Software Project Management Intro to Project Management

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Software Project ManagementIntro to Project
Management

• INFO 638
• Glenn Booker

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Syllabus

• Course covers essential project management
• Traditional Project Management
• Adaptive Project Framework
• Text complies with PMIs Project Management Body
  of Knowledge (PMBOK)
• We add software-specific concepts

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Syllabus

• Class focuses on application of project
  definition and management principles to a project
  of your choosing
• Text is Wysockis Effective Project Management, 3e

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My Background

• Systems Engineering approach
• Mostly work with long-lived systems
• Industry experience includes thirteen years of
  Dept. of Defense (DoD) work, and five for the FAA
  mostly in large scale system design,
  development, and testing

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References

• See web sitehttp//users.snip.net/gbooker/
• In particular, note the SEI, SPMN and STSC
  resources on the Reference Materials page
• The SEI document index is particularly
  recommended, and the SPMN identifies a lot of
  classic mistakes to avoid.

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Defining a Project

• A project is a series of complex, connected
  activities with a common purpose
• Our most common context is a project to develop
  or refine an information system, but most
  principles of project management apply to any
  project

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Activities Sets of Tasks

• A key difference in project management is to
  start thinking of a project as a series of
  interrelated tasks which need to be accomplished
• Most other courses focus on how to perform a
  single complex task, such as developing an ERD,
  or designing a good interface here we focus on
  defining the tasks needed to complete the project

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Project Limitations

• Projects also have limits on the amount of time
  and money available to them
• There may be changes to these limits negotiated,
  but there are always limits
• Projects need some form of specification to
  describe what needs to be accomplished
• Here, they are system requirements

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Program versus Project

• Often program and project are used
  interchangeably, but nominally, a program is a
  larger concept than a project
• A program is a set of related projects
• The Space Shuttle program consists of many
  flights which are each separately managed
  projects
• Here we focus mainly on projects

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Project Limits

• Projects are limited in scope, as defined by one
  of these
• A functional specification
• A Software Requirements Specification
• Use cases and their documentation
• A Statement of Work (SOW)
• A Mission Needs Statement (MNS) (government term)

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Project Limits

• Projects are limited by their product quality and
  process quality requirements
• Cost mostly the labor cost, but also hardware,
  software, training, etc.
• Calendar time
• And other resources people, facilities,
  equipment, etc.

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The Triangle

• Projects generally get stuck facing a triangle
• Cost
• Time (schedule)
• Features and/or quality
• At most, two of these points can be controlled
• Which one can you tolerate flexibility?

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Project Classification

• Projects are often classified by their
  approximate size and complexity
• Risk, business value, duration, cost, etc. can be
  used to determine categories
• The categories are often used to determine the
  extent of documentation needed (e.g. page 14),
  and may affect approval processes (bigger
  projects need higher level approval)

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Traditional Project Management

• Traditional Project Management (TPM) refers to
  commonly accepted management practices
• In software development, it implies that some
  variation of the waterfall life cycle model is
  used
• DOD-STD-2167a (1988) is the classic description
  of the waterfall life cycle others will be
  discussed with the WBS

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Traditional Project Management

• Also note that TPM is typically regarded as the
  most time consuming way to run a project
• In software, extreme programming (XP) and other
  agile methods have been developed to speed
  development for small, low risk projects

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TPM Life Cycle

• Wysocki has five major phases in the TPM life
  cycle
• Scope the project
• Develop the project plan
• Launch the plan
• Monitor/control project progress
• Close out the project

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Scope the project

• This phase includes
• Define problems (with existing information
  system) and opportunities (for new features
  and/or use of new technologies)
• Define project objectives in terms of business
  value quantify improvements compared to current
  system
• Identify project success criteria, risks, and
  constraints

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Develop the project plan

• Identify the project activities
• May divide activities into support activities
  (which are done throughout project) and specific
  life cycle phases (per the life cycle model
  chosen)
• Estimate duration and resources for each
  activity
• Create project schedule or network
• Put all this into a project proposal

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Launch the plan

• Select and recruit project team members
• Level resources needed across the plan
• Schedule and document work packages
• A work package is the detailed set of tasks
  needed to perform a given activity

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Monitor/control project progress

• Determine how project progress will be measured
• Establish change control tools and processes,
  including an escalation process
• Monitor actual progress vs. the plan
• Go back to Develop the project plan if major
  changes are needed

