Introduction to Project

Management

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 Learning Objectives
• Understand the growing need for better project
management, especially for information
technology projects
• Explain what a project is and provide examples
of information technology projects
• Describe what project management is and
discuss key elements of the project management
framework

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 Learning Objectives
• Discuss how project management relates to
other disciplines
• Understand the history of project management
• Describe the project management profession,
including recent trends in project management
research, certification, and software products

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 Project Management Statistics
• The overall information and communications technology market
grew by 6 percent to almost $3 trillion in 2010
• In the U.S. the size of the IT workforce topped 4 million workers in
2008, and the unemployment rate for IT professionals is half the
rate for the overall labor market
• In 2011 the total compensation for the average senior project
manager in U.S. dollars was $105,000 per year in the United States
and $160,409 in the Switzerland.
• The number of people earning their Project Management
Professional (PMP) certification continues to increase. 44 percent
of employers listed project management as a skill they looked for in
new college grads, behind only communication and technical skills
Source: Information Technology Project Management, Seventh Edition

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Advantages of Using Formal Project
Management
• 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

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 What Is a Project?
• A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken
to accomplish a unique product or service”
(PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition, 2012)
• Attributes of projects
– unique purpose
– temporary
– require resources, often from various areas
– should have a primary sponsor and/or customer
– involve uncertainty

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 Samples of IT Projects
• Northwest Airlines developed a new reservation
system called ResNet (see case study on companion
Web site at www.course.com/mis/schwalbe)
• Many organizations upgrade hardware, software,
and networks via projects
• Organizations develop new software or enhance
existing systems to perform many business
functions
• Note: “IT projects” refers to projects involving
hardware, software, and networks
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 Samples of IT Projects
• A small software development team adds a new
feature to an internal software application for
the finance department

• A college upgrades its technology infrastructure

to provide wireless Internet access across the
whole campus

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Top strategic technologies for 2012
(Gartner)
• Media tablets and beyond
• Mobile-centric applications and interfaces
• Contextual and social user experience
• Internet of things
• Cloud computing

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 The Triple Constraint
• Every project is constrained in different ways by its
– Scope goals: What is the project trying to accomplish?
– 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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Figure 1-1. The Triple Constraint of
Project Management

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 Successful Projects
• Cost
At project completion, no more money has been
spent than was originally allocated
• Schedule
The project is delivered no later than the original
delivery date
• Performance
When delivered, the project has all features and
functionality that were originally required of it
Significant IT Failures
 Project Selection
• Project portfolio management
– A process that optimizes project selection and
sequencing in order to best support business goals
– Business goals are expressed in terms of
• Quantitative economic measures
• Business strategy goals
• IT strategy goals
• Once selected, projects enter the project
management process
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10 Project Management Knowledge
Areas
• Knowledge areas describe the key competencies
that project managers must develop
– 4 core knowledge areas lead to specific project
objectives (scope, time, cost, and quality)
– 5 facilitating knowledge areas are the means through
which the project objectives are achieved (human
resources, communications, risk, and procurement
stakeholder management)
– 1 knowledge area (project integration management)
affects and is affected by all of the other knowledge
areas

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Figure 1-2. Project Management
Framework

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 Project Stakeholders
• Stakeholders are the people involved in or
affected by project activities
• Stakeholders include
– the project sponsor and project team
– support staff
– customers
– users
– suppliers
– opponents to the project

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How Project Management Relates to
Other Disciplines
• Much of the knowledge needed to manage
projects is unique to the discipline of project
management
• Project mangers must also have knowledge and
experience in
– general management
– the application area of the project

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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 manager and a technical manager

Information Technology Project Management, Seventh Edition

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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, scope statement, and WBS (work breakdown
structure) (scope)
– Gantt charts, network diagrams, critical path analysis, critical
chain scheduling (time)
– Cost estimates and earned value management (cost)

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 Sample Gantt Chart

The WBS is on the left, and each task’s start and finish date
are shown on the right using a calendar timescale. Early Gantt
Charts, first used in 1917, 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 tasks on the
critical path take longer 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 Enterprise Project Management
Tool

