Effective Remote Project Management in IT - Prof. zzz, Lecture notes of Network Design

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Petri Laine

Remote Working Challenges in

Project Management

Metropolia University of Applied Sciences Master’s Degree Degree Programme in Business Informatics Master’s Thesis 25 .5.

Abstract Author Title Number of Pages Date Petri Laine Remote Working Challenges in Project Management 51 pages 25 May 2021 Degree Master of Business Administration Degree Programme (^) Business Informatics Instructor Antti Hovi, Senior Lecturer The objective of the thesis was to improve consultant market potential by finding out which set of skills is needed in working as a consultant in a remote environment as remote work has become more or less a standard in the IT industry. This thesis focuses on the project management area in remote working. Qualitative research methods were used for conducting this thesis focusing specifically on project communication and team dynamics to support the project manager’s skillsets and keep companies competitive in the market in the Covid- 2019 environment. The theoretical framework of the thesis concentrated on the topics of project management. The practical part relied on the interviews with experienced project managers. The study revealed that project management as such remains more or less the same in the remote working conditions, with the scope, schedule, and budget management within the project management fundamental practices remaining the basis of any successful project. The main differences found were around communication and team dynamics. The study demonstrated that project managers and companies can have significant benefits by utilizing professional competencies especially in their project communication up to date to match the market needs. Furthermore, the study confirmed the need for constantly follow up and get feedback on the remote working practices. Keywords Project management, remote working, Covid-2019, IT consultancy business

5. Building Proposal for Best Remote Working Practices for IT Project Management

• 1. Introduction Contents
• 1.1. Business Challenge
• 1.2. Business Challenge, Objective and Outcome
• 1.3. Background
• 1.4. Thesis Outline
• 2. Method and Material
• 2.1. Research Approach
• 2.2. Research Design
• 2.3. Data Collection and Analysis
  • Management 3. Existing Knowledge and Best Practice on the Basic Concepts of Project
• 3.1. Key Concepts of Project Management
• 3.2. Other Knowledge Areas in Project Management
• 3.3. Background on IT Project Management
• 3.4. Remote and Virtual Work in IT Project Management
  • 2019 Pandemic 4. Current State Analysis of Remote Work in IT Project Management during Covid-
• 4.1. Overview of the Current State Analysis Stage
• 4.2. Description of the Analyzed Area in IT Project Management
• 4.2.1. Scope
• 4.2.2. Schedule
• 4.2.3. Budget
• 4.3. Description of Other Selected Knowledge Areas
• 4.3.1. Team dynamics
• 4.3.2. Communication
• 4.3. Key Findings from the Current State Analysis
• 4.3.1. Scope
• 4.3.2. Schedule
• 4.3.3. Budget
• 4.3.4. Team dynamics
• 4.3.5. Communication Abstract
• 4.3.6. Strengths and Weaknesses of Remote Working in IT Project Management
  • Project Management 5. Existing Knowledge on Communication & Team Dynamics for Remote Work IT
• 5.1. Communication
• 5.2. Team Dynamics
• 5.4. Conceptual Framework of This Thesis
• 5.1. Overview of the Proposal Building Stage
• 5.3. Initial Proposal
• 5.3.1. Communication
• 5.3.2. Team dynamics
• 5.3.3. Summary
• 6. Validation of the Proposal
• 6.1. Overview of the Validation Stage
• 6.2. Developments to the Proposal
• 6.2.1. Developments to Communication
• 6.2.2. Developments to Team Dynamics
• 6.3. Final Proposal
• 7. Conclusion
• 7.1. Executive Summary
• 7.2. Next Steps and Further Suggestions
• 7.3. Closing Words
• References

