Software Project Management

Introduction to Project Management

Chapter 1
 Introduction
 Software project management includes the knowledge, techniques,
and tools necessary to manage the development of software
products.
 Software project management is strictly based on project
management principles to achieve the stringent (strict) results
required in an effective way.
 The changing environments of software development such as
component-based, distributed and outsourced software
development require matching changes by project managers to
monitor, control and coordinate their projects.
 Project Management
 What’s a project?
 PMI definition
 A project is a temporary endeavor (effort) undertaken to create a
unique product or service
 Progressively elaborated(enlarged)
 With repetitive elements
 A project manager
 Analogy: conductor, coach, captain
 To schedule and control the progress and cost of a
project
 What Is a Project?
 A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a
unique product, service, or result.”*

 Temporary does not necessarily mean the duration of the

project is short.

 The temporary nature of projects indicates that a project

has a definite beginning and end.
 The end is reached when the project’s objectives have been
achieved or when the project is terminated because its
objectives will not or cannot be met, or when the need for the
project no longer exists.
 What Is a Project?
 A project may also be terminated if the client (customer,
sponsor, or champion) wishes to terminate the project.

 Projects can be large or small and take a short or long time

to complete.
 Every project creates a unique product, service, or result.
 The outcome of the project may be tangible or intangible.
 Although repetitive elements may be present in some project
deliverables and activities, this repetition does not change the
fundamental, unique characteristics of the project work.
 What Is a Project?

 Outcome of Projects
 A project can create:
 A product that can be either a component of another item,
an enhancement of an item, or an end item in itself;
 A service or a capability to perform a service (e.g., a
business function that supports production or distribution);
 What Is a Project?
 Examples of projects include, but are not limited to:
 Developing a new product, service, or result; e.g. software
products.
 Improving an existing product and service. e.g. Software
Product feature Enhancements etc.
 Developing or acquiring a new or modified information
system (hardware or software);
 Constructing a building, industrial plant, or infrastructure;
or
 Implementing, improving, or enhancing existing business
processes and procedures.
Project Management Skills
 Leadership
 Project managers should be good leaders.They have to build
trust with key parties involved in the projects and have to
lead them to a success.
 Communications
 The good project manager not only has
excellent communication skills but also is able to create an
environment in which everyone can communicate effectively.
 Problem Solving
 Knowledge of methodologies –Waterfall, Iterative, Agile.
 Ability to manage many different tasks at the same time
(multitasking).
 Basic technical knowledge.
 Knowledge of the business area he is involved in.
Project Management Skills
 Negotiating
 There are at least 4 major types of stakeholders you will need to
negotiate with:
 Customers
 Team Leads – negotiation for resources
 High Management – negotiation for time and cost.
 Team Member – scope and tasks.
Project Management Skills
 Influencing the Organization
 Organizational influence is a two-way exchange:
Organizations cannot accomplish their goals if they can't influence their
members to do the right things. And the members, of course, cannot do the
right things if they can't influence what goes on in their organizations.
 Mentoring
 mentors actively participate in projects to ensure standards are
being adopted and help provide a comfortable transition when
deploying new processes, practices, and templates.
 Process and technical expertise
Scope Management

 This project management knowledge area has six processes.

 planning the scope management
 collecting requirements
 defining the scope and creating WBS.
 validating the scope and
 controlling the scope.
Issue Management
 As issues arise during the course
of managing a project and a project team, an issue log
is commonly used to document these issues.
Cost Management
 Resource planning
 WBS and historical information of comparable projects can be
used to define which physical resources are needed.
 Cost estimating
 Several cost estimation methods can be applied to predict how
much it will cost to perform the project activities
 Cost budgeting
 The budget gives an overview of the periodic and total costs of
the project. The cost estimates define the cost of each work
package or activity,
 Cost control
Quality Management
 PLAN QUALITY
 involves identifying the quality requirements for both the
project and the product .
 PERFORM QUALITY ASSURANCE
 Process checklists and project audits are two methods used
for project quality assurance.
 QUALITY CONTROL
 verifies that the product meets the quality requirements. Peer
reviews and testing are two methods used to perform quality
control.
Communication Management
 Plan Communications Management—The process of
developing an appropriate plan for project communications
based on stakeholder's information needs and requirements,
and available organizational assets.
Manage Communications—The process of creating,
collecting, distributing, storing, retrieving of project
information in accordance with the communications
management plan.
Control Communications—The process of monitoring
and controlling communications throughout the entire
project life cycle to ensure the information needs of the
project stakeholders are met.
Risk Management
 A Planning risk management
 Risk identification
 Performing qualitative risk analysis
 Communicating the risk to stakeholders
 Refining or iterating the risk based on research and new
information
 Monitoring and controlling risks
Change Control Management
 The change control process in project management ensures
that each change proposed during a project is adequately
defined, reviewed and approved before implementation.
 Change control contains five stages:
 Proposing a Change
 Summary of Impact
 Decision
 Implementing a Change
 Closing a Change
Project Manager Positions
 Project Administrator / Coordinator
 Assistant Project Manager
 Project Manager / Program Manager
 Executive Program Manager
 V.P. Program Development
Software Project Management
Management

