I would like to give a professional opinion about business and project management. The business world moves fast, project management has to keep up, or the business will get dragged down with the project. This analogy basically hits a few high notes about project management. Project management never moves faster than business. At the same time project management has to move at a good speed in order to keep up with the business. If a company has sever projects on the go and some take way more time than predicted, more and more projects can pile up potentially slowing down business to catch up and cost a company more money than they originally planned to invest.

The problem is, projects not only have to be fast paced; they need to be developed efficiently. This can be done in a number of ways where the project goes through a phase and life cycle system (Formula 1) or depending on the size of the project just the life cycle system.

 Formula 1: [Phases] * [life cycle] OR [life cycle]

In order to eliminate this from occurring, it is best to have an Agile or Rapid Application Development (RAD) project management techniques in the business project management model. These techniques usually are get work done quickly and efficiently. Oracle is a company that uses agile methods in their A.I.M. Project management techniques. They created a fully documented project management tool and methodology for other corporations to follow their standards. 

“Oracle’s Application Implementation Methodology is the ‘industry standard’ for Oracle project management and implementation strategy.”  (Thompso)

This is essentially a tool used for companies who want to develop for Oracle. The documents and reports support an agile framework and its life cycle tendencies. Oracle AIM also takes this methodology a step further by including other segments of business management (slideshare.net).

One thing to consider is that very large organizations such as IBM and Microsoft do not extensively use Agile or RAD to develop their flagship applications. They more or less still depend on the waterfall methods with some degree of spiraling (Wikipedia).

There are plenty more types of RAD techniques, one of the techniques I am more interested is the Lean Software Development (LD) technique. The main trait to this technique is “cut the extras and waist”.  I know this may not seem like the greatest approach at times, but, it’s what the client wants. When you have reached the end of your project, then I would think you should add all your extra content and functions.

 In conclusion, I believe different techniques are more targeted to different project types. There is no ‘best’ technique. I have personally used many different project management techniques and sometimes the one that worked last time won’t necessarily mean it will work for the next project. Out of all of them I would have to say that LD and RAD are my favorite because they are fast-moving and don’t take long to learn.

Work Cited

slideshare.net. oracle-aim-methodology. 26 04 2010 <http://www.slideshare.net/spurohit/oracle-aim-methodology>.

Thompso, Bryan. bryanthompsononline. 06 05 2008. 26 04 2010 <http://www.bryanthompsononline.com/oracle/2008/05/06/download-oracle-aim-applications-implementation-methodology-software/>.

Wikipedia. Rapid Application Development. 26 04 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_application_development>.

My partner for my 4th term project is Mackenzie Miller, I opted to do this project by myself.

Our project team consists of 2 individuals. Our project task is to create an online e-commerce website that will give the client the ability to sell books online. There will be several elements to the project. Firstly will be the sign up page with the log in and profile features available. After that has been successfully created we will be making an inventory system that can add and edit book information. Once that has been complete we will then create an ordering system kind of like a shopping cart where users can select the books they wish to order and actually order them. This is just a brief summary of what our project is about.

As a project manager, I usually keep these initial risks, assessments and risk plans in my head during a project. I do some documentation but very little unless it is a big risk or not a regular risk that I normally deal with. As Cornelius stated, this is usually normal for project managers who deal with smaller projects. In my case it makes sense because of the other statement he made where the client wouldn’t want to pay extra for these “overhead” expenses. During this voice response I’m going to mesh the 3 Risk categories to one. I will however separate the negative and the positive risks. I also have ordered the risks from the most serious to the least serious.

Negative Risks

1. Team member becomes unable to work on the project permanently because of serious injury or death

 a. This would result with half the manpower to complete the project. This essentially can make the project twice as long to complete. It may also become impossible for the single team member to complete because each of us has different skills that the other is weak on.
 b. This is something that cannot be avoided. Everyone lives their lives every day with risks. It is impossible for us to forecast how something could happen. To prevent a catastrophic impact, all work is documented and commented so that another person can pick up where that member left off.

2. All systems and backup’s fail

a. This would result in the project being completely lost. The project would have to restart immediately or else would be terminated by client.
b. This is our backup, this is everything. We make back-ups just in case something goes wrong. When the backup and all systems are lost you have nothing left. You can try your best to avoid this by keeping several copies of your projects in different areas in the world (this is more large-scale). Even having your projects in a different building may stop a fire from destroying all copies. The odds of this happening are extremely minimal.

