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.

Information Technology (IT) projects continue to fail despite being managed by certified Project Management Professionals (PMP) and professionally trained non-certified Project Managers (PM). This study addressed PMPs and qualified PMs who continue to experience IT project failure at a high rate. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore perspectives of PMs and their understanding of project management best practices in the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). There were 5 research questions focused on IT project failures, lessons learned, trends, deficiencies in project management framework, and adherence to standard PM practices. This study utilized a phenomenological approach and an inductive analysis based on Koskinen's theory that a lack of project management knowledge can contribute to project failure. Data were collected from open-ended interviews with 20 project managers; these data were then inductively coded and analyzed for themes and patterns. Findings yielded categories of poor scope management, cost overruns, unmanaged resources, un-realistic requirements, inadequate stakeholder management, and deficiencies in content in the PMBOK standards. The results could influence positive social change for PMs to assess the depth of project management training needed to understand early warning signs of IT project failure. These changes could promote awareness within the project management community and encourage more in-depth PM competency training.

This thesis aims to examine why IT-projects in the public sector frequently exceed their budgets. The study is delimited to risk management and the thesis opts to answer the following question: Which risks have not been successfully managed in public sector IT-projects which exceeded their budgets? The study was conducted through qualitative individual interviews with six project managers and four project owners. The choice to interview both project managers and project owners was made in order to gather information from two different perspectives. To further validate the collected information project plans, risk management documents and completion reports where requested and analysed. The result from the study shows that new or altered requirements, unforeseen risks and lack of competence are the main reasons for budget overruns. The conclusion is therefore that estimations for a correct budget, to keep the resources and work proactively to make room for risk management are important factors to finalizing successful IT-projects. A final factor which must be accounted for is that the project budget is just an estimate on what the project will cost, thus making a poor measurement on what makes a successful project. The thesis is written in swedish. / Målet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka varför statliga IT-projekt går över budget. För att avgränsa valdes riskhantering som fokus och frågeställningen blev: Vilka risker har inte lyckats hanteras i statliga IT-projekt som gått över budget? Undersökningen genomfördes genom kvalitativa individuella intervjuer med sex projektledare och fyra projektägare. Valet av både projektledare och projektägare gjordes för att få information om projekten från två olika perspektiv. Som komplement och för att ytterligare validera den insamlade empirin efterfrågades även projektplaner, riskhanteringsdokument och slutrapporter. Huvudresultaten av undersökningen är att nya eller förändrade krav, oförutsedda risker och kompetensbrist är det som till största del gör att projekt går över budget. Slutsatsen är därför att tidsestimering för att få en korrekt budget, att få behålla sina resurser samt arbeta proaktivt så att det finns utrymme för att hantera risker att är viktiga faktorer för att genomföra ett lyckat projekt. Slutligen en faktor som bör tas i beaktning är att projektbudget bara är ett estimat på vad man tror projektet kommer kosta och på så sätt utgör ett dåligt mätvärde på misslyckade projekt.

The diploma thesis is focused on a business plan proposal, which will be used for an invest project implementation for an already existing company. The project comes out of basic theoretical experience. The opening part of the work concerns the project analysis, which is made by fixed methods. There is an elaboration of a proposed procedure for a successful implementation of the project in the last part including financial plan and its economic evaluation.

