Technology Project

1038 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The role of project management in achieving project success

Technology projects can be challenging to complete on-time and within budget. Analysis of some 13,000 plus projects provides a sobering account of technology project challenges. The Standish Group's "CHAOS Summary 2009," showed that only 32% of all projects succeeded and were delivered on time and within budget; 44% were late, over budget, and/or with less than the required features and functions. An astounding 24% of the projects examined failed, were cancelled prior to completion, or delivered and never used.

In CELT’s (Center for Education Leadership and Technology) twenty plus years of technology and education project management we have successfully completed and observed hundreds of technology projects. The majority of the technology projects we see are good projects. If three essential project management ingredients were successfully implemented in a consistent manner; however, a good technology project could easily become a great technology project.

Consistent implementation of the three project management steps described in this article will assure that vendors deliver and school districts complete technology and education projects on time, within budget and in a manner that meets and often exceeds stakeholders’ expectations. The three key components to on-time and within budget projects are: 1) management oversight, 2) subproject definition, and 3) written agreement on deliverables.

Step 1: Create a Management Oversight Plan

The first step in any project is developing a project management oversight plan that defines expectations, outcomes, and establishes a timeline. Key organizational stakeholders and influencers are interviewed to identify the issues and concerns expected to be resolved by the project. The key issu...

... middle of paper ...

...The TOC and key findings approval provide the basis for authoring the draft report. The draft report will document current status, commendations, gap analysis findings, and recommendations. The last step in the development of project deliverables is to write and review the final report including the implementation action plan with a timeline, budget, funding sources, and person responsible for specific implementation activities.

When conducting an orchestra everyone must have the same music on their stand, be tuned, and in-time. The conductor needs to understand each section’s role and make certain that each section enters and exits crisply and accurately. Successful project management is similar. With a clear project management plan, subproject definitions, and identified and agreed upon deliverables your projects will appear to be well orchestrated symphonies.

Show More
Related

  • Agile Management: Enhancing Project Success

    766 Words  | 2 Pages

    As the world is constantly changing in terms of program needs and the requirements to achieve them, there is a demand for innovative and tactical ways to increase success in achieving project objectives. The ever-changing technological climate, market dynamics, relatively short-lived solutions and the arduous integration of business and I.T., have proved stumbling blocks in managing complex programs and ultimately attaining desired results on time and on budget.

    Read More

  • Business Case Analysis

    2011 Words  | 5 Pages

    Franklin Electronics won the contract because they had the lowest price. They developed a work breakdown structure that consisted of 45 work packages, with 4 of the work packages being delivered in the first 4 months. They also developed a simple status report consisting of the work packages due, budgeted cost for work scheduled, budgeted cost for work performed, actual cost for work performed, cost variance and price variance. When they deliver the first status report, the Franklin Electronics project manager is called into an emergency meeting because Spokane Industries vice president is unhappy with the progress. In this paper, we will discuss Six Sigma process improvement for tracking time and cost, recommendations on how Franklin Electronics can use project management principles to meet their goal of improving efficiency and empowering management to make better and informed decisions through the use of Earned Value Management, how an effective Earned Value Management System contributes to organizational effectiveness, and how Franklin Electronics can share best practices across the organization.

    Read More

  • Applied Research Technologies, Inc.: Global Innovation Challenge Case Study

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    Frame, J.D., Managing Projects in Organizations: How to Make the Best use of Time, Techniques and People, third ed., San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,112-117, 2003.

    Read More

  • Optimism Bias in Project Management

    3404 Words  | 7 Pages

    Projects are widely used by many organizations and government institutions in the course of conducting their business. One of the reasons for this is because they have been proven to be effective in initiating change and translating strategic programs into daily activities. However, it has been established that most projects fail to deliver on time, budget, and customer specifications. In most cases, this failure is caused by over-optimism by the project management team. This over-optimism commonly referred to as optimism bias can simply be defined as overestimating the projects benefits and conversely underestimating its cost and duration time. Research have portrayed that this is often caused by failure to properly identify, understand, and manage effectively the risk associated with the project therefore putting its success at jeopardy(Mott McDonald, 2002). Fortunately, this biasness can be detected and minimized during the project gateway process.

    Read More

  • Flayton Electronics Case Study

    929 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jugdev, K. (2012). Learning from Lessons Learned: Project Management Research Program. American Journal of Economics and Business Administration , 4(1), 13-22.

