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Chapter 3 -- R. A. Volz -- Assistance - DavidMar

Project Management Concepts

Why is project management important? Cost

o Dod already spending $30 billion annually onsoftware in late 80so The US spent $150 billiono $225 billion worldwide

Projects frequently fail or have severe difficultieso New FAA air traffic control systemo They dont meet specificationso They take much longer than expected

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Why Do Major EngineeringUndertakings Often Fail?

Large projects often fail for two principalreasons:

Communication: Inadequate communicationleads to project failure

Coordination: Lack of communication implies

that the team can not coordinate. Thus eachgroup moves in an independent direction and theproject will grind to a halt.

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Why Do Major EngineeringUndertakings Often Fail?

Large projects often fail for two principalreasons:

Communication: Inadequate communicationleads to project failure

Coordination: Lack of communication implies

that the team can not coordinate. Thus eachgroup moves in an independent direction and theproject will grind to a halt.

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The Spectrum of ManagementConcerns

Effective Software managementencompasses three main areas:

The People The product

The process

o

The project

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People

The Players -- It is important to recognizethe different categories of people involvedin a large software project.

Senior Managers - who define business issues. Project (technical) Managers - who plan,

motivate, organize and control the practitioners Practitioners - who deliver the technical skill

that are necessary to engineer the project Customers - who specify the requirements

End users - who interact with the software onceit is released.

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Team Leadership -- A Critical Item

The Problem The best programmers often make poor team

leaders.

Different skills are required. Technical leadership model Motivation - The ability to encourage technical

people to produce to their best ability.

Organization - The ability to mold existingprocesses that will enable the initial concept tobe translated into reality.

Ideas and Innovation - The ability to invite

creativeness even within a set of restrictions.

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Key characteristics EffectiveProject Manager

The Problem solving ability

Achievement

Managerial identity

Influence and team building

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Team Organizational Models

Marilyn Mantei model: Democratic decentralized (DD). -- Does not have a

defined leader. Task Coordinators are appointed to

assure that a particular job is to be executed. Theseare later replaced by other Task Coordinators asnew tasks arise.

Controlled decentralized (CD) -- Has a definedleader who coordinates tasks, and secondary

leaders who carry out subtasks. Problem solving isdone by the group, implementation is done bysubgroups.

Controlled Centralized (CC) - Top-level problemsolving and team coordination managed by the teamleader. The communication between the leader and

members is vertical.

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Impact of Project Characteristics

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Other Underlying OrganizationalFactors

Matrix model The organization has divisions organized by

skills, e.g., engineering, safety and mission

assurance (SMA), human factors, etc. Projects rent people from the divisions, as

needed. Issues

Who evaluates person for raises? Independence of reporting for safety & quality

issues? Who is boss?

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Other Underlying OrganizationalParadigms

Constantine model

Closed Paradigm

Random Paradigm

Open Paradigm

Synchronous Paradigm

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How Do We Communicate?

Informally - Good phone/electronicservice, a clear definition of group

interdependencies and good relationshipshelp encourage communication

Meetings - Regular project meetings help

alleviate minor misunderstandings

Workbook - a formal project workbookmust be started from the beginning.

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Project Coordination techniques

Formal, impersonal approaches - softwareengineering documents and deliverables,

technical memos, project milestones, schedulesand control tools Formal interpersonal procedures - quality

assurance activities - reviews and design andcode inspections

Informal, interpersonal procedures - groupmeetings

Electronic communication - Email, bulletinboards, web sites, extension and video

conferences

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A Study on the Impact ofCoordination Techniques

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The Problem

Must first determine project scope. Context - How does this software to be built fit

into the larger system? What constraints are

imposed as a result of this? Information objectives - What customer-visible

objects are produced from the software? Whatdata objects are necessary for input?

F

unction and performance - What functions oractions does the software perform to transform theoutput?

The stability, or lack thereof, of the projectrequirements is a major factor in project

management.

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The Problem Decomposition

Partitioning of problem.

Functional Partition functionallyindependent area

Process that will deliver the functionality

D

ivide and conquer strategy

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The Process Select a software engineering model according

to

Environment in which team works

characteristics of product

People Customers , developers and users.

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Melding the Product and The Process

Task framework. Activities

Customer communication- Req. elicitation

Planning -- determine resources, time line & other inf

Risk analysis -- assess technical and managementrisks Engineering -- build one or more representationsof the product.

Construction and release -- construct, test, installand provide user support.

Customer evaluation -- obtain feedback onproduct

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Common Process FrameworkActivities

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Process Decomposition

Typical activitieso Review the customer request.o Plan and schedule a formal, facilitated meeting with

the customer.o

Conduct research to define proposed solutions &existing solutions.o Prepare a working document and meeting

agenda.o Conduct meeting with customer.o Jointly develop mini-specs for the product which

reflect data, function, behavioral features of s/wo Review each mini-spec for correctness, lack of

ambiguity.oAssemble the mini-specs into a scoping document.

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Problems in project management

Typical problemso S/w people dont understand customer needs.o Poorly defined product scope.o Changes managed poorly.o Selected technology changes.o Business needs change.o Unrealistic deadlines.o Users are resistant.o Sponsorship lost.o Team lacks people with appropriate skills.o Managers avoid best practices and lessons

learned.

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approach

Doo Start on right foot.Work hard to understand problem

and set realistic goals & expectations , build rightteam with autonomy , authority and technology .

o

Maintain momentum do not let your project toshut down after good start.o Track progress monitor progress with work

products and quality assurance activities.o Make smart decisions Decide correctly for use of

components , risk management , priority of worketc..

o Conduct Postmortem analysis Extract lessonsfrom each project and apply them in new projects ,

use customer, developer feedbacks for this.

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The Boehms W5HH principle

Why is system being developed ?

What will be done ? And

By when ?

Who is responsible for a function ?

Where are they organizationally located?

How will the job be done ? ( Technically or managerially)

How much of each resource is needed?

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Critical Practices

Formal risk management ( document risks thatcan turn into problems)

Empirical cost and scheduleestimation(estimation of size and methods toestimate)

Metric based project management (any metric tool

that indicates the evolving problems) Earned value tracking (collection monthly earnedvalue , how you compute these.)

Defect tracking against quality targets(Account

for number of defects ) Peo le aware ro ram mana ement avera e

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Summary

Software project management is an umbrellaactivity that continues throughout the life cycle ofthe system.

Software management includes people, theproblem, and the process.

The most critical element in all software systemprojects is the people. The team can have an

number of structures that effect the way work isaccomplished. However, complete, consistent problem

definition and an effective process are also

essential ingredients.

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