The Digital Project Management Evolution

Essential Case Studies from Organisations in the Middle East

Shafiz Yusof, Kamal Jaafar, Shafiz Affendi Mohd Yusof, Kamal Jaafar, Shafiz Yusof, Shafiz Affendi Mohd Yusof, Kamal Jaafar

• Publisher: Productivity Press
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781000704648
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Gestione dell'informazione
• Index: Business

Project management dates back to the 19th century when Henry Gantt developed techniques for planning and controlling projects, including his widely used Gantt chart. The growth of modern project management later in the century came as a result of the necessity of structured manufacturing, transportation, and construction industries. Currently, software developers in the information technology (IT) industry are concerned with the techniques of project management which make the assumption projects are predictable. In reality, unforeseen changes have occurred in almost all projects to date. The inability to accommodate such changes leads to wasted time, money, and resources. Hence, the project management discipline must continuously offer theories, methods, and approaches that raise the key question: how do people manage the complexities of work in order to achieve the end result effectively and efficiently by applying strategic techniques using information technology as an enabler?

This book aims to showcase the nuts and bolts of managing and implementing an IT project from the experiences and views of project managers. The book highlights captivating narratives of different IT projects being implemented in companies across the Middle East. It is ideal for executives, practitioners, and students who want to learn more about how IT project management is implemented in the 21st century.

Chapter 1

Project Management Evolution: From Traditional to Responsive Project Management

Kamal Jaafar and Shafiz Affendi Mohd Yusof

University of Wollongong in Dubai

Contents

1.1 Application Gap

1.2 Responsive Project Management Beyond IT and Software Development Industry

1.3 Responsive Project Management Challenges and Risks

References

Project management is a topic that has been and is still being excessively discussed. Modern project management dates back to the 19th century, when Henry Gantt developed techniques for planning and controlling projects, such as the widely used Gantt chart. The growth of modern project management in the 19th century came as a consequence of the necessity of structured manufacturing, transportation, and construction industries.

This being said, it can be deduced that one of the major industries that contributed to the birth of project management is the construction industry. Because of their complex nature, construction projects need to be managed in a flexible manner; projects related to construction are usually large and enlist numerous functions and disciplines. Additionally, they tend to be unpredictable in their nature; no two construction projects are identical.

Another industry whose projects are unpredictable and require flexibility in management is the software development or IT industry. During the 1990s, developers of software in the information technology industry became concerned with the current techniques of project management. Their main concern lay in the fact that projects are traditionally planned under the assumption that they are predictable. Whereas, in reality, unforeseen changes tend to occur in almost every project executed to date. Inability to accommodate such changes leads to a waste of time and resources. Hence, traditional project management techniques can be problematic for projects such as IT or construction projects.

In order to handle this issue, different project management approaches have been developed. Many of the existing approaches incorporate sets of techniques to manage changes and to keep the project flexible should any abrupt changes come up. In other words, many of those approaches treat the project as if it is unpredictable. Hence, the planning and execution differs from traditional methods.

Figure 1.1 Key elements of responsive project management approach.

The key elements of responsive project management should include client interaction, team integration, and flexibility. This is achieved by iterative development as also seen in Figure 1.1. Hence, responsive project management is all about attaining flexibility by being able to adapt to any unforeseen changes in order to deliver the best possible outcome for client satisfaction. In addition, it involves increased client participation and input throughout different project stages.

As mentioned earlier, most responsive project management approaches are primarily developed for software development projects. However, recent research is being oriented towards extending it beyond the scope of the IT sector.

1.1 Application Gap

In an extensive study conducted by Conforto’s Global Survey, 60% of the studied projects were found to be using the traditional project management approach, and 28% were found to be using some form of responsive methods, 7% used hybrid techniques and 4% used “other” methods. The latter being referred to methods used internally by the company (Conforto, Rebentisch, & Amaral, 2014). These findings, combined with the fact that out of 856 responses only 11 are from the UAE, serve as evidence to the significance of investigating project management approaches being adopted in UAE projects.

1.2 Responsive Project Management Beyond IT and Software Development Industry

As mentioned earlier, the global survey carried out by Conforto et al. (2014) did prove the existence of a gap in the implementation of responsive practices in many industry and business segments.

Responsive project management enablers are defined as “internal or external factors to the organisation that are directly or indirectly related with the implementation of the project management approach that may impact the performance and use of a given practice, technique, or tool.” The following four values are key elements that need to be considered when adopting a responsive approach in managing projects: (1) “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools”; (2) “Working software over comprehensive documentation”; (3) “Customer collaboration over contract negotiation”; and (4) “Responding to change over following a plan.”