Project
Management

Software
Project
Management
 Advantages of Using Formal
Project Management
 Better control of financial, physical, and human resources.
 Improved customer relations.
 Shorter development times.
 Lower costs.
 Higher quality and increased reliability.
 Higher profit margins.
 Improved productivity.
 Better internal coordination.
 Higher worker morale (less stress).
 Project vs. Program Management
 What’s a ‘program’?
 A program is defined as a group of related projects,
subprograms, and program activities managed in a coordinated
way to obtain benefits not available from managing them
individually.
 Programs may include elements of related work outside the
scope of the discrete projects in the program.
 A project may or may not be part of a program but a program
will always have projects.
Interactions / Stakeholders
 As a PM, who do you interact with?
 Project Stakeholders
 Project sponsor
 The project sponsor is an individual (often a manager or executive) with
overall accountability for the project. He or she is primarily concerned
with ensuring that the project delivers the agreed upon business benefits
and acts as the representative of the organization
 Team
 Customers
 Contractors
 There are times when organizations don’t have the expertise or
resources available in-house, and work is farmed out to contractors or
subcontractors.
Interactions / Stakeholders
 Functional managers
 A functional manager is a person who has
management authority over an organizational unit—such as a
department—within a business, company, or other
organization. ... A general manager is responsible for all
areas and oversees all of the firm's functions and day-to-day
business operations.
Benefits of Sound Project Management

 Less overall project cost

 Less strain on working capital
 Effective use of resources
 More timely project completion
 Higher quality of the final product
Project Management

 Complex and numerous activities

 Unique - a one time set of events
 Finite - a begin and end date
 Limited resources and budget
 Many people involved
 Sequenced activities
 End product or service must result
Program Management
 Larger in scope than a project
 Made up of several projects
 Made up of a number of similar products
 Programs tend to be more permanent = stable.
Homework (Individual)

 Write details of:

 Project Management Institute (PMI) (pmi.org)
 Software Engineering Institute (SEI)
 IEEE Software Engineering Group

 Certifications
 PMI PMP

 Search PM tools (Minimum 5)

 Examples of IT Projects
 A help desk or technical worker replaces laptops for a small
department.

 A small software development team adds a new feature to an

internal software application.

 A college campus upgrades its technology infrastructure to

provide wireless Internet access.

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Homework (Individual)
 Write down any 5 detailed examples if IT Projects.
 Motivation for Studying Information Technology (IT)
Project Management
 IT projects have a terrible track record.
 A 1995 Standish Group study (CHAOS) found that only 16.2 percent
of IT projects were successful in meeting scope, time, and cost goals.
 Over 31 percent of IT projects were canceled before completion,
costing over $81 billion in the U.S. alone.*

*The Standish Group, “The CHAOS Report” (www.standishgroup.com) (1995). Another reference is
Johnson, Jim, “CHAOS: The Dollar Drain of IT Project Failures,” Application Development Trends (January
1995).

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 Project and Program Managers
 Project managers work with project sponsors, project teams, and
other people involved in projects to meet project goals.
 Program: “A group of related projects managed in a coordinated
way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing
them individually.”*
 Program managers oversee programs and often act as bosses for
project managers.

*PMI, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge

(PMBOK® Guide) (2004), p. 16.
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 The Triple Constraint
 Every project is constrained in different ways by its:

 Scope goals: What work will be done? (What unique product or

service)

 Time goals: How long should it take to complete? (Project

Schedule)

 Cost goals: What should it cost? (Project Budget)

 It is the project manager’s duty to balance these three often-

competing goals.

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The Triple Constraint
 To speed up a project (time), you could reduce features
(scope), or dedicate more resources (cost).
 To increase the number of features on a project (scope), you
can add people to work faster (cost), extend the deadline
(time), or do both.
 To complete a project under budget (cost), you can cut
features (scope), or reduce the number of workers and
extend the amount of time it takes to finish.

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 Figure 1-1. The Triple Constraint of
Project Management

Successful project
management means
meeting all three
goals (scope, time,
and cost) – and
satisfying the
project’s sponsor!

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Figure 1-2. Project Management
Framework

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Nine Project Management
Knowledge Areas (LONG)
 Knowledge areas describe the key competencies that project
managers must develop.
 Four core knowledge areas lead to specific project objectives (scope,
time, cost, and quality).
 Four facilitating knowledge areas are the means through which the
project objectives are achieved (human resources, communication,
risk, and procurement management).
 One knowledge area (project integration management) affects and is
affected by all of the other knowledge areas.
 All knowledge areas are important!

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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.
 Specific tools and techniques include:
 Project charters, scope statements, and WBS (scope).
 Gantt charts, network diagrams, critical path analysis, critical chain
scheduling (time).
 Cost estimates and earned value management (cost).

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Project Charter
 The purpose of the project charter is to document:
 Reasons for undertaking the project
 Objectives and constraints of the project
 Directions concerning the solution
 Identities of the main stakeholders
 In-scope and out-of-scope items
 Risks identified
 Target project benefits
 High level budget and spending authority

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 Critical Path analysis
 The critical path is the sequence of activities with the longest duration. A delay in any of these
activities will result in a delay for the whole project.

 For each path, add the duration of each node to determine it's total duration. The
critical path is the one with the longest duration.

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 Improved Project Performance
 The Standish Group’s CHAOS studies show
improvements in IT projects in the past decade.*

Measure 1994 Data 2002 Data Result

Successful projects 16% 34% Doubled
Failed projects 31% 15% Halved
Money wasted on $140 B out $55 B out of More than
challenged and of $250 B $255 B halved
failed projects

*The Standish Group, “Latest Standish Group CHAOS Report Shows Project Success Rates
Have Improved by 50%” (March 25, 2003).
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 Why the Improvements?
“The reasons for the increase in successful projects vary. Better
tools have been created to monitor and control progress and
better skilled project managers with better management
processes are being used.
*The Standish Group, “CHAOS 2001: A Recipe for Success” (2001).

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 Super Tools
• “Super tools” are those tools that have high use and high
potential for improving project success, such as:

– Requirements analysis
– Scope statements
– Lessons-learned reports
– Progress reports
– Kick-off meetings
– Gantt charts
– Change requests

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 Project Success Factors*
1. Executive support
2. User involvement
3. Experienced project manager
4. Clear business objectives
5. Minimized scope
6. Reliable estimates
7. Other criteria, such as small
milestones, proper planning,
competent staff, and
ownership
*The Standish Group, “Extreme CHAOS” (2001).Technology
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 What the Winners Do*
 Recent research findings show that companies that
excel in project delivery capability:
 Use an integrated project management toolbox that
includes standard and advanced tools and lots of
templates.
 Grow project leaders, emphasizing business and soft
skills.
 Develop a efficient project delivery process.
 Measure project health using metrics, including
customer satisfaction and return on investment.
*Milosevic, Dragan and And Ozbay, “Delivering Projects: What the Winners Do,” Proceedings
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of the Project Management Institute Annual Seminars & Symposium (November
Project ).
2001Fourth
Management,
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The Role of the Project Manager
 Job descriptions vary, but most include responsibilities such
as planning, scheduling, coordinating, and working with
people to achieve project goals.

 Remember that 97 percent of successful projects were led by

experienced project managers.

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 Table 1-3. Fifteen Project
Management Job Functions*
 Define scope of project.  Evaluate project requirements.
 Identify and evaluate risks.
 Identify stakeholders, decision-
makers, and escalation procedures.  Prepare contingency plan.
 Identify interdependencies.
 Develop detailed task list (work
breakdown structures).  Identify and track critical milestones.

 Estimate time requirements.  Participate in project phase review.

 Secure needed resources.
 Develop initial project management
flow chart.  Manage the change control process.
 Report project status.
 Identify required resources and
budget.

*Northwest Center for Emerging Technologies, “Building a Foundation for Tomorrow:

•InformationSkills Standards
Technology
for Information
•50 Technology,” Belleview, WA, 1999. Project Management, Fourth
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 Difference b\w project, program and
portfolio
 Project - Project is a temporary endeavor to create
a unique product, service, or result.
 Program - A group of related projects, subprograms, and
program activities managed in a coordinated way to obtain
benefits not available from managing them individually.
 Portfolio - A portfolio is a collection of Project,
programs, sub portfolios, and operations managed as a
group to achieve strategic objectives.

