Define globalization, outsourcing, and virtual teams and describe how these trends are changing IT project management.

1) Define globalization, outsourcing, and virtual teams and describe how these trends are changing IT project management.

Globalization is the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale.

Outsourcing is outsourcing is simply the farming out of services to a third party.  A practice used by different companies to reduce costs by transferring portions of work to outside suppliers rather than completing it internally.

Virtual teams are a collection of individuals who work together through the usage of communication technology. These people will typically have skills which complement each other, and these skills are geared towards the achievement of a specific goal.

Globalization, outsourcing and virtual teams are changing IT project management tremendously by opening new opportunities for companies; Increasing competitiveness and responsiveness by having a team of workers available 24/7, improving their business style to ensure that IT infrastructure and business procedures are combined and uniformed and providing more expertise and flexibility by having team members from across the globe working at any time. All three of these entities are on the forefront of project management today and can ensure the success or the failure of any project.

Describe the triple constraint. What are the three components and what is the relationship between them

2)  Describe the triple constraint. What are the three components and what is the relationship between them

Scope, Time and Cost goal are the triple constraint; these key attributes must be handled effectively for successful completion of any project.

Scope- Is the goal of the project.  

Time- Projects have a deadline date for delivery. When you reduce the project's time, you will either have to increase its cost or reduce its scope.

Cost - This is the estimation of the amount of money that will be required to complete the project. All projects have a finite budget.

It is called a triple constraint because changes in one of the three factors (Scope, Time and Cost) will affect the other two factors. The relationship among the three is if one goal increases, one or the two other goals must decrease for the project to succeed.

Briefly describe the strategic planning process; including the SWOT analysis. Which method do you think businesses use most when identifying IT project? Why?

3)  Briefly describe the strategic planning process; including the SWOT analysis. Which method do you think businesses use most when identifying IT project? Why?

The Strategic planning process involves helping organizations to identify potential projects, and determining long-term objectives by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of an organization. Strategic planning involves SWOT analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis. A SWOT analysis is an organized list of your business’s greatest strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Strengths and weaknesses are internal to the company. You can change them over time but not without some work. Example: Location, reputation.

 Opportunities and threats are external; they are out there in the market, happening whether you like it or not. You can’t change them. Example: prices, suppliers

In my opinion businesses focal point is on weakness. They are able to come to an understanding of where they went wrong, make changes and to avoid mistakes on future projects.

Some of the adaptive approaches to developing systems (like agile) are becoming more popular. Are they better or more appropriate than prescriptive approaches in most cases? Why or why not?

4) Some of the adaptive approaches to developing systems (like agile) are becoming more popular. Are they better or more appropriate than prescriptive approaches in most cases? Why or why not?

 


A prescriptive approach is one where there are fair amount of rules and procedures. People are trained to perform their jobs in precise ways and, projects are structured where the results are more likely to be expected. With the prescriptive approach the structure and requirements are well defined and very little changes can be made during the development process. Adaptive approaches are becoming more popular because they work better with evolving projects that allow more flexibility and you may not be able to predict the outcome. It allows people to work more quickly and easily especially in an environment where the requirements are changing rapidly. Adaptive approaches such as Agile are better than the prescriptive because they embrace change which is inevitable.

Process Group – How much time and money is typically spent on projects in each of the process groups. Assume you have one year and 100,000 to spend. Justify your answer.

5) Process Group – How much time and money is typically spent on projects in each of the process groups. Assume you have one year and 100,000 to spend. Justify your answer.

There are 5 different process groups; Initiating, Planning, Execution, Monitoring, and Closing.

          A)     Initiating the project would be the shortest and the lease resourceful stage. This is where thoughts and ideas are put together defining and authorizing a project. The time spent here would be about 12 week and cost around $2,000

          B)      Planning the project is the second largest part of the group. It ensures that the project addresses the organization's need which consists of meetings, planning of budgets and maintaining a workable scheme.  It was said if you have a longer planning process you would spend less in the executing process; both time and money. Planning process would be about 12 weeks and cost about $21,000.

          C)      With execution being the most important part of the project, it uses the most amounts of resources. This is where employees are trained and also where all hardware and software are bought. With all this in consideration the time spent would be about 32 weeks and cost around $69,000.

          D)     Monitoring process is to ensure that the project is running smoothly in terms of money and time spent and to make sure the project team meets the project objectives. Monitoring process would be about 5 weeks and cost about $5,000

          E)      Closing would be the final part of the project which is to ensure the projects goals were meet in a timely matter and within budget. It would take about 2 week and $3,000