Communication Skills Necessary for Dealing with Others

Project Management

Techniques for managing a project

Communication skills necessary for dealing with others

• Active listening (two way communication)
• Conflict resolution (reminding group of common goal)
• Negotiation skills (with management to get resources, time)
• Interview techniques (open-ended questions that will achieve answers)

Consequences for groups that fail to function as a team:

• Financial loss
• Employment loss
• Missed Opportunities

Advantages of groups that function as a team

• Increased productivity
• Enhanced job satisfaction
• A more quality system

Project management tools (used to develop a system)

• Gantt charts (for scheduling of specific tasks)
• Journals (to keep a record of what is done, so if one quits, another can quickly fill their role)
• Resource usage charts (to show money is not being wasted)
• Requirements report (outlines the needs of the system)
• Feasibility report

Social and ethical implications of a project

• Breach of privacy for the individual
• Security of data from hacking
• Copyright infringements
• Health and safety of participants (ergonomic design of work area)

Understanding the problem (identify changes to be made)

Can identify problems by:

• Interviewing participants (different follow-up questions depending on previous response; judge facial expressions)
• Surveying participants (paper/electronic; open/closed questions; enter results on a spreadsheet to see what the preferences are)
• Analysing the existing system (how it works; what it does; who uses it)

A requirements prototype (which is a working model of an information system) can help to better understand the requirements of the system. It can also be the basis of further system development.

• Screen generators: build prototypes which are graphical user interfaces
• Report generators: give data on prototype performance

A requirements report is made following this investigation. It includes the purpose of the existing system; how it works; the new requirements.

Planning (developing a project plan)

Possible solutions are developed using the requirements report.

A feasibility study is done to choose the most appropriate solution:

• Economic feasibility: cost effectiveness of the solution. What are the initial and ongoing costs?
• Technical feasibility: are the required information technology (hardware and software) and skills available?
• Operational feasibility: will the solution work well within the group and meet its goals?
• Scheduling: can the solution be implemented within the time frame given?

A recommendation for a solution is made which goes into a project plan.

A project plan: sets out all the tasks to be done; who will do them; their time frame; and available information technology to be used.

Choosing appropriate development approaches

• Traditional – each step has to be completed before moving to the next
• Advantage: step by step development
• Disadvantage: cannot proceed without completing previous step
• Outsourcing – external company develops solution
• Advantage: cost effective
• Disadvantage: quality of system may be low; companies may not like to share their information with others
• Prototyping – developing a small working model
• Advantage: Can be modified repeatedly with user feedback which allows them to better communicate their needs (less likely product will be rejected)
• Disadvantage: time consuming and costly to build; repetitive process of modifying can be frustrating
• Customisation
• Advantage: cheaper than making a new system from scratch
• Disadvantage: desired product may not be available to customise
• Participant development –where people within the information system develop the solution using guided processes on applications
• Advantage: may be cheaper than hiring an entire team to solve a small problem
• Disadvantage: limited by the participant’s expertise
• Agile methods – emphasis on developing the solution rather than following structured development steps
• Advantage: removes the need for complex design documentation
• Disadvantage: not suitable for complex information systems as they need structured development

Designing (documentation of the new system)

• Design tools help to understand the system; explaining how the new system will operate; and serves as documentation.
• Must consult with users and ensure the system is easy to maintain.
• Need to design screen displays for data and give technical specifications of hardware.

Implementing (carrying out the project plan)

1. Participant training needs to be done before implementation so the system is used effectively and is accepted.

Some issues include: the needs that arise from the new system; the previous skills of participants and the nature of training needed.

Participants need separate training: users need to be trained to carry out specific tasks but system managers need advanced training to assist others.

Operation manuals: show participants procedures to follow when using the new system (by containing concise, non-technical instructions and screen dumps).

Training Method / Advantage / Disadvantage
Manuals on paper and CD / Cheap; portable / Costly to keep up to date
Courses / Instructor simulates all tasks / Expensive
Computer tutorials / Interactive; accessible any time / Very expensive to develop

1. Conversion methods

Parallel – where old and new system work together for a period of time

Advantage: Old system still available in emergency; can compare systems to fix any problems in the new system

Disadvantage: confusion as which system is the most current? Dual running costs.

Direct – where the new system immediately replaces the old system

Advantage: less pressure on participants with one system; cheapest method

Disadvantage: no fall back to old system

Phased – where one task is gradually implemented until the new system takes over completely

Advantage: each task can be individually tested; training simpler as one task learnt at a time

Disadvantage: longer time frame needed for conversion

Pilot – where one section of the organisation uses the new system until it is agreed to implement it fully

Advantage: risk confined to one section

Disadvantage: only suitable for large organisations

1. How the system will be tested

• Stress testing – stretching the system to its limits to identify critical problems
• Participant testing – users identify problems with the system
• Bench testing – each component of the new system is tested individually to see if goals are met

1. Converting data to the new system

Testing, evaluating and maintaining

Testing – to see if the original system requirements are met; using test data such as:

• Volume data: Floods the system with large amounts of data.
• Simulated data: Making test data that cover all possible results
• Live data: Using real data from the existing system

Evaluating – decide if further modifications are necessary. This can be done through a survey and success can be measured in

• Cost benefits
• User satisfaction
• On time completion

Maintaining – modifying problem parts of the new system. This keeps the system current and useful in the face of new laws, changing information technology and changing needs of the organisation.

Maintenance requires an update to system documentation.