Project Management Dissertation 2

[mrbayes]

Hi. My name is Alex Bayes and I am studying for a computer degree in the UK.
For my final year Project I have decided to undertake the design and implementation of a Project Management system.
As part of the development of this system I am required to gain knowledge about the factors involved in Project Management.

If it would be possible for anybody to answer these questions, or make available your email so I can direct these questions to you then I would be most grateful.

Thanks,
Alex


Questions: -

1. What would you describe your main roles and responsibilities are, as a Project Manager?

2. As a Software Project Manager, what do you find most of your time is spent doing?

3. What do you understand to be the key principle in Project Management?

4. Do you feel there are any personal traits in a Project Manager that would aid the successful completion of a Project? (outgoing, good communicator etc.?)

5. What software package(s) do you currently use to aid the successful management of a Project?

6. If you could improve on the software you use in any way, what would you do?

7. The number of Project Management Offices (PMO) in the US & UK for managing Software products has increased by 54% in a single year. Do you think there is an actual increase in need for these PMO's, or is it a case of one PMO managing another?

8. As a Project Manager do you feel you need to have any technical knowledge of the product or service being developed by the Project? Would you be able to cope as well without it?

9. On a scale of 0 – 10 (10 always, 0 never) how many times would you say the Projects you manage/are invoved in: -

- Are on time
- Are on budget
- Fulfilled all requirements
- Experienced no problems

10. What do you feel are the main contributing factors to the failure of a project’s capability to stay on time, on budget and fulfil all requirements?

 

[BNPMike]

1. What would you describe your main roles and responsibilities are, as a Project Manager?

Recruit, build and motivate a team.

Accurately identify business requirements and build a solution that optimally meets those.

Guide subordinates - review their technical decisions etc

Manage suppliers - get good deals and optimal quality

Communicate and market the project to co-teams, management and the end customer.




2. As a Software Project Manager, what do you find most of your time is spent doing?


Business and Systems Analysis - talking to people about what things do, how they do it, how big, what's it for, who's involved etc etc etc

Organising and managing people

Communicating - meetings, reports etc that convey what the project is doing and how it is going

Reading emails, attending meetings to review how and whether events external to the project will affect the project.

Sizing and planning.

3. What do you understand to be the key principle in Project Management?

Management

4. Do you feel there are any personal traits in a Project Manager that would aid the successful completion of a Project? (outgoing, good communicator etc.?)

This is management and there are all sorts of successful managers. For IT it is key that you know a lot about IT otherwise you can't tell whether people are bullshitting.

5. What software package(s) do you currently use to aid the successful management of a Project?

Outlook
Word
Excel
Access
Photodraw
Powerpoint
MS Project

6. If you could improve on the software you use in any way, what would you do?

I can't think of anything I want. Once upon a time there were Case tools which sounded like they would help you but they never cuaght on.

7. The number of Project Management Offices (PMO) in the US & UK for managing Software products has increased by 54% in a single year. Do you think there is an actual increase in need for these PMO's, or is it a case of one PMO managing another?

PMOs are for Management. They help Management see what is going on because project managers tend to be liars or delude themselves so nobody knows there's a problem until a major milestone is missed then all hell breaks loose.

8. As a Project Manager do you feel you need to have any technical knowledge of the product or service being developed by the Project? Would you be able to cope as well without it?

I don't need to know the specific product, business or project management methodology (except that it's the only way you get a job nowadays). I do howeevr need to know a lot about all sorts of IT, business and methodologies to I can grasp the current one quickly.

9. On a scale of 0 – 10 (10 always, 0 never) how many times would you say the Projects you manage/are invoved in: -

- Are on time
9
- Are on budget
9
- Fulfilled all requirements
9
- Experienced no problems
2

10. What do you feel are the main contributing factors to the failure of a project’s capability to stay on time, on budget and fulfil all requirements?

Without doubt - the original concept/technolgy/plan/budget was ridiculous.

People consistently underestimate the number of things they need to do and the propensity for things to go wrong.

People also love new or inappropriate technology when it delivers nothing but heartache.

The key to success is to continually revise the original vision as you move through the project and find things out. Don't hang on to previous decisions when you find there's better ones. Constantly keep thinking about the business requirement and try and out out of your mind the technical solutions proposed.

Sadly as you can see, software packages can do little to help you on these key succes factors.

 

[cjowsey]

I generally agree wtih BNPMike. His answer is very comprehensive. Here are my extensions to those answers.

Qn. 1
Add: Manage schedules and budgets; Hand over the project; disband the project team

Qn. 3
I would say management of a defined set of tasks and outcomes. (A project team is different to, say, a support team in that the project is supposed to come to an end).

Qn 4.
Many project managers can push a project over the line with little or no regard to quality or the welfare and cohesion of the project team. A truely successful project manager is one who can deliver a high quality outcome repeatedly with an energised team who have increased their skill base. I think the short answer is Leadership.

