Definitionen av ett projekt är att det måste gå att mäta om ett projekt nått sitt mål eller inte. Ett projekt skall också ha en klar och tydligt fastställd slutpunkt, där projektgruppen upplöses och projektet avslutas. De metoder som valts att användas för datainsamling är intervjuer med projektledarna och kunderna. Även litteraturstudier har använts för att kartlägga redan existerande kunskap inom området samt för att bygga upp en teoretisk referensram. I denna studie beskrivs arbetsgången hos två projekt. Vid jämförande och analys av arbetsgången vid de båda projekten visade det sig att det fanns både likheter och skillnader. I resultatet redovisas de båda projektens arbetsgång, samt vad projektledarna och kunderna har för åsikter om respektive projekts genomförande och slutresultat. Slutsatsen som man kan dra av jämförandet av Projekt A och B med den teoretiska projektgången är att i många fall oberoende på storleken på ett projekt så genomförs kundorderprojekt på samma sätt. / The definition of a project is that the goal must be able to be measured after the project is finished. A project must have a clear ending point where the project group is dissolved. The methods that have been chosen for collecting material are interviews with the project managers and the customers. Litterature has also been studied for a theoretical view. In this study two projects are analyzed. At comparison between the projects, it shows that there are both similarities and differences between the way to work in a project. In the result it is described how the two projects where carried out and also what the project managers and the customers thought of the realization and end result. The conclusion that you can draw is that in many cases the realization are not depending of size of the project. The projects are carried out the same way independent of the projects size.

<p>Definitionen av ett projekt är att det måste gå att mäta om ett projekt nått sitt mål eller inte. Ett projekt skall också ha en klar och tydligt fastställd slutpunkt, där projektgruppen upplöses och projektet avslutas.</p><p>De metoder som valts att användas för datainsamling är intervjuer med projektledarna och kunderna. Även litteraturstudier har använts för att kartlägga redan existerande kunskap inom området samt för att bygga upp en teoretisk referensram.</p><p>I denna studie beskrivs arbetsgången hos två projekt. Vid jämförande och analys av arbetsgången vid de båda projekten visade det sig att det fanns både likheter och skillnader. I resultatet redovisas de båda projektens arbetsgång, samt vad projektledarna och kunderna har för åsikter om respektive projekts genomförande och slutresultat. Slutsatsen som man kan dra av jämförandet av Projekt A och B med den teoretiska projektgången är att i många fall oberoende på storleken på ett projekt så genomförs kundorderprojekt på samma sätt.</p> / <p>The definition of a project is that the goal must be able to be measured after the project is finished. A project must have a clear ending point where the project group is dissolved. The methods that have been chosen for collecting material are interviews with the project managers and the customers. Litterature has also been studied for a theoretical view.</p><p>In this study two projects are analyzed. At comparison between the projects, it shows that there are both similarities and differences between the way to work in a project. In the result it is described how the two projects where carried out and also what the project managers and the customers thought of the realization and end result. The conclusion that you can draw is that in many cases the realization are not depending of size of the project. The projects are carried out the same way independent of the projects size.</p>

