...Best Practices in an Organization’s Project Management Methodology Todd A. Jenderseck Florida Institute of Technology BUS 5668 Cases in Applied Project Management October 30, 2011 Best Practices in an Organization’s Project Management Methodology Every company should provide their project managers with best practices (Devine, 2011). The reason is fairly logical; for the company to make the most money, project managers (actually all employees) need to be as efficient as possible. One way to do this is to equip the project manager with the best practices that have been developed, learned, and implemented in the company in order to streamline the project management process. Without the establishment and sharing of such best practices, each project manager will have to “reinvent the wheel”. Such an activity requires time and effort that could be put to better use if the project manager had been given access to best practices at the outset of the project. Furthermore, the tool that the project manager eventually selects, may be sufficient for the project, but may not be the most efficient tool for the company. Best practices are the “optimal method recognized within a given industry or discipline to achieve a stated goal or objective,” (Devine, 2011, slide 11). Such practices will allow project managers to deliver consistent, predictable, and successful projects (Devine, 2011). However, since new practices are always being discovered and existing practices are always...
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...present, project management has continuously advanced from line managers using a small set of processes that were considered nice to have to the formal assignment of one individual assigned as the project manager that utilized a formal methodology by which to manage the project. Often the term “best practices” is referenced within a defined methodology. Documenting Best Practices: Mature Project Management Processes Best practice refers to the optimal method recognized within a given industry or discipline to achieve a stated goal or objective. These practices are consistently predictable and proven to provide successful results and these practices are dynamic—evolving and maturing over time (Devine, 2013). The Business Dictionary defines a best practice as a, “method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark (Business Dictionary, n.d.).” A more simple definition is that a best practice is a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark. In addition, a "best" practice can evolve to become better as improvements are discovered. Best practice is considered by some as a business buzzword, used to describe the process of developing and following a standard way of doing things that multiple organizations can use. Organizations that have had constant success have adapted a unique version of the best practice method that...
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... | |5.0 |Suggestion/Recommendation | 7 | |6.0 |Conclusion |8 | |7.0 |References | 8 | 1.0 Introduction The title of this journal is Organizational Learning Practices in the Project Management Environment. The author is Timothy G. Kotnour from University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA. This journal focuses on understanding how project managers continuously improve their project quality and performance by building knowledge through learning. Beside that, for the project organization to learn, organizational members must create, share and apply knowledge. The organizations members will create new knowledge for learning experiences. Learning-by-doing occurs when a problem solver associates plans and actions to accomplish...
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...Problem Statement The Foundation Schools will keep the costs down with the school by collaborating with the community that has played a key factor by keeping the school successful. AT&T’s individual and corporate strategy as well as identify education and training needs to meet career goals of the associates and the needs of the business. AT&T uses the following methods to determine the education and training needs relative to their growth and the company to include customer feedback, observation of behaviors, professional goals, strategic direction, and competitive analysis (Best Practices, 1999, p. 29). AT&T CCS has integrated employee development and career planning into its human resource strategy. By making employee development a cornerstone of its human performance system model, AT&T CCS signals its importance to managers and employee alike (Best Practices, 1999, p. 29). It is similar to Foundation Schools, Nancy’s leadership has been a key reason the school has achieved its current reputation. She focuses her time on developing her staff, investigation and implementing new approaches to learning, and ensuring the school maintains its position as a leader in special education (UOP, 2011,p.2) To foster commitment, involvement and innovation, AT&T CCS employs a variety of team and individual involvement approaches. To measure and manage performance, AT&T uses three key measures to determine performance to include (1) people value added (PVA)...
