1. The value of a project-oriented approach to IT and how we do it in IBM
Including personal reflections
by Daniel Moul
August 2004
South Pacific Computer Society at the University of the South Pacific

2. The problem
Standish Group “CHAOS Chronicle” looked at American IT projects (1995)
Only 16% completed on time, on budget and with promised scope
31% cancelled before completion
More than half nearly double the original cost
More likely to fail …
The larger the project
The longer the project
The larger the company

3. Some types of failure We built the wrong thing It isn’t good enough
We spent too much money
It took too much time

4. What’s the hardest part?
NOT money
NOT the technology
NOT technically skilled staff

5. The hard parts are … Defining and agreeing on the goals Estimating
Defining and implementing team processes
Change control
Tracking progress and making adjustments to the plan as necessary
Communicating
The customer (!)

6. The solution? Involves many dimensions, including …
Customer executive support / sponsorship
Clear objectives tied to the organization’s strategy & goals
Users participating in requirements definition, testing, acceptance
etc., etc.
Good project management
is not the complete answer
greatly increases the chance of success

7. Project management basics
My sources
PM Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)
IBM’s Integrated Product Development process (IPD)
Personal experience

8. What is a project? What are operations?
a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service
doing something new
an on-going endeavor
keeping things the same
Characteristics in common:
performed by people
constrained by limited time, money, and other resources
planned, executed, and controlled

9. Project management is …
an organized way
a team of people
achieve a collective goal
to make or do something new
in a specified period of time
Seeing a vision of the future and leading a team to create that future

10. Project Dynamics Uncertainty highest at beginning
Risk declines, but so does ability to adjust
The “meter is running”

11. Projects usually have phases – example IBM IPDN T R A
Concept
Plan
Develop
Qualify
Launch
Life-
cycle
Starts with ideas (concept)
Finishes by removing product from use (end of lifecyle)
Each phase results in deliverables
IBM’s Integrated Product Development methodology employs projects to deliver products

12. Project must pass checkpoint to move to next phase
Concept
DCP
Plan
DCP
Availability
DCP
End-of-Life
DCP C O N T R A
Develop
Qualify
Launch
Life-
cycle
Concept
Plan
Clear criteria for moving to next phase
Intentionally make the decision to continue (or not!)

13. Also works for contracting
Design Contract
Build & Deliver Contract
Operations Contract C O N T R A
Develop
Qualify
Launch
Life-
cycle
Concept
Plan

14. Project building blocks
Projects consist of phases
each phase ends with one or more deliverables
Phases consist of activities
Activities have
estimated duration
estimated cost
estimated resource requirements
logical relationships with each other

15. Activities generate outputs
Inputs
Tools &
Techniques
Outputs
Transforming inputs to outputs … familiar to Computer Science students

16. All project have constraints
Finite resources require trade-offs among …
Scope
Time
Cost
Quality
Risk

17. PM focus areas requiring active management
Scope – specifications
Time – tasks & schedule
Cost – budget & profit
Quality – meeting specifications, satisfying customer
Risk – addressing the unknown
Human Resource – right people with right skills at right time
Communications – who, what, when, how
Procurement – subcontracting
Integrated management activities

18. Each focus area includes many PM activities
Scope …
Initiation
Scope planning
Scope definition
Scope verification
Scope change control
Time …
Activity definition
Activity sequencing
Activity duration estimating
Schedule development
Schedule change control

19. Common pattern: five groups of processes
Initiating
Planning
Controlling
Executing
Closing

20. Groups of processes happen in each phase …
Initiating
Planning
Controlling
Executing
Closing
Plan Phase ….
Initiating
Planning
Controlling
Executing
Closing
Develop Phase
… and these processes are
used in all the PM focus areas ….

21. All dimensions occurring and interacting all the time
Initiating
Planning
Controlling
Executing
Closing
Phase X
Requires integrated project plan …
Development
Execution
Change control
Scope
Time
Cost
Risk
Quality
Human Resource
Communications
Procurement
Scope
Cost
Quality

22. Example – Building the schedule … and other activities
Determine the resources required
people/skills, equipment, other inputs
plan for positive and negative risks
add time or money to the plan
consider …
what could go wrong
its probability, importance, and impact
mitigations you can take if the risk occurs
determine the budget
Activity definition
Break work into small pieces
Activity sequencing
Identify the dependencies among tasks
Activity duration estimating
Estimate time required for each task
Schedule development
Create project schedule
what work can be done in parallel?
what is the critical path?
consider resource leveling
Schedule change control
How will changes be decided & included?

23. Example – new bridge at USP
What scope?
What cost, duration, quality?
What risks are acceptable?
What people, machines, and equipment?
What sub-contractors?
Who are the stakeholders, and what information does each need?

24. Activities and schedule with Gantt chart
Visual representation of activities, time, and interrelationships
Phases
Activities
Logical Relationships between activities
Time

25. Other concepts Stakeholders Iterations progressive elaboration
planning, executing, controlling the project
change control
establish baseline
follow agreed process for defining, estimating, and approving change
then create new baseline

26. Questions & Discussion

27. The legal stuff
Some images are © Microsoft and used by permission