cse9020 semester 1, 20034 wk03 / 1 cse9020 case study week3 cse9020 (and possibly cse3200) the case...

CSE9020 Semester 1, 20034 Wk03 / 1

CSE9020 CASE STUDY Week3

CSE9020 CASE STUDY Week3

CSE9020 (and possibly CSE3200)

The Case Study

Semester 1, 2004

John Carpenter - the Unit organiser

Email is [email protected]

Phone contact is 990 32185 , with voice mail

Room ‘C’ Building, C4.05

John is a part-time staff member, and is usually only on campus

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays (from late morning)

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Project ManagementProject Management

Some References:

The Complete Idiots Guide to Project Management - Baker S and K. MacMillan Publishing, 1998

Project Risk Management : Processes, Techniques and Insights. Chapman. Wiley, 1997

Project Management : Getting the Job Done on Time and on Budget. Healy, Patrick. Butterworth Heinemann, 1997

Essentials of Project Management : Lock, Dennis. Gower, 1995

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Project ManagementProject Management

Risk Analysis in Project Management : Rafferty, J Chapman and Hall

Project Manager as Change Agent : Turner et al. McGraw hill, 1996

Project Management : A Managerial Approach (3rd Ed). Meredith, J.R and Mantel, S J. Wiley, 1995

Sharpen Your Skills in Project Management : Harris, Jean. McGraw Hill, 1997

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Team Roles and PlayersTeam Roles and Players

The following observations are referenced in a book titles ‘Management Teams : Why They Succeed or Fail’ by Dr. R Meredith Belbin.

They are not intended as a means of self analysis, or even as analysis of other members in your team.

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Dr. Belbin identified 9 ‘roles’

1. Coordinator

2. Shaper

3. Plant

4. Monitor-Evaluator

5. Implementor

6.Team Worker

7. Resource Investigator

8. Completer- Finisher

and 9. Specialist

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CO Coordinator

Calm, self confident and controlled.

Communicates easily and well with others.

Generally no special creative or intellectual abilities.

Structured and organised.

Identifies weaknesses in a team’s makeup and works to correct them.

Coordinates the use of resources.

Personal self-discipline and perseverance.

Good delegator.

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Coordinator :

Dominates at meetings.

Obstinacy and inflexibility often seen as determination and perseverance.

May fail to recognise individual abilities and skills in a team - leads to poor use of team resources.

Competes with the Plant and Monitor-Evaluator.

Acknowledges superior ability in others

May abdicate the leadership role if opposed, or lack of support.

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SH Shaper

Influences the way team effort is applied.

Directs energy to setting goals and priorities.

Imposes patters on team discussion, and on the outcome of team activities.

Highly strung, outgoing and dynamic.

Strong drive and is keen to challenge ineffectiveness or complacency.

May provoke and irritate others.

Can be impatient.

May be uncomfortable with committees or project teams.

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Shaper :

Dominates team members when given authority.

Assumes more authority than team status implies

Avoids competition, particularly with the Plant and Monitor-Evaluator.

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PL Plant

Advances new ideas, strategies.

Gives special attention to major issues.

Looks for solutions or ways around problems.

Creative, serious and unorthodox.

Independent in outlook, imagination, knowledge, intellect.

Impractical at times.

Poor in personal communications.

Becomes offended when others monitor, challenge, evaluate or reject ideas.

Not keen working in dominant, extroverted or overcritical teams.

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ME Monitor-Evaluator

Assists team in making balanced decisions by analysis, evaluation and suggestions.

Is hypercritical, very serious.

Has critical thinking ability - sees complications of proposals and has an objective approach

Lacks tact, and frequently destroys suggestions.

Negative thinker

Has a competitive behaviour pattern, especially with the Coordinator and Plant

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IMP Implementor.

Turns concepts and plans into practical working applications.

Is systematic and efficient.

Conservative, loyal and predictable.

Has self control and self discipline.

Shows realism and ‘common sense’.

May lack flexibility. Sometimes does not respond to new ideas which are not proven.

Is able to select out the practical details from the broad brief and attends to them.

Steady, systematic approach - not affected by pressures

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Implementor

Strives to meet targets, perseveres even though task(s) are difficult.

Strengths lie in being able to clarify objectives in practical terms and in developing and maintaining a team structure.

Attributes will assist in ensuring that projects will be completed to the required standards and on time.

Attitudes will flow on to members of the team, and assist them to achieve objectives.

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TW Team Worker

Supports members of a team by building on their ideas and suggestions

Improves communications, builds and supports team spirit.

Socially oriented, sensitive.

Respond to people and situations by being flexible, popular, a good listener.

Not good in crisis mode - generally indecisive

Dislikes friction and competition.

Will avoid behaviour which will reflect badly on the team’s image

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RI Resource Investigator

Explores and provides reports on ideas, developments and external resources.

Create a network of contacts.

Outgoing, enthusiastic, asks questions, communicates well.

Keen to explore new concepts.

Initially very enthusiastic, but loses this as the initial interest wanes and / or passes in favour of something else.

Becomes very involved with own ideas - may ignore others.

Relaxes too much when pressures ease.

Talking and social preferences may lead to unproductive use of time.

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CF Completor Finisher

Is a team protector against mistakes and omissions.

Keen to detect item which require special attention.

Maintains sense of urgency in team.

Painstaking, orderly, conscientious and anxious.

Self control and strength of character.