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...ASSIGNMENT 1 IT PROJECT To purchase this visit here: http://www.activitymode.com/product/cis-517-wk-2-assignment-1-it-project/ Contact us at: SUPPORT@ACTIVITYMODE.COM CIS 517 WK 2 ASSIGNMENT 1 IT PROJECT CIS 517 WK 2 Assignment 1 - IT Project Management Assessment Research and read an article on recent recipients of the Project Management Institute’s Project of the Year Award. Write a two to three (2-3) page paper in which you: 1. Summarize how the project manager or team exhibited exceptional and ethical project management practices. 2. Discuss the role of the project manager or team, the organizational setting, the recipient’s approach to project integration management, and obstacles that had the potential of adversely impacting the triple constraints. More Details hidden... Activity mode aims to provide quality study notes and tutorials to the students of CIS 517 WK 2 Assignment 1 IT Project in order to ace their studies. CIS 517 WK 2 ASSIGNMENT 1 IT PROJECT To purchase this visit here: http://www.activitymode.com/product/cis-517-wk-2-assignment-1-it-project/ Contact us at: SUPPORT@ACTIVITYMODE.COM CIS 517 WK 2 ASSIGNMENT 1 IT PROJECT CIS 517 WK 2 Assignment 1 - IT Project Management Assessment Research and read an article on recent recipients of the Project Management Institute’s Project of the Year Award. Write a two to three (2-3) page paper in which you: 1. Summarize how the project manager or team exhibited exceptional and ethical project management...
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...PMO Challenges The AtekPC Project Management Office Case Study was assigned for this class to provide an overview of the challenges faced by management in the development and deployment of a PMO in an existing company. Based on the case study respond to the questions below incorporating not only the course reading materials, but any outside research that may be relevant. Be sure to cite the authority for any research included in your response. What were the changes in AtekPC’s business environment that caused the company to introduce a PMO? Based on your assigned readings and research, do these appear to be appropriate reasons for developing a PMO? Why or why not? “One might be cost reduction. Another motivation to get better on projects would be that we have to get more creative, adaptive, and agile in launching new products. “ [1] “The PC industry was changing, and AtekPC was engaged in dealing with dramatic pressure from larger competitors such as HP, Dell, and Lenovo. To compete in a changing industry in which consolidation was occurring, AtekPC had implemented a corporate Planning Office. Recognizing the role that IT would likely play in enabling AtekPC to respond to the industry pressures, the senior vice-president had supported the creation of a PMO within IT. “ [1] Somewhat true but not sufficient Here are some other reasons of why we should have PMO. (of course it cannot represent everything) In mature organizations, the PMO is...
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...Nearly Free.com HR Orientation Project Leadership Assessment U10a1 Project Assignment TS5335 – Project Leadership and Management March 16, 2012 Submitted By Richard Lesh Table of Contents Abstract 3 NearlyFree.com EOLMS Project Summary 4 Project Description 4 Project Scope 4 Team Members 5 Budget 6 Schedule 7 Risks 7 Organizational Assessment 9 Leadership Aspects 9 Project Effectiveness 9 Leadership vs. Management 11 Organizational Leadership Assessment (OLA) and Team Effectiveness Questionnaire (TEQ) 13 Assessing NearlyFree.com using the OLA and TEQ method 14 Leadership Assessment Metrics 15 Traditional Leadership Assessment 15 Using Myers-Briggs for Leadership Assessment 15 360° Feedback Assessment 16 NearlyFree.com Approach 17 Best Practices and Measuring Success 18 Learning Development Best Practices 18 Instructional Design Best Practices 18 Measuring the Project’s Success 20 Effective Project Teams 20 Team Diagnostic Survey (TDS) 20 Conclusion 22 References 24 Appendix A 26 Abstract Successful project outcomes are in large part dependent upon the leadership skills of the project manager. As project management students, we have been taught the management facets of our profession. We have learned how to produce a project’s scope, schedule, and budget. We have learned how to recognize and mitigate potential risks factors. However, leadership skills are often overshadowed...
