This white paper explores how project management professionals (PMPs), their technology teams, and other key stakeholders can minimize technology project delays by supplementing best practice processes and popular project management software with digital libraries that provide on-demand access to critical technology information.
Minimizing Technology
Project Delays with Digital Libraries:
The Critical Path to Delivering On Time and Under Budget
How on-demand access to trusted technology information ensures timely IT project success - from securing funding to implementation.
Contents
Introduction 2
Information Gaps: The Root Cause of Project Delays 3
Filling the Gaps with Digital Libraries 4
Digital Library Users-In Their Own Words 5
Determining Applicability to Projects and Programs 7
Summary 8
About Safari Books Online 9
Plus: Connect with Project Management Peers on LinkedIn.comIntroduction
"Projects happen in two ways: a) Planned and then executed or b) Executed, stopped, planned and then executed." -Mike Harding Roberts, The Project Management Book
As the number of new technologies has exploded in These professionals are on the "hot seat" when it recent years, so have the complexities of technology comes to ensuring that projects stay on track projects and requirements for the funding and and meet objectives for functionality, cost, duration, management of these projects - from software and and quality. Their businesses rely on their hardware to electronics and manufacturing. Delays ability to deliver, as do their own reputations and can and do occur, often with serious business and team morale.human implications. For example: Subscription-based on-demand digital libraries »In 2005, a computer system upgrade triggered containing published materials such as books and a delay in uploading new products onto videos represent one resource with a demonstrated Overstock.com's website. Among the many capability to help keep projects on track throughout business implications: Wall Street downgraded each stage of the project lifecycle, from mapping the company's stock. technical specifications to business requirements »In 2007, senior staff of England's National through testing, implementation, and post-rollout Health publicly said that delays in a ?12 billion IT support stages. program was putting the lives of patients at risk. This white paper explores how project management Project sponsors now face more rigorous approval professionals (PMPs), their technology teams, processes that require them to more accurately and other key stakeholders can minimize technology scope project deliverables, costs, and schedules. project delays by supplementing best practice Increased scrutiny flows downwards, resulting processes and popular project management in significant performance pressures for project software with digital libraries that provide on-managers, architects, and engineers. demand access to critical technology information.
Minimizing Technology Project Delays with Digital Libraries Information Gaps: The Root Cause of Delays
"IT [information technology] is like the CIA. Nobody knows our successes, but the failures are public knowledge."
-Shawn Schwegman, CIO, Overstock.com
Technology projects succeed because they have funded or not being funded properly to accomplish the ability to negotiate past the sources the pose deliverables on time and according to budget.the most significant threat of delay, most of which pertain to information access and sharing: At the commencement of the project implementation stage, the need for technical and »Inadequate funding and stakeholder support. technology-specific resources becomes evident. Technology team members require information »Inaccurate planning or estimates. pertaining to such aspects as product brands and »Unclear or changing goals and objectives. versions, best practices for implementation and integration, documentation, and solutions to known »Lack of technical and technology-specific issues. In the Overstock.com example previously resources during implementation. referenced, the company's IT team took longer »Failure to collaborate, communicate, than expected to fix bugs while testing a new Oracle and annotate. application. Meanwhile, the company's legacy »Poor post-implementation training and system could not run during the testing. support resources. Training and knowledge transfer are other critical Forecasts are the cornerstone of any project plan. types of change management responsibilities Project management forecasting software is... [download for more]
