CHAPTER 44
Why IT Matters
Project Management for Information Technology
Smartphones! Facebook! Internet-enabled televisions and other appliances! Yikes! I recall a conversation I had several years ago with colleagues commiserating about not being able to escape “information technology” (IT)—the focus of our day jobs—when we left the office. In those days our car was our sanctuary, the one place where we would be sure to escape from IT. Now, with the advent of DVD displays, GPS systems, and embedded computers, we are not even free there. Information technology is playing an ever-increasing role in the delivery of the services that we rely on in our everyday lives. Information technology surrounds us, from the technology with which we manage our households, to the technology that is used in our schools and workplaces, to the technology we use to interact with one another. Information technology is no longer confined to the business community. Information technology truly does surround us, making the management of the projects that bring that technology to bear even more important.
VISIBILITY OF IT PROJECT FAILURES
An Internet search using the term IT project failure brings up numerous articles and blogs identifying the costs of these failures and the impact they had on the business. Failures of IT projects have been reported in cases where the failure of IT to deliver much needed capabilities or advertised services impacted a company’s financial standing, market shares, or even worse. Some of the projects frequently cited include ERP implementations, “big data” projects, and large-scale modernization development efforts. One recent article referenced a $1 billion failure associated with the cancellation of an Air Force software modernization program.1 Another publicized failure was the digital media initiative stopped after costs of nearly £100 million to the BBC.2 While the various lessons cited in these references were certainly of interest, what is even more important a lesson is the potential impact these failures had on the corporations, their markets, their customers, and their employees. Thus, IT matters in a technology-enabled world, and IT project management matters as well.
IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT MATTERS
As information technology becomes more pervasive in our lives (programmable dishwashers, cell phones, GPS systems, home networks, medical diagnostic and drug-delivery techniques, etc.), the need to treat the development of the products and software embedded in them as true engineering activities has increased. These products could have as much safety and security implications as building a bridge or constructing a house. That level of engineering requires formal project management discipline.
In addition, many corporations are feeling pressure from participation in a global economy. The need to develop products and services faster and more economically translates into a requirement for a more disciplined approach to managing their development without sacrificing time to market considerations.
What does all this mean? For companies, it means recognizing formal project management as a discipline within their IT departments and technology-based products, a discipline as crucial as database management or network security management. For the project manager, it means recognizing the need to acquire and apply additional knowledge and skills in a more formal and disciplined manner than traditionally. For the project team (which includes business participants), it means understanding—and appreciating—the contributions formal project management makes to the overall project success.
FORMAL IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT
A project, by definition, has a specific beginning date and a specific ending date. Thus, operations and maintenance of a technology-based system or product is not a project, although there might be maintenance projects undertaken in the fulfillment of that objective. Establishing user access and monitoring network security is also not a project, although introduction of a new security capability would be a project. It is important to realize that formal IT project management does not mean mounds and mounds of paper, nor does it mean lots of additional project staff. What it means is recognizing that there are some formal project management roles to be fulfilled and formal project management disciplines to be applied within an IT project.
Formal IT Project Management Roles
Formal IT project management begins with a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of IT project managers (including product managers of technology-based products), versus the roles and responsibilities of the project’s business sponsor and of the functional manager. These roles and responsibilities are briefly summarized in Table 44-1.
Let’s start with the IT functional manager role. Many IT organizations are structured around the business areas supported, which often translates into oversight of specific applications, product lines, or operational activity. Typical titles used for the individuals who manage these operational activities include application manager, product line manager, and data center manager. Their responsibilities often include an operational or maintenance type of function, the “lights on” role within IT. While their daily activities are quite varied, their overall contribution to the business is the same: keep operations running, ensure the various IT capabilities are available to the business units relying on them. Information technology functional managers are often key stakeholders in IT projects, most often as providers of knowledgeable, experienced project staff, as quality control participants, and as the recipients of the project’s deliverables.
