
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Project Management Knowledge Areas
• Integration Management
• Scope Management
• Time Management
• Cost Management
• Quality Management
• Human Resource Management
• Communications Management
• Risk Management
• Procurement Management
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Nine Project Management Knowledge Areas
• Knowledge areas describe the key competencies that
project managers must develop.
– Four core knowledge areas lead to specific
project objectives (scope, time, cost, and
quality).
– Four facilitating knowledge areas are the means
through which the project objectives are achieved
(human resources, communication, risk, and
procurement management).
– One knowledge area (project integration
management) affects and is affected by all of the
other knowledge areas.
– All knowledge areas are important!
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Project Management Tools and Techniques
• Project management tools and techniques assist project
managers and their teams in various aspects of project
management.
• Specific tools and techniques include:
– Project charters, scope statements, and WBS (scope).
– Gantt charts, network diagrams, critical path
analyses, critical chain scheduling (time).
– Cost estimates and earned value management (cost).
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Improved Project Performance
▪ The Standish Group’s CHAOS studies show improvements
in IT projects in the past decade.*
Measure 1994 Data 2002 Data Result
Successful projects 16% 34% Doubled
Failed projects 31% 15% Halved
Money wasted $140 B $55 B out of More
on challenged out of $255 B than
and $250 B halved
failed projects
*The Standish Group, “Latest Standish Group CHAOS Report Shows Project Success
Rates Have Improved by 50%” (March 25, 2003).
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Project Success Factors*
1. Executive support 7. Firm basic requirements
2. User involvement 8. Formal methodology
3. Experienced project 9. Reliable estimates
manager 10.Other criteria, such as
4. Clear business objectives small milestones, proper
5. Minimized scope planning, competent
6. Standard software staff, and ownership
infrastructure
*The Standish Group, “Extreme CHAOS” (2001).
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Why the Improvements?
“The reasons for the increase in successful projects vary.
First, the average cost of a project has been more than
cut in half. Better tools have been created to monitor
and control progress and better skilled project
managers with better management processes are
being used. The fact that there are processes is
significant in itself.”*
*The Standish Group, “CHAOS 2001: A Recipe for Success” (2001).
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What the Winners Do*
▪ Recent research findings show that companies that
excel in project delivery capability:
▪ Use an integrated project management toolbox
that includes standard and advanced tools and
lots of templates.
▪ Grow project leaders, emphasizing business and soft
skills.
▪ Develop a streamlined project delivery process.
▪ Measure project health using metrics, including
customer satisfaction and return on
investment.
*Milosevic, Dragan and And Ozbay, “Delivering Projects: What the Winners Do,”
Proceedings of the Project Management Institute Annual Seminars &
Symposium (November 2001).
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1.3 Program and Portfolio Management
• Many organizations support an emerging
business strategy of project portfolio
management:
– Organizations group and manage projects as a
portfolio of investments that contribute to the
entire enterprise’s success.
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Project and Program Managers
• Project managers work with project sponsors, project
teams, and other people involved in projects to meet
project goals.
• Program: “A group of related projects managed in a
coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not
available from managing them individually.”*
• Program managers oversee programs and often act as
bosses for project managers.
*PMI, A Guide to the Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (2004), p. 16.
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Project Management Office (PMO)
• A PMO is an organizational group responsible for
coordinating the project management function throughout an
organization.
• Possible goals include:
– Collect, organize, and integrate project data for the
entire organization.
– Develop and maintain templates for project documents.
– Develop or coordinate training in various project
management topics.
– Develop and provide a formal career path for project
managers.
– Provide project management consulting services.
– Provide a structure to house project managers while
they are acting in those roles or are between projects.
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1.4 The Role of the Project Manager
• Job descriptions vary, but most include responsibilities
such as planning, scheduling, coordinating, and working
with people to achieve project goals.
• Remember that 97 percent of successful
projects were led by experienced project
managers.
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Fifteen Project Management Job Functions*
▪ Define scope of project. ▪ Evaluate project requirements.
▪ Identify stakeholders, decision- ▪ Identify and evaluate risks.
makers, and escalation ▪ Prepare contingency plan.
procedures. ▪ Identify interdependencies.
