Can recent college graduates expect to be project managers right away?

*Professor these are Shawn's Q&A below.*

8. Can recent college graduates expect to be project managers right away? What is a typical career path for a project manager?  Using the internet, research the average salary of a PM in South Florida.  Is this for an experienced project manager?  Which sites (URL) did you use to find average salaries?

 

While it is possible for a recent college graduate to get a job as a project manager it is more realistic to start off as a team member or a specialist. A project manager needs previous experience working on a project as well as organizational skills. The average career path for a Project manager starts off as a team member which they can be in for years; after a few years at this position and demonstrating leadership skills a team member can be assigned as team lead in a  within a specific sub group of a project, the team member can then become a co project manager and eventually said team member can lead their own project. The average project manager salary for Florida seems to be 70 - 90 thousand based on experience.

http://www.simplyhired.com/salaries-k-project-manager-l-south-florida-fl-jobs.html

Briefly describe the strategic planning process; including the SWOT analysis.

*Professor these are Shawn's Q&A below*

3. Briefly describe the strategic planning process; including the SWOT analysis.  Which method do you think businesses use most when identifying IT project?  Why?

 

The strategic planning process is the process of determining the long term objectives of a project such as:

"What are we doing? " 

"Who are we doing it for?" 

"Will it be successful?" 

There are many different methods for this process, like SWOT analysis. SWOT focuses on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a project. 

Define globalization, outsourcing, and virtual teams

*Professor these are Shawns' Q&A below.*

1. Define globalization, outsourcing, and virtual teams and describe how these trends are changing IT project management.

Globalization is the process of companies integrating and growing on a global scale. Outsourcing is the act of contracting a third-party business to do a specific staff normally done in house. Virtual teams are teams that work together, but have little to no physical interaction, but instead use electronic communication. 

Because of these trends businesses can now spend more money on new projects and ideas instead of office space and supplies since the employees provide their own.

Describe the attributes of a project?

7. Project Attributes – Describe the attributes of a project?  What are your expectations as major stakeholders in this class (CIS1513)?  What do you expect to get out of the class? What do you expect from the instructor, the classmates, and yourself in order for the class to be a success?

The attributes of a project is having a good leader, organization skills, and good communication skills. The PM should know how to stay in budget, properly use the resources given and address any roadblocks. 

My expectations as a major stakeholder of this class is to get an understanding of the step by step PM process and hands on experience to help me take the PMP certification in a few months. I want to know which PM software is mostly used in PM positions such as Clarity, Project, Visio, etc. I want to know what's different about the recent upgraded PM certification test? Where can I practice the test online? What software does the IT department mostly use when managing projects? Is it really hard going in the IT PM field knowing it's not your background? I would like each classmate to behave as if we are in a real working environment in order to get a real feel of managing a project. 

I personally want a better understanding of what the companies are looking for when using these software. I need to know at least the basics when using these software. For 6 months I've attended study groups at work, studied PM through my learning portal at work, took an Office Depot PM 2 day core training class, managed projects in my previous and current position and now my current class. I basically need visuals, resources and any helpful hints to move forward in the PM world!

How much time and money is typically spent on projects in each of these process groups?

5. Process Groups - How much time and money is typically spent on projects in each of these process groups. Assume you have one year and $100,000 to spend.  Justify your answer.

In order to manage a project to completion, you must include the following process groups:

The initiation process is when you define the scope of the project, the needs of the customer, hiring the project manager, describing the project and to make sure the project is approved.

Planning the project is when you describe the work the project entails. This includes developing a plan, inquiring about the cost, the estimated time of completion, required resources, project scheduling, etc. During this time, it's best to seek approval to move forward with the project.Time: 1 Year
Estimated Budget : $100k 

Then there's the executing phase where most spend the majority of their time. During this phase you establish a project team and rules, complete the project schedule, describe the project description and get started.
Time to spend: $100k

The monitoring and controlling phase is when you inquire about the project status, risks, performance and any scope changes. This is where you try to resolve any issues or concerns with the customer/client, project team, sponsors, etc.
Over/Under Budget: < $100k >

Finally, you have the closing phase where you summarize overall activities of the entire project. For example; Did you meet the project needs? Did you stay in budget? Is the customer/client satisfied? It's time to close the project and keep records.

Many information technology project managers come from senior technichal positions. What can you do to help them transition into a project management role?

The best way that I can think of to help someone transition to a project management role from a senior technical position would be to assist them from a kind of background support role. The idea would be that you would help by working to get the support of your fellow team members and to suggest practices and methodologies that you know to work. The suggestion part is important, never back someone into a corner,  if they feel that they don't have a choice about it then that will build resentment which will not only make the goal of assisting them to transition to the new role harder, but will also probably prompt them to try to make your life miserable any time you have to work with them. The other side of this is that you can't help too much. You have to know when not to interfere with a situation. If they become too reliant on you to fix their mistakes, regardless of whether they know they are or not, then they will never learn how to lead a project by themselves and will fail as soon as they no longer have you to use as a crutch.

In short, to help someone transition from a technical position to a project management role; be subtle with your help, don't try to take over the project, and don't try to fix their mistakes.

Describe the triple constraint. What are the three components and what is the relationship between them?

The triple constraint are the restrictions on time, cost, and scope of the project. The relationship between them though is somewhat interesting as any increase in one usually leads to a corresponding increase in at least one of the other two. This means that a project manager that begins to lose control over the project could end up facing a snowball effect of increasing costs, continually increasing time to finish, and unnecessarily increasing complexity which would ultimately cause the project to end in failure. On the other hand, too tight a restriction of any of the elements of the triple constraint, particularly without any flexibility on the project manager's part, will lead to the project's goal being unattainable. Project managers therefore, have to balance flexibility and control over the triple constraints in order to ensure the success of their project.