Phases of Project Management - Essay Example

Exercise 3 Summary of Key Points Project management can be defined as the application of techniques, skills and knowledge with the aim of efficiently and effectively executing projects. It is important to plan the steps necessary for the accomplishment of tasks before starting them. The first stage of project management is the initiation phase that involves the definition of the project’s scope and determination of required resources. This aids in accomplishing the task with quality by first understanding the task to be carried out. The scope of the project is dependent on the client’s specifications. Steps in this stage vary according to project. A meeting to determine the steps needed is common with all projects at the initiation stage (Lewis, 12). The next phase is called the planning phase and involves planning how the resources discussed in the earlier phase will be used. Where an initial budget had been created, the project manager now has to facilitate a review of the budget and the estimation of an order to complete the given tasks considering the budget. While phase one deals with what needs to be done, phase two deals with how it is to be done. The third phase is the execution phase that involves doing the task. It is tempting to begin a project at this stage, but steps 1 and 2 are just as important. All projects then have a closing stage that involves reflection to review the project for possible changes for implementation if another project were to take place. Those with responsibilities are required to share the insight into what was well done and what could have been improved. Project management requires quality communication since if the ideas were not presented clearly, then serious impediments would occur. When making a decision regarding what technology to use, training and budgetary questions require to be answered. These involve the presence of existing technology, whether training will be required for the team and whether the technology will reduce time spent on the project. In a team, communication can be synchronous, that is communicating at the same time or asynchronous, which involves the inability to communicate at the same time. Sending of e-mails to team members is an example of asynchronous communication while a face-to-face meeting is a good example of synchronous communication. Another aspect of efficient communication in project management is emotional intelligence. The project leader has to possess emotional intelligence because they have to interact with various personalities in the project team. EI involves relationship management, empathy, self-regulation and emotional awareness. EI quality affects the trust that the team members will put in their leader, which, in turn, aids in the project’s success. A project leader must have the empathy to understand where the origins of different viewpoints. A project manager also needs to have conflict resolution skills since different personality types will clash in teams (Lewis, 12). Finally, for project management to be successful, it needs efficient, time management. Poor management of projects also leads to additional costs. In applying techniques for time management, we need to prioritize the tasks that need to be done. Quality time management also involves the development of personal relationships since time spent resolving conflict could be spent on constructive. One must also plan to complete the activity. Organization is yet another rule for project management, with the ability to adapt to situations being the final activity. Summary of Netcraft.com One of the key steps that the internet community has been taught to protect their personal information via the internet is to ensure that they enter over an encrypted connection. This has resulted in phishing attacks, which use SSL certificates because most internet users associate valid presence of an SSL certificate with improved security. While most phishing attacks occur over HTTP, some run on SSL certificate run sites. Access on professionally and timely validated alerts is important when these sorts of attacks happen since it helps in preserving the reputation of a company. Netcraft is involved in the production of a phishing feed that works with all web browsers while also possessing licenses from most domain registration, web hosting, and anti-virus companies. Another story available on Netcraft.com is the web server survey. In September, the company received a reduction in responses by 8 million from websites compared to the previous month. This was likely caused by the disappearance of a massive network of link-farmed domains from the “.com TLD”. Microsoft’s IIS 8.0 server software saw an increase of 519% over 6 months since its release. Amazon also became the largest hosting location in the world by count of web-facing computers. The server count by Netcraft utilized a heuristic set to identify individual web-browsers, without regard to the number of IP addresses they may have or the number of websites they serve. Another article on the site was the most reliable hosting company sites as at August 2012. Qube managed Services was the most reliable with infrastructure in New York, London and Zurich. Datapipe and iWeb technologies were 2nd and 3rd with a similar percentage regarding successful requests. Netcetra and XILO also placed highly, getting a similar number of successful requests compared to the previous two. Windows server 2008, FreeBSD and Linux, host the most reliable companies. The operating system used by Indstate.edu is Windows 95, 97, and NXT, while sycamorepride.com uses Linux. Tribstar.com uses Windows & professional, servint uses Linux also, while aruba.com it uses windows server 2003. Summary of News Article The Wireless Association recently announced a MobileCON speaker lineup. This features a roster of IT, technology and wireless experts from both public and private sectors. The sessions are aimed at connecting those driving mobile enterprise innovations and the attendees. Topics to be tackled will include cyber-security, mobile commerce, vertical markets and mobile cloud. CTIA has managed to optimize the experience of a trade show via putting three thought leadership stages on the floor to create learning, demonstrative and networking experience for exhibitors and attendees. Attendees will also get to engage, with IT experts and professionals, to provide straight answers and solutions. Participating companies should include Kimberley-Clark, IBM, HP, Ericsson, Dell, CompTIA, CommNexus, Blackberry, among others. Via high-level Boardroom, policy and Cyber-security panels, those in attendance will have an inside look into the manner in which issues facing IT and wireless professionals are being tackled. The attendees will hear from executives from such esteemed companies as American Red Cross CIO, the Medio CEO, IBM global business’ VP, the Air-watch founder, among others. Finally, there will be deep-dive seminars featuring half-day or full-day events on BYOD, IT security, M2M, and enterprise applications. The partner series will provide deep look into all topics. Experts including Ovum, M2M zone, FCC, CompTIA, Award Solutions and Accenture are expected to give those in attendance an understanding to tackle specific issues concerning their organizations. Works Cited Lewis, James. Fundamentals of project management. New York : American Management Association , 2011. Print. Read More