Project Attributes – Describe the attributes of a project? What are your expectations as major stakeholders in this class (CIS1513)? What do you expect to get out of the class? What do you expect from the instructor, the classmates, and yourself in order for the class to be a success?

Project Attributes – Describe the attributes of a project?  What are your expectations as major stakeholders in this class (CIS1513)?  What do you expect to get out of the class? What do you expect from the instructor, the classmates, and yourself in order for the class to be a success?

A project...

... has a unique purpose (well-defined objective), and result in a unique product, service or result.
... is temporary. It has a beginning and an end.
... is developed using progressive elaboration. Often at the beginning, the project is broadly defined, but as time passes becomes more defined.
... requires resources (people,  (often from various areas).
... should have a primary customer/sponsor:
... involves uncertainty

As a major stakeholder of this class I expect...

...to understand the roles a project manager fulfills in a Project Development Life Cycle.
...to have an idea of the length of time it takes to deliver a project based on scope and costs.
...to learn what it takes to take a project from initiation to closure.

What I expect from the instructor:
   
           -Real life examples of project management situations
           -Intel about the PMP certification as well as information on the SCRUM certification
           -A fun atmosphere that brings levity to all of the serious definitions and standards involved in                           project management

What I expect from classmates:
           -Decent communication while working on projects.
           -Cooperation when being asked to do a task by the acting project manager.
           -Patience for those of us who don't have a background in Systems Development.

What I expect from myself:
           -Attentive listening during lectures.
           -Planning of readings and assignments to prevent me from falling behind.
           -Open-mindedness towards the field of Project Management. 

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?

Recent college graduates with the required formal education can receive entry-level jobs as junior project manager, project assistant or others. Organizations that value project management will  give off the experience needed to move forward in job title along with certification and post graduate education.


The average salary for PM in South Florida is roughly $75,000. Most jobs range starts from $50,000 so the $75,000 would be with experience

South Florida
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/project-manager-salary-SRCH_KO0,15.htmesources

Miami
http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=project+manager&l1=Miami



Fort Lauderdale
http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=project+manager&l1=fort+lauderdale

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

Project Management can be thought of as several related processes.
Given one year (260 working days) and $100,000...

- Initiating (5 days):The project is defined in this process. The initiating process can take place during each phase of the project, including the end of the project: $3,000.

- Planning (55 days): The best project managers spend almost twice as much time as their colleagues in the planning process. Scope, schedule, cost and procurement are planned out to ensure the project can be completed successfully: $27,000

- Executing (180 days): By far, the most time and effort should be spent in this process. This is where resources (people, hardware and other resources) carry out the project plans. If resources such as hardware and software are procured in this process, and the actual execution of the project (programmers, DBAs, etc) occurs here, then the bulk of your budget will be spent in this step: $60,000

- Monitoring and Controlling (13 days): Regular monitoring of your project helps ensure the project stays on track. It also allows stakeholders to identify any necessary changes: $6,500

- Closing (7 days): This process includes ending contracts, archiving project files and of course the formal acceptance of the completed project: $3,500

Many information technology project managers come from senior technical positions. What can you do to help them transition into a project management role?

It may be important for project managers coming out of a senior technical role to rely more on the other project leaders that specialize in non-technical areas of project development. Also, a reliable line of communication between the project manager, project leaders, all the way down to project staff needs to be established. I would remind them that their technical knowledge can be beneficial in creating feasible requirements for the system as well as limiting scope, but it is also important to stay focused on the actual requirements the customer or project sponsor want in the project. Furthermore, the project manager needs to pay attention to how other aspects of the project will be integrated into the overall project. I would say the areas of concern for the project manager would be human resource management, communications management, and procurement management.

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

     In cases where the scope of the project does not extend to delivering a product that needs to be accurate first time or where user data security is of little importance, adaptive development does not hurt the success of the project. Adaptive approaches have the benefit of getting all parties involved with the project in the room at the same time. This makes it so any problems that come up can be addressed immediately by the team members who specialize in the area of need. Adaptive development can deliver a functioning project to users quickly and can take advantage of user feedback earlier than predictive approaches, which can give the project manager a unique insight into how the product will be received reducing risk of delivering an "unsuccessful" product.

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

Strategic plans help Project Managers determine which types of projects provide the most value for the organization.

One popular technique for strategic planning is called SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Since humans do not normally think in a linear process, some people use a technique called mind mapping - putting ideas down in a visual map format.

I think businesses use this method when identifying IT Projects. Businesses must keep up with their competition and stay ahead, and this method helps identify strengths and weaknesses. SWOT analysis gets everyone involved to think about projects before moving forward.

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

The constraints that make up the triple constraint relate to scope, time, and cost.

Scope refers to deliverables the project is responsible for providing. This can include many things from specific processes that should be included in the project, what the team is expected to accomplish, or what is expected by the customer, sponsor, or company.

Time refers to the duration of the overall project and all the duration of each stage in the project. Time can also include scheduling constraints of employees. Time will track the progress of the project and its parts and determine which member of the project is in charge of project scheduling.

Cost constraints can refer to the total cost to the company of materials, human resources, software, hardware etc. and the budget provided for the project by management. Cost will track how money is spent as well as name a person in charge of budget changes.

The scope, time, and cost constraints will change relative to each other. For instance, if the budget is decreased, the scope of the project may decrease as well. If time becomes an issue, scope may be decreased again, but perhaps the budget will be increased to give the project team more resources to complete the project in time.