Project Management

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Project Management

• Organization
• Scheduling
• 31 January

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ORGANIZATION

• Project management

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Organization

• Needed to control communications cost
• Channel of communications costs about 2 hours per
  week
• Optimal number 3-7
• Organization structures
• Hierarchical
• Peer
• Requires leader of team or aspects
• Subteam
• Requires gatekeeper
• Matrix

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What can you tell from an organization?

• The formal structure
• NOT the informal working mode

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SCHEDULING

• Project management

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How to Build a Schedule

• Identify the component parts
• Identify the dependencies
• Estimate
• Really just another word for guess
• Prefer educated guess
• Lay out assignments and time frames

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Project Plan for this project

• Use simple Excel spreadsheet (or equivalent)

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What you should be able to tell from your project
plan

• What is Joe working on this week?
• Who can help me if I run into trouble?
• If I have to choose an activity to be late, which
  one will impact the project more?

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Tools to Help

• Product description
• Clear statement of what you are building
• Work breakdown
• Product flow
• PERT charts
• Program Evaluation and Review Technique
• Gantt charts

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Work Breakdown Structure

• Need to break down the tasks into component parts
  and tasks
• Level of detail important
• Lacks any time component

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Work Breakdown
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Graphical WBS
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Product Flow

• Identify sequences and dependencies
• Distinguish new from existing components

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Product Flow
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PERT Charts

• Critical path analysis or method
• Program Evaluation and Review Technique
• Also known as activity networks
• Developed by Navy in 1958
• Three stages
• Planning (tasks and sequence)
• Scheduling (start and finish times)
• Analysis (float and revisions)
• Two different models
• Activities are nodes (most common) or arcs

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Pert Chart Activity Box
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Pert Charts
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CPM Critical Path Method

• Alternative to PERT
• Dupont 1957
• Graphical view of project
• Predicts time required to complete
• Shows which activities are critical to
  maintaining the schedule

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Planning PERT and CPM

• Identify the specific activities and milestones.
• Determine the proper sequence of the activities.
• Construct a network diagram.
• Estimate the time required for each activity.
• Determine the critical path.
• Update the PERT chart as the project progresses.

1. Specify the individual activities.
2. Determine the sequence of those activities.
3. Draw a network diagram.
4. Estimate the completion time for each activity.
5. Identify the critical path (longest path through
   the network)
6. Update the CPM diagram as the project progresses.

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Gantt Charts

• Milestone charts
• Invented by Harvey Gantt in 1916
• Advantages
• Less detailed
• Amenable to management overlays

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Gantt Chart
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Gantt Chart with Overlays
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Scheduling Steps and Tools

• Put together minimal solution
• Primary requirements
• Start with external commitments
• Product descriptions
• Milestones (contract)
• Introduce internal milestones
• Work breakdown structure
• Product Flow
• PERT Chart, Gantt chart
• Focus on the risks
• Risks (contract)
• Add next level of features where possible
• Secondary requirements

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Software Sources

• Open source tools
• dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Project_Management/Ope
  n_Source/

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Reviews and Inspections
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Reviews and Inspections

• Why?
• Developer cant correct unseen errors
• More eyes to catch problems
• Earlier is cheaper
• Integration fix typically 3-10 times the cost at
  design
• Difference in terms
• Review implies completed work, often reviewed by
  someone at a different level
• Inspection implies peer review of work in progress

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Inspections

• Introduced by Michael Fagin in 76 (IBM Systems
  Journal)
• Formalized process
• Specific roles and steps
• Heavy preparation and follow-up
• Used for documents and code

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Will you review or inspect?What will you review
or inspect?How will you review or inspect?