Case Study$1\mathrm{.}3$ Becoming an Accidental Project Manager

John picks up the phone before the second ring. It's his boss, Mike Johnson. "John, I$\text{'}$d like you to stop by my office right after lunch today." John is not really sure why the boss is calling him into his office, which makes for a long lunch hour. He knows he's been doing a good job lately. As a matter of fact, he knows that he's probably the most technically capable person in the group. John's mind begins to race.... Maybe it's an award? Could it be a promotion? Countless positive and negative scenarios run through John's overworked mind until one o'clock finally rolls around and he cautiously enters Mike's office. "John, I've got some great news for you," Mike begins. $"$As you know our company is developing a business$-$to$-$business $($B$2$B$)$ e$-$commerce system. As part of that initiative, I$\text{'}$d like you to explore the possibility of integrating our purchase order process into the B$2$B e$-$commerce system."

Before John could say anything, Mike continued, "Congratulations, John, I$\text{'}$m assigning you as the project manager. Use anyone you need to help you; the important thing is to give me a report on your findings within a month. Your preliminary investigation will give us an idea of how we should go about computerizing the order processing function at BizNex Inc., and we need that information in time for our next quarterly executive meeting." John was delighted with being made the project manager. The B$2$B project was the largest BizNex Inc. had ever implemented, and the order processing subproject was one component of the larger B$2$B project. Once developed, the B$2$B system would enable BizNex Inc. to establish seamless connections with its vendors. Although BizNex Inc. already used computers in its order processing system, the bulk of transactions entailed manual interventions. This caused the order fulfilment function to operate slowly and led to errors because the manual interventions were error$-$prone.