Software Project Management

Chapter One
Overview

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 Content
 Project Management Fundamentals
 Project Life Cycle

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 Introduction
 Project Management is a complex discipline
 Multidisciplinary
 Multi-stakeholder
 Technical, but also related with human relationships
 Based on many different scientific theories, but also heavily
grounded on real world experience
 The CHAOS study published in 1995 by The Standish
Group found that although the U.S spent over $250
billion on IT projects, approximately…
 31% were cancelled before completion
 53% were completed but over budget, over schedule, & did
not meet original specifications
 For mid-size companies, average cost overruns were 182%,
while average schedule overruns were 202%!
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Summary of the Chaos Studies from 2004 to 2012

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Tata Consultancy Services 2007 Report
 Included 800 senior IT managers from the UK, US,
France, Germany, India, Japan, & Singapore:
 62% of the IT projects failed to meet their schedules
 49% experienced budget overruns
 47% experienced higher-than expected maintenance costs
 41% failed to deliver the expected business value and ROI

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 Why PM?
 Results of poor Project Management
 Original objectives not met
 Project cost overruns
 Schedule overruns
 Project may not be completed
 Poor quality project outputs
 Failure to deliver anticipated business benefits, leading to
dissatisfied management and project members
 Insufficient resources
 Success criteria for project management?
 deliver the software to the customer at the agreed time;
 keep overall costs within budget;
 deliver software that meets the customer’s expectations;
 maintain a coherent and well-functioning development team

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The Triple Constraint

It is the project manager’s duty to

balance these three often
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competing goals
 Summary of CHAOS Study Factor
Rankings for Successful Projects

Sources: Adapted from the Standish Group. CHAOS (West Yarmouth,MA:

1995, 2010) & http://www.infoq.com/articles/Interview-Johnson-Standish-
CHAOS
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 Project success factors
 1. Executive support / strong sponsorship
 2. User involvement
 3. Experienced project manager
 4. Clear business objectives
 5. Minimized scope
 6. Standard software infrastructure
 7. Firm basic requirements
 8. Formal methodology
 9. Reliable estimates
 10. Other criteria, such as small milestones, proper planning,
competent staff, and ownership

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 What is a project?
 A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to
create a unique product, service, or result.
 Temporary - project has a definite beginning and end
 The end is reached when:
 objectives have been achieved
 its objectives will not or cannot be met
 the client (customer, sponsor) wishes to terminate the project
 repetitive elements may be present in some project
deliverables and activities. E.g. building, it is unique in design,
stake holders, location, etc.

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 Project(cont’d)
 Has specific objectives and a unique purpose
 Has a start and end date (temporary)
 Has a limited budget
 Produces specific deliverables - is a tangible and
verifiable product of work (i.e., project plan, design
specifications, delivered system, etc.)
 Can vary vastly in size, complexity and duration
 Consume human and nonhuman resources (i.e.,
money, people, equipment)
 Should have a primary customer or sponsor

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 Project(cont’d)
 Examples of projects include, but are not limited to:
 Developing a new product, service, or result;
 Effecting a change in the structure, processes, staffing, or
style of an organization;
 Developing or acquiring a new or modified information system
(hardware or software);
 Constructing a building, industrial plant, or infrastructure;
 Implementing, improving, or enhancing existing business
processes and procedures.

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 Project vs. Operational Work
 Projects
 To attain its objectives and
terminate
 Create own character,
organization, and goals
 Catalyst for change
 Unique product or services
 Heterogeneous teams
 Start and end date
 Examples
 Writing and publishing a book
 Implementing a LAN
 Hiring a sales man
 Arrange for a conference
 Opening for a new shop
 Operations
 To sustain the business
 Semi permanent charter,
organization, and goals
 Maintain status quo
 Standard product or services
 Homogeneous teams
 Ongoing
 Examples
 Responding to customers requests
 Hooking up a Printer to a computer
 Meeting with an employee
 Attending a conference
 Writing a progress update memo
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 What makes software projects unique?
 The product is intangible
 A manager of a shipbuilding or a civil engineering project can see
the product being developed. Software project managers cannot see
progress by looking at the artifact that is being constructed.
 Large software projects are often “one-off” projects
 Lessons learned from previous projects may not be readily
transferable to new projects because:
 There is a rapid technological changes in computers and
communications. Every large software development project is unique

 Software processes are variable and organization-specific

 Business models and markets change too rapidly so
projects that take more than a year can be obsolete before
they are completed.
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 What is management?
 Management is the process of coordinating people
and other resources to achieve the goals of the
organization.
 Planning – deciding what is to be done. This is the most
challenging
 Organizing – making arrangements
 Staffing – selecting the right people for the job
 Directing – giving instructions
 Monitoring – checking on progress
 Controlling – taking action to remedy hold-ups
 Innovating – coming up with solutions when problems emerge
 Representing – liaising with clients, users, developers and
other stakeholders

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 What is Project Management?
 Project management is the application of knowledge,
skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to
meet the project requirements.
 Project management involves the following activities:
 Initiating,
 Planning,
 Executing - is doing what is planned. This where the actual
project is begins,
 Monitoring and Controlling, and
 Closing

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 Software Project Management
 Software Project Management is the collection of
techniques used to develop and deliver various types
of software products.
 Includes technical issues such as:
 The choice of software development methodology.
 How to estimate project size and schedule.
 Which programming development environment to use.

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 Project Stakeholders
 Stakeholders are the people involved in or affected by project activities.
 1. Project Manager: is the team leader and is responsible for ensuring
that all of the project management and technical development
processes are in place and are being carried out within a set of
specific requirements, defined processes, and quality standards.
 Must have a diverse set of skills (e.g. good general skills, technical
management, conflict management, customer relationship management and
leadership skills)
 Managing a project includes:
 Identifying requirements.
 Establishing clear and achievable objectives.
 Balancing the competing demand of quality, scope, time and cost.
 Adapting the specifications, plans, and approach to the different concerns and
expectations of the various stakeholders
 97% of successful projects were led by experienced project managers.
 Project managers strive to meet the triple constraint by balancing project
scope, time, and cost goals
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 Project Stakeholders(cont’d)
Effective Project Managers Ineffective Project Managers
• Leadership by example • Sets bad example
• Visionary • Not self-assured
• Technically competent • Lacks technical expertise
• Decisive • Poor communicator
• Good communicator • Poor motivator
• Good motivator
• Stands up to upper management
when necessary
• Supports team members
• Encourages new ideas

 Project managers need both “hard” and “soft” skills.

 Hard skills include product knowledge and knowing how to use
various project management tools and techniques.
 Soft skills include being able to work with various types of people.

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 Project Stakeholders(cont’d)
 2. Project Sponsor - the person or group who provides resources
and support for the project and is accountable for enabling
success.
 may be external or internal to the project manager’s organization.
 3. Subject Matter Expert(s) (SME) - who has specific knowledge,
expertise, or insight in a specific functional area needed to
support the project.
 4. Technical Expert(s) (TE) - include systems analysts, network
specialists, programmers, graphic artists, trainers, and so forth.
 5. Support staff - include such roles as contracting, financial
management, logistics, legal, safety, etc.
 6. Users
 7. Suppliers

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Project Management Tools and Techniques

 Project management tools and techniques assist

project managers and their teams in various aspects
of project management
 Some specific ones include:
 WBS (scope)
 Gantt charts, network diagrams, critical path analysis(time)
 Cost estimates (cost)

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 Project Life Cycle(PLC)
 PLC is a collection of logical stages or phases that maps the life
of a project from its beginning to its end in order to define, build,
and deliver the product of a project
 Is a collection of project phases that defines:
 What work will be performed in each phase
 What deliverables will be produced and when
 Who is involved in each phase

 IT product life cycle – Planning -> Analysis -> Design ->

Implementation -> Maintenance -> Support
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 PLC(cont’d)
 Define Project Goal
 The project goal should be focused on providing business
value to the organization
 Provides a clear focus and drives the other phases of the
project
 How will we know if this project is successful given the time,
money, and resources invested?
 Plan Project
 deliverables, tasks, resources, and time to complete each task
must be defined for each phase of the project
 used as a tool to gauge the project’s performance throughout
the life cycle.

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 PLC(cont’d)
 Execute Project Plan
 put the plan into action
 Progress must be documented and compared to the baseline
plan
 Close Project
 Ensures that all of the work is completed as planned
 Final project report and presentation to the client
 Evaluate Project
 Lessons learned to determine those things to do the same and
those things to change
 Evaluate team member performance
 May be audited by an outside third party

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 Reading Assignment
 Project Vs Program Vs Portfolio
 Project Management Office(PMO)

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