9. IS Adoption and Use Flashcards
Project Definition (Definition / Characteristic (1))
Project = a temporary endeavor (=Bemühung) undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.
- > due to its temporary nature projects have a
definite beginning and ending
Project Characteristics (Use of Projects)
Projects are typically used to drive change while creating value (e.g. as response to undesirable situations such as Corona led the University to ramp up IT capacity out of a necessity)
Project Characteristics: Projects drive change in organizations (Project’s aim and 2 states)
A project’s aim is to move an organization from one state to another state in order to achieve a specific objective.
- current state: company’s state before project start
- future state: desired result driven by the project
Project characteristics: Projects enable business value creation (2 Characteristics, Definition Deliverable)
- Benefit that the results of a specific project provides value creation to its stakeholders
- projects are undertaken at all organizational levels (single individual or group from single or multiple organizational unit)
=> a deliverable is a unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a service
Selected Issues in Software Projects (6 Issues)
- Requirements Issues = Unrealistic project goals, uncontrolled scope creep with no allowance for such in the plan
- Estimating Issues = Inappropriate schedule, no process to re-estimate when the project changes, no reasonableness checks
- Quality Issues = Trying to test in quality rather than a process that implements quality throughout
- Poor Team Productivity = High rework (doing the same thing multiple times due to issues with the initial work)
- Project Management Issues = Lack of planning, earned value, impact of change and issues, …)
- Cultural Issues = Hiding the bad news
Project Management Definition
= the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the projects requirements
-> being concise and having consensus between business side and project side is crucial
The Triple Constraint of Project Management (3 Constraints)
Cost:
- budget cost
- bad estimations
- external shocks
Scope:
- additional features
- bad requirements
- “Scope creep”
Time
- project resources unavailable -> impacts overall
quality
- bad estimation
- project dependencies
Phases of a Project (2 Characteristics)
- Project management requires permanent interaction between monitoring and other project processes
- Output of one process becomes an input to another process or is a deliverable of the project
The Project Lifecycle (4 Steps)
- Project Charter
- Project Management Plan
- Accepted Deliverables
- Archived Project Documentation
Project Lifecycle: 1. Project Charter (Purposes (3), 3 Cs)
- formally authorizes a project
- provides direct link between the project and the organization’s strategic objectives
- documents initial requirements that satisfy the stakeholder’s needs and expectations
- > 3 Cs: Clear, Concise, Consensus
Project Lifecycle: 2. Project Management Plan (4 Characteristics a one prerequisite and one Description)
Milestone Planning:
- Prerequisite = project specific, time critical events
and milestone events
- Description = Deadlines fixed in tables, project is
steered with high amount of energy
List of dates:
- Prerequisites = List of work packages, start and end
dates
- Description = introduces sequence, estimate effort,
dependencies emerge
Gantt-Charts:
- Prerequisite = List of work packages, start and end
dates, time table with time scale
- Description = Visualization via proportional bars,
explicit dependencies
PERT Charts:
- Prerequisite = List of work packages, start and end
dates, additional restrictions
- Description = Visualization of work packages,
dependencies of work packages
A project’s critical path (Definition, 3 Characteristics)
= sequence of scheduled activities that determines the duration of the project -> longest past through the project
- a delay of activities on the critical path directly
impact the planned project completion date
- especially in challenging project situations, project
managers have to determine activities on the
critical path
- based on the critical path activities can be
prioritized and a clear guidance can be given to the
project team
Project Lifecycle: 3. Project Deliverable: Scope Validation (3 Purposes/Definitions, )
= formal acceptance of project’s scope (once the project is completed from a technical standpoint/heavy-duty work is done)
= accepting the deliverables of the completed project
= scope verification is to check deliverables against the agreed scope of the project
Project Lifecycle: 3. Project Deliverable: Quality Control (Purpose and 2 Definitions of Quality Control)
= formal acceptance of deliverable’s quality
- quality control is primarily concerned with
correctness of the deliverables
- quality control ensures to meet the quality
requirements specified for the deliverables
Project Lifecycle: 4. Project Closure and Documentation (Definition, 4 Necessities for administrative closure)
= to finalize a project, all activities, and documents need to be closed and archived
The following activities are necessary for administrative closure:
- satisfy completion or exit criteria for the project
- transfer the project’s products, services or results to
production
- collect projects or phase records and audit project
success or failure
- gather lessons learned and archive project
information for future use
