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CASE STUDY 2: JWD CONSULTING'S PROJECT MANAGEMENT INTRANET SITE PROJECT
(AGILE APPROACH)
This section demonstrates a more agile approach to managing JWD Consulting's
project management intranet site project. Instead of repeating the sample
documents shown in the first, more predictive case study, this section emphasizes
the differences of using an agile approach in each process group. Recall
that an agile approach is often used for projects in which the business
team cannot clearly express the scope early in the product life cycle, but
the team does want to provide a potentially shippable product earlier rather
than later. An agile project team typically uses several iterations or deliveries
of software instead of waiting until the end of the project to provide one
product.
Note that teams do not normally make a snap decision about whether to manage
a project using an agile approach or not. Likewise, you don't just decide
whether to take a plane or a car on a long trip without specific logic.
If you need to get somewhere quickly, have little concern for sightseeing
along the way, and have no problems with flying, you will probably take
a plane. If you want to take your time getting somewhere, see sights along
the way, and enjoy driving, you will take a car. Likewise, organizations
should use logic to decide when to use a more predictive approach or an
agile approach to managing specific projects. Projects with heavy constraints,
inexperienced and dispersed teams, large risks, generally clear up-front
requirements, and a fairly rigid completion date are best done using a predictive
approach. In contrast, projects with less rigid constraints, experienced
and preferably co-located teams, smaller risks, unclear requirements, and
more flexible scheduling would be more compatible with an agile approach.
The same project is used in this text to highlight the main differences
between the processes and outputs of these two approaches.
When using agile techniques and its most popular method, Scrum, a team
uses specific roles, artifacts, and ceremonies.
Scrum Roles, Artifacts, and Ceremonies
Recall from Section 2 that Scrum includes three main roles for project
participants:
• Product owner: The person responsible for the business value of the project
and for deciding what work to do and in what order, as documented in the
product backlog. In this case, Joe Fleming is the product owner. He is the
CEO of JWD Consulting and the person who suggested the project.
• ScrumMaster: The person who ensures that the team is productive, facilitates
the daily Scrum, enables close cooperation across all roles and functions,
and removes barriers that prevent the team from being effective. ScrumMasters
have authority over the process but not the people on the team. They must
be comfortable surrendering control to the product owner and team. Some
experts suggest that traditional project managers do not make great Scrum
Masters. In this case, Erica Bell will take on the challenge and serve as
the ScrumMaster.
• Scrum team or development team: A cross-functional team of five to nine
people who organize themselves and the work to produce the desired results
for each sprint. A sprint normally lasts two to four weeks, during which
specific work must be completed and made ready for review. Large projects
might require teams of teams. In this case, Michael Chen, Jessie Faue, Kevin
Dodge, Cindy Dawson, Kim Phuong, and Page Miller are development team members.
Their positions are listed in the project charter shown earlier in Table 6. Kim and Page are client representatives who do not work for JWD Consulting,
but they are key team members, especially for developing the parts of the
intranet that external clients would use.
In Scrum, an artifact is a useful object created by people. An artifact
can be called a deliverable in other project management approaches. The
following three artifacts are created with Scrum:
• Product backlog: A list of features prioritized by business value. The
highest priority items should be broken down in enough detail for the team
to estimate the effort involved in developing them. Some experts suggest
scheduling about 10 workdays for each item. Of course, size and complexity
of the work dictates the estimate.
• Sprint backlog: The highest-priority items from the product backlog to
be completed within a sprint. The Scrum team breaks down the highest-priority
items into smaller tasks that take about 12 to 16 hours to complete. Examples
of a sprint backlog and product backlog are provided later in this section
under Planning.
• Burndown chart: Shows the cumulative work remaining in a sprint on a
day by-day basis. An example burndown chart is provided later in this section
under Monitoring and Controlling.
The ScrumMaster facilitates four ceremonies or meetings when using Scrum
methods:
• Sprint planning session: A meeting with the team to select a set of work
from the product backlog to deliver during a sprint. This meeting takes
about four hours to a full day.