The rise of Agile project methodologies has increased the success rate of software development projects, but recent studies show that, even though the risk of failing has lessened, only 31% of the completed software development projects are declared as successful while the rest are declared either challenged or failed. A concept called Pair Programming that derives from agile methodologies is widely and basically always used by developers but in present time as we are heading towards a more remote environment and Distributed Pair Programming has become a hot topic. At its core, it is the same as Pair Programming, but the coding session is conducted in a distributed setting, meaning, the two developers are not sitting next to each other. There are little to no studies conducted about DPPs impact on software development projects and if DPP has the potential to mitigate risk factors that may arise while implementing code in an agile software development project.   The purpose of this thesis has been to research and discover what the perceived benefits and drawback of Distributed Pair Programming (DPP) are and which factors that are the most harmful to a software development project and if DPP can facilitate higher success rates. To answer the research questions, a qualitative research method has been used. The empirical data have been gathered by conducting 6 semi structured interviews with developers. Further, a thematic analysis has been carried through with the intent to easily map out the different themes that appears during the interviews.     The findings from the conducted study shows that there are multiple drawbacks and benefits. According to the informants, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks in such a manner that by not conducting DPP, they set themselves up for setbacks. It is very beneficial when onboarding a new team member and when tackling tougher problems. When it comes to implementing DPP in a successful manner there is a need for a digital infrastructure that supports verbal communication, web camera, screensharing and collaboration tools. / Ökningen av agila projektmetoder har ökat framgångsfrekvensen för programvaruutvecklingsprojekt, men nyare studier visar att även om risken för att misslyckas har minskat, förklaras endast 31 % av de avslutade programvaruutvecklingsprojekten som framgångsrika medan resten förklaras antingen utmanade eller misslyckades. Ett koncept som kallas för parprogrammering som härrör från gila metoder används i stor utsträckning och i princip alltid av utvecklare, men för närvarande är vi på väg mot en mer digital miljö och distribuerad parprogrammering(DPP) har blivit ett hett ämne. I grunden är det samma sak som parprogrammering men kodningssessionen genomförs i en distribuerad miljö, vilket innebär att de två utvecklarna inte sitter bredvid varandra. Det finns väldigt få studier utförda om DPPs inverkan på programvaruutvecklingsprojekt och om DPP har potential att mildra riskfaktorer som kan uppstå när kod implementeras i ett agilt programvaruutvecklingsprojekt. Syftet med detta examensarbete har varit att undersöka och upptäcka vad de upplevda fördelarna och nackdelarna med DPP är och vilka faktorer som är mest skadliga för ett programvaruutvecklingsprojekt och om DPP kan främja högre framgångsfrekvens. För att besvara forskningsfrågorna har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod använts. Empirin har samlats in genom att genomföra 6 semistrukturerade intervjuer med utvecklare. Vidare har en tematisk analys genomförts i syfte att enkelt kartlägga de olika teman som framställts under intervjuerna. Resultaten från den genomförda studien visar att det finns flera nackdelar och fördelar. Enligt informanterna uppväger fördelarna nackdelarna på ett sådant sätt att man genom att inte bedriva DPP dukar upp för problem. Det är mycket fördelaktigt när en ny teammedlem ska introduceras och när du tar itu med ett tufft problem. När det gäller att implementera DPP på ett framgångsrikt sätt finns ett behov av bra digital infrastruktur som stödjer verbal kommunikation, webbkamera, skärmdelning och samarbetsverktyg.

Complex environments like the United States Air Force's advanced weapon systems are highly reliant on externally developed software, which is often delivered late, over budget, and with fewer benefits than expected. Grounded in Galbraith's organizational information processing theory, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between software development team structure, ambiguity, volatility and software project failure. Participants included 23 members of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association in the southeastern United States who completed 4 project management surveys. Results of multiple regression analysis indicated the model as a whole was able to predict software project failure, F(3,19) = 10.838, p < .001, R2 = 0.631. Software development team structure was the only statistically significant predictor, t = 2.762, p = .012. Implications for positive social change include the potential for software development company owners and military leaders to understand the factors that influence software project success and to develop strategies to enhance software development team structure.

In creative industries such as the gaming industry, the failure rate is typically higher in relation to many other industries. This is usually due to the constant need of innovation and the extreme competition in the industry of gaming. Firms in this industry take on multiple innovation projects, which inherently have a high rate of failure. Literature has previously stressed and focused on the importance of failure and how it can enhance learning that can be a crucial asset for any organization. However, failure brings along negative emotions that can slow down or block the learning process of an individual or an organization at large. In an industry where failure is common, it is important for the management to tackle this issue. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to explore the approach the management of small gaming firms take in order to normalize failure. In this study, the data has been collected qualitatively while using a thematic analysis to recognize consistent themes and patterns, which arise from the primary data that was collected. By conducting four semi-structured interviews with two different companies (2 interviews each), we found that both companies have a similar attitude regarding project failure. Both companies either expect failure to happen or even encourage it. One of our key findings was that both companies emphasize failing fast, which allows them to save time, money and resources as well as helps some members of the organization to react less emotionally to the termination of a project. Empirical results were then discussed and analyzed by judging whether the actions these companies took can be classified as a way of normalizing failure. We concluded that there was evidence for management employing various methods of action that would eventually lead to normalization of failure. Some of these actions included the fail fast attitude, failure supportive slogans and the thought of planning for failure beforehand.

Studies in recent years have revealed the challenges involved in deploying ERP solutions due to its complexity. Before attempting to implement ERP systems, it is essential to study various aspects such as project management, training, and change management in detail to manage the associated risks. When an ERP project is undertaken with insufficient planning, it may result in failure to integrate business processes and in substantial financial loss. Research has been pursued to identify critical risk/failure factors that may arise during implementation and the measures that should be taken to manage them. However, there is lack of research in identifying the management of critical risk/failure factor using a structured methodology. This raises a question of ‘can a structured methodology identify and manage critical risk/failure factors and support deploying ERP solutions with a better quality?’ A study of Microsoft Sure Step Methodology is performed to identify critical risk/failure factors that frequently occur during ERP implementation. These factors are derived from 8 articles. On determining critical risk/failure factors, we investigated if Sure Step methodology likely contains procedures that approach these factors.

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This thesis defines the theoretical basis essential for building a business plan and simultaneously encompasses the building of a real business plan, which will be focused on the creation of a new company - KK-TECH s.r.o., which will offer complex cleaning services. The key aspect of the thesis is market analysis, which the company will enter, and a marketing and financial plan. I will use primarily data, which have been obtained while studying, and also data, which have been obtained thanks to working in said field.