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...CDC UNIFIED PROCESS PRACTICES GUIDE PROJECT SCOPE PLANNING Purpose The purpose of this document is to provide guidance on the practice of Project Scope Planning and to describe the practice overview, requirements, best practices, activities, and key terms related to these requirements. In addition, templates relevant to this practice are provided at the end of this guide. Practice Overview Each project’s product and/or service is unique and requires its own careful balance of practices, processes, tools and techniques, etc. to ensure the required work is completed as agreed upon by key project stakeholders. The sum of these along with the product and/or service to be delivered by the project is known as the project’s scope. Getting key parties to agree upon what is the scope of the project’s work is known as project scope planning. The practice of project scope planning is a key management practice for planning and delivering projects successfully. Project scope includes high level features or capabilities that the business team has committed to delivering to a customer as well as those they have not committed to delivering. Project scope is often defined by executive sponsor, steering committee, project sponsor, and the project’s customer with input from other appropriate stakeholders. Understanding and analyzing who project stakeholders are is an important early step in the scope planning process. Project stakeholders are persons and/or organizations such...
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...2013 | [Head Start or false start] | A strategy to adequately plan projects in the intense and rapid changing healthcare setting of today is imperative to implementing successful projects. | Executive Summary Currently, healthcare is one of the leading topics across the nation ranging from quality improvements to cost reductions. No matter the public focus, projects have become a major part of health systems large and small. As complex projects trend upward in the healthcare industries, the implementation for project management best practices has become a necessity. Many organizations lack experienced project management methods and may even neglect to see the importance of such principles. These factors along with the extreme pressures to execute projects quickly and effectively has given light to increased project false starts. A project false start negatively impacts the project, the organization morale, and ultimately the company’s bottom line. Causes can range from lack of project management knowledge, simple neglect, or tight deadlines. Whatever the cause, there are preventive measures available. In elementary terms, the best defense is to PLAN first. But, even more so, your organization must complete proper project selection and initiation phases before progressing into the next phases of the project lifecycle. Introduction New ideas often bring excitement and momentum; however, rushing into project execution may actually increase the likelihood of a failed projected...
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...2008 Sunshine Coast Airport: Project Charter Project Management: Principles, Processes and Practice Sunshine Coast Airport Project Charter Project Management Practice: Assessment 1 Team Name: JETTS Group: Simpson Chang, Thomas Le, Trung Huu Nguyen, Safi Ayoush, Edi Ofori Project Management Practice: Assessment 1 1 Page 1/1/2008 Sunshine Coast Airport: Project Charter Project Management: Principles, Processes and Practice CONTENTS Document Management .......................................................................... 4 Distribution List ............................................................................................................................................. 4 Version Control .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Project Registration ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Executive Summary ................................................................................. 7 1 Rationale ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 2 Business Drivers .........................................................................................................................
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...IDEA GROUP PUBLISHING 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey PA 17033, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.idea-group.com ITP5149 140 2005 IRMA International Conference Organizations Through Information Technology, Proceedings of the 2005 Information This paper appears in Managing Modern Resources Management Association International Conference, edited by Mehdi Khosrow-Pour. Copyright 2005, Idea Group Inc. Aligning Project Management Office and Strategy: A Brazilian Case Study Leandro Alves Patah, Marly Monteiro de Carvalho and Fernando José Barbin Laurindo Polytechnic School of the Univ. of Sao Paulo, Av. Prof. Almeida Prado, 128, Cid. Universitária, 05508-900, {leandro.patah@siemens.com} {marlymc, fjblau@usp.br} INTRODUCTION In the turbulence of the new economy, characterized by discontinuous, abrupt and sometimes unmanageable changes, companies should be able to make fast and responsive actions and innovative strategies in order to survive (Hamel, 1996). The great majority of companies already has this information and prepare themselves to compete in this new era through the elaboration of daring strategies, although feasible. According to Porter (1996), the strategy essence remains in choosing activities to be made in a different manner or in the execution of different activities in relation to the competitors. What happens, many times, is that the strategies are not put in operation because they do not arrive until the...
