Project Overview and Timeline

The Individual Project Assignments in this course are designed to provide you with a practical understanding of project management activities in a health care organization.

In each of these three Assignments you have the option of interviewing an individual who has managed real-life projects about selected aspects related to project management, or you may choose to write a scholarly paper in which you draw insights from published articles describing organizations' experiences in health care information technology projects. Either of these experiences will help you develop a first-hand understanding of project management challenges and strategies within one or more organizations.

The Individual Project Assignments are woven throughout the course and aligned with course content. For each experience, the completion of a written Assignment aligned to one of the following experiences is required:

Interview: Interview an individual with project management experience in an organization of your choosing about one or more designated topics.

OR

Scholarly Paper: Examine a minimum of three organizations that have published descriptions about a health care information technology project.

Tips and Guidelines

Interview

As you conduct an interview, note your observations, thoughts, and insights regarding the individual's roles and functions and how they are carried out. For each individual interview, address the questions provided in the Topics and Questions section (in Week 2, Week 5, and Week 7) of this document. Keep in mind, though, that responses to the questions represent the minimum amount of information required in the paper. You are encouraged to explore the questions fully with thought-provoking follow-up questions.

Your paper should include the individual's responses to your questions, and-after some reflection-your analysis of the interviewee's responses. Write the first draft of your paper immediately following the interview so all of the information is fresh in your mind. As you write, reflect upon the topics covered in this course, and synthesize your knowledge of those topics with what you discussed during the interview.
Try to match your Assignment setting to your professional goals. Consider interviewing someone in your own organization or in an  organization where you might want to work as a nurse informaticist after you graduate.

If you are unable to complete the Individual Project Assignments with a project manager in a health care organization, search for an individual who has managed a project, preferably a technology project, in another type of setting. If you are unable to find an interviewee, you must complete the scholarly paper option.

Scholarly Paper

To prepare for this Assignment option, you will need to find articles or other information sources that describe how a minimum of three health care organizations or health carerelated organizations have conducted health information technology (HIT) projects. You will analyze the reports of these organizations' experiences with HIT project management in order to draw out insights on real-world project management. You may need to examine trade publications in addition to scholarly journals. For this Assignment, trade publications are acceptable sources. Appropriate websites may be used as well.

Plan Ahead

Review each part of the Individual Project to become familiar with the requirements of the Assignments. If you intend to conduct an interview, begin contacting potential interviewees as soon as possible to ensure that you are able to meet the Individual Project deadlines and that you will have time to find another resource if one becomes unavailable.

Project Deliverables

The Individual Project consists of three parts:

Part 1: Managing Projects (introduced in Week 2 and due Week 5)

Part 2: Scope, Budget, Risk Management, and Team Building (introduced in Week 5 and due Week 7)

Part 3: Project Evaluation, Lessons Learned, and Synthesis of Insights (introduced in Week 7 and due Week 9)

Week 2: Assignment: Individual Project Part 1: Managing Projects

Part 1 of the Individual Project focuses on managing projects. You interview an individual who has managed a project for an organization.

Alternatively, you may examine a minimum of three organizations that have published descriptions about a health care information technology project.

Interview

To prepare:

- Locate a professional who manages or works on special projects in health care and is willing to speak about his or her experience.

- If such a person is not readily available to you, find someone in your community who has managed a project for an organization. The organization can be a volunteer service group, a faith-based group, a business, or another that meets your needs. The goal is to find an individual who has been in charge of a project important to the organization.

- Review the topics and questions below that should be addressed in your interview.

- Think about other related questions you might have for your interviewee and solidify your goals for speaking to and learning from this person.

Topics and Questions

Keep in mind that you will need to adapt your questions to the individual, setting, and projects. You are not required to ask these specific questions, but you are required to address the topics listed below. (Note: If the interviewee cannot address a topic, you are required to conduct a literature search to find scholarly information or research on that topic.)

- What does project management mean to your organization (group)?

- What types of projects do you manage or work on? How does a project get started?

