Either from your experience or by searching the internet, describe a well-planned and executed project. Describe a disastrous project. What were some of the main differences between these projects?

Question 5
Either from your experience or by searching the internet, describe a well-planned and executed project. Describe a disastrous project. What were some of the main differences between these projects?


 A well planned and execute project can be Facebook. It was a planned project, that Mark Zuckerberg planned out, hired his roommates as the project team and executed it. Great timing and the need for a clean social network also helped, but anyone could've came up with this idea (and they did i.e. myspace) but it was the well planned Facebook that made it at the end of the day. A disastrous project could be myspace. When Facebook was clear in what it was and wanted to be, myspace could have been confusing in what the site really was. At first it was a social network, then they took a more musical approach to it and now it is stuck between the two and Facebook it the clear king of social networking. While myspace was figuring out it's identity, Facebook already had one and perfected it, and could be said that they "beat" myspace.

Define globalization, outsourcing, and virtual teams and describe how these trends are changing IT project management.

Question 4

Define globalization, outsourcing, and virtual teams and describe how these trends are changing IT project management.

Globalization  is a "flat" and "connected" world where everyone is connected and "playing the field" is level for many more participants. 

    Outsourcing is when an organization acquires goods and/or sources from an outside source. The term off-shoring is sometimes used to describe outsourcing from another country.

    Virtual Teams is a group of individuals who work across time and space using communication technologies. team members might all work for the same company in the same country, or they might include employees as well as independent consultants, suppliers, or even volunteers providing their expertise from around the globe.

These trends are changing the IT project management world because now project managers can hire outside the company and sometimes that works out for the better in regards to talent, scheduling, and meeting deadlines.

Briefly describe what happens in each of the five project management process groups (initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and controlling, and closing). What type of activities are done before initiating the project.

Question 3
Briefly describe what happens in each of the five project management process groups (initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and controlling, and closing). What type of activities are done before initiating the project.

 Initiating - includes defining and authorizing a progect of project phase. Initiating processes take place during each phase of a project.

   Planning - includes devising and maintaining a workable scheme to ensure that the project addresses the organization's needs. 

   Executing -  includes coordinating people and other resources to cary out the various plans and produce the products, services, or results of the project or phase.

   Monitoring and controlling processes - include regularly measuring and monitoring progress to ensure that the project team meets the project objectives. 

   Closing - includes formalizing acceptance of the project or project phase and ending it efficiently.

The types of activities that are done before initializing are reexamining the business need for the project and initiation of all activities to ensure the project team completes all the work.

Who are the key stakeholders in a project? How can a stakeholder help the success of a project?

Question 8

Who are the key stakeholders in a project? How can a stakeholder help the success of a project?

A stakeholder in a project can be loosely defined as any person that will be effect by a project. In the case of an IT project, that could mean the IT staff, the top managers of the company (all the way up to the CEO), non-IT staff, customers, etc... While all these stakeholders can certainly effect the success or failure of an IT project, a key stakeholder is an individual that has even more involvement with a particular project. Maybe it is the project sponsor (the person who initiated the idea for the project), or it could be a high-level manager who believes that a particular project is absolutely necessary for the business. These key stakeholders can help sway the opinion of others in the organization, thus creating a company-wide acceptance of a project. When everyone is on board and focused on a common goal, success can be more easily attained.

Briefly describe the strategic planning process: including SWOT analysis. Which method do you think businesses use most when identifying IT projects?

Question 7

Briefly describe the strategic planning process: including SWOT analysis. Which method do you think businesses use most when identifying IT projects?

The strategic planning process for a business should take a top down approach. If the business does not have a clearly defined mission statement, then it will be extremely hard to identify and select IT projects. In short, an IT project should fit into the business' goals, not the other way around.

SWOT analysis is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. In essence it is a brainstorming exercise. To begin, a company can identify and list it's current strengths and weaknesses, and then evaluate opportunities in the market place - a product or service that consumers or businesses need. Lastly, identify threats. Are there other companies offering similar products already? Is the product unique enough that a larger company won't become a competitor easily?

SWOT analysis can also be utilized by a company for identifying which IT projects to undertake; however, it is more likely that a company would employ several analysis methods to choose which projects to initiate. Financial analysis is an obvious key factor. NPV (net present value), ROI (return on investment), and break-even point are some statistics that are commonly calculated.

Describe the triple constraint. What are the three components and what is the relationship between them.

Question 6

Describe the triple constraint. What are the three components and what is the relationship between them.

Scope, time, and cost are the three key areas of a project that need to be managed at all times. Scope deals with the size and the reach of the project, time simply refers to how long a project will take to complete, and cost is the amount of money the organization is investing in the project.

While each of these areas can be analyzed separately, it is far more beneficial to view them as a unit. Hence the term triple constraint. Scope, time, and cost are permanently linked to one another, and changes in one constraint can easily affect the others. For example, let's say that a company has reached the implementation phase of a new human resources project. The Human Resource Director was thinking about the system over the weekend and thought of a new feature that would be a great addition to the system. First thing Monday morning, the Human Resource Director contacts the Project Manager and offers their new suggestion. At this point, the project has gone through its planning, analysis, and design phases. Incorporating a new feature at this point in time might not be an easy task. Adding new features when a project is mid process is an example of scope creep. As scope increases, so does the time it will take to complete the project. Additionally, if a project takes more time to complete, then it will cost more. Even if the new feature requires a week of one programmers work and no additional hardware, that is still a week of paying that programmer that wasn't included in the initial schedule.

As you can see, a change to one area of constraint easily causes changes to be made to the other two areas of constraint.

Research information about the PMP certification and list at least 2 websites/articles URL'S that describe the requirements. What are the benefits of PMP certification? Do you think it is worthwhile for project managers to get certified? Explain briefly.

Question 2
Research information about the PMP certification and list at least 2 websites/articles URL'S that describe the requirements. What are the benefits of PMP certification? Do you think it is worthwhile for project managers to get certified? Explain briefly.


http://www.pmi.org/Certification/Project-Management-Professional-PMP.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Management_Professional

Some of the benefits of getting a PMP certification are: 1) You will most likely command a higher salary. 2) You will gain more knowledge of project management from your preparation for the exam. 3) It can open up new job opportunities.

I think it is worthwhile for project managers to get certified if they plan on maintaining project management as their career path. There are numerous benefits to getting PMP certification as listed above but simply anytime you have an opportunity to do something to make more money, I think you should take it.

What does it mean to take a systems view of a project? How does taking a systems view of a project apply to project management?

Question 1
What does it mean to take a systems view of a project? How does taking a systems view of a project apply to project management?


Taking a systems view of a project means that you're taking a step back to look at the entire scope of  the project. It means you want to understand all the operations involved the project as well as how everything will work and function. It applies to project management because it allows you to have further understanding of a project and different scenarios that may occur which will lead to an overall better performance in project management.