Don F. Erwin

1
Software Project Management

• Don F. Erwin
• Buffalo State College
• Buffalo, New York, USA
• Part 2 Software PM, Stakeholders, Risk
  Management

2
Survey
What are the top 5 issues you need to solve on
your software project?

1. The difficulties in estimations (budget,
   schedule, etc.)
2. Wrong assumptions
3. Customer changing mind
4. How to manage client expectations
5. Not enough qualified resources

3
Overview
We Plan to Cover
Project Management Basics Project Management on
Software Projects Stakeholder Management Risk
Management Project Communication Leadership in
Software Project Management IT Governance Other???
4
Project Management on Software Projects
What is unique about Software Projects? Management
Methods Developing the Right Approach Focus on
Stakeholders Focus on Risk Management Project
Communication
5
Project Management on Software Projects
Software projects are different from other
projects

• Address unique business processes
• Stakeholders are often passionate about current
  business practices
• Stakeholders often have preconceptions about the
  final product
• Designers/Developers often work more closely with
  end users

6
Management Methods
Project Management Methods examples

• Project Management Institute (PMI) Framework
• Prince2

Development Methods

• Plan-Driven
• Predictive
• Pre-planned
• Inflexible

• Agile
• Adaptive
• Iterative
• Flexible

• Ad-hoc
• Cowboy Coding
• Little planning
• Undisciplined

7
Management Methods
Project Management Methods
Development Methods
Software Project Managers need to have knowledge
of both to be effective
(De Baar)
8
Developing the Right Approach
1. Analyze Situation

• Stakeholder Analysis
• Risk Assessment

2. Develop Approach

• Strategy
• Organization
• Feedback

Iterative approach Involve Stakeholders
early Focus on Risks
(De Baar)
9
Developing the Right Approach

• Strategy
• Steps to be taken, sequence, time frame
• Organization
• Who, roles, relationships
• Feedback
• Communication to stakeholders on status of
  products and processes

(De Baar)
10
Developing the Right Approach
Advantages of Iterative Approach Solidify as
things become clearer Focuses on stakeholders
and their needs Explicitly documents decisions
(De Baar)
11
Developing the Right Approach
Tailor the approach at start-up Involve
stakeholders Avoids the not-invented-here
syndrome Those who have to do the work know best
what it will take and what the risks are likely
to be
(De Baar)
12
Introducing Process to the Organization

• New projects (usually) mean new processes
• Start simple and add process as required
• Involve Stakeholders
• Adding too much process, can add risk to the
  outcome of the project
• Visibility is key (transparency)
• Schedules
• Budgets
• Results
• Issues
• Changes

Feedback
(De Baar)
13
Stakeholders

• Who are they?
• Direct (involved in the project)
• Indirect (affected by the outcome of the project)
• Internal (work for the organization)
• External (Do not work for the organization)
• Chickens or pigs?
• How to identify them
• Identified by the Project Sponsor
• Identified by the Stakeholders
• Self-identified

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Stakeholders

• All stakeholders have something to say
• Customers want it for free
• Users want it to have great functionality
• Programmers dont want to document and want to
  use the latest technology
• Stakeholders drive the Software PM Process
• Negative affects
• Positive affects
• The human element is hard to predict
• Understanding stakeholders expectations /
  abilities / attitudes is critical

(De Baar)
15
Stakeholders

• The software project manager must be a negotiator
  and leader.
• Must understand and be comfortable with
  organizations politics (good and bad).
• Requirements can change. (Stakeholders interests
  do not)
• Need to understand the stakes (interests) that
  drove the expectations and requirements.
• First PM responsibility is to reassure
  stakeholders that they are heard and that their
  interests are taken care of.
• PM must continually communicate with stakeholders
  (even bad news)

(De Baar)
16
The Flow of Stakes
Interests
Expectations
recorded by
have
communicate
ProjectManagement
Stakeholders
negotiated to
changes
Requirements
Feedback
communicated
(De Baar)
17
Your Stakes

• You are a stakeholder
• Understand if you can work the project before it
  is too late to get out
• Be willing to say no

(De Baar)
18
Stakeholder Analysis

• Stakeholder identificationWho are the
  stakeholders?
• Stakeholder expectations and interestsWhat are
  the expectations and the interests of the
  stakeholders?
• Stakeholder influence and role in the projectHow
  should they be involved in the project to have
  the best possible outcome?

