Developing Project Management Skills

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Andres Neyem ◽  
Juan Diaz-Mosquera ◽  
Jose I. Benedetto

Capstone project-based courses offer a favorable environment for the development of student skills through an approach incorporating theoretical and practical components. However, it is often difficult to successfully coordinate between students, stakeholders, and the academic team. The absence of suitable tools for addressing this issue, along with time constraints, often prevents students from attaining the expected course outcomes. This raises the question “How can we improve project management skills in computing majors through the use of technology-enhanced learning environments?” This paper presents a Cloud-based mobile system for supporting project management under a framework of best practices in software engineering capstone courses. The Kanban approach was used as a core of the proposed system. Kanban boards are very popular in the software industry today. It has been empirically shown that they provide increased motivation and project activity control due to their inherent simplicity. This helps the students and academic team be aware of the project context as it aids in preventing ambiguities, flaws, or uncertainties in the development of software artifacts.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Vincent Livesey

A Delphi study using project managers who had managed projects in excess of $500 million was used to confirm the significance and frequency of problems resulting from the nature of projects. Using the results obtained from the Delphi study a ranking of the problems experienced in these projects was obtained by calculating a Relative Importance Index. Additionally, the Delphi panel members were asked their views concerning the need for traditional project management skills (hard skills) and team management skills (soft skills) as project size increased from below $50 million to over $500 million. A substantial increase in the need for both skills was indicated with the increase in the need for soft skills being the most significant.


Author(s):  
Anne Ndiiri ◽  
James Kilika

Today’s ever-increasing competitive environment requires firms to seek for better ways to create value. In the organization era, firms continue to face tougher competition in the business environment and business process outsourcing is a critical strategy that improves a firm’s competitive capabilities by delivering value to customers. Business process outsourcing has emerged as a widely adopted strategy among firms in various sectors. The general objective of the study was to establish the effect of business process outsourcing on organizational performance of real estate firms in Nairobi City County. The specific objectives of the study were to determine the effect of Information Technology Outsourcing, Knowledge Process Outsourcing, Administration Support Systems and Project Management Skills Outsourcing on performance of selected real estate firms in Nairobi City County. The study was founded on Transaction Cost Economics, Resource-Based View and Contingency Theory. The population of interest in this study comprised of 245 real estate firms in Nairobi City County registered in accordance with the Estate Agents Act while the respondents of the study comprised of the real estate manager. The study used primary data that was obtained using questionnaires administered to real estate firm managers. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences will be used qualitative and quantitative data analyses. The findings of the study showed that real estate firms in Nairobi City County outsource information technology outsourcing, knowledge process outsourcing, administrative support systems outsourcing and project management skills to a great extent. The study concluded that Information Technology Outsourcing, Knowledge Process Outsourcing, Administration Support Systems and Project Management Skills Outsourcing positively and significantly influence performance of selected real estate firms in Nairobi City County. The study recommended that in order for real estate firms in Nairobi City County to improve their performance, there is need to outsource information communications and technology (ICT) infrastructure such as IT support services, software applications, computer network infrastructure, IT security infrastructure and IT training consultancy. The study also recommended real estate firms to outsource knowledge processes including managing performance and legal obligations, contract management and law, business and market research, building and research as well as research and development.


2016 ◽  
pp. 497-513
Author(s):  
Liang-Cheng Chang

Project management skills such as WBS, Gantt Chart and PERT have been applied in many fields, but system analysts preferred UML to project tools. This chapter recommend transformation rules from project items into objects and project charts into UML diagrams, to model all project items and processes by using UML. Therefore, UML can be applied not only to system analysis and design, but also to entire project processes. Stakeholders in a project can rethink the project in terms of object orientation and communicate with system developers using the same tool as UML.


Author(s):  
Jerry Cha-Jan Chang ◽  
Gholamreza Torkzadeh

This article reports on results of a study on Information Systems (IS) project management skill set based on a two-round data collection from IS project managers and professionals. The first phase involved interviews with 47 project managers that resulted in identification of 12 important project management skills. In phase two, a survey was developed, based on phase 1 study results, to collect data from 41 IS project managers and professionals. Results identify rankings of the 12 skills as the 12 skills are further grouped into four categories of Communication and relationship management, Resource management, Change leadership, and Administrative.


Author(s):  
Vicky Triantafillidis

Project management skills and professional certification are quickly developing into required core practice (Hammond et al., 2006). Peter Shears, CEO of the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM), stated at a April, 2006, conference, that there was increased demand for skilled project managers within all organizations across all industry sectors (Hammond et al., 2006). AIPM is an Australian Project Management Web portal offering certifications of AIPM’s Registered Project Management (RegPM). As a supporter of the project management profession, the Project Management Institute (PMI) also plays an enormous role. The PMI Web portal encourages a standard with the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide describing what should be done to manage a project. PMI’s Project Management Professional (PMP®) credential program is also available from the PMI Web portal recognizing and approving skills (Project Management Institute, Inc., 2006).


Author(s):  
Sylvain Lenfle ◽  
Christoph Loch

This chapter illustrates the management of uncertainty, of stakeholders, and of contractors, and then draws on history—the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb, and Cold War-era space and defense projects such as Polaris and Apollo—to show that knowledge of how to overcome these issues has long existed and could be used effectively in some megaprojects today. For example, Manhattan Project manager General Groves realized that big unforeseeable uncertainties in designing atomic weapons required discrete project management skills including flexibility, but these techniques have since been pushed aside in a managerial push for control that became the phased-planning or “stage-gate” process philosophy. While some successes in the 1940s and 1950s may not be repeated today with the same managerial methods, because stakeholder complexity was lower at a time when huge projects served “national priorities,” it is argued that some mid-twentieth-century managerial techniques would help improve modern megaprojects.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document