In recent years, organizations have been taking advantage of software

to help manage their projects throughout the enterprise.
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The Project Management Profession
• The job of IT Project Manager is in the list of the top ten
most in demand IT skills
• Professional societies like the Project Management
Institute (PMI) have grown tremendously
• Project management research and certification programs
continue to grow
• It is helpful to understand the history of the field, the role
of professional societies like the Project Management
Institute, and the growth in project management software

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Table 1-2. 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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Project Management Knowledge
Continues to Grow and Mature
• PMI hosted their first research conference in June
2000 in Paris, France, and the second one in
Seattle in July 2002
• The PMBOK® Guide 2000 is an ANSI standard
• PMI’s certification department earned ISO 9000
certification
• Hundreds of new books, articles, and
presentations related to project management have
been written in recent years

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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 (see Appendix B)

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Growth in PMP Certification, 1993-
2002

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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

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 Project Management Software
• By 2003, there were hundreds of different products to assist
in performing project management
• Three main categories of tools exist:
– 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 2000 most popular
– High-end tools: Also called enterprise project management
software, often licensed on a per-user basis
• Project 2002 now includes a separate version for enterprise
project management (see Appendix A for details on Project
2002)

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You Can Apply Project Management to
Many Areas
• Project management applies to work as well as
personal projects
• Project management applies to many different
disciplines (IT, construction, finance, sports,
event planning, etc.)
• Project management skills can help in everyday
life

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 Program and Project Portfolio
Management
• A program is “a group of related projects managed in a
coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available
from managing them individually” (PMBOK® Guide, Fifth
Edition, 2012)
• A program manager provides leadership and direction for the
project managers heading the projects within the program
• Examples of common programs in the IT field include
infrastructure, applications development, and user support
Information Technology Project Management, Seventh Edition

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 Project portfolio management
• As part of project portfolio management,
organizations group and manage projects and
programs as a portfolio of investments that
contribute to the entire enterprise’s success
• Portfolio managers help their organizations
make wise investment decisions by helping to
select and analyze projects from a strategic
perspective

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 Role of Project Manager
• Job descriptions vary, but most include
responsibilities like planning, scheduling,
coordinating, and working with people to achieve
project goals
•  Remember that 97% of successful projects
were led by experienced project managers, who
can often help influence success factors
• Information Technology Project Management,
Seventh Edition

39
Important skills and competencies of
P.M.
1. People skills
2. Leadership
3. Listening
4. Integrity, ethical behavior, consistent
5. Strong at building trust
6. Verbal communication
7. Strong at building teams
8. Conflict resolution, conflict management
9. Critical thinking, problem solving 1
10. Understands, balances priorities

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 Importance of leadership skills
Effective project managers provide leadership by example

A leader focuses on long-term goals and bigpicture 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 the role of both leader and

manager

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 Career for IT Project Managers
• In a 2011 survey, IT executives listed the “nine
hottest skills” they planned to hire for in 2012

• Project management was second only to

programming and application development

• Information Technology Project Management, Seventh Edition 38

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 Global Issue
• Several global dynamics are forcing organizations to rethink
their practices:
• Talent development for project and program managers is a top
concern
• Good project portfolio management is crucial in tight economic
conditions
• Basic project management techniques are core
• competencies
• Organizations want to use more agile approaches to project
• management
• Benefits realization of projects is a key metric

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 Ethics in Project Management
• Ethics, loosely defined, is a set of principles that guide our
decision making based on personal values of what is “right” and
“wrong”
• Project managers often face ethical dilemmas
• In order to earn PMP certification, applicants must agree to
PMI’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
• Several questions on the PMP exam are related to professional
responsibility, including ethics

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 Summary
• A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique
product, service, or result
• Project management is the application of knowledge, skills,
tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project
requirements
• A program is a group of related projects managed in
acoordinated way
• Project portfolio management involves organizing and
managing projects and programs as a portfolio of investments
• Project managers play a key role in helping projects and
organizations succeed
• The project management profession continues to grow and
mature
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