(De Baar)
19
Stakeholder Analysis
Just ask

1. What are your expectations of the project?
2. What is the purpose or mission of the project
   team?
3. What benefits are there likely to be?

Just phrase the question as boldly as you
can. This indicates what the stakeholder thinks
is the goal of the project. What does the
stakeholder have to gain from the project?
(De Baar)
20
Stakeholder Analysis
Just ask

1. What are your top priorities?
2. What resources are you willing to commit /
   reluctant to commit?
3. Do you expect some conflict of interest?
4. How do you regard other stakeholders on the list?

Are there any conflicts with other issues? How
important is the project for this stakeholder?
This indicates the level of commitment and
participation. Has the stakeholder something to
lose in the project? Can you expect some
struggles between certain stakeholders?
(De Baar)
21
Stakeholder Analysis
Just ask

1. What outcome is needed and/or expected from the
   project?
2. When should the teams work be completed? What
   milestones do you expect?
3. To whom does the team report and how often?

This gives you explicit expectations about the
project results. This gives you explicit
expectations about project process. Whos
calling the shots? Look for the real hierarchy.
(De Baar)
22
Stakeholder Analysis
Just ask

1. What is the business case for the project?
2. What organizational policies influence the
   project?
3. What are your experiences with similar projects
   (personally and/or departmentally)?

This indicates the expectations for the business.
Policies can be regarded as expectations of the
organization. History determines ones current
expectations.
(De Baar)
23
Stakeholder Analysis

• Stakeholder analysis provides
• A list of all the stakeholders
• An idea about each stakeholders relative
  importance and influence
• Insight into what stakeholders want out of the
  project
• Insight into what makes stakeholders tick
• An idea about whether stakeholders will work
  against or for the project
•  

(De Baar)
24
Stakeholder Analysis

• Helps you Develop the Project Approach
• Strategy
• Organization
• Feedback

What is the other thing that helps you develop
the Project Approach?
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Risk Management

• Facts of Project Life
• Projects are full of uncertainty
• Things you dont know
• Things you dont realize you dont know
• Risk Management
• A structured approach to handle uncertainties
• Risk
• Likelihood of occurrence
• Effect if it occurs

• Action
• Cost

(De Baar)
26
Risk Management

• Risk as a Positive thing?
• Risk management helps assure desired outcome of
  the project
• Scale to size of project, but always do it
• Stakeholder involvement in Risk Analysis
• Extremely important
• Provides a means for them to feel ownership
• Identifies risks that management/development team
  may not think of

(De Baar)
27
Risk Management Methods

• Checklists
• For Example, SEI structured checklist for
  Software
• Provides major areas to think about
• Product Engineering
• Development Environment
• Program Constraints
• Questionnaires provide specific questions to ask
• The goal is to get the team to think about any
  area that could jeopardize the project

(De Baar)
http//www.sei.cmu.edu/
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Risk Management Methods
Risk Matrix
High
Likelihood
Low
High
Effect
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Risk Management Plan

• Write it down
• Process is important, and so is the document
• Helps you to make decisions when you are in the
  middle of a crisis (risk realized)
• Review it often (Top Ten)
• Use checklists to identify risks
• Weight risks by some method, e.g. matrix
• Write down the cost of effect of the risk
• Develop a plan for what you will do if the risk
  is realized

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Risk Management Example

• Approaches to responding to risks include
• Deflection (transferring the risk to another
  party)
• Control (minimize the effect)
• Retention (accept the consequences)
• Avoidance (reject the risk do nothing)

• Probability guidelines
• Very Likely 70-100 A 3
• Probable 40-70 A 2
• Unlikely 0-40 A 1

