Management Methodology & Project Success

1. Define what a methodology is and the role it serves in Project Management.

 

2. Familiarise yourselves with the various methodologies in the list below. Choose two methodologies from this list to compare and contrast, analysing the similarities and differences between them both.

 

3. Finally, identify how your chosen methodologies and processes relate to the project life cycle (PLC).

 

 

1.Define what a methodology is and the role it serves in project management.

A methodology can be defined as a model where project manager is able to involve in different designs along with planning, execution and accomplishment of the present objective of the project. There are multiple methodologies in project management in order to gain advantage through different projects. For instance, there is particular kind of methodology used by a organization like NASA. The organization utilizes it to build a specific space based station while the Navy wanted to take a different route and use different methodology to build multiple kinds of submarines (Joslin & Müller, 2015). Therefore, there are distinct project based management methods that can cater to the requirement of different kinds of projects spanned across distinct business areas. 

In the current time, projects are usually large in size and very complicated with important involvement of huge risk.  These complicated projects consist of the following: -

1. Different kind of delivery units with subcontractors as well as vendors with number of customer based personnel. There functions are based on delivery that the company must get involved in and organize properly (Kerzner, 2013).
2. There are different kinds of contracts for software, tools, hardware as well as services like business analysis, training related communication and in the end installation. It is important to have a synchronized vision where project that can meet the customer needs and are acceptable to all kind of parties.
3. Different kind of user interacts in varied geographic location distributed evenly.
4. There are different kind of technologies like LAN, WAN, routers, animation, artificial intelligence and many more. These all should be harnessed in an effective manner as well as integrated to deal with the need of customers and their expectations (Marcelino-Sádaba et al, 2014).

2.SDLC and Waterfall model

SDLC is also called as a software development life cycle model which is taken as a structured way to develop a software. There are different kinds of activities done in a more sequence form to accomplish the end product (Alshamrani & Bahattab, 2015). Every phase is connected with a lot of deliverable that function as an input to the additional phase of SDLC.

Following are some of the popular SDLC models: -

Waterfall model
Incremental life cycle model
V-shaped model
Spiral model

The report will discuss in detail about waterfall model which is considered as one of the most popular models of SDLC (Mahalakshmi & Sundararajan, 2013). This model has to offer different kind of deliverables for every phase. This model also offers the following advantages: -

The model is simple and can be executed in an easy manner.
The model follows a linear form of approach and this is why it can be managed easily.
Every phase is implemented once in a timeframe (Mahalakshmi & Sundararajan, 2013).
The project is utilized best for projects which are small in size.

Following are some of the disadvantages: -

It involves a high-risk factor.
It cannot be advantageous for large projects.
It is not flexible by nature so if the requirements are changing during the project, it cannot be used (Mahalakshmi & Sundararajan, 2013).
It is not best suited for complex projects.

3.Identify how SDLC and waterfall model relate to the project life cycle.

Following are the ways in which these models can relate to PLC:-

It is important to have a stable product definition.
It is important to have a clear technology.
There should not be any requirements which are ambiguous by nature.

It is important to understand here, that a very small number of customer communications is involved at the time of development of the product (Saxena & Upadhyay, 2016). When the product is ready to use, only then it can be exposed to end users. But, if there is any failure about it development and exposure to end users, the cost of fixing it is very high at this point because updating process is required at every phase.

References

Alshamrani, A., & Bahattab, A. (2015). A comparison between three SDLC models waterfall model, spiral model, and Incremental/Iterative model. International Journal of Computer Science Issues (IJCSI), 12(1), 106.

Joslin, R., & Müller, R. (2015). Relationships between a project management methodology and project success in different project governance contexts. International Journal of Project Management, 33(6), 1377-1392.

Kerzner, H. (2013). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Mahalakshmi, M., & Sundararajan, M. (2013). Traditional SDLC Vs Scrum Methodology–A Comparative Study. International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering, 3(6), 192-196.

Marcelino-Sádaba, S., Pérez-Ezcurdia, A., Lazcano, A. M. E., & Villanueva, P. (2014). Project risk management methodology for small firms. International Journal of Project Management, 32(2), 327-340.

Saxena, A., & Upadhyay, P. (2016). Waterfall vs. Prototype: Comparative Study of SDLC. Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 2(6).