• Daily Scrum: A short meeting for the development team to share progress
and challenges and plan work for the day. Ideally the team members are in
the same place, the meeting usually lasts no more than 15 minutes, and it
is held at the same time and place each day. If that is not possible, teams
can use videoconferencing to have short virtual meetings. The ScrumMaster
asks what work has been done since yesterday, what work is planned for today,
and what impediments or stumbling blocks might hamper the team's efforts.
The ScrumMaster documents these stumbling blocks and works with key stake
holders to resolve them after the daily Scrum. Many teams use the term issues
for items that do not have to be solved in the next 24 hours and blockers
for items that need to be addressed immediately. This allows a ScrumMaster
to maintain focus on highest-priority items (blockers) first and then manage
the resolution of other issues over the next day or so.
• Sprint reviews: A meeting in which the team demonstrates to the product
owner what it has completed during the sprint.
• Sprint retrospectives: A meeting in which the team looks for ways to
improve the product and the process based on a review of the actual performance
of the development team.
FIG. 5 displays how you can view the Scrum framework shown in Section
2 in terms of the project management process groups. Creating the product
backlog, developing the sprint backlog, and discussing plans during the
daily Scrum would fall under planning.
Performing the daily work and sprint, and creating the potentially shippable
product increment would fit under executing. Holding the sprint review and
discussing challenges as part of the daily Scrum can be viewed as monitoring
and controlling. Reflecting during the sprint retrospective would fit under
closing. Initiating the entire project is a phase that falls outside the
Scrum framework in this example.
Table 18 summarizes some of the unique Scrum activities by each process
group.
The following sections provide more detail on these activities.
FIG. 5 Scrum framework and the process groups
==============
Table 18 Unique Scrum activities by process group
Initiating:
• Determine roles
• Decide how many sprints will compose each release and the scope of software
to deliver
Planning:
• Create product backlog
• Create sprint backlog
• Create release backlog
• Plan work each day in the daily Scrum
• Document stumbling blocks in a list
Executing:
• Complete tasks each day during sprints
• Produce a shippable product at the end of each sprint
Monitoring and
Controlling:
• Resolve issues and blockers
• Create and update burndown chart
• Demonstrate the completed product during the sprint review meeting
Closing:
• Reflect on how to improve the product and process during the sprint reflection
meeting
=============
Project Pre-Initiation and Initiation
The main differences between pre-initiation in this case and the first
case would be deter mining roles and deciding what functionality will be
delivered as part of each release, how many sprints will be required to
complete a release, and how many releases of software to deliver, similar
to dividing the project into several smaller projects. A project charter,
stakeholder register, stakeholder management strategy, and kick-off meeting
would still be created as part of initiation, just as they were in the first
version of this case. Using the Scrum roles, however, Joe Fleming would
be the product owner, Erica Bell the Scrum Master, and the other people
listed in the project charter would be team members.
Joe met with Erica to discuss what functionality will be delivered in each
release, how many sprints will compose each release, how many software releases
are required, and the approach required to complete the project. They decided
that they still needed to survey potential users to collect requirements
for the new software and determine a way to mea sure the value of the intranet
site after it was implemented. They estimated that this work would take
about two months. They thought that only a few tasks associated with the
survey and benefits measurement could be included in the software being
developed. For example, two new software features might collect user enhancement
requests and collect project benefits information. Joe and Erica would work
together to create a survey that specifically asks potential users of the
new intranet site which features would provide the most value. For example,
instead of listing general ideas, they would list specific features and
have respondents rank them in order of importance. They would also ask survey
respondents to submit sample templates, tools, and other useful information
to Cindy Dawson, a project team member in the IT department. Collecting
this information up front would streamline the software development process.
Joe and Erica decided that three soft ware releases would be realistic,
given the time and cost constraints. Each sprint would be targeted to last
four weeks, and reviews and creation of the product and sprint backlogs
would be an ongoing activity within each sprint.
Joe and Erica had several meetings with Cindy and other team members. Cindy
had the most experience working on agile projects. She discussed the importance
of submitting several graphical user interface designs to prospective users
to gain their feedback. This approach was extremely useful in the past,
based on Cindy's experience, and it saves a lot of rework in development.
For example, a team member would create one to four designs of a particular
interface for prospective users to review in sessions hosted by a marketing
team. The feedback helps lead to a better user interface that is more intuitive.
