Project Management Office (PMO) [Questions and Answers]

Context :

You are working as a project team member in a project management office (PMO) and the manager of the PMO has asked you to participate in a review of one of the organisation’s project’s approach to project delivery (this project review will form part of your assignment 2 so you should consider your selection of a suitable project before you commence assignment 1).

Your Task

Your initial task is to carry out a survey of the literature on project delivery to inform the review. You have been asked to:

• identify contemporary and seminal literature on this topic and
• to present your findings as an annotated bibliography that covers the following areas:

1. Project requirements and deliverables
2. Whole-of-life considerations of projects
3. The project legal environment, probity and ethics
4. Alternative procurement strategies

The total length of your assignment 1 is to be approx. 2000 words. Remember that the assignments in the project management courses require referencing to use Harvard AGPS6 formatting and not APA. Using the incorrect referencing format could lose marks.

For assignment 1, provide the following:

Table of contents

1. Organisational context (200 words)

In this section, describe the organisational and project context for which you are preparing the annotated bibliography . You can base this on a project with which you have direct experience, or on a case study from the literature. Include details of the project you are assisting to review: the number of people involved, duration, budget, sector and any major issues being experienced.

2. 2. The annotated bibliography (approximately 1600 words)

• Carry out a literature review for the four topics listed below and present your findings in the form of an annotated bibliography.

Details of how to structure your annotated bibliography are provided below.

• Review two resources for each of the four topics (i.e. total number of resources to be annotated is 8).
• Each annotated bibliography is to be approximately 200 words.
• One of the resources in each of the four sections must be a blind peer-reviewed
• journal article. The remaining resource may be a non-refereed journal article, material from an organisation which is publicly available, or a book chapter.
• No more than one of the resources in each section is to be drawn from the provided course study materials.
• Select materials that are relevant to the organisational/project context you have· selected and the topic lists that have been requested.
• The resources in each of the four sections are to be listed in alphabetical order.·

2.1. Identification of project requirements and deliverables: 

• Resource 2.1.1
• Resource 2.1.2
• 2.2. Whole of life considerations:
• Resource 2.2.1
• Resource 2.2.2
• 2.3. The project legal environment, probity and ethics:
• Resource 2.3.1
• Resource 2.3.2
• 2.4. Procurement strategies:
• Resource 2.4.1
• Resource 2.4.2
• 3. Conclusions (200 words)

What key conclusions can you draw from the annotated bibliography that will help you in assignment 2?

 Reference List

Structure of your annotated bibliography

For each resource in your annotated bibliography, provide the following:

1. Reference: A full reference of the artefact that is to be reviewed (journal article, book chapter, etc.). This would include author, year, title, etc. This will be the same as the information in the list of references at the end of the assignment. Use the USQ Harvard AGPS6 style
2. Focus: One or two sentences explaining the article’s focus or purpose and confirming that the resource chosen is highly relevant to the topic and the organizational context.
3. Research method and analysis: A summary of the research approach/method or source of information for the resource, and a brief analysis of the content discussed, the major findings, and the conclusions of the resource.
4. Reflection: A critical reflection on the value, reliability, completeness and limitations of the resource (are there gaps in the argument that should have been addressed?). Clearly describe the strengths and weaknesses of the resource.
5. Justification: A justification of why this resource is important in the context of the development of your PMO’s procedures (i.e. evaluate the resource in terms of your context). What information or insights does it provide that are useful for the organisation and how provides a solution to the problem?