Importance Of Systems Thinking In Project Management

Reading samples

Learning outcomes of the unit

Learnings from your weekly study, experience, this and prior unit readings and assignments

Supporting documentation including any prior learning

Mandatory Readings

· SEBoK: ‘Introduction to Systems Engineering’;

· Kerzner (2013) Chapters

· AS/NZS 15288:2015 Introduction;

· Sterman Chapters 1, 2, 13 and 15;

Optional Readings

· AS ISO 21504:2016 Project, programme and portfolio management—Guidance on portfolio management;

· INCOSE

Movies and Web sites

· YouTube:

· “Systems Engineering” (by ThinkTVPBS)

· Modeling the Management of Systems Engineering Projects (by VitechCorp)

· Web Sites:

· International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE)

· Systems Engineering Society of Australia

The Guide to Lean Enablers for Managing Engineering Programs – MIT

• YouTube: What is Portfolio Management vs. Project Management?

1. Explain the relevance of systems thinking to the project, program and portfolio manager.

2. Identify different systems thinking tools and techniques to aid project managers solve project problems.

3. Assess the relevance of systems engineering to project cases.

4. Describe how systems engineering concepts and methodologies can help a project, program and portfolio managers organise a project.

5. Explain the importance of appropriate selection of project management (PM) application systems in regards to meeting the internal and external objectives of a project.

6. Describe how the use of project management (PM) application systems can lead to effective PM knowledge management and decision making.

7. Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of different manual and electronic project, program and portfolio (PPPM) application systems within each PPPM knowledge area over the life cycle of a project, program or portfolio.

8. Identify how project, program and portfolio (PPPM) application systems can assist project managers to monitor performance and manage changes within a project.

9. Propose appropriate project, program and portfolio (PPPM) application systems to support successful project, program and portfolio execution in different industry domains.

10. Discuss contemporary developments in the use of project, program and portfolio (PPPM)

11. Propose appropriate project, program and portfolio (PPPM) application systems to support successful project, program and portfolio execution in different industry domains.

Week 1

System thinking has certain influence in the project management and the portfolio management. It is a way of seeing the relationship between the two process. The sate or the pattern is not observed in the system thin king process. In case, if there are many diverse processes are included in the system, the system thinking helps to generate the rules and regulations to be maintained in that specific process. The complex project management needs both technical and business knowledge. In this case, the system thinking helps the coordination between the business manager and the technical experts  for the communication. This communication helps in the enhancement of the project as the knowledge is shared among the different diverse processes in the project in a right way.

Week 2

(The main objective of the system thinking is to synchronized between the workings of the different modules in the process of project management. The system thinking can be implemented using various tools. There are many system thinking tools exists. However, the selection of the system thinking tools depends upon the requirements and the type of the project management. It has been found out that in most cases the project managers are unaware about the use  of system thinking tools during the development of the project. The use of the system thinking tools can help the managers to complete the project in an effective way. Some of the system thinking tools are expert judgement , analysis of the data from the already published journals.

According the conventional project management theory the project management and the portfolio management is the way for the implementation of the project. `however, this concept is not applicable nowadays. The complexity of the project allows different diverse modules to participate in the project management process. In order to manage the complexity of the project different project management tools along with the system thin king tools are needed.)

Week 3

 (The term system engineering is used in the basic sense. The basic principal of the system engineering is dependent on the product system, system of system and the service system. The main function of the system engineering is to deliver a system or the service that will enhance the quality and the productivity of the service. System engineering is applicable in the life cycle process of the project management.

The main objective of the project manager is to deliver a product or the service that holds a standard quality. The application of the system engineering assures this quality and the service of the product.

The BP failed in the Deepwater Horizon case due the absence of the system thin king and the system engineering. Moreover there was non synchronization between the project and the portfolio management. This leads to the mismanagement of the company. The  managers focused on the individual safety while they overlook the other safety issues like shutoff of the failed system, activation of the pressure relied device. The incident indicate that the managers in this case had a lack of vision which leads to the improper management of the project.)

Week 4

 (There is a slight difference between the concept and the methodology. The methodology defines the logical steps and the approach that leads to achieve the proven or the assumed statement, whereas the concept defines the proven statement regarding  to some process and activities.

The taxonomy defines the classifications of the entity and the axiom defines a proven statement which is widely accepted and used. In this case, the concept can be regarded as the axiom as the concept is the statement which is already proven , on the other hand the taxonomy can be regarded as the methodology, as there can be classifications of the methodology.

According to the system engineering body of knowledge the concept is set of tools that helps to find the solution of the problem. On the other hand the methodology can defined as a term which is derived from the theoretical framework. The methodology helps to approaches the issue sand the problems i the project using logical approach.

Project  and portfolio management are both part of the project management process. However , the project management defines the set of similar processes whereas the portfolio management defines the managing of the many projects.

Week 5

(The application system in the project management are the tools that helps to develop  the relationship between different processes in the project and helps to organize the processes.

The impact of the application software is significant on the decision making process. The accurate application software will process the raw information ina right way so that the project manager can take the right decision in the project management process. It also helps to indentify the difference between  the technical and non-technical aspects of the project management process. The data in the process can be stores in the different application system. The application system software will fetch the data from the various stages of the project management process and will synchronize those data.

There are certain issues may occur during the commencement  of the project such as unexpected delay in the implementation of the project. The project may run out of the budget. In order to eliminate these risks certain standards are maintained during the implementation of the process

Many software giants like IBM ,Microsoft provides the application services to the project managers so that they can compl.ie the projects in a right way.)

Week 6

 (The application system in the project management are the tools that helps to develop  the relationship between different processes in the project and helps to organize the processes.

The impact of the application software is significant on the decision making process. The accurate application software will process the raw information ina right way so that the project manager can take the right decision in the project management process. It also helps to indentify the difference between  the technical and non-technical aspects of the project management process. The data in the process can be stores in the different application system. The application system software will fetch the data from the various stages of the project management process and will synchronize those data.

There are certain issues may occur during the commencement  of the project such as unexpected delay in the implementation of the project. The project may run out of the budget. In order to eliminate these risks certain standards are maintained during the implementation of the process

Many software giants like IBM ,Microsoft provides the application services to the project managers so that they can compl.ie the projects in a right way.)

Week 7

 (There are two processes for managing the projects-manual process and the electronic process. The software packages developed by the software companies like IBM and Microsoft effectively help the managers to analysis the required data along with keeping  daily notes and progress reports. The complexity of the project increased so managing all the project elements through manual process does not help the projects managers. However, in some cases keeping the notes and the reports in the diary in a parallel process can help the projects mangers. In case , if the electronic records are deleted the records kept in the manual process will provide the important information. The way of keeping the records for the project management does not change the project environment. However, the use of the electronic record helps to maintain the information in an effective way.)

Week 8

The life cycle model defines the stages of the projects management cycle. The series of stages in the life cycle model are inter related to each other. The approaches towards the life cycle models can be of different kinds. The implementation of the life cycle model should consists of the stages- integration, verification and the validation. There are three potential process life cycle those are specified sequential process, evolutionary and concurrent process, and inter personal process. In order to manage the project and maintain the relation between different processes the system application are needed. The implementation of the system application has certain  steps such as making the requirement gatherings, running the program. In order to manage the process and bring the project back to the portfolio there are certain steps involved. Those steps are inter related to each other and defined as life cycle of the project. One of the major stage in the project management is the gatherings of the requirements. The clarity in the requirement gathering eliminates the chances of the scope creep in the project. The requirements consists of the raw data and information

Week 9

 (In order to manage the project and maintain the relation between different processes the system application are needed. The implementation of the system application has certain  steps such as making the requirement gatherings, running the program. In order to manage the process and bring the project back to the portfolio there are certain steps involved. Those steps are inter related to each other and defined as life cycle of the project. One of the major stage in the project management is the gatherings of the requirements. The clarity in the requirement gathering eliminates the chances of the scope creep in the project. The requirements consists of the raw data and information. Those information can be stored through the use of the application software. The application system needs some resources to be implemented in the organization. However, the organizations defines this spending of the resource as the one tome investment. The implementation of the system software helps to deliver the solution in an cost effective way.)

Week 10 and 11

(In order to gain a service which meet all the requirements provided,  the use of the project management is important. There are life cycle for every project management. The life cycle of the project management consists of different stages. One of the most important stage is gathering of the requirements. The right requirement documentation helps to eliminate the scope creep of the project. In order to manage the data in the project management system, different application softwares can be used. The application software can be provided by the different software companies. There are other tools used in the project management process such as the system thin king tool. These tools are used for developing the communication between the different modules in the project management process. The combination of the right tools and the methodologies along with the application system can help a project to deliver the required  service or product in a sustainable along with the mitigated risks.)

Al-Mamary, Y. H., Shamsuddin, A., & Abdul Hamid, N. A. (2013). The impact of management information systems adoption in managerial decision making: A review. Management Information Systems, 8(4), 010-017.

Kerzner, H. (2013). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling. 2006. Editorial John Wiley, Hoboken, New Jersey, ISBN, 471225770.

Nejib, P., Beyer, D., & Yakabovicz, E. (2017, July). Systems Security Engineering: What Every System Engineer Needs to Know. In INCOSE International Symposium (Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 434-445).

SEBoK, S. (2018). SEBoK. Retrieved from https://www.sebokwiki.org