Critical Behavioral Competencies for IT Project Managers

What behavioral competencies do experienced IT project managers apply when facing critical situations in their projects, and how have they developed those competencies? In this paper, the authors answer these questions. The authors interviewed 23 experienced IT project managers from 11 organizations, focusing on critical situations that they now managed differently from their earlier, novice, practices, and on how they had learned to develop these different approaches. The authors discuss a variety of management development and training interventions. They use a thematic analysis to identify the key competencies being applied and learning methods experienced by this set of managers. Results suggest that IT project managers are drawing on a different set of competencies from those required for project management in other industries. Additionally, this paper reveals the importance of informal learning channels, often involving project experiences, for the development of IT project management competencies.

Software Project Managers under the Team Software Process

Despite the clear relevance of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) market in world economics and the evident lack of success of software projects, organizations devote little effort to the development and maturity of the software project manager profession. This work analyzes the figure of project manager from the perspective of the Team Software Process (TSP), and it considers the required skills, attitudes and knowledge for a software development project. The basis for the study is the analysis of relevant references from the literature for their subsequent categorization into different competency concepts. The results of the analysis are compared with the contributions which the Guide to the SWEBOK® and the PMBOK® Guide models provide of the profiles of the project manager. The results indicate that the literature relating to the Team Software Process is focused on the definitions of skills and attitudes, and to a lesser extent on knowledge components. The lack of the definition of the components which comprise competency constitutes a challenge for software development organizations that use TSP, whose project managers should confront the task with full capacities, and without the help of established and recognized competencies. The current work attempts to establish the competencies for project managers identified in the literature, in the environment of the use of TSP for software development, using a study based on content analysis.

Establishing Preconditions for Spanning the Boundaries in Public Private IT Megaprojects

Inter-organizational cooperations between public and private partners, called public private partnerships (PPP), are increasingly gaining more importance concerning renewal, standardization, and optimization of the information technology (IT) infrastructure of public sector organizations. Reasons for this trend include the search for partners with necessary technological and innovative knowledge of sourcing IT and the identification of cost-saving potentials. Unfortunately, IT-PPP-cooperations are particularly susceptible to failure due to the clash of different cultures. Divergent understandings, expectations, and pressure from the relevant stakeholders hinder a working partnership. Therefore, in this exploratory, qualitative single-case study from the German TollCollect IT megaproject, the authors draw on findings from boundary spanning literature to explain how establishing preconditions for boundary spanning and actively bridging the gap between the partners, moderated by external stakeholder support, affects the formation of mutual trust and success of an IT-PPP-megaproject.

Runaway Information Technology Projects

This paper presents an in-depth insider’s case study of a “runaway” information systems (IS) project in a U.S. State government agency. Because such projects are politically sensitive matters and often obscured from public view, details of how such projects operate are not well understood. This case study adds new details to the body of knowledge surrounding IS project escalation and de-escalation. The authors’ resulting project narrative details how this project went out of control for so long, raising important questions for future research in theory development for both IS project escalation and de-escalation. The paper argues that a punctuated equilibrium approach to analyzing “runaway” IS projects are a more fruitful area to explore than are “stage models.”

A New Technique for Estimating the Distribution of a Stochastic Project Makespan

A critical success dimension in projects is the ability to complete a project within an estimated duration. In that regard, effective project scheduling techniques in an uncertain environment is of interest in many organizations. In this paper, the authors use an analytic approach to analyze the behavior of time duration distributions of projects in stochastic activity networks, and propose a simple computation scheme for approximating their distribution. The findings offer an understanding of the large gap between PERT and simulation results, and the deviation of projects from their intended schedules. In addition to providing theoretical framework, the proposed approach also recommends a simple practical pragmatic technique that computes the time distribution of project duration. This is a simple and handy tool for the project manager that may replace simulation. As a byproduct, the earliest start time distribution for each activity is also estimated.

Issues in Electronic Procurement Project Implementation in Local Government

Implementing an e-procurement system is a challenge for local government; however, lessons learned through the identification of these challenging issues allow local government ICT project managers to checklist these issues and ensure a successful e-procurement system rollout in their respective organization. For this study, qualitative research design and analyses were used to identify and rank the emergent issues. Through pattern-coding analyses of the interview transcriptions, twelve key issues emerged to be found as the common barriers of successful e-procurement rollout. In this regard, the author’s research is significant given that the return of investment is crucial to a local government’s administrative functions as well as for effective and efficient service delivery.

The Role of User Review on Information System Project Outcomes

The effect of user participation on system success is one of the most studied topics in information systems, yet still yields inconclusive results. Contingency-based concepts attempt to resolve this issue by providing a plausible explanation which indicates that users can only generate expected results when there is a need for users to participate in the development process. As a different approach, this study adopts a mediating perspective and asserts that influence due to the effectiveness of participation determines the final outcomes. Based on control theory, and viewing user participation in reviews as one kind of control, we propose that the influence users can generate through participation determines project outcomes. Data collected from 151 information systems personnel confirms the relationships and that an ability to achieve quality interactions among developers and users heightens the achievement of user influence.

Teaching Students How to Effectively Work in Virtual Teams

This paper, through the voices of two professors and a student, describes an educational experience that exposed students to virtual teams constructed between Information Technology Project Management classes of two branch campuses of the Pennsylvania State University. This experience focused on overcoming the communication problems of virtual teams in order to strengthen team building dynamics. Since working on virtual teams was the first experience for the students, attempts were made to control some aspects of the virtual team environment by eliminating cultural and time differences. The variable to be in focus was the building of trust in a virtual environment. By eliminating all other variables such as time zones, cultural and disciplinary backgrounds, etc., students could experience the efforts required to build trust in a virtual environment. Students were given pre and post experience surveys. The results indicate that initially many students were very apprehensive about virtual teams; however, after completing the course, most students expressed positive attitudes and a general understanding of techniques to work effectively in virtual teams. In addition, almost all teams commented on how important they felt virtual teams would become in the future as digital technology continues to improve.

Service-Oriented Architecture Adoption

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) have been adopted by organizations in a wide variety of industries, however, best practices have still yet to mature. This article, which is part of a larger study on SOA, develops a normative decision model introducing key factors that influence the timing and approach of adopting a SOA. The decision model is based on the results of multiple case studies of organizations that had either employed or were considering implementing a service-oriented architecture project. The results indicate that there are four main areas an information technology (IT) manager needs to assess to determine when and how to move towards a SOA: the maturity of relevant standards, the technology gap, the organizational gap, and the nature of the benefits expected from a SOA. Analyzing these results suggest that differences in the business environment need to be considered in the decision of when and how an IT manager should pursue the move to a service-oriented architecture.

Processes in R&D Collaboration

This paper examines the process leading to a formalised co-operation. A comparative case study of Research and Development (R&D) collaborations illustrates how, during the process of formalising, the creation of shared understanding of the co-operation is supported or hindered. When participants are involved in setting goals, writing work plans, and creating the rules for the co-operation, each participant will have a better understanding of their relationship with others, their own role and responsibility and those of the others. In this study, the authors identify five possible factors that encourage or discourage the partners to use the process of formalising for the purpose of sensemaking.