Lecture 3

Project Management

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Objectives
 To explain the main tasks undertaken by project
managers.
 To introduce software project management and to
describe its distinctive characteristics.
 To discuss project planning and the planning process.
 To show how graphical schedule representations are
used by project management.
 To discuss the notion of risks and the risk management
process.

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Topics covered
 Management activities
 Project planning
 Project scheduling
 Risk management

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Software project management
 Concerned with activities involved in ensuring
that software is delivered on time and on
schedule and in accordance with the
requirements of the organisations developing
and procuring the software.
 Project management is needed because software development
is always subject to budget and schedule constraints that are
set by the organisation developing the software.

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Management activities
 Proposal writing.
 Project planning and scheduling.
 Project costing.
 Project monitoring and reviews.
 Personnel selection and evaluation.
 Report writing and presentations.

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Project planning
 Probably the most time-consuming project management
activity.
 Continuous activity from initial concept through
to system delivery. Plans must be regularly revised as new
information becomes available.
 Various different types of plan may be developed to support
the main software project plan that is concerned with
schedule and budget.

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Types of project plan
Plan Description
Quality Plan Describes the quality procedures and standards
that will be used in a project.
Validation Plan Describes the approach, resources and schedule
used for system validation.
Configuration Describes the configuration management
Management Plan procedures and structures to be used
Maintenance Plan Predicts the maintenance requirements of the
system, maintenance costs and effort required.
Staff Development Describes how the skills and experience of the
Plan project team members will be developed.

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Project planning process
Establish the project constraints
Make initial assessments of the project parameters
Define project milestones and deliverables
while project has not been completed or cancelled loop
Draw up project schedule
Initiate activities according to schedule
Wait ( for a while )
Review project progress
Revise estimates of project parameters
Update the project schedule
Re-negotiate project constraints and deliverables
if ( problems arise ) then
Initiate technical review and possible revision
end if
end loop
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The project plan
 The project plan sets out:
 The resources available to the project;
 The work breakdown;
 A schedule for the work.

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Project plan structure
 Introduction.
 Project organisation.
 Risk analysis.
 Hardware and software resource requirements.
 Work breakdown.
 Project schedule.
 Monitoring and reporting mechanisms.

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Activity organization
 Activities in a project should be organised to produce tangible
outputs for management to judge progress.
 Milestones are the end-point of a process activity.
 Deliverables are project results delivered to customers.
 The waterfall process allows for the straightforward definition
of progress milestones.

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Milestones in the RE process

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Project scheduling
 Split project into tasks and estimate time and resources
required to complete each task.
 Organize tasks concurrently to make optimal
use of workforce.
 Minimize task dependencies to avoid delays
caused by one task waiting for another to complete.
 Dependent on project managers intuition and experience.

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The project scheduling process

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Scheduling problems
 Estimating the difficulty of problems and hence the cost of
developing a solution is hard.
 Productivity is not proportional to the number of people working on a
task.
 Adding people to a late project makes it later because of
communication overheads.
 The unexpected always happens. Always allow contingency in
planning.

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Bar charts and activity networks
 Graphical notations used to illustrate the project schedule.
 Show project breakdown into tasks. Tasks should not be too small.
They should take about a week or two.
 Activity charts show task dependencies and the the critical path.
 Bar charts show schedule against calendar time.

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Task durations and dependencies
Activity Duration (days) Dependencies
T1 8
T2 15
T3 15 T1 (M1)
T4 10
T5 10 T2, T4 (M2)
T6 5 T1, T2 (M3)
T7 20 T1 (M1)
T8 25 T4 (M5)
T9 15 T3, T6 (M4)
T10 15 T5, T7 (M7)
T11 7 T9 (M6)
T12 10 T11 (M8)
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Activity network

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Activity timeline

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Staff allocation

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Risk management
 Risk management is concerned with identifying risks and
drawing up plans to minimise their effect on a project.
 A risk is a probability that some adverse circumstance will
occur
– Project risks affect schedule or resources;
– Product risks affect the quality or performance of the software
being developed;
– Business risks affect the organisation developing or procuring the
software.

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Software risks
Risk Affects Description
Staff turnover Project Experienced staff will leave the project before it is finished.
Management change Project There will be a change of organisational management with
different priorities.
Hardware unavailability Project Hardware that is essential for the project will not be
delivered on schedule.
Requirements change Project and There will be a larger number of changes to the
product requirements than anticipated.
Specification delays Project and Specifications of essential interfaces are not available on
product schedule
Size underestimate Project and The size of the system has been underestimated.
product
CASE tool under- Product CASE tools which support the project do not perform as
performance anticipated
Technology change Business The underlying technology on which the system is built is
superseded by new technology.
Product competition Business A competitive product is marketed before the system is
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Risk identification
 Technology risks.
 People risks.
 Organisational risks.
 Requirements risks.
 Estimation risks.

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Risks and risk types
Risk type Possible risks
Technology The database used in the system cannot process as many transactions per second
as expected.
Software components that should be reused contain defects that limit their
functionality.
People It is impossible to recruit staff with the skills required.
Key staff are ill and unava ilable at critical times.
Required training for staff is not available.
Organisational The organisation is restructured so that different management are responsible for
the project.
Organisational financial problems force reductions in the project budget.
Tools The code generated by CASE tools is inefficient.
CASE tools cannot be integrated.
Requirements Changes to requirements that require major design rework are proposed.
Customers fail to understand the impact of requirements changes.
Estimation The time required to develop the software is underestimated.
The rate of defect repair is underestimated.
The size of the software is underestimated.
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Risk planning
 Consider each risk and develop a strategy to manage that risk.
 Avoidance strategies
– The probability that the risk will arise is reduced;
 Minimisation strategies
– The impact of the risk on the project or product will be reduced;
 Contingency plans
– If the risk arises, contingency plans are plans to deal with that risk;

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Risk indicators

Risk type Potential indicators

Technology Late delivery of hardware or support software, many reported
technology problems
People Poor staff morale, poor relationships amongst team member,
job availability
Organisational Organisational gossip, lack of action by senior management
Tools Reluctance by team members to use tools, complaints about
CASE tools, demands for higher-powered workstations
Requirements Many requirements change requests, customer complaints
Estimation Failure to meet agreed schedule, failure to clear reported
defects

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Key points
 Good project management is essential for project
success.
 The intangible nature of software causes problems for
management.
 Managers have diverse roles but their most significant
activities are planning, estimating and scheduling.
 Planning and estimating are iterative processes
which continue throughout the course of a
project.

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Key points
• A project milestone is a predictable state where a
formal report of progress is presented to
management.
• Project scheduling involves preparing various
graphical representations showing project activities,
their durations and staffing.
• Risk management is concerned with identifying risks
which may affect the project and planning to ensure
that these risks do not develop into major threats.

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End of Lecture 3
Next on Lecture 4 – Cost Estimation

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