MIS 5241 Chapter 10 Managing a Portfolio of IT Projects: Corporate and Personal It’s like going out to dinner EVERY night!

MIS 5242 Agenda  Why Project Management: Essential Tension  Implementation and Risk  The Project Risk Categorization  The Portfolio Approach: What is a Portfolio?  Project Management Approaches 2x2  Adaptive Methods

MIS 5243 The Essential Tension Discipline (Control) Agility (Creativity)

MIS 5244 Problem Statement  What tools are at our disposal through which we can control project factors that increase the risk that implementation of IT will be inappropriate, useless, or harmful? Tools Risk Factors Control Bad Outcomes Enable

MIS 5245 Implementation IDEA USE Needs analysis, feasibility, logical design, design, coding, testing, integration, installation, training Time Cost/Unit Time

MIS 5246 Implementation Risk The probability that returns will not reach expectation. R E E1 E2 Risk is also related to the variance in perceptions of returns over time: the higher the variance, the higher the risk. E3 E2

MIS 5247 What Are We So Worried About? The root of the “neurosis” stems from the system development life cycle: Analyze: What does the problem look like? Design: What does the solution look like? Implement: Create the solution Usage: Apply the solution to reduce the problem The problem is analyzed to see if there are any feasible solutions If implementation fails, the costs are very significant

MIS 5248 Feasibility There are four components:  Cost: Will the solution cost too much? Can we afford any of the possible solutions?  Schedule: Can the solution be implemented in time (so that new problems aren’t created)?  Technology: Is there a technological solution that actually works (without making new problems)?  Will: Do we have the guts to implement and the will to enforce appropriate usage?

MIS 5249 Three Sources of Risk  Size (amount of work)  Experience (our expertise)  Volatility (definition, stability) Size influences the amount of work we have to do overall. Less work means less chance for variability Our experience and skill with the technology limits the chances for surprise and error Structure and definition stability decrease the opportunity for mishap

MIS Calculus of Project Risk Risk = Money, Staff, Duration, No. of Depts., “Breadth”, “Depth” RISK Size Newness of technology, inexperience of IT staff, Timing of IT proof, Speed of Impl’n, IT Dept. Chaos x Inexperience Lack of firm definition, Changes in Structure, User inexperience, Large org’l change req’mts x Volatility “Technology” or “Gap” Lack of “Structure”

MIS Risk Sources vs. Feasibility SIZE INEX- PERIENCE VOLA- TILITY COSTSCHEDULE TECH- NOLOGY WILL

MIS Risk Categories Size Small Large Technology “Gap” Small Large Volatility Low High Low High Low High Mod If we can make the technology behave, no problems! Double & Triple Whammy! Big Problems!! Technology problems trump control attempts!! See Fig for details

MIS Project Management Approaches: 2x2 Tools See Table 10.2 for details FORMALIZATION PLANNING CONTROL INTERNAL EXTERNAL INTEGRATION The essence of “integration” is communication (= sharing) a surrogate for trust. The essence of “formalization” is programming (= control) a surrogate action. Formalization overcomes lack of control, through plans and procedures Integration overcomes lack of knowledge through internal sharing and lack of stability through external sharing

MIS Matching Tools to the Job External Integration Internal Integration Internal Integration External Integration Results Control Formal Planning Formal Planning Results Control Structure Low High Technology Gap Low High Project Size really doesn’t matter much in selection of management tools High structure= Low Volatility

MIS Adaptive Methodologies  Adaptive methods are specific to SDLC phases Joint teamwork with vendors and users, continuous evaluation of ideas ANALYSIS Planned maintenance, continuous evaluation, fault reporting, quality benchmarking OPERATION Lots of outsourcing; alpha and beta testing; package adaptation; continuous testing; parallel implementation IMPLEMENTATION Continuous evaluation of design; prototyping between designer and user DESIGN

MIS Prototyping Initial Prototype USER TEST Analyst makes improvements Medial Prototype USER TEST User makes suggestions for improvement Hard- coding of Prod’n Version Final Prototype

MIS Prototyping: Risks What if initial guess is very very wrong ? What if user is wrong in judgment ? What if analyst doesn’t listen or hears incorrectly or is incompetent? Medial Prototype How to make user agree to correct version? What if user suggests the wrong improvement s What if user can’t make up mind? What if final prototype is wrong?

MIS Summary of Issues  Essential Tensions  Management Role  Technology Options  Complexity  Agility, adaptability  Role of Knowledge, Communication, Trust  Control and Risk  Infrastructure, Platformability