Do too many goals impede a program? A case study of enterprise system implementation with multiple interdependent projects

Complex or large information technology (IT) implementations are typically managed as single programs composed of multiple projects. Program managers must be able to manage the interfaces of multiple interdependent projects to realize the goals of an IT implementation. However, the common problems of conflict and poor coordination often hinder the achievement of a program's goals. Part of this difficulty may lie in the structuring of the program goals themselves. Guided by Strategic Consensus Theory (SCT) and Realistic Group Conflict Theory (RGCT), we examine three enterprise system programs to study the relationship between the shared understanding of multiple or single program goals and conflict resolution and the coordination of programs in an attempt to explain a program's successful implementation. We find that a shared goal understanding as suggested by SCT is not sufficient to facilitate essential coordination. However, a superordinate goal as suggested by RGCT appears to resolve any discrepancies. The results imply that goals should be structured as superordinate requirements.     

Reconciling user and project manager perceptions of IT project risk: a Delphi study1

Abstract. In an increasingly dynamic business environment characterized by fast cycle times, shifting markets and unstable technology, a business organization’s survival hinges on its ability to align IT capabilities with business goals. To facilitate the successful introduction of new IT applications, issues of project risk must be addressed, and the expectations of multiple stakeholders must be managed appropriately. To the extent that users and developers may harbour different perceptions regarding project risk, areas of conflict may arise. By understanding the differences in how users and project managers perceive the risks, insights can be gained that may help to ensure the successful delivery of systems. Prior research has focused on the project manager’s perspective of IT project risk. This paper explores the issue of IT project risk from the user perspective and compares it with risk perceptions of project managers. A Delphi study reveals that these two stakeholder groups have different perceptions of risk factors. Through comparison with a previous study on project manager risk perceptions, zones of concordance and discordance that must be reconciled are identified.     

People Smart

To truly succeed in our careers, we must go beyond just being accepted and knowing how to interface—we need people to like us and be willing to help us, and we need to build a successful network of professional contacts. To achieve these goals, we shouldn't outwardly appear to be aggressive, even if we're aggressive in our objective—rather, we should be generous and magnanimous. We must also have a sense of humor and humility. In this installment of our series about the "soft skills" all IT professionals must master to advance their careers, the author focuses on how to be people smart.     

Issues of commercial optimization software development

Commercial optimization software development has a different set of goals and constraints than the development of academic or industrial research codes. Commercial codes must be all things to all people. They must contain a wide range of analysis options and be able to handle large, real world, industrial analysis models. As most of the users of the software in industry come from analysis, rather than design optimization backgrounds, the codes must perform in a robust manner. Inconsistent input data must be detected. Optimization methods must be automatically chosen by the program. Optimization parameters need to be adjusted automatically by the program. Another very important aspect is ease of use. A very intuitive and easy to use GUI (Graphical User Interface) should be developed. This work describes some of the development objectives and concerns that are essential to the development of commercial optimization software products. Received December 30, 2000     

Tower and airport simulation: flexibility as a premise for successful research

Commercial air transport has been growing steadily over the last decades and the demand often exceeds the capacity of the air traffic system. Simulation facilities are required in order to improve the performance and usability of assistance systems aiming at air traffic optimisation and to study the interaction of human operators with their working environment. Unlike training simulators, simulation environments for research and development purposes must comply with continuously changing requirements. The simulator must be flexible and scalable to permit adaptation to the specific goals of a simulation. To guarantee successful work in the future a simulation equipment must be capable to attend in distributed simulations. Since the Apron and Tower Simulator of the DLR Institute of Flight Guidance became operational in 1998 a number of different projects demanded this flexibility.     

Organizational factors and reuse

Reuse is not just a technical issue. Hewlett-Packard studied why people sometimes resist reuse and which organizational models appear to encourage reuse more than others. The study found that successful reuse programs must be integrated within the culture of a company's existing organizational structure. One crucial organizational factor is the relationship between producers and consumers of reuse components and services. What are these relationships and how well do they work? To answer this question, I conducted an empirical study of 10 engineering sites at Hewlett-Packard engaged in systematic reuse. From this reuse experience, I identified four models of producer-consumer relationships; evaluated the models in terms of their organizational structures, advantages, and disadvantages; and identified goals for management to enable a successful implementation. The four models are: lone producer, nested producer, pool producer and team producer. Two or more models may occur within a given reuse program. Recommendations to management are based on both current successful practices and interviewees' suggestions. I also include some tentative guidelines on which environments are best suited to each model     

Formative evaluation in the development and validation of expert systems in education

Researchers developing and validating educational products often expect the same field-test activities to provide information on product improvement and product effectiveness. For effective and economical use of resources, these two goals, product improvement and product validation, must be stressed at different times and with different tools and strategies. This article identifies the difference in procedures and outcome between formative and summative evaluation practices and relates these practices to the development and validation of expert systems in education.     

Evaluating probability of default: Intelligent agents in managing a multi-model system

For the successful probability of default (PD) evaluation with the application of multiple prediction models two issues should be addressed: the accuracy of the analytic models which decreases over time and the evaluation of results which must be presented in a uniform shape. To deal with these two issues, a multi-agent system (MAS) and knowledge management systems (KMS) based process management system is proposed. The proposed system has two goals: to prevent the PD information quality deterioration by active management of analytical processes and to provide a universal access point allowing the simultaneous use of multiple prediction models.     

