The Complete Guide to IT Project Management Consulting

Introduction

There are various types of software consulting services today to serve the needs of the rapidly growing software industry. One of these services is IT project management consulting where businesses are provided with expert project management advice. 

Such services review the existing project management processes and capabilities, identify any weaknesses, provide recommendations for better processes, and support their implementation. 

This article discusses what exactly is IT project management along with insights on the various ways to manage software projects including IT project management consulting. 

What Is IT Project Management? 

Research shows that organizations that undervalue the use of project management for driving change tend to have 67% higher chances of their projects failing. This is why IT project management has grown into an important part of any software team today.  

It refers to the process of planning, organizing, and overseeing projects for software development to ensure that all the complex tasks within the project get completed successfully. Many software projects work based on the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). 

IT project management helps to make sure that the key objectives of SDLC are achieved such as accelerating the production of programs and streamlining the work of development teams. 

To elaborate, the SDLC has seven stages that include Planning, Requirement Gathering and Analysis, Design, Implementation, Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance. 

By adopting the use of the right IT project management practices and using the best project management software, IT project management can increase the odds of a project’s success while also executing much faster. 

IT Project Management Methodologies

Some of the popular IT project management methodologies include: 

Agile

Agile is a project management principle that is focused on being adaptable because of uncertainty in projects. As a result, this approach focuses on having flexibility and iteration by working on shorter cycles to get a quality product faster. 

As per the 14th Annual State of Agile Report, 95% of organizations report using Agile development methods.

Waterfall

Waterfall is a more traditional methodology in which projects run sequentially. There are fixed stages for the project such as requirements gathering, analysis, design, coding, testing, and deployment.

In this methodology, we can move to the next stage only once the previous stage is completed. 

For instance, large projects with detailed projects might benefit from using this approach as it helps the work to stay on track and helps in maintaining clear communication. 

Scrum

Scrum is a popular framework that is used by software development teams and is based on agile principles. In this approach, the teams work on short cycles such as a two-week sprint where there are features that need to be delivered. 

To keep the members accountable, there are also daily standups along with a dedicated scrum master who facilitates the various processes. 

Kanban

Kanban is based on the idea that visualizing the progress the team has made through various stages leads to high efficiency. 

For instance, a software company may benefit from Kanban by organizing tasks into various stages such as To Do, In Progress, Testing, and Done. 

This helps to clarify the entire workflow and team members can see where each task’s situation is along with who is responsible for each task. 

Lean

Lean is a concept that has gained popularity after its use in Toyota’s production system. The key idea behind lean is to minimize wasteful activities that overburden the team and resources. 

Therefore, lean has clear guidelines for removing practices that don’t provide value. This system can have a great impact on teams who are struggling with efficiency issues. 

Software for Project Management

Research shows that among the highest-performing projects, 87% use project management software. Some popular project management software include: 

Jira

Jira is a tool designed for software development teams who use Agile methodology such as Scrum. It is great for the process of planning and tracking software projects. It also provides a visual representation of the team’s workflow. 

Asana

Asana provides a full work management solution that is tailored for enterprise companies. Beyond only tasks, Asana is focused on connecting all the goals with the business strategy. 

Furthermore, the tool can integrate with other tools to help keep the work organized in one platform. 

ClickUp

ClickUp is a productivity platform that helps teams to collaborate and draft plans. It is designed to easily share updates with other team members and can help automate business processes without code too. 

Monday.com

Monday is a great tool for small businesses to help improve and manage the operational efficiency within teams. 

The platform has been designed with features that primarily work on three functions including tracking projects, reporting data, and facilitating team communication. 

Trello.com

Trello is a Kanban-board-style project management software. It is a visual tool that helps to manage or track any project.

Users can create lists, and cards to get a clear view of who’s doing what. Additionally, users can add attachments and files to the different tasks as well as create various automations. 

How to Manage Your Software Projects?

Based on the needs of an organization and its current situation, there are different ways to manage software projects. Some of the most important ways include: 

Hire a Project Manager or Product Owner

For companies that are interested in keeping the IT project management process in-house, hiring a project manager or product owner is an excellent option. 

Project Managers help to oversee the project by assigning tasks and ensuring that the project gets completed within the time and resources allotted for it. 

