Project Management

In an ever flattening global economic and social structure, it has become an imperative for organizations to approach new projects methodically. Projects are temporary ventures initiated to achieve a specific purpose (Schwalbe, 2019, pp. 12–13). The objective for a project should seek to create value or generate change identified by the project sponsor. Sponsors provide direction and funding for project resources.

Research and Information Technology Applications

Information technologies facilitate many activities within an organization, especially in entities that are focused on growth, innovation, or competition on a global scale. Top management must be invested and committed to information technology (IT) and IT related projects (Schwalbe, 2019, p. 60). This is critical to IT projects for several reasons. First, IT projects require resources in order to be successful. Also, top management might play a role in the decision-making process, particularly as it relates to approvals. IT is central across organizations, so project managers must have access and assistance from leaders and stakeholders in areas beyond IT. Top management can help enable project success by cutting red tape that can hinder project objectives. Furthermore, IT leaders often move up from technical positions and top managers can provide insight on leadership and management techniques (Schwalbe, 2019, pp. 60-61).

Project Management Concepts, Tools, and Techniques

Project management techniques improve control of resources and achieve objectives faster, while improving quality, reliability, and coordination (Schwalbe, 2019, pp. 4–5). The key to delivering the right result on time and within budget is an outstanding project leader. Leaders should be competent in ten project management knowledge areas: integration, scope, schedule, cost, quality, resources, communications, risk, and procurement management. Within each knowledge area are tools and techniques project managers use to control processes, inputs, outputs, and lifecycle phases (Schwalbe, 2019, pp. 10–15). Project constraints are limitations and barriers that impact a project. Most constraints fall into three categories, as seen in Figure 8. Collectively, time, scope, and costs are called the triple constraint and must be effectively managed to preserve project momentum

Team Processes

The Tuckman model describes the typical stages newly formed teams follow. Forming is the first stage, where members are introduced. Second is the storming stage when members decide on operational strategy and boundaries. This period could involve conflict as there are usually several differing opinions. Norming is defined as a phase marked by cooperation and mutual trust. The performing stage involves productivity and focus on achieving goals. Finally, adjourning occurs once the project goals have been achieved (Schwalbe, 2019, p. 403).

Knowledge Areas

Integration management is the coordination of the work, people, and plans within a project (Schwalbe, 2019, p. 154). A systems approach to project integration management ensures that top stakeholders understand what is necessary to complete a project and that the result of the project satisfies the needs of the organization. Project integration management requires excellent communication skills in which to build relationships with those who are directly and indirectly impacted by the project (Schwalbe, 2019, p. 155). A tool to help with selecting projects of value or evaluating the organizational benefit of an active project is to conduct a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a great tool to use when trying to get a bigger picture of organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Schwalbe, 2019, p. 156).

Project scope management is the process of determining and controlling the work that is incorporated into the project. Project scope is the culmination of work and processes involved in producing the intended final product or service (Schwalbe, 2019, p. 202). Project scope management should be done with intention and as little ambiguity as possible. The processes involved in scope management are first to plan how the scope and requirements will be managed. Once that has been determined, the project must gather all requirements and processes necessary to achieve the project scope. Then, the project scope management plan is reviewed, along with any requirements documentation and project charter to create the scope statement. Once that has been completed, a work breakdown structure is crafted that breaks down large chunks of work into smaller elements. The scope is then validated by the acceptance of deliverables. Finally, the scope is controlled through the many aspects of the project lifecycle. All updates to scope and requirements are part of this component (Schwalbe, 2019, pp. 202-203).

Schedule management is a knowledge area drastically improved by technologies, but remains one of the biggest challenges and reason for conflict in projects (Schwalbe, 2019, p. 242). As one of the triple constraints, proper schedule management is an essential aspect to keeping projects on track. PERT and Gantt charts are the most commonly used tools in this knowledge area (Schwalbe, 2019, pp. 243–245). There are six primary processes within schedule management:

• Planning schedule management defines the policies, procedures, and documents necessary for planning, executing, and controlling project schedule

• Defining activities involves specifying which activities must be done. Activities are the components usually identified in the work breakdown structure with specific cost, duration, and resource conditions.

