Having an intensive comprehension of best practices in the field is imperative in order to have successful IT project management. IT projects are famously hard to continue especially on budget and schedule. If you are in charge of planning IT projects, you should make the best use of all tools at your disposal. IT projects management best practices can put projects on the way to achievement and success. Indeed, the Standish Group stated on their CHAOS Summary 2009 report that under 33% of IT projects were considered successful.
IT Project Management best practices
Basically, IT project management is divided into three general categories: organizational, team and individual. These designations determines at what level the process will advantage the organization, and can help keep every part of the undertaking encircled in the best possible connection.
Organizational Best Practices
Such Initiatives relating to scalability of practices, continuous improvement, corporate policies and governance and knowledge management fall under organizational best practices category. These all effect an organization straightforwardly at the corporate level, thus they should be deciphered and assessed within that context. Otherwise IT project management will not work with the existing structure or corporate framework, prompting potential inconveniences later on.
There are many ways in which a project leader can implement IT project management best practices. For example, in terms of scalability, the size of a project must be taken into consideration. Generally, a large project will require bigger number of resources than the small one; if support is balanced accordingly, this will challenge the project manager to do too much with too little. Likewise, it is important to have the numbers scaled down from small project to large one, or overhead may become the main issue. A project leader has numerous ways to execute IT project management best practices. For instance, in terms of versatility, size of the project must be taken into consideration.
In successful organization has knowledge management as another important aspect of IT project management. It’s imperative to keep a centralized and systematic body of knowledge in which team members can access and contribute. The project manager must ensure that the whole group is mindful of pitfalls and problems experienced on past projects so they can be avoided in new projects.
Team Best Practices
When it comes to a team level, IT project management best practices incorporates recognizing what each individual brings to the team, clearly communicating and defining the focus and goals of the project, and properly documenting and planning all processes. To effectively establish the scope, timeline and budget, the project manager must ask the right questions at the outset and all team members must understand these guidelines. They should be vigilant to speak out if there are any factors that can impact the cost, schedule or scope of the project to avoid unnecessary problems. To ensure the smooth process ongoing and open communication is highly needed and IT project manager must set up a framework for controlling and evaluating risk factors throughout project course and maintain a record of problems, resolutions, progress and accomplishments.
Individual Best Practices
In this aspect every individual contributor must give their commitment to following best practices for IT project management works effectively. Every member is required to share and communicate their knowledge and ideas to the entire team, otherwise organizational goals will not be met. Individual best practice provides a huge impact on IT project management effectiveness, which is why all team members must understand and do their deliverables and responsibilities accordingly.