Software Project Management

1
Software Project Management

• CS 123/CS 231

2
References

• Chapter 3, Sommerville
• Chapters 3,5,6 7, Pressman
• Chapter 2, Unified Software Development Process

3
Management Spectrum

• People
• recruiting, selection, performance management,
  training, compensation, career development,
  organization structure, culture
• Product
• define product objectives and scope
• Process
• framework, methodology
• Project
• project planning, control

4
People

• Organization Structure (Players)
• architects, developers, testers, supporting
  management, customers and other stakeholders
• Software Team Structure
• Most effective if between 6-8 members
• Democratic decentralized
• Controlled decentralized
• Controlled centralized
• Coordination and Communication

5
Product

• Artifacts created during the life of a project
• models, source code, executables, documentation
• Scope
• Context
• Information Objectives
• Function and Performance
• Problem decomposition

6
Process

• Set of activities that transform requirements to
  a product.
• Template for creating projects
• Definition
• Institutionalization
• Improvement
• Use of
• Process Models
• CMM, ISO, etc

7
Project

• Organizational element through which software
  development is managed
• Planning Activities
• Tracking
• Managing Risk

8
Management Activities

• Proposal Writing
• Project Costing
• Planning and Scheduling
• Monitoring and Review
• Personnel Selection and Evaluation
• Reports and Presentations

9
Process Framework

• S/W project typically divided into activities or
  tasks
• Estimates are taken to drive task assignment and
  schedule
• Milestones describe progress at the end of an
  activity
• progress report
• internal or presented
• Deliverables are often part of a milestone

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Software Project Estimation

• Decompose Problem (identify task)
• Estimate Size
• Estimate Effort
• Normally have some translation between size and
  effort
• Estimate Cost
• Dont forget overhead!

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Sizing

• Based on historical data
• Function Point
• Standard Component Sizing
• Change Sizing
• LOC based
• Empirical Estimation Models

12
Project Scheduling

• Scheduling involves
• distribute estimated effort across planned
  duration by allocating effort to specific tasks
• Considerations
• parallel activities
• problem anticipation, regular sched updates
• resources other than time
• critical dependencies

13
Scheduling Notation

• Task Duration and Dependencies
• table or activity network
• Activity Bar Chart
• schedule, parallel activities
• depicts flexibility against schedule slippage
• Staff Allocation
• table or time chart

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Scheduling Principles

• Compartmentalization
• Interdependency
• Time allocation
• Effort validation
• Defined responsibilities
• Defined outcomes
• Defined milestones

15
Risk Management

• CS 123/CS 231

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Risk

• Something that can go wrong
• Caused by inadequate information
• Resolved by initiating actions that
• discover the relevant information
• reduce uncertainty
• Boehms Spiral Model
• explicitly integrates risk assessment and
  reduction

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Risk Categories

• Requirements Risks
• Skills Risks
• Technological Risks
• Others

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Requirements Risks

• Dangers
• building the wrong system
• misunderstanding priorities
• Dealing with the risks
• improve communication between analysts,
  developers, and clients
• enforce the discipline of using concrete,
  understandable models (e.g., use cases)

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Technological Risks

• Dangers
• Unexplored software tools or techniques
• Lack of alternatives
• Dealing with the risks
• obtain necessary resources
• build working prototypes
• test integration capabilities (arch design)
• identify alternatives

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Skills Risks

• Dangers
• Not enough personnel
• Not enough expertise
• Dealing with the risks
• training / reading / mentoring
• deliberate project scheduling