Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Chapter 2: The Project Management and Information Technology Context -…
Chapter 2:
The Project Management and Information Technology Context
Important Issues and Suggestions Related to Globalization
Issues
Communications
Trust
Common work practices
Tools
Suggestions
Employ greater project discipline
Think global but act local
Keep project momentum going
Use newer tools and technology
Outsourcing
Organizations
remain competitive
by using outsourcing to their advantage, such as finding ways to reduce costs
Their next challenge is to make strategic IT investments with outsourcing by
improving their enterprise architecture
to ensure that IT infrastructure and business processes are
integrated
and
standardized
Project managers
should become more familiar
with
negotiating contracts
and other outsourcing issues
Global Issues
Outsourcing also has disadvantages.
Example
Apple benefits from manufacturing products in China
, but it had big problems there after its
iPhone 4S
launch in January 2012
caused fighting between migrant workers
who were hired by scalpers to stand in line to buy the phones.
When Apple said it
would not open its store in Beijing
, riots resulted and people attacked security guards. The Beijing Apple Store has had problems before. In May 2011, four people were injured when a crowd waiting to buy the
iPad 2 turned ugly.
Virtual Teams Advantages
Increasing competitiveness and responsiveness
by having a team of workers available 24/7
Lowering costs
because many virtual workers do not require office space or support beyond their home offices.
Providing more expertise and flexibility
by having team members from across the globe working any time of day or night
Increasing the work/life balance
for team members by eliminating fixed office hours and the need to travel to work.
Virtual Team Disadvantages
Isolating team members
Increasing the potential for communications problems
Reducing the ability for team members to network and transfer information informally
Increasing the dependence on technology to accomplish work
See text for a
list of factors that help virtual teams succeed
, including team processes, trust/relationships, leadership style, and team member selection
Agile Project Management
Agile means being
able to move quickly and easily
, but some people feel that project management, as they have seen it used,
does not allow people to work quickly or easily
.
Early software development projects often used a
waterfall approach
, as defined earlier in this chapter. As technology and businesses became more complex, the approach was
often difficult to use
because requirements were
unknown
or
continuously changing
.
Agile today
means using a method based on iterative and incremental development, in which requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration.
Agile Makes Sense for Some Projects, But Not All
Many seasoned experts in project management
warn people not to fall for the hype associated
with Agile.
Example
J. Leroy Ward, Executive Vice President at ESI International, said that “Agile will be seen for what it is … and isn’t….Project management organizations embracing Agile software and product development approaches will continue to grow while being faced with the challenge of demonstrating ROI through Agile adoption
Manifesto for Agile Software Development
In February 2001, a group of 17 people that called itself the Agile Alliance developed and agreed on the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, as follows:
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
Scrum
According to the Scrum Alliance,
Scrum
is the leading agile development method for completing projects with a complex, innovative scope of work.
The term was coined in 1986 in a Harvard Business Review study that compared high-performing, cross-functional teams to the scrum formation used by rugby teams.
Scrum Framework
Project team creates sprint backlog
Team have daily (24 hours) Scrum meetings during each 2-4 weeks sprint
Providing owner creates prioritized wish list or backlog
Sprint results in a useful product
Repeat step 1-4 until complete