Software Engineering Project Management

1
Chapter 7

• Software Engineering Project Management
• Arnaldo Echevarria
• Jorge Gonzalez
• Hugo Occil

2
Software Engineering Project Management

• Management functions and tasks necessary to
  manage any software engineering project.
• Encapsulates
• Management procedures
• Practices
• Technologies
• Skills needed to successfully manage any software
  engineering project

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Software Project Management

• Software engineering projects are frequently part
  of larger more comprehensive projects.
• Require
• Hardware
• Facilities
• Personnel
• Procedures
• Managed by
• One or more system (project managers)
• One or more software project managers

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Types of Software Project Management

• Development Project Management
• Deals with the managing software intensive
  system, from development to delivery.
• Acquisition Project Management
• Contractually obtain from a group or organization
  a software intensive system to be used by another
  group or organization.
• Similarities
• Organization, staffing, directing, and problem
  resolution.
• Either type must understand the other.

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Acquisition Development Project Management
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Acquisition Development Project Management
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Acquisition Development Project Management
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Major Issues Of Software Engineering

• Ad hoc procedures are used in 70 of software
  development organizations.
• Proven techniques are only used when project
  falls behind in cost, schedule, and or costumer
  demands more functionality without budget
  increase.
• Management plays a major role in software and
  system development and support.
• The difference success and failure is often a
  function of managers effectiveness D.O.D. SW
  Initiative 83

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Classical Management Model
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Major Functions of Management
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Major Issues in Planning

• Deciding in advance what to do, how to do it,
  when to do it, and who is to do it.
• Involves specifying objectives for a project and
  the strategies, policies, plans and procedures
  for attaining them.
• Every project needs to start with a good plan.
• Uncertainties and unknowns, make planning
  necessary.

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Major Issues in Planning

• Complete, correct and clear requirements are
  extremely important.
• Vagueness in objectives can result in poor cost
  and scheduling estimates.
• Major requirement changes will change cost an
  scheduling estimates, yet most of the time they
  remain the same.
• Accurate budgets and schedules are hard to
  prepare.
• Most realistic cost estimates are based on past
  histories of cost and scheduling, of similar
  project.

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Major Issues in Planning

• Most project managers do make a realistic attempt
  to create an accurate cost and schedule estimate.
• Ok to take risks as long as problems are known.
• Most times when risks become problems it catches
  every one by surprise.

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Planning Activities

• Set Project Objectives and Goals
• Determine the desired outcome for the project.
• Develop project strategies
• Decide major goals, and develop actions for
  meeting goals.
• Develop project policies
• Make decisions to provide guide for decision
  making.
• Forecast future situations
• Anticipate future events or make assumptions
  about the future. Predict future expectations
  from course of action.
• Conduct project risk assessment
• Anticipate possible problems, state assumptions,
  predict results and possible courses of action.

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Planning Activities

• Determine possible courses of action
• Develop, analyze, and evaluate different project
  plans.
• Make project planning decisions
• Evaluate and select a course of action from among
  alternatives.
• Set project procedures and rules
• Establish methods, guides, and limits for
  accomplishing project activity.
• Develop a software project plan
• Establish Policies, procedures, rules, tasks,
  schedules, and resources needed to complete the
  project.

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Planning Activities

• Prepare project budgets
• Allocate estimated costs to project functions,
  activities, and tasks.
• Document Project Plans
• Recommend policy decisions, course of action,
  budget, program plans, and contingency plans.

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Types of Plans

• Objectives
• The project goals toward which activities are
  directed.
• Strategic
• Guidance for placing emphasis and project
  resources.
• Policies
• Limit the freedom in making the decisions but
  allow for some discretion.
• Procedures
• Customary methods for handling activities, allow
  very little discretion.

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Types of Plans

• Rules
• Requirements for specific for taken or not taken
  with respect to particular project situations.
• Plans
• Set of goals, objective, policies, procedures,
  rules, work assignments, resources, and other
  elements used to conduct the software project.
• Budget
• Constraint on resources, quantitative expressed
  in staff hours or dollars.

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Organization of S/W Project

• Involves developing an effective and efficient
  organizational structure for assigning and
  completing project tasks and establishing
  responsibility and relationship among tasks
• Major Issues
• Functional Format
• Distributes authority among functional elements
• Matrix Format
• Two-Boss phenomenon.
• Project Format
• Centralized control

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Organizing Activities

• Identify and group project function, activities
  and tasks.
• Select organizational structures
• Create organizational positions
• Define responsibilities and authority
• Establish position qualifications
• Document organizational decisions

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Organizational Structures

• Line Organization p239
• Functional Project Organization p243
• Project Organization p243
• Matrix Project Organization p244
• Mostly used in aerospace industry.
• Software Project teams
• Team leader should not be expected to carry any
  share of technical work.

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Organizational Positions

• Project Manager
• Software systems engineer
• Scientific/engineering programmers,
  programmer-analysis
• Software verification and validation engineers.
• Software quality assurance engineers

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Staffing a Software Project

• Fill positions defined in project organization
  structure.
• Filled throw selection, training and development
  of personnel.
• Ensure roles are filled by qualified personnel.
• Major Issue
• Development skills vary from individual to
  individual, can vary from 4 to 1.
• U.S. Universities turn out Theoretical computer
  scientist at best, or mere programmers at worst.
• Staffing Activities p246

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Directing a Software Project

• Consists of management activities that involve
  motivational and interpersonal aspects, used to
  achieve project goals.
• Major Issues
• Most software engineers are high in the ladder of
  satisfied needs p253 so money alone is not a
  strong motivator.
• Leadership may not introduce unfamiliar methods
  and tools because it raises risk.
• Unfamiliar methods make it harder for cost and
  scheduling estimates.
• SW Engineers may eventually burn out.

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Directing the Project team

• Provide leadership
• Supervise personnel
• Delegate authority
• Motivate personnel(X,Y, Z theories) p252
• X - dislike work, need to be controlled, dont
  like responsibility.
• Y rewards associated with achievement, seek
  responsibility.
• Z People need goals, both positive and negative
  reinforcement, motivation is essential.

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Directing the Project team

• Motivate personnel
• Theories, Needs, management, job factors p254.
• Build teams
• Coordinate activities
• Facilitate communication
• Resolve conflicts
• Manage changes
• Document Direct decisions

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Controlling a Software Project

• Collection of management activities used to
  ensure that the project goes according to plan.
• Major Issues
• Status based on resources expanded.
• Problem lies in that resources used and work done
  is only a rough estimate at best, wrong at worst.
• Progress Matricides
• Costly and hard to implement.

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Controlling a Software Project

• Develop standards of performance
• Standards, Quality Assurance, Software
  Configuration Management, Process and product
  metrics.
• Establish monitoring and reporting systems
• Formal Reviews, Budget reviews, Independent
  Auditing, binary tracking system, Software
  quality assurance, Configuration management,
  testing verification and validation, walkthrough
  inspections.

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Controlling a Software Project

• Initiate corrective actions
• Measure and analyze results
• Reward and discipline
• Document controlling methods

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Conclusion

• Software engineering procedures and techniques do
  not alone guarantee a successful project.
• Good project manager can work around deficiencies
  in a portion of the project.
• Poor manager stumbles over any problem.
• Techniques shown can improve probability of
  success with competent project manager.