Project Management Dispute

Write a 6-8 page essay (APA format – double-spaced, 12 point font, 1 inch margins all around) on any topic related to this course. Use the introduction of your essay to engage your reader’s interest in a problem or question that you would like to address in your essay. (Note that this is the key to the essay – explaining some sort of cognitive dissonance currently in existence in the field of IS.) Show your reader what makes the question both significant and problematic. The body of your essay should be your own response to this question made as persuasive as possible through appropriate analysis and argumentation, including effective use of evidence. The audience for this paper is your classmates. Treat them as co-workers that you are trying to inform on the issue targeted by your paper.

The only topic you are not allowed to write about is the question I will be asking throughout the semester – do agile methods require more or less discipline that formal methods used with the traditional engineering-based approaches to the SDLC.

You should use the library resources to research topic areas of interest for this paper. Your topic should be timely so keep your search for inspiration to fairly recent articles (2005 onward). Suggestions for primary sources for research material include:

– Communications of the ACM
– ACM Transactions on MIS, on Information Systems, on Computer-Human Interaction, on Information and System Security, etc. (Note that transactions tend to be highly technical papers)
– IEEE Computer
– IEEE Software
– Various IEEE Transactions journals
– Harvard Business Review
– Sloan Management Review
– ComputerWorld
– ComputerWeek
– CIO Magazine
– InformationWeek
– Other sources (primarily for inspirational purposes) could include Wired, Byte, Dr. Dobbs, etc.
– There are many online sources for technology news that might also provide inspiration.

The length requirement is given only as a guideline – it will likely turn out to be a minimum requirement that you will easily surpass.

You will rely on this website for guidance on APA Style: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Several lectures will be given throughout the semester to give you guidance on how this paper is to be written. A rubric will also be made available later in the semester.
Your upfront effort over the next three to four weeks will determine the amount of value you get from this exercise. Choose a topic that truly peaks your interest so that you will enjoy the research and writing and possibly inspire your classmates with your presentation.
Assignment Milestones:

Please see the course schedule document posted on Blackboard for the official dates for these deliverables:

1) Topic selection: you are to submit a single page document (one paragraph will suffice) that explains the topic area you will investigate in your essay. You might not have the problem or question clearly defined at this point but must choose a topic area and explain why it peaks your interest. Include a citation (in proper APA format) for an article or some other source that inspired your choice. Currently due Monday, 9/17 before class.
2) List of citations: deliver a list of 5-7 references that you will use as sources of information in your essay. These citations will follow APA format. You will be allowed to add only one more reference to this list in your final paper so it is imperative to the success of your paper that you do your research before you submit this deliverable.
3) Completed draft of the paper: you will submit a completed draft of your paper at this milestone. This should represent what you think the final draft of the paper will look like. The draft will be reviewed by your instructor for content and writing style. Feedback will be provided by the instructor. If you fail to submit a completed draft at this point, you will receive a 12 percent penalty on the final grade for the paper.
4) Final draft of the paper: you will revise your initial draft based on your instructor’s feedback and your own reflection upon your work. This will be the final graded version of the paper. Discussion will occur during lectures on the meaning of the word revise in this context.
5) Presentation: you will prepare and deliver a 5 minute presentation to the class. Final slide decks will be submitted by everyone on the same date.