The Human Side of Project Management

Human Side of Project Management Organizational planning: focuses on the roles, responsibilities, and relationships among the project stakeholders. Staff acquisition: having policies, procedures, and practices to guide the recruitment of appropriately skilled and experienced staff. Team development: involves creating an environment to develop and support the individual team members and the team itself.

Organizational Planning Organizational planning involves identifying, documenting, and assigning project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships Outputs and processes include project organizational charts work definition and assignment process responsibility assignment matrixes resource histograms

Organization and Project Planning Organizational Structure The performance of an organization or a project is influenced largely by how well its resources are organized. The structure of an organization must fit its strategy. The formal organizational structure will determine how resources are allocated, who has authority over those resources, and who is really in charge of the project. Three most common structures- functional, matrix,a and project-based organization. An organization may choose to combine these forms any number of ways to create a hybrid organization.

Organization and Project Planning – The Formal Organization The Functional Organization based upon organizing resources to perform specialized tasks or activities in order to attain the goals of the organization. Projects are managed within the existing functional hierarchy. Advantages Increased flexibility Breadth and depth of knowledge and experience Less duplication Disadvantages Determining responsibility Poor response time Poor integration A project may cross functional boundaries. There are two main issues that must be resolved at the outset of a project: who will be responsible for the project? What resources will each subunit provide? Determining authority and responsibility is one problem when the project involves more than one functional area. Poor integration results in two problems: 1. The individuals in a functional area may act in their own best interests instead of taking a holistic or organizational view of the project 2. The functional area may attempt to become self-sufficient by acquiring knowledge, expertise, and technology outside of its normal area of specialization. These 2 problems may lead to an organization of warring tribes as functional areas compete for resources and blur lines of responsibility.

The Functional Organization

Organization and Project Planning – The Formal Organization The Project Organization support multiple projects at one time and integrate project management tools and techniques throughout the organization. each project is treated as a separate and relatively independent unit within the organization. Advantages Clear authority and responsibility Improved communication High level of integration Disadvantages Project isolation Duplication of effort Projectitis Project isolation- since each project may be thought of as a self-contained unit, there is the potential for each project to become isolated from other projects in the organization. Projectitis- a strong attachment to the project and to each other. Have difficult time letting go.

The Project Organization

Organization and Project Planning – The Formal Organization The Matrix Organization The ability to integrate areas and resources throughout an organization. Unity of command is violated. Forms Balanced matrix Functional matrix Project matrix Advantages High level of integration Improved communication Increased project focus Disadvantages Higher potential for conflict Poorer response time Unit of command is violated since each project team member will have more than one boss, leading to the possibility of confusion, frustration, conflict, and mixed loyalties. The project manager coordinates all the project activities for the functional areas, while the functional areas provide the wherewithal to carry out those activities. Balanced matrix- the project manager focuses on defining all of the activities of the project, while the functional managers determine how those activities will be carried out. Functional matrix- the project manager focuses on coordinating the project activities, while the functional managers are responsible for completing those activities that are related to their particular area. Project matrix-the project manager has most of the authority and responsibility for defining and completing the project activities, while the functional managers provide guidance and resources, as needed. Higher potential for conflict – power is distributed, wonder who really is their boss. Poorer response time – confusion, mixed royalties, and various distributions of power.

The Matrix Organization

The Informal Organization Bypasses formal lines of communication & authority Power is determined by how well one is connected in the informal network

The Project Team The Roles of the Project Manager Managerial role Leadership role Attributes of a successful project manager ability to communicate with people ability to deal with people ability to create and sustain relationships ability to organize Managerial role focuses on planning, organizing, and controlling. Leadership role centers on getting people motivated and then headed down the right path towards a common goal.

The Project Team Team Selection and Acquisition Skills desired in team members technology skills business/organization skills interpersonal skills Size of team Source of team members Project team member should be chosen based on 1. Technology skills 2. Business/organization skill- knowledge or expertise within a specific domain as well as knowledge of a particular organization or industry 3. Interpersonal skills – ability to communicate. The size or scope of the project will determine the size of the project team. The project manager may recruit project team members internally or externally.

Team Organization Teams are used throughout software production Especially during implementation Two extreme approaches to team organization Democratic teams (Weinberg, 1971) Chief programmer teams (Brooks, 1971; Baker, 1972)

Democratic Team Approach Basic underlying concept—egoless programming Programmers can be highly attached to their code They even name their modules after themselves They see their modules as extension of themselves

Democratic Team Approach (contd) If a programmer sees a module as an extension of his/her ego, he/she is not going to try to find all the errors in “his”/“her” code If there is an error, it is termed a bug  The fault could have been prevented if code had been better guarded against the “bug” “Shoo-Bug” aerosol spray

Democratic Team Approach (contd) Proposed Solution Egoless programming Restructure the social environment Restructure programmers’ values Encourage team members to find faults in code A fault must be considered a normal and accepted event The team as whole will develop an ethos, group identity Modules will “belong” to the team as whole A group of up to 10 egoless programmers constitutes a democratic team

Democratic Team Approach Difficulties Management may have difficulty Difficult to introduce into an undemocratic environment Strengths Democratic teams are enormously productive They work best when the problem is difficult They function well in a research environment Problem: Democratic teams have to spring up spontaneously

Chief Programmer Teams Consider a 6-person team Fifteen 2-person communication channels The total number of 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-person groups is 57 The team cannot do 6 person-months of work in 1 month

Chief Programmer Teams (contd) Six programmers, but now only 5 lines of communication

Classical Chief Programmer Teams Basic idea behind the concept Analogy: chief surgeon directing operation, assisted by Other surgeons Anesthesiologists Nurses Other experts, such as cardiologists, nephrologists Two key aspects Specialization Hierarchy

Beyond CP and Democratic Teams Potential Pitfall Chief programmer is personally responsible for every line of code. He/she must therefore be present at reviews Chief programmer is also team manager, H He/she must therefore not be present at reviews!

Beyond CP and Democratic Teams (contd) Solution Reduce the managerial role of the chief programmer

Beyond CP and Democratic Teams (contd) It is easier to find a team leader than a chief programmer Each employee is responsible to exactly one manager—lines of responsibility are clearly delineated Team leader is responsible for only technical management Budgetary and legal issues, and performance appraisal are not handled by the team leader Team leader participates in reviews—the team manager is not permitted to do so Team manager participates at regular team meetings to appraise the technical skills of the team members

Larger Projects Nontechnical side is similar For even larger products, add additional layers

Beyond CP and Democratic Teams (contd) Decentralize the decision-making process where appropriate Useful where the democratic team is good

Sample Organizational Chart for a Large IT Project

Sample Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

RAM Showing Stakeholder Roles

Sample Resource Histogram

Staff Acquisition Staffing plans and good hiring procedures are important in staff acquisition, as are incentives for recruiting and retention Some companies give their employees one dollar for every hour a new person they helped hire works Some organizations allow people to work from home as an incentive Research shows that people leave their jobs because they don’t make a difference, don’t get proper recognition, aren’t learning anything new, don’t like their coworkers, and want to earn more money

Staff Selection Factors Application domain experience Platform experience Programming language experience Educational background Communication ability Adaptability Attitude Personality