What about a title page and table of contents?

Although you don’t get many marks from

them, they make your work look more professional Formatted: Font: Not Bold

Introduction

Projects are temporal temporary? endeavours undertaken by several several? companies to Formatted: Highlight

improve or change some of their products or services. Most organisations undertake projects Formatted: Highlight
Formatted: Highlight
with the expectation of realising benefits upon completion or later in their future operations
(Lock, 2013). Projects come in different sizes and types requiring similar or different
approaches. Worse still why worse?, projects may be based on a certain sector, technology or Formatted: Highlight

system. This study will particularly analyse problems and challenges associated with
Information Technology (IT) projects.

Information Technology projects evolve around hardware, software, networks, databases,

processes and services etc. An IT project might involve the development of a piece of software
or setting up new processes and services so as to enhance service delivery. Or it might be a
computer network project to extend the organisation department or putting a network of cables
and switches in a new administration block. All these project require proper requirement
specifications and budgeting. In this study, we will look at three common problems faced by
IT projects. These include poor or no project plan, unclear project requirements and
expectations, and poor communications between IT and the business.

An introduction is often a great idea but the problem is that the assignment didn’t ask for this.
So you’ve written 184 words which will get few marks.

Solutions to project management problems

I think you need to structure the work a lot better. The question asked for 3 problems. So thre
are your three sections. Within each section you could have two sub-sections, one for an
explanation of the problem and its importance, the other for the solution.

Planning is the most difficult and challenging process in project management (Schwalbe,
2010). The main purpose of the project plan is to guide the project execution processes
(Heldman, 2009). However, many project managers and project stakeholders spend less time
on project planning. For a project to be successful a fair amount of time should be spent on the
project planning phase so that project execution is seamless. According to Heldman (2009)
great to see the use of ideas from your reading the project plan is a useful document that guides
and outlines project execution and controlling process groups that help track and measure

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project performance. It is a document that sets out a detailed roadmap about how the intended
project is all about. This helps a lot in making future project decisions. However, most IT
related projects start without solid project plans. If a project lacks a well-defined project plan,
it becomes very difficult to recover when something goes wrong during project execution
(Newton, 2006). For this reason, the project plan must be taken seriously by all project
stakeholders as it affects most of the key project decisions. The project manager must ensure
that the project plan is put in writing and approved by senior management. This helps during
budget approval as senior management or project sponsor will have a clear understanding of
the project scope. A poorly budgeted IT project has a high chance of failure due to shrinking
of allocated resources as the project progresses. It is therefore very imperative that budget
related issues are well addressed to executive management by making sure that project features,
objectives and timelines are properly documented in the project plan. Furthermore, the project
plan should be communicated to all project stakeholders to prevent misunderstandings during
certain stages of the project. Reasonably good, but you should split up problem and solutions.

Secondly, unclear project requirements and expectations you need section titles pose a serious
risk to project success. Despite, the project plan putting the project on the right path, there is
need to ensure that detailed requirements and expectations are gathered from all project
stakeholders. During the initial stage of an IT project, there is need for the project manager to
ensure that detailed requirements and expectations of a project are gathered. The project manager
must put all the project requirements and expectations in writing repetition as these will be
referred to throughout the project. When detailed project requirements and expectations are
gathered, developing the project scope becomes easy. If the project scope does not contain the
necessary details of a project, it will be very difficult to address scope changes during the project
life cycle. The project manager must ensure that scope changes are included in the initial project
plan during project requirements and expectations gathering. This will create a better way of
addressing any changes necessary in the project budget and timeline (Lock, 2013). In addition to
that, the project manager will find it easy to negotiate time and resources as all necessary
information will be contained in the project scope. Good analytical style.

Finally, poor communication between IT and business results in poor requirements and
expectations gathering. IT professional usually speak a technical language which make other
sections of the business fail to comprehend their requests (Schwalbe, 2010). For this reason, the
project manager must be able to relate with all project stakeholders and translate the technical
language to a language that all stakeholders will understand (Kelly, 2010). This is the reason

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why IT projects should be managed at least by a project manager who has good knowledge of
information technology systems. Furthermore, if the IT project undertaken involves the
development of a system to be used by end users, there is need for proper communication
between the end users and the IT team developing the system. Many IT projects change processes
of a business making hands on end users encounter problems in one way or another with the new
system. These are critical on the acceptance of the new system by management as they are the
ones with exact information required to do work for the company by the new system. The project
manager must ensure that these end users are given time to voice out their concerns at the
beginning of the development of the new system and have them informed along as the project
progresses. Thereafter, the IT team (systems analysts) should compare the information gathered
from the end users with the information gathered from senior executives of the company. The
project manager should identify gaps between end users and senior executives and ensure that
proper communication is used to make both camps understand the new system.

You’ve got a good analytical academic style and you’ve showed knowledge of the subject matter.
But you badly need a better structure for your paper.

Conclusion

Project management problems are usually as a result of failure by project managers to put in
place certain factors that can prevent a project going off track. This study analysed three factors
that if not properly taken care of can lead to project failure. These include poor or no project
plan, unclear project requirements and expectations, and poor communications between IT and
the business. Projects require good planning from inception. This helps all project stakeholders
to understand the timeline and costs of the project. In addition to planning, project requirements
and specifications in IT related projects require proper documentation. If project requirements
and specifications are vague, the project scope, cost and time will be affected. This can lead to
increase in overall project cost and cause a project to fail to complete on time. Furthermore,
poor communication is a serious risk to project success. When project requirements and
expectations are not properly communicated to all stakeholders, there will be poor coordination
among all project stakeholders. It is therefore the duty of the project manager to ensure that all
project stakeholders involved direct or indirect in the project are well communicated to on any
matters concerning the project. Same comment as the introduction. This is a huge section
which will get few marks.

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Excluding list of references you have over 1100 words. Don’t make it any longer – you are
conventionally allowed to go 10% over the quota.

References

Good to see the referencing done in Harvard style.

Heldman, K., (2009) Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide. Indianapolis:
Wiley Publishing Inc. Fifth Edition

Kelly, R., W., (2010) Essential Project Management Skills. London: CRC Press.

Lock, D., (2013) Project Management. Farnham: Gower Publishing Limited. Ninth Edition

Newton, R., (2006) Project Management Step by Step: How to plan and manage a highly
successful project. Harlow: Pearson Education.

Schwalbe, K., (2010) Information Technology Project Management. Boston: Course

Technology. Sixth Edition.

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