1. Introduction

The remote work revolution was accelerated in 2020 by a severe coronavirus outbreak. The global pandemic has forced companies to adapt their digital footprint rapidly and bring the digital toolset up to date to accommodate their virtual workforce. In a survey conducted by the Gartner Group in 2020, 73% of the companies reported plans to adopt more remote work after the pandemic. (Needley 2021) Facebook, for example, has reported adapting half of the workforce remote in the next ten years. J.P. Morgan Chase is considering a permanent remote workforce based on a significant increase in productivity. UBS already expect one-third of the workforce to work remotely. Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange company, declared that it would become a fully remote company estimating up to 60% of the workforce working remotely. Tata Consultancy expects 75% of the workforce to work remotely by 2025. Twitter and Slack have given their workforce to work remotely indefinitely. There is no doubt that companies see benefits in remote work in reducing real estate costs and removing continental barriers. This thesis focuses on the development of remote working tools and methods for IT project management. The world is rushing towards remote ways of working, so different tools and methods are needed. Implementing efficient remote working culture for project management is essential for businesses to survive and for project management consultants to run the projects in the new environment. Remote work brings new challenges to already challenging IT projects, such as communication, which is the most valuable skill for a project manager to run a successful project. Building an efficient team while people working individually in different locations can be more challenging. There needs to be some compensation for replacing the unofficial and non-verbal communication to keep the team working as one efficient entity to the goals set for the project. Current tools available have developed a lot towards enabling efficient communication and connecting. Using the tools becomes even more critical as the tools are the only communication channels for remote workers. It is essential to select the correct tool for different purposes. Information overload by email, meetings and social media is a valid risk that needs to be controlled.

1.4. Thesis Outline This Thesis is written in seven section. Section 1 is the introduction. Section 2 explains the research approach and why qualitative case study methodology was selected for the research design. In this section, data collection and analysis is explained in detail from the data collection to the initial proposal building. Section 3 describes the current state analysis for remote project management. In this section, first, some general background for project management is explained. Different areas of project management were analysed for remote work. The current state analysis is based on the collected data in the interviews. Project management is analysed as a professional field, and two problem areas related to remote work are identified. Section 4 captures literature and best practices on the focus areas identified in the current state analysis in Section 3. A variety of sources was used in this section, ranging from academic publications to consultant articles online. In this section, the focus is on resolving the challenges identified in the current state analysis. In section 5, the initial proposal is built based on the current state analysis and literature review on the selected focus areas. Section 6 validates the proposal and identifies further development of the proposal. The final proposal is also described in this section. Section 7 concludes the thesis into executive summary and closing words. In order to have a clear focus and scope, this thesis focuses on remote work challenges on project management of IT projects in Finland.

2. Method and Material

This section describes the research approach, research design, and data collection and analysis methods used in this Thesis. 2.1. Research Approach A qualitative case study is a research methodology that focuses on the analysis of multiple data sources and issues from different perspectives. It also allows multiple facets of the phenomena to be revealed and understood. (Baxter & Jack 2008) Qualitative research requires knowledge of the research subject from the researcher. The method has great value when research can address questions of relevance to the research subject, which are difficult to answer by using quantitative methods. Qualitative research aims to create an in-depth understanding of the research subject based on people’s experiences, perspectives and histories. Qualitative research involves non- numerical data in the analysis phase, such as interviews and documentation analysis. In this study, qualitative case study methods was seen as the best method to conduct the interviews and data analysis for this study. In this study, the research and building of a proposal were carried out in co-operation with consultants from IT consultant companies. This study will answer why ways of working are changing, and remote way of working is becoming a standard and how remote working should be set up and done. This study focuses on the project management aspect of remote working. In this study, the proposal and suggested methods and tools are tied to the data analysis from the interviews and discussions. Qualitative case study methods help build the baselines for semi-structured interviews using questionnaires. The results inform the existing knowledge and best practice search in the next step. A conceptual framework is supporting the proposal making process. The study is eventually concluded by getting feedback from the relevant stakeholders and developing it before the final release.

