The importance of functional gap analysis to project success: A personal experience

I was recently involved in the preliminary stages of a IT project ,at  large organization,  that aimed to replace the central information sharing and document archiving system. The current system was a 10 plus year old mishmash of interdependent modules that were developed in house to meet the needs and demands of various stakeholders. The system no doubt needed to be replaced; the challenging question was what new system would provided the same level of functionality and integration with current business processes.

Despite the obvious challenge in finding an appropriate replacement system, upper management, due to financial pressures and politics, committed themselves to an off the shelf solution designed by an American vendor without conducting a  functional gap analysis in co-ordination with the major stakeholder.  The scope of the system replacement project was therefore limited to; getting major stakeholders to support the proposed change, working with the selected vendor to implement the system and pre-launch training.

The omitted functional gap analysis was a sure recipe for failure. The project planning stage, of which i was part, uncovered several intractable challenges the implementation project will be facing due to the omitted functional gap analysis. The standard answer to each new uncovered challenge quickly became "  well we are already committed to the new system". However, as the project planning progressed and more challenges were uncovered an unspoken consensus slowly emerged; the planned implementation will run into significant problems and the selected system will most likely not meet the needs and demands of its  users. In my estimation, this state of affairs were a direct consequence of the failure to conduct a proper functional gap analysis before selecting the replacement system.

I suspect that the situation I encountered is not uncommon. I imagine that economic pressures or the lure of the latest IT tool or fad, for example cloud computing,  frequently motivates managers to commit similar errors in judgement that ultimately jeopardizes project success.

In the interest of exploring my suspicion further, I will be happy to hear from other members of the class who had had similar project experience.

The top 10 Global Project Management Trends for 2011.

According to J. LeRoy Ward, PMP, PgMP, Executive Vice President, ESI.

1) Leadership - Leadership skills will be the PM’s critical success factor. In current business environment leadership skills become more and more important

2) No Industry Will Be Spared from the War for PM Talent. Especially with growing number of projects going overseas, there is a growing need for experiences PMs.

3) Agile Project Management Not As Popular As Before - More organizations will realize that Agile does not suite all organizations

4) Competency Models Will Be Core to Managing Professional Development and Promotions for PMs - Hiring managers will be more sophisticated on selecting PMs. They will base their selections on comprehensive competency models.

5) Experiential Learning Will Be More the Norm than the Exception – Learning at work become more important. PM courses having hard time to keep up with the changes.

6) Informal Learning for PMs Will Gain Momentum – More learning will be acquired by using social learning technologies and approaches, such as wikis, blogs, videos, podcasts and other methods of communication.

7) Project Sponsorship Will Become an Area of Focus in South Asia - especially in India and Bangladesh, as organizations try to accelerate their structured approach to project management.

8) Outsourcing Will Remain a Risky Business – It means that PMs will have to focus more on the risk management and recognize the value of best practices in contract management.

9) PMs Will have to collaborate more with Change Management Experts – In a constantly changing environment PMs will drive the change, but they will need a reliable assistance.

10) The PMP® will continue to be the most popular project management credential in the world, but Will No Longer Be Enough – Companies worldwide will continue to support PMP®, but will value the proven experience and demonstrated competency beyond the certification itself.

The Right Tools for the Right Project - Top Rated Project Management Apps

With the project management approach picking up its steam globally, and more virtual teams coming together to complete work, the leading providers of mobile technology and cloud computing offer user-friendly and effective tools to manage workloads and assign tasks.

In this blog post I will summarize the top rated project management apps for various platforms based on my own experience and user reviews.

iPhone/iPod platform offers numerous project management gadgets.

·       Mindtools (free): teaches/reminds you of tools in project management, strategy, decision-making. It’s a comprehensive toolbox for a project manager (or an MBA student) MY FAVOURITE!

·       Merlin Project Management (free): a companion product for the project management software Merlin on Mac. In offline mode you can read all data. MY FAVOURITE!

·       HoursTracker ($2.99): Time Sheet: allows project management team members to track their hours by punching in and out using their iPhones. I find this tool very handy.

