Chapter One Question Outline

 

1.       Why is there a new renewed interest in the field of project management?

2.       What is a project and what are its main attributes?

3.       How is a project different from what most people do in their daily lives?

4.       What is a triple constraint? What is considered a quadruple constraint?

5.       What is project mgmt? Ie. Framework, components, knowledge areas, success factors/

6.       What is the role of the project manager and what are some suggested skills/items recommend for success?

7.       Briefly describe some key events in project management history.

8.       What is PMI and PMP?

9.       Discuss ethics and project managers.

10.   Discuss the changing realities within the information technology field:

·         Changes in executive reporting structures

·         Less-expensive and rapid systems development

·         Exploiting technology to maximize usability

·         Demonstrating value of IT investments

11.   Explain how IT was once a unit of organizations that operated rather autonomously, but with the changes in the business environment, IT is more integrated into the business strategy.

12.   Review the six principles corporate strategy experts developed for making the most out of IT.

·         Aligning all IT decisions, actions, and performance measurements with the business strategy of the organization as a whole adds value to the business.

·         Most effective applications of technology emerge from industry-specific applications that make it possible to do new things of value in the marketplace.

·         Technologies evolve fast enough that new economies of scale and new functions become cost-effective or practical, providing new opportunities to use information in innovative, productive ways.

·         Effective use of IT requires a coordinated and effective use of many resources simultaneously:  best organization, best skills, best people, best processes, and best computing.

·         Restructuring organizations and redesigning work flows to make them technology friendly are rapidly turning out to be of key importance to improving the value of IT.  They are the ultimate best practices in computing.

·         Since technology and business circumstances keep changing, the habits of continuous improvement, being curious to learn how others do things, and adopting the most relevant practices for your company’s operations are crucial to success.

13.   Discuss how best practices in software design are processes recognized as being the best by function or within an industry.

14.   Describe the five benefits of using best practices:  Inspiration, benchmarking, references, skills transfer, and continuous improvement.

15.   Discuss the five types of “bad practices”.  Briefly discuss why these are bad practices.

·         Copying a practice “as is”.

·         Failing to verify a best practice

·         Not keeping current

·         Not establishing relevance

·         Following trends

16.   Explain the role of benchmarking.

17.   Discuss best in class versus world-class.

18.   Explain how product quality is dependent upon each person’s expectations for the product.

19.   Discuss the five perspectives on quality.  Give examples of quality using an automobile as an example.  For example:  Honda is recognized as a quality vehicle, etc.

20.   Discuss considerations for process quality.  Stress importance of remembering quality through the project process.

21.   Explain measuring business value from a quality perspective.