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between systems development methodologies (SDMs) and the success of Information Technology (IT) projects. The study also seeks to find other critical success factors (CSFs) that influence IT projects success. What initiated this study, with reference to the literature review, is the apparent general view that IT project deliveries are still late, over budget, and unpredictable (Chow & Cao, 2008:961; The Standish Group, 2004). To some extent, the entire project fails before delivering an application. Hence this causes the need to investigate the employment of SDMs and their belief that SDMs improve quality in the development of IT projects and permit more flexible deployment to IT projects (Idea Group Publishing, 2006:13; Dyba et al., 2005:447; Mihailescu & Mihailescu, 2009:1). However, SDMs are still less popularly used (Siau & Tan, 2005:3132; Masrek I., 2008:137). The study provides insight into the relationship between SDMs and the IT projects. A survey using a questionnaire was carried out to obtain the data. The study employed a positivist paradigm and used a quantitative approach. A total of 132 questionnaires were returned from systems developers, IT project managers and team leaders from system development companies. It was found that there is a relationship between systems development methodologies (SDMs) and IT project success. Despite recognizing the benefits and advantages of using SDMs, some respondents disclosed that they were not inclined to employ SDMs and the popular reason was that their profile of development projects didn‟t require the use of SDMs. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationship. Consequently, the top ten CSFs were observed and it was found that “identifying potential risk” and “opportunity” were the most favourable factors. The study could have obtained richer and more insightful information regarding SDMs and critical success factors if more data had been collected. Future work should seek to determine the risks, challenges and problems associated with the adoption of SDMs. / MSc (Computer Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between systems development methodologies (SDMs) and the success of Information Technology (IT) projects. The study also seeks to find other critical success factors (CSFs) that influence IT projects success. What initiated this study, with reference to the literature review, is the apparent general view that IT project deliveries are still late, over budget, and unpredictable (Chow & Cao, 2008:961; The Standish Group, 2004). To some extent, the entire project fails before delivering an application. Hence this causes the need to investigate the employment of SDMs and their belief that SDMs improve quality in the development of IT projects and permit more flexible deployment to IT projects (Idea Group Publishing, 2006:13; Dyba et al., 2005:447; Mihailescu & Mihailescu, 2009:1). However, SDMs are still less popularly used (Siau & Tan, 2005:3132; Masrek I., 2008:137). The study provides insight into the relationship between SDMs and the IT projects. A survey using a questionnaire was carried out to obtain the data. The study employed a positivist paradigm and used a quantitative approach. A total of 132 questionnaires were returned from systems developers, IT project managers and team leaders from system development companies. It was found that there is a relationship between systems development methodologies (SDMs) and IT project success. Despite recognizing the benefits and advantages of using SDMs, some respondents disclosed that they were not inclined to employ SDMs and the popular reason was that their profile of development projects didn‟t require the use of SDMs. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationship. Consequently, the top ten CSFs were observed and it was found that “identifying potential risk” and “opportunity” were the most favourable factors. The study could have obtained richer and more insightful information regarding SDMs and critical success factors if more data had been collected. Future work should seek to determine the risks, challenges and problems associated with the adoption of SDMs. / MSc (Computer Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

While software subcontracting is a common business transaction in the information technology field, metrics specifically aimed at effectiveness of software subcontracting arrangements are not commonly available. This thesis makes a review of the literature and derives such metrics from fields of software quality, COTS acquisition and IS success. A case study is performed on software subcontracting projects of a Turkish defense contractor, and the project metrics are compared according to their success. The results suggest that metrics regarding the requirements are good indicators for subcontracting success and that larger projects may enjoy more success compared to smaller ones.

Background. Management is an essential factor in any organization let alone its kind and size. Project management is the art and science of planning and implementing a project to achieve the desired outcome. Project Management (PM) plays a crucial role in businesses which are bound to function in a team-based environment regardless of the type of business. Although a variety of project management practices are employed in different kinds of industries, it is well understood that the style and level of employment of these project management practices have a significant impact on the project success. The software engineering industry has its own project management practices and the employment of these practices depends on the project manager who thus plays a key role in project management. Project manager has been a ubiquitous feature of traditional software projects. Project managers are a merger of personal characteristics and areas of competency that act together to integrate the various components of a project. In this study, the author discusses about the concept of software engineering management, various characteristics and key competencies of a project manager and also the factors influencing the overall success of a project. The authors also discuss about the current state and importance of PM education and its influence in the real time industry. Objectives. This research study is to analyze and make conclusions about the ideal features of a project manager and therefore attempt to understand its association with critical factors of PM for a project’s success in terms of delivering the product as scheduled and also understand various non-PM factors that are critical for project success. The study also attempts to show the significance of studying PM specifically in the context of Software Engineering as different from other contexts and the importance of PM education in academics and teaching PM in the industry. Methods. To achieve the objectives of this research, we attempt to study project management in the context of Software Engineering by conducting a literature review followed with a descriptive Survey as our research methods for this study to show how far literature complies to the present-day views and overall form a common opinion on this subject by comparing both the findings. Results. The results yielded by conducting a literature review conclude that Project Management or Software Engineering Management plays a vital role in software projects. Various factors that contribute towards successful project management were identified. Also, relevant literature was reviewed to identify the characteristics and competencies of an effective project manager and the status of project management education in academics and in the software engineering industry. The results obtained from the literature review were used in designing a survey and were further used to compare with and validate the results of this survey. A thorough analysis of these results yielded in capturing the current status and views with a snapshot of the situation in the present Software Engineering industry. A clear view on the subject area and results from a sample population of 73 software engineering professionals consisting of up to 41 experienced managers were analyzed, commented and documented. Conclusions. Various conclusions were drawn including discussions on the compliances and contradictions between present literature and software professionals in the present industry have been made. It was found that the majority of software professionals believe that project management in software engineering is unique from project management in other disciplines. It was found that professionals believe project management to be highly to very highly crucial for the overall success of software projects and that the most important key factors for successful project management were team motivation, communication and risk management. It was found that ‘Ability to foresee a problem’, ‘Decision making’ and ‘Inspires a shared vision’ were among the top three characteristics and ‘Team management’, ‘Leadership’ and ‘Ability to work under pressure’ were among the top three competencies of an effective project manager. It was found that managers feel the need to be taught about project management standards and that the ‘PMBoK’ and ‘ISO 9001’ were the most popular standards implemented. It was found that there are very contrasting views among companies on training project managers before promoting them to managerial positions whereas managers expect to be trained. Keywords: Software Engineering Management, Software Project Management, Project Manager, Project Success, Project Management Education, Software Engineering.