3. A single work station fails

a. This would result in a team member being temporarily unable to participate in project development. They can still contribute but will be unable to program. 
b. Their newest work may be lost but usually the hard drive can be recovered. If the hard drive cannot be recovered however then the team member would work from their last backup of their work. Usually the best way to solve this risk is to have a backup workstation ready. Even if it has half the power of the original work station there would be minimum time lost.

4. Both work stations fail

a. Both members would be temporarily unable to work
b. Like above, try to recover your hard drive and have a backup workstation ready. In the worst case scenario use the server as a temporary workstation.

5. Server fails

a. This would mean that the server is dead and unable to turn on. This would require one of the team members to temporarily work on remaking a new server and trying to recover files off the broken servers hard drive
b. Have a backup server ready. You can also implement a failover switch that will automatically reroute to the backup server if the main server fails.

6. Back up fails

a. If the backup’s fail than essentially, you’re walking over disaster on thin ice. If any of your systems fail then you basically have to start over.
b. Testing your backup’s from time to time essentially ensures that your backups are working. If they are not working then a team member must try to fix the problem.

7. Database corrupts

a. With all the file transfers and database changes during a project, it is very easy for it to become corrupt if you are not careful. If the database get’s corrupt the program will simply stop working. This causes a complete halt on development and can take up both members to fix and test.
b. Always make sure you test your program and the database after every transfer. Test every backup of the database and make sure you can do simple unit tests on the database. This ensures that your databases are not corrupt and working properly.

8. Corrupt IIS.

a. This is a minor risk as long as you keep regular backup’s of your IIS files. If IIS fails and get’s corrupt you will be unable to send any outgoing FTP HTTP protocols. Your DNS and DHCP will not be able to work and your internal network could completely fail if you’re running a Domain controlled network
b. Keep multiple backups of your IIS files. Make sure you have a backup server ready with identical specifications to make down time minimal.

9. A phase is not complete in time

a. This stalls and pushes all scheduling back. This can potentially give less time to do more important tasks.
b. We can solve this by giving the previously unfinished phase priority over the next phase. However by doing this we are getting behind on our next phase. So to solve that, we can let one member to work on the previous phase and the other member to initiate the next phase after that.

10. DynDNS Service lost.

a. If the DynDNS service is lost anyone trying to get to the program’s website will be directed to a “Page not found” error page. This does not affect the server or the files on the server. This is an online web service that directs people to our IP using regular “.com” names.
b. Simply test you’re website regularly and log into the DynDNS website to make sure you’re service is still active. Check key termination dates to make sure that everything is fine.

11. No Internet connection for site hosting and FTP

a. No internet = no website. Since our project is 100% online it is crucial we’re always up and online. This also prevents us from doing FTP file transfers if we’re not on site.
b. There are plenty of ways we can actually solve this. Number 1, we can connect to 2 different internet providers through a switch router and implement a failover system where if one connection fails the other starts up. Number 2, we can have an external company host the product for us and have a failover through our DNS Service provider where if one IP Ping fails, change DynIP to reflect that of a working IP. Usually we can have 2-4 more sets of IPs where our data is being hosted to ensure that we always have a minimum downtime and maintain exceptional service.

12. Power outage.

a. No power means no work and no website being hosted.
b. If you take the steps above, that can solve some of this problem. The servers are then taken care of and that leaves us with the work stations. An easy way to solve this is of course having some sort of power backup like a generator. But that is pretty impractical for this level of project. An (Uninterruptible Power Supply) UPS however is more reasonable and can give our work stations several extra hours of development time. This method could also be used for the server. One thing to consider though is if all your clients are local. Then they don’t have power either.

Positive risks

1. More people to work on the project

a. Sometimes the more people we have the more effort we need to manage them. Where we would gain time we would also lose a little. We would need to more thoroughly think through managing tasks and assigned duties. But essentially programming and development time could potentially be minimized.
b. I would love to have more people work on this project. More people on this project would mean that we could have more people test, more ideas, more of everything.

2. The project grows to accommodate more features

a. This can affect scheduling and could essentially bring us more risks to the project.
b. We would need to analyze the project more to ensure that all details are covered and documented.

3. The project becomes marketable

a. This would require a higher level of business analysis and outside help. Currently we do not possess the skills that are required to actually sell the program to another company.
b. We would need to get outside help to go over contracts and other documentation to actually make the program sellable to another corporation.

Cornelius first suggests that you start by making assumptions of the project for you client. He said to do this during an introductory document such as a proposal.  This will let you make your customer understand of the project much clearer as to what responsibilities you and your clients have. After that you must make sure the customer understands the triple constraints (Cost, Scope, Scheduling, Quality). These are essentially the foundations for the project, explaining that if one is changed it potentially effects the other makes the client more aware of actions they may make later in time. This also lets the client accept the responsibility for changes made.