• Sequencing of activities requires evaluation of activity relationships to establish and document task priority.

• Estimation of activity duration conveys units of time to each task.

• Developing the schedule requires a comprehensive review of sequenced activities, required resources, and duration assignment to compose and schedule encompassing all project activities and phases

• Controlling the schedule relates to management of who, and under which circumstances, the schedule can be modified.

Project cost management addresses another triple constraint and requires the skill for balancing stakeholder requirements while continuously seeking areas to control and reduce project costs. In IT, lack of project investments due to poor understanding of project cost management is well documented. As a result, projects are at a higher risk of failure to meet stakeholder requirements because of cost overrun or lack of proper budget allocation to satisfy resource needs (Schwalbe, 2019, pp. 286–289). This may result in project hesitancy or avoidance, increasing risk to IT infrastructure security. Executive stakeholders must view IT projects as capital costs and project managers must deploy cost management tactics that are strategically aligned.

Total quality management are activities to satisfy or exceed expectations of the sponsor and key stakeholders. The customer determines whether the project has fulfilled needs, so quality management is essentially the impetus for project management. There are three primary functions in this knowledge area. Planning quality management determines any existing standards relevant for measuring quality. Managing quality is the transformation of a quality plan to an actionable process. And controlling quality is the monitoring of project elements to verify standards are met.

Project resource management involves all physical and human assets necessary for completion of a project. Physical resources include equipment, supplies, and workspaces, where human assets are all project stakeholders (Schwalbe, 2019, p. 337). Project managers should possess a comprehensive understanding of established tools and procedures relating to effective resource management. Leading project teams is particularly important, as human capital is the fulcrum upon which the success of a project balances.

Effective management of communications for a project involves planning, managing, and monitoring processes (Schwalbe, 2019, p. 427). First, planning requires for the needs of key stakeholders are evaluated to determine the best method for conveying information. The result of this evaluation is used to create the communication management plan (Schwalbe, 2019, p. 434). Managing communications involves establishing the best methods used for communication and dissemination of information within the project. Technology has made this process especially important, as there are an ever-increasing number of options available for managing communications (Schwalbe, 2019, p. 436). Finally, monitoring involves evaluating the effectiveness of communication planning and managing procedures to ensure the communication needs of stakeholders are satisfied (Schwalbe, 2019, p. 441).

Project risk management relates to evaluating and controlling possible events that may have either a positive or negative impact on the progress of project objectives (Schwalbe, 2019, p. 468). Risk management efforts seek to maximize the potential that positive risks occur while also reducing the possibility that negative risks impede reaching project outcomes by proactively planning a risk management strategy. Identifying risks and documenting their characteristics provides the basis for qualitative and quantitative analysis. Risk responses are then formulated to mitigate and control how risks impact the project. Finally, monitoring processes are put into place that involve identifying new risks and responses, while assessing effectiveness of existing risk management strategies (Schwalbe, 2019, pp. 470-471).

Project procurement management is the attainment of services and goods from a source external to the organization. Outsourcing is an important aspect of procurement management, particularly in the information technology field (Schwalbe, 2019, pp. 506-507). When determining whether outsourcing is appropriate for a particular project, the project manager must evaluate their access to skills and technology, whether the move reduces fixed and recurrent costs, enables better focus on core business, and facilitates flexibility while increasing accountability (Schwalbe, 2019, pp. 508-509).

Project stakeholder analysis is a knowledge area involving evaluation of key players invested, involved, or impacted by the project. There are internal and external stakeholders within an organization. Internal project stakeholders include all of the project team and sponsor, in addition to the staff supporting the project. External stakeholders for a project are customers, suppliers, and competitors. Groups and individuals that are impacted by or have participated in the project outside of the organization are also considered external stakeholders. (Schwalbe, 2019, p. 542). Stakeholder analysis helps project managers understand the interest and engagement of stakeholders, which is important to the overall success of the project. One tool for project stakeholder management is the power/interest grid, which helps identify the level of focus a project manager should dedicate to relationship management with the individual or group (Schwalbe, 2019, pp. 544-545).