Doctoral thesis of project management adjudicating an ill defined problem from a system developmentproject management perspective utilizing a knowledge management overlay model

Adjudicating an Ill-defined Problem from a System Development/Project Management Perspective: Utilizing a Knowledge Management Overlay Model David G McKenna 2010 RMIT University – Melbourne, Australia Adjudicating an Ill-defined Problem from a System Development/Project Management Perspective: Utilizing a Knowledge Management Overlay Model A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Project Management David G McKenna Masters of Science Project Management (MSPM) Project Management Professional (PMP®) School of Property, Construction and Project Management RMIT University Australia August 2010 i DECLARATION I certify that except where due acknowledge has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work, which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program, and, any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged Signed: David G McKenna MSc., PMP August 16, 2010 ii Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Derek Walker, for all of his guidance, insights, inspiration, and most importantly, his never ending support You have been a driving force behind this work As well, I want to thank Dr Ginger Levin for her unending positive motivation, unparalleled experience in this field of management and endless encouragement She has had a positive influence on both my academic and professional life During the last phase of this thesis, it was Dr Levin that gave me the support and the strength, and most importantly, the clear focus to meet the objective I sincerely thank you both I want to thank my mother and father who have instilled in me a sense of drive and significance for finishing what I start They have been with me through this entire journey and have been a powerful influence throughout my entire life I am what you have made me and I thank you and love you both endlessly Thank you to all of my friends and extended family and specifically my life partner, Helen-Ann Younger, for understanding the time commitment for this body of work They too encouraged me every step of the way and that is truly appreciated Finally I want to take this opportunity to thank all those who took part in the research over the course of this thesis Without your open and honest reflections this would not have been possible In memory of my father who lives within me to this day I miss you, and I love you and this is as much for you as it is for me iii Abstract Organizations have long struggled with the successful completion of projects within the time, cost and performance indicators with respect to a customer product or solution that is expected to ultimately meet the customer’s expectations This thesis demonstrates the link between the successful creation, management and dissemination of project requirements throughout the entire project process using a knowledge management overlay model to ensure the success of the overall project to meet stakeholder needs through the successful creation and transfer of project requirements The knowledge management overlay model was developed to support the requirements management domain and is the foundation for this research The knowledge management overlay model is based on the premise that there is a clear need to successfully create, and then transfer the information within a requirement from person to person, team to team, as well as from organization to organization without the loss, distortion or deformation of that content within a project management or system development process As well, the original ill-defined problem that evolves into a requirement needs to be resolved correctly and accurately at the beginning of a project and is also considered the very underpinning of the requirement process The goal of the knowledge management overly model is to ensure a clear and concise creation and transfer of requirements knowledge from inception of the business requirements to the functional product that is presented to the end user and the ability to maintain the fundamental traits and characteristics of the requirements that can get lost during the transfer of knowledge Once implemented within the project teams and the project management process, the knowledge transfer model will reduce and or eliminate the alteration of content that might otherwise lead to scope creep and substantial re-work as focus is lost on the project vision and objectives The model will enhance the enablers of successful knowledge transfer and remove the barriers to successful knowledge transfer ultimately increasing project success iv v Table of Contents DECLARATION II  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III  ABSTRACT IV  TABLE OF CONTENTS VI  LIST OF FIGURES XIII  LIST OF TABLES XIV  LIST OF PAPERS PUBLISHED XV  GLOSSARY OF TERMS XVI  Chapter - Introduction 21  1.0 Introduction 21  1.1 