ICDT 1016Y
Project Management
CSE 2142 Software Engineering
Lesson Aim
2
¨ To give an overview of Software Project Management
which encompasses the following :
– Management Activities
– Communication skills for PM
Lesson Objectives
3
¨ Know the principal tasks of software project managers
¨ Know why communication skills are important in PM
¨ Understand why the nature of software makes software project
management more difficult than other engineering project
management.
n Know how to handle conflicts
n Learn about conflict resolution skills
Why do projects fail
• Communication gaps and misunderstandings resulting
in poor requirements and implementation
• People begin programming before they understand
the problem
• The team has an unrealistic idea about how much
work is involved.
• Defects are injected early but discovered late.
• Programmers have poor habits – and they don’t feel
accountable for their work
• Conflicts which are dealt with lightly
08/08/10
Project Management Triangle
5
Software Project Management
6
Software project management is the art and science
of planning and leading software projects
Concerned with activities involved in ensuring that
software is delivered on time, on schedule and in
accordance with the requirements.
Project management is needed because software
development is always subject to budget and schedule
constraints .
Why is Software Management
Difficult?
7
n The product is intangible.
n The product is uniquely flexible.
n Software engineering is not recognized as an
engineering discipline with the same status as
mechanical, electrical engineering, etc.
n The software development process is not
standardised.
n Many software projects are 'oneoff' projects.
Why Management Is Important?
8
Software engineering is an economic activity and therefore
is subject to economic, non-technical constraints
Well-managed projects sometimes fail. Badly managed
projects inevitably fail
The different organisations involved in software engineering
projects have different objectives and management is
necessary to ensure that as many of these objectives as
possible are satisfied.
Project Management
9
Concerned with activities involved in ensuring that the
system being procured is delivered
»on time as set out in the delivery schedule,
»within the set budget,
»in accordance with the requirements of the
organisations procuring and developing the
system.
Activity - Role Play
Scenario where there is good project management
Scenario where there is bad project management
After activity, summarise Communication skills
identified for good PM
Video
Communication skills in Project Management
• [Link]
Top Five Communication Skills for
Project Managers
1. Active Listening
2. Building Relationships based on Trust and Respect
3. Setting Clear Priorities
4. Enabling Collaboration
5. Conveying the Organisation's Vision
Check link below for more details:
[Link]
[Link]
Other Related link: [Link]
[Link]
Related Videos
Up, Down and Around (in Mgmt Hierarchy)
• [Link]
Creating a communication plan:
• [Link]
Management Activities
14
• Proposal writing
• Project costing
• Project planning and scheduling
• Project monitoring and reviews
• Personnel selection and
Evaluation
• Report writing and presentations
1. Proposal Writing
15
Proposals may have to be written by customer managers to
suggest the procurement of a software and by contractor
managers in response to a request for tender by a system
customer.
A proposal sets out:
• what will be done
• how it will be done
• when it will be done
• how much it will cost.
Contractor proposals will include a justification of why the contractor is
qualified to carry out the work.
2. Project Costing
16
Concerned with estimating the overall cost of a project or
sub-project
At a customer level, trade-offs must be made between costs
and requirements. Organisational and political factors are
very significant.
At a contractor level, costs are principally hardware costs
plus personnel costs.
Closely related to effort estimation
3. Project Planning & Scheduling
17
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
4. Project Staffing
18
nMay not be possible to appoint the ideal people to work on a project
nProject budget may not allow for the use of highly-paid staff
nStaff with the appropriate experience may not be available
nAn organisation may wish to develop employee skills on a software
project
Class Activity - Individual
• As the team leader of a group of software
developers, you have to appoint a new staff
member from another team as the project activities
are expanding.
What are the factors you would consider to select the
new team member?
5. Project Monitoring
20
Concerned with evaluating the work of the project to check
that it is being carried out in conformance to the project
quality standards and the project plan
Information from monitoring
feeds back to revisions of
the project plan.
Project reviews are formal meetings where progress is
discussed and decisions made about possible changes to the
project plan. Status updates are carried out. Resources may
have to be reallocated.
Activity
• Identify problems related to Project Monitoring.
Think about your assignment
Video
How To Monitor And Control Projects
[Link]
6. Report Writing & Presentations
23
Managers must write reports for senior organisational
management and for customers describing progress on the
project, responses to change requests, problems which have
arisen, conflict resolution etc.
Generally, reports are supplemented by verbal
presentations illustrated by overheads or a Power-point
presentation.
Information must be presented
clearly and concisely as users
of the information do not
have time to read lengthy
documents
Class Activity - Individual
• Why is it important to supplement reports by
verbal presentations?
08/08/10