Project Management

1
Chapter 4

• Project Management
• a huge topic. See Part 6, Management, Chaps
  22-25.

2
Project management

• Organizing, planning and scheduling software
  projects

3
Objectives

• 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.

4
Topics covered

• Management activities
• Project planning
• Project scheduling
• Risk management

5
Software project management

• Concerned with activities involved in ensuring
  that software is delivered on time, within
  budget and in accordance with the requirements of
  the organizations 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
  organization developing the software.

6
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
  standardized.
• Many software projects are one-off projects.

7
Management activities

• Proposal writing (to fund new projects)
• Project planning and scheduling (focus of this
  chapter)
• Project costing and preparing bids (Chap 23)
• Project monitoring and reviews
• Personnel selection and evaluation (Chap 22)
• Report writing and presentations
• Attending lots and lots of meetings!
• IBM Santa Teresa study

8
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 most of the same problems as software
  systems.

9
Project staffing

• May not be possible to appoint the ideal people
  to work on a project
• Project budget may not allow for use of
  highly-paid staff.
• Those with appropriate skills / experience may
  not be available.
• An organization may wish to develop employee
  skills by assigning inexperienced staff.
• Managers have to work within these constraints
  especially when (as is currently the case) there
  is an international shortage of skilled IT staff.

Late 90s
10
Project planning

• Probably the most time-consuming project
  management activity (or at least it should be).
• Continuous activity from initial concept to
  system delivery. Plans must be regularly revised
  as new information becomes available.
• Different types of sub-plans may be developed to
  support a main software project plan concerned
  with overall schedule and budget.

11
Types of project sub-plans
(QA)
?
12
Project planning

• The plan is nothing the planning is
  everything.
• Dwight Eisenhower, on the
• D-Day invasion plan
• (a bit of dramatic overstatement to make a
  point)

13
Project planning process
- not idle time
14
Project plan document structure

• Introduction (goals, constraints, etc.)
• Project organisation
• Risk analysis
• Hardware and software resource requirements
• Work breakdown
• Project schedule
• Monitoring and reporting mechanisms

15
Activity organization

• Activities in a project should be associated with
  tangible outputs for management to judge progress
  (i.e., to provide process visibility)
• Milestones are the unequivocal end-points of
  process activities.
• e.g., DR1 complete versus 90 of design
  complete

16
Activity organization

• Deliverables are project results delivered to
  customers. (There are also internal
  deliverables.)
• The waterfall model allows for the
  straightforward definition of milestones (a
  deliverable oriented model).
• Deliverables are always milestones, but
  milestones are not necessarily deliverables.

17
Milestones in the RE process
18
Project scheduling

• Split project into tasks and estimate time and
  resources required to complete each.
• Tasks should not be too small or too large
• they should last on the order of weeks for
  projects lasting months. (Models should be as
  simple as possible, but no simpler.)

19
Project scheduling

• Organize tasks as concurrent activities to make
  optimal use of workforce.
• Minimize task dependencies to avoid potential
  delays.
• Dependent on project managers intuition and
  experience. (Good management is not a science.)

20
The project scheduling process
Review Progress
21
Scheduling problems

• Estimating the difficulty of problems, and hence
  the cost of developing solutions, is hard.
• Progress is generally not proportional to the
  number of people working on a task.
• Adding people to a late project can make it later
  (due to coordination overhead). (- F. Brooks, The
  Mythical Man-Month)
• The unexpected always happens. Always allow for
  different contingencies in planning. (a.k.a.
  Murphys Law)

22
TIME
more
less
few
many

• PEOPLE

23
TIME
more
Stuffing Envelopes
less
few
many

• PEOPLE

24
TIME
more
K time X people
less
few
many

• PEOPLE

25
TIME
Having a baby
more
Stuffing Envelopes
less
few
many

• PEOPLE

26
TIME
more
Software Development
less
few
many

• PEOPLE

27
Bar charts and activity networks

• Graphical notations are often used to illustrate
  project schedules.
• Activity charts (a.k.a. PERT charts) show task
  dependencies, durations, and the critical path.
• Bar charts (a.k.a. GANTT charts) generally show
  resource (e.g., people) assignments and calendar
  time.
• Program Evaluation and Review Technique

28
Task durations and dependencies
29
Activity network
30
Activity timeline
potential slack time
duration
31
How much potential slack time is associated
with Task J?

• If J is on the critical path, CP,
• then 0.
• Else
• find JL, the longest path
• containing J.
• CP - JL potential slack time for task J.

32
Staff allocation (Gantt Chart)
33
Risk management

• Risk management is concerned with identifying
  risks and drawing up plans to minimize their
  effect on a project.

34
Risk management

• 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.
• (Taxonomy based on Effect)

35
Software risks
36
The risk management process

• Risk identification identify project, product
  and business risks
• Risk analysis assess the likelihood and
  consequences of these risks
• Risk planning draw up plans to avoid or
  minimise the effects of the risk
• Risk monitoring monitor the risks throughout
  the project

37
The risk management process
38
Risk identification

• Technology risks
• People risks
• Organisational risks
• Requirements risks
• Estimation risks
• (Taxonomy based on Source)

39
Risks and risk types
40
Risk analysis

• Assess probability and seriousness of each risk.
• Probability may be very low, low, moderate, high
  or very high.
• Risk effects might be catastrophic, serious,
  tolerable or insignificant.

41
Risk analysis
42
Risk planning

• Consider each risk and develop a strategy to
  manage that risk.
• Avoidance strategies the probability that the
  risk will arise is reduced.
• Minimisation strategies the impact of the risk
  on the project or product is reduced.
• Contingency plans if the risk arises,
  contingency plans are plans to deal with that
  risk. (to effect the minimisation
  strategy)

43
Risk management strategies
44
Risk monitoring

• Assess each identified risk regularly to decide
  whether or not it is becoming less or more
  probable.
• Also assess whether the effects of the risk have
  changed.
• Each key risk should be discussed at management
  progress meetings.

45
Risk factors
46
Key points

• Good project management is essential for project
  success. (Necessary, but not sufficient)
• 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.

47
Key points

• A project milestone is a predictable state where
  some formal report of progress is presented to
  management.
• Risks may be project risks, product risks or
  business risks. (and technology, people,
  organisational, requirements, or estimation
  risks)
• 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.