Fundamentals of Technology Project Management 2nd Edition

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Designed to provide software engineers, students, and IT professionals with an understanding of the fundamentals of project management in the technology/IT field, this book serves as a practical introduction to the subject. Updated with information on how Fundamentals of Project Management integrates with and complements Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge, this collection explains fundamental methodologies and techniques while also discussing new technology, tools, and virtual work environments. Examples and case studies are based on technology projects, and there are sample documents ranging from initial RFP to closing reports and different meeting agendas, status reports, cost analysis, and technical specifications. The book includes 60 templates to lead technology professionals through the six phases of the project life cycle: planning, design, development, integration, deployment, and postdeployment. A chapter on using social media is also included.
About the Author
Colleen Garton, PMP is an expert on technical project management with over two decades of hands-on project management experience. She is the owner of Garton Consulting Group and a former manager/director for technology and analytics companies such as Intuit and FICO. Colleen is the author of the virtual and global management book Managing Without Walls. She lives in Dunedin, Florida. Erika McCulloch is an associate and adjunct professor, teaching courses in project management, strategic management of technology and innovation, managing technological change, and other technology topics. She lives in San Diego, California.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Fundamentals of Technology Project Management
By Colleen Garton, Erika McCulloch
MC Press
Copyright © 2011 MC Press Online, LLC
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-58347-339-9
Contents
Title Page,
Copyright Page,
About The Authors,
Dedication,
Introduction,
CHAPTER 1 - Concepts of Project Management,
CHAPTER 2 - Project Management Methodologies,
CHAPTER 3 - Project Initiation,
CHAPTER 4 - Advancing Beyond the Green Light,
CHAPTER 5 - The Project Plan and Project Approach,
CHAPTER 6 - Project Kick-Off,
CHAPTER 7 - Project Design,
CHAPTER 8 - Creating the Project Schedule,
CHAPTER 9 - Project Development,
CHAPTER 10 - Managing Obstacles and Risks,
CHAPTER 11 - Managing Communication,
CHAPTER 12 - Integration and Testing,
CHAPTER 13 - Deployment,
CHAPTER 14 - Project Closure,
CHAPTER 15 - How to Be an Effective Leader,
CHAPTER 16 - Personal Growth and Development,
APPENDIX A - Case Study,
APPENDIX B - Project Success,
APPENDIX C - The Project Manager's Toolkit,
APPENDIX D - Document Templates,


CHAPTER 1
Concepts of Project Management


A project without a project manager is like an orchestra without a conductor. You can have the best musicians (or engineers) in the world, but without the leadership of a talented conductor (or manager) who understands how everyone's piece must fit precisely together, in the right order, to produce the final product, the orchestra (or the team) is not going to perform well, and the results will be poor. To realize their full potential for a great symphony or a great technology product, a team needs direction and guidance from a leader who can see the "big picture," but who understands enough about the details to be able to lead the team to success. In technology, this person is the project manager. The project manager's value to the organization is the same value that the conductor brings to the orchestra. Successful orchestras would not dream of performing a concert without one. Successful companies should not dream of launching a project without a project manager. It happens, but not as often these days as in the past. Companies have learned from their project nightmare lessons! The project manager is the glue that holds the project team together. It is a vital role and carries with it a lot of responsibility. The success of a project is determined primarily by the quality of the project manager. Never underestimate the value that the project manager brings to the team or to the project results.


The Role of a Project Manager

A project manager (PM) has various functions or roles. A project manager will find himself or herself wearing many different hats during the various phases of his or her projects (and very likely at different times during the duration of each day). The specific roles a project manager will need to fulfill will differ to some extent depending on the company for whom the project is being managed. It will also differ depending on the particular needs and requirements of the department or client for whom the project is being developed and the nature of the actual project itself.

There are different types of project managers. You will find that most project managers fit into one of these broad categories: There are technical project managers who have a background in technology. They have a technical or engineering degree and have some, if not a lot, of experience in the engineering field. There are also career project managers. They have some level of technical skill and knowledge but have opted for the project management career path rather than the engineer and developer one. These individuals usually possess excellent organizational and leadership skills, which led them into a career in technology project management. Some companies specifically require one or the other of these types of project manager for their open positions. Others will be open to either. By choosing a career in technology project management, it is beneficial to have both strong project management skills and strong technical skills. However, companies are more likely to hire a very strong project manager with little to no technical experience than to hire a technical manager with little or no project management experience.

A project manager wears many different hats and is known by many different names. These are not the names that your project team may call you behind your back when you ask them to work the weekend, but the different names used to describe this role in an organization. One of the names you may find used is "program manager." This title is generally used to describe the different role of managing the actual products, rather than the process to build and deploy the product. Some companies interchange these titles, and some companies use them to describe different roles. To make matters even more confusing, the project manager role can also be referred to as a "technical manager" or a "project coordinator." In some companies, a project coordinator is an assistant to the project manager and is responsible for managing the schedule updates and status reports only. The more commonly used title is "project manager." When searching for a project manager position, check under all of these titles and always read the job descriptions thoroughly.


