Chapter 1

Some Basics of Classic Project Management

Ulf Schreier

Some Basics of Classic Project Management 1

Results of so-called „Chaos Report“ for SW development
2014 2009 2006 2004 2002 2000 1998 1996 1994

Successful 39 % 32 % 35 % 29 % 34 % 28 % 26 % 27 % 16 %

Partially
43 % 44 % 19 % 53 % 15 % 23 % 28 % 40 % 31 %
successful

Failed 18 % 24 % 46 % 18 % 51 % 49 % 46 % 33 % 53 %

Standish Group, Chaos Report,

(see Opelt, A., Gloger, B., Pfarl, W. Mittermayr, R.:
Der agile Festpreis: Leitfaden für wirklich erfolgreiche IT-Projektverträge, 2014)

à Project management is difficult

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Many pitfalls [GP 15]

² Requirements ² Communications

• Lack of clear objectives • No senior mgmt buy in

• Understated scope • Poor communications

² Planning ² Processes

• Poor planning • Lack of risk management

• Unrealistic resource levels • No clear progress milestones
• Unrealistic timescales • No change control

+ technical problems
Some Basics of Classic Project Management (of course!) 3
What is a project?

² Scope ² What (product)?

² Schedule ² When? (Start?, End?)

² Resources ² Who?

Some Basics of Classic Project Management 4

Dependencies: „Magic Triangle“

Quality

Not possible to fix

all 3 corners!

Some Basics of Classic Project Management 5

More on general project management: PMBOK

² Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)

² Issuer: Project Management Institute (PMI), Atlanta, USA

² Book:
Project Management Institute: „A Guide to the Project
Management Body of Knowledge“, Newtown Square,
2008

² Good basic explanations: [GP 15]

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PMBOK Features

² Education certificate

² ANSI / IEEE standard

² List oriented summary
² Collection of processes

• input, tools and techniques, output

² General, not specialized to any area

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9 PMBOK Areas

Integration (start/end, Scope

process, change) (requirements) Schedule

Quality
Cost
People

Communication
with stakeholders
Risk Supply

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Tasks of Project Manager [GP 15]

• Initial ideas • Selection of process model

• Setup • Plan
• Teardown • Work assignments

• Supplier relations • Progress tracking

• Team motivation • Risk control
• Management relations • Trouble management

• Process adaptions and improvements

• Change management

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Bird‘s Eye View of Classic Planning

Fixed Scope

plan

Estimated schedule / resources

Some Basics of Classic Project Management 10

Classic Approach to Planning at Closer Range

1. Define requirements

2. Design product structure

3. Define dependencies
4. Define work packages

5. Assign resources
6. Plan along timeline

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1. Define Requirements (Scope)

² A project has an outcome: product!

• An entity you build
document, software, house, ...
• A list of activities is not an outcome!
² Detailed precise description of the whole product
• Needed for planning
- Needed for finance calculation

Some Basics of Classic Project Management 12

2. Design Product Structure

² Based on requirements:
² Hierarchical product breakdown
• What are the parts of the product?
- What are the sub parts of the parts?

A1
A
Product A2
B B1
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3. Define Dependencies

² What other parts are needed before we build s.th.?

A1
B1
A2

Some Basics of Classic Project Management 14

4. Define Work Packages

² Based on product breakdown: Work packages

• Objectives of package
• Sub list of requirements
• Outcome of package

Some Basics of Classic Project Management 15

5. Assign Resources

² Based on work packages

• Team organization: (Sub) Team assignment

• Team member assignment
• Assignment of specialists
- What special capabilitites and competences are needed?

Another essential classical idea: specialists

Leads to many task types, many roles

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Plan along Timeline

² Scheduling: When happens what (by who)?

² Plan respects the product structure dependencies

² Presentation
• Precedence Diagrams
• Gantt chart

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Precedence Diagram Example

² Shows time constraints

Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:NetzplanBsp.png

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 Gantt Chart

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantt_chart#/media/File:GanttChartAnatomy.svg

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Only One Work Package: Waterfall Model

1) Define ALL requirements

2) Design COMPLETE system

3) Implement everything

4) Test ENTIRE system

5) Deliver OVERALL system

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Many Work Packages: Extended Waterfall

1) Define ALL requirements

2) Design COMPLETE system

3) Implement work packages

4) Test work work packages

5) Test integration

6) Deliver OVERALL system

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