When creating the document it is a good idea to place in “reserves”. This is for schedule delays, scope changes, quality adjustments that a client may make. These could potentially cost you money, by placing “reserves” into your quote. it may save you that grief.

After the document has been made and the project has commenced, always be prepared to explain the effects of cost and schedule cuts the customer may want to make. Make sure you are prepared to give examples. There are 2 ways you can prepare for this.

1. You need to have alternatives ready.

An example that Cornelius made was; the client wanted to spend less on development. One way we could cut costs would be to have a Junior Programmer program the software for the client, rather than a Senior Programmer. This would save money but, could potentially raise the time it will take and lower the quality.

2. You need to be able to negotiate.

If a cost of a project is $100,000 and the client cannot afford the flat rate, you could give them a phase system that brings the system together over time. Starting with the most important parts of the project and then finishing with the clients least important needs. So the $100,000 could be split into several smaller payments.

I think I can relate to the way Cornelius does project management. I can totally relate to the way he describes client behavior and project outcomes. with my past experience 90% of all clients wanted a phased project. I find this to work the best because the project gets broken down into much smaller, easier to manage, projects. When I am managing a single phase of a project I can become really detailed and have it pretty straight forward when it comes to development.

Something I am rather uncomfortable with is saying no to a client. I have however stepped in and had to say no because the clients requests were a little obscured. Here is the request the client made:

They needed a daily file dump in an ASCII delimited file with the headers vertically rather then horizontally.

This request was made far after the changes to constraints deadline happened. I knew that this would mean large changes to our program and I had to step in and say no. There were other reasons why I said no, one would be the client did not start to program their software yet (they thought that vertical was the way to go).

Cornelius says in the Podcast that saying no is a good thing under the right circumstances. If you agreed to the changes and could not meet the deadline, your client for that project may spew the negative news to your other clients and even potential clients.

Finally, I believe that quality is a factor that can be negotiated. Cornelius said it perfectly when he compared a Junior Programmer(JP) to a Senior Programmer(SP) being tasked with the project. The difference is experience. The SP get obviously paid more money then the JP. The SP has worked longer then the JP and probably knows a bit more then the JP. Sometimes you need to get from A to B and you don’t care how you get there, a Lamborgini will cost a lot more then a Honda, however both can get you from A to B just the same.

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For your convenience I quoted the trend from Baseline Magazine’s website below:

10. Talent management’s impact on business ROI. During the next several years, thousands of baby boomers will leave the workforce—and thousands of Millennials (born between 1982 and 1997) will enter it. This will create challenges for managers, who will find that their new workers are motivated by a different set of incentives than the previous employees had been. Organizations need to develop a talent management strategy that focuses on recruiting and retaining talent to improve business performance.

Below is a quick video about Boomer’s vs Gen Y’s:

The reason why I selected this trend is simply because it affects me the most. In my workplace I am the only Gen Y (Millennial) employed by my company. This leaves a huge gap where everyone in the corporation doesn’t really understand sometimes where my ideas are coming from. Sometimes it’s hard to explain the rational of some of my ideas to managers because they’re not used to the newer/younger techniques.

I believe sometimes the baby boomers have trouble adapting to Gen Y‘s work ethic and attitude because of the difference in life styles growing up. To read more into this please visit this website. The website will outline the differences clearly from a non-bias view point. It also gives clear details on both the Baby Boomers and Gen Y.

Essentially, Gen Y brings in a whole new way of doing business. In this article, the author explains that the Gen Y employee snagged 6 businesses from just using her facebook contact list. This is the type of technology Gen Y has grown up with. They can utilize and adapt to newer technology easier then the boomers are able to.

This sometimes can make a huge gap between Boomers and Gen Y’s like I have experienced. The way this problem can be solved is an understanding and communication from both sides. Meeting in the middle is generally the best way.

There are many pro’s and con’s to work habits of each generation. Below, I’ve listed some website that should help you find information on the differences between them.

http://www.rtoonline.com/Content/Article/Apr08/SolvingGenerationalConflict041808.asp – This article goes over the different types of behaviors in the workplace. This article also goes over some of the differences at childhood and why that affected work habits.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/nov09/11-03BridgingBankingGapPR.mspx – Even Microsoft reports that Baby Boomers and Gen Y’s have a gap. They explained in this article that Banks are needing to close the gap between them to attract new customers.

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5736.html – In this Harvard article, they explain in more details about how the Millennials will manage business.

Project – an enterprise carefully planned to achieve a particular aim. 

Management - the process of managing

Putting them together illustrates a planned objective that is managed.