IT Manager Interview Analysis - Essay Example

It’s like being a flight navigator’ Interview with an IT Manager Section Number of ‘It’s like being a flight navigator’ Mr Daniel Primrose is the Senior Manager, Corporate Projects of Logic Software Inc. a custom development and software outsourcing company. The 42-year-old Mr Primrose had started his career as a software developer after completing his Masters in Computer Applications. Even while on the job, he had enrolled in and completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) course acquiring the perfect combination of skills in Information Technology and management for a bright career. Throughout the years he has worked in various ICT companies or the ICT departments of non-ICT companies to gradually rise up the corporate ladder. In his present position as Senior Manager, Corporate Projects, he manages software development projects of all corporate clients. He heads a team of twelve project managers and other ICT professionals under him. List of prepared questions 1. What does your job entail? 2. What kind of projects do you handle? 3. How do you take up or initiate projects? 4. What type of documents do you use to justify projects? 5. How do you manage your projects? How do you plan them out? 6. How do you establish priorities in your company? 7. Do you use any project management software? If so, please specify the software. 8. How does the project management software help you in your work? 9. How do you get client inputs for the projects? 10. How is your company management involved in the projects? 11. What presentation tools do you use to keep clients and management informed about the progress of the project? 12. How do you acquire customer assessment in the various stages of project development? 13. How do you test your product? 14. What product implementation strategies do you adopt? 15. What are the post implementation policies? Responses 1. Ours is basically a software development company. We develop customized software for our clients. My job is to manage software development projects from our corporate clients. It is my responsibility to ensure that all projects for corporate clients are executed smoothly and delivered and implemented within deadline. I have to ensure quality of the end products and see that the product meets all the projected needs of the client. 2. Our projects involve software development. We develop web-based management information systems, inventory systems, monitoring systems and work flow systems. We also have to take up content development for all the information systems we develop. In fact, software development and content development has to go hand-in-hand for the successful development and implementation of any customized software product. This is one aspect that I try to communicate to all our clients. Keeping software development and content development apart can result in major mismatch between software and content in actual implementation. So we prefer to do customized software development simultaneously with the required content development for the software. We also take up web portal development for our corporate clients. Here, I would like to differentiate between software development and web content development. In software development we work purely for the development of a software-base information system on a definite development platform. The information system may be web enabled. In web portal development, it is an entirely web-based exercise where the entire effort is concentrated on keeping up the web presence. There is an essential difference in priorities. 3. Even though clients approach us with their requirements, we try to be proactive in project acquisitions in view of the intense competition in our business. Once our promotion executives establishes contacts with prospective clients, our systems requirements study team moves in to do a cursory survey of possible requirements in computerization of the identified organization. Many organization fell the need for automation or computerization but are unable to specifically identify the requirements in terms information or computerized systems requirements. Our Systems Requirements Study (SRS) crystallizes these requirements for the clients. And more often than not, the client realizes the potential utility of such systems and ends up awarding us the project. Additional Question: So you generate your own work instead of waiting for it to come to you. Response: Exactly. That is the way we keep a step ahead of the competition. The approach also gives us a good first look at the scope and nature of the project. It gives us a good start and also a good initial feel of the client organization. 4. The first document is the concept proposal. In this document the problem or set of problems that the organization is facing is identified and formulated, and the rationale for the requirement of the new software is presented. The concept proposal has to be approved by the management of the client organization. Once the concept proposal is through, the project rolls into the System Concept Development stage. In this stage, various reports such as the Feasibility Study, Cost-Benefit Analysis, System Boundary Study and the Risk Management Study are worked out. These reports are submitted to the client organization for approval. On he internal front, the cost-benefit analysis of the project for our company, the Return of Investment (ROI) report from the perspective of our company also has to be worked out in terms of execution of the project and approved by our management. 5. The key to effective project management is the initial planning phase. A project plan or schedule has to be developed. The schedule defines the key stages to be completed during the project. It sets the starting and completion dates for each task and details the resources that need to be allocated in each phase. Each stage defined in the schedule is further broken down into smaller tasks that are more easily manageable and achievable. The Project Schedule shows the inter-dependency of the project stages and tasks, and the reliance of one phase on the completion of another. This enables the drawing up of an accurate timescale along with a cash flow profile which indicates expenditure volumes at different stages of the project. 6. Priorities in my company are synchronized with client priorities as far a individual projects are concerned. What I am trying to say is that the priorities related to a definite project are driven by the priorities of the client organization. Our own overall priorities are established based on the working or execution requirements of ongoing projects. These priorities are also established on the basis of our own work plan. Here the view is more holistic than individual project based. 7. We use a web-based project management tool that we have developed, customized and perfected for ourselves during all these years. We call it ProjectNode Enterprise. Unlike in other available products, ProjectNode Enterprise does not churn out documents that are not required by us. Each company develops its own approach to and steps of project development in which the utilization of the project management software can be well defined and regulated. A commercially available project management tool will try to generalize and incorporate the requirements resulting in redundancies. In our case everything is specific. 8. We practically do everything through ProjectNode Enterprise. We manage clients, leads and project information, assign and update tasks, monitor project progress, create gantt charts, log hours and progress, receive and update project related emails, create invoices, schedule events, manage calendar entries, share files and manage forums, resources, permissions, user roles and system attributes. Being web-based, ProjectNoded enables online project management so that all discrete elements can work and move ahead as a team. 9. As I have mentioned before, client inputs are required right from the project conception and formulation stage. We make regular presentations to the clients for their inputs. We hold workshops and seminars. Our project management tool also provides adequate online linkages to the client organization so that they are able to view crucial project information at any point of time and give their feedback. Of course, to be able to do so, the client organization has to be adequately oriented and familiarized with our project management system. 10. Company management has to be involved in every stage of the project. I am a part of the company management, I follow the company project-related system of monitoring and according approval to keep everybody in the picture. After all, every project has to show profits at the end of it. 11. We use a variety of presentation tools. Project stages, progress and timeline are visually illustrated in the form of Gantt charts, bar charts, PERT charts and CPM diagrams. This is done with the help of our in-house project management tool. We use audio-visual presentation, power point presentations and interactive web presentations to get across to our clients. The presentations are usually made to a committee or board that the client organization nominates. This committee or board includes all the key decision makers of the client organization as far as the project is concerned. 12. The designated committee or board of the client organization accords approval at every stage of the project. The final submission is in the form of documents that are approved by the committee. 13. The pre-implementation testing of any product is done in a simulated environment. The performance is assessed by the client organization and by our professionals. Feedbacks from both are collated and consolidated to weave in modifications for enhanced performance or removal of drawbacks. 14. We always try to implement our products in modules or phases. In fact our development strategy is oriented towards a modular approach. This way it becomes easy to identify faults. Handling parts is always easier than handling a bulky whole. Also, the implementation process does not affect the whole organization at the same time and every unit gets the time to adapt itself to the changed environment before another unit linked unit is taken up for implementation. 15. A software project does not stop with implementation. Even after commissioning there could be debugging requirements or the need for further adaptation and enhancement in response to incorporation of new processes. Operations and maintenance of the software is a very important factor and preferably taken care of by the software developing agency. Skills in the client organization has also to be developed to a level at which they are able to handle and tackle routine procedures. Managing a software project is like navigating a flight, sometimes through very stormy weather. Summary The interview provided me with a good insight into the practical workings of software project management. Although text book procedures are followed to a great extent, a large degree of innovation and initiative is required for successful ICT project management. ICT project management is more about people and team management than technology management. Read More