Chapter 2: The project management and information technology context

Structural Frame

Roles and responsibilities, coordination, and control organizational charts help describe this frame.

Phase exits or Kill points

management review that should occur after each project phase to determine if projects should be continued, redirected, or terminated;

Waterfall Life Cycle model

model has a well-defined, linear stages of system analysis, design, construction, testing, and support. This life cycle model assumes that requirements will remain stable after they are defined.

Spiral Life Cycle model

model was developed based on experience with various refinements of the waterfall model as applied to large government software projects. It recognizes the fact that most software is developed using an interactive or spiral approach rather than a linear approach.

Matrix organizational structure

represents the middle ground between functional and project structures.

Adaptive Software Development (ASD) Life Cycle

requirements cannot be clearly expressed, projects are mission driven and component based, using time-based cycles to meet target dates.

Champion

A senior manager who acts as a key proponent for a project.

System Philosophy

An overall model for thinking about things as a systems.

Political Frame

Coalitions composed of varied individuals and interest groups. Conflict and power are key issues.

Phases of the traditional Project Life Cycle.

Concept, Development, Implementation, Close-out. (Project Feasibility) * (Project Acquisition)

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Outlines project work by decomposing the work activities into different levels of tasks. Furthermore, is a deliverable oriented document that defines the total scope of the project.

System thinking

Taking a holistic view of an organization to effectively hand complex situations.

Project Feasibility

The first two phases in a project (concept and development) that focus on planning.

Project acquisition

The last two phases in a project (implementation and close-out) that focus on delivering the actual work.

System management

addresses the business, technological, and organizational issues associated with creating, maintaining, and making changes to a system.

Project organizational structure

also has a hierarchical, structure, but instead of functional manager or vice presidents reporting to the CEO, program managers report to the CEO.

Systems

are sets of interacting components working within an environment to full fill some purpose.

Offshoring

describe outsourcing from another country.

Agile software development

describes new approaches that focus on close collaboration between programming teams and business experts.

Systems approach

emerged in the 1950s to describe a more analytical approach to management and problem solving.

Human resources (HR) Frame

focuses on producing harmony between the needs of the organization and the needs of the people.

Symbolic Frame

focuses on symbols and meanings related to events. Culture, language, traditions, and image are all parts of this frame.

Politics

in organizations take the form of competition among groups or individuals for power and leadership.

Project Life Cycle

is a collection of project phases.

System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

is a framework for describing the phases involved in developing and maintaining information systems.

Virtual team

is a group of individuals who work across time and space using communication technologies.

System Analysis

is a problem-solving approach that requires defining the scope of the system, dividing it into its components, and then identifying and evaluating its problems, opportunities, constraints, and needs.

Deliverable

is a product or service, such as technical report, a training session, a piece of hardware, or a segment of software code, produced or provided as a project.

Organizational Culture

is a set of shared assumption, values, and behaviors that characterize the functioning of an organization.

Functional organizational structure

is the hierarchy most people think when picturing and organizational chart.

Outsourcing

is when an organization acquires good and/ or sources from an outside source.

Predictive life cycle

the scope of the project can be clearly articulated and the schedule and cost can be predicted.

IT Governance

which addresses the authority and control for key IT activities in organizations, including IT infrastructure, IT use, and project management.

Predicted Life Cycle Models

◙ *Waterfall model ◙ *Spiral model ◙ Incremental Build model ◙ Rapid Application Development (RAD) model

Three-Sphere Model for System Management

◙ Business ◙ Organization ◙ Technology

Organizational Structures

◙ Functional ◙ Project ◙ Matrix

Ten Characteristics of Organization Culture:

◙ Member identity ◙ Group emphasis ◙ People focus ◙ Unit integration ◙ Control ◙ Risk tolerance ◙ Reward Criteria ◙ Conflict tolerance ◙ Means-ends orientation ◙ Open systems focus

The Four Frames of Organizations

◙ Structural frame ◙ Political frame ◙ Human resources frame ◙ Symbolic frame