Introduction to IT Project Management

Introduction to IT Project Management

by Cynthia Snyder, Frank Parth
Released October 2006
Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 9781567264210

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Book description

Introduction to IT Project Management provides IT project managers the practical tools needed to maintain daily operations while managing multiple projects. This valuable reference helps IT project managers, CIOs, and project sponsors understand the IT project environment so that projects can be managed much more efficiently and successfully. An instructor's guide is available.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Chapter 1: Projects and Operations
  6. Contents
  7. Chapter 1: Projects and Operations
    1. What Is Project Management?
    2. Why Use Project Management?
    3. How Is Project Management Different from Operational Management?
    4. Successful Project Management
    5. Programs and Portfolios
    6. A Brief History of IT Project Management
    7. Challenges of IT Projects
    8. The Value of IT Project Management
  8. Chapter 2: Organizational Structure and the Strategic Role of Project Management
    1. Company Organizational Structures
      1. Functional
      2. Project Driven
      3. Matrix
    2. Project Management Offices
      1. Background
      2. Types of Project Management Offices
        1. Center of Excellence Project Office
        2. Administrative Project Office
        3. Business Unit of Project Managers
        4. Strategic Project Management Office
        5. Project-Specific Project Management Offices
      3. Organizational Location of Project Management Offices
      4. Criteria for Successful Project Offices
    3. Overview of Strategic Management
      1. Key Strategic Terms
      2. Using Projects to Meet Organizational Needs
    4. Categorizing Projects
      1. Where Do Projects Come From?
      2. Selecting Projects
      3. Types of Projects
        1. Mandatory Projects
        2. Infrastructure Upgrades
        3. Discretionary Projects
      4. Project Selection
      5. How to Choose a Project?
  9. Chapter 3: Project Processes, Phases, and Life Cycles
    1. Project Management Processes
      1. Initiating Processes
      2. Planning Processes
      3. Executing Processes
      4. Controlling Processes
      5. Closing Processes
    2. Project Phases
    3. Project Life Cycles
      1. Ad Hoc/Code-and-Fix
      2. Waterfall
      3. Iterative/Incremental
      4. Spiral Approach
      5. Prototyping
      6. Light Processes
  10. Chapter 4: Project Management Plan Elements
    1. Management Documents
    2. Planning Documents
    3. Project Logs
    4. How Much Documentation Do I Really Need?
    5. How Much Project Management Is Enough?
    6. Project Categories
      1. Duration
      2. Budget
      3. Resource Usage
      4. Risk
      5. Complexity
      6. Criticality
      7. Communications Requirements
    7. Category A, B, and C Projects
  11. Chapter 5: Initiating and Planning Project Scope
    1. The Project Charter
      1. What Goes into the Project Charter
      2. Value of the Project Charter
      3. The Kickoff Meeting
    2. The Project Scope Statement
      1. What Goes into the Project Scope Statement
      2. Value of the Project Scope Statement
    3. All About Requirements
      1. Introduction to Requirements
      2. The Business Analyst and Requirements
      3. Types of Requirements
      4. Properties of Requirements
        1. Individual Requirements
        2. Sets of Requirements
    4. Sources of Requirements
    5. Stakeholder Categories
    6. Gathering Requirements
      1. Interviews
      2. Joint Application Development Sessions
      3. Other Approaches
  12. Chapter 6: Creating the Work Breakdown Structures and Project Schedule
    1. The Work Breakdown Structure
      1. Organizing the Work Breakdown Structure
      2. Developing the Work Breakdown Structure
      3. Work Breakdown Structure Display
    2. Activity Definition
    3. Resource Planning
      1. Defining Resources
      2. Defining Roles and Responsibilities
    4. Activity Sequencing
      1. Types of Dependencies
      2. Types of Relationships
    5. Duration Estimating
      1. Effort and Duration
      2. Types of Estimates
      3. Methods of Developing Estimates
      4. Factors that Affect Estimates
    6. Cost Estimating
      1. Developing a Rough Order of Magnitude Cost Estimate
      2. Challenges of Accurate Costing within IT
  13. Chapter 7: Developing the Project Team
    1. The Project Manager
      1. Project Manager Skills and Abilities
        1. Project Management
        2. Project Leadership
      2. Project Manager Traits
        1. Project Management
        2. Project Leadership
    2. Other Project Roles
      1. The Project Sponsor
      2. The Business Analyst
      3. Team Members
      4. Functional Managers
    3. Project Teams
      1. Team Development Life Cycle
        1. Forming—Stage 1
        2. Storming—Stage 2
        3. Norming—Stage 3
        4. Performing—Stage 4
      2. Team-Building Tools
      3. Team Characteristics
        1. Communication
        2. Trust
        3. Participation
        4. Shared Leadership and Accountability
        5. Reflection on the Team Process
      4. Team Leadership
        1. Leadership Attitude
        2. Leadership Behavior
        3. Leadership Tasks
      5. Team Charter
      6. Managing Virtual Teams
    4. Project Conflict
      1. Common Causes of Project Conflict
        1. Scope
        2. Resources
        3. Schedule
        4. Priorities
      2. Methods for Managing Conflict
        1. Competing
        2. Accommodating
        3. Collaborating
        4. Compromising
        5. Avoiding
  14. Chapter 8: Quality Management
