FIT2002 Week 2 Solution

TOPIC 2:

Organisational structures, Project and product lifecycles


TOPIC: Organisational structures, project and product lifecycles Learning outcomes:
 Define the systems approach and its impact on project management
 Identify and describe the various phases of the project management lifecycle
 Define the relationship between the project management lifecycle and the product lifecycle
Time
Frame 110 mins Topic Activity
 Terminology o PMLC (Project Management Lifecycle)
o Product Lifecycle (System Development Lifecycle)
 Waterfall Model
 Spiral Model
 Agile Model
o Project Driven vs. Non-Project Driven o Organisational structure
 Functional
 Pure Project
 Matrix
o Systems thinking
30
Mins Team
Discussion Activity 2:
Group Activity


1. Describe the systems approach and its significance for project managers?
2. Explain the four frames of organizations. How can they help project managers understand the organizational context for their projects?

3. Explain how product life cycles differ from project lifecycles. How are they similar to one another?

4. There are various product lifecycles to choose from to complete a project. How would you decide which product lifecycle to choose to complete a project?

5. Explain the concept of delivering a project in incremental iterations.

6. Mark, Pam, and Rick all work in the IT department for a large manufacturing company. Mark supports the accounting department, Pam supports the purchasing department, and Rick supports the quality control department. Mark has started working on a new software application to upgrade the financial software to something that runs on a different operating system than the previous version. Pam is in the middle of a project that involves delivering better custom reports, based on purchasing data. Rick has been asked to develop a new custom system for the quality assurance department that will help the company in receiving ISO 9000 certification. Problems began to surface during the implementation of the new accounting software. It turned out that the new accounting software was not compatible with the old purchasing software and required new information to be tracked by the
7. Describe how organizational culture is related to project management. What type of culture promotes a strong project environment?
8. Watch the video: Agile an introduction (8:34m) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJflDE6OaSc
a. What is the advantage of using Agile?
b. Is Agile suitable for all projects? Why/Why not?
c. What is the difference between Agile and Traditional?
d. How would you decide when to use Agile, or traditional methodologies?

30
Mins Review of
Team
Discussion Activity 3:

Discuss and debate Activity 2 questions with the whole class.

50 Mins Project team development Activity 4: Team Forming and Team Building



Team forming:
To deliver the assignment you will be working in teams of 4 (or 3 in specific circumstances).

Once your teams are formed and while you are in the tutorial:
1. Swap names and contact details
2. Decide on a suitable meeting time
3. Identify an appropriate collaborative tool to manage the assignment documents and key deliverables
Suggestion: google groups; google docs or any other suitable tool, Trello
In your teams decide who will:
• be the team leader (this can be on rotation, eg a different leader for each case) • set up the collaboration tool
• set up the group time sheet


PROJECT TEAMS – For your information

Team meeting protocols Project meeting protocols:
The following are set of protocols that should be adhered to during meetings.

a. make sure an agenda has been prepared and sent out ahead of time to members of the team – an agenda sets out the list of topics to be covered in the meeting – it can be very brief
b. ensure a minute taker is appointed
c. ensure the meeting stays on track
d. ensure everyone is listened to
e. ensure everyone has a chance to speak
g. make sure the minutes are sent out in the NEXT DAY – timelines are important here