Management

The most important role of a project manager is to manage the project through all six stages of the project Life Cycle. This will include ensuring that the project stays within budget and is delivered on time and with high quality. This book is designed to guide you through each stage of the project by giving you the tools, skills, and knowledge you will need to consistently deliver successful projects.


Communication

A vital key to successful project management is communication; not just any old kind of communication, but two-way, open communication. Quantity is never a good substitute for quality. Communication must be tailored for your specific audience. A one-size-fits-all approach is not going to work. You will be communicating with different groups of stakeholders that could include sales people, marketing, product management, engineering, clients, quality assurance, senior management, accounting, and outside vendors. These different groups of stakeholders will be looking for different information from you with differing levels of detail. Personality types will also determine how much and how detailed the data you share and present needs to be.

So how do you figure out what information each group or person needs from you? One sure way of finding out is to ask them. You may talk to one stakeholder who tells you "I only want to know whether there is a problem. I will assume things are going well unless you tell me otherwise." Another may tell you, "Don't come to me with a problem unless you have a solution. If I cannot do anything about it, then I would rather not know. Let me know once the problem is solved and just tell me what the schedule impact is and what plans you have in place to counteract the impact." Then there are the people who want to know every little detail of what is going on, "Send me an e-mail every day/week to update me on where we are with every aspect of the project. Let me know when each and every milestone is completed, and inform me immediately of any potential issues that you anticipate in the following week." The list of responses to this question can go on and on. Never assume that you know what someone needs from you, and never assume it is the same as what someone else needs. People always appreciate being asked for their opinions and preferences. It not only makes them feel that their opinions are important; it also makes you look like you are a good manager who is setting a solid foundation to ensure that everyone is informed appropriately, thereby giving the project the best chance of success.

Human nature is a strange thing. It is usually the case that if someone believes you value their opinions, they will also value yours. If you hold them in high regard, they will also hold you in high regard. After all, you must be really smart to have noticed how smart they are, right? Thus, it is always good to ask for others' opinions and to pay attention to what you hear. You do not have to agree with them, but be respectful and thank them for their input. You do not have to comment on how useful or not useful it was! There will be situations where you will not be able to reach agreement. In these situations, you can agree to disagree as long as it is clear who the decision-maker is going to be. By listening and responding to input from your team members and stakeholders, you are empowering them to continue to contribute to the process. They will feel that they are adding value to the project and to the project team.


Presentations and Reporting

Creating and presenting various project presentations to clients, stakeholders, and team members is a very important and often a very time consuming part of a project manager's role. Throughout the project, there will be a lot of presentation work. Presentation meetings require careful planning and execution. During the design and development phases of the project, there will likely be weekly or monthly (or possibly even daily) project status meetings that will be much more informal. The overall length of the project and the stage of the project that you are in will determine the frequency of status meetings. For instance, if you are working on a year-long project, you may have monthly or biweekly status meetings during the development stage of the project and then increase this to daily meetings in the few weeks or days prior to the deployment (release) of the product.


Project Documentation

A project manager is often responsible for writing a certain amount of the project documentation. The amount and level of documentation you will be required to create will depend on your level, and areas, of technical knowledge or expertise and your knowledge of the product. Some of the documents are standard project management documents written by the project manager; the client, business managers, business analysts, engineers, or vendors will write others.

In addition to these documents, there will be numerous presentations and status reports created regularly throughout the project Life Cycle. If your project team is a permanent team (not created on a per-project basis), you may need to create a Team Charter or Mission Statement for the team. If you are directly managing people, you will also be responsible for documentation such as Personal Development Plans, individual team member goals and objectives, and annual (or project-related) employee reviews.

Appendix D includes a flowchart and a list of all documents required during the project Life Cycle. A template for every document is included on the CD-ROM that accompanies this book.

Even if you are not involved in the actual writing of these documents, you are very likely to be involved in the reviewing of some, if not all, of the documents. The first time you see the Proposal Document may be when you receive it from your sales department. Be aware that you might get a bit of a shock (sales people often oversell on the features of a product and undersell on what it will cost to develop). You need to read the documents and ensure that you understand what you are committed to. To fully understand your project you need a good, solid understanding of what your product is and what your product can (or will) do. Reading the technical and user documentation is a great way to get up to speed on these areas quickly.

The project documents are covered in more detail in later chapters. Sample documents are included on the CD-ROM that accompanies this book.