2.3. Data Collection and Analysis This study uses a variety of data sources, and data was collected in several collection rounds. Data was collected from several people working in IT industry in Finland. People were selected based on their experience in the consultant market. Table 1 shows details of Data collections 1 - 3 used in this study. Participants / role Data type Topic, description Date, length Documented as Data 1, for the Current state analysis (Section 3 or 4) 1 Respondent 1: Consultant company, Sales responsible Online meeting Company remote working impact on project management consulting Apr 2020, 1 hour Meeting notes 2 Respondent 2: Consultant company, Sales responsible Online meeting Company remote working impact on project management consulting Apr 2020, 1 hour Meeting notes 3 Respondent 3: Project management consultant Online meeting Experiences on remote working May 2020, 1 hour Meeting notes 4 Respondent 4: Project management consultant Online meeting Experiences on remote working May 2020, 1 hour Meeting notes 5 Respondent 5: Consultant company Director and Sales responsible Online meeting Company remote working impact on project management consulting and business May 2020, 1 hour Meeting notes Data 2, for Proposal building (Section 5) 8 Manager, Customer Discussion Proposal building, discussion on how remote work has impacted ways of working in company Feb 2021, 2 hours Meeting notes Data 3, from Validation (Section 6) 9 Manager, Customer Discussion Proposal validation and further improvement suggestions Apr 2021, 1 hour Meeting notes

As seen from Table 1, data for this Thesis was collected in three rounds. The first round, collecting Data 1, was conducted for the current state analysis and was conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews and open discussions. The interviews and discussions were conducted with consultant company representatives who are in contact with customer companies and view the demand in the market. Data collection also included interviews with consultants and their views about remote working in their current assignments. In the next round, Data 2 was collected to gather suggestions as an open discussion about how remote working has impacted the way of working in the company in the areas related to project management. This data included insights on the demand for the skillsets, the ways of working, for example, how new comers induction has changed, and also how actual work has been impacted. In the third round, Data 3 was collected when conducting validation of the initial proposal. Data 3 included feedback for the proposal from the manager from a consultant company. In this study, the interviews made the primary method of data collection. The interviews were conducted as semi-structured and included elements of open discussion, organized in the form of online meetings, with specific questions created in advance. Meeting notes were taken. All textual data were analysed for the current state analysis using Theme/content analysis methods. The findings from the current state analysis are described in Section 3 below.

Figure 2. Project management “iron triangle” with the risks and mitigation activities. As seen from Figure 2, the first contain the project scope. The project scope is the content of the project, a list of work items that need to be completed to finalise the project. The project scope is defined in the planning phase, its progress monitored and managed in execution phase, and accepted in the acceptance or closure phase. There can be different deliverables, based on the project. The Work breakdown structure is used to list and mark the dependencies on each work item. Scope management is the area in project management that is focused on managing the scope. Scope management of a project can be done in several ways, there are many tools available which have developed a lot during the years. If it is a tool or verbal status, team or the individual provides the status of the work item. Different companies have different tools and methods. The project schedule includes a start date and finish date for each activity in the work breakdown structure. Schedule tracking and communication the deadlines of different work items in the work breakdown structure plays important role when setting the expectations on the results from project team.

The project budget defines the estimated costs of individual activities or work packages into an authorised baseline. It will determine the cost baseline against which the project performance will be measured, monitored and controlled. The cost baseline makes the basis for comparison with actual results. (PMBOK 5.0 2014: Section 7.3) Sometimes more constrains are added to the project. The most popular, fourth dimension is quality that describes the quality of the product or service to match the customer expectations. (Schwalbe K. 2009) Altogether, as many as six contains can be defined, as shown in Figure 3 below. Figure 3. “Six constrains” showing basic interdependencies in project management (PMBOK 2017). As shown in Figure 3, which are also called interdependencies, show how constrains work in project management. For example, if Schedule is shortened, then Budget is increased (to add additional Resources). If Budget cannot be increased, then Scope or targeted Quality should be reduced. If not enough measures are taken, then Risks increase, etc. (PMBOK 2017.) Although six constrains can be identified in project management, further in this study, the focus is placed on analyzing the “triple constrains”. 3.2. Other Knowledge Areas in Project Management Project communication makes another critical knowledge area in project management. Its main document is the project communication plan that links the information and the people on the areas that are needed for successful completion of the project.

success. Project issues need to be tackled with appropriate people and project work needs to be actively managed by project manager. The project resources need to be controlled and efficient use actively ensured. (PMBOK 2004) Risk management is often neglected. Project management focuses heavily on cost, schedule and budget. It is important to identify and monitor the main risks that can cause project deviations. Risk management consists of planning, identifying, analysing, mitigating and monitoring risks. Initial step of planning the risk management includes itemising the risk categories (resources, procurement etc.), definition of risk probabilities and impact. A comprehensive list of potential risks to project’s cost, schedule or any other success factor is the key to risk management. Risk analysis defines the probability of a risk and impact on the project’s schedule and budget. Risk mitigation includes the steps to lower the risk probability and actions a risk is realised. Risks are monitored actively throughout the project and risk probabilities and impacts are updated. (PMBOK