May show negative thinking - destructive criticism

Sense of stress may affect team morale

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SP Specialist

Provides information of technical and professional nature to a team

Single minded, a self starter, and dedicated to a particular layer of expertise and knowledge.

Provides a resource which may not be otherwise available.

Is supportive on a narrow front - very keen on technicalities.

Is not compatible with Shapers, Resource Investigators, Plants and definitely not other Specialists

Frequently loses patience with team’s lack of expertise.

High specialist skills may introduce difficulty in relating to other team members

May misinterpret the team’s reactions - may feel alienated

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CSE9020 - Project ManagementCSE9020 - Project Management

Some Project Management References :

Davidson, F (1995) Managing projects in organisations : how to make the best use of time, techniques, and people

(Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco

Lee,J and Roberts,J (1998) How to avoid IT project failure, In Gartner Advisory, research and Advisory Services

Rosenau, M (1998) Successful project management ; a step-by-step approach with practical examples - John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Canada

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Whittaker, B (1999) What went wrong ? Unsuccessful information technology projects Information Management and Computer Security 7(1), 23-29.

Feeny, J and Willcocks,L (1998) Core IS capabilities for exploiting information technology, Sloan Management Review, 39(9), 13-25.

Bloom, N. (1996) Select the right IS project manager for success, Personnel Journal, 75(1), 6-10

Meredith,J and Mantel, S (1995) Project management - a managerial approach John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Canada

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An effective project manager has these skills :

Strong planning and organisation skills

Communication

Team building

Coping skills

Leadership

Flexibility and willingness to try new approaches

and has the Ability to

Identify risks and create contingency plans

Produce reports which can be understood by business managers

Evaluate information from specialists

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Reasons for IS project failure:

Poor project planning

A weak business case

Lack of top management involvement and support

Execution of project management contributed where

Risks were not addressed in associated areas

Lack of skills and expertise in the project manager

Project progress was not monitored and/or corrective action not taken

The experience, authority and stature of the project manager were not consistent with the nature, scope and risks of the project

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CSE9020 CASE STUDYCSE9020 CASE STUDY

Some thoughts about aspects of a Project from some different perspectives:

Financial

How is the bottom line performing ?

Customer

How satisfied is the Customer ?

Internal Business Processes

How well do the processes produce the

required products ?

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Learning and Growth

Are new products being introduced

on a regular basis

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Scorecards: Allocate points for assessment (as you will do later this Semester)

Stakeholder

Is the ‘owner’ satisfied ?

Recipient

Are the customer objectives satisfied ?

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Process

Are the processes effective and efficient ?

Infrastructure

Are the resources managed effectively

and efficiently ?

Philosophy

Is everyone going in the same direction ?

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Knowledge

Is learning based on experience ?

People

Are the staff equipped to do their job ?

ProjectReviews

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Project ReviewsProject Reviews

A Project will normally have a recognised completion activity

This will include– Finality of outputs – Hand over the product to the client(s)– Finalise the working papers file– Return materials used by the project team - phones, PC’s,

cabinets,…

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– Review what has been learned• Timing adjustments - could they have been better

managed ?• Communications - a problem area ?• Staffing - any difficulties, suggestions for the next

project ?

– Dissolve the project team

– Conduct project review

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Project reviews are normally carried out by an independent review team. The team makeup consists of customers and member of the project team

The review team– Should have proven independence and objectivity– Be acceptable to senior management, the client(s), other

stakeholders– Provide evaluations which are timely at aimed at

appropriate strategic levels

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Project reviews should focus on:– what went as planned– what didn’t go as planned– assessment of costs and benefits as originally planned at

the project approval stage, and those actually achieved– possible improvements and / or extensions which could

lead to improved management accountability– possible corrective action

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There are several types of reviews :-

Performance review - Was the project successful ?

- Did it achieve its goals ?

- Was it delivered on time ?

- Was it on budget ?

- Was it to the quality levels required / planned ?

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Process Review : - Were the project management principles followed

- Was the project ‘ a project ‘ ?

- Planning - Was this sufficient and managed

- Were Risks identified and contingencies planned ?

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Personal Review : - How did you perform as the project manager ?

- Were sound and understood project management principles applied ?

- Was the team managed successfully ?

- Were individual needs recognised and met ?

- Was the project sponsor managed ?

- Were the stakeholders managed well ?

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Organisational Review : - Was the project supported by the organisation

Access, commitment, feedback

- Were financial resources adequate

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Project Success analysis

- Clear goals

- Goals within the skills of the team members

- Goals achievable with resources available

- Time and cost estimates realistic

- Project objectives clear

- Only minor team changes

- Organisation stable - no mergers, …

- Team harmony

- Good team management

- Team accepted by organisation

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Project Failure analysis- Unclear goals

- Improbable of over-ambitious goals

- Vague cost benefit analysis

- Optimistic time and cost estimates

- Project team not involved

- Project team objectives unclear or

confusing

- Continual changes in team membership

- Changes in organisational objectives

- Team fragmented

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CSE9020 Week 3CSE9020 Week 3

A completely non-related overhead, but one which you might find helpful if you take up bull fighting

In the bull-ring:

If a bull rushes at you from the right, head for the picador

If a bull rushes at you from the left, head for the matador

If a bull rushes at you head on, rapidly head towards the backadoor

and watch this : On the second day, the patient’s knee was better, and on the 3rd day it disappeared (from a Doctor’s Diary)

cse9020 semester 1, 20034 wk03 / 1 cse9020 case study week3 cse9020 (and possibly cse3200) the case...

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