Core IT Practices: Having A Strong Technical Lead

Core IT Practices
With how challenging IT projects are and how time consuming they can
be if managed poorly. The team members have to be highly specialized and are
usually spread between different locations and across different time zones.
So in order to reduce the problems that come with IT projects, there are some
core practices that should be followed when leading a technical project that
holds a lot of stake for a lot of employees.
Having a strong technical lead: Large IT projects are often very complex
and usually require a lot of technologies, components that are designed and
integrated into a modified situation. Reason being that such projects contain a
lot of uncertainty and they rarely go as planned as new information comes up
throughout the duration of the project. So, all of these components require a
strong technical lead in cases where complexities may come up.
Having a solid project management process in place: With the way

organisations IT projects are large, risky, complex and carry quite a large
budget. For this to be done organisations need to have an agreed method for
defining requirements, estimating and planning the work managing risks,
escalating issues, managing changes and reporting progress. To make things
easier organisations should have software that works for the organisation and
caters to the needs of the clients
Be iterative: One, way companies can apply this practice is to know carefully
analyse the project at hand and look at what development method would be
ideal at that specific moment in time as they may need to switch between agile
and waterfall methodology depending on the situation at hand.
Be impeccable with system integration testing: Companies handling IT

projects because of how large it is, it usually consists of multiple components
which means testing is going to be a big part of the project. Most teams rely on
the developers of the project but the flaw with this is that it is not ideal
because no one is great at testing their own work which is why the best option
is to have an allocated test team.
Have an approved decision-making structure: When carrying out large

it projects the whole landscape can quickly change as unexpected technical
errors may come up unexpectedly. So, an organisation can keep the decision-
making process active by organizing weekly working group meeting for team
leaders, in addition to monthly committee meetings for executives. This will
help to inform the committee about the progress and for the executives to
make decisions escalated by the working group
Creation of a project management plan

A project management plan is a formal, approved document which defines
how the project is going to be executed, monitored and completed. It may be
either be in form of a summary or a detailed document which may include the
baselines, subsidiary management plans and other planning documents. This
document is used to define how the project team plans to deliver the scope of
the project. This is usually created by the project manager with inputs gotten
from the project team and key stakeholders.
Components of the project management plan:

The project management plan usually consists of a collection of baselines and
subsidiary plans
 Baselines for scope, schedule, and cost
 Management plans for scope, schedule, cost, quality, human resources,

communications, risk, and procurement
 Requirement management plan

 Change management plan
 Configuration management plan
 Process improvement plan
Identification of key work packages

A work package the smallest unit of the work breakdown structure.
When using the decomposition technique, the deliverables are broken down
into smaller, more manageable pieces of work.
The process of deconstruction goes on until the deliverables are small
enough to be considered into work packages. Each of these work packages are
mean to be broken to smaller pieces to help the project Manager estimate the
duration and cost of the project. With this work packages can be scheduled,
cost estimated, monitored and controlled.
Allocating Resources
This mainly involves setting up a resource pool, establishing the cost,
and then Assigning the work.
The challenge with this particular process is that when the project
managers don’t know who their specific team members and how the budgets
are being allocated it is going to be difficult for the team to have a smooth
project experience.
References
Simplilearn.com. (2019). The Importance of Work Packages in Project Scope Management. [online]
Available at: https://www.simplilearn.com/project-scope-management-work-package-article [Accessed
1 Nov. 2019].
LiquidPlanner. (2019). 5 Best Practices for Managing Large IT Projects - LiquidPlanner. [online]
Available at: https://www.liquidplanner.com/blog/5-considerations-for-managing-large-it-projects/
[Accessed 1 Nov. 2019].
Wrike.com. (2019). Project Management Basics: 6 Steps to a Foolproof Project Plan. [online]

Available at: https://www.wrike.com/blog/foolproof-project-plan/ [Accessed 1 Nov. 2019].

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Core IT Practices

Having a solid project management process in place: With the way

Be impeccable with system integration testing: Companies handling IT

Have an approved decision-making structure: When carrying out large

Creation of a project management plan

Components of the project management plan:

 Baselines for scope, schedule, and cost

 Management plans for scope, schedule, cost, quality, human resources,

 Requirement management plan

 Configuration management plan

 Process improvement plan

Identification of key work packages

Wrike.com. (2019). Project Management Basics: 6 Steps to a Foolproof Project Plan. [online]

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