Presentation slides

1. Managing IT Personnel and
Projects
Pramit Kumar Sah
BPH, MPH

2. Overview
 Managing information technology (IT) personnel and projects is a
challenging undertaking.
 A public health manager charged with developing and
implementing a new information system must identify and recruit
technical staff and consultants possessing the right kinds of
educational qualifications and experience.
 In addition, the project manager must organize the technical team
and use effective strategies for communication with every
stakeholder, including company management, users of the
proposed new system, and IT personnel assigned to the project.
 Along the way, the project manager must secure appropriate
funding, analyze current processes, identify user needs, manage
the expectations of every stakeholder, address the inevitable
political opposition, analyze processes to be affected by the new
system, determine the appropriate technology to be employed,
and educate management about the costs of the proposed new
system.

3.  Although IT projects have a history of very high failure
rates, there are strategies that a project manager can use
to help insure project success.
 Through use of such tools as rapid prototyping, a
project manager can identify user needs and involve
users from the beginning in the project.
 Through a careful review of business processes, a
project manager can define the appropriate technology
to be applied.
 Finally, through knowing and recognizing the
characteristics of successful and unsuccessful IT
projects, a project manager can minimize the
probability that the IT project will fail.

4. Introduction
Managing IT personnel and projects is a challenging
undertaking
A public health manager charged with developing and
implementing a new information system must:
 identify and recruit technical staff and consultants with
right kinds of qualification and experiences
 organize the technical team and use effective strategies
for communication with every stakeholder, including
company management, users of the new system and IT
personnel

5. Contd…
 Secure appropriate funding, analyze
current processes and identify user needs
 mange the expectation of every
stakeholders and address the inevitable
political opposition
 analyze processes to be affected by the new
system
 determine the appropriate technology to be
employed, and educate management about
the costs of the proposed new system

6. Managing IT Personnel
Successful IT projects depend greatly on a
project head’s ability to:
1. Identify computer expertise
2. Recruit right people
3. Communicate with technical personnel
4. Hire consultants appropriately
5. Organize technical team

7. 1. Identifying computer expertise
Requires the identification and selection
of the right people to perform the work
Requires a manager to determine
whether candidates for project team
position have the right computer
expertise

8. Key factors to look for identifying computer
expertise
Factor Relevant characteristics
Education in
computer sciences
Bachelors level: possession of programming skills, knowledge of
database design, experience with project tools
Masters level: all skills of bachelors level plus completion of at
least one major IT project
Doctoral level: all skills of masters level plus development of a
significant new approach to solving a computer science problem;
primary emphasis is on research
Certification: indicate possession of expertise with regard to
specific products and systems
Experience Should be related to current task
Should be relevant to role the candidate will perform on the project
team
Should indicate cooperative service on a project team
References Should be multiple
Should include inquiry about the success of projects on which the
candidate has worked

9. 2.Recruiting
• Offering competitive compensation levels is
important in attracting high quality personnel, but
it is not the only tool to attract them
• Tools related to a candidate’s career development
and lifestyle are also extremely important
• Offering a candidate a desirable work environment
such as nice office space, good equipment can
attract good people

10. 3. Communication with technical
personnel
Manager should communicate effectively with
technical personnel
Manager should be familiar with the basic
terminology of information systems
Manager must insist on clear explanations of
technical terms from technical personnel
Technical personnel should be able to explain what
they are doing in plain English

11. 4. Hiring consultants
If a manager does not understand what he/she is being told and cannot get
clear explanation, it is time to hire a consultant
When there is a very specific issue or question that is beyond the expertise of
an in-house staff, it is time to bring in a consultant.
Important to interview potential consulting candidates same like as potential
full- time staff hire.
The references provided should be checked carefully
Task to be performed must be well defined and clear to consultants

12. 5.OrganizingTechnical Teams
Small interdisciplinary teams are most effective for handling IT projects
Technical team should include users, program staff, managers, and technical
personnel
A team manger should consider the input of all team members, and specially of
potential users of the system to be developed
Communication strategies such as holding regular meetings, making frequent
e-mail contact, issuing progress reports regularly, and locating team members
in close proximity to facilitate informal contact should be utilized

13. Managing IT Projects
A basic concept in IT projects is the “triangle”
relationship of the three key elements of time, features,
and budget.
The relationship of time, features and budget is
interdependent.
Not one of the elements of time, features, and budget of
IT projects can be changed without affecting another
element.

