The IT project managers are adaptive and resourceful leaders. Bringing complex projects across the finishing line is not an easy job, but the right leader does it time and again.
While as an IT project manager, you create user-friendly and flexible technology for the consumer and keep track of the progress of fellow team members. But, how do you do it? We suspect your secret is IT project management software.
The appropriate IT management software may be the differentiator between project success and failure. Our guide defines IT project management and offers advice on successfully managing IT projects.
The IT Project Management course by the British Academy for Training and Development is a vital program aimed at empowering participants with the essential knowledge and skills required to plan, execute, and close IT projects efficiently and effectively.
What is IT project managment?
IT project management is the management of technology projects during the entire life cycle of such projects from initiation to implementation. It is about the planning, organizing, resource coordination, budgeting, and risk mitigation activities around these IT projects and ensuring that these projects get completed on time.
From installing software systems in the organization to starting new website development projects, IT project management plays an integral role.
A common example is when a company migrates its entire infrastructure to the cloud.
All the planning will need to be put into place with all the coordination between teams involved. The IT project manager will be tracking progress and ensuring that the transition occurs seamlessly, all the while understanding the deadlines and budgets that are available.
And this means that effective project management with IT serves as an enabler for efficiency, innovation, and proactive edge in the digital world.
What are the main activities of an IT Project Manager?
An IT project manager must master the art of communication with everyone in the organization. You will work closely with the IT department but will also be required to hold discussions throughout the project with other teams.
Work to ensure the product is working: All IT projects have the goal of delivering an operational product that satisfies the requirements of the customer. If anything goes awry during a project, the IT project manager jumps into action; therefore, remember that ensuring functionality is paramount.Delegate tasks among team members: A project manager is the one person the team turns to when it comes to decision making regarding roles and responsibilities for the project. Spend some time first to understand IT teams as an IT project manager so you can effectively delegate.Track progress and performance: Once the project is underway, project management people must track team performance, project timelines, project budgets, and project target achievement. The IT projects manager will be able to use project management software for performance appraisal of team members and for skill enhancement purposes.Lead Agile meetings with stakeholders: A stakeholder is someone who is greatly affected by the result of the project; it may be senior management, customers, or the product tester. As the IT project manager, you will liaise with the stakeholders while providing them with frequent updates concerning the project.Navigating the 5 Phases of IT Project Management Success
The IT project management life cycle is considered to have five distinct phases: Initiation, Design, Development, Implementation, and Closure.Let's dig into understanding each phase in detail.
1. Initiation
This is the first phase wherein you define the scope of the project, objectives, and feasibility. Stakeholders, risks, and resources related to the project must also be checked.
In this phase, prepare a project charter or a business case documenting the project purpose and how it benefits the organisation.For instance, the initiation would cover assessing the existing IT project management process, understanding user requirements, and defining the project scope in case the company takes a new CRM system into implementation.
2. Planning & Design
In the planning and design stages, collaboration with stakeholders and subject matter specialists is done in order to gather requirements, and to analyze every aspect so that a detailed path may be followed in executing the project.
Planning supports resource allocation throughout project execution and keeping the project on track from start to finish. Planning also ensures that the project matches organizational objectives and factors such as technological features, usability, and scalability.
This stage plays the key role of setting the tempo for the entire project and supporting effective communication, management of expectations, and alignment of all players towards the same objective.So time and effort spent on planning and design would mean strong foundations for increasing your chances of success chances when going into project execution.In your website development project, planning and design involve creating wireframes, defining user interfaces, and selecting the appropriate development tools.
3. Development
The development phase here refers to building and testing the solution based upon specifications established in the design phase. Development means whatever it means to implement your plan for either coding or configuring the software or working on integrations. At this point, the quality, scope, time, and cost of the project need to be monitored and controlled.
Let us say in the case of a mobile app, here code will be written, user interface screens will be designed, and functionality will be integrated by the developers, which will make the application into a working state.
4. Implementation
In practice, implementation means rolling out and delivering all the pertinent finalizations and end users or customers. It includes activities such as the system's testing and training users and migration of the data. Methods and tools can be used for the installation, configuration, and integration of the solution with already existing systems.
Training may be provided to end users. So, for a new software application, when ready, you have to help users install the application onto their devices or servers. At the same time, you would need to provide proportionate user guides or interactive tutorials to ease the users' onboarding experience.
5. Closure
Closing an IT project is what completes the IT project management life cycle. This follow up stage involves assessing project performance and collecting follow up input. Feedback from end users is needed to help measure performance and project outcomes. Ultimately, lessons learned and best practices for the project for posterity are documented.
This phase allows the organization to improve future projects. Again, if, for instance, a new software application is to be implemented, a user satisfaction survey and a post implementation review can also be done in this phase.All these activities are overseen by the IT project manager, who ensures that the project delivers its promises on time and within the allocated budget.
Types of IT project management tools
IT project management tools will keep your project team organized and informed from the initiation stage to the closure stage. These tools mainly visualize each team member's duty in respect to the project and show the live status of the project.
RACI chart: A RACI finds its meaning in Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. A RACI Chart gives a clarification of the roles and responsibilities of all the team members while working through projects. For all those final deliverables, mention the team members or stakeholders under one of the four subheadings in the chart: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, or Informed. These charts are applicable in all types of IT projects as there will always be confusion as regards to clarifying responsibilities of individuals within the team. Gantt chart: A Gantt chart is named after its creator, Henry Gantt. A Gantt chart is mostly the horizontal charts that would show the life scale of any project. Each course bar in the chart would stand for the tasks meant to be done in the project and the length of each bar would indicate time accordingly. Gantt charts actually help visualise into the team what all work needs to be done and their interdependence; really speaking, how such work virtually flows like a waterfall. For a project full of dependent tasks (i.e. tasks that depend on each other), it really comes in handy because there is a visibility of if not where jobs overlap. Kanban boards: Kanban boards show all the work breakdown structure as in which stage each task is in. Thus, using Kanban boards in IT project management helps the team to have a balance of work obligations and the ability to see how other team members are available. Kanban boards are great when you need tasks that contain small incremental changes. These task boards allow teams to break a list into check listings and create stages as progress.