▪ Develop detailed task list (work ▪ Identify and track critical milestones.
breakdown structures). ▪ Participate in project phase review.
▪ Estimate time requirements. ▪ Secure needed resources.
▪ Develop initial project ▪ Manage the change control process.
management flow chart. ▪ Report project status.
▪ Identify required resources and
budget.
*Northwest Center for Emerging Technologies, “Building a Foundation for Tomorrow: Skills
Standards for Information Technology,” Belleview, WA, 1999.
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Suggested Skills for Project Managers
• Project managers need a wide variety of skills.
• They should:
– Be comfortable with change.
– Understand the organizations they work in and
with.
– Lead teams to accomplish project goals.
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Suggested Skills for Project Managers
• Project managers need both “hard” and “soft” skills.
– Hard skills include product knowledge and
knowing how to use various project management
tools and techniques.
– Soft skills include being able to work with various
types of people.
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Suggested Skills for Project Managers
• Communication skills: Listens, persuades.
• Organizational skills: Plans, sets goals, analyzes.
• Team-building skills: Shows empathy, motivates,
promotes esprit de corps.
• Leadership skills: Sets examples, provides vision (big
picture), delegates, positive, energetic.
• Coping skills: Flexible, creative, patient, persistent.
• Technology skills: Experience, project knowledge.
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Good Project Management Skills from
The Apprentice
• Be a team player. • Leadership and
• Stay organized and don’t professionalism are crucial.
be overly emotional. • Know what your sponsor
• Work on projects and for expects from the project, and
people you believe in. learn from your mistakes.
• Think outside the box. • Trust your team and
delegate decisions.
• There is some luck
involved in project • Know the business.
management, and you • Stand up for yourself.
should always aim high.
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Most Significant Characteristics of Effective and
Ineffective Project Managers
Effective Project Managers Ineffective Project Managers
• Leadership by example • Sets bad example
• Visionary • Not self-assured
• Technically competent • Lacks technical expertise
• Decisive • Poor communicator
• Good communicator • Poor motivator
• Good motivator
• Stands up to upper
management when
necessary
• Supports team members
• Encourages new ideas
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Importance of Leadership Skills
• Effective project managers provide leadership by
example.
• A leader focuses on long-term goals and big-picture
objectives while inspiring people to reach those
goals.
• A manager deals with the day-to-day details of
meeting specific goals.
• Project managers often take on both leader and
manager roles.
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Top Ten Most
In-Demand IT Skills
Rank IT Skill/Job Average Annual Salary
1 SQL Database Analyst $80,664
2 Oracle Database Analyst $87,144
3 C/C++ Programmer $95,829
4 Visual Basic Programmer $76,903
5 E-commerce/Java Developer $89,163
6 Windows NT/2000 Expert $80,639
7 Windows/Java Developert $93,785
8 Security Architect $86,881
9 Project Manager $95,719
10 Network Engineer $82,906
Paul Ziv, “The Top 10 IT Skills in Demand,” Global Knowledge Webcast
(www.globalknowledge.com) (11/20/2002).
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Top Information Technology Skills
70%
60% 58%
60%
50%
42% 41%
Percentage 40%
of 30%
Respondent 20%
s
10%
0%
Application Project management Database Networking
development management
Information Technology (IT) Skill
Cosgrove, Lorraine, “January 2004 IT Staffing Update,” CIO Research Reports (February 3,
2004).
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1.5 The Project Management Profession
• Professional societies such as the Project
Management Institute (PMI) have grown
significantly.
• There are specific interest groups in many areas, such
as engineering, financial services, health care, and IT.
• Project management research and certification
programs continue to grow.
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History of Project Management
• Some people argue that building the Egyptian
pyramids was a project, as was building the Great
Wall of China.
• Most people consider the Manhattan Project to be
the first project to use “modern” project
management.
– This three-year, $2 billion (in 1946 dollars) project
had a separate project and technical managers.
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Project Management Certification
• PMI provides certification as a Project
Management Professional (PMP).
• A PMP has documented sufficient project
experience, agreed to follow a code of ethics, and
passed the PMP exam.