The Doctorate of Project Management Program 21  1.2 Personal Background .25  1.3 Research Background 27  1.4 Organization Under Study 28  1.5 Research Problem Statement 28  1.6 Research Questions 29  1.7 Research Proposition .30  1.8 Research Scope and Objectives 30  1.9 Research Aims 31  1.10 Research Design .32  1.11 Research Methods 35  vi 1.12 Structure of the Thesis .39  1.13 Summary of Chapter .43  Chapter - Literature Review 44  2.0 Introduction 44  2.1 Established Literature 45  2.2 Project Management Success, Failure and Life Cycle Resourcing Considerations – A Lean Project Design Perspective 50  2.2.1 Project Success Factors and Processes .50  2.2.2 Project Life Cycle Considerations 55  2.2.3 Six Sigma and Agile Project Delivery 59  2.3 The Relevance of Lean or Agile Practices within Software (S/W) Projects 63  2.3.1 Agile Software Development 64  2.3.2 Rule Out Waste 67  2.4 The Systems Development Process 68  2.5 The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) Process .72  2.6 Project Requirements .76  2.7 Knowledge Management (KM) 81  2.7.1 Tacit Knowledge and Innovation 83  2.7.2 Types of Knowledge 84  2.7.3 Motivation, Trust, Commitment 86  2.7.4 Trust and Partnerships 88  2.7.5 Innovation .90  2.7.6 Knowledge Stickiness .94  2.7.7 Knowledge Transfer 102  2.7.8 Knowledge Transfer Environments 103  vii 2.7.9 Community of Practice 104  2.7.10 Knowledge Management in the Project Domain .105  2.7.11 Knowledge Advantage .107  2.8 Communication and Communications Problems 108  2.9 Acronyms 110  2.10 Chapter Summary 111  Chapter - Research Method and Design 113  3.0 Introduction .113  3.1 Ontology and Epistemological Overview 113  3.2 Research Options .116  3.2.1 Research Strategy 121  3.2.2 Research Approach .122  3.2.3 Research Methodology 124  3.2.4 Data Collection Method 130  3.3 Research Questions and Objectives .131  3.3.1 Development of Research Questions and Objectives 132  3.4 Research Design .132  3.5 Structure of the Research 134  3.5.1 Phase of Research 136  3.5.2 Phase of Research 136  3.5.3 Output of Research 137  3.5.4 Data Collection – Phase .137  3.5.5 Validation 138  3.6 Ethical Considerations .140  3.7 Chapter Summary .141  viii 29% 29% response % 0% 0% 57% 29% 14% Did you get enough hands-on, or cases studies to augment the training? rating 2 Do you feel that there should be a mechanism to “test” knowledge retention? rating response Appendix J Business Analysis Search Results - 339 - Version #3: 1/5/2011 % 29% 14% 0% 43% 14% Business Analysis ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA ****** BA BA Bath (postcode, United Kingdom) Bahrain British Airways Bay Area (of San Francisco) Bahia (Brazil) Buenos Aires Business Administration Bachelor of Arts (degree) Bank of America Bosnia and Herzegovina (top-level domain name) Batting Average (baseball) Bratislava (Slovakia) Back Again Barium Berufsakademie (German; University of Cooperative Educatio Business Analyst Bad Ass Bank Austria (Austrian Bank) Bryan Adams British Association Bioavailability ****** BA British Academy (UK) ****** BA British Association (screw thread) ****** BA Breast Augmentation ****** BA Baseball-Almanac ***** BA Ben Affleck (actor) ***** BA Beer Advocate (website) - 340 - Version #3: 1/5/2011 ***** BA Bronze Age ***** BA Bowling Alley ***** BA Billing Address Bad Apples (Guns N' Roses song) ***** BA ***** BA ***** BA Business Agent (labor unions) Bell Atlantic (telephone company; now Verizon) ***** BA Business Aviation (charter flights) ***** BA ***** BA British Aerospace Bosnia Hercegovina (ISO country code) Bundesanstalt für Arbeit (German: federal job office) ***** BA Breathing Apparatus ***** BA Black Arrow Bombardier Aerospace (aircraft manufacturer) ***** BA ***** BA Bombs Away BA ***** BA Biological Assessment ***** BA Building Automation ***** BA ***** BA Bad Attitude Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Alexandria, Egypt) ***** BA Budget Authority ***** BA ***** BA Bronchial Asthma Biosecurity Australia (created October 2000) ***** BA Booksellers Association ***** BA Basal Area ***** BA Biological Abstracts ***** BA Balloon Angioplasty ***** BA ***** BA Brachial Artery Bnei Akiva (Jewish Zionistic youth group worldwide) ***** BA Bari, Puglia (Italian province) ***** BA Binding Acknowledgement ***** BA Broker Associate (real estate) - 341 - Version #3: 1/5/2011 ***** BA Be-Arsed ***** BA Bus Adapter ***** BA Bruce Almighty (movie) BA ***** BA BA Budget Analysis ***** BA Beerenauslese (German wine) Blocks Against (basketball scoring) ***** BA Brutal Attack (band) **** BA Breathing Air **** BA Budget Activity **** BA **** BA Basic Access Behaviour Analysis (psychiatry/psychology) **** BA Blood Agar **** BA Barrel Aged (beer) **** BA Basic Agreement **** BA Bass Amplifier **** BA Bowling Association **** BA Benefits Administrator **** BA **** BA Boeing Aerospace Brewers Association (Boulder, Colorado) **** BA Battle Area **** BA Biblical Archaeologist **** BA Bankers' Acceptance (finance) **** BA Brandy Alexander (cocktail) Bonne Action (French: good deed) **** BA Basic Allowance Battlespace Awareness **** BA Basic Assembly **** BA Bearing Area **** BA Buffer Amplifier **** BA Bare-Assed **** BA - 342 - Version #3: 1/5/2011 **** BA Buoyancy Aid **** BA Budget Authorization **** BA *** BA Bill Acceptor Bank Asia (Bangladesh) Baccalaureus Artium (Bachelor of Arts degree) *** BA Braking Action *** BA Bank Angle **** BA BA *** BA British Africa *** BA Bangladesh Army *** BA *** BA Building Approval Black Ajah (Wheel of Time series) *** BA Battlefield Awareness *** BA Bus Arbiter Boston Acoustics, Inc (speaker maker) *** BA Battlefield Area Botrytis Affected (wine; Botrytis Cinerea, aka Noble Rot) *** BA Burglary Alarm (alarm industry) *** BA Byte-Addressable *** BA Behaviour Aggregate *** BA Bible Advocate *** BA Bridge Architecture *** BA B'nei Akiva *** BA Binary Add *** BA Billing Adjustment *** BA Broward Alliance (Florida, USA) *** BA Bar Arcade (IRC network) British American Oil Company (pre Gulf Oil) *** BA *** BA Bridge Administration Bergen Academies (Hackensack, New Jersey) *** BA *** BA ** BA Ballistic Aggregation - 343 - Version #3: 1/5/2011 ** BA Build & Acquire (system development) ** BA Battle Assembly ** BA Bison Ambassadors BA Battery Adjust ** BA Battery Activate Battle Allocation (Carnage Blender gaming) ** BA Battle Allocation (gaming) ** BA Business Area/Application ** BA Bridging Alternative ** BA Branch Assistant, National Staff ** BA * BA Bobtopian Army (gaming clan) * BA * BA Bridle Arrester Bitaddict.org (Finnish Pprivate torrent tracker) * BA Bachelieres Arts (degree) Acronym Finder http://www.acronymfinder.com/ Appendix K Example agenda: PROJECT NAME Project Central – Requirements gathering phase PURPOSE, OBJECTIVES AND ELEMETNS OF MEETING: The purpose of the Project Central project is to upgrade the existing time reporting application with new features to enhance the user functionally and the back-end financial accounting reporting The objective is to decrease the time required for the end user inputting their weekly time and associated activities by 25% Back-end enhancement will include enhanced reporting - 344 - Version #3: 1/5/2011 This meeting, dated May 20, 2009, will be the first of two scheduled user requirements sessions to define and document the end user’s business requirements This session will be conducted using an interview format MEETING LOGISTICS Time Date May 20, 2009 1:00 – 3:00 pm Location 100 Main St, Flr 3, Tahoe Room Dial-in N/A NetMeeting Host N/A ATTENDEES Attendee David McKenna Eric Smith Susan Younger Role Business Analyst (BA) Interviewee Interviewee - 345 - Version #3: 1/5/2011 AGENDA ITEM TIME TOPIC PRIME 1:00 – 1:05 Introductions DGM 1:05 – 1:10 Review Agenda/Rules of Engagement DGM 1:10 – 1:50 Scenario based questions and answer interview ALL 1:50 – 2:00 Break ALL 2:00 – 2:40 Continue scenario based questions and answer interview ALL 2:40 – 2:50 Next steps DGM LIST OF ATTACHMENTS Appendix L Ambiguous Terms Ambiguous Terms Ways to Improve Acceptable Describe and characterize what is acceptable Adequate system will close in 20 seconds… ” At least Detail the minimum and maximum limits “The mean - 346 - “The Version #3: 1/5/2011 At minimum time to repair is between the maximum of four hours No more than and a minimum of two hours Not to exceed Depends on Describe in detail what the dependency is and how they are interrelated “System ABC will be pulling from fields one and two the customer name and customer address from system XYZ…” Efficient In detail describe the limits quantifiably surrounding efficiencies “The system ABC will pull data from system XYZ every 15 minutes… ” Fast Describe in a quantifiable number the acceptable speed Rapid “The system will perform task 14 in two mille seconds” Quick Flexible Illustrate how the system will change in response to a change in a business need “If the user inputs data into field 24 that is more than 75 characters the system will…” Variable Distinguish between the limits of variability The upper Optimize limit is 47 and the lower limit is 12 ” Normal Describe the situation or the system in abnormal Ideally circumstances “Once the system reaches the limit of Average 450 users no other user can access the system until….” Optionally Describe how a rule is applied optionally “The system Voluntary will return an alert box indicating to the user that they Possible must input into field 45 or 62 the requested data…” When necessary A clear explanation of the judgment is needed “The Where appropriate process asks the user if the risk is higher than 60% they are to complete the risk response management plan…” Robust Define the systems performs under both normal and unusual conditions “The system will operate for six months without rebooting…” - 347 - Version #3: 1/5/2011 Seamlees User expectation of a system need to be expressed into Transparent observable product characteristics “System ABC will