IT Project Management Discussion and Responses

 answer the following questions about IT Project Management. In addition to your course textbook (chapter 11), utilize the UC library for information and examples.

    What is a project, and what are its main attributes? How is a project different from what most people do in their day-to-day jobs? Discuss the importance of top management commitment and the development of standards for successful project management. Provide examples to illustrate the importance of these items based on your experience on any type of project. Discuss the unique challenges that an IT project presents.

    In your peer responses, be sure discuss your thoughts on project management, your views on project’s attributes, and your thoughts on successful project management. You can take opposing/differing views than your peers but be sure to provide applicable resources as needed. Properly provide examples in your peer responses as well and any additional challenges you see with IT projects.

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cool, can you reply to these 2 posts as its part of the question.. 1) Management of ProjectsA project refers to specific tasks that are completed to produce a unique outcome to achieve the set goals. It has different attributes that ensure that business is well run. A project:Involves working towards achieving goals. A project is done in a specific life cycle which leads to change of different organization, tasks, and resources among others from one level to another this enable them to produce a good and successful project.Based on specific goals and outcomes. Every project is planned to achieve specific objectives as address existing problems for better development.Involves unfamiliarity. This is because projects encounter different activities from each other to tackle the project. Thus, it ensures that the organization is involved with the new technology so as to finish their project.It follows a unique time frame with clear definitions of the project starting date as well as the ending date. This enables the organization to finish a project on a specific set time in order to stimulate and produce a quality project which will meet customer expectation.Projects are so different from what most people do and other jobs uses a different procedure and steps. A project is a series of planned actions with a clear scope, budget, time frame, stakeholders, beneficiaries, goals, and objectives while other jobs are just done mostly without planned activities and no clear time scope. Also, a project has a management team that is tasked to oversee different activities and use available resources to ensure success while most of the normal jobs are individually managed. Lastly, while a project aims to address problems, other jobs aim to achieve personal needs.  Top management commitment and development of standards for successful project management is important and beneficial to the project phase. It helps the project managers to have a consistent workflow and design guidelines that help them in the management of human resources. It also ensures the full-time availability of project resources and strategies for proper resource maximization for greater chances of success (Meredith et al., 2017).  There are a number of unique challenges that an IT project presents such as poor communication with the team, staying in touch with the remote stakeholders, lack of effective project management practices and rapid technological innovation that needs mid-project adjustments. Fast response to these challenges is key as they hinder the achievements of project goals and lowers sustainability.ReferenceMeredith, J. R., Mantel Jr, S. J., & Shafer, S. M. (2017). Project management: a managerial approach. John Wiley & Sons.2) Project and its Major AttributesA project is a series of activities that need to be carried out to achieve a specific outcome. Just like other many activities, projects have unique attributes that enable one to easily differentiate it from other activities such as business and farming among others. The major attributes of any project are that projects:Needs a management team to ensure it meets its goals and achieves the specific outcomes. It has a better objective which is always SMART and easily understood by all the stakeholders.Is timeliness as projects have a well-defined time frame. A good project defines both a starting and ending dates the projectHas a well-capitalized budget that covers all the required resources, tools, and finances for efficient implementation.It has steps that guide stakeholders in the project cycle that gives the project direction and value.The difference of Projects to Daily JobsThere are major differences between projects and non-project tasks. Project works involve activities that aim to achieve specific goals such as building structures, building capacities of participants and improving security among others. The project also opposed to other activities, it relies on volunteers and a wide range of stakeholders to achieve its objectives. On the other hand, non-project tasks such as daily people’s activities are an on-going process with no timeframe or the management team.  Importance of Top Management Commitment and Project standards Development for Successful ManagementThe success of project management relies on many important factors including the commitments of top-level management as well as the development of project standards. Top managers are useful in project management as they source resources to support the project, defines the project standards and support the project managers through encouraging and mentoring. Project standards are also important as they ensure all tasks meet the quality standards, all stakeholders conduct themselves in acceptable conduct and contribute to the achievement of project goals.Key Challenges Presented by an IT ProjectIn the process of planning, implementing and evaluating Information Technology, many project managers face a number of challenges that limit its sustainability. First, these managers lack instant feedback which is an article by Heagney (2016), threatens the success of project management as it limits fast response to risky events and hinders effective collaboration. Secondly, the managers face the issue of limited skills as most of them lack the essential experiences and expertise to manage projects. Lastly, the managers are exposed to a poor working environment that lacks the essential resources and tools to support productivity. Thus, effective project management fails.ReferenceHeagney, J. (2016). Fundamentals of project management. Amacon.