ESE Einfhrung in Software Engineering
9. Project Management
Prof. O. Nierstrasz
ESE Project Management
Roadmap
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Risk management Scoping and estimation Planning and scheduling Dealing with delays Staffing, directing, teamwork
Oscar Nierstrasz
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Literature
Sources > Software Engineering, I. Sommerville, 7th Edn., 2004. > Software Engineering A Practitioners Approach, R. Pressman, Mc-Graw Hill, 5th Edn., 2001. Recommended Reading > The Mythical Man-Month, F. Brooks, Addison-Wesley, 1975 > Peopleware, Productive Projects and Teams (2nd edition), Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, Dorset House, 1999. > Succeeding with Objects: Decision Frameworks for Project Management, A. Goldberg and K. Rubin, Addison-Wesley, 1995 > Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, Kent Beck, Addison Wesley, 1999
Oscar Nierstrasz
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Roadmap
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Risk management Scoping and estimation Planning and scheduling Dealing with delays Staffing, directing, teamwork
Oscar Nierstrasz
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Why Project Management?
Almost all software products are obtained via projects. (as opposed to manufactured products) Project Concern = Deliver on time and within budget
Achieve Interdependent & Conflicting Goals
Limited Resources
The Project Team is the primary Resource!
Oscar Nierstrasz ESE 9.5
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What is Project Management?
Project Management = Plan the work and work the plan
Management Functions > Planning: Estimate and schedule resources > Organization: Who does what > Staffing: Recruiting and motivating personnel > Directing: Ensure team acts as a whole > Monitoring (Controlling): Detect plan deviations + corrective actions
Oscar Nierstrasz
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Risk Management
If you dont actively attack risks, they will actively attack you. Tom Gilb Project risks
budget, schedule, resources, size, personnel, morale ...
Technical risks
implementation technology, verification, maintenance ...
Business risks
market, sales, management, commitment ...
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Risk Management
Management must: > identify risks as early as possible > assess whether risks are acceptable > take appropriate action to mitigate and manage risks
e.g., training, prototyping, iteration, ...
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monitor risks throughout the project
Oscar Nierstrasz
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Risk Management Techniques
Risk Items
Personnel shortfalls
Unrealistic schedules and budgets Developing the wrong software functions
Oscar Nierstrasz
Risk Management Techniques Staffing with top talent; team building; cross-training; prescheduling key people Detailed multi-source cost & schedule estimation; incremental development; reuse; re-scoping User-surveys; prototyping; early userss manuals
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Risk Management Techniques
Risk Items Continuing stream of requirements changes Real time performance shortfalls Straining computer science capabilities
Risk Management Techniques
High change threshold; information hiding; incremental development Simulation; benchmarking; modeling; prototyping; instrumentation; tuning
Technical analysis; cost-benefit analysis; prototyping; reference checking
Oscar Nierstrasz
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ESE Project Management
Roadmap
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Risk management Scoping and estimation Planning and scheduling Dealing with delays Staffing, directing, teamwork
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Focus on Scope
For decades, programmers have been whining, The customers cant tell us what they want. When we give them what they say they want, they dont like it. Get over it. This is an absolute truth of software development. The requirements are never clear at first. Customers can never tell you exactly what they want. Kent Beck
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Myth: Scope and Objectives
Myth A general statement of objectives is enough to start coding. Reality Poor up-front definition is the major cause of project failure.
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Scope and Objectives
In order to plan, you must set clear scope & objectives
> Objectives identify the general goals of the project, not
how they will be achieved. > Scope identifies the primary functions that the software is to accomplish, and bounds these functions in a quantitative manner.
Goals must be realistic and measurable
Constraints, performance, reliability must be explicitly stated Customer must set priorities
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Estimation Strategies
These strategies are simple but risky:
Expert judgement Estimation by analogy Parkinson's Law Consult experts and compare estimates cheap, but unreliable Compare with other projects in the same application domain limited applicability Work expands to fill the time available pessimistic management strategy You do what you can with the budget available requires trust between parties
Pricing to win
Oscar Nierstrasz
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Estimation Techniques
Decomposition and Algorithmic cost modeling are used together
Decomposition Algorithmic cost modeling
Estimate costs for components + integration top-down or bottom-up estimation Exploit database of historical facts to map size on costs requires correlation data
Oscar Nierstrasz
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Measurement-based Estimation
A. Measure Develop a system model and measure its size
C. Interpret Adapt the effort with respect to a specific Development Project Plan
B. Estimate Determine the effort with respect to an empirical database of measurements from similar projects
More on this later (Metrics lecture)
Oscar Nierstrasz ESE 9.17
ESE Project Management
Estimation and Commitment
Example: The XP process
1.
a. Customers write stories and b. Programmers estimate stories
else ask the customers to split/rewrite stories
2.
Programmers measure the team load factor, the ratio of ideal programming time to the calendar
Customers sort stories by priority
3.
4.
5.
Programmers sort stories by risk
a. Customers pick date, programmers calculate budget, customers pick stories adding up to that number, or b. Customers pick stories, programmers calculate date (customers complain, programmers ask to reduce scope, customers complain some more but reduce scope anyway)
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Oscar Nierstrasz
ESE Project Management
Roadmap
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Risk management Scoping and estimation Planning and scheduling Dealing with delays Staffing, directing, teamwork
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Planning and Scheduling
Good planning depends largely on project managers intuition and experience! > Split project into tasks.
Tasks into subtasks etc.
> For each task, estimate the time. Define tasks small enough for reliable estimation. > Significant tasks should end with a milestone. Milestone = A verifiable goal that must be met after task completion Clear unambiguous milestones are a necessity! (80% coding finished is a meaningless statement) Monitor progress via milestones
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Planning and Scheduling ...
