Top management commitment and the development of standards are critical for successful project management, particularly in IT projects. Examples include the Capability Maturity Model (CMM), Hermes, and PRINCE2, which facilitate resource acquisition and mentor support. IT projects face unique challenges such as poor communication, stringent deadlines, unclear expectations, ambiguous requirements, and budget constraints.

1. Discuss the importance of top management commitment and the development of standards for
successful project management. Provide examples to illustrate the importance of these items
based on your experience on any type of project. Discuss the unique challenges that an IT project
presents.
Solution
Top management commitment and the development of standards for successful project
management are very essential for the success of
information technology projects.
1) Top management helps project managers get adequate and skilled resources.
2) They approve unique project needs like stringent deadlines.
3) They provide support as mentors to project managers.
example of some of the Standards used :
CMM (Capability Maturity model) , HERMES (used in SWISS projects), PRINCE2 (Projects in
Control Environment)
Challenges in IT projects :
1) Poor communications between IT and the business clients due to language barrier.
2) Stringent deadlines : It includes all the phases requirement eliciation, project planning,
design, testing and maintenance.
3) Unclear Expectations : There is often a gap between the requirements given and the
expectation from the protype built.
4) Ambiguous Requirements : Some requirements are not clear and leads to confusion and extra
work.
5) Project Budget : It depends on the resources required , tools and technologies used , team
strength and other business requirements.