Project management

Objectives
 To explain the main tasks undertaken by
project managers
 To introduce software project management
and to describe its distinctive characteristics
 To discuss project planning and the planning
process
 To show how graphical schedule
representations are used by project
management
 To discuss the notion of risks and the risk
management process
Topics covered
 Management activities
 Project planning
 Project scheduling
 Risk management
Software project management
 Concerned with activities involved in ensuring
that software is delivered on time and on
schedule and in accordance with the
requirements of the organisations developing
and procuring the software.

 Project management is needed because software

development is always subject to budget and
schedule constraints that are set by the organisation
developing the software.
Software management distinctions
 The product is intangible.
 The product is uniquely flexible.
 Software engineering is not recognized as an
engineering discipline with the same status as
mechanical, electrical engineering, etc.
 The software development process is not
standardised.
 Many software projects are 'one-off' projects.
Management activities
 Proposal writing.
 Project planning and scheduling.
 Project costing.
 Project monitoring and reviews.
 Personnel selection and evaluation.
 Report writing and presentations.
Management commonalities
 These activities are not peculiar to
software management.
 Many techniques of engineering project
management are equally applicable to
software project management.
 Technically complex engineering
systems tend to suffer from the same
problems as software systems.
Project staffing
 May not be possible to appoint the ideal
people to work on a project
 Project budget may not allow for the use of
highly-paid staff;
 Staff with the appropriate experience may not
be available;
 An organisation may wish to develop employee
skills on a software project.
 Managers have to work within these
constraints especially when there are
shortages of trained staff.
Project planning
 Probably the most time-consuming project
management activity.
 Continuous activity from initial concept through
to system delivery. Plans must be regularly
revised as new information becomes
available.
 Various different types of plan may be
developed to support the main software
project plan that is concerned with schedule
and budget.
Types of project plan

Plan Description
Quality plan Describes the quality procedures and standards that will be
used in a project. See Chapter 27.
Validation plan Describes the approach, resources and schedule used for
system validation. See Chapter 22.
Configuration Describes the configuration management procedures and
management plan structures to be used. See Chapter 29.
Maintenance plan Predicts the maintenance requirements of the system,
maintenance costs and effort required. See Chapter 21.
Staff development plan. Describes how the skills and experience of the project team
members will be developed. See Chapter 25.
Project planning process
Establish the project constraints
Make initial assessments of the project parameters
Define project milestones and deliverables
while project has not been completed or cancelled loop
Draw up project schedule
Initiate activities according to schedule
Wait ( for a while )
Review project progress
Revise estimates of project parameters
Update the project schedule
Re-negotiate project constraints and deliverables
if ( problems arise ) then
Initiate technical review and possible revision
end if
end loop
The project plan

 The project plan sets out:

 The resources available to the project;
 The work breakdown;

 A schedule for the work.

Project plan structure
 Introduction.
 Project organisation.
 Risk analysis.
 Hardware and software resource
requirements.
 Work breakdown.
 Project schedule.
 Monitoring and reporting mechanisms.
Activity organization
 Activities in a project should be
organised to produce tangible outputs
for management to judge progress.
 Milestones are the end-point of a
process activity.
 Deliverables are project results delivered
to customers.
 The waterfall process allows for the
straightforward definition of progress
milestones.
Milestones in the RE process
Project scheduling
 Split project into tasks and estimate time and
resources required to complete each task.
 Organize tasks concurrently to make optimal
use of workforce.
 Minimize task dependencies to avoid delays
caused by one task waiting for another to
complete.
 Dependent on project managers intuition and
experience.
The project scheduling process
Scheduling problems
 Estimating the difficulty of problems and hence
the cost of developing a solution is hard.
 Productivity is not proportional to the number
of people working on a task.
 Adding people to a late project makes it later
because of communication overheads.
 The unexpected always happens. Always
allow contingency in planning.
Bar charts and activity networks
 Graphical notations used to illustrate the
project schedule.
 Show project breakdown into tasks.
Tasks should not be too small. They
should take about a week or two.
 Activity charts show task dependencies
and the the critical path.
 Bar charts show schedule against
calendar time.
Task durations and
dependencies

Activity Duration (days) Dependencies

T1 8
T2 15
T3 15 T1 (M1)
T4 10
T5 10 T2, T4 (M2)
T6 5 T1, T2 (M3)
T7 20 T1 (M1)
T8 25 T4 (M5)
T9 15 T3, T6 (M4)
T10 15 T5, T7 (M7)
T11 7 T9 (M6)
T12 10 T11 (M8)
Activity network
1 4/7 /03 15 da ys
15 da ys
M1 T3
8 da ys T9
T1 5 da ys 4/8 /03 2 5/8 /03
2 5/7 /03
4/7 /03 T6 M4 M6
M3
star t 2 0 da ys 7 da ys
15 da ys
T7 T 11
T2
25/7 /03 11/8 /03 5/9 /03
10 da ys 10 da ys
M2 M7 M8
T4 T5 15 da ys
T 10 10da ys
1 8/7 /03
T 12
M5
2 5 da ys
T8 Fin ish
19/9 /03
Activity timeline
4/7 11/7 18/7 2 5/7 1/8 8/8 1 5/8 22/8 2 9/8 5/9 12/9 1 9/9

Star t
T4
T1
T2
M1
T7
T3
M5
T8
M3
M2
T6
T5
M4
T9
M7
T 10
M6
T 11
M8
T 12
Fin ish
Staff allocation
4/7 1 1/7 18/7 2 5/7 1/8 8/8 15/8 2 2/8 2 9/8 5/9 1 2/9 19/9

Fred T4
T8 T 11
T 12
Jane T1
T3
T9
Anne T2
T6 T 10

Jim T7

Mary T5
Risk management

 Risk management is concerned with

identifying risks and drawing up plans to
minimise their effect on a project.
 A risk is a probability that some adverse
circumstance will occur
 Project risks affect schedule or resources;
 Product risks affect the quality or
performance of the software being
developed;
 Business risks affect the organisation
developing or procuring the software.
Software risks
Risk Affects Description
Staff turnover Project Experienced staff will leave the project before it is finished.
Management change Project There will be a change of organisational management with
different priorities.
Hardware unavailability Project Hardware that is essential for the projec t will not be
deli vered on schedule.
Requirements change Project and There will be a larger number of changes to the
product requirements than anticipated.
Specification delays Project and Specifications of essential interfaces are not available on
product schedule
Size underestimate Project and The size of the system has been underestimated.
product
CASE tool under- Product CASE tools which support the project do not perform as
performance anticipated
Technology change Business The underlying technology on which the system is built is
superseded by new technology.
Product competition Business A competitive product is marketed before the system is
completed.
Key points
 Good project management is essential for
project success.
 The intangible nature of software causes
problems for management.
 Managers have diverse roles but their most
significant activities are planning, estimating
and scheduling.
 Planning and estimating are iterative
processes
which continue throughout the course of a
project.
Key points
 A project milestone is a predictable state
where a formal report of progress is
presented to management.
 Project scheduling involves preparing
various graphical representations
showing project activities, their durations
and staffing.
 Risk management is concerned with
identifying risks which may affect the
project and planning to ensure that these
risks do not develop into major threats.