As mentioned earlier, the rationale behind responsiveness in project management is realising that projects are not predictable in nature. Throughout the lifetime of the project, there are changes in market or in the product itself, in addition to other unforeseen changes. Since rational responsive project management practices divide a large project into smaller chunks, it becomes easier to prioritise or add or drop any feature in the middle of the project life cycle. Whereas in traditional projects where excessive upfront planning is done, unforeseen changes tend to have considerable impacts on project schedule. Hence, it is recommended that the following steps be adopted in the project management approach: (1) flexibility and iterative development; (2) project team dedication; (3) client dedication and availability; and (4) team autonomy and self-management.

The above enablers should be adopted on the following levels: organisation, process, project team, and project type. On the other hand, there are critical barriers to responsive implementation, those barriers can be summarised as follows: (1) changing mindset to allow flexibility; (2) long-term planning; and (3) poor process visibility.

1.3 Responsive Project Management Challenges and Risks

A key element of responsive project management is autonomy and self-organising project teams. However, this comes at a price. In a brief manner, the following challenges will be encountered across following levels:

• Task Level: Lack of acceptance criteria and task dependency
• Individual Level: Asserting autonomy and self-assignment
• Team Level: Achieving cross-functionality and effective estimations
• Project Level: Delayed and changing requirements and senior management sponsorship

Some recommendations to overcome or address such challenges are as follows:

• Planning with a holistic approach
• Sharing knowledge to attain cross-functionality
• Effective means of communication
• Investment in technology
• Considering the role of the responsive project manager

In short, today’s project management approaches provide the foundation for any type of other adequate approaches to be combined upon them for any specific projects especially IT projects to be worked on. This is because IT projects are dynamic in nature and require an approach that is responsive in nature and agile in methodology. For example, during the beginning phase, a traditional approach can be adopted and during the implementation phase, a more responsive approach could be used (Jovanovic & Beric, 2018). Furthermore, it gives an advantage for the project manager and for the project team the choice on the best approaches and most suitable direction towards completing a project successfully.

References

1. Conforto, E.C., Rebentisch, E., & Amaral, D.C., 2014. Project Management Agility Global Survey. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Consortium for Engineering Program Excellence (CEPE).
2. Jovanovic, P., & Beric, I., 2018. Analysis of the available project management methodologies. Journal of Sustainable Business and Management Solutions in Emerging Economies, 23, 1–13.

Chapter 2

Communication and Collaboration: The Key Factors to Project Management

Afrah Ahmed

Etisalat

Mohammed Abdul Mateen

Seddiqi Holding

Hazem Hussein

InfoVista

Mariam Hamad

Ministry of Education

Contents

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Organisational Background – The Journey to Success: From 5 to 500

2.3 Case Description

2.3.1 Growth: Escalations . . . Escalations . . .

2.3.2 Damage Control

2.3.3 Identification of the Root Cause

2.4 Solutions and Recommendations

2.5 Lesson Learned Questions

References

2.1 Introduction

“We have to launch the data centre by the end of this month. This project cannot be delayed any further,” said Bosco during his weekly meeting with his team.

Bosco joined Al Bukhary Inc. 9 years ago as a project engineer and is now the head of the Project Management team. During his tenure at the company, he has led numerous successful projects, regardless of how challenging they have seemed.

He always motivates his team by saying, “Nothing is impossible. The word ‘...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Editors
• Contributors
• 1 Project Management Evolution: From Traditional to Responsive Project Management
• 2 Communication and Collaboration: The Key Factors to Project Management
• 3 Change Request Management and Best Practices in IngeniousTec IT Project Management
• 4 “Do You Have Enough Data?” Planning Phase Blunder at Diva Hospital
• 5 Multicultural Issues and Problems at Nayah Transformation Planning Construction Project
• 6 Planning, Culture, and Technology Management Disruption at Al Muqarrabah Paramount Company
• 7 Implementing Enterprise Resource Planning Project at Al Sidek Hospitals
• 8 “Who is Responsible on This Task?” Changes in the Project Scope at Elafifi Group
• 9 Talaseti Telco Vendor Selection and Process
• 10 The Issues and Risks Confronted during an IT Cloud Migration Project
• 11 The Implementation of Bank Trade Innovation System
• 12 Health Check of the Business Environment and Technical Infrastructure at Ministry of Society Advancement
• 13 “Let’s Get Our Act Together!” Continuous Improvement between MBI and the Artics
• Index