Question

Enactment of Technology Strategy-Creating and Implementing a Development Strategy describes how development projects are traditionally managed and states the bases as to why so many fail and/or not completed on time. It describes six phases of a development project and claims that traditionally management attention and influence is heavy in the end phases of the project when they should be focused at the beginning phases of the project for success. These suggest the development strategy leadership approach for senior management at the onset of projects in order to determine the best set of projects to pursue. Four team structures are defined with recommendations for the types of development projects each is best suited for. Guidance for post process learning is also presented.

QUESTIONS

How are successful development projects beneficial for a firm?

Traditionally why is management resources focused at the end phases of the project?

What are the benefits of senior management having a more proactive role in the determination of the correct set of development projects?

What are the benefits of an aggregate set of projects?

What kind of team structure is best suited for a product whose architecture is modular?

Answer 1

1. Successful development projects increase the success rate and performance efficiency of the organization. The goodwill of the company increases. The trust of customers increases for the company and that intends to bring more business for the firm.
2. In traditional project management, the management resources are focused in the end phases so as to monitor the quality of the project and ensure timely execution. The management resources conduct assessments and audits on the project and based on the analysis, take corrective measures so that the project meets the deadline.
3. The benefits of senior management having a more proactive role in the determination of the correct set of development projects are as follows:
   1. It is the duty of senior manager to bring good projects for the company. Being proactive facilitates this duty.
   2. The goodwill and credibility of senior manager increases in the company as well as in the industry
   3. Being proactive, the senior management is able to assess the project effectively
   4. The ineffective projects get eliminated in the initial stage only, which saves the resources of the company
4. The benefits of the aggregate sets of projects are as follows:
   1. Aggregate project plan facilitates project development
   2. Project tracking gets facilitated
   3. Aggregate sets of projects help in maintaining the alignment of projects with the business goals
5. Modular product architecture focuses on enhancing the overall product modularity. It optimizes the product differentiation of a particular business based on factors like economies of scale and customer requirements. So, the functional dependency in such projects is quite high. A functional team structure works best in this setting as each product will have a set of professionals for each function.