Their key tasks include setting project goals, assembling the team, guiding them, and resolving any challenges that block their progress. 

On the other hand, product owners can be viewed as advocates for the customer. Their main job is to make sure that the customer’s pain points and needs are clearly defined and communicated to the development team.

They help to prioritize the product backlog, create user stories, and ensure all the requirements are clear. Overall, they lead the product vision and decide what is essential to serve the customer. 

Depending on the situation of the organization, they might consider hiring either a product manager, product owner, or both. 

Outsource Project Management

Outsourcing has today become a commonly used strategy that helps companies to scale their teams rapidly while maintaining lower costs and more efficiency. 

By choosing the right outsourcing partner, an organization can quickly gain access to an expert team who have the necessary skills and capabilities to manage an organization’s software project. 

Since project management requires specialized expertise, outsourcing can be beneficial since developing this expertise in-house can take a lot of time. 

In comparison, having a team that has already demonstrated their knowledge of various best practices and tools will help to drive the success of software projects much faster. 

Before choosing an outsourcing partner, organizations should identify their specific needs and research potential vendors that will help deliver on their requirements. 

With there being cut-throat competition today, especially small and medium-sized businesses can gain the value of IT project management while being more cost-effective than having a full-time employee for the same duties. 

Consult Your Project Management with Future Code

IT project management consulting can help provide expert guidance and experience on how to move an organization’s software projects to success. 

Research by McKinsey and the University of Oxford on large-scale projects shows that lack of project management can be costly. On average, such projects ran 45% over budget, 7% over time, and delivered 56% less value than predicted. 

Working with a software project management consulting service can help avoid such a problem and ensure better project planning that leads to cost optimization. 

For instance, such a service can help to identify the potential risk areas where overspending might occur and provide recommendations before the project starts which will help save costs. As a result, organizations can identify many areas of potential resource waste and avoid it. 

Furthermore, project management consulting companies help to provide an objective perspective by assessing the situation of the project and providing solutions to any roadblocks. 

Working with Future Code, we jointly analyze and research the processes in your company before we present a recommendation to ensure you that the solutions will help to provide maximum value for your software projects. 

By partnering with us, we can help you increase team effectiveness, streamline processes, improve quality, and help to create scalable systems. 

FAQs

What do you mean by IT project management?

IT project management is the process of planning, organizing, and managing the development of software projects. It uses different project management principles to make sure that projects are completed with the right allocation of resources within the intended time. 

What is an example of IT project management?

Let’s take an example of the development of a new mobile application that uses AI to provide insights into users’ physical health. In such a case, the IT project manager would work across various steps such as planning and defining the project goals, creating a timeline, and setting a budget. 

They would then work to assemble a team including developers, designers, and testers who have the necessary capabilities to complete the project. 

Once the team starts the work, the IT project manager would monitor progress regularly while also solving any issues that arise. This entire process leads to delivering the mobile app within time and on budget. 

What is an IT project manager?

An IT project manager is a professional who looks after the planning, execution, and monitoring of software projects to ensure they meet deadlines and are completed within the budget. 

They also manage the team members involved in the project and make sure that all the performance metrics are met. 

What does an IT project manager do?

There are various responsibilities of an IT project manager including: 

• Setting project goals and milestones with deadlines
• Creating detailed budgets for each project
• Managing team members and resolving conflicts
• Assigning tasks to different team members
• Presenting project plans to executive leaders
• Tracking the progress of team members based on key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Identify project risks and mitigate them

Why is Project Management important?

Project Management is important to meeting the objectives of the project with efficient resource allocation through structured and tested frameworks. 

Around 70% of all projects fail to deliver what was promised to customers. However, by implementing project management processes, this failure rate can be reduced to 20% and below. 

Therefore, to maximize project success, project management is important. 

How to manage IT project risks?

The first step to managing IT project risks is to identify all the potential risks based on analysis. Once these risks are identified, it is essential to categorize the impact of each risk and what likelihood they have of occurring. 

The experts then need to create a mitigation plan that addresses these risks along with responsible people to solve them along with deadlines. Finally, it is important to monitor the progress made in minimizing their impact.