Introduction to IT Project Management - Hardcover

Snyder, Cynthia; Parth, Frank

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1567261787 ISBN 13: 9781567261783

Publisher: Kogan Page, 2006

Synopsis

Introduction to IT Project Management provides IT project managers with 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. Topics include:

• How projects assist an organization in meeting its strategic objectives

• The discipline of project management and its role in organizations

• Initiating and planning projects

• Estimating project cost and time requirements

• Determining availability of resources

• Analyzing relevant risks

• Developing a realistic, final schedule or budget

• Selecting a competent project team

• Identifying stakeholders and defining their quality parameters and communication needs

• Monitoring and controlling projects

• Change management

• Project audit and closure

PLUS - You'll follow a case study and IT examples throughout the text that demonstrate how key concepts are applied in practice. Also included are suggested forms and techniques for using software.

About this title

About the Authors

Cyndi Snyder, PMP, MBA, is a professional project management consultant, instructor, and author. Her consulting focus is on project management maturity, PMO startups, and positioning project management as a core competency for organizations. She has taught online and in the classroom for UC Irvine, CalTech, and USC. Ms. Snyder is an active volunteer with the Project Management Institute. She is the project manager for the 2008 editions of the PMBOK® Guide and the Standard for Program Management. In the past she has served on the Standards Member Advisory Group and was Chair of the Chapter Leadership Development and Excellence Committee for 2003-2005. Ms. Snyder is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) and earned her Masters in Business Administration from Pepperdine University.

Frank Parth, MS, MSSM, MBA, PMP, is the President of Project Auditors LLC, a project management consulting, training, and auditing company. He has been involved with technology management in major U.S. companies, national governments, and the U.N. He headed up systems engineering at TRW Information Systems during a major infrastructure upgrade, and created PMOs for several major corporations. He has taught at the Graduate School at the University of Southern California, the University of California Irvine PM Certificate program, and the Claremont Graduate School. Mr. Parth has a graduate degrees in physics, a Masters in Systems Management from USC, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management. He is active in PMI®, serving on various committees both at the local and at the national level, and is the 2006 Chair for PMI's Consulting SIG.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction to IT Project Management

By Cynthia Snyder, Frank Parth

Management Concepts Press

Copyright © 2007 Management Concepts, Inc.
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-56726-178-3

Contents

Chapter 1: Projects and Operations, 
Chapter 2: Organizational Structure and the Strategic Role of Project Management, 
Chapter 3: Project Processes, Phases, and Life Cycles, 
Chapter 4: Project Management Plan Elements, 
Chapter 5: Initiating and Planning Project Scope, 
Chapter 6: Creating the Work Breakdown Structures and Project Schedule, 
Chapter 7: Developing the Project Team, 
Chapter 8: Quality Management, 
Chapter 9: Project Communications, 
Chapter 10: Project Risk, 
Chapter 11: Finalizing the Schedule and Budget, 
Chapter 12: Project Execution, 
Chapter 13: Project Monitoring and Control, 
Chapter 14: Project Audit and Closure, 
Appendix: Answers to Review Questions, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Projects and Operations

After reading this chapter, you will be able to:

• Define how projects and operations are different.

• Describe how IT projects differ from non-IT projects.

• Explain the value of project management for IT projects.

• Define key terms in project management.

Welcome to the world of information technology project management. In reading this book, you will find that managing IT projects can be highly rewarding and, often, equally frustrating. You will discover that project team members, project customers, and other project stakeholders can be very easy to work with and at the same time can be very challenging. It is not uncommon in project management to get a high-priority project from upper management one week and then find the next week that things have changed and a new project is the number one priority. You will almost never have enough resources to do the work and never have enough time to produce the best product possible. You will be told not to spend time planning the project but to just begin working, and you won't have enough time to gather the user requirements before you need to start development. Your resources will be working on three other projects as well as normal daily operations, while you're trying to get them to work on your project.

However, when the project is over you will have produced something that makes work easier for the other people in your organization, saves your organization a significant amount of money, keeps private data secure, or upgrades a legacy system into something much more effective and efficient. When all the work of the project is over, you will have made a real contribution to the organization.

What Is Project Management?

Project management is the application of skills, knowledge, and abilities to produce a unique product, service, or result. Three components that lead to successful projects are technical knowledge, general management abilities, and project management skills.

The project manager must have knowledge of the technical aspects of the project. Although some will debate this point, in IT projects particularly the project manager needs to know enough to detect when something is amiss and to understand the general principles of the project. He or she certainly does not need to be a subject matter expert in every facet, but some amount of knowledge is a necessity.

The project manager also needs some capability in the area of general management, including skills in budgeting, analysis, planning, and coordinating. Finally, the project manager must apply project management ski

Edition details

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1567261787
• ISBN 13: 9781567261783
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 443