Project Management Skills

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Project Management Skills

• Ability to understand the technical aspects of a
  project
• Ability to effectively communicate project
  information
• Ability to effectively document the flow of
  project information
• Ability to effectively manage project human
  resources
• Ability to clearly define project scope
• Ability to manage the project within the fiscal
  budget
• Ability to manage project changes
• Ability to maintain support for the project
• Ability to provide leadership
• Ability to effectively manage time
• Ability to properly close a project
• Ability to solve problems
• Based on interviews with 47 project managers

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Methodology

• To gauge the importance of these 12 skills, a 5
  point Likert scale was used in our study.
• A clear definition of each skill was provided
• Respondents were asked to rate the importance of
  each skill as
• 1. Not at all
• 2. A little
• 3. Moderate
• 4. Much
• 5. A great deal
• A total of 42 individuals responded

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Correlation matrix of PM skills
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13. Project success

• To the extent that the information technology
  empowers end-users to do their job more
  effectively and more efficiently it can be
  considered successful.
• To the extent that a project outcome satisfies
  customer needs and accomplishes project
  specifications within time and budget it can be
  considered successful.

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13. Failure events profile
Project event Failure rate
Cancellation High
Late delivery Medium to high
Over budget Medium to high
Quality problems Medium to high
Employee turnover Low to medium
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13. Reasons for IT project failure

• Human issues
• Employee turnover
• Conflict
• Motivation
• Technical limitations
• Incompatible hardware and software platforms
• Limited bandwidth for data transfer
• Inadequate response time
• Political game play
• By the individual to gain rewards
• By the team to create rivalry
• By the project manager to control

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13. Reasons for IT project failure

• Funding issues
• Erroneous estimates
• Poor budgetary control
• Run away costs
• Leadership issues
• In dealing with people
• In dealing with technology
• In dealing with processes

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13. Problem-solution examples
Possible problem Possible solution
Users cannot agree on business needs. This usually happens in the early stages of the project development. Document all communications. Use prototype to allow users see the impact of their decisions.
Users and team members do not communicate. Provide clear guidelines for communication.
Users want a solution without fully understanding the ramifications. Facilitate meetings to walk users through various levels of the system. Share details with all parties to help understanding.
Stakeholders resist change. Document changes and assign priorities for them involving stakeholders. Monitor change continuously.
Employee turnover, new hire with insufficient expertise. Have team members learn skills. Provide training. Have technical gurus go around helping.
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13. Signs of project failure
1 Your team gives you only good news at status meetings
2 The implementation date is getting near but the project manager has not yet seen a hands-on demonstration of the application
3 Team members complain about the lack of skills of other team members
4 Team members protect themselves at every opportunity
5 Team members are resigning on a regular basis
6 Team members either frustrated and constantly on edge or feel no pressure to get the job done
7 The project has missed milestones and is over budget
8 There has been no detailed walk-through of the design by independent reviewers
9 When you think of the project there is no thought of team but only individuals
10 There is no user involvement and the users are not interested
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13. Barriers to project success
Activity group Activity item
Planning (32) Unclear definition (16), poor decision making (9), changes (4), bad information (3)
Directing (26) Poor coordination (9), poor communication (6), low commitment (6), poor leadership (5)
Scheduling (12) Not meeting schedule (5), not managing schedule (3), tight schedule (4)
Staffing (12) Inadequate personnel (5), incompetent project manager (4), project member turnover (2), poor staffing process (1)
Organizing (11) Lack of responsibility or accountability (5), weak project manager (5), top management interference (1)
Controlling (7) Poor follow-up (3), poor monitoring (2), no control system (1), no recognition of problems (1)
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13. Project success factors
Success Criteria Freq. ()
User involvement 19
Top management support 16
Clear statement of requirements 15
Proper planning 11
Realistic expectations 10
Smaller project milestones 9
Competent staff 8
Project team ownership 6
Clear vision and objectives 3
hard-working, focused staff 3
Total 100
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13. User involvement

• Involvement equilibrium balance between desired
  and actual involvement
• End-users more receptive to learning, improve
  their understanding of how to use the system,
  make suggestions that might improve system
  quality
• Enhances trust and contributes to a sense of
  ownership and control, improves system acceptance
• Users viewed involvement as a means of getting
  what they want

