Globalization, Outsourcing and Virtual teams- How does it help a project?

Globalization: lower trade and political barriers and the digital revolution have made it possible to interact almost instantaneously with billions of other people across the planet
Outsourcing: outsourcing is when an organization acquires goods and/or sources from an outside source; off shoring is sometimes used to describe outsourcing from another country
Virtual teams: a virtual team is a group of individuals who work across time and space using communication technologies

Outsourcing projects gives organizations a competitive advantage by reducing there cost on some services. Project manager’s need to be aware of some the barriers that could from outsourcing. Some barriers include:
• Time zone difference
• Language barriers
• Project time lines

It is also important that a project manager includes negotiate contracts and other outsourcing issues as part of the risk factors in a project.

Some projects are required to be finished quickly. When planning the scope of a project a project manager could consider using a virtual team. Virtual team increases the competitiveness and responsiveness of a project by having a team that is available 24/7. When hiring a virtual team it could cost least then hiring a full-time employee. They do not require a office space or support beyond their home office. Some of the challenges a project manager could in counter is a increase of communication problems and increase in the dependence on technology to accomplish work.

Organizational Culture- What promtes a strong project environment

Organizational culture is a set of shared assumptions, values, and behaviors that characterize the functioning of an organization. It is believed the underlying causes of many companies’ problems are not the structure or staff, but the culture. Successful business build there company based on the culture. An example of a good organizational culture in my opinion would be Apple. Ten Characteristics of organizational culture

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

A successful project works best when all ten of the organizational cultures characteristics are strong/high and balanced.

Project Managers: roles, skills, and leadership

The role of project managers vary depending on the company that they work for, but most include responsibilities like planning, scheduling, coordinating, and working with a team to achieve project goals. A project manager deals with day-to-day details of meeting specific goals. They often take the role of both leader and manger. It is suggested that all project manager have skills that include:
• People skills
• Leadership
• Listening
• Integrity, ethical behavior, consistent
• Strong at building trust
• Verbal communication
• Strong at building teams
• Conflict resolution, conflict management
• Critical thinking, problem solving
• Understands, balances priorities

The three most important skills to have no matter what type of project manager you are is, people skills, leadership and the ability to listen. A project manager that shows strong leadership skills has a 97% of a successful project where they often help influence success factors. Some of those factors include being able to focus on long-term goals and big-picture objectives while inspiring their team to reach those goals.

The field of IT is growing and every successful project needs a project manager. So the profession of project management is growing at a very rapid pace.

What is project Management?

Project Management is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements” (PMBOK® Guide, Fourth Edition, 2008, p. 6)

When starting a new project a project manager strive to meet specific scope, time cost and quality goals of the project. This is usually describing Tripe Constraint. (Figure 1-1) Project managers must also facilitate the whole process to meet the needs and expectations of the people involved in or affected by the project activities. An example of someone that could be affected and or involved in the project would the stakeholders.

Stakeholders included:
• The project sponsor
• The project manager
• The project team
• Support staff
• Customers
• Users
• Suppliers
• Opponents to the project

Project management knowledge areas describe the key competencies that project managers must develop. (PMBOK® Guide, Fourth Edition, 2008, p. 12) There are nine knowledge areas of a project but, there four that are consider as the core of knowledge areas. These core knowledge areas lead to specific project objectives They include:

• Project scope
• Time
• Cost
• Quality Management

Project Management Tools and Techniques assist project managers and their team carry out work in all nine knowledge areas. There are programs that have been developed specifically for managing a project start to finish. Some of the programs have the ability to develop:
• Project charter, scope statement, and WBS (scope)
• Gantt charts, network diagrams, critical path analysis, critical chain scheduling (time)
• Cost estimates and earned value management (cost)

At the end of a project the manager would need to determine the success of the project and there are several ways that it could be defined:
• The project met scope, time, and cost goals
• The project satisfied the customer/sponsor
• The results of the project met its main objective, such as making or saving a certain amount of money, providing a good return on investment, or simply making the sponsors happy

Depending on your company and project any one of these examples can be determined as a success.

Integrated Change Control for IT projects: why is it important?

At the beginning of a project, teams make a detailed plan of every aspect of it, but as it is executed, it usually begins to evolve. The ideal situation would be to minimize the number of changes through effective management; however, since change is almost unavoidable in a project, it is important to establish ways to manage such changes to make sure the right decisions are being made.

When making a change, it is vital to ensure that it will work to the project’s advantage. Some changes - for example, changing software for a newer, more efficient one for the same cost - will change the plan, but this change will also optimize it. Stakeholders must be flexible to embrace changes, even if sometimes it requires making trade-offs on key aspects of the project (scope, costs, time, etc).

Also, communication is vital because all team members should be aware of changes that could influence their work. Project managers are in charge of monitoring if a change has occurred; in consequence, they must be very attentive to the status of all tasks. Sponsors must be notified of important changes that could create big alterations to the final product.

Some suggestions to improve integrated change control are:

• Evaluate each pending change with a list of pros and cons (or benefits vs. risks)
• Make sure that changes meet the objectives of the project.
• Designate a research team that could examine new alternatives for changes; this way, the teams could gather more documentation that could facilitate the decision process.
• Look for fresh perspectives by consulting the opinions of experts outside the project.