> Define dependencies between project tasks Total time depends on longest (= critical) path in activity graph Minimize task dependencies to avoid delays > Organize tasks concurrently to make optimal use of
workforce
Planning is iterative monitor and revise schedules during the project!
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Myth: Deliverables and Milestones
Myth The only deliverable for a successful project is the working program. Reality Documentation of all aspects of software development are needed to ensure maintainability.
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Deliverables and Milestones
Project deliverables are results that are delivered to the customer. > E.g.:
initial requirements document UI prototype architecture specification
> Milestones and deliverables help to monitor progress Should be scheduled roughly every 2-3 weeks
NB: Deliverables must evolve as the project progresses!
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Example: Task Durations and Dependencies
Task T1 T2 T3 Duration (days) 8 15 15 T1 T2, T4 T1, T2 T1 T4 T3, T6 T5, T7 T9 T11
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Dependencies
T4
T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12
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10 5 20 25 15 15 7 10
What is the minimum total duration of this project?
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Pert Chart: Activity Network
Task Milestone
Ian Sommerville 2000 Oscar Nierstrasz ESE 9.25
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Gantt Chart: Activity Timeline
Planned completion
Latest completion
Ian Sommerville 2000 Oscar Nierstrasz
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Gantt Chart: Staff Allocation
Ian Sommerville 2000 Oscar Nierstrasz
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Roadmap
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Risk management Scoping and estimation Planning and scheduling Dealing with delays Staffing, directing, teamwork
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Myth: Delays
Myth If we get behind schedule, we can add more programmers and catch up. Reality Adding more people typically slows a project down.
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Scheduling problems
> Estimating the difficulty of problems and 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 due to communication overhead The unexpected always happens. Always allow contingency in planning Cutting back in testing and reviewing is a recipe for disaster Working overnight? Only short term benefits!
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ESE Project Management
Planning under uncertainty
State clearly what you know and dont know > State clearly what you will do to eliminate unknowns > Make sure that all early milestones can be met > Plan to replan
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Oscar Nierstrasz
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Dealing with Delays
Spot potential delays as soon as possible ... then you have more time to recover How to spot? > Earned value analysis
planned time is the project budget time of a completed task is credited to the project budget
...
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Dealing with Delays ...
How to recover? A combination of following 3 actions > Adding senior staff for well-specified tasks
outside critical path to avoid communication overhead
> Prioritize requirements and deliver incrementally deliver most important functionality on time testing remains a priority (even if customer disagrees) > Extend the deadline
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Gantt Chart: Slip Line
Visualize slippage > Shade time line = portion of task completed > Draw a slip line at current date, connecting endpoints of the shaded areas
bending to the right = ahead of schedule to the left = behind schedule
J [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] scanner [Link] parser 3.3. build code generator [Link] & Test [Link] manual 6. Reviewing 7. Finish F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A
ahead of schedule behind
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Timeline Chart
Visualise slippage evolution > downward lines represent planned completion time as they vary in current time > bullets at the end of a line represent completed tasks
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Slip Line vs. Timeline
Slip Line
Monitors current slip status of project tasks > many tasks > only for 1 point in time
include a few slip lines from the past to illustrate evolution
Monitors how the slip status of project tasks evolves > few tasks Timeline
crossing lines quickly clutter the figure colours can be used to show more tasks
> complete time scale
Oscar Nierstrasz
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ESE Project Management
Roadmap
> > > >
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Risk management Scoping and estimation Planning and scheduling Dealing with delays Staffing, directing, teamwork
Oscar Nierstrasz
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ESE Project Management
Software Teams
Team organisation > Teams should be relatively small (< 8 members)
minimize communication overhead team quality standard can be developed members can work closely together programs are regarded as team property (egoless programming) continuity can be maintained if members leave
Break big projects down into multiple smaller projects > Small teams may be organised in an informal, democratic way > Chief programmer teams try to make the most effective use of skills and experience
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Chief Programmer Teams (Example)
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Consist of a kernel of specialists helped by others as required
chief programmer takes full responsibility for design, programming, testing and installation of system backup programmer keeps track of CPs work and develops test cases librarian manages all information others may include: project administrator, toolsmith, documentation editor, language/system expert, tester, and support programmers
> Reportedly successful but problems are:
Can be difficult to find talented chief programmers Might disrupt normal organizational structures May be de-motivating for those who are not chief programmers
Oscar Nierstrasz
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ESE Project Management
Directing Teams
Managers serve their team > Managers ensure that team has the necessary information and resources
The managers function is not to make people work, it is to make it possible for people to work Tom DeMarco
Responsibility demands authority > Managers must delegate
Trust your own people and they will trust you.
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Directing Teams ...
Managers manage > Managers cannot perform tasks on the critical path
Especially difficult for technical managers!
Developers control deadlines > A manager cannot meet a deadline to which the developers have not agreed
Oscar Nierstrasz
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What you should know!
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How can prototyping help to reduce risk in a project? What are milestones, and why are they important? What can you learn from an activity network? An activity timeline? Whats the difference between the 0/100; the 50/50 and the milestone technique for calculating the earned value. Why should programming teams have no more than about 8 members?
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Can you answer these questions?
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What will happen if the developers, not the customers, set the project priorities? What is a good way to measure the size of a project (based on requirements alone)? When should you sign a contract with the customer? Would you consider bending slip lines as a good sign or a bad sign? Why? How would you select and organize the perfect software development team?
Oscar Nierstrasz
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License
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[Link]
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Oscar Nierstrasz
ESE 9.44