Case Study:

A&D High Tech (A): Managing Projects for Success In his twelve years as a technology project manager at A&D High Tech, Chris Johnson had a strong track record of delivering projects on time and on budget. His techniques for project planning, estimating, and scheduling had become best practices at the St. Louis-based computer products company. He had just led a project team that successfully revamped the supply chain systems in less than eighteen months. He was especially proud since many observers had doubted that the project could be completed on time. As part of the strategic initiatives set forth by its CEO and founder, Ted Walter, A&D was to be second to none in utilizing technology to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs. The supply chain project therefore received notable attention in the boardroom and with its competitors. Time and again, Johnson was asked to tackle difficult assignments that were critical to the companys growth and profits. He had already been mentioned as the successor to the vice president of e-business, Chuck Gagler, pending his retirement. (See Exhibit 1 for the A&D High Tech organizational chart.) In early May 2003 Johnson received an urgent message from the companys CIO, Matt Webb. Webb asked Johnson to join him for a meeting with A&Ds senior managers to discuss taking over the companys online store project. Johnson realized that up to that point the companys top brass had virtually ignored the Internet and its sales potential. But that situation was about to change. As Webb explained, A&Ds vice president of sales, Jeff White, had advised CEO Ted Walter that A&D was losing its competitive advantage by not selling online. As a result, Walter had made the online store project the companys highest priority. Walter wanted to know whether the project could be completed in time for the holiday shopping season, when A&Ds cyclic business traditionally boomed. The current project manager, Eric Robertson, was taking a one-month leave of absence due to a family emergency, just as he was about to begin formulating the project plan and make staffing decisions. Johnson immediately began thinking about the best way to ensure the online store projects success. He was concerned that there was too little time to get up to speed on this new project. It was already May, and the holiday season would approach soon. Given the urgency put forth by Webb and Walter, Johnson was already feeling pressure to come up with solid recommendations in short order.

Questions:

Q-1 Choose at least two stakeholders to evaluate and ask a minimum of three questions of each stakeholder.