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COVER
STORY
Introducing
the New Project Complexity Model
-- Kathleen B Hass
This article describes the unique nature of complex
projects and proposes an approach to manage project
complexities. It presents the characteristics of highly
complex projects and introduces the Project Complexity
Model, an entirely new model. The model is used to diagnose
the level of complexity in a particular project or projects
within a program. Once the project complexity profile
is determined, the project manager can then apply complex
thinking to take management decisions such as: (1) selecting
the appropriate project cycle, (2) assigning project
leadership based on the project profile and (3) applying
adaptive project management techniques to complement
conventional approaches to manage the complexity dimensions.
© 2008 Management Concepts. Reprinted with Permission.
PROJECT
STRATEGY
Co-Creating
the Project Team
-- Merrick Rosenberg
Members
of project teams know what it takes to create an effective
team, yet there is often a significant gap between knowledge
and actual practice. Project team members often exhibit
negativity, poor communication skills and behaviors
that demolishes trust and teamwork. Members of project
teams need to consciously create the environment that
they work in by setting ground rules that define desired
behaviors. Success is the inevitable result when team
members accept and perform their roles in co-creating
the team.
© 2008 Team Builders Plus, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
RISK
MANAGEMENT
Project
Risk Management : In Pursuit of Excellence
-- V Venkateswara Rao
To
deliver projects successfully, effective risk management
should be an integral part of project management. Reducing
related project risk with all stakeholders in the project
will result in a `win-win' situation and increase the
possibility of project success.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
PROJECT
TOOLS
Avoiding
Pitfalls with a PPM Initiative
--
Kiron D Bondale
PPM
has received a great deal of exposure in both mainstream
business and project management media which in turn
has resulted in significant investments by companies
in changing how they receive, evaluate, prioritize and
manage projects. Despite this degree of focus, organizations
have struggled with their PPM initiatives with very
few being able to demonstrate a break even or better,
ensure any return at all on their initial and ongoing
investments. PPM initiatives have acquired the same
stigma that early Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
projects achieved-significant investment with limited
returns. This article identifies some of the more common
causes for the failure of these initiatives to help
the reader plan a PPM initiative that can avoid a majority
of these obstacles.
© 2008 Kiron D Bondale. All Rights Reserved.
PROJECT
TOOLS
The
Common Misconception : Earned Value Management (EVM)
is too Cumbersome to Implement - What You Risk Without
It!
-- Glenn Counts
Despite
its name and overly arduous acronym, EVM is a simple
method to implement on projects of all shapes and sizes.
This article explores the origin of the common misconception
about EVM, discusses the steps to a simple implementation
and highlights the risks you face by not using it on
projects.
© 2008 The Earned Value Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT
Cultural
Challenges of Knowledge Management in Projects
-- Mian Ajmal, Petri Helo and Tauno Kekäle
Nowadays, the number of tasks and the amount of
work within a company is being handled in the form of
projects. This trend is rising rapidly. However, even
with this increasing trend, companies are not becoming
expert enough in handling their knowledge assets gained
during the projects due to the cultural challenges.
This article discusses the nature of project knowledge
and particularly points out some possible cultural challenges
which may be difficult to understand when applying knowledge
strategies in such organizations.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
PROJECT
ENVIRONMENT
Scrum
Management : An Offshore Perspective
--
Mukesh Jain and Pravin Mukhedkar
Outsourcing,
originally started for cost- effectiveness, now is aimed
at getting better products. The bar is ever rising higher
for getting best of everything-the best quality at low
cost and within an ideal schedule. We can meet these
goals by having a disciplined process and managing it
with the right set of metrics. This article details
our experience in managing these factors with Agile
(SCRUM), its challenges in onsite-offshore model and
delivering successful results.
© 2008 Mukesh Jain and Pravin Mukhedkar. All Rights
Reserved.
PROJECT
ENVIRONMENT
Impact
of Data Warehouse Implementation on Organizational Design
-- Salman Azhar
Organizational
design is a dynamic process. The information management
capabilities of an organization can strongly influence
its structure. Since a data warehouse can provide more
detailed, integrated, accessible and historically complete
information, it is possible for an organization to operate
very differently and `restructure' itself. In this article,
the impact of data warehouse implementation on organizational
design is discussed via a case study. The results indicate
that the full benefits of data warehousing can be realized
when subsequent changes are made in the organizational
structure.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
PROJECT
COMMUNICATION
Communications
Management Using Project Websites
-- Marconi Fábio Vieira
This
article presents the benefits of using web interface
software to manage project communication in order to
gain more visibility and to share all the project information
in a single point (website). This will enable the project
team and stakeholders to view the project status, update
the scheduled tasks and collaborate with contents such
as documents, plans, deliverables, issues, risks, pictures,
announcements, events, links, discussions and surveys.
© 2008 Marconi Fábio Vieira. All Rights Reserved.
PERSPECTIVE
The
Curse of the Project Sponsor
-- John Hermarij
Organizations have been striving to improve the
success rates of their projects. Often, improving targets
have a short-term orientation, while disregarding one
of the probably main causes of project failure, i.e.,
the role of the project sponsor. Often the person carrying
out this role, is more of a burden than an asset to
the organization. This article is about the dark sides
of the human psyche that inhibits a desperately needed
change in project management.
© 2008 John Hermarij. All Rights Reserved.
CASE
STUDY
Project
Quality : A Dialog with the Zen Master
-- Gautam V Desai
The
article presents the basic concepts of project quality
management generally following the guidelines and processes
suggested by Project Management Institute (PMI), US.
At the same time, the main thrust of teachings of quality
gurus like Joseph Juran, Philip Crosby and Edward Deming
are also mentioned in passing. To make the presentation
interesting and easy to follow, the article is written
as an imaginary scenario of a dialog on this subject
between a Zen Master and his disciples.
© 2008 Gautam V Desai. All Rights Reserved. |