Novos negócios, novos serviços, novos processos e a evolução constante dos que já existem, além do atendimento das estratégias estabelecidas, são desafios diários da organização. Isso indica a necessidade de se ter funcionários, independentemente do nível hierárquico, que possuam senso de oportunidade e sensibilidade para os desafios e os problemas enfrentados pela empresa, além da obstinação em resolvê-los, características ligadas ao conceito de empreendedorismo corporativo. De um outro ponto de vista, o atendimento das estratégias, em sua maioria, é realizado por meio de projetos, sendo o maior responsável pela sua liderança: o gerente de projetos. Assim, nesse processo, esse profissional torna-se um elemento chave para o sucesso do projeto e das estratégias; adicionalmente, pode se tornar importante para o futuro da organização, ao usar sua capacidade empreendedora para vislumbrar novas necessidades e oportunidades. No entanto, o gerente de projetos tem responsabilidades operacionais, de monitoramento, contabilização e controle perante o projeto, para que os objetivos iniciais sejam atendidos, quando talvez as características de um empreendedor não sejam necessárias. Torna-se então relevante avaliar se as características de um empreendedor corporativo agregam valor ou não ao gerente de projetos, na medida em que elas se reflitam em projetos mais bem sucedidos. Para essa avaliação, realizou-se uma pesquisa por meio de 164 gerentes de projetos, em sua maioria homens bastante experientes, com pós-graduação. A análise não-paramétrica indicou uma tendência de se ter projetos mais bem sucedidos quanto maior for a tendência empreendedora do gerente de projetos. Houve um destaque para a tendência criativa, para a qual pôde-se observar um impacto positivo em inúmeros critérios de sucesso, inclusive sugerindo que quanto maior a tendência criativa do gerente de projetos, maior será a possibilidade do projeto ser bem sucedido. Como não se encontrou menção dessas características nos autores pesquisados nesse estudo, recomenda-se a revisão do estudo do perfil do gerente de projetos, a fim de se avaliar mais profundamente a inclusão da tendência criativa em seu perfil. Um gerente de projetos não pode mais ser visto como um mero executor; deve sim ser visto como um parceiro importante no reconhecimento e busca de novas oportunidades, além da contribuição aos bons resultados, pela persistência em solucionar problemas e desafios encontrados no desenvolvimento de suas atividades. / New businesses, new services, new processes, the already constant evolution of them, also the settle strategy are the organization daily challenges. So,it indicates they require to have employees, independently from hierarchical level, who have a sense of opportunity and sensibility to the problems and dare faced by the company, and a strong will to solve them. These characteristics are part of the conception of corporate entrepreneurship. A another point of view: these strategies solutions are in its majority made by projects, and the responsible person for its leadership is the project manager. Therefore, in this process he becomes the key element to the project and strategy success; additionally he can become very important to the future of the organization when he applies his entrepreneur skills to glimpse new necessities and opportunities. However, the project manager has operational responsibilities, like monitoring, accounting and control, in order to attend the initial targets, even whenever entrepreneur skill might not be necessary. Therefore, it is relevant to evaluate whether a corporate entrepreneur skills add values to the project manager or not, from the moment they are used in successful projects. A research with 164 project managers with post-graduation courses and great work experience was carried on, in order to have this evaluation. Nonparametric analysis indicated a tendency of more successful projects as far as the manager entrepreneur skills tendency increase. There was an emphasis for the creative tendency, which a positive impact in several successful criteria could be observed, also suggesting that the more creative tendency of the project manager, the more it will be the responsibility of a successful project. As there are not mention about this characteristics in the literature, we recommend a profile project manager review to fill this gap. A project manager cannot be like a simple person who carry orders; he should be a partner in a enterprise to seek opportunities, beside his or her contribuition to fix the problems and challenges.

