IT Manager's Handbook: Getting Your New Job Done (26 page)

3.5 Further References

Websites

www.adobe.com/ConnectWebConference
. [web conferencing solution].

www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2000/12/11/daily7.html
. [‘permatemps’].

www.bls.gov/spotlight/2010/college
..

www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=4354
. [outsourcing discussion].

www.facebook.com
. [social networking site].

www.hireright.com
. [background checking company].

recruiting.jobvite.com/resources/social-recruiting-survey.php
. [recruiting via social media].

www.linkedIn.com
. [professional networking site].

www.naceweb.org
. [National Association of Colleges and Employers].

www.payscale.com
. [salary survey information].

www.plaxo.com
. [networking site].

www.polycom
. [video-conferencing solution].

www.salary.com
. [salary survey information].

www.sba.gov/content/determining-size-standrds
. [business size determinations].

www.tandberg.com
. [video conferencing solution].

www.webex.com
. [web conferencing vendor].

www.zoominfo.com
. [professional networking site].

Books and Articles

Bradt GB, Vonnegut M, (2009).
Onboarding: How to Get Your New Employees up to Speed in Half the Time
. Wiley.

Brown JN, (2011).
The Complete Guide to Recruitment: A Step-by-Step Approach to Selecting, Assessing and Hiring the Right People
. Kogan Page.

Erling D, (2010).
Match: A Systematic, Sane Process for Hiring the Right Person Every Time
. Wiley.

Herrenkohl E, (2010).
How to Hire A-Players: Finding the Top People for Your Team - Even if You Don't Have a Recruiting Department
. Wiley.

Jones DP, (2011).
Million-Dollar Hire: Build Your Bottom Line, One Employee at a Time
. Jossey-Bass.

Meister JC, Willyerd K, (2010).
The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop, and Keep Tomorrow's Employees Today
. Harper Business.

Miller G, (2010).
Hire on a WHIM: The Four Qualities That Make for Great Employees
. Dog Ear Publishing.

Shamis B, (2011).
Hiring 3.0: New Rules for the New Economy
. Leverage Press.

Smart G, Street R, (2008).
Who: The A Method for Hiring
. Ballantine Books.

Yeung R, (2010).
Successful Interviewing and Recruitment: Structure the Interview; Identify Exceptional Candidates; Hire the Best Person for the Job
. Kogan Page.

Chapter 4

Project Management

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

Yogi Berra

Chapter table of contents

4.1
Projects and Project Management: A Quick Overview

4.2
Phase One: Scope the Project

4.3
Phase Two: Develop a Project Plan

4.4
Phase Three: Launch the Project

4.5
Phase Four: Track the Project’s Progress

4.6
Phase Five: Close Out the Project

4.7
Decision-Making Techniques

4.8
What to Do if/when the Project Gets off Track

4.9
Useful Project Management Techniques

4.10
Funding Projects

4.11
Multiple Projects: How to Juggle Them Well

4.12
Dealing with Non-IT Departments on a Project

4.13
Further References

As an IT Manager, your life will revolve around projects—some small, some enormous. Projects are an integral part of corporate life. This chapter discusses how they are conceived, organized, funded, tracked, and executed.

Project management is a complex and formal management science, although it is often more art than science. While you probably won’t need all that complexity and formality to run most successful IT projects, it’s essential to your success as a manager to understand not only the basic principles but a few of the advanced concepts of project management.

If you have been assigned the project of installing an e-mail upgrade for the company, for example, and you are working for a 400-person company, you need to carefully plan how you’re going to accomplish this task, who is going to help you, how much it’s going to cost, and when is it going to be done. While it may appear a simple task to someone outside the department, anyone with much experience in IT knows an upgrade project such as this can take an enormous amount of time, planning, money, and effort. Careful project management can be the key to accomplishing this task successfully.

4.1 Projects and Project Management: A Quick Overview

You won’t go too long as an IT Manager without hearing the word “project”—you probably heard it a lot even before you became a manager. “Project” is a catchall word.