Software Sales by it Departments: Managing the Opportunities and Issues

Corporate managers are keenly aware of the need to implement cost reductions as well as new profit-making initiatives. These sometimes-conflicting demands can lead to innovative approaches. For example, some IT departments have become profit centers by selling their own software products. This article addresses some of the benefits associated with becoming a vendor, as well as the management challenges that must be addressed for this type of initiative to be successful.     

Single goal set: a new paradigm for IT megaproject success

Large IT projects lack a consistently satisfied client because they don't optimally allocate resources toward achieving the most vital organizational business goals. Inevitably, a resource crunch builds up by the time the project reaches midlife. A huge negative sentiment also accumulates, which further vitiates project success. To address this endemic problem, the SGS project methodology ensures that resources are first allocated to the critical deliverables. Achieving the SGS establishes a successful frame of mind for the project team, which also adds to the overall acceptance of the IT solution in the organization. IT project management must find answers for the malaise of myriad failed project. Focusing IT project management on implementing a single overarching goal might substantially increase project successes.     

Testing methodology for FireWire

This article describes a methodology for testing a high-performance serial bus interface commonly referred to as FireWire. Specified by the IEEE 1394 document, FireWire is offered by IC manufacturers in various scalable configurations. In general, it is a low-cost device used to provide a highspeed data path between various systems and products, such as PCs and video devices. FireWire is also usable as a backplane bus interconnect. Application-specific IC manufacturers offer FireWire standard cells for use in custom device designs. To assure cost-effective production, the tester and implementation costs must be reasonable, the execution time must be short, and test results must be accurate. Our methodology fulfils these goals with a minimum of compromises. We validated it using a plastic leaded chip carrier device with an 8-bit parallel port and multiple serial ports on an Advantest T6682 VLSI Logic Test System     

Software project management with GAs

A Project Scheduling Problem consists in deciding who does what during the software project lifetime. This is a capital issue in the practice of software engineering, since the total budget and human resources involved must be managed optimally in order to end in a successful project. In short, companies are principally concerned with reducing the duration and cost of projects, and these two goals are in conflict with each other. In this work we tackle the problem by using genetic algorithms (GAs) to solve many different software project scenarios. Thanks to our newly developed instance generator we can perform structured studies on the influence the most important problem attributes have on the solutions. Our conclusions show that GAs are quite flexible and accurate for this application, and an important tool for automatic project management.     

Aligning security and usability

Conflicts between security and usability goals can be avoided by considering the goals together throughout an iterative design process. A successful design involves addressing users' expectations and inferring authorization based on their acts of designation.     

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Installing Vertical Market Software

For many companies, vertical market software is the logical choice when individualized information systems are needed. However, both the purchaser and the vendor face certain problems unique to vertical market products, and both must know how to avoid or minimize these impediments to successful systems implementation. In the following article, a hypothetical company history is used to illustrate the pitfalls of the vertical market and ways to avoid them.     

Victor R. Basili's contributions to software quality

This article deals with Victor R. Basili's contributions to software quality. Basili's contributions cover three broad areas: research in the 1970s and early 1980s on software measurement and the Goal Question Metric (GQM) model, research in the 1980s and 1990s on these measurement ideas' maturation into a software engineering model of empirical studies, including the development of the Quality Improvement Paradigm (QIP) and the influence of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Software Engineering Laboratory, and research since 1990 in the Experience Factory as a model for creating learning organizations for continuous software process improvement. Some of Basili's most important contributions are in measuring software development processes and products and gifted the community with an invaluable tool: the GQM approach. The GQM approach is based on the assumption that for an organization to measure its products and processes usefully, it must first specify goals for itself and its projects.     

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Installing Vertical Market Software

For many companies, vertical market software is the logical choice when individualized information systems are needed. However, both the purchaser and the vendor face certain problems unique to vertical market products, and both must know how to avoid or minimize these impediments to successful systems implementation. In the following article, a hypothetical company history is used to illustrate the pitfalls of the vertical market and ways to avoid them.     

Top-down vs. bottom-up process improvement

There are two approaches to process improvement. The top-down approach compares an organization's process with some generally accepted standard process. Process improvement is then the elimination of differences between an existing process and a standard one. The assumption is that, once the process is changed the generated products will be improved-or at least the risk of generating new software will he reduced. The bottom-up approach assumes that process change must be driven by an organization's goals, characteristics, product attributes, and experiences. Change is defined by a local domain instead of a universal set of accepted practices. For example, an organization whose primary goal is improving time to market may take a significantly different approach to process change than one whose primary goal is to produce defect-free software     

The impact of goal specificity and goal type on learning outcome and cognitive load

Two hundred and thirty three 15-year old students conducted experiments within a computer-based learning environment. They were provided with different goals according to an experimental 2 × 2 design with goal specificity (nonspecific goals versus specific goals) and goal type (problem solving goals versus learning goals) as factors. We replicated the findings of other researchers that nonspecific problem solving goals lead to lower cognitive load and better learning than specific problem solving goals. For learning goals, however, we observed this goal specificity effect only on cognitive load but not on learning outcome. Results indicate that the goal specificity affects the element interactivity of a task and cognitive load with both, problem solving goals or learning goals. But differences in overall cognitive load are not sufficient for explaining differences in learning outcome. Additionally, differences in strategy use come into play. Specific problem solving goals seem to restrict students to use a problem solving strategy whereas nonspecific problem solving goals or learning goals allow students to use a learning strategy. We conclude that in order to foster learning, students must be provided with goals that allow them to use a learning strategy. Additionally, providing them with nonspecific goals decreases cognitive load and, thus, enables students to learn with less effort.