- Describe a typical experience of working on a project for this organization. What strengths do you bring to project management? What special projects have you managed or played a significant part in managing? Have you had any relevant project management training for the kinds of projects you manage? What are your major accomplishments in managing this project or other projects?

- What is your most important contribution to the organization? What are some of the challenges or frustrations you encounter in your role as project manager?

- How do project management practices in this organization impact organizational work products (proposals, presentations, agendas, reports, analyses, and other project information sources)? How do project management practices in the organization affect the end users of implemented technology (if applicable)?

Note: This individual may not know about formal project management, so follow the trail that emerges in the interview.

Ask the interviewee to single out one particular project that could be discussed in depth.

- Describe the goals of the project:

o What were the desired outcomes of the project?

o What metrics would you expect to use to determine the ongoing success of your project?

o What expectations or hopes were held for improving organizational work products?

- How was the project administered?

o Was there a written project charter? (If so, follow up on this lead.)

o How many people/departments/organizations were involved in the project?

o As appropriate, give an overview of the project activities, schedule, and allocation of resources.

o Explain your role in establishing milestones, identifying interdependencies, and allocating resources.

Additional questions and insights are encouraged.

To complete:

In a 2- to 4-page paper, reflect on your experience and address the following:

- Describe the context of your interview-where and how the interview took place, why you selected this individual, and how you believe this individual meets the requirements for this Assignment.

- Describe the role and functions of the individual within the context of the individual's organizational structure and of project management.

- Synthesize insights on how project goals (outcomes, metrics of success, expectations for improving work products) and project administration (project charters, stakeholder involvement, activities, scheduling, costs, etc.) are addressed in the interviewee's organization.

- Compare the insights from your interview with information from project management literature about project goals (outcomes, metrics of success, expectations for improving work products) and project administration (project charters, stakeholder involvement, activities, scheduling, costs, etc.). Be sure that the comparisons you make are clear to the reader.

- Explain how your insights into these aspects of project management will impact your ability to successfully manage health care information technology projects.

Include any tips the individual described for managing a successful project.

OR:

Scholarly Paper

To prepare:

- Examine a minimum of three organizations that have published descriptions about a health care information technology project.

- Analyze the reports of these organizations' experiences with HIT project management in order to draw out insights on real-world project management.

You may need to examine trade publications in addition to scholarly journals.

- Consider the following questions as you analyze the articles:

o What does project management mean to the organization (group)?

o What was the contribution of project management to the organization? What challenges were encountered?

o How did project management enhance organizational work products and the effect of information technology on the users (if applicable)?

o What were the goals of the project:

- What were the desired outcomes of the project?
- What metrics were used to determine the ongoing success of the project?

- What were the expectations or hopes for improving organizational work products?

o How was the project administered?

- Was there a written project charter?
- How many people/departments/organizations were involved in the project?
- Summarize the project activities, schedule, and project costs, if included in the article.

To complete:

In a 2- to 4-page paper, address the following:

- Briefly describe the health care organizations selected for use in this paper, including your rationale for selecting the organizations

- Offer perspectives on the use of formal project management in health care organizations, with a focus on health care information technology projects

- Synthesize insights on how project goals (outcomes, metrics of success, expectations for improving work products) and project administration (project charters, stakeholder involvement, activities, scheduling, costs, etc.) are addressed in the projects implemented in your selected health care organizations.

- Compare your insights from the articles with information from project management literature about project goals and project administration. Be sure that the comparisons you make are clear to the reader.

- Explain how your insights into these aspects of project management will impact your ability to successfully manage health care information technology projects.

- Synthesize your findings from the literature in regards to present evidence, best practices, or standards.

Part 1 of the Individual Project is due on or before Day 7 of Week 5.

Week 5: Assignment: Individual Project Part 2: Scope, Budget, Risk Management, and Team Building

Part 2 of the Individual Project focuses on the scope of a project, budgeting issues, risk management, and team building. If conducting an interview, the interviewee may be from the same organization as your last interview and should have managed a project for the organization. Alternatively, you may examine a minimum of three organizations that have published descriptions about a health care information technology project's scope, budget, risk management, and team building activities.