TABLE 44-1. TYPICAL ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Compare these responsibilities with those of the IT project manager. An IT project manager’s responsibilities are established when the project is initially conceived and are concluded when the project’s deliverables are completed—when the end state is achieved. The typical responsibilities associated with the project manager role include identifying the specific work to be performed, determining and obtaining the corporate resources (budget, people, and facilities) required to achieve the project’s objectives, and then managing those resources as they are used to perform the project’s identified work. It is the project manager’s responsibility to ensure that any changes in the definition of the project’s end state are reflected in the project’s governing documents, and that the business sponsor agrees to the impacts on budgets or schedules. The project manager is also responsible for the communication of the project status to the business sponsor and other project stakeholders, which often include the functional IT managers.
In some organizations IT functional manager assumes the role of IT project manager on occasion, managing the enhancement of an existing application or the introduction of a new capability into the IT portfolio. It is important for the person fulfilling these two roles to be aware of the distinctions so as not to allow operational considerations, such as staff availability, to impede the success of the project. As the project manager, the IT functional manager needs to ensure that the staff time required to work on the project is made available, and that operations “hot items” do not prevent project progress.
The business sponsor role is akin to that of the homeowner in a construction project. The sponsor is the ultimate owner of the project, representing the business users for whom the IT product or service is being provided. The business sponsor is responsible for making decisions regarding scope, schedule, and budget trade-offs, after listening to the advice and recommendations from the experienced IT project manager.
Formal IT Project Management Methodology
Before discussing methodologies and application of them within IT projects, it is necessary to define some common terms often used interchangeably. A methodology is defined as a body of methods and rules followed in a science or discipline. Christensen and Thayer cite Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard 12207.0-1996 as defining a life cycle model as “a framework containing the processes, activities, and tasks involved in the development, operation, and maintenance of a software product, spanning the life of the system from the definition of its requirements to the termination of its use.”3 A project life cycle is a collection of generally sequential project phases, the names and number of which are determined by the control needs of the organization or organizations involved in the project. Finally, a body of knowledge can be defined as the sum of knowledge within a profession. Bodies of knowledge are often used as best-practice standards.
There are a number of bodies of knowledge with which the IT project manager should be familiar. Of particular interest is the project management body of knowledge, as described in the Project Management Institute’s standards document, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide),4 which identifies the primary practices involved in managing any project. Now in its fifth edition, the PMBOK® Guide is a mature and evolving representation of the project management body of knowledge.
Project managers working within a corporation with IT projects being executed outside North America might also be practitioners of the practices called out in PRINCE2 (Projects in a Controlled Environment), a standard approach to project management developed in the late 1980s by the United Kingdom’s government. PRINCE2 divides projects into stages, with reviews and go/no-go decisions specifically called out at the end of each stage. It also places an emphasis on the product via the use of a product breakdown structure.
Another guide to a body of knowledge is IEEE’s Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK).5 At this writing, still in the early stages of industry awareness, the SWEBOK Guide provides knowledge and insight into software engineering practices such as requirements definition and management, software quality control, and software design.
One other often-cited collection of best practices with which the IT project manager should have some familiarity is the Software Engineering Institute’s Capability Maturity Model (Integrated), commonly called CMMI.6 The CMMI identifies best practices an IT organization (which could be defined as an IT project organization!) should deploy in support of successful systems development. Grouped around nine key practice areas, the CMMI associates objectives and goals with specific activities.
Most organizations have well-established systems development life cycle methodologies (SDLCs), addressing the activities required to conduct the technical work of the project. Figure 44-1 depicts a typical waterfall life cycle model, which is still the core approach to technology development. Note that the work to be performed is discussed in system development terms.
FIGURE 44-1. TYPICAL WATERFALL LIFE CYCLE METHODOLOGY
Much has been written recently regarding agile IT projects, including agile project management as well as agile development methods. Many software development organizations are now embracing agile approaches such as Scrum. (See Chapter 41 for descriptions of Scrum, XP, and other agile methods.) Information technology project managers should consider these approaches as another set of methods from which they can select when developing their projects’ particular life cycle model. However, agile techniques are not risk-free and project managers need to carefully consider if the risks associated with agility are justified for the project being undertaken.
