The Need of Project Management: in IT
Project management is vital to the success of any organizations. In fact, according to Harvard Business Review, IT failure costs U.S economy $50-$150 billion annually [i] and if we look up at “Global scale, 24 % of all projects either fail, are cancelled, or delivered but never used.” [ii] While there are numerous studies that provided the reason behind its failure, an article published by Project Management lists “Top 10 reasons why projects fail” and the top three were: [iii]
- Scope Creep
- Overallocated Resources
- Poor Communications
I was guilty with all of the provided listings and that’s the main reason why I took MIS 204 despite the fact that I previously completed a full semester of Project Management. I feel the need to master Project Management in order for me to successfully meet my objective which is getting a good grade. For instance, as a student leader, I have been juggling between classes and four to five roles within my University with different project.
Project Management Application for Student
The application of Project Management tools is crucial to every student’s success. In fact, applying these skills while at school lead to a good project management as well as success in workforce. As an example, when I started applying the skills that I learned in my class, it not only improves my grades but most of my project were in the process of getting implemented, in fact, just for MIS 204 class I remember facing D or C at the beginning which is bit scary and that’s when the I decided to apply the skills to handle multiple responsibilities. Similarly, being equipped with tools such as knowledge and skills, handling multiple project becomes easier to manage.
Many students may argue that project management skills only needed in the business world, therefore applying them while you are still a student may not provide the same satisfaction. However, as stated earlier, the tools greatly impacted my life. I also like to think of it as the learning ground. Testing all what I learned and put them into test to be familiar with the tools as early as possible.
Project Management Skills: Hard and Soft Skills
Another skills that I learned through project management class is the application of hard and soft skills. When I started college, I am slow in reading and because of that, I failed to meet deadlines. However, when I started applying the tool of work breakdown structure (WBS) which I learned from studying PM it helps me progress in reading and of course, meet my deadlines. Through this method, I learned to sort my priorities and I acquire great organizational skills.
Similarly, time management is one of the skills that I acquire from this class, in fact, I used to procrastinate a lot which often lead to cramming my projects, cramming my assignments, and even attend in a meeting unprepared.
Finally, in order for me to apply all these skills I need a tool that would help me execute this knowledge and I am glad the Microsoft Excel was part of the learning objective of management information systems (MIS) class.
References:
[i] Flyvbjerg, B., & Budzier, A. (2011). Why Your IT Project May Be Riskier Than You Think. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2011/09/why-your-it-project-may-be-riskier-than-you-think
[ii] Project failure costs region billions of dollars every year, 24 per cent of all projects fail worldwide. (2009, October 18). Albawaba.com. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A209998035/GIC?u=psucic&sid=GIC&xid=f952c369
[iii] Stewart, J. (2021, March 3). Top 10 Reasons Why Projects Fail. PM: Project-Management.Com – The Ultimate Reference for Project Managers. https://project-management.com/top-10-reasons-why-projects-fail/