The main purpose of this article is to identify the factors which influence the IT project management. It has been noted that in the practice of the implementation of IT projects there are large discrepancies in the approach to the implementation of IT project management. They result from the fact that experts and consultants were accustomed to applying previously used methods, their simple incompetence, convenience or lack of understanding of the essence of the need to manage IT projects. Among the selected group of specialists in this field and field consultants at the turn of 2016 and 2017, the CAWI method was used to study opinions on the use of project management techniques and processes in the implementation of IT projects. Then, based on the obtained results, the analyses were conducted, and relevant conclusions and recommendations resulting from the study were presented. The formulated conclusions may be the starting point for creating an effective quality management system for project management.

Introduction

In the classic approach, project management is understood as a unique, individual project undertaken to create a quantitatively and qualitatively defined specific product or service, using the allocated human, physical and capital resources, limited in time with the defined start and completion date, which are linked by particular stages of implementation distinguished within a given method [11]. Currently, determinism, clear-cut nature and stability in determining the characteristics and results of the projects move in the direction of probability, uncertainty or dynamism. Theoretically – the spread between the two basic types of activities distinguished in today’s organisation: projects and processes should increase. Projects are defined as unique, one-off undertakings that require proper preparation – while processes are repetitive and can become automated or routine activities [3], [1]. The main difference is that the processes are performed consistently and are inherently repetitive, while projects are carried out when new needs arise, and each one is different. But in general, in a sense, projects are subsets of processes – these are all the processes which may be defined as non-routine, innovative, pragmatic, burdened with high risk and characterised by uniqueness. This is due to specific similarities – both kinds of activity are carried out by selected human teams, determined with specific resources which are limited in time, on the basis of planning, managing, supervising and controlling particular actions [2]. This, in turn, results in the fact that changes in process management directly influence project management. The objective of project implementation is to improve the existing processes, creating entirely new processes and solutions of specific problems related to the necessity of the changes of processes. In each organisation, there are both procedural and project activities. Contrary to its classic definition, projects are of continuous and perpetual nature. The end of one project means that a new project is to begin. They sometimes constitute a never-ending cycle of projects, which cannot even be referred to as sub-projects, because one never knows – due to the high level of uncertainty and high risk, the direction in which the requirements of final users would develop [9].