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 Portfolio Management
 Example of Portfolio
 For example, an infrastructure firm that has the strategic objective of “maximizing the
return on its investments” may put together a portfolio that includes a mix of projects
in oil and gas, power, water, roads, rail, and airports.
 From this mix, the firm may choose to manage related projects as one program.
 All of the power projects may be grouped together as a power program.
 Similarly, all of the water projects may be grouped together as a water program.
 Thus, the power program and the water program become integral components of the
enterprise portfolio of the infrastructure firm.

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 Project Management Compared to Project
Portfolio Management

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 Suggested Skills for Project
Managers

 Project managers need a wide variety of skills

 They should:

 Be comfortable with change

 Understand the organizations they work in and with

 Be able to lead teams to accomplish project goals

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 Different Skills Needed in Different
Situations
 Large projects: leadership, relevant prior experience,
planning, people skills, verbal communication, and team-
building skills were most important
 High uncertainty projects: risk management,
expectation management, leadership, people skills, and
planning skills were most important
 Very novel projects: leadership, people skills, having
vision and goals, self confidence, expectations
management, and listening skills were most important

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 Careers for IT Project Managers
 In a 2006 survey, IT executives ranked the skills that would
be the most in demand in the next two to five years
 Project/program management topped the list!

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 Table 1-5. Top Ten Most
In-Demand IT Skills

Rank IT Skill/Job Average Annual Salary

1 SQL Database Analyst $80,664
2 Oracle Database Analyst $87,144
3 C/C++ Programmer $95,829
4 Visual Basic Programmer $76,903
5 E-commerce/Java Developer $89,163
6 Windows NT/2000 Expert $80,639
7 Windows/Java Developert $93,785
8 Security Architect $86,881
9 Project Manager $95,719
10 Network Engineer $82,906
Paul Ziv, “The Top 10 IT Skills in Demand,” Global Knowledge Webcast
(www.globalknowledge.com) (11/20/2002).
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History of Project Management
 Some people argue that building the Egyptian pyramids was a
project, as was building the Great Wall of China

 Most people consider the Manhattan Project to be the first

project to use “modern” project management

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 Figure 1-4. Sample Gantt Chart
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

The WBS is shown on the left, and each task’s start and finish dates
are shown on the right. First used in 1917, early Gantt charts were
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Figure 1-5. Sample Network Diagram

Each box is a project task from the WBS. Arrows show dependencies
between tasks. The bolded tasks are on the critical path. If any task on
the critical path takes longer to complete than planned, the whole
project will slip unless something is done. Network diagrams were
first used in 1958 on the Navy Polaris project before project
•Information Technology
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 Project Management Software
 There are hundreds of different products to assist in performing project management
 Three main categories of tools:
 Low-end tools: handle single or smaller projects well
 Most of these tools allow users to create Gantt charts, which cannot be done easily using
current productivity software.
 Midrange tools: handle multiple projects and users
 All of these tools can produce Gantt charts and network diagrams, and can assist in
critical path analysis, resource allocation, project tracking, status reporting, and so
on.
 High-end tools: also called enterprise project management software, often licensed on a
per-user basis.
 These tools provide capabilities to handle very large projects, dispersed workgroups,
and enterprise and portfolio management functions that summarize and combine
individual project information to provide an enterprise view of all projects.

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 The Project Management Profession
 Professional societies such as the Project Management Institute
(PMI) have grown significantly.
 There are specific interest groups in many areas, such as
engineering, financial services, health care, and IT.
 Project management research and certification programs
continue to grow.

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Project Management Certification
 PMI provides certification as a Project Management
Professional (PMP).
 A PMP has documented sufficient project experience, agreed
to follow a code of ethics, and passed the PMP exam.
 The number of people earning PMP certification is
increasing quickly.
 PMI and other organizations are offering new certification
programs (see Appendix B).

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Figure 1-7. Growth in PMP
Certification, 1993-2003
80,000 76,550

70,000
60,000
52,443
50,000
# PMPs

40,000 40,343

30,000 27,052

20,000 18,184

10,000 10,086
6,415
4,400
1,900 2,800
1,000
0
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Year •Information Technology

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 Chapter Summary
 A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique
product, service, or result
 Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and
techniques to project activities to meet project requirements
 A program is a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way
 Project portfolio management involves organizing and managing
projects and programs as a portfolio of investments
 Project managers play a key role in helping projects and organizations
succeed
 The project management profession continues to grow and mature

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Graded Homework (Individual)
 Write one page summary of what you have learnt in
“The CHAOS Report”