Also, asking prospective users to rate the "look and feel" is
very beneficial. Users may be distracted by a selected color scheme, for
example, so team members should craft the same interface in various color
schemes to gauge which one has the greatest appeal and generates the most
positive "usability" score. Cindy explained that user interface
designers are not normally development team members, but organizations might
use them to provide detailed design specifications that provide a consistent
user interface. Erica and Joe learned a lot from Cindy and would incorporate
her recommendations into future plans.
Planning
Instead of creating a team contract, WBS, Gantt chart, and list of prioritized
risks for the whole project, the team would follow the Scrum method. A preliminary
scope statement for the entire project can still be a useful tool for planning;
the team knows that more details will be added and changes will be made.
Because Scrum implies that team members work as a self-directed group, coached
by the ScrumMaster, a team contract should not be necessary. High-level
descriptions of the work to be completed would be identified in the product
and sprint backlogs. The team would develop a more detailed list of technical
stories and associated tasks to complete during each sprint. The team must
also establish a velocity (or capacity) estimate for each sprint based on
team member availability each day of the sprint. Estimates can be provided
as hours of work, assuming that all developers are contractors who can code
eight hours per day, or they can be provided as points, assuming that developers
are employees who code less than eight hours per day. For example, six hours
per day would equal a point, so 36 hours of effort would equal 6 points.
A Gantt chart for the entire project could still be created, as shown in
FIG. 6.
Notice that the process groups do not follow a simple linear pattern. Several
process groups are repeated for each sprint, resulting in several iterations
of a useful software product, as shown by the milestones. Recall that in
the first version of this case, there was only one release or delivery of
software near the end of the project, on October 17. In this case, two additional
deliveries of software are scheduled on August 3 and September 11. Some
teams create a release road map, as described later in this section, for
each software delivery.
The entire project is still scheduled for completion on November 1.
FIG. 6 Intranet site project baseline Gantt chart using Scrum approach
In addition to listing all of the preliminary project requirements in a
scope statement, as shown in section 6.0 of Table 2, Joe, the product
owner, created a product backlog to prioritize the most important functions
of the new intranet software in terms of adding value to the business. Joe
created the product backlog after analyzing the survey results and discussing
options with several people. He included separate items for the most important
templates and tools, instead of grouping them in one item, and requested
a "point person" to contact for questions about each template
or tool as well. Notice that this approach combined a few items in the scope
statement shown in the first case to focus on what would add the most value.
Having a point person would be useful before the team developed the more
complex "Ask the Expert" feature. After reviewing the product
back log, the Scrum team would do its planning to update the sprint backlog
based on the items the team could complete in the first sprint. Table 19
provides an example of the product backlog and a sprint backlog for the
first sprint. The team would then have its first daily Scrum meeting to
plan the day.
=============
Table 19 Product and sprint backlogs
Product Backlog
1. User story templates, samples, and point person
2. WBS templates, samples, and point person
3. Project schedule templates, samples, and point person
4. Ability to charge customers for some intranet products and services
5. Ability to collect user suggestions
6. Business case templates, samples, and point person
7. Ask the Expert feature
8. Stakeholder management strategy templates, samples, and point person
9. Risk register templates, samples, and point person
10. Etc.
Sprint Backlog
1. User story templates, samples, and point person
2. WBS templates, samples, and point person
3. Project schedule templates, samples, and point person
4. Ability to charge customers for some intranet products and services
5. Ability to collect user suggestions
=============
The Scrum team would break down the items in the sprint backlog into more
specific work items, often in the form of user stories, technical stories,
and related tasks. User stories are short descriptions written by customers
of what they need a system to do for them.
These descriptions should be about three sentences long and provide the
basis for time estimates for the sprint planning meeting. User stories should
also be testable and small enough so that the programmers can complete and
unit test their code in a timely manner.
User stories are composed of technical stories. Technical stories are used
by developers to translate user requirements into the technical specifications
necessary to create the defined user functionality. The technical stories
can contain one or more technical tasks that developers can use to chart
progress on a sprint board as work is conducted through out a sprint. One
item in the sprint backlog may or may not be documented in one user story,
one technical story, and one task, based on its complexity. There could
be a one to-one relationship or a many-to-one relationship if the item is
highly complex.