    1. A Discussion of Quality Management
      1. The Definition of Quality
      2. Quality Expectations
    2. Project Quality and Product Quality
      1. Recent Quality Approaches
        1. International Standards Organization
        2. Capability Maturity Models
        3. PRINCE 2
        4. Six Sigma
      2. Cost of Quality
    3. The Quality Management Plan
    4. Quality Management Tools
    5. Testing
      1. The Testing Program
      2. Testing In-House Developed Systems
      3. Testing Commercial, Off-the-Shelf Products
      4. Test Documentation
      5. User Involvement
    6. Lessons Learned for Testing
  15. Chapter 9: Project Communications
    1. Planning Project Communications
      1. Identifying Project Stakeholders
      2. Factors that Affect Communications Planning
        1. Project Complexity
        2. Communications Urgency
        3. Communications Technology
    2. Communication Content and Format
      1. Content
      2. Format
    3. The Communication Plan
    4. Communicating Effectively
      1. Communication Myths
      2. Barriers to Communication
        1. The Message
        2. The Sender
        3. The Receiver
        4. The Environment
      3. Project Documentation
      4. Status Reports
    5. Written and Verbal Communications
      1. Written Communication
      2. Verbal Communication
      3. Nonverbal Aspects of Verbal Communication
    6. Presentations
    7. Project Meetings
      1. Premeeting
      2. The Meeting
      3. After the Meeting
  16. Chapter 10: Project Risk
    1. Understanding Project Risk
    2. Sources of Project Risk
      1. Team Members
        1. Skills
        2. Availability
      2. Technical
        1. IT Technology Risks
        2. Requirements-Related IT Risks
        3. Testing
      3. Vendor-Related IT Risks
      4. Project Management-Related Risks
        1. Scope
        2. Schedule
        3. Budget
        4. Project Management
      5. Organization
      6. External
    3. Risk Identification Tools
      1. Project Documents
      2. Interviews
      3. Risk Breakdown Structure
      4. Brainstorming
    4. Documenting Project Risks
      1. The Risk Statement
      2. The Risk Register
    5. Analyzing Project Risks
      1. Assessing Probability
      2. Assessing Impact
        1. Schedule Risk
        2. Scope/Performance/Quality Risk
        3. Budget Risk
        4. Stakeholder Satisfaction
      3. A Risk Analysis Process
      4. Risk Analysis Tools
        1. A Preliminary Risk Analysis
        2. Probability-Impact Matrix
        3. Project Risk Profile Form
    6. Planning for Risk Response
      1. Negative Risks
        1. Avoiding Risk
        2. Mitigating Risk
        3. Transferring Risk
        4. Accepting Risk
      2. Positive Risks
      3. Additional Risk Items
        1. Contingency Plans
        2. Risk Triggers
        3. Secondary and Residual Risks
        4. Reserve
        5. Fallback Plans
  17. Chapter 11: Finalizing the Schedule and Budget
    1. Finalizing Project Resources
      1. Loading Resources
      2. Leveling Resources
      3. Task Linkages
      4. Using Scheduling Tools for Other Types of Resources
    2. Optimizing Your Project Schedule
      1. Accounting for Risk
      2. The Critical Path
      3. Compressing the Schedule
      4. Shortening without Spending Money
      5. Shortening with Spending Money
      6. Types of Schedule Constraints
      7. Schedule Myths
    3. Scheduling Multiple Projects
    4. Creating a Baseline Budget
      1. Task-Related Costs
      2. Non-Task-Related Costs
  18. Chapter 12: Project Execution
    1. Managing the Project
      1. Stakeholder Management
      2. Negotiation
        1. Develop a Negotiating Strategy
        2. The Negotiation
      3. The Project Kickoff Meeting
      4. Managing Scope, Schedule, and Resources
        1. Quality Assurance
        2. Risk Management
      5. Leading the Project Team
    2. Managing Project Communication
      1. Communication Channel Management
      2. Collecting Information
        1. Scope and Performance Information
        2. Schedule Information
        3. Cost and Resource Information
        4. Other Project Information
    3. Managing Change
      1. Defining Change
      2. Comparing Product and Project Scope Change
      3. Sources of Change
      4. Cost of Change
      5. Change Control Infrastructure
  19. Chapter 13: Project Monitoring and Control
    1. Defining Project Monitoring and Control
      1. Determining What to Report
      2. Planning for Monitoring
      3. Measuring Progress
      4. Types of Measurements
    2. Information Analysis
      1. Thresholds and Variances
      2. Analyzing Information
        1. Metrics
        2. Common Metrics
        3. Analyzing Schedule Variances
        4. Analyzing Cost Variances
        5. Displaying Information
    3. Developing Responses
      1. Root Cause Analysis
      2. Some Corrective Action Options
        1. Schedule
        2. Cost
        3. Scope
      3. Monitoring and Controlling Risk
    4. Putting It All Together
    5. Reporting Cycles
  20. Chapter 14: Project Audit and Closure
    1. Project Audits
    2. Closing Out the Project
    3. Obtaining Final Project Acceptance
      1. Scope Validation
      2. Transitioning to Production
    4. Closing Out Project Documentation
      1. Closing Documentation
      2. Contract Closure
      3. Archiving Information
      4. Checklists
      5. The Post-Implementation Report
      6. Lessons Learned
  21. Appendix: Answers to Review Questions
  22. Index

Product information

  • Title: Introduction to IT Project Management
  • Author(s): Cynthia Snyder, Frank Parth
  • Release date: October 2006
  • Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
  • ISBN: 9781567264210