Telone Centre for Learning

SOFTWARE PROJECT
MANAGEMENT

Diploma in Software Engineering 2.1

LECTURER: Ms J Chibhabha
jchibhabha@hit.ac.zw
Evaluation Plan

WRITTEN EXAMINATION
60%

CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT
40%

A minimum of:
• 2 Assignments (weighted 5% each)
• 3 Theory tests (weighted 10% each)
In this course we will address the following
questions:
How must people, process, and problem be managed during a software project?
How can software metrics be used to manage a software project and the software
process?
How does a software team generate reliable estimates of effort, cost, and project
duration?
What techniques can be used to assess the risks that can have an impact on project
success?
How does a software project manager select a set of software engineering work
tasks?
How is a project schedule created?
Why are maintenance and reengineering so important for both software
engineering managers and practitioners?
What is a project?

A sequence of connected and related activities

(requirement engineering, system engineering, coding,
testing, documentation, controlling, …) that must be
completed by a specific time, within budget, and
according to specification.

Any work with affixed start/end date, is temporary and

unique in nature.
What is a product?

Anything that can be offered to a market to a solve a

problem or satisfy a want or need.
Is developed within the context of a project.
Multiple projects can occur within a product’s life cycle.
Software Projects vs Other Projects

Invisibility – progress is not immediately visible

Complexity – financially, software products contain more
complexity than other engineered products.
Flexibility – the ease with which software cane be
changed is usually seen as one of its strengths
General Project Characteristics

Planning is required
Specific objectives are to be met or a specific product is to
be created
Work is carried out for someone other than yourself
Work is carried out in several phases
Resources available for use on the project are usually
constrained.
Project Stakeholders

Every project has stakeholders.

These are the people who have an interest in the project.
Must be identified as early as possible in order to establish
adequate communication channels with them from the
start.
Different types of stakeholders have different objectives
and the job of a successful project leader is to recognize
these different interests and be able to reconcile them.
Project Stakeholders Cont..

Senior managers who define the business issues that have

significant influences on the project.
Project (technical)managers who must plan, motivate, organize,
and control the practitioners who do software work.
Practitioners who deliver the technical skills necessary to
engineer a product or application.
Customers who specify the requirements for the software to be
engineered.
End users who interact with end product once its released for
production use.
Software Project Management

A software project has a specific duration, consumes

resources and produces work products.
Every software project must have a manager who leads the
development team and interfaces with the initiators,
suppliers and senior management.
All technical and managerial activities required to deliver
the deliverables to the client.
Software Project Management

Project Management:
The application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project
activities to meet project requirements.
Software Project Management:
1. The process of planning, organizing, staffing, monitoring,
controlling and leading a software project.
2. A procedure of managing, allocating and timing resources to
develop software that fulfills requirements.
3. In SPM, the client and the developers need to know the length,
period and cost of the project prior.
Software Project Management

Effective software project management focuses on the four

Ps:
People
Product
Process, and
Project
Why is Software Project Management
Important?

Strategic Alignment
Leadership
Clear Focus and Objectives
Realistic Project Planning
Quality Control
Risk Management
Managing and Learning from Success and Failure
Advantages of Software Project
Management

It helps in planning of software development.

Implementation of software development is made easy.
Monitoring and controlling are aspects of software project
management.
It overall manages to save time and cost for software
development.
Disadvantages of Software Project
Management

It might make the tasks too complex to be understood

easily and will also have a larger audience than required.
It can be a costly affair to buy good-quality project
management software.
Project Manager

Project management is a people-intensive activity,

Competent practitioners often make poor team/ project leaders.
They should use the MOI model of leