Section 5.1. Introduction

5.1. Introduction

In the first four chapters of this book, we defined and discussed the environment that surrounds and influences IT projects. If you skipped over those chapters, make sure you go back and read them at some point. They help put things in perspective and give you some great tools for more effectively navigating in your corporate culture. In this chapter, we're going to start digging into IT project management itself. We're going to look at each phase of project management beginning with the definition phase. This is an element of IT project management that is often skipped or short-changed, but it is in the definition phase that you begin to build success into your project. Some project management methodologies begin with project initiation. We'll keep it simple and include initiation and definition together in this chapter. We'll begin by discussing project origins and we'll briefly discuss types of projects. We'll discuss the important elements in defining a project so that you build the foundation for success. Think of it this wayif you don't define the problem, you are likely to solve the wrong problem. A great solution to the wrong problem is like a bicycle with an airbagit might be interesting, but it's not very useful.