• The number of people earning PMP certification is
increasing quickly.
• PMI and other organizations are offering new
certification programs.
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Growth in PMP Certification, 1993-2003
80,000 76,550
70,000
60,000
52,443
50,000
# PMPs
40,000 40,343
30,000 27,052
20,000 18,184
10,000 10,086
6,415
2,800 4,400
1,000 1,900
0
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Year
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Ethics in Project Management
• Ethics is an important part of all professions.
• Project managers often face ethical dilemmas.
• In order to earn PMP certification, applicants must
agree to the PMP code of professional conduct.
• Several questions on the PMP exam are related to
professional responsibility, including ethics.
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Project Management Software
• There are currently hundreds of different products to
assist in performing project management.
• Three main categories of tools:
– Low-end tools: Handle single or smaller projects well;
cost under
$200 per user.
– Midrange tools: Handle multiple projects and users;
cost $200-500 per user; Project 2003 most popular
(includes an enterprise version).
– High-end tools: Also called enterprise project
management software; often licensed on a per-
user basis; VPMi Enterprise Online
(www.vcsonline.com). © e-Learning Centre, UCSC 49
Project Management Software
• Enterprise PM software integrates information from
multiple projects to show the status of active,
approved, and future projects across an entire
organization.
• It also provides links to more detailed information
on each project.
• Many managers like to see status in color – red, yellow,
and green.
• PM software is used to create artifacts/work products
to manage projects
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Project Management Tools and Techniques
• Project management tools and techniques assist project
managers and their teams in various aspects of project
management
• Some specific ones include
– Project Charter and WBS (scope)
– Gantt charts, PERT charts, critical path analysis,
critical chain scheduling (time)
– Cost estimates and earned value management chart
(cost)
© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 51
Sample Gantt Chart
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
The WBS is shown on the left, and each task’s start and finish
dates are shown on the right. First used in 1917, early Gantt
charts were drawn by hand.
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Sample Network Diagram
Each box is a project task from the WBS. Arrows show
dependencies between tasks. The bolded tasks are on the
critical path. If any task on the critical path takes longer to
complete than planned, the whole project will slip unless
something is done. Network diagrams were first used in
1958 on the Navy Polaris project before project
management software was available.
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Sample WBS for Intranet Project
in Chart Form
Intranet Project
Concept Web Site Web Site Roll Out Support
Design Development
Design User Interface Develop Pages
and Links
Design Server Setup Develop
Functionality
Develop Server Content
Support Infrastructure Migration/Integration
Testing
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Sample PERT Chart
• A • H • J
• D
4 4days
1 1day • 8 6days • 10 3days
• Thu /99 Tue 3/2/9 9
• Wed 4/99 Wed 2/24/ 99 • Fri 5/99 Fri 3/1/99 • Mon 1/99 Wed 3/1/9 9
2/25
2/2 3/ 3/
• E
• 5 5days
• B • Fri 6/99 Thu 3/4/99
2/2
• 2 2days • F
• Wed 4/99 Thu 2/25/9 9 • 6 4days
2/2
• Fri 6/99 Wed 3/3/99
2/2
• C • G • I
• 3 3days • 7 6days • 9 2days
• Wed 2/ 24/99 Fri 2/26/9 9 • Mon 1/99 Mon 3/8/9 9 • Tue 3/9 /99 Wed 3/10/9 9
3/
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Sample Earned Value Chart
300
EAC
BAC
250
200
BCWSor CumulativePlan
150 ACWPor Cumulative Actual
$
BCWPor Cumulative EV
BCWS
CostVariance
100
ACWP
Schedule Variance
BWCP
50
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Month
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Sample Enterprise Project
Management Tool
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Summary
• As the number and complexity of projects continue to
grow, it is becoming even more important to practice
good project management.
• A project has several attributes, such as being unique,
temporary and developed incrementally.
• A framework for project management includes project
stakeholders, the nine knowledge areas, tools and
techniques, and creating project portfolios to ensure
enterprise success.
• Successful project managers must possess and
development many skills and lead their teams by
example.
• The project management profession continues to
mature as more people become certified and more
tools are created.
© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 58