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13. User involvement

• Involvement saturation actual involvement
  exceeds desired involvement
• Involvement is viewed as time consuming
  interference with other activities impediment to
  other opportunities
• Involvement is unlikely to increase trust or
  sense of control
• End-users are less receptive to learning about
  the system or improving their understanding of
  how to use it
• User satisfaction is less plausible as end-users
  see little or no value in being involved

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13. User involvement

• Involvement deprivation desired involvement
  exceeds actual involvement
• Users develop a sense of alienation
• There may be some involvement but users perceive
  it as too little or inconsequential
• Little involvement may be resented as an act of
  manipulation
• Increased resistance and reduced acceptance
• Negative user satisfaction

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13. User involvement

• These involvement episodes create opportunities
  and challenges for the project manager
• Challenges exist in creating appropriate
  involvement arrangements
• Ultimately, individuals want to benefit from
  involvement arrangements and enhance their career
  opportunities
• Eight activities are suggested for user
  involvement in systems development

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13. Measures of end-user involvement
Developmental activity Desired/Actual involvement
1 Initiating the project? 1 ---------- 5
2 Determining system objectives? 1 ---------- 5
3 Determining the users information needs? 1 ---------- 5
4 Assessing alternative ways of meeting the users information needs? 1 ---------- 5
5 Identifying sources of information? 1 ---------- 5
6 Outlining information flows? 1 ---------- 5
7 Developing input forms/screens? 1 ---------- 5
8 Developing output format? 1 ---------- 5
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13. Measures of end-user satisfaction
Measures of user satisfaction Satisfaction level
Content Example Does the system provide the precise information you need? 1 ---------- 5
Accuracy Example Is the system accurate? 1 ---------- 5
Format Example Do you think the output is presented in a useful format? 1 ---------- 5
Ease of use Example Is the system user friendly? 1 ---------- 5
Timeliness Example Does the system provide up-to-date information? 1 ---------- 5
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13. Percentile scores for satisfaction
Percentile Value (12 - 60)
10 37
20 43
30 46
40 48
50 51
60 53
70 54
80 57
90 59
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13. Perceived usefulness
Measures of usefulness Level of use
Task productivity This application saves me time This application increases my productivity This application allows me to accomplish more work than would otherwise be possible 1 ---------- 5 1 ---------- 5 1 ---------- 5
Task innovation This application helps me create new ideas This application helps me come up with new ideas This application helps me try out innovative ideas 1 ---------- 5 1 ---------- 5 1 ---------- 5
Customer satisfaction This application improves customer service This application improves customer satisfaction This application helps me meet customer needs 1 ---------- 5 1 ---------- 5 1 ---------- 5
Management control This application helps management control the work process This application improves management control This application helps management control performance 1 ---------- 5 1 ---------- 5 1 ---------- 5
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13. Benefits of reliable measures

• Historical data for comparative analysis
• Improves confidence in stakeholders
• Confidence in the reliability of results
• Ease of documentation
• Meaningful communication
• Improves user acceptance of project outcome
• Useful to evaluate project success
• Useful to design training programs
• Useful to evaluate team member
• Helps maintain top management support

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13. Other success factors

• Business knowledge
• Understanding what the business is about
  organizational mission, goals and objectives
• Understanding organizational culture and
  processes how things are done
• Expectation management
• Congruence between developers and sponsors views
• With respect to scope statement
• Change management
• Change management committee
• Priorities and implementation

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13. Discussion questions

• The Noble Laureate, Dr. Robert Solow said that
  you can computer everywhere but the Productivity
  Index
• There is a gap between the IT investment and the
  profit.
• IT Productivity Paradox

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13. Discussion questions

• Evaluating information system success is a
  complex task that involves knowledge of business
  as well as technology. Information systems can be
  evaluated from the perspectives of the user, the
  developer, or both. What are some specific
  success features from the developers
  perspective? The users perspective?

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13. Discussion questions

• Conduct a survey in class to determine the level
  of usefulness for each of the four factors given
  in Table 13.7. Ask your respondents to think of
  an application that they use most frequently as
  they answer your questions. Use teams as focus
  groups.
• Use your project team experience for this course
  and list factors of success or failure

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13. Discussion questions

• Read the case for Household Credit Card Services
  and discuss the followings
• What are planning issues in this case?
• What is unique about the project management
  framework in this industry?
• What do you see interesting about this project
  management case?
• How would you manage this project if you were
  appointed the project manager?
• How would you summarize primary lessons learned
  from this case?