Whatever methodology is followed, a formal IT project management methodology would describe the activities and steps associated with each of five project phases: initiate, plan, execute, control, and close. For instance, the methodology would prescribe how to develop the project charter, the content of the project charter, and who should participate in its development, review, and signoff. The methodology would contain a sample of a project charter, as well as a template for the project manager to use.
The application of agile methods requires more leadership and less actual management. The contributions of the project manager in an agile project are those of a team leader or facilitator. With an increased emphasis on the team’s (which includes the project’s customers) making decisions, project managers can be focused on “roadblock removal,” looking ahead in the project schedule and anticipating and addressing those actions that might impede the project team’s progress. Their focus is also on the boundaries of the project, where integration with other entities such as the hardware project team needs to happen.
BEST PRACTICES
As the formal practice of project management within traditional IT organizations, as well as within technology-based product development groups, has matured over the last decade, several practices have become generally recognized as “best practices” that, when applied, can assist project teams in meeting deliverable expectations.
Establish a Formal Project Life-Cycle Model
Within formal IT project management, one of the initial activities the IT project manager undertakes is developing the project’s specific life-cycle model, drawing from both a project management methodology and a systems development methodology.
It is often observed that formal methodologies impose additional work on project teams. A well-developed methodology does not impose additional work unnecessarily. Rather, the methodology provides the IT project manager and the project team with a guide by which they can conduct project activities. The project team members should use the project management methodology and a system development methodology as resources from which they can develop their project’s life-cycle model, applying the concepts of “tailoring” and “just enough process” to ensure the project’s life-cycle model meets their needs.
To explain further, when IT project managers survey the project management methodology and the SDLC to be applied within their project life-cycle model, they should consider the risk profile of the project. For instance, if project managers are working with a close-knit, collocated project team, they might find formal weekly team meetings and status updates with the project team are not necessary, but if the project team is working together for the first time or is geographically dispersed, it might be advantageous to have a formal time each week for the team members to interact with one another. Formal change control processes are indicated if the work is being performed under a fixed price contract with a business unit or external customer. The risk profile of the project will indicate how much formality is needed in the management of the project and which project life cycle should be followed. If the project being undertaken is deemed risky, the project manager should consider an iterative development approach, with formal scope statements and frequent schedule/budget updates, and a more rigorous approach to identifying and managing risks. A project that is viewed as being less risky, perhaps a repetitive maintenance project to an existing application, might not require as much rigor. A project with intense time-to-market considerations might warrant application of some of the agile methods associated with delivery of true sponsor value early in the project.
When the project team members have developed the project’s life-cycle model, identifying the approach and processes they will use to manage the project’s activities, it is recommended that the business sponsor and any internal oversight body, such as a quality assurance organization, review and approve the approach. Project managers should be able to defend the decisions made as to the degree of formal methodology compliance they will follow on the project.
Table 44-2 shows a possible partial project life-cycle model developed using a waterfall systems development methodology, in addition to a project management methodology, and expressed in terms of an activity list.
TABLE 44-2. SAMPLE PARTIAL PROJECT LIFE-CYCLE MODEL
Leveraging Project Sponsors and Business Community
Most projects are not IT projects, but business projects being completed by the IT organization. Resourceful IT project managers will view their business sponsor as an equal partner in the project. Even those projects that are mostly technology in nature (for instance, an operating system upgrade) have a business sponsor, perhaps one of the IT functional managers.
Involving the business sponsor and user representatives in the planning of a project might seem risky and politically unsafe to the IT project manager. However, the more participatory and open the planning activities are, the fewer surprises there will be for the business sponsor when the project schedule or budget is presented. It has been my experience that often the business sponsor does not appreciate the details associated with developing software or implementing a new package. Involving that sponsor in the development of the project’s work breakdown structure, or in the risk identification workshop, or in the development of the project’s communications plan provides the IT project manager with an opportunity to educate the sponsor and to obtain the sponsor’s buy-in on the project management deliverables. The sponsor will understand why these additional activities are actually to his benefit.