Project Procurement Management is needed when a project requires some form of external purchasing in order to meet project’s goals. Contractors can be used to fulfil the lack of experience of a project team. Successful sub-contracting includes Requests for Proposals and contracts. Project Procurement Management is based on planning, conducting and controlling procurements. Project planning phase includes the planning of procurements needs. Preferred vendors are contacted and asked for quotation of price. Project management plan is updated with the new budget and schedule information including work from the vendor. (PMBOK 2004) Summing up, the main knowledge areas in project management can be described as by PMI, project Management Institute:

Figure 4. Main knowledge areas in Project management (based on: PMBOK 2017). As seen from Figure 4 , PMBOK (6th edition, 2017) identifies ten Knowledge areas and five phases in traditional project management. Importantly, project management in the field of IT has its distinct specifics which is discussed in the next section.

The implementation phase is often the longest part of the IT project. The project manager monitors the progress and controls scope, schedule and risk. In this phase, the project deliverables are created. Follow up phase is the last phase after implementation is completed. The final project is delivered, and work after the project, like software maintenance, is started. This can include setting up support teams, training customers to use software and so on. This phase ends the IT project. An IT project manager is responsible for executing IT projects on time and budget. IT project managers are expected to know about computers, operating systems, computer networks, software and service desk support operations. These skills are required to communicate with technical experts and other stakeholders fluently. A specific skill of an IT project manager is the ability to explain complex technical issues in a simple way. The skillset of an IT project manager is unique as they focus on the IT needs of an organisation. IT Project Management Methodologies can be characterised in traditional and non- traditional methods. The traditional method is called the waterfall method, which breaks down the tasks into a sequential linear project phase. There is a dependency of each phase on the previous phase delivery. The Challenge of this methodology is the high need for planning and vulnerability to changes that are most likely to come and eventually fail the project. Agile methodology is a more iterative approach where smaller deliverables are delivered through the project to gather continuous feedback and adapt to changes. The hybrid methodology is the most popular methodology, which combines waterfall and agile to create a more flexible and still structured approach more suitable for IT Projects. Many companies try to take ”the best of both worlds” approach when executing their IT projects.

3.4. Remote and Virtual Work in IT Project Management Organisations that have international virtual teams and are able to utilise the workforce efficiently have global access to human resources that allow them to compete globally. (Brewer 2015) Virtual teams use remote communication tools and remote ways of working. Team could be distributed over several continents and timezones, which brings additional challenges to project management. Remote working in such scale as what we have seen now has not been there before. It-projects projects have been lead with teams located at same location or with distributed teams, so that individual teams are located in same location, but the project is global. Some companies allow people work from home, but mostly there is face to face collaboration at least in some level. Due to COVID- 19 restrictions in collaboration basically all companies have been forced to move to remote way of working if possible. This environment creates new challenges for project management as each individual member of the project team is located in different location. In a virtual project team there is at least one member of the team working remote from others. Globalisation, outsourcing and utilizing use of the most experienced people wherever they are based or flexible working has caused virtual projects to be on the rise. A Project manager needs to have skills to deliver projects virtually. (Pullan, Prokopi 2016) Based on Dr Penny Pullan’s survey (Pullan, Prokopi 2016), the main challenge of virtual work is to engage remote participants. Other challenges identified were missing out on dynamics and nuances of a conversation, working across time zones, working across different cultures and building trust. The critical issue for project leaders, based on the survey, was monitoring work done, a different understanding of the same term, conflict management, not being able to spend time with the team as if the team was co-located, using technology. The survey also conducted a questionnaire where people were asked what made virtual teams work together more productively. In this free form questionnaire, the most popular answer was to meet people face-to-face either at the start of the project, once a year or more regularly. Other common suggestions included regular communication, clear roles and responsibilities, meetings with agendas, transparent methods for work, shared vision