For example, someone in the finance area of the company should write a
user story called "Ability to charge customers for some intranet products
and services." It might read as follows: "As a financial manager,
I want our site to use Company B to process payments so that we save money
on transaction and customer service costs." User stories are broken
down into a detailed technical story and then into tasks, similar to tasks
in a work break down structure. See the companion Web site and other resources
for more information on creating user stories and other planning documents
when using a Scrum framework.
Some organizations use a release road map to lay out all the work for an
entire release, which can include more than one sprint. This road map is
usually represented as a chart consisting of several columns. The release
road map provides a clear picture of what stories (scope) will be contained
in each sprint; velocity estimates versus actuals can be easily reviewed
and updated. A release road map should be derived from data in the Project
Management Information System (PMIS) or a related agile management system,
such as Microsoft's Team Foundation Server, Rally, VersionOne, or JIRA.
Executing
As discussed earlier in this section, the most time and money should be
spent on executing, where plans are implemented to create the desired product.
The team would complete tasks each day, as it would in the first version
of this case, but by using an agile approach, the team would produce several
iterations of a potentially shippable product. For example, at the end of
the first sprint, JWD Consulting would have some functionality available
on its new project management intranet site. Users would be able to access
templates, samples, and point persons for user stories, WBSs, and project
schedules, as listed in the first sprint backlog. Users could also make
suggestions for functionality they would like to see in the intranet site
as it was being developed. The firstiterationofthesoftwarewouldalsoprovidetheabilitytochargecustomersforsome
products and services. By using Scrum methods, the business could benefit
from these new software features a few months earlier than they could using
the approach described in the first case.
Because Erica and some of the project team would be inexperienced in using
Scrum, they would have to work out several challenges. For example, communications
are very different because the project team meets every morning, physically
or virtually. There would also be communications issues with users of the
new intranet site, who might be confused by getting three iterations of
the product instead of just one. See Sections 10 and 13, Project Communications
Management and Project Stakeholder Management, for additional information.
Monitoring and Controlling
The two main items for monitoring and controlling in the Scrum framework
are the daily Scrum and the sprint review. The daily Scrum includes a brief
discussion of any issues and blockers the team is facing. The ScrumMaster
would work with the appropriate stake holders to address these problems
as part of monitoring and controlling. Removing obstacles so the team can
perform well is one of the main job duties of the ScrumMaster. Daily Scrums
are held each morning to plan and communicate work for the day and discuss
any risks, issues, or blockers. The ScrumMaster documents these issues and
blockers, similar to a list of prioritized risks.
The work progress within a sprint can be represented on a sprint board
maintained by the ScrumMaster. The sprint board contains cards that each
represent a task to be worked on during the sprint. Each task card contains
the control number, task name, estimate to complete, rank or priority number,
and team member assigned. As tasks are opened, worked, and closed, they
are moved physically to their appropriate section on the board.
These sections include Not Started, In Progress, Ready to Test, Tested,
and Closed.
Developers will update the status of tasks in the Not Started, In Progress,
and Ready to
Test sections. Testers will update the status for tasks in the Tested section.
The business owner should be responsible for reviewing functionality, confirming
that it is working as expected, and changing a task's status to Closed.
A burndown chart is an important artifact used to graphically display progress
on each sprint (see FIG. 7). If the first sprint for the JWD Consulting
intranet project is scheduled to last four weeks and produce five items
or user stories listed in the sprint backlog, the burndown chart illustrates
progress for that time period. Each user story should be broken down into
specific tasks, and the team should estimate how long it will take to complete
each task for each user story. A task should fit within a day, and the work
a team member claims in the daily Scrum or stand-up meeting should fit within
a day. Each day, the team should again estimate the number of hours remaining
in each task. Some tasks might be added and some might be dropped as the
scope becomes clearer. It does not matter how many hours are spent; what
matters is how many hours of work remain to complete the user stories for
that sprint.
FIG. 7 Burndown chart
The burndown chart plots each day's sum of estimated hours or points remaining.
It also shows an idealized burndown line, as if the team were completing
an equal amount of work each day, or 10 tasks each day in this example.