Representatives from the user community should also be viewed as resources to be assigned work in support of the project, to be integral members of the project team. They are the experts when it comes to defining the project’s business requirements. They are also the experts as to how those business requirements should be validated as implemented. User representatives could be assigned as project team resources to participate in the definition and creation of test cases, and then in the execution of those test cases. Because they defined the requirements, they will best know when the requirement is implemented correctly.
When status reports are provided, or important project decisions are made, the business sponsor should be actively involved. In fact, one could argue that the sponsor is the only member of the project team empowered to make decisions regarding scope, budget, and schedule. The project manager’s role is to make sure the sponsor makes an informed decision.
Internal Contracts
When managing internal IT projects for one of my former employers, I often negotiated contracts with my internal customers. What did this mean? It meant the project charter and associated project plan (including schedule, budget, deliverable definitions, and responsibility matrix) was a document that we both agreed to and signed. This then became a contract upon which our performances would be evaluated. I committed to delivering on schedule and within the prescribed budget; the customer agreed to actively participate in requirements management and testing activities, and to managing scope. Any change to the content of the project plan was treated as a contractual change, resulting in a new contract.
IT Project Management Office
The use of an IT project management office (PMO) was identified as an industry best practice a decade ago.7 The PMOs proved so valuable that many of them morphed into enterprise PMOs, with mixed results. (For a survey of PMO research, see Chapter 32). The IT PMO is often implemented in one of two models: a center of excellence or shared services.
In a center of excellence model, the IT PMO serves as the keeper of the methodologies and all related activities, including methodology training and mentoring and the quality assurance mechanism, and serves as the ultimate source on all matters related to IT project management best practices. The IT PMO oversees all IT methodologies and standards, not just those pertaining to project management. The PMO staff oversees the systems development methodologies, the configuration management and quality control standards, and the use of any supporting tools such as scheduling and estimating tools. In this model, project managers do not report to the PMO.
An additional function often played by an IT PMO is that of project portfolio manager. Staff members within the IT PMO obtain project status data from project managers and administer periodic project reviews. They facilitate reviews of the IT project portfolio, assisting in determining which projects require additional management attention and which projects should be initiated or cancelled.
In a shared services model, the IT PMO provides the above activities in addition to being the functional provider of project managers to projects within the IT organization. This PMO is responsible for the establishment of a career path and professional training for all project managers within the organization. The PMO head would conduct performance reviews, soliciting inputs from business sponsors, team members, and others with whom the project managers had interactions.
Power of Technology-Based Collaboration
One of the side benefits from the emergence of technology into our everyday lives is the availability of technology as a tool for IT projects to leverage. The power of the Internet and online collaboration tools and web-based repositories means that project teams (including user representatives) no longer need to sit in the same conference room to review a presentation. They can participate in a virtual project room, where they all have access to the project documentation being reviewed. Certain technologies support real-time editing of the documents. Other products support team brainstorming and decision making. This ability to function as a team while physically dispersed means that an IT project manager potentially has a greater resource pool upon which to draw.
CHALLENGES FOR THE IT PROJECT MANAGER
The following subsections discuss the challenges that exist today and may exist in the near future for the IT project manager.
Staying Abreast with Technology
The onslaught of wireless and gaming technologies and the newer programming languages and platforms, and their integration into viable business solutions, in addition to the ongoing support of legacy mainframe and client server technologies, is changing the way we think of IT and making the role of the IT project manager more complicated. The effective use of IT is indeed a strategic market differentiator for many businesses.
The management of the projects associated with this particular endeavor can mean tremendous profits to some companies. So while the affected project managers do not need to personally be, for example, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) experts, they do need to be sure they are comfortable with the plans and schedules they are operating under, and that any risks of schedule slippage are communicated in a timely manner to their business sponsors.
Increased Emphasis on Security and Privacy
In particular industries, notably healthcare and financial services, security and privacy are of real concern to the IT project manager. There are legal requirements that limit how one uses “live data” to create “test data” and how much data can be displayed to a particular user. Information technology project managers need to be aware of these requirements in order to ensure that the product they deliver to their user community is in compliance, just as the general contractor in a construction project needs to ensure compliance to building and safety codes.