Nowadays, organizations are shifting towards project-based management strategies in order to implement more flexible structures that allow them to respond and compete in complex business environments. In this way, project management has been regarded as a valuable competence, providing the organization and its management teams the opportunity to adapt the knowledge, skills and tools necessary to meet project requirements as well as organizational goals. Among the wide array of decisions project managers have to evaluate project selection (PS) and project prioritization (PP) are crucial in order to maximize stakeholder’s value through the effective management and allocation of resources to projects that are in alignment with the organization’s strategic objectives. Moreover, the integration of management techniques, guidelines and practices has also become a necessity for intergovernmental (IGOs) and non-profit organizations (NPOs), especially because they do not possess a conventional bottom line and in most instances, their main goal is rarely profit maximization. Although the main objective of operations of IGOs and NPOs is also success, this is difficult to be defined and evaluated. As a matter of fact, studies related to project management in IGOs and NPOs argue that the literature available has ignored the public good sector to a great extent, since the majority of the portfolio management tools available are tailored for commercial and for-profit organizations (FPOs). Consequently, this study explores the project portfolio management (PPM) process in intergovernmental and non-profit organizations focusing specifically on the decision-making process regarding project selection and prioritization. It provides an understanding of the main criteria these organizations take into consideration when selecting and prioritizing projects and the impact these methodologies have in terms of achieving project and organizational success. In addition, it examines the role of the project management office (PMO) and individual project managers based on their influence on the decisions concerning project selection and prioritization, as well as project success and organizational success. The key findings of this study confirm the relevance of the priorities determined by the main stakeholders as one of the principal criteria for project selection, followed by the allocation of funding and resources and the need for strategic alignment. Furthermore, in terms of determining a ranking among the selection criteria, this study has found that within these organizations all the different requirements encompassed in the selection process should be treated as equal. Additionally, it has been possible to determine that for intergovernmental and non-profit organizations the project selection and project prioritization phases are not isolated from one another; and are in fact treated as on single criteria. Conversely, the findings of this study contradict the proposition that the project management office is highly influential in the decision-making process of IGOs and IGOs; however, it emphasizes the role of the project manager in project and organizational success as highly valuable since they possess the hard and soft project management skills that increase the chances to achieve the organizational goals.

Among the goals of recent supported work employment programs is improvement of competitive employment opportunities for individuals who suffer from chronic mental illness, and for whom competitive employment outcomes are poor. This study examined the effects of a vocational rehabilitation program, Project Success (Skills Upgrade: Client Centered Empowerment Supportive Services), on self esteem and quality of life for chronically mentally ill participants.

High project failure rates result in billions of wasted dollars each year. Project failure does not discriminate by type of project or the industry from which they originate. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies that leaders at a health care organization located in Pennsylvania use to manage projects successfully. This population was selected due to the health care organization's reputation for successful project completion. The conceptual framework for this study was Fiedler's contingency theory. Data were collected by conducting semistructured interviews with 9 project leaders and reviewing project documents provided by study participants. Interviews were transcribed, thick descriptions were obtained, and participants were engaged in member checking. The thematic data analysis process consisted of compiling and coding data, identifying patterns, and organizing themes into relevant categories, iteratively. Findings were organized into 4 thematic categories, which were, essential strategies, relationship management, best practices, and self-attunement. Findings from this study may contribute to positive social change if health care leaders can use the information to enhance their project leadership capabilities. When project managers are successful, the benefits cascade to health care organizations. Leaders of those health care organizations can ensure that important health and wellness services are provided and available to those who need them, fund performance improvement initiatives, resource quality programs, and offer innovative services to improve health outcomes for individuals and communities.