COMP3120 – Managing Software Development

Workshop #1 Instruction Sheet

Project Initiation

Introduction

The purpose of this workshop is to introduce you to some of the activities that ideally take place before it is decided to go ahead with a particular project. Frequently these activities happen prior to the project manager being formally appointed to the project and often much of the documentationcapturing the decisions and outcomes of this process are not automatically made available to the project manager.

Agile project management methodologies do not address the initiation stages of a project leading to the myth that agile approaches to not need to engage in project initiation processes. This is because agile methodologies focus on the activities which happen at a team (project) level rather than at an organisational level.

Understanding initiation activities and their relationship with strategic planning will help you understand the importance of the project to the organisation, where it fits within the organisation’s strategic objectives and the financial and business background to the project.

Armed with knowledge of this process should enable you to ask for this information should it not be made automatically available to you at the start of a project.

Objectives

  1. To identify and practice some of the key activities involved related to project initiation.
  2. Through discussion to learn from other’s experiences.
  3. For each individual to summarise for themselves the key points they have taken away from the class and why these are important for successful project managers and leaders.

Approach

  1. Prior to the workshop, each student will have read the pre-workshop material and thought about what the workshop activities entail.
  2. Students will work in groups of 3-5 students and the workshop will be broken into two parts.
  3. During the first hour and a half, each group will work together to complete the activities. This material will be collected and will be assessed(2% - group mark).
  4. During the final half hour all students will participate in a discussion covering the various activities undertaken.
  5. Using the appropriate Wattle activity, each student will reflect upon what they learned during the workshop to answer the questions posed (3% - individual mark).

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COMP3120 – Workshop #1 – Instruction sheet

Preparation

  1. Read and digest SchwalbeCaseStudyAndBusinessCase.pdf taking care to understand what material is included in the business case and from where that material is sourced.
  2. Read CaseStudy#1.pdf – we will be using this case study during the workshop. Bring a copy with you to the workshop, or ensure you have access to a copy during the workshop

You may also find the UTS project management website helpful: Initiating Processes ( especially the following pages:

a)Clarification of the project purpose and justification :

b)Stakeholder – needs analysis :

c)Establishment of clear and shared project objectives :

d)Generation of options to deliver the project objectives :

e)Evaluation of options and selection of the most appropriate :

Workshop

Workshop activities and discussion are based upon the Medical Information System case study (CaseStudy#1.pdf).

Activities

  • Complete the Worksheet for Workshop #1.
  • Submit the completed form for assessment
    (2% - Group Mark, unless the tutor has drawn attention to unequal participation in the group.)

You should note that a business case/project initiation documentation would normally also include:

  • a recommendation of which approach to take and why,
  • a statement of expected scope,
  • a set of high-level requirements,
  • an indicative costing,
  • an indicative schedule and
  • suggested project teamcomposition and when they would be needed.

Once it is decided to go ahead with a project, much of the material contained within the business case is developed further and included within documents such as an “Operational Concept Document” (sometimes also called CONOPS due to its military background), a project “Scope and Vision” document, the project “Charter” document and / or some other similar project documentation.

Discussion

During the final half hour of the workshop the group will discuss the following. Students will need to hypothesise:

a)about what might happen when project initiation activities are overlooked by an organisation and

b)the impact on a project manager’s ability to bring a project to a successful completion without knowledge of the background and decisions made as part of the initiation process

Post-workshop reflection

Using the wattle activity you need to post your reflective analysis of what you have learned during this workshop and how it relates to your existing learning. Specifically your reflection will need to:

1)provide a 3 or 4 sentence summary of the topic

2)a paragraph of reflection about the topic discussing

  • what you learned in this workshop,
  • how it changed your thinking,
  • how it relates (or doesn't) to your previous knowledge about the topic

3)identify a couple of questions that the topic raised in their mind which were not addressed during the workshop.

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