Question

Signatures Inc. specializes in producing personalized products such as coffee mugs and pens with company logos. The company generates over $40 million in annual revenues and has more than 300 employees. The company is in the middle of a large multimillion-dollar SCM implementation, and it has just hired your project management outsourcing firm to take over the project management efforts.

On your first day, your team is told that the project is failing for the following reasons:

• The project is using the traditional waterfall methodology.
• The SDLC was not followed and the developers decided to skip the testing phase.
• A project plan was developed during the analysis phase, but the old project manager never updated or followed the plan.

Determine what your first steps would be to get this project back on track. Why?

Respond to two of your peers. Do you agree with their choice? Why or why not?

What obstacles might they encounter?

Answer 1

The company might adopt the following strategies for successful completion of its project: • Switch from the traditional waterfall methodology to an agile methodology. Agile development methodology allows management to continuously review and revise every phase of the development life cycle. Therefore, if a mistake is found in a previous phase, it can be easily reviewed and corrected. Furthermore, agile methodology allows end users of the system to give their feedback on the developed software.

• Each phase involved in the development life cycle should be followed for successful completion of a project. Skipping a phase might increase the risk of project failure. Hence, the company might lose its money invested in the development of a new system.

• A project plan needs to be developed during the planning phase, before starting the project. Project plan is an official document approved by management that states the project’s scope, costs and various deadlines. The project plan also states the skills, knowledge and tools required for successful completion of a project.

• The business requirements need to be updated regularly. Failure of one or more business requirement would hamper the entire project. Therefore, the company must plan its business requirements carefully, before starting the project. Hence, it can be concluded that proper planning and monitoring is critical for successful completion of a project.