• Impact guidelines for scope, cost, schedule, or
  quality
• Catastrophic B 3
• Critical B 2
• Marginal B 1

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Risk Management Example
Risk Probability of Occurrence (A) Estimated Project Impact (B) Weight B (A-1) Issue or Jeopardy Control No. Mitigation Strategy Contingency
Departure of resources 2 2 3 Control Maintain appropriate documentation of project activities. Fast hiring processes should be developed. Fill project vacancy with SunGard Higher Education consulting resources. Mitigate the risk as described.
End-user apathy, resistance to change. Culture change and process change may not be well received. 1 2 2 Control A comprehensive communications plan will help to keep employees informed of progress and to build enthusiasm. Mitigate the risk as described. Reassign employees whose behavior inhibits performance of their duties or jeopardizes the project.
32
Risk Management

• Helps you Develop the Project Approach
• Strategy
• Organization
• Feedback

(De Baar)
33
Tailoring the Approach
1. Analyze Situation

• Stakeholder Analysis
• Risk Assessment

2. Develop Approach

• Strategy
• Organization
• Feedback

(De Baar)
34
Tailoring the Approach

• Strategy
• Increments
• Iterations
• Phases
• Organization
• Feedback

Business Priorities Uncertainties (Risks)
Insight into Interests (Stakeholder Analysis)
(De Baar)
35
Uncertainties and Priorities

• Dealing with Uncertainty
• Predictable
• Unpredictable, but resolvable
• Un-resolvable

• Proactive Solutions
• Make them clear as fast and early as possible
• Make sure your solution and project structure has
  the flexibility to cope with the uncertainties

• Passive Solution
• Do nothing

(Cockburn in De Baar)
36
The Strategy

• Keep it simple and logical
• Sequence for defining strategy
• Set a clearly-defined goal
• Determine the scope
• Adjust the project according to the outcome of
  the previous step
• Execute the remainder of the project

(De Baar)
37
The Strategy

• Based on Business Priorities and Risks will you
  choose
• A plan-driven method with fewer, bigger releases?
• An Agile approach with smaller releases which
  better refine the product?

• In many cases, some of each
• Iterations to get feedback to cover uncertainties
• Increments to satisfy the business needs for speed

(De Baar)
38
Strategy Options
Definitions5 Iteration A period in which a
number of predefined tasks are performed. The
results are evaluated to feed back to the next
iteration. Increment A period in which some
functionality is completed to a
production-quality level. Release Some coherent
set of completed functionalities that is useful
and usable to the intended users of the system.
(De Baar)
39
The Project Organization

• Stakeholder Analysis influences Project
  Organization
• Project Organizations are usually temporary
• Keep them as small as possible (based on
  stakeholder analysis)
• Find ways to address those that want to be
  involved but do not add value

(De Baar)
40
The Project Organization

• Develop The Organization Chart
• Work Groups
• Help communication and control through group or
  team leaders
• By specialization or product
• Assumes responsibility and accountability for
  leaders
• Take culture into account
• Steering Committee may be involved to authorize
  spending, schedule/ scope changes, business
  practices changes, etc.
• Consider type as it relates to PM considerations

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Making the Organization Work

• Relate to the people in the boxes, not the boxes!
• Feedback, Feedback, Feedback
• Product
• Process

That takes us to the next subject Feedback
(De Baar)
42
List of Works Cited

• Project Management Institute (PMI), Project
  Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). 3rd ed.
  2004.
• De Baar, Bas. Surprise! Now You're a Software
  Project Manager. 1st ed. Lakefield, Ontario
  Multi-Media Publications, 2006.
• Bolman, Lee, and Terrence Deal. Reframing
  Organizations. 3rd ed. San Fransisco
  Jossey-Bass, 2003.
• Denge, Peter. The Fifth Discipline The Art
  Practice of The Learning Organization. 1st ed.
  USA Doubleday Publishing, 2006.
• Aguanno, Kevin. Managing Agile Projects. Ed.
  Kevin Aguanno. Lakefield, Ontario Multi-Media
  Publications, 2005.