Different Kinds of Projects

The range of activities defined as projects is very wide:

•
It could be a relatively simple activity such as purchasing and installing new PCs for all the company’s administrative assistants. It might be a more complicated venture, such as deploying a system-wide application or an operating system upgrade. Or it could be a monumental task, such as implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application throughout the company.

•
It might be highly complex and involved (ERP applications are notoriously difficult to implement) in nature, or not at all (getting the latest tablet device for all the executives).

•
It might be staffed by a single person in your office or manned by a team of 75 people from five different departments in three different countries.

•
Simple projects may require only a little planning and all the key information is maintained in someone’s head. A complicated project may need special project management software along with group calendaring and scheduling to keep it all on track.

•
It might have a very tight and immovable deadline (e.g., installing a new tax package before the start of the
fiscal year
) or the time frame may be much more forgiving (e.g., “as long as it gets done sometime this year”).

Your ability to manage a project so that it meets its goals, within the defined time frame and within the approved budget, will be one of the single most important skills you can develop as an IT Manager.

The Value of Project Management

Project management has become a formal discipline and a widely practiced part of today’s corporate life. While it isn’t necessary for you to become an official “project manager” (PM) and get certified by the
Project Management Institute (PMI
), it’s useful for you to know some of the important principles of project management to help you in your role as a manager. Every manager has some PM responsibilities, regardless of how those needs are defined; it can be critical to your success to not only accept, but embrace these responsibilities. Take control of the projects in your business life and manage them properly—it will be well worth your effort.

Five Key Phases to a Project

Starting with
Section 4.2, “Phase One: Scope the Project”
on
page 106
, the five key phases of a project are discussed:

1.
Scope the project.

2.
Develop a project plan.

3.
Launch the project.

4.
Track the project’s progress.

5.
Close out the project.

Various companies and organizations define these phases of projects differently. However, these particular five stages are taken from the PMI’s
Project Management Body of Knowledge
(
PMBOK
), the standard text for project managers. The PMBOK is the PM community’s bible; according to the preface, it’s “the sum of knowledge within the profession of project management.” Many companies use PMI-trained PMs (who have been taught using the PMBOK) to develop projects.

Do You Have to Be a Certified Project Manager to Run a Project?

No. Being a certified PM is definitely an advantage when running large and complex projects, but it isn’t a requirement—this issue is not too different from the discussion on technical certifications in
Chapter 3, Staffing Your IT Team
in the section
“The Value of Certification”
on
page 94
.

There are many common pitfalls that anyone running a project faces and we’ll discuss some of them in this chapter. One common problem, for example, is that most project managers may be tasked with managing the project but don’t have formal authority over project team members from other departments. This issue can make managing individuals a difficult challenge. But that particular difficulty isn’t solved by
certification
of the project manager.

The Project Management Institute (PMI)

The PMI (
www.pmi.org
) is the international organization that trains and certifies project managers. Unlike many certification organizations, PMI is the real deal. Its main certification, a
Project Management Professional (PMP
), requires “A four-year degree … and at least three years of project management experience, with 4,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education” (
www.pmi.org/Certification/Project-Management-Professional-PMP.aspx
). If you see a PMP certification on a résumé, it means the individual has spent a lot of time and effort achieving these goals.

IT Managers may or may not need all the experience that a certificate from the PMI implies (although some IT Managers now have, and more are pursuing, a PMP; the organization now has over 400,000 members). However, it’s important for you to know that the science (and art) of project management has become much more formalized in the last 10 years and that the PMI has been at the center of that change.

The PMI and its PMP certification are certainly well regarded in the industry. However, like other certifications and educational backgrounds, the story doesn’t end there. It all depends on how these skills are put to use.

Why I Chose PMI

I have been a project manager for many different companies in many industries all over the world for over 40 years. A long time ago I decided to get certified as a PM and, after careful study, I chose the Project Management Institute.

I picked PMI because:

• They are by far the largest organization of its kind in the world.

• They are truly a worldwide group; there are many PM groups, but they are recognized more by the countries where they are located.

• PMI’s requirements for certification are very rigorous.

• You must pass a thorough exam.

• There is a significant cost involved (to deter people from doing it on a whim).

• It requires a demonstrated depth of experience.

—George Puziak