Qn 5.
I would replace Photodraw with Visio.

Qn 6.
A project website can be useful for large teams although it doesn't replace the need for face to face communication.

Qn 8.
I need to know enough to ask the right questions rather than have indepth knowledge. Early in the project, I generally try and get the business representatives to walk the project team through the typical business cycle that is being automated. There are benefits for all parties in this.

Qn 9.
It depends to a large extent on the size and nature of the project and the amount of external pressure over which the manager has little if any influence. As an example, I was involved in a project a couple of years ago where a major external supplier had large slippages on their deliverables. Our team was ready on time but we couldn't deploy and hand over until the other parties were in place. Consequently, the project team could not be disbanded for a long time after the work was done. My team delivered on time, the global project was over a year late and we blew the budget keeping people around to put it into production.

Qn 10.
I entirely agree with these comments. I would also add:
Underdefined requirements; over-estimated benefits; incompetent senior management - including project managers (it is fairly easy to get rid of underperforming juniors on a project, very much harder to move a bad manager); and, of course, external forces.

 

[Crox]

The increasing number of Project Management Offices has to do with outsourcing.

 

[johnherman]

1. To deliver a quality product on time and within budget. To manage and allocate resources such that the objective can be obtained.
2. Requirements definition, redefinition, scope management, change control, and squashing false expectations. (Requirements management).
3. Resource Management ($, time, people, supplies (computers, software, etc)).
4. The ability to foretell the future. Second best, the ability to predict the future. Thirdly, anticipate the future.
5. MS Project, Excel (task worksheets), Word (status reports), PowerPoint (briefings and status to executives), ERwin (data model) and BPwin (Business Process model).
6. MS Project definitely lacks a good resource leveling algorithm, mostly because it cannot interpret the skill levels of resources.
7. I am an IS consultant who has, in the past, and sometimes still, does PM. I have been in many organizations where there are Project Management oversight departments. Mostly they are helpful, but sometimes the PM office gets too caught up in the details of their paperwork and fails to see the real reason for the project.
8. I have been in both situations. I am not comfortable leading a project where I have no direct technical knowledge related to the project. I would not feel comfortable, for instance, running a project which called for the construction of a parking garage (a relatively simple construction project - no plumbing, for example).
9.
- Are on time 7
- Are on budget 9
- Fulfilled all requirements 9
- Experienced no problems 4
10. Misunderstood requirements, Incomplete technical specifications, Staff turnover, Over-optimistic task completion estimates, Poor assumptions and identification of risks.


Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side because there is more manure there - original.

 

[lucasnevant]

What would you describe your main roles and responsibilities are, as a Project Manager?
Deliver the project's product on time and budget and with the agreed requirements

What do you understand to be the key principle in Project Management?
Detailed planning, performance control against budget.

What software package(s) do you currently use to aid the successful management of a Project?
PlanView, Oracle Projects and Siebel in the past.
DotProject + Gforge + DRES (requirements) + Poseidon at the present time.

If you could improve on the software you use in any way, what would you do?
Integrate it to support the end-to-end software development process.

The number of Project Management Offices (PMO) in the US & UK for managing Software products has increased by 54% in a single year. Do you think there is an actual increase in need for these PMO's, or is it a case of one PMO managing another?
???

As a Project Manager do you feel you need to have any technical knowledge of the product or service being developed by the Project? Would you be able to cope as well without it?
Project Manager skills are independant from tecnical skills, but I believe both of them are necessary. Anyway people tend to underestimate the soft skills needed to manage a project (specially people skills).

What do you feel are the main contributing factors to the failure of a project’s capability to stay on time, on budget and fulfil all requirements?
No on-time control in order to identify problems soon and take corrective actions when it is still possible to correct deviations.

Lucas Rodríguez

http://www.nevant.com

 

[PDQBach]

1. (a). Manage people resources (and, indirectly, the managers of those resources)
(b). Manage user expectations
(c). Manage a schedule
(d). Manage a budget
(e). Manage a plan (a plan is _so_ much more than just a schedule).

2. Managing people.

3. Rigorous change management processes.

4. People skills.

5. MS Project, email, word processor, spreadsheet, teleconferencing.

6. They all do 90% of what I want to do 90% of the time. Any increase in functionality would probably not bring a noticeable improvement in productivity.

7. It depends on the role filled by the PMO: gatekeeper or source of excellence and best practices.

8. No. But, for inexplicable reasons, specific knowledge is highly prized by project sponsors. A PM is a PM; an SME is an SME. A PM without SME knowledge will do a good job of managing a project; an SME without project knowledge will do a bad job of managing a project.

9. I'm in IT ... they are always overbudget and late.

10. Senior management's refusal to accept upfront the estimates they are given.