The chart then clearly shows whether the team is doing well in that sprint
or if there is potential for trouble. Burndown charts help the team understand
whether user stories might not be completed within that sprint. If stories
are at risk, the chart is an indicator that they should be removed. If progress
is better than anticipated, the burndown chart can indicate that stories
should be added to the sprint.
At the end of each sprint, the ScrumMaster, or Erica in this example, leads
the sprint demonstration review meeting. The team demonstrates to the product
owner what it has completed during the sprint. In this case, Joe would review
the five features created during the first sprint. After the sprint demonstration
review, he would update the product back log based on the latest information
and business needs, and the next sprint cycle would begin.
Closing
After the sprint review, the ScrumMaster leads a sprint retrospective.
During this short meeting (about half an hour), the team reflects on what
happened during the sprint. The ScrumMaster normally solicits team member
feedback via e-mail first and collates these results before the meeting.
This saves time and focuses the discussion on items that are most important.
The retrospective is similar to a lessons-learned report, but it focuses
on a shorter period of time. The sprint retrospective is intended to answer
two fundamental questions:
• What went well during the last sprint that we should continue doing?
• What could we do differently to improve the product or process? The sprint
retrospective meeting is usually led by the ScrumMaster, who documents a
list of action items for implementation. Those items may be added to the
product backlog if the product owner agrees with them. For example, after
the first sprint for the JWD project management intranet site project, the
team might suggest that the site be mobile enabled. This new requirement
could be added to the product backlog and selected as an item for the next
sprint. Recall that an agile approach welcomes new requirements as long
as they focus on business value.
As demonstrated in reviewing the two approaches to the same project, the
agile approach has similarities and differences compared with the traditional
approach. If done well, an agile method can produce several iterations of
useful software. This approach allows the organization to work together
quickly to address changing business needs.
Templates by Process Group
As you can see, project teams prepare many documents throughout the life
of a project.
Many people use templates as a standard format for preparing those documents.
Table3-20liststemplatesusedtoprepare the documents shown in this section
and later sections. The table lists the template name, section number,
process group(s) in which you normally use the template, the application
software used to create it, and the file name for the template. Feel
free to modify the templates to meet your needs.
The project management process groups-initiating, planning, executing,
monitoring and controlling, and closing-provide a useful framework for understanding
project management. They apply to most projects, both IT and non-IT, and
along with the project management knowledge areas, help project managers
see the big picture of managing a project in their organization.
Table 20 Templates by process group
==============
CASE WRAP-UP Erica Bell and her team finished the project management intranet
site project on November 4, as planned in their project charter. They did
go over budget, but Joe had approved Erica's request for additional funds,
primarily for purchasing external software and customization. Like any project,
they had a few challenges, but they worked together as a team and used good
project management to meet their sponsor's and users' needs.
They received positive initial feedback from internal consultants and some
of their clients on the new intranet site. People were asking for templates,
examples, and expert advice even before the system was ready. About a
year after the project was completed, Erica worked with a member of the
Finance department to review the benefits of the new system. The Project
Management Office did lose one of its staff members, but it did not request
a replacement because the new system helped reduce the PMO's workload.
This saved the firm about $70,000 a year for the salary and benefits of
that staff position. The team also had data to show that the firm saved
more than $180,000 on contracts with clients because of the new system,
compared with their projection of $160,000. The firm was breaking even with
the "Ask
the Expert" feature
during the first year, and Erica estimated that the system provided $30,000
in additional profits the first year by generating new business, instead
of the $40,000 the team had projected. However, savings from the PMO
staff position salary and the extra savings on contracts more than made
up for the $10,000 difference. Joe was proud of the project team and
the system they produced to help make JWD Consulting a world-class organization.
===============
Summary
Project management involves a number of interlinked processes. The five
project management process groups are initiating, planning, executing, monitoring
and controlling, and closing. These processes occur at varying levels of
intensity throughout each phase of a project, and specific outcomes are
produced as a result of each process. Normally the executing processes require
the most resources and time, followed by the planning processes.
Mapping the main activities of each project management process group into
the 10 project management knowledge areas provides a big picture of what
activities are involved in project management.
Some organizations develop their own IT project management methodologies,
often using the standards in the PMBOK® Guide as a foundation. It is important
to tailor project management methodologies to meet the organization's particular
needs. Popular methods like PRINCE2, Agile, RUP, and Six Sigma include project
management processes.