14. Interrelations of IT project time, features
and budget
Project component Impact of component increase or decrease
time If increased, will increase budget and may allow increase in system
features
If decreased, will reduce budget but also reduce system features
features If increased, will increase both project time and budget
If decreased, will reduce both project time and budget
budget If increased, may increase features and reduce project time
if decreased, will increase project time and reduce system features

15. Managing IT projects includes:
1. Managing expectation
2. Involving users
3. Communicating project benefits
4. Rapid prototyping
5. Managing political challenges
6. Securing funding for an IT project
7. Managing change created by a new system
8. Using technology appropriately

16. 1. Managing Expectations
IT project manager must:
Promise only what can be delivered and deliver what is promised on
time
be very cautious about making commitments
Educate higher management in the process of system development
Estimate – time and budget
Understand what can be done and how fast it can be accomplished
Estimate better future progress and therefore do a better job of
managing expectations

17. 2. Involving users
Give the users meaningful involvement from the inception
of the project to its completion
Involvement of users not only serves to solve real user
problems, but also fosters a sense of ownership of the
system
Involve users rather than supervisors of the system
Establish steering committee composed of users, managers
and the system developers

18. 3.Communicating project benefits
Deliver real benefits to higher levels of
management and the real users
The benefits of new system should include
improvement of the work flow of users
Providing small benefits to the intended
users early in the project development cycle
is extremely helpful in securing user
participation

19. 4.Rapid prototyping
Quick development of a nonfunctional test
version of the ultimate system for discussion and
review by users
Aids in the requirements specification process by
presenting users with a framework that captures
the current level of understanding of their needs
Minimizes risk by making very incremental
investments in system developments to refine the
requirements

20. 5.Managing political challenges
Overcome the inertia – the desire to maintain the status
quo- that is inherent in organizations
Understand who will benefit from the failure of a new
system development and to work to minimize those
benefits of failure
To gain acceptance of a new system, ensure job
placement for any person whose position will be
adversely affected by the new system

21. 6.Securring funding for an IT
project
Recognize inadequate funding usually is a
manifestation of political opposition within the
organization
Project manager should understand if decision
makers are not willing to pay for new system,
they do not really want it
It is also important for a manager to educate
senior management about the true costs of
information systems

22. 7.Managing change created by a new
system
A key element is changing employee behavior
The more rapid the change, the more the discomfort
increases
Behavior modification is a key part of system
development
Intermittent positive reinforcement is one of the
most powerful tools for behavior modification
Respect the affinity that users have with the old
system

23. 8.Using technology appropriately
Recognize that technology does not solve all
problems
A careful review of business processes helps to
define where technology can best be applied
Merely automating inefficient process is not a good
business strategy
Simply reengineering processes may eliminate the
need for automation and reveal new and different
information system needs

24. Reasons Projects Succeed
User involvement
Management support
Skilled, experienced project managers
Clear requirements statement
Comprehensive work plan
Sound development methodology
Prototyping
Extensive Testing

25. Paradigm for Success
Behavior Modification
– management
– users
Minimize increments of change
Use intermittent positive reinforcement
– provide real benefits to users
– what they want, NOT what you want

26. Managing IT - Summary
Know what you are doing
Use competent personnel
Use rapid prototyping to ensure user
involvement
Assess and respond to political
challenges
Know when to avoid technology

27. REFERENCE
1. http://rgw.arizona.edu/administration/man
aging-projects
2. http://funnel.sfsu.edu/creep/ProjectPersonn
el.htm
3. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007
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