IT Project Management
IT Project Management: How to Run a Successful IT Project
An IT project can turn into an absolute nightmare if you aren’t prepared, so it’s important to have all the right processes in place when getting started. IT project management goes beyond regular project management skills and focuses on making sure that every aspect of the project will be successful from the first day to the last. Use these tips on how to run a successful IT project from start to finish, and you’ll be running efficient projects in no time.
Requirements Gathering
Before you can even think about planning an IT project, you have to know what its goal is. And before that, you need clear and concise information from your end users on what they want. Gathering requirements involves understanding what changes are needed in both functionality and operations. You may ask questions like, If we implemented it, would it benefit your company? This approach helps you identify goals, potential obstacles and project risks for better overall management of an enterprise solution implementation. Asking questions also fosters open communication between stakeholders, clarifying any misunderstandings or misinterpretations about features being requested of your team.
While there is no one-size-fits-all approach for negotiating an IT project, you do need to develop a process for negotiation. This will ensure you're always moving forward and not getting caught up in minor setbacks that could compromise your timeline. If contract negotiations aren't well-defined, they can drag on indefinitely while both parties struggle over cost or scope. A well-defined negotiation process will avoid these hassles.
Scope Determination
Before you can start your project, it’s important to make sure you know what you’re aiming for. Just like a product owner in software development, your team's PM needs to understand what its objective is and how it will achieve it. Once you have an idea of what it is that you’re building, write down all of the features and system elements that will be involved in achieving that goal. This stage of project management is called scope determination. It sets expectations between stakeholders, ensures each party knows exactly what they are paying for (or bringing) and provides a baseline by which progress can be measured later on.
Defining Scope, Schedule, and Budget
The most important parts of an IT project are Scope, Schedule, and Budget. Defining these well ensures that your project is successful. Scope describes exactly what needs to be done for your project, and it should be clearly defined so that no further costs are incurred if changes are made later on in development. Schedule includes detailed plans for how long different aspects of your project will take, along with when they're expected to begin and end. It's important not only because it determines how much time you have until launch but also because there can be major repercussions if you don't adhere to it—getting behind schedule can result in wasted money and labor or even completely missing deadlines.
Developing Business Requirements
The first part of an IT project should be defining its requirements. This includes what goals and objectives it needs to achieve, why it’s needed and how will it change business processes and benefit customers. Setting clear expectations from day one makes subsequent stages much easier; not only does everyone understand what’s going on, but stakeholders are more likely to provide feedback that leads to enhancements. You can make sure all your stakeholders have input by using an online survey tool like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms for easy data collection. When you know exactly what you need from your project, bring in an experienced team of developers and managers who can help you create deliverables based on each requirement.
Developing Technical Requirements
One of your main roles in an IT project is to develop technical requirements, which includes planning and documenting each of your project's software or hardware needs. It's important that you meet with all stakeholders (including internal and external clients) early on in order to understand what they need before proceeding. After listening to their goals, brainstorm with them about how you will implement those goals by asking questions like: What are we trying to accomplish? Why do we need it? What risks are involved? Be sure you get lots of input from as many people as possible; even something as simple as when certain events should happen can make a big difference for overall execution. Make sure everyone is on board with any decisions made by gaining consensus prior to moving forward.
Developing Cost Estimates
You can never be 100% sure you’re going to finish your project on time and on budget, but there are steps you can take to reduce risk. One of these is taking time up front to develop an accurate cost estimate. It should include everything that will have any kind of cost associated with it, such as hardware, software, human resources (both internal and external), training costs and travel expenses.
Developing the Statement of Work
Your statement of work is the fundamental building block of your project. It’s what you’ll use as a guide throughout the entire life cycle of your project, and as such it needs to be comprehensive, clear, and detailed enough that both you and your team can make decisions and move forward without ambiguity. At each stage of the development process, you’ll want to refine your statement of work so that it accounts for all the new realities or requirements presented by the current phase. The trouble with SOAs? Most organizations take months or even years drafting their first Statement of Work (SOW), but it doesn't have to be that way! You don't need an in-house contract attorney either.
This document is set in place to maintain control over paper and electronic documents. It includes procedures for creating, naming, updating, maintaining and disposing of documents, folders and subfolders under various project file names. This practice not only keeps you from losing track of your documents or having conflicting versions but also helps to keep all members of your team working from a common document collection. You may need to update some of these standards if you have multiple project teams or locations (with each using their own standard). To prevent mistakes that might occur when using different methods it’s best if all parties use one consistent method throughout all projects. Maintaining consistency will avoid confusion down the road when it comes time for compilation.
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