Page 53 - DCAP307_PLANNING_AND_MANAGING_IT_INFRASTRUCTURE

Unit 3: Project Management

 Execution Notes
 Controlling and
 Closure
The project team manages the various activities of the project, and the activities typically involve:

 Competing demands for: scope, time, cost, risk and quality.
 Managing expectations of stakeholders.
 Identifying requirements.

Notes It is important to note that many of the processes within project management are
iterative in nature. This is partly due to the existence of and the necessity for progressive
elaboration in a project throughout the project life cycle; i.e. the more you know about
your project, the better you are able to manage it.

Did u know? The term “project management” is sometimes used to describe an
organisational approach to the management of ongoing operations. This approach treats
many aspects of ongoing operations as projects to apply project management techniques
to them.

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Caselet Getting Things Done

ll of us have heard, some have read, the famous best seller on Execution: The
discipline of getting things done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. Execution
Atranslates visions of the organisations in to reality. In the software industry, it
often translates to effective project management. The topic assumes more relevance today
especially for software firms that are at “tipping point” in their growth stories.
The Project Manager (PM) and the development team today deal with many pressures –
senior management, marketing, finance, customers, and users – during the software
development process. These pressures impact the cost and the quality of the software
produced. There are generally more than one or two reasons for a software project to fail,
and it usually is a combination of technical, project management and business decisions.

Opting to Outsource
Project life cycles have become shorter, thanks to rapid evolution of technologies and
markets. This has resulted in short-term contract agreements, with customers expecting
the firm to ramp up in capabilities in short time to meet their needs. The clients demand
more value for the outsourced work as cost arbitrage of the Indian firms continue to be
eroded and are looking “to squeeze every dollar spent”. Hence, there’s an increasing need
to manage projects effectively and efficiently – leaving no slack on cost, quality and
schedule.
Software outsourcing projects are of two types: fixed price (FP) contracts and Time &
Material (T&M) contracts. In FP contracts the software firm gets a fixed price and pays for
all realised costs. This keeps the software firm interested in managing the projects
effectively, with available resources at minimal costs to meet schedules.
Contd....

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