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Question 8

Can recent college graduates expect to be project managers right away? What is a typical career path for a project manager?  Using the internet, research the average salary of a PM in South Florida.  Is this for an experienced project manager?  Which sites (URL) did you use to find average salaries?

Sadly, recent college graduates can not expect to be project managers right away. Project managers usually have a lot of experience on projects and many college graduates lack experience. To become a project manager, one also needs get certification which usually takes time.

According to this graph (http://www.project-skills.com/project-manager-career-path.html), the typical career path for a project manager is on average 5 years as a Test Manager, Software Designer, or Business Analyst and then they are promoted to Project Manger.

According to salary.com (http://www1.salary.com/FL/Fort-Lauderdale/Project-Manager-III-salary.html), the average annual salary for an experienced Project Manager in Fort Lauderdale is $91,981. (The Data classifies a Project Manager to have at least 7 years of experience in the field and a Bachelors degree.)

Question 7

Why do you think organizations should develop their own information technology project management methodologies? Why can’t they just follow a book or a methodology that has already been developed?

Yes I think organizations should develop their own information technology project management methodologies because if they create their own, they can tailor they methods to the projects needs as some aspects of a project are more important that others. They can't just follow a book or a methodology that has already been developed because many of them have a very board focus on projects and sometimes they do not match up with the projects needs. A good analogy would be choosing a suit to wear. It is better to get a suit that is tailored to your body rather than a suit that is meant to fit for everyone because a tailored suit is made to fit your body perfectly as oppose to a regular suit where some parts are not fit well with your body.

Question 1

Define globalization, outsourcing, and virtual teams and describe how these trends are changing IT project management.

Globalization is the process of making the world a smaller place through the means of technology and making it easier to communicate with people around the world. Outsourcing is the act of giving work for a project to individuals or an organization in another country. A virtual team is a group of individuals who work together on a single project without meeting each other in person and communicate through the means of technology.

Globalization is changing IT project management in that individuals are no longer limited with the resources around them. With globalization, projects can now collect resources from all around the world. Outsourcing is changing IT project management in that members of the project team no longer have to do all the work on a project. With outsourcing, team members can now allow other individuals from other countries to do certain tasks on a project while the team focuses their attention to other parts of the project. Virtual teams are changing IT project management in that team members of a project are no longer limited to people they met in person. Virtual teams allow projects to be worked on by people anywhere regardless of their location.

Question 5

Process Groups - How much time and money is typically spent on projects in each of the process groups. Assume you have one year and $100,000 to spend. Justify your answer.

Process Groups - How much time and money is typically spent on projects in each of the process groups. Assume you have one year and $100,000 to spend.  Justify your answer.

Most of a projects time and money will be spent in the execution process, since this phase involves acquiring the project team, carrying out plans and creating the products or services of the project. This takes up roughly about 70-80% of a projects time and money, depending on how well the planning process went. About 10-20% of time and resources go to the planning process and less than 10% go into monitoring and controlling, initiating and closing the project.

Question 6

Even if a project team is not part of project selection, why is it important for them to know why their project was selected?

     Even though a project team may not have been part of the project selection, it is important they know why the project was selected. If they know why a project was selected, they have a better understanding of the business need and what the stakeholders want which should help them make a better product or service.

Question 4

Some of the adaptive approaches to developing systems (like agile) are becoming more popular. Are they better or more appropriate than prescriptive approaches in most cases? Why or why not? 

Let's define each term before reaching a conclusion.
A prescriptive approach describes "how to do" according to a certain process system.
An agile approach will quickly adapt to changes maintaining the cost efficiency.

In software development for example is encouraged to follow an agile or more adaptive approach for the following reasons:

• Technology is in constant change.
• High competition.
• Evolution of user needs.
• Business complexity.

Question 3

Briefly describe the strategic planning process; including the SWOT analysis.  Which method do you think businesses use most when identifying IT project?  Why?

Strategic planning requires a deep analysis of the organization current status then provide a forecast of potential projects to ensure the workflow. By doing so, the project will meet the long term objectives.

The method that most businesses use is the SWOT analysis that evaluates the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. In other words, it will provide a present/future analysis of the organization.

Present

• Strengths (Experienced professionals, interpersonal skills, etc) 
• Weaknesses (Lack of capital, no website, etc.)

Future

• Opportunities (Fast growing industry, trade shows/conferences)
• Threats (Bigger competitors, lack of established reputation)

The SWOT analysis is a very familiar and useful tool because it allows your organization to see where it can improve and plan more efficiently. It also allows you to break down goals and objectives into manageable pieces.

Question 2

Describe the triple constraint.  What are the three components and what is the relationship between them?

The Triple Constraint describes the key attributes every project will encounter which are Time, Cost and Scope. These objects are usually represented as a Triangle because you can't affect one without affecting another.

The Time aspect of the triple constraint describes the amount of time required to deliver the finished project. This is usually represented as a schedule. The time restraint is also directly tied into the scope of a project. For example, a project of higher quality will take much longer to produce than one of lower quality.

The Cost constraint is the amount of money needed to complete a project, this is generally referred to as a budget. The Cost is determined by various things such as resources, labor rates or risk management etc. Scope tends to affect Cost directly, for instance, if a project is set to produce something of higher quality, then it will cost more in turn.

Scope itself describes the tasks required to produce a project's end result. The quality of the project's end result will affect the amount time required and also the cost. Scope Creep is something that occurs when/if the scope changes during a project's life cycle.