Software project environment

Is it a functional, projectized or mixed environment? Who are the company shareholders? These questions and more can help in determining the way the organization is structured. The aim of knowing the organizational structure is to understand the command chain, recognize the stakeholders at various levels, realize their interest and develop a plan to satisfy the interest of the various stakeholders.

The organizational politics on the other hand helps in explaining the reason why some decisions are taken. These criteria were based on profitability and return of investment. However, as a result of organizational politics, organizations embark on some projects that are not profitable.

This could be to increase organizations public relations, strategic reasons, personal intrinsic , and so on. It is, however, important for us as project managers to understand the reason for which a project was undertaken, as it would help us in deciding the best way to approach the project. In this article, we set out to analyze the project environment and how a proper understanding of the project environment can lead to the success or the failure of a project.

We divided the project into three parts, which were project time environment, internal project environment and external project environment. We were able to explore the first two parts and in the next article we would explore the external project environment. InfoSec institute respects your privacy and will never use your personal information for anything other than to notify you of your requested course pricing.

We will never sell your information to third parties. You will not be spammed. Share Tweet. Get Certified! Skillset What's this? For the purpose of this article, we would analyze the project environment from three perspectives, which are: Project time environment.

Initiation Planning Execution Closing Identify consumers need Perform feasibility studies Align with organizational goals Identify alternatives Determine market structure and competitors Define Develop and selection of conceptual design Detailed design of selected concept.

Project Management Institute. Author Olusegun Ogunsina. Olusegun Ogunsina is a Project manager and Business Consultant. His background in architecture and masters in business administration gives him a good mix of both technical and business knowledge, which has helped him in his career as a consultant. He currently works as a freelance consultant and project manager with a focus on business growth and process improvement.

I'm not interested in training To get certified - company mandated To get certified - my own reasons To improve my skillset - get a promotion To improve my skillset- for a new job Other. I have no current timeline for training Within a month months months months Over 1 year. Identify consumers need Perform feasibility studies Align with organizational goals Identify alternatives Determine market structure and competitors Define Develop and selection of conceptual design.

This is a major source of risk when it comes to project management and execution. While having a clearly defined set of objectives, work scope, budget, and schedule is essential to being able to plan, implement, and control a project, if the project management team do not fully understand their project environment and context, the project will, in all likelihood, be doomed to failure. This is because project environment and context drives performance as much as, if not more than, a clearly defined work scope, budget, or schedule.

No two projects are the same, even if their objectives and work scope are. This is because even projects with identical objectives and work scopes will inevitably be executed in different environments. As such, the environmental factors are often the things that determine the success or failure of a project. When evaluating the environmental and contextual shaping factors that differentiate one project from the next, it is important to consider the following:.

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Topics Tools. About the author. Laura Hilliger - Laura Hilliger is a writer, educator and technologist. More about me.

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