Healthcare Information Technology Research & Analysis : Coplan & Company : IT Procurement Management, Project Management, System Acquisition

Below is a description of how I teach HIT project management. The feedback from my classes is that these ideas effectively communicate how to put HIT project management methodologies into practice.

PROCESS GROUPS VS. KNOWLEDGE AREAS

I never understood why it made sense to organize a project management course by the Knowledge Areas found in the Project Management Institute's (PMI) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). Knowledge Areas are skill sets project managers must know if they expect to manage projects effectively. For example, effective project managers must know how to manage scope, time and cost.

While project managers need to understand the Knowledge Areas, they must know how and when to apply them during a project. PMBOK's Process Groups organize projects into Initiation, Planning, Execution, Control and Closing. PMBOK states that Knowledge Areas and Process Groups interact throughout projects. Even an experienced project manager using PMBOK can get lost in individual Knowledge Areas and lose sight of how and when to apply them to the Process Groups or the project lifecycle.

My approach to teaching project management turns PMBOK on its head by focusing on Process Groups and addressing Knowledge Areas as they occur throughout a project.

Teaching project management also gives me an opportunity to address another issue. PMBOK describes Process Groups as re-occurring throughout a project. The sequential appearance of Initiation, Planning, Execution, Control and Closing is confusing. I am uncomfortable with this sequence, particularly when applied to Execution and Control. When I see Execution and Control sequentially, it reminds me of driving a car without steering it. I address this issue by always teaching Execution and Control as concurrent Process Groups.

TECHNICAL VS. MANAGEMENT KNOWLEDGE AREAS

PMBOK includes Knowledge Areas that focus on management processes and outputs required for successful projects. For example, the Human Resource (HR) management Knowledge Area includes the process of preparing an HR plan. The output is the plan. While understanding management Knowledge Areas is sufficient for the success of many projects, Information Technology (IT) projects require additional technical expertise. To resolve this issue, my project management course combines PMBOK's Knowledge Areas, technical Knowledge Areas I created from Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) processes and plans, and my own IT project management experience. The exhibits show how I arrange these Knowledge Areas by PMI Process Group.

HIT VS. IT

There are few good textbooks on IT project management and even fewer that address HIT. This makes teaching HIT project management challenging because there are no available resources to address complexity, privacy, safety, regulatory and other health care issues. While it does not address HIT, I teach my class using Information Technology Project Management, fifth edition, by Kathy Schwalbe. I must rely on my 30 years of project management experience to teach nuances specific to HIT project management.

PRACTICAL VS. THEORETICAL

As a Project Management Professional (PMP) and HIT project manager, as well as a teacher, my classes:

• Balance project and technical management theory with its practical use,
• Apply project and technical management methodologies to actual IT projects in health care and other industries and
• Integrate project and technical management methodologies with:
• Address the likelihood of overlooking "soft" skills, or how we influence and interact with each other and
• Address the likelihood of overemphasizing "hard" skills, or concrete technical capabilities, like effective use of Microsoft Project software.

LONG-TERM ORGANIZATION VS. SHORT-TERM PROJECT SUCCESS

A project is often considered successful if completed within time, budget and quality constraints. However, a project, by definition, is only short-term. Health care organizations must make a long-term commitment if they expect to maximize HIT value after project completion.

Maximizing HIT value requires continuous quality improvement. This can only occur in an organization whose leadership promotes a shared vision, culture and expectation that embraces and optimizes innovation associated with HIT. This subject is outside the scope of my project management course. However, my approach to teaching project management emphasizes the link between individual project requirements and organizational strategic objectives and associated measurable outcomes. Maintaining this link while managing a project contributes to the long-term value of an organization's HIT investment. Examples of long-term strategic objectives that link to HIT projects include the following:

• Focus on the patient first,
• Reduce wait time,
• Provide error-free medical care,
• Work without adding new personnel resources and
• Reduce waste.