IFSM 438 Entire Course New Flashcards
MaryIand University IFSM 438 Week 1 Discussion NEW
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How can we define project success?
Based on what you have seen in your own experience, and based on what you have read so far, how would YOU define a successful project? What do you think contributes to a project being unsuccessful? And, when you read about HUGE failures, do you believe they are, in fact, failures? Please provide examples and explain your answers. One or two paragraphs is all that is required. Remember that the quality of your participation and contributions to these discussions can and does make a difference in your overall course grade.
(As a model for excellence, please consider this process, courtesy of Dr. Donna McKalip):
• Answer the question in your own words.
• Provide a quote, paraphrase or reference from our textbook or other source.
• Provide examples that demonstrate your answer and understanding of the concept.
This is a good model you can use in this class and ALL of your classes as a way to work toward excellence and the corresponding grade.)
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MaryIand University IFSM 438 Week 2 Discussion Project Scope Management NEW
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Scope Creep
(1) What is scope creep?
(Note: The textbook seems to have a partial definition, leaving out some factors. So while you may wish to start with the textbook, don’t end there. Do a little research on the Internet or in a library, for instance, to see what factors are involved. Then give a better definition of Scope Creep in your own words (but also properly citing any references you used).)
(2) Is scope creep inevitable? That is, is it normal? Will we always (or at least, usually) have to deal with scope creep on any given project? Why or why not?
(3) How can we deal with scope creep? What can we do to prevent it, and especially what can we do to handle it if and when it does occur?
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MaryIand University IFSM 438 Week 3 Discussions Project Time and Schedule Management NEW
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First, consider the following case study scenario:
You are the newly appointed PM for a major new project in your company. You just stepped in and haven’t yet had a chance to analyze the project. This project has significant executive support and an engaged executive sponsor. The project’s executive sponsor catches you in the hallway on your day first or so on the job and asks you whether you will be able to complete the project in less than 6 months.
Then answer the following questions:
a) Based on what has been presented in this Module, can you give the executive sponsor an answer at this time?
b) Why or why not?
c) So what do you say to the sponsor? How can we respond?
d) More specifically: Describe to the executive sponsor what you must do from a project Time and Scheduling* perspective before you can give an answer.
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MaryIand University IFSM 438 Week 4 Discussions Project Cost and Resources Management NEW
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Estimation InaccuraciesEstimation Inaccuracies
Consider a situation you’ve experienced when you made an inaccurate estimation for the duration of some activity. It doesn’t necessarily need to be during a project (though that would be desirable if possible).
a) What was the situation?
b) Describe how you made the estimate. Discuss your reasoning for estimating the duration of the activity the way you did.
c) In what way was it inaccurate? Discuss the factors that caused your estimate to be inaccurate.
d) What was the outcome of the situation?
e) What were the consequences of the inaccuracy?
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MaryIand University IFSM 438 Week 5 Discussions Project Risk Management NEW
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First, consider the following case study situation:
Risk management often brings up ethical issues for project managers. For instance, software testing can be done in several different ways and with several different levels of rigor and comprehensiveness. Simpler tests may be faster and cheaper and may involve less system downtime, possibly using fewer test cases and fewer test runs. More robust testing may be rather expensive and time consuming, including extensive and rigorous test cases, many test runs, regression testing of previously completed production software, and so forth.
The PM often must balance robustness of testing with time and cost. (Recall the multi-way balance of the triple constraint.) Sometimes, it can boil down to a trade-off between acceptable quality and delivering a system on schedule and on budget. Either way it goes, that is a risk. The approach usually depends on both the criticality and the context of the system.
Then answer these questions:
a) From a risk management and project management point of view, in what situation(s) should a system be more robustly tested?
b) In what situation(s) might less testing be acceptable?
c) Suppose you were the project manager facing pressure from your customer or executive sponsor to reduce testing time when you believe more robust testing was needed. What approach would you use to try to convince the executive manager to follow your advice?