The JWD Consulting case study demonstrates how one organization managed
an IT project from start to finish. The case study provides several samples
of outputs produced for initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and
controlling, and closing:
• Business case
• Stakeholder register
• Stakeholder management strategy
• Project charter
• Kick-off meeting agenda
• Team contract
• Work breakdown structure
• Gantt chart
• List of prioritized risks
• Milestone report
• Progress report
• Lessons-learned report
• Final project report
The second version of the same case study illustrates how to use Scrum,
the leading agile method, to manage the project. Instead of releasing the
new intranet software just once near the end of the project, the team could
release three iterations of the software. This version of the case study
introduced some new tools, including a product backlog, sprint backlog,
and burn down chart. Later sections in this text provide detailed information
for creating these and other project management documents and using several
of the tools and techniques described in both versions of this case study.
Quiz
1. A ______ is a series of actions directed toward a particular result.
a. goal
b. process
c. plan
d. project
2. ______ processes include coordinating people and other resources to
carry out project plans and create the products, services, or results of
the project or phase.
a. Initiating
b. Planning
c. Executing
d. Monitoring and controlling
e. Closing
3. Which process group normally requires the most resources and time?
a. Initiating
b. Planning
c. Executing
d. Monitoring and controlling
e. Closing
4. What methodology was developed in the United Kingdom, defines 45 separate
subprocesses, and organizes them into eight process groups?
a. Six Sigma
b. RUP
c. PMBOK® Guide
d. PRINCE2
5. Which of the following outputs is often completed before initiating
a project?
a. stakeholder register
b. business case
c. project charter
d. kick-off meeting
6. A work breakdown structure, project schedule, and cost estimates are
outputs of the ______ process.
a. initiating
b. planning
c. executing
d. monitoring and controlling
e. closing
7. Initiating involves developing a project charter, which is part of the
project ______ management knowledge area.
a. integration
b. scope
c. communications
d. risk
8. ______ involves measuring progress toward project objectives and taking
corrective actions.
a. Initiating
b. Planning
c. Executing
d. Monitoring and controlling
e. Closing
9. Which of the following is not a typical reason that project teams would
use a predictive approach versus an agile approach to managing a project?
a. The project has unclear up-front requirements.
b. The project team is inexperienced and dispersed.
c. Large risks are involved.
d. The completion date is fairly rigid.
10. Many people use ______ to have a standard format for preparing various
project management documents.
a. methodologies
b. templates
c. project management software
d. standards
Answers
1. b; 2. c; 3. c; 4. d; 5. b; 6. b; 7. a; 8. d; 9. a; 10. b
Discussion Questions
1. Briefly describe what happens in each of the five project management
process groups (initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling,
and closing). What types of activities occur before initiating a project?
2. Approximately how much time do good project managers spend on each process
group, and why?
3. Why do organizations need to tailor project management concepts, such
as those found in the PMBOK Guide, to create their own methodologies?
4. What are some of the key outputs of each process group?
5. What are some of the typical challenges project teams face during each
of the five process groups? You can frame your discussion based on a project
described in one of the feature boxes in this section (for example, the
What Went Right? or What Went Wrong? feature).
You can also frame your discussion on one of PMI's Project of the Year
Award winners, or on a well-known project failure like the Denver International
Airport baggage handling system.
6. What are the main differences between the two versions of the JWD Consulting
case study? When should you use a more prescriptive or agile approach? Do
you think users of the JWD Consulting Intranet site would prefer one release
of the software or several incremental ones? What are some pros and cons
of each approach?
Exercises
1. Study the WBS and Gantt charts provided in Figures 3-3 and 3-4. Enter
the WBS into Project 2010, indenting tasks as shown to create the WBS hierarchy.
Do not enter durations or dependencies. Print the resulting Gantt chart.
See the scope management section of section A for help using Project 2010.
2. Read William Munroe's article about Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan's
IT project management methodology, which is available on the companion Web
site for this text under Section 3. Or, research another method, such as
PRINCE2, Agile, RUP, or Six Sigma, and how organizations use it, citing
at least two references. Why do you think organizations spend time and money
tailoring a methodology to their environment? Write a summary of your findings
and your opinion on the topic.