Interview

To prepare:

- Locate a professional who manages or works on special projects in health care and is willing to speak about his or her experience regarding scope of a project, budget, risk management, and team building.

- If such a person is not readily available to you, find someone in your community who has managed a project for an organization and can speak to those topics.

The organization can be a volunteer service group, a faith-based group, a business, or another that meets your needs. The goal is to find an individual who has been in charge of a project important to the organization.

- Review the topics and questions below that should be addressed in your interview.

- Think about other related questions you might have for the interviewee and solidify your goals for speaking to and learning from this person.

Topics and Questions:

Remember that you will need to adapt your questions to the individual, setting, and projects. You are not required to ask these specific questions, but you are required to address the topics listed below (Note: If the interviewee cannot address a topic, conduct a literature search to find scholarly information or research on that topic).

Scope

- How does a project manager limit the scope of a project?
- How do you deal with stress, pressure, and unreasonable demands?

Budget

- How are costs managed during a project?
- If all resources are not available to a project when needed, how do you handle resource problems?

Risk Management

- How are potential risks to the project determined?
- How are these risks mitigated?
- Think of a major crisis you've faced in project management. How did you handle it?

- What is one example of a tough decision you had to make in a project management role?

Team Building

How do you obtain the members of a project team? How do you "sell" the project to a team?

- Explain how you operate within this organization to facilitate project success.
- Can you give me an example of your project management leadership activities regarding a project team problem?

- If you have a team member who is not meeting agreed-to commitments, what do you do? How do you handle unproductive team members? How do you motivate team members who are burned out or bored?

Additional questions and insights are encouraged.

To complete:

In a 2- to 4-page paper, reflect on your experience and address the following:

- Describe the context of your interview-where and how the interview took place, why you selected this individual, and how you believe this individual meets the requirements for this Assignment.

- Describe the role and functions of the individual within the context of the individual's organizational structure and for project management.

- Synthesize insights on how project scope, budget, risk management, and team building are addressed in the interviewee's organization.

- Compare the insights you synthesized from your interview with information from project management literature about project scope, budget, risk management, and team building. Be sure that the comparisons you make are clear to the reader.

- Explain how your insights into these aspects of project management will impact your ability to successfully manage health care information technology projects.

Include any tips the individual described for managing a successful project.

OR:

Scholarly Paper

To prepare:

- Examine a minimum of three organizations that have published descriptions about a health care information technology project.

- Analyze the reports of these organizations' experiences with HIT project management in order to draw out insights on real-world project management. You may need to examine trade publications in addition to scholarly journals.

- Consider the following questions as you analyze the articles:

Scope

o How was the scope of the project limited?

o How did the project manager address any unreasonable demands?

Budget

o How were costs managed during the project?
o How were resource allocation problems addressed?

Risk Management

o How were potential risks to the project determined?
o How were these risks mitigated?
o Explain any major crisis faced in the management of a project implementation and explain how it was handled.

Team Building

o How were members of the project team selected? How did the project manager "sell" the project to a team?

o How did the team operate within the organization to facilitate project success?

o What project management leadership activities were utilized to mitigate project team problems?

o What strategies did project management leaders use if a team member was not meeting agreed-to commitments, was unproductive, or was unmotivated?

To complete:

In a 2- to 4-page paper, address the following:

- Synthesize insights on how project scope, budget, risk management, and team building are addressed in the projects implemented in your selected health care organizations.

- Compare your insights from the articles with information from project management literature about project scope, budget, risk management, and team building. Be sure that the comparisons you make are clear to the reader.

- Explain how your insights into these aspects of project management will impact your ability to successfully manage of health care information technology projects.

This Assignment is due on or before Day 7 of Week 7.

Week 7: Assignment: Individual Project Part 3: Project Evaluation,

Lessons Learned, and Synthesis of Insights

Though project managers often gain a great deal of experiential knowledge through the project management process, project evaluation offers them a chance to formalize the lessons they have learned. Part 3 of the Individual Project focuses on issues related to evaluating the success of a project and the debriefing process for capturing lessons learned. If conducting an interview, your interviewee must be able to speak to these topics. Alternatively, you may examine a minimum of three organizations that have published descriptions about the evaluation and debriefing process of a health care information technology project.

Interview

To prepare:

- Locate a professional who manages or works on special projects in health care and is willing to speak about his or her experience.

- If such a person is not readily available to you, find someone in your community who has managed a project for an organization. The organization can be a volunteer service group, a faith-based group, a business, or another that meets your needs. The goal is to find an individual who has been in charge of a project important to the organization.

- Review the topics and questions below that should be addressed in your interview.

- Think about other related questions you might have for your interviewee and solidify your goals for speaking to and learning from this person.

Topics and Questions:

As in the other interviews, you will need to adapt your questions to the individual, setting, and projects. You are not required to ask these specific questions, but you are required to address the topics listed below (Note: If the interviewee cannot address a topic, conduct a literature search to find scholarly information or research on that topic).

Evaluation

- What tools or strategies do you use to evaluate the success of a project?
- Can you give an example of a project that failed (or was not successful)?

Lessons Learned

- Describe the project outcomes

o What were some successful outcomes of the project? Were the project goals met?
o How do you conduct a debriefing of the project with the project team?
o What happens to the information gained from the debriefing?
o How do the project team and the organization support project debriefing?

- Companies have historically looked at technical skills, but more and more business managers are realizing that the absence of good "people" skills tends to cripple projects. What are three critically important things a project manager (or project team member) must do well to help a project succeed?

Please add questions of your own, including asking for advice for the future from your interviewee.

To complete:

- Describe the context of your interview-where and how the interview took place, why you selected this individual, and how you believe this individual meets the requirements for this Application.

- Describe the role and functions of the individual within the context of the individual's organizational structure and for project management.

- Synthesize insights on how evaluation and debriefing are addressed in the interviewee's organization.

- Compare the insights from your interview with information from project management literature about evaluation and debriefing. Be sure that the comparisons you make are clear to the reader.

- Explain how your insights into these aspects of project management will impact your ability to successfully manage health care information technology projects.

Include any tips the individual described for managing a successful project.

- Synthesize insights and conclusions gained from your interviews about project management and how project management is conducted in the interviewee's organization.

- Summarize how evaluations and debriefings in the real-world setting of the interviewee and compare to the project management literature.

- Address how the use or non-use of formal project management could impact the success of health care information technology projects. Use literature sources to support your perspectives on this topic.

Do not cut and paste all of the content from the first two parts of the Assignment. You have to synthesize the key concepts, insights, principles, etc. from each part of the Assignment into a cohesive, understandable whole.

OR:

Scholarly Paper

To prepare:

- Examine a minimum of three organizations that have published descriptions about a health care information technology project.

- Analyze the reports of these organizations' experiences with HIT project management in order to draw out insights on real-world project management.

You may need to examine trade publications in addition to scholarly journals.

- Consider the following questions as you analyze the articles:

Evaluation

- What tools or strategies were used for evaluating the success of the project?
- What examples are there of the project being unsuccessful?

Lessons Learned

- Describe the project outcomes:

What were some successful outcomes of the project? Were the project goals met?

o Was a debriefing of the project conducted with the project team?

o What happened to the information gained from the debriefing?

o How did the project team and the organization support project debriefing?

- Companies have historically looked at technical skills, but more and more business managers are realizing that the absence of good "people" skills tends to cripple projects. What does the scholarly literature suggest are three critically important things a project manager (or project team member) must do well to help a project succeed?

To complete:

In a 4- to 6-page paper, address the following:

- Synthesize insights on health care organizations' support for and conduct of project evaluations and project team debriefings.

- Compare your insights from the articles with information from project management literature about project evaluations and team debriefings. Be sure that the comparisons you make are clear to the reader.

- Explain how your insights into these aspects of project management will impact your ability to successfully manage health care information technology projects.

- Include insights on how the use and non-use of formal project management could impact the success of health care information technology projects. Use literature sources to support your perspectives on this topic.

- Provide a conclusion that synthesizes key points from the analyses and comparison.