Activites and Time Planning

Copyright Aatif Kamal, NIIT (2006-07) 1

Software Project ManagementLecture 3Lecture 3

Activities & Time PlanningActivities & Time PlanningInstructor: Inam Ul HaqDated: Sept 4th , 2006


Motivation for Studying Project Management IT Projects have terrible track record

A 1995 Standish Group study (CHAOS) found that only 16.2% of IT projects were successful and over 31% were canceled before completion, costing over 81B$ in US alone

The need for IT Projects keeps increasing In 1998, corporate America issued 200,000 new

application development projects In 2001, there were 300,000 new IT projects In 2003, over 500,000 new IT projects were

started

http://www.standishgroup.com/sample_research/chaos_1994_1.php


Project – Definition In the broadest sense, a project is a specific,

finite task to be accomplished. Any activity that results in a deliverable or a product.

Projects always begin with a problem. The project is to provide the solution to this problem.

When the project is finished it must be evaluated to determine whether it satisfies the objectives and goals.


Another Definition of Project A project is a temporary endeavor

undertaken to accomplish a unique purpose

Attributes of projects unique purpose temporary require resources, often from various areas should have a primary sponsor and/or customer involve uncertainty


Example of IT Projects Northwest Airlines developed a new

reservation system called ResNet Many Organizations upgrade hardware,

software and networks via projects Organizations develop new software or

enhance existing systems to perform many business functions

Note: “IT projects” refers to projects involving hardware, software and networks


Software Project Management Concerned with activities involved in ensuring

that software is delivered: on time on schedule in accordance with the requirements of the

organization developing and procuring the software


Laws of Project Management No major project is ever installed on time, within budget, with the same

staff that started it. Yours will not be the first.

Projects progress quickly until they become 90% complete, then they remain at 90% complete forever.

One advantage of fuzzy project objectives is that they let you avoid the embarrassment of estimating the corresponding costs.

When things are going well, something will go wrong. When things just can’t get any worse, they will When things appear to be going better you have overlooked something

If project content is allowed to change freely, the rate of change will exceed the rate of progress.

No system is ever completely debugged: attempts to debug a system inevitably introduce new bugs that are even harder to find

A carelessly planned project will take three times longer to complete than expected, a planned project will take only twice as long.


Project Stakeholders Stakeholders are the people involved in or

affected by the project actives Stakeholders include

The project sponsor and project team Support staff Customers Users Suppliers Opponents to the project


Project Characteristics One clear objective

A well defined set of end results Goal oriented End product or service must result

Finite Fixed timeline, start date, end date, milestone dates

Limited Budget, Resources, Time

Life Cycle Recognizable sequence of phases


Project Characteristics (cont..) Divisible into subtasks (called activities)

often numerous, essentially unique and non-repetitive

sequenced by precedence relationship require careful co-ordination and monitoring

Change (source of Conflict)

A single point of responsibility (the Project Manager)


Negotiation & Conflict resolutionTwo different types of negotiations win-lose

your savings are other party’s losses

win-win both parties try to understand the other party

needs The win-win approach is a set of principles and

practices which enable a set of Interdependent stakeholders to work out a mutually satisfactory (win-win) set of shared commitments.


9 Project Management Knowledge Areas Knowledge areas describes the key

competencies that project manager must develop 4 - core knowledge areas lead to specific project

objectives (scope, time, cost and quality) 4 - facilitating areas are the means through which

the project objectives are achieved (human resource, communication, risk and procurement management)

1- knowledge area (project integration management) affects and is affected by all of the other knowledge areas


9 PM Knowledge Areas (cont..) Project Integration Management

Describes the processes required to ensure that various elements of the project are properly coordinated. It consist of project plan development, project execution and integrated change control.

Project Scope Management Describes the processes required to ensure that the project

includes all the work required and integrated change control.

Project Time Management Describes the processes required to ensure the timely

completion of the project. It consist of initiation, scope planning, scope definition, scope verification and scope change control.


9 PM Knowledge Areas (cont..) Project Cost Management

Describes the processes required to ensure that the project is completed within the approved budget. It consist of resource planning, cost estimating, schedule development and schedule control.

Project Quality Management Describes the processes required to ensure that the project

will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken. It consists of quality planning, quality assurance and quality control.

Project Human Resource Management Describes the processes required to make the most

effective use of the people involved with the project. It consist of organizational planning, staff acquisition and team development.


9 PM Knowledge Areas (cont..) Project Communication Management

Describes the processes required to ensure timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, storage and ultimate disposition of project information. It consist of communications planning, information distribution, performance reporting and administrative closure,

Project Risk Management Describes the processes concerned with identifying, analyzing

and responding to project risk. It consist of risk management planning, risk identification, qualitative risk analysis, quantitative risk analysis, risk response planning and risk monitoring and control.

Project Procurement Management Describes the processes required to acquire goods and services

from the outside the performing organization. It consist of procurement planning, solicitation planning, solicitation, source selection, contract administration and contract closeout


A Hierarchy of ActivitiesWBS (Work Breakdown Structure)

The backbone of any project is WBS. It describes the steps necessary to carry out the project and their relationship to each other, Not easy and straight forward.

System: (IEEE) collection of components organized to accomplish a specific function or set of function.

Program > Project > Work Package > Task > Work Unit

Program A Group of Related Projects that is managed together, Programs

usually include an Element of Ongoing activity An exceptionally large, long range objective that can be broken

into projects E.g. Govt. of Pakistan Poverty reduction program


A Hierarchy of Activities (cont..)Program > Project > Work Package > Task > Work Unit

Projects A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique

product or service A specific finite task

Work Package Project major set of activities / Modules Each WP has clear set of Objectives, Task and deliverables Each WP must have WP leader One continuous set of work units with a clearly defined and

observable beginning and end


A Hierarchy of Activities (cont..)Program > Project > Work Package > Task > Work Unit

Activity An element of work performed during the course of a project. An

activity has an expected duration, cost and resource requirement Any Task, Job or Operation that must be completed to finish a

project Synonym for Task Must Result in a Tangible deliverable

Task A subdivision of an activity Synonym for activity Task must have one or more responsible person

Work Unit Subdivision of a work package Not recognized as a term


Project Management - Advantages Responsiveness to Clients and the

Environment Ability to make Timely Trade-off Decisions Central Locus of Decisions to insure overall

Project Optimality Better control, better customer relations,

Shorter development time, lower costs, Higher quality and reliability, higher profit margins, better co-ordination, higher morale


Project Management - Disadvantages Greater Organizational Complexity Lower Personnel Utilization More Managerial Conflicts


The Project Management Profession A 1996 Fortune article called project management

the “number one career choice”

Other authors and IT Gurus stress that Project managers are who add value to organizations

Professional societies like the Project Management Institute (PMI) have grown tremendously

Average Salaries for Project managers are over 81K US$ per year


Project Management Certification PMI provides certification as a Project Management

Professional (PMP) A PMP has documented sufficient project

experience, agreed to follow a code of ethics, and passed the PMP exam

The number of people earning PMP certification is increasing quickly, and the certification program department received ISO approval in 1999

Other groups, like the Singapore Computer Society, have their own IT PM Certification programs


Assignment 01 Define Project, Project Management and

Process Write a note on W5HH Principle An ill-structured will result in? What threats will you predict in SPM? What is fuzzy project? No project is 100% complete, why?

Activites and Time Planning

Education

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