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Close out the project

• When the project is completed
• Get customer approval of final product
• Install final product
• Deliver promised documentation
• Make sure everythings happy
• Write up final project report

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Support Activities

• Ongoing activities throughout a project typically
  include
• Project management (or you dont have a job!)
• Quality management
• Risk management
• Procurement management

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Project Management

• Project management should include all five phases
  of the TPM life cycle
• Many organizations omit one or more of the
  phases, most often the last ones, producing
  less-than-optimal results

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Quality Management

• There are zillions of books on various aspects of
  quality management
• Most focus on two major aspects
• Quality of the product you are creating
• Quality or maturity of the processes you use to
  create that product
• Mature processes produce more consistent and
  predictable results

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Quality Management

• There are many guides to quality Six Sigma,
  CMMI, TQM, ISO 9000, Malcolm Baldridge, etc.
• Organizations with mature processes often use
  statistical process control methods to track
  quality and quantify improvements

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Risk Management

• Deliberate management of risks is critical to
  good project management
• American culture would rather shoot the messenger
  than deal with risks openly this has to change
• Risks include any event, which hasnt happened
  yet, which could delay the successful completion
  of a project

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Risk Management Guide

• Need to create a list of possible risks
• Describe each risk briefly
• Estimate the probability of the risk happening
• Should be between 0 and 100
• Estimate the loss if the risk occurs
• How much effort will it take to recover from the
  risk?

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Risk Management Guide

• Multiply probability times loss to get the impact
  of each risk
• Impact probability loss
• Sort risks in descending order of impact keep
  the top 10 (typically)
• This is prioritizing the risks
• For each significant risk, assign a risk owner to
  look for the risk occurring

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Risk Management Guide

• Quantify what has to occur for the risk to have
  happened (detection)
• If we are more than 10 over budget, the risk
  for Exceed Budget has occurred
• Must quantify each risk, or theyll never occur
• Determine how to prevent the risk, if possible,
  or look for alternative approaches to make the
  risk go away

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Risk Management Guide

• Plan a mitigation strategy to reduce the risks
  impact on your project
• Once the project starts, keep reviewing the risks
  (e.g. weekly) to see if any risks have occurred,
  or if new risks have been identified

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Risk Management Security

• Risk management looks like security analysis,
  such as for an airline
• Prevent a risk from happening (e.g. a hijacker
  getting onboard)
• Detect when the risk has occurred (they make
  their presence known)
• Mitigate the damage they can do (get the plane on
  the ground safely)

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Procurement Management

• All information systems involve some commercial
  hardware, software, and networking equipment
• Selection and procurement of these components is
  a key activity
• Start with the buy-versus-make decision
• For each system component, will you make it
  yourself, or buy something off-the-shelf?

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Procurement Management

• Procurement has its own life cycle, which runs
  parallel to part or all of the project life cycle
• Solicit RFI (optional and not in text)
• Solicit RFPs
• Get responses
• Select Vendors
• Manage contracts
• Close out contracts

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Solicit RFI

• If you want to create a shorter list of candidate
  vendors, a Request For Information (RFI) can be
  used
• The RFI is a tool to screen out poorly qualified
  candidate vendors
• An RFI mainly seeks proof that they understand
  the type of requirements to be addressed, and
  have suitable relevant experience

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Solicit RFPs

• A Request For Proposal (RFP) is used to get
  proposals from candidate vendors
• FedBizOpps.gov posts RFPs for government work
  over 25,000
• The RFP states your requirements each candidate
  vendor decides how to meet your needs

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Get responses

• Candidate vendors may ask questions to clarify
  the RFP answers are made available to all
  vendors
• Vendors prepare a proposal to respond to the RFP
• RFPs often have very strict time deadlines (30-90
  days) and specific page and format limits

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Select Vendors

• A proposal often has different volumes, e.g.
  Business, Technical, Cost, etc. which are
  reviewed by different experts
• Each volume is scored or rated according to
  guidance (grading criteria) stated in the RFP
• The proposal with the highest score generally wins

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Manage contracts

• Once the vendor is selected, contract personnel
  write the details of the contract
• The contract specifies what will be delivered,
  when, where, and often in what format
• A Statement of Work details the require-ments to
  be fulfilled by the vendor
• The schedule for payments to the vendor is also
  stated

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Close out contracts

• When the final deliverable products and/or
  services are provided by the vendor, the contract
  is closed out
• The contract generally specifies what happens to
  equipment, informal documentation, and other work
  products resulting from the contract
• Final payment is made to the vendor