Project Management

A project is ‘a temporary endeavour to produce a unique

Project Management
product, service, or result’ (PMI 2004). Project
management (PM) techniques were originally developed
Dr. James A. Bednar for waterfall-type projects like building construction.
jbednar@inf.ed.ac.uk
PM focuses on planning, scheduling, monitoring, and
http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/jbednar
controlling the complex interdependencies among subtasks.

PM techniques are particularly relevant when considering

the entire project in which software development is
embedded, which includes other activities such as
documentation, training, hardware, etc.
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Example project Project management tasks

Consider building a garden
Need to figure out:
Roof
shed, which involves
designing the shed, • What needs to be done
Framing

figuring out what materials • What order they can be done

Siding
are needed, ordering or
• How long each will take
purchasing the materials,
and putting together the • How long the whole project must take in principle
Foundation various parts.
• How long the whole project is expected to take, given
finite resources
Some of these tasks depend on the others, some must be
scheduled, some take labor, etc.
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 Work Breakdown Structure Network diagram
Build Shed Materials list Order materials Deliver materials
A WBS is a diagram showing the major subtasks of the
1 day 1 day 1 day 7 days

project:
Build Shed

Install siding

1 day
Pour foundation Build frame Finish
Planning Obtaining Materials Constructing
1 day 2 days Install roof 1 day

Pour foundation
2 days
Build frame
Install siding
Install roof
Finish (door, etc.) Network diagrams can be constructed from the WBS,
adding dependencies and estimated durations. See slides
Rule of thumb: break things down as far as necessary to
on estimation for caveats. (Dates are optional.)
estimate and schedule them, and no further.
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Critical path Slack

Build Shed Materials list Order materials Deliver materials
Build Shed Materials list Order materials Deliver materials

1 day 1 day 1 day 7 days

1 day 1 day 1 day 7 days

Install siding
Install siding

1 day
1 day Pour foundation Build frame Finish
Pour foundation Build frame Finish

1 day 2 days Install roof 1 day

1 day 2 days Install roof 1 day

2 days
2 days

The critical path is the longest path through the network Tasks not on the critical path have slack – the duration by

diagram – it is the minimum duration of the project if there which they can be late without making the project later

are infinite resources (so that tasks can occur in parallel) than the critical path duration.

and accurate estimates. Here, putting up the siding has one day of slack: one day

Here, everything but putting up the siding is on the critical longer than estimated is ok, but if it takes longer it will be

path, and must happen in the order specified. the new critical path, and delay the project.
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 PERT/CPM Charts Gantt Chart
Network diagrams come in a variety of flavors with
different names:

A Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

chart shows dependencies and time estimates, using
3-point estimates.

The Critical Path Method (CPM) chart is a related

alternative, using single estimates. A Gantt chart shows the tasks and their durations

Both show similar information, but use different methods graphically, in calendar form, with one bar per activity. The
for calculating the critical path and slack. bar shows the earliest start date and duration.

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Gantt Chart extras Resources

All these charts assume infinit e resources – things that
can logically happen in parallel, are assumed to happen in
parallel.

In reality, there are limited resources, so there are

dependencies not shown in the charts.

Gantt charts can also show summary activities (see E.g. if only one person is available to work on the shed
‘Planning’ entry), dependencies (arrows), and milestones project, the siding and roofing tasks must be done in
(diamonds). serial, due to the resource constraint.

The dependencies make slack clear (see “Siding” entry).

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 Crashing/Fast tracking For more info
If the critical path is still not fast enough, it’s possible to Project Management Institute (PMI): Largest
shorten the duration by changing some assumptions. E.g.: international PM organization; US-based (pmi.org)

Crashing: Change the duration of some critical task, e.g., International Project Management Association (IPMA):
if it is possible to parallelize it by assigning more Oldest international PM organization
people to it. (www.ipma.ch)

Fast tracking: Allow tasks to be done in parallel by Association for Project Management (APM): UK-based
changing the logic in the network diagram. national organization (www.apm.org.uk)

If tasks can be parallelized (as in building construction) PM Glossary:

these allow total duration to be greatly reduced. www.maxwideman.com/pmglossary/

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Summary References
• Project management charts and techniques are useful PMI (2004). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
for scheduling tasks with complex dependencies (3rd Ed.). Project Management Institute.

• WBS: main tasks

• Network diagram: dependencies, durations
• Gantt: calendar
• Be careful not to trust the charts just because they
look fancy; e.g., many constraints are not shown

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