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MaryIand University IFSM 438 Week 6 Discussions Project Quality Management NEW
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First, consider the following case study background:
In this modern economic era of tight budgets, cutbacks, and shortfalls in both budgets and staffs, most organizations are pressured to “do more with less”. Customers and executive sponsors push projects tocomplete earlier and cheaper, with less budget funding, but with the same scope and quality. Rapid Application Development (RAD) and Agile and Extreme development methods are pushed. The problem, as always, is with the balance of the triple constraint (this time, with the added factor of quality).
There is also a trade-off between the short-term benefits of quality (and of projects themselves, for that matter), and their long-term strategic benefits to the corporation.
These economic and strategic forces often result in executives pressuring PMs to take shortcuts in IT projects. While such shortcuts may seem attractive, they usually have highly adverse consequences to the company in both the short term and the long term. One example, of many, is that poor quality could be publicized and have adverse consequences for the company.
These pressures from executives, and the related economic pressures, are project risks, and the risks often manifest themselves as quality issues.
Now answer these questions:
a) If faced with increasing pressure to get a project done ahead of time, what steps should a project manager take if he feels this will jeopardize project quality?
b) Suppose that rather than time, the pressure is to do more with less, that is to accomplish the same scope with staff cuts and budget cuts. Does that change your answer? That is, what steps should a PM take if he feels this will jeopardize project quality?
c) In addition to the effects that a rushed project might have on project quality, what kind of short-term and long-term effects might it have on project team members?
d) What kind of short-term and long-term effects might it have on the organization or corporation itself?
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MaryIand University IFSM 438 Week 7 Discussions Project Execution Management NEW
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First, consider the following case study situation:
You are the PM managing a project in which, during project execution, some tasks actually take longer than planned, some go over the planned budget, and the occasional task takes less time than planned. What’s more, some of each of these changed tasks are on the critical path and some are not. Due to astute monitoring, you, as PM, have noticed these changes from the plan.
Now, answer the following questions:
a) What would have happened if you had not been monitoring the status of the project?
b) Suppose that it is crucial that the project complete on time at all costs (e.g., a Mars mission launch window, which, if delayed, will cause the rocket to miss Mars entirely, and for which there is not another launch window for the next 3 years). However, with such a critical project, suppose that changes in actual performance occurred which greatly affected the duration of the project. What could you do about it?
c) Would taking these remedial actions depend on when you detected the changes? That is, do they require knowing in advance that there is going to be a slippage or speed-up of a task, or not?
d) What else should you do during project execution if such changes made a large change in project duration if there was nothing you could do to remediate it?
e) What else should you do during project execution if such changes made a large change in project duration if youcould successfully remediate it?
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MARYLAND UNIVERSITY IFSM 438 Entire Course NEW
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IFSM 438 Entire Course NEW
IFSM 438 ITP-6 Presentation NEW
IFSM 438 ITP-3 WBS Word Document NEW
IFSM 438 ITP-1 Project Charter Final NEW
IFSM 438 ITP4
IFSM 438 ITP-3 WBS Word Document NEW
IFSM 438 ITP-5 Project Risk Assessment NEW
IFSM 438 TPP
IFSM 438 Week 1 Discussion NEW
IFSM 438 Week 2 Discussion Project Scope Management NEW
IFSM 438 Week 3 Discussions Project Time and Schedule Management NEW
IFSM 438 Week 4 Discussions Project Cost and Resources Management NEW
IFSM 438 Week 5 Discussions Project Risk Management NEW
IFSM 438 Week 6 Discussions Project Quality Management NEW
IFSM 438 Week 7 Discussions Project Execution Management NEW
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MARYLAND UNIVERSITY IFSM 438 ITP-7 Word Document NEW
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IFSM 438 ITP-7 Word Document NEW
Brief Overview of Our Changes to the WBS
What was the effect of the changes on your project cost? How much did it increase? Are you still on budget or are you over budget now?
What was the effect of the changes on your project cost? How much did it increase? Are you still on budget or are you over budget now?
