Project Management

Chapter 3

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Objectives

• Become familiar with estimation.• Be able to create a project workplan.• Understand why project teams use timeboxing.• Become familiar with how to staff a project.• Understand how computer-aided software

engineering, standards, and documentation improve the efficiency of a project.

• Understand how to reduce risk on a project.

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Project Management The discipline of planning, organizing, and

managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives– Cost– Schedule– Performance

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IDENTIFYING PROJECT SIZE

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Cost Schedule Performance Trade-offs

Cost

Schedule Performance

Project management involves balancing trade-offs among the three key project parameters

Project

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Estimating Project Timeframes

System Development Life Cycle

Planning15%

Analysis20%

Design35%

Implementation30%

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Function Point Approach

Estimate System Size(function points and lines of code)

Estimate Effort Required(person-months)

Estimate Time Required(months)

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CREATING AND MANAGING THE WORKPLAN

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Developing Work Plans A work plan, is a dynamic schedule that records

and keeps track of all tasks to be accomplished over the course of the project

Created after a project manager has a general idea of the project’s size and rough schedule

The work plan is usually the main item in a project management software application

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Sample Task

Task name: Perform economic feasibility

Start date: Jan 5, 2010

Completion date: Jan 19, 2010

Person assigned to the task: Mary Smith (project sponsor)

Deliverable(s): Cost-benefit analysis

Completion status: Complete

Priority: High

Resources needed: Spreadsheet software

Estimated time: 16 hours

Actual time: 14.5 hours

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Identifying Tasks Top-down approach

– Identify highest level tasks– Break them into increasingly smaller units

Methodology– Using standard list of tasks

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Work Breakdown Structure

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Gantt Chart

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Pert Chart Pert: Program Evaluation and Review Technique Used to communicate task dependencies Allows easier visualization of tasks on a critical path

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Scope Management Scope creep happens when new requirements

are added to the project after the original project scope was defined and “frozen.”

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Timeboxing StepsRationale: for 80% of time, only 20% of features are essentially

needed – employ time-boxing to temporarily ignore the unessential

1. Set the date for system delivery2. Prioritize the functionality that needs to be included in the

system3. Build the core of the system (the functionality ranked as most

important)4. Postpone functionality that cannot be provided within the time

frame5. Deliver the system with core functionality6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 to add refinements and enhancements

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STAFFING THE PROJECT

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Staffing the Project Determine average number of people needed

– Divide total person-months of effort by the optimal schedule

– Adding more people will not reduce schedule Create a staffing plan

– Roles required for the project– Reporting structure

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Reporting Structures

Project Manager

Functional Lead

Analyst Analyst

Technical Lead

Programmer Programmer

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Motivation Number one influence on people’s performance Use monetary rewards cautiously Use intrinsic rewards

– Recognition– Achievement– The work itself– Responsibility– Advancement– Chance to learn new skills

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Motivational Don’ts Assign unrealistic deadlines Ignore good efforts Create a low-quality product Give everyone on the project a raise Make an important decision without the team’s

input Maintain poor working conditions

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Conflict Avoidance Strategies

• Clearly define roles and project plans• Make sure the team understands how the project

is important to the organization• Develop detailed operating procedures and

communicate these to the team members• Develop a project charter• Develop schedule commitments ahead of time• Forecast other priorities and their possible

impact on project

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COORDINATING PROJECT ACTIVITIES

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CASE Tools Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools

automate some or all of the development process– Upper CASE: primarily for system analysis – Lower CASE: primarily for system design– I-CASE (Integrated CASE): throughout SDLC

Not a silver bullet, but advantages include:– Reduced maintenance costs– Improve software quality– Enforce discipline– Some project teams even use CASE to assess the

magnitude of changes to the project

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StandardsTypes of Standards Example

Documentation standards The date and project name should appear as a header on all documentation.

Coding standards All modules of code should include a header that lists the programmer, last date of update, and a short description of the purpose of the code.

Procedural standards Report to project update meeting on Fridays at 3:30 PM.All changes to a requirements document must be approved by the project manager.

Specification requirement standards

Name of program to be createdDescription of the program’s purpose

User interface design standards

The tab order of the screen will move from top left tobottom right.Accelerator keys will be provided for all updatable fields.

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Documentation

• Good documentation happens up front– Documentation that occurs only at the tail end of a

project/phase is not very useful• Project binder(s) are best practices containing– All internal communications (e.g. minutes from status

meetings)– Written standards– Letters to and from the business users– Deliverables from each task

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Managing Risk

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Summary Project Management Identifying Project Size Creating And Managing the Workplan Staffing the Project Coordinating Project Activities