Debbie Tesch

It Project Risk Factors: The Project Management Professionals Perspective

The failure of systems development projects has plagued the IT industry for years. In fact, the 2004 Standish group report indicates that only 28 percent of software development projects are successful, down from previous estimates of 34%. This paper identifies IT project risk factors that pose threats to successful project implementation and describes project management professionals (PMPs) assessment of these risk factors. It concludes with suggested strategies for avoiding and/or mitigating these risks and associated implications.

Wanted:project teams with a blend of is professional orientations

Desired qualities include a strong technical orientation, end-user empathy, and organizational awareness.

Closing the user and provider service quality gap

A method for measuring service quality that includes both the user and IS service provider perspectives.

Project Success and Executive Sponsor Behaviors: Empirical Life Cycle Stage Investigations

The role of the executive sponsor in achieving project success is important, yet rarely addressed. Recent research identifies behaviors that constitute the role of the executive project sponsor and evaluates how such behavior affects project success during different project stages. This study answers two research questions: (1) Does the relative importance of executive sponsor behavior vary significantly at different project stages? And (2) Does the relative importance of project success dimensions vary significantly within and across the different stages of completion? Results provide knowledge that will help executive sponsors decide how to invest their limited time and resources.

Perception and expectation gaps of information systems provider skills: the impact on user satisfaction

Abstract.  Past research indicates that expectations play a crucial role in the final satisfaction of users of information systems (IS). This includes expectations regarding the skill levels exhibited by the providers of the IS services and products. Typically, the expectations are examined as gaps from perceived performance or as gaps from realistic expectations. The interaction of these gaps has not been thoroughly explored in past research, although recent theories anticipate both gaps are crucial in meeting the desires of the users. A matched pair sample of IS users and IS providers is used to collect data on expected skill levels and perceived delivery of the skills demanded. Gaps, both between these two stakeholder groups regarding expectations and within the user group regarding perceived delivery, are found to impact user satisfaction in a two‐way analysis. The results indicate that expectations should be managed to higher levels and commonly understood across the user and provider groups.

Project Management Learning: What the Literature Has to Say

This paper describes the methodology and results of research designed to extract useful professional project management information from recent research literature in the information systems and information technology (IS/IT) fields. The resulting database of 784 journal, thesis, and conference proceedings abstracts represents research from 1999 through 2001 in the IS/IT field related to project management. A lessons learned executive seminar was conducted to allow experienced, active project managers to examine selected findings for lessons learned and research opportunities that might benefit project managers.

Project manager vs. executive perceptions of sponsor behaviors

Purpose – To identify differences in perceptions between executive sponsors (ESs) and project managers (PM) regarding sponsor involvement on projects, for the purposes of contributing to project management practice and encouraging further sponsor‐related research.Design/methodology/approach – A survey of 365 executives and managers interested in project management investigated differences between ESs and PMs in perceived importance on eight dimensions of ES behavior and three dimensions of project success during the initiation stage of a project. This study followed a previous exploratory analysis study that identified sponsor behaviors. Factor analysis and t‐tests were used to develop variables and test for differences, respectively.Findings – Results indicated significant differences between ESs and PMs on the perceived importance of ES involvement on the critical dimension of mentoring and assisting PMs with executives indicating higher importance.Research limitations/implications – Three specific sugg...

Investigation of the sponsor's role in project planning

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and validate executive sponsor behaviors necessary for successful project implementation during project planning.Design/methodology/approach – A survey of 145 executives and managers interested in project management was conducted. Data were analyzed using principal components analyses with varimax rotation for both behavioral‐ and outcome‐based items. Relationships between variables were analyzed via path analysis.Findings – In total, five sponsor behavior factors were identified including: ensure planning, clarify outputs, stakeholder relationships, support project, and appoint project manager. Additionally, three outcome factors were found: firms future, meeting agreements (e.g. budgets, scheduling expectations), and customer success. An estimated path model testing the effects of sponsor behaviors on project outcomes indicated six significant paths.Research limitations/implications – This paper empirically identifies behaviors sponsors may use during ...

User involvement to enhance expertise in system development

This paper considers the mediating effects of user participation activities that interact with crucial skills to explain the varying degrees of software success. Questionnaires were mailed to randomly selected Information System Special Interest Group (ISSIG) members of the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the USA. A total of 171 questionnaires were returned. The overall results of the analysis show that user hands-on activities lower the risks of certain skill deficiencies during the duration of the project to improve the successful implementation of software projects, while user partnering serves as a mediator between application expertise, general expertise, and software success.