The Good Project vs. The Bad Project

The Good: The National Ignition Facility Project

A great example of excellent project management skills is the National Ignition Facity (NIF) Project, which won the 2010 Project of the Year Award, an honor granted by the Project Management Institute (PMI). 
The NIF project was the largest scientific construction project completed by the US Department of Energy, resulting in the world’s largest and most powerful laser system. It was done by a highly competent team of government, academic, and industrial partners.

Some of the reasons for the project’s success are:

• The team established a well designed completion criteria for the project, which was followed almost to the letter.
• The establishment of a good technical cost and schedule-based line.
• They developed new technologies based on existing ones, relying on a thorough and extensive research.
• The focus of the project was to make sure the new technology will be implemented for 30 years, so the team made sure everything was working properly and that it met the requirements to maintain longevity.
• The team set working groups with members from different organizations, collaborating to solve problems.
• The project was designed to comply with the Systems Engineering Organization’s precise specification and tolerance standards.

In sum, the success of this project was thanks to good communication and collaboration skills between stakeholders, and also thanks to a very detailed project plan based on thorough research and innovations.

Sources: PMI's 2010 Winner / NIF website

The Bad: California DMV Project
In 1987, California’s DVM started a project intended to revamp the drivers license and registration systems. The goal - though unclear - of the project was to transfer over 70 million user records into a new relational database. 6 years and $45 million dollars later, the project was deemed a failure, so it got shut down by the state authorities. 

Some of the reasons given for its demise are:

• The team did not have enough knowledge and understanding of the new technology.
• There was no correlation between the technology’s capabilities and the agency’s goals.
• Procurement restrictions required the agency to use a specific hardware platform, without possibility to explore other kinds.
• No support or trust from the DMV technical community or from the executive management.
• Poor planning and poor design specifications, given the objectives of the project were unclear.

The Standish Group issued a report in which the DMV project was given 10 out of 100 success points, which means the project was doomed to fail from the start. These are the criteria they used to measure the success, and the points awarded:

This project’s failure was caused by poor planning and lack of support. I don’t understand how it remained open for 6 years. Given that the DMV didn’t know what it wanted as a result, plus handing the project to a dysfunctional and demotivated team, it’s not rare that this project is considered one of the biggest failures in the field.

Sources: University at Albany Publication / The Standish Group Report

Challenges that teams face during each of the five process groups

When initiating

Project selection is an important decision, as any project to be executed must fit the organization’s vision, mission, goals, strategies and objectives, and at the same time, it must cover current or future needs the company might have.

When planning

Teams should make realistic and useful plans, supported by the expertise of people with knowledge of each particular area of the project. Also, this process group is when team members meet and establish relationships that can facilitate a good working environment.

When executing

In this step, the challenge is to ensure that all team members are completing their work properly, and that conflicts - such as lack of motivation or communication issues - are resolved without affecting the project.

When monitoring and controlling

Project members must be able to adapt to changes and take the necessary corrective measures that the project requires. Also, it’s beneficial to identify the areas in need of improvement so that the team can deliver more adequate results.

When closing

One of the biggest challenges - after gaining acceptance from the client - is to execute a smooth transition of the project into the company’s normal operations. Also, problems that can arise after the project is delivered and operational - such as the need for staff replacement - can be addressed beforehand.

The five project management process groups

The genesis of a project starts with an idea. Then, thought must be put into the viability of this idea, along with a business case that must be presented to a possible sponsor. A project manager will examine the integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communications, risks, and procurement of the project at hand.

When the project is approved, there are five stages or groups it must follow:

The project is defined, authorized, and the team is selected. Each phase of the project must have an initiation process in which needs and requirements are examined. A project charter is done as a way to recognize the existence of the project, and this charter also holds key information about the project, as well as stakeholders’ signatures. A stakeholder register must be created to identify all the people involved with the project. In addition, a Kick-off meeting is held to present the project, motivate the team, explain the goals, etc.

This stage is important to help execution run more efficiently. The project must be planned according to the needs of the organization. When planning, the project scope is established, as well as the work breakdown structure (WBS), the schedule to follow, the team contract, and the list of prioritized risks. Planning also involves establishing means of communication with team members, and assigning responsibilities for the various tasks that have been identified.

This is the longest process of the project because here, the products are actually created by the team. When execution starts, monitoring is needed to make sure the activities are completed adequately. Formal change requests must be documented and planning documents must be updated. A milestone report is helpful to acknowledge team progress, and to motivate them to move forward. In execution, problems and conflicts can arise, so, the project manager must resolve any issues that could hinder productivity.

This stage measures the progress achieved towards the project’s objectives, as well as the possible deviations from the plan, and the corrective actions needed. Changes to a project’s scope or schedule, for example, require that the project management plan is updated to reflect those changes. Other outputs include performance reports (to help the team work more effectively), and change requests.

First, the project manager must verify that all the deliverables are complete. Then, the product or service is provided to the sponsor, along with the project archives. Usually, a final report presentation takes place. The request for feedback is helpful to determine the degree of success of the project, as well as to create the lessons-learned report.