have application programming interfaces (API) with system XYZ and will update system ABC…” Shouldn’t State all requirements that the system can in the positive “The system will give the user access once they input their user name and identification credentials…” Sufficient Quantify what is needed “The system will accept 450 Enough users at the simultaneously…” Satisfactory Enable Define what the process of system will actually perform Support “The system has access levels…” Maintain Simple Illustrate in detail the system characteristics and Easy usability “The system will promote the user, using a User-friendly “pop-up” text box, to input their name once in the system…” State-of-the-art Give a definition for the meaning and quality of state-ofthe-art “The system runs at capacities ranging from 35Mbps to as high as 1Gbps on connections which are monitored 24/7 …” Numerous Give actual amounts “There are six steps to…” Several Various Hold Define what action is within the system “The system will not move to section two until all of the fields on page 74 are populated with data ” Smooth Describe how the system will operate “The system will initiate the firewall script upon the user logging into ABC…” - 348 - Version #3: 1/5/2011 Till Be specific regarding the limitations of time within the Until system “Users that have not linked their account to application ABC by June 1, 2010 will be denied access to the system…” Allow Define what the system will “The end users can add text and pictures within the application…” Transfer Describe how the system will operate The ABC system will pull data from system XYZ every 30 minutes…” They Be specific regarding the actors you are referring “The Them business analysis completes step two and the architecture designer completes step three…” Appendix M Results of expert panel - April 21, 2010: - 349 - Version #3: 1/5/2011 Expert Panel Review Name (Optional) 07-Apr-10 Your Skills & Experience, years in the project management field Likert Scale - strongly agree, - disagree, - neither agree nor disagree, - agree, - strongly agree Would you recommend this model to a project management, change management organization? Why you think the model would be effective in the workplace? Why you think this model would not be effective in the workplace? Results of expert panel - April 21, 2010 Collective years of experience in project management: 227 PMP certified: Number of attendees: 21 (4 left on the hour to attend other commitments) Number of Respondents: 17 Results of Likert Scale: 76.5% agree to "would you recommend this model to a project management, change management organization - 350 - Version #3: 1/5/2011 Would you recommend this model to a project management, change management organization? - strongly agree, - disagree, - neither agree nor disagree, - agree, - strongly agree 0.00% 5.88% 17.65% 76.47% 0.00% Comments Why you think the model would be effective in the workplace? I think it would more openly acknowledge and recognize the barriers to knowledge transfer This may provide an opportunity to change and or alter the impending course of distraction and multitasking that we are currently on This model would be effective in the workplace as it allows for time management instead of time slicing which allows individuals the opportunity to put their best effort forward and complete tasks properly Demonstrated thru factual data that the model can work by raising awareness of distracters that we invite in or assume "have to be" part of our working environment It's a good overview of some interesting methods - voice o the customer or user needs analysis combined with high performing teams The concepts made sense and can be applied somewhat easily Good guidelines of things to keep in mind Like it overall common sense - it makes sense in theory It would help protect project managers improve overall quality and satisfaction of project teams Likely improve the likelihood of success of projects Provides clear best practices - logical, easy to follow, clear benefits Very interesting ideas, worth further discussion Thanks for sharing you thesis Hope it takes off Would be very interested in reading your thesis and research Excellent supporting examples The knowledge (common sense) categorizes in "do's and don'ts" - 351 - Version #3: 1/5/2011 A model for organizational willing to invest in knowledge transfer, as it will equip them with a process to so Work with PMI and make this integrate to their change management process yes, it seams true yes - because it addresses all the challenges that we are currently facing yes - certain components Why you think this model would not be effective in the workplace? Due to aggressive company timeline demands and a diminishing workforce, individuals are forced to 'multitask' in order to cover all expectations and objectives Works somewhat against human nature and may be disregarded because I think many people are disinterested in actually receiving knowledge