3. Read the "ResNet Case Study," which is available from the
companion Web site for this text under Section 3. This real case study about
Northwest Airlines' reservation system illustrates another application of
the project management process groups. Write a paper summarizing the main
outputs produced during each project process group in this case. Also, include
your opinion of whether Peeter Kivestu was an effective project manager.
If you prefer, find another well-documented project and summarize it instead.
4. JWD Consulting wrote a business case before officially initiating the
project management intranet site project. Review the contents of this document
in Table 2 and find two articles that describe the need to justify investing
in IT projects. In addition, describe whether you think most projects should
include a business case before the project sponsors officially approve the
project. Write a short paper summarizing your findings and opinions.
5. Read an article or watch a video about a recipient of PMI's Project
of the Year award.
Search for information online or consult the link on the text's companion
Web site for more information. Past winners of the award include Prairie
Waters Project, National Ignition Facility Project, and Newmont TS Power
Plan Project. Write a one-page paper summarizing a winning project, focusing
on how the project manager and team used good project management practices.
6. Review the product backlog, sprint backlog, and burndown chart provided
in this section.
Read articles or watch a video about using a Scrum method that mentions
these artifacts.
Write a short paper that describes more details about how to create these
artifacts; cite at least two references.
7. You are a project consultant for the ACME Company and are helping to
develop an agile method using Scrum. The company has always used predictive
project management methods for software development, but company managers
have heard that Agile can have significant advantages if implemented properly.
Prepare a proposal that suggests what training, documentation, executive
support, and team management approaches are needed to start a pilot for
Agile. Provide justification for your recommendations.
8. Download the template files used in this text. Review several of the
files, and look at examples of how they are used in this text. Also search
the Internet for other template files. Write a short paper to summarize
what you think about using templates and how you think they can help
project managers and their teams. Also discuss potential problems with using
templates.
Terminology
- agile methods - An approach to managing projects that includes an iterative
workflow and incremental delivery of software in short iterations
- artifact - A useful object created by people
- burndown chart - A chart that shows the cumulative work remaining in
a sprint on a day by-day basis
- closing processes - Formalizing acceptance of the project or project
phase and ending it efficiently
- daily Scrum - A short meeting in which the team shares progress and
challenges
- executing processes - Coordinating people and other resources to carry
out the project plans and create the products, services, or results
of the project or project phase
- initiating processes - Defining and authorizing a project or project
phase
- kick-off meeting - A meeting held at the beginning of a project so that
stakeholders can meet each other, review the goals of the project,
and discuss future plans
- methodology - A description of how things should be done
- monitoring and controlling processes - Regularly measuring and monitoring
progress to ensure that the project team meets the project objectives
- planning processes - Devising and maintaining a workable scheme to ensure
that the project addresses the organization's needs
- process - A series of actions directed toward a particular result
- product backlog - A single list of features prioritized by business
value
- product owner - The person responsible for the business value of the
project and for deciding what work to do and in what order when using
a Scrum method
- project management process groups - The progression of project activities
from initiation to planning, executing, monitoring and controlling,
and closing
- PRojects IN Controlled Environments (PRINCE2) - A project management
methodology developed in the United Kingdom that defines 45 separate subprocesses
and organizes these into eight process groups
- Rational Unified Process (RUP) framework - An iterative software development
process that focuses on team productivity and delivers software best
practices to all team members
- ScrumMaster - A person who ensures that the team is productive, facilitates
the daily Scrum, enables close cooperation across all roles and functions,
and removes barriers that prevent the team from being effective
- Scrum team or development team - A cross-functional team of five to
nine people who organize themselves and the work to produce the desired
results for each sprint
- Six Sigma methodologies - DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve,
and Control) is used to improve an existing business process, and DMADV
(Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify) is used to create new product
or process designs
- sprint - A set period of time, normally two to four weeks, during which
specific work must be completed and made ready for review when using
Scrum methods
- sprint backlog - The highest-priority items from the product backlog
to be completed in a sprint
- stakeholder register - A document that includes details related to the
identified project stakeholders
- standard - Best practices for what should be done
- user stories - Short descriptions written by customers of what they
need a system to do for them
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