Google Project Management Apps for Windows or Mac:

·       Manymoon (free): The tool offers integration with Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendars and other Google Apps.  It promises to keep everyone in sync with shared tasks & files, securely collaborate with the team & clients, and increased effectiveness with organized projects and tasks. Check out their instructional video here.

·       Gantter Project (free): web-based Project Management Tool that requires no software to be installed and it completely integrates with Google Docs. The app claims to have “all the power” MS Project without users having to buy or install anything. This app is compatible with MS Project files.

·       TrackMyHours.com ($8.95/mo): an hour tracking and billing system designed for businesses and consultants. The tool also helps to generate invoices and export them to QuickBooks.

There are at least 60 Project management apps in Google App store for PCs. Browse them at your leisure (or under time pressure) and see which one meets your needs.

iPad Project Management Apps:

·       Project Wizards Merlin (free):  - the best rated free project management app for the Mac platform. It offers companion products for iPhone and Mac OS X. Allows to attach photos, display and update tasks and view the projects in a Gannt format.

·       My Projects LITE (free): allows users to easily manage tasks, projects, priorities, workflow status, and more. It can also import and save as a CSV file.

·       Idea Sketch: allows you to doodle your way to project management. You can create multiple drawings and link to each as you wish, as well as many other features.

·       Project Manager: according to the user reviews, it is a “simple and intuitive project management system”.  Each project gets a list of action items and each item has other detailed sub items for easy use.

·       Gantt Lite: allows you produce gantt charts “the 2.0 way”.

For more reviews on free and paid iPad Project Management apps, visit this page: http://mastersinprojectmanagement.com/25-incredibly-useful-ipad-apps-for-project-managers/

Android Project Management Apps:

·       Project schedule ($6.00): monitors your projects and schedules daily tasks in a gantt chart

·       Project Management App (free): helps users to manage projects in various locations. Particularly, the app focuses on project, client, contact and invoice data.

·       TeamworkPM ($2.99): is an online teamwork application that provides the latest activity on current projects, star most important projects, assign tasks to users, share and collaborate.

And this is just a start. With the right tools for your preferred platform, your project management process will be a smooth sailing!

Project Management and Ethics in IT Sector

Project management and Information technology go hand in hand. However, in the era of technology the overall expectations of clients, executives and customers have increased multifold. In the context of IT, implies reduction in project cost, human resources and time requirements.

In my opinion, the project managers are at the receiving end because they have to perform and deliver within the pre-allocated resources and often rushed deadlines. Frequently managers or other team members have to cut edges to deliver on time and within the approved budget. Or managers expect their team members to work overtime and withdraw vacation time. All this leads to low staff morale, poor product quality, cost overrun or project failure.

In developing countries the situation is even worse. The other day I called my newlywed sister and brother in law both IT professionals in India working for reputed firms. They are working 12-14 hours daily with barely one day off in a week. It is a known fact that in IT sector the final stages of software development are crucial, long working hours are a common scenario especially during the implementation phase.

What struck me most was not their long working hours but their inability to change the circumstances. Project managers will tell them bluntly that everybody else is doing extra hours. They do not have any provision for overtime or flexibility to say no for extra working hours. One has to go with the flow to survive the unorganized private sector in India, primarily catering North American companies. The employees do not have a voice because skilled human resources are in surplus; at least ten people are ready to take over any IT professional, regular working hours do not pay a decent salary and some people take it as an opportunity to shine within an organization.

No doubt this outsourcing business has provided bread and butter to many homes in the developing countries. But we have to be careful as Barbara Ehrenreich once said “Personally, I have nothing against work, particularly when performed, quietly and unobtrusively, by someone else. I just don't happen to think it's an appropriate subject for an "ethic."

The citizens from developed countries need to focus on the ethical issues arising in the developing world because of their IT projects or requirements. The employees should be empowered to receive bare minimum human rights. The onus should be shared including the HR costs by the business owners in developed and the developing countries.

References: Legal working hours and real working hours are different by Nita a renowned blogger.