10 Software Project Management Flashcards
why is project management needed
software development is subjected to
- budget and schedule
- ensure delivery of high quality software
what are the success criteria
- keep cost within budget
- deliver software to customer at agreed time
- Deliver software that meets expectations
- Maintain a coherent, well functioning development team
software management distinction
- software product is intangible
- cannot see progress by simply looking at the artefact - many software projects are one off
- lessons learned from previous project may not be readily transferable - software process are different across companies
- unable to reliably predict development problems
project management factors
- company size
- software customer
- software size
- software type
- organizational culture
- software development process
universal management activities
- proposal writing
- to win contract - project planning
- plan, schedule development - risk management
- risk assessment, monitoring - people management
- choose the right people - reporting
- report and communicate progress
software pricing
- estimate the cost of production
- hardware
- software
- travel
- training
- man power
- effort - not simple relationship between development cost and price charged to customer
- prices influenced by organisation, economics, political, business considerations
pricing strategies
- underpricing
- easy to gain contract
- build connection
- gain access to new market
- retain staff - increased pricing
- price increased when customer wants a fixed price contract
- cater for unexpected issues - priced to win
- priced according to what we believe customer is willing to pay
project planning stages
- planning stage
- proposal stage
- duration
- budget - project startup stage
- personnel working on project
- beak down increment
- allocate resources - periodically throughout project
- modify plan using information and experience
planning assumptions
- make realistic assumptions
- initial assumptions should take into consideration for unexpected problems
- include contingency plans
risk management
- identify risk and draw plan to minimise impact
- important due to inherent uncertainties
- anticipate risk, understand impact, take steps to avoid
risk classification
- project risk
- affect schedule of resources - product risk
- affect quality or performance - business risk
- affect developing organisation
risk management process
- identification
- analysis
- planning
- monitoring
risk analysis
assess probability and seriousness of each risk
- probability
- consequences (catastrophic, serious, tolerable, insignificant)
people management factors
- consistency
- treat all team member the same without discrimination - respect
- different members have different skillset - inclusion
- involve all team members - honesty
- be transparent
types of motivation
encouraging people to work effectively
- basic needs
- personal needs
- social needs
benefits of team work
- learn from one another
- share knowledge
- encourage, refactor, continuous improvement
- work collectively to deliver high quality results
group composition
- task oriented
- do their own work - self oriented
- want to be boss - interaction oriented
what is project scheduling
how work is organised and task separated
project scheduling process
- identify activity
- identify activity dependencies
- estimate resources
- allocate people
- create project chart
project scheduling problems
- difficult to anticipate problems
- more people does not mean more productive
