IT Project Services

Even through some of us may not have majored or minored in project management at school or college, we are no strangers to the role. If you take the task you have at hand right now and scale it up to aim for larger goals that involve variables such as other team players (within and without the organisation); budget, time, tools — resources and constraints; unique requirements; conflicting needs; geographically dispersed staff, involve various methodology, tools or equipment etc. You will have the makings of a project.

No horsing around in Kentucky

Sometimes they can feel quite overwhelming and unmanageable straight off the block. An example being the 2010 World Equestrian Games that was held at Kentucky Horse Park in the state of Kentucky in the U.S.

The IT support managers had 19 days to set up the hardware, software and infrastructure on a 600-acre site. On top of which was the fact that the hardware and software (independently selected to meet long-term site needs, may conflict with the event requirements); no playbook or standardized IT operating procedure; a limited infrastructure that had to cope with credit card transactions, large-photo transmission, broadcast television and a host of ground crew and security radio-frequency networks.

Project Management tactics that pay-off

When there is a lack of a clear roadmap, travelers – in this case, project team players – are unlikely to make it to the agreed destinations or objectives punctually.

With so many variables at play, it pays to identify and apply tactics.  Does your IT project leader assist you with:

  • Clearly outlined project scope – Objectives, Project Challenges, Initiation, Execution, Troubleshooting and Deliverables;
  • All involved parties to be on board, committed and forthcoming with regular updates;
  • Clear communications are a must as any one hold-up can cause the project to stall or to crash;
  • Promptly identify problems, accurately define them and deal with them quickly;
  • Deliverables have to be defined and effected according to agreed timeframes;
  • Quality of deliverables have to be set and met;
  • Schedule in performance or acceptance tests (especially for IT projects);

Lead by example

 As with most stress-related undertakings, it is a matter of execution, communication, even creativity and process. No matter how challenging the circumstances, at Knowledge Plus we work hard to ensure every project manager upholds good ethics, values and discipline.  Our project managers knows to:

  • Always stay in touch with how things are progressing
  • Be patient but persistent i.e. never give up
  • Keep it simple and get more done with less
  • Ask for help when needed and reciprocate where you can