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...Implementation of Total Quality Management in Construction Industry: A Pakistan Perspective ABSTRACT Purpose - The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the issue of suitability, acceptability and degree of implementation of Quality Management (QM) practices in the construction industry of Pakistan. Currently the status of adoption of QM principles particularly in this industry and more specifically in the prevailing culture and context of Pakistani environment is overwhelmingly poor which led the researcher to go for this study. Methodology/sampling - The study entails questionnaire development and the analysis of its responses from seventeen leading construction organizations operating in Pakistan during year 2012. The study also incorporates data from various secondary sources. The analysis was carried out using basic statistical tools such as mean, median and standard deviation and bar chart was employed to represent the data. Findings - The findings revealed that the concept and meaning of quality is not understood and interpreted in its true sense. The conformance to standard specifications (SOPs) is considered to be equivalent to implementation of Quality Management which is far from truth. It was also determined that general lack of awareness and untrained employees that are mostly uneducated labor is one of the major causes towards this dismal. Practical Implications - It is hoped that the outcomes of this study may provide a guideline to the owners of the...
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...to earn a project management certification is a big one, so make sure you choose one that best fits your current expertise and your future career plans. You can apply for any certification that matches your qualifications, and no certification serves as a prerequisite for another. * Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® * Project Management Professional (PMP)® * Program Management Professional (PgMP)® * PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)SM * PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)® * PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP)® Already have a PMI certificate PMI Educational Foundation Mission and Vision Join PMI Educational Foundation in Building Better Futures through project Management. PMI Educational Foundation (PMIEF), the philanthropic arm of PMI, announces the Building Better Futures capital campaign to expand its mission to champion project management knowledge and skill for educational and social good globally. Donations to the campaign support sustainable programs that further the very project management principles and practices that project management practitioners, employers and suppliers believe in by developing: * A Better Prepared Project Management Workforce for the Future * A Better Prepared Society for Future Success * A Better Prepared Response in Future Times of Need Donations to the Building Better Futures campaign demonstrate a clear commitment to bringing the benefits of project management to all elements...
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...Project Management of Information Technology Organizational Project Management 2nd. WORKSHOP TRAINING Group Practice Homework Case Study made by César Muñoz Implementing a Quality Assurance Office (QAO) The project team in “Systems Technology” is implementing the Quality Assurance Office for their Software Factory. In order to execute the first phase of the project the PM and his team has defined 10 activities that allow them to achieve the goal. In the following table you can see the activities Actvity Start A B C D E F G H I J End Precedence Start Start Start C A B,E A G H, F I, D J Duration (Weeks) 0 8 10 9 7 4 3 2 2 2 1 0 Cost (K-S/.) 80 100 90 56 32 30 20 20 20 10 Pago MA Variable Variable MA MA MA MA MA MA MA After nine weeks since the project starting, the Executive Committee received a Project Report in which the following information was being reported at the end of week 9: Project Status at 9th week Activity A B C E G Remaining Time (weeks) 0 4 1 2 1 With all this information the Executive Committee was not able to determine whether the project was progressing as it was planned or it was having problems. For this reason the PM was required to elaborate and new Report with more clear information to know the evolution and actual status of the Project. This new report should have the following information: Project Management of Information Technology Group Practice Homework Time,Communication and Risk Management 1. Making some assumptions...
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...power grid. Fluor Enterprises Inc won the $533 million dollars bid to build the coal-fired power plant in July 2004 and began construction in January 2006. Unfortunately, the project was suffering with problems from the beginning; Fluor defeated all the obstacles which included Hurricane Katrina, frequent seismic activity, rising material and labor costs, and the lack of skilled labor. The main reason for the lack of labor was because it is hard to retain labors due to the location and duration of the project. Flour used to overcome two of their major problems while working on the power plant project. In order to overcome the lack of skilled labor in the area a project management training that has been for the project managers and the support staff of the project manager only was created for the new hire workers. However in modern project management practice more emphasizes has been placed on training for all functional contributors on a project. The training for the whole functional team allows everyone to improve and understand project management best practices and principles while learning control and planning skills. (Murch, 2011) Fluor used the best practices of extensive training and team building activities to build a reliable and cohesive team environment. Sourcing laborers for the desert project was extremely hard so after an aggressive recruiting program from around USA and Puerto Rico. After triumphing over the impossible job of sourcing workings; they then had...
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