What would you recommend doing to handle these changes and risks, assuming that the client cannot get any more money (it’s a fixed grant) and that it still has to be installed by the original deadline (before? Do not make changes in your project schedule .mpp or budget or documents to reflect this recommendation. Simply state what things you would recommend doing to handle the situation.
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MARYLAND UNIVERSITY IFSM 438 TPP-1 Team Process Plan and Schedule NEW
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MARYLAND UNIVERSITY IFSM 438 Week 8 Discussions Procurement and Stakeholder Management NEW
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IFSM 438 Week 8 Discussions Procurement and Stakeholder Management NEW
Week 8 Discussions
“Around here, we keep half the people ignorant so they aren’t prejudiced, and half the people prejudiced so they aren’t ignorant.”
– Dr. Jay Shulman, c.1980
First, consider the following case study background:
Because people don’t like to be the bearer of bad news, and are sometimes afraid that their management may “kill the messenger”, employees are often very reluctant to bring unwelcome but critically important project status information to their management. (This is sometimes known as the “mum effect.”) Therefore, it is common that important project status information does not make it to the level of management that can take corrective action to do something about it. In fact, it is typical that the farther up the hierarchy a manager is, the less information he or she will have about the project. Unfortunately, this sometimes means that those who have the authority to change things, are the very people who do not know the necessity of the change and/or who do not have sufficient information to enable an appropriate change.
Whistle blowing (see below) is an extreme case of bearing the bad news up the hierarchy. Sadly, whistle blowing can be dangerous to one’s own career. Unfortunately, whistle blowing in some organizations is considered illegitimate behavior bordering on insubordination. Even when people blow the whistle, management can ignore it (sometimes known as the “deaf effect”), essentially saying “don’t give me bad news that I don’t want to hear.”
All this is counterproductive to projects, whose success depends on sound decisions and timely corrections of deviance from plan. For instance, issues that are not elevated to the proper decision-maker before they mature into full-blown problems, become a risk to the success of the entire project. If the decision-maker is kept in the dark, or refuses to make a decision, or punishes the bearer of bad news, then he or she will no longer be in a position to take timely corrective action to keep the project on track to success.
Then consider these informal definitions so that we know we’re talking about the same thing:
• Whistle blowing is reporting someone (usually your own management) for doing something illegal or unethical. (Like intelligent disobedience from the questions on the Project Scope Module, we are well advised to pick our battles wisely. Even the Federal whistle blowing office admits that whistleblowers generally are retaliated against, even though that is illegal.)
• Recall that in this context, intelligent disobedience, like civil disobedience, is refusing to go along with something that is unethical (whether it’s legal or not), while fully realizing that we may be punished or penalized for disobeying, and being willing to take the penalty for the “greater cause”. As Harry Truman said, “if you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.” The “intelligent” part comes from not being belligerent and especially from picking our battles wisely.
• Insubordination, on the other hand, is probably less-than-intelligent, since it seems to usually be belligerent, not pick its battles wisely, and not be for a greater cause such as ethics. It usually results in management taking career-threatening actions against the employee.
• Finally, there’s just garden variety differences of opinion. While it should be obvious that that should always be encouraged – two heads are better than one, after all – nevertheless, in some organizations, it actually isn’t!
Now answer the following questions:
a) What type of organizational culture might inhibit whistle blowing? Why?
b) What should a project manager do to encourage his project team’s willingness to report project problems?
c) How can a project manager effectively report project problems to the sponsor, stakeholders, and senior management? What techniques might the PM use?
If you have not worked for an organization that had internal auditors, Inspectors General (IGs), or other internal inspectors then skip to Part E, below. If you have worked for such an organization, then answer Part D:
d) If you have worked for an organization that had internal auditors, IGs, or inspectors, were they effective? Were they welcome? What, in your experience, was done well and what was done poorly with such internal auditors and inspectors?
e) If you have not worked for an organization that had internal auditors, inspectors, or IGs, do you think it would be beneficial, detrimental, or problematic? Why?
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