Page 54 - DCAP307_PLANNING_AND_MANAGING_IT_INFRASTRUCTURE

Planning and Managing IT Infrastructure

Notes In T&M contracts, though the client pays for all realised costs, the onus of finding resources
(mainly competent engineers) for the projects rest with the firm.
This poses a challenge in executing effective staff management in a highly attrition-afflicted
industry. All these factors compel companies to increasingly focus on the following project
management capabilities.

Meticulous Methods
First, define and defend the boundaries of the project well with the client. Effective
requirements, scope management, defining exact deliverables and committing to all these
become important. Research has often showed that badly defined requirements are one of
the main reasons why software projects fail. These can be better managed by shortening
the cycles for delivery and periodically delivering smaller work products that allows
clients to provide timely feedback. Methods such as agile project management are tailored
for this context. These methods reduce risks for both the client and the firm.
Second, have robust methodologies and frequent cross-checks to ensure that effort estimates
are appropriate, especially in FP projects. While optimistic, underestimates often lead to
unmanageable projects, pessimistic overestimates end up as a losing proposition. Hence,
there is a need for reliable statistics.
Third, focus continually on people’s productivity and skills. This becomes a challenge as
firms tend to increase the bottom of the “pyramid model” of resourcing to reduce costs.
Project managers often have to deal with partially trained freshers, mentor and motivate
them and promote them to get them to the level of co-owners of the project. Apart from
technical capability building, this also requires the firms to invest in project management
capabilities. The likes of Project Management Institute (PMI) have developed exhaustive
framework for accessing and developing project management capabilities. But the unique
nature of the software industry requires a comprehensive project management training
programme that focuses on experiential learning through internal case studies and sessions
conducted by in-house experts. Since each firm is unique with respect to its organisational
climate and the types of projects they handle, best practices need to be tailored to become
effective in the organisational context with greater emphasis on practices that has worked
well in the organisation.
Risk Planning
The need for appropriate risk planning and management, as technologies and business
environment continues to evolve, cannot be emphasised enough. If identified risks are
not reassessed and controlled, there is no insight to the problems within the project. These
problems could entail inadequate engineering resources or delayed third party components,
situations that can result in unpleasant surprises for the project managers.

CXOs looking for levers to pull the organisation to the next levels of performance while
meeting higher customer expectations need look no further – the one labelled “Project
Management” is the one to try first.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/eworld/article2465175.ece
3.3.1 Project Management Processes

To help understanding the integrative nature of project management, and to emphasise the
importance of integration, project management has been defined in terms of the various
component processes and their interactions. This section provides an introduction to the concept
of project management as a number of interlinked processes. Projects are composed of processes.

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