    Read More

  • Project Charter

    890 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind” a famous quote about our goal by Seneca. It is a metaphor about the achievement goal and objectives by good planning skills. One has to plan for what one wants to achieve and where one wants to go. One of the most important things is to have good planning, before taking any project the first think you should do is to create project plan. Planning can be defined as preparing a sequence of action to achieve specific goals and objectives. According to Kerzner (2009), “project planning is desirable that the project manager is involved from project conception through execution. It must be systematic, flexible to handle, closely disciplined through reviews and control and capable of accepting multi functional inputs (pg. 412)”. The importance of planning a project is to describe the work so that it will be easily identifiable to the project team member.

    Read More

  • The Custom Woodworking Company Case Study

    2594 Words  | 6 Pages

    Project Management Institute (PMI) (2013). Project Management Professional (PMP) Handbook. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.pmi.org/certification/~/media/pdf/certifications/pdc_pmphandbook.ashx. [Last Accessed 20 April 2014].

    Read More

  • Project Proposal

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    This proposal identifies the need for a document, which will propose and develop reasons why a for-profit transportation service for Kent should be perused. This service should be considered because of the recent parking and commuting problems both on and off campus.

    Read More

  • Reflective Project Management Plan

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    To deliver the project successfully on budget and on time, my team used Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tool to control project data and process, defining and tracking program deliverables and resource management against the budget. The PLM tool also increased my visibility and control

    Read More

  • Case Study Of Reson

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    Project management is said to be completed within time when it completed within the “triple constraints”: cost, time and quality. And in a lot of causes, one them is sacrificed so as to meet the other two. Project managers prioritize which ones are the most important.

    Read More

  • Stakeholder Involvement in Project Development

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    The project management team must identify the stakeholders, determine their requirements and then manage and identify those requirements to ensure a successful project. Stakeholder’s identification is often difficult. Key stakeholders on every project include: Project manager this is the individual responsible for managing the project. Customers are the individuals or organization that will use the project’s product. There may be multiple layers of customers. Project team members are the group that performs the work of the project and sponsor the individual or group within or external to the performance organization that provided the financial resources, in cash or in kind, for the project (Project Management institute, 2000)

    Read More

  • project proposal

    1233 Words  | 3 Pages

    For this project, I chose to select the option of making an artist’s book. I have always found the portrayal of written words and pictures quite fascinating. Some have each page carefully worked out with decorative motifs varying from page to page. Some have fancy covers or style of binding that screams “pick-me-up!” But the type of books that fascinate me the most are those that are dedicated to the art of photography. I proposed for this book to be created as a photographic reference towards life. I wanted to create something that had meaning. I wanted it to tell a story, appeal to the eye as well as the mind. I chose to entitle the book ‘ABC’s of Life.’ Yes, I know that sounds kind of cheeseball, but a fancy name wouldn't get the point across.

    Read More

  • Project Management Essay

    2049 Words  | 5 Pages

    Project management is known as the discipline of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling resources to achieve specific goals. In the diagram to the left in the picture you can see that as a project manager you are the center of either a great accomplishment or a major failure. Some of the major factors to being a successful project manager would be a person that is a great manage several projects or responsibilities and scope issues on an every day basis. If you have a pr...

    Read More

  • What Is The Importance Of Project Management

    781 Words  | 2 Pages

    When planning a new project, how the project will be managed is one of the most important factors. The importance of a managers will determine the success of the project. The success of the project will be determined by how well it is managed. Project management is referred to as the discipline that entails the processes of carefully planning, organizing, controlling, and motivating the organization resources so as to foster and facilitate the achievement of specific established and desired goals and meet the specific criteria of success required in the organization (Larson, 2014). Over the course of this paper I will be discussing and analyzing the importance of project management.

    Read More

  • The Fundamental Purposes Of Control In Project Management In Project Management

    1842 Words  | 4 Pages

    Overview – This chapter is about controlling projects. This is the logical follow-on to the previous discussion on monitoring. Monitoring detects a problem; control does something about it. There are many reasons that projects go off their plan and require control. It’s especially important for the PM, particularly one with a technical background, to remember that all project problems have a human element. Real people, each with his or her unique abilities, are the “actors” that must make all the carefully analyzed plans actually happen. PM’s may find it hard to exercise control over a close-knit project team to whom they feel strongly attached. Further, many people are of the opinion that exercising any type of control is akin to the great evil of micromanaging.

    Read More

More about Technology Project

Open Document