IT Project Management: Infamous failures, classic mistakes, and best practices – Flashcards
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What is the ratio of failed IT projects?
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2 out of 3 IT projects fail
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What infamous IT projects failed because of contractor failures?
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IRS, FAA, and FBI IT projects
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What infamous IT projects failed because of poor requirements determination?
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FAA and FBI IT projects
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What infamous IT project failed because of ineffective stakeholder management?
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Denver airport IT project
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What infamous IT projects failed because of research-oriented development?
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McDonalds IT Project
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What infamous IT projects failed because of poor estimation?
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AMR corp. IT project
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What infamous IT projects failed because of insufficient risk management?
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BofA IT project
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What are the 4 types of classic mistakes?
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people, process, product, and technology
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What factor has the largest effect on productivity and quality?
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motivation, followed by individual capabilities and working relationships among team members
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What is the most common complaint team members have about their leaders?
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that they fail to take action to deal with an employee
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What does it me to waste time in the "fuzzy front end"?
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wasting time before a project starts, during the approval and budgeting process, and then tightening the production schedule later
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what does poor estimation lead to?
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excessive pressure on team members, lower morale, and lower productivity
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What is insufficient risk management?
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the failure to proactively assess and control the things that might go wrong with a project
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What are common project risks?
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lack of sponsorship, changes in stakeholder buy-in, scope creep, and contractor failure.
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What is the largest contributor to project schedule?
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product size, followed by project characteristics
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What is requirements gold-plating?
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the inclusion of unnecessary product size and/or characteristics on the front end
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What is developer gold-plating?
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When you want to try out new technology or new features, even if they are not required in the product
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What are technology mistakes?
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the use and misuse of modern technology
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What is silver-bullet syndrome?
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when project teams latch onto a single new practice or new technology and expect it to solve their problems but are inevitably disappointed
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What are examples of silver-bullet syndrome?
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offshoring, radio-frequency identification, and extreme programing
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Examples of technology project failures
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silver-bullet syndrome, overestimated savings from new tools or methods and switching tools in the middle of a project
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What percent of mistakes are process mistakes?
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45%
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What percent of mistakes are people mistakes?
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43%
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What percent of mistakes are product mistakes?
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8%
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What percent of mistakes are technology mistakes?
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4%
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What should project managers be experts in?
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Managing processes and people
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What does the estimation and scheduling process consist of?
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sizing or scoping the project, estimating the effort and time required, and then developing a calendar schedule, taking into consideration such factors as resource availability, technology acquisition, and business cycles.
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What are the benefits of accurate estimates?
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fewer mistakes, less overtime, schedule pressure, and staff turnover
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How can project teams improve estimating and scheduling?
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by using developer-based estimates, historical data, algorithms, and estimation software
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What are the 4 valuable approaches to improving project estimation and scheduling?
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1. timebox development because shorter, smaller projects are easier to estimate 2. creating a work breakdown structure 3. retrospectives to capture actual size, effort and time data 4. project management office to maintain a repository of project data over time
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What are the 5 most common classic mistakes?
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1. poor estimation or scheduling 2. ineffective stakeholder management 3. insufficient risk management 4. insufficient planning 5. shortchanged quality assurance
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How can you improve stakeholder management?
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use a stakeholder worksheet and assessment graph
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What are best practices for stakeholder management?
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Use of communication plans, creation of a project management office, and portfolio management.
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What is the process of risk management?
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1. Risk identification 2. analysis 3. prioritization 4. risk management 5. planning 6. resolution 7. monitoring
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What are best practices for avoiding insufficient risk management?
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using prioritized risk assessment table, actively managing a top-10 risks list, and conducting interim retrospectives.
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What are best practices for avoiding insufficient planning?
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have a comprehensive project charter, clearly define project governance, and portfolio management
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When a project falls behind schedule, what are the first two areas to get cut?
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testing and training