A glance at the news reveals many instances of data privacy issues and violations resulting from overlooking these requirements. And, in some cases, hefty business fines are imposed. In a study conducted just this past year by a Harvard researcher, health data that had been “de-identified” was easily “re-identified,” meaning the data in the database could violate Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rules. In 2010, the theft of a laptop containing the protected health information of over three thousand patients resulted in a $1.5 million fine for Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. The data were on a physician’s laptop but were not encrypted or otherwise protected, something that could have been implemented within the application. Some might argue that the business sponsor was accountable for addressing these requirements within the project scope. However, the IT project manager, with knowledge of the domain, should ask the appropriate questions. If IT project managers are involved in a project introducing wireless technologies into an organization, they need to be sure that the activities associated with protecting the data being transmitted over that technology have been considered and are suitably addressed.8
Third-Party Engagements
Another trend that continues to haunt the IT project manager is the increasing pressure to expedite project delivery through leverage of third-party service providers—either in the form of software to be integrated into a solution or in the form of contract labor. This business trend can require the IT project manager to be the manager of multiple services contracts, with associated service level agreements, where the actual IT development work is performed by a third party. This means that an IT project manager needs to be up to speed on reading and interpreting contracts and enforcing their terms, as opposed to managing a project team. Many IT project managers lack the business law training required to feel totally comfortable in this role. If you are a “technology-focused” project manager, with a degree in computer sciences, enroll in a contractual law course to obtain a basic understanding of contract management.
OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE
The pervasiveness of information technology requires increased discipline in the management of those technology projects, while at the same time delivering the technology product ever faster. The future will indeed include some form of personal accountability for the IT project manager, especially as IT invades the healthcare industry. Just as society holds the general contractor accountable for safety and code compliance in his construction projects, so will society and specifically businesses hold the individual IT project manager accountable for safety and information privacy. There will be an increased emphasis on licensure, oversight boards, and specialized certifications in order to manage certain types of projects.
That said, the field of IT project management will indeed become more of a profession, through the efforts of organizations such as the Project Management Institute, the Association for Computing Machines, the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie-Mellon University, and IEEE’s Computer Society, to name just a few. The forward-thinking IT project manager will stay abreast of the developments within these organizations in order to be better positioned as a “professional IT project manager.”
How is formal IT project management practiced in the organizations with which you are familiar? Consider the various roles and responsibilities and discuss how they are fulfilled.
Think of a project with which you have been involved, and discuss the project’s life-cycle model: What activities were included? Which ones were not? How would a different project life-cycle model have affected the project’s completion? Should agile methods have been considered? If not, why not?
What challenges are the IT project managers in your organization facing in the near future? How are they, and the organization, preparing for the challenges?
REFERENCES
1 Kachina Shaw, “Lessons from a Billion-Dollar Project Failure, IT Business Edge,” Posted December 11, 2012, http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/governance-and-risk/lessons-from-a-billion-dollar-project-failure.html.
2 Tara Conlan, “BBC Digital Media Initiative project doomed to failure, Lord Patten was told,” The Guardian online, posted June 5, 2013, http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jun/05/bbc-digital-media-initiative-failure-patten.
3 Mark J. Christensen and Richard H. Thayer, The Project Manager’s Guide to Software Engineering’s Best Practices (Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society, 2001).
4 Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), 5th edition (Newtown Square, PA: PMI, 2013).
5 IEEE Computer Society, Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society, 2001), p. 10. Further information on the SWEBOK and the associated certification program can be found at www.swebok.org.
6 Further information on the CMMI model can be found at www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/cmmi.html.
7 Richard Pastore and Lorraine Cosgrove Ware, “The Best Best Practices,” CIO, posted May 1, 2004, http://www.cio.com/article/32256/Findings_The_Best_Best_Practices.
8 Pamela Lewis Dolan, “Revealed Names Expose Flaw in De-Identified Patient Data,” AMEDNews.com, May 20, 2013, http://www.amednews.com/article/20130520/business/130529995/7/.