Estimation

The estimation of project tasks is a complex, and never exact, science. Project managers are responsible for working with their teams to produce the initial, high-level, detailed, and final estimates. Estimating complex projects takes a lot of coordination, and there is often a tight deadline for completion. Unless you are an experienced developer, you will need help from your project team to create realistic estimates. The rule of thumb is that engineers usually overestimate what they can accomplish by at least 20%, so be prepared to update their estimates accordingly. This will vary from person to person, and you will need to monitor their results with estimating to gauge what kind of adjustment you need to make before submitting your estimates. If you work on the same team or product for some time, you may be able to create the estimates yourself without additional technical assistance. It is great if you can do that, but remember to ask for a sanity check from someone else on the team before submitting estimates. You might have missed something really important that was not evident to you from the estimation request but will be to the engineer who will be implementing the feature.


Project Scheduling

The project manager is responsible for the creation and management of the project schedule. In this book, we will assume that you are using Microsoft Project software to manage your project. It is one of the more popular project tracking tools in technology project management. There are many other project tracking software programs available that can be used effectively. The basic principles of tracking project status are the same, or similar, in the majority of these programs. Some have better functionality and are easier to use than others. You may get to choose what tools you use on your project, or you may be required to use whatever the standard tools are at the company where the project is being implemented. Creating a project schedule can be relatively easy if you have a small project with few resources and minimum dependencies. It can also be very challenging, especially if you have a large, complex project with multiple engineers and skill sets and complex dependencies between tasks and features. For smaller projects, creating a schedule can be accomplished in as little as an hour or two. Larger projects can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks! Do a sanity check on your schedule with one or more of your team members before you finalize it. You may have missed something that will adversely affect the schedule.

Managing the ongoing schedule tasks and interim (or internal) as well as final releases is the most challenging part of scheduling. In your role as scheduler, you will need to recognize problems that will have schedule impacts and know what processes to follow if there is a problem. If you are a junior or assistant project manager, you will likely have a senior, or group, project manager to help you manage these problems. For smaller projects, or if you are the only project manager on the project, you will be required to manage this yourself.

Updating the schedule and ensuring that the implementation team is kept up to date on changes to the schedule are a part of the status reporting and management aspect of a project manager's job. Proactively getting status reports from individual team members and communicating this status to the relevant stakeholders, with the appropriate level of detail, is the responsibility of the project manager. Keep in mind that the frequency of status reporting should be appropriate both for the length of the project and the phase of the project that you are in. You do not want to ask for status reports from your team members on a monthly basis if the project is only going to be 4 months long. This will not give you adequate time to respond to issues. Similarly, it is unlikely that you will need daily status reports during all of the phases of a two-year project.


Managing the Project Team

There are various management structures, which will be covered in more detail in the organizational structure section in this chapter, and some of those structures require the project manager to also be a people manager. This has advantages and disadvantages, and you will form your own opinions about which method you feel is most advantageous as you learn more about the different approaches to managing projects and project teams.

Project managers who are responsible for the management of their project teams have a whole host of additional responsibilities related to managing people. These include coaching and development, personnel issues, tracking work hours, vacations, sick time, setting business and personal objectives, reviewing performance, technical training /development, team motivation, and individual performance management.


Conflict and Change Management

As a project manager, whether or not you are also a people manager, you will be required to manage relationships between your team members and your stakeholders. This will include managing conflict as well as managing change. Regardless of how well planned a project may be, unforeseen changes and project demands can take their toll on you and your team members. Managing the impact of these changes can be very challenging. Conflict resolution and change management are an important aspect of the project manager's core responsibilities.


Contributing to the Company's Management Team

As a member of the management team, you are likely to have additional responsibilities directly or indirectly related to your project. These can often involve numerous meetings; reporting, collecting, and analyzing business and productivity metrics; process improvements; project proposals for future projects; planning for the next project while implementing the current one; and budget tracking and reporting, to name but a few.


Dual Roles

On smaller projects or within smaller organizations, you may find yourself in the dual role of project manager and lead engineer, project manager and technical writer, project manager and product manager, and on and on; the list of combinations is endless. Being in the dual role of project manager and a contributing member of the development team can be challenging. You are, in effect, managing yourself, which means that you have to hold yourself as accountable as you hold the other members of your team. For smaller projects, there may not be enough work to keep a full-time project manager busy, so being in a dual role is the best way to accomplish at least some level of project management for the project. This can also be a good way to start the transition from engineer or engineering lead into a project management role. On larger projects, it can be much harder to split your time between two very different roles, and you can often find yourself trying to do two full-time jobs. This is where you must focus a lot of attention on your own personal time management and ensure that you are not overcommitted. Trying to do too much will result in you doing a passable job in each role but not excelling at either. This is not good for the project or for your own self-esteem.


(Continues...)
Excerpted from
Fundamentals of Technology Project Management
by
Colleen Garton, Erika McCulloch
. Copyright © 2011 MC Press Online, LLC. Excerpted by permission of MC Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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