Project Management for Information Systems
Name:
Institution:
Project Management for Information Systems
What I Learned About Project Management
Project management refers to the strategic efficiency that makes it possible for companies to apply specific strategies that help them achieve their desired results. Normally, the process requires firms to apply their understanding of various skills, tools and methods within different tasks so that they can meet the requirements of their project (Schwalbe, 2012). Schwalbe (2012) breaks down project management into five groups of processes that the implementation team must carry out. The groups include commencing, planning, executing, observing and managing. Project management applies in a wide range of fields such as health care, business and information systems (Bredillet, 2010).
Opinion on PMI’s Website
PMI’s (the Project Management Institute) site has a nice layout and contains a large amount of information that is helpful for anybody interested in project management. The website provides information on project management in general, certification for project management experts, information about PMI and academic issues concerning project management. The website’s knowledge centre is particularly useful as it offers academic information on project management including a concise description of the term along with a number of scholarly articles that cover the topic. Other parts of the website bear helpful information concerning the project management institute that explains how a person can join the group or even volunteer with them.
Opinion on Other Project Management Websites
The other project management sites I visited were:
Projectmanager.com is a good site but I would only recommend it to people who already understand the concept of project management. Its main advantage is that it can be quite useful for project managers while the site’s main con is its lack of any basic information regarding the concept of project management. Intropm.com is a good website for people to visit and learn about project management. The site’s main disadvantage is that most of the information it has focuses on academic relevance as opposed to practical application within project management. Ipma.ch is quite similar to pmi.com in that both websites belong to organizations that deal with project management. The advantage of ipma.ch is that it has a wide range of information that can help people looking for academic qualification in project management as well as people who are just starting to learn about the concept. The disadvantage of the site is that most of the information it has is about the organization and not project management. Asapm.org is the site for the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management. The site’s advantage is its simplicity and the fact that it has free content. Alternatively, the website does not provide a large amount of information on the topic as it focuses on the organization itself.
Opinion on PM Article
The article I retrieved from the PMI site was looking at the possibility of there being an entrepreneurial perspective to project management. In the article, Waite and Waite (2013) try to answer their question by drawing parallels between entrepreneurs and project managers. They find that there are startling similarities between the two with both being involved in the implementation and management of projects. They then point out the distinctions between the two positions, showing exactly what makes an entrepreneur different from a project manager (Waite & Waite, 2013). I felt that their article covered the topic quite well without delving too much into technical issues. Their analysis was minimized to a basic observation into the work of a project manager and entrepreneur. However, the article’s conclusion seemed to override everything that they had established before, by reducing their argument to the simple conclusion that entrepreneurs must have a certain set of previously established qualities. This implies that a project manager cannot be equated to an entrepreneur despite the obvious similarities.
Opinion on Second Article
In their
article, Lu, Huang and Li (2011) look at the applicability of RFID (Radio
Frequency Identification) technology within construction project management.
The article explores the advantages and disadvantages of using RFID technology
in construction and note that other industries have put the technology to good
use (Li et al., 2011). According to the authors, using RFID in construction
project management would help the managers in many ways. For instance, it would
help project managers keep track of resources as the workers use them and
therefore speed up the procurement process. One firm that has successfully
applied this strategy in its projects is the Mass Transit Railway Corporation
(Li et al., 2011). I felt that this article focused too much on the
technological point of view as opposed to the project management perspective. While
the authors were exhaustive in their coverage of RFID usage in the construction
industry, they failed to show how this technology would help from a project
management point of view.
References
Bredillet, C. (2010). Blowing hot and cold on project management. Project Management Journal, 41(3), 4-20.
Lu, W., Huang, G. Q., & Li, H. (2011). Scenarios for applying RFID technology in construction project management. Automation in Construction, 20 (2), 101-106.
Schwalbe, K. (2012). An introduction to project management. Boston (Mass.): Thomson Course Technology.
Waite, C. J. W., & Waite, A. (2013). Is there an entrepreneurial dimension to project management? Retrieved from http://www.pmi.org/~/media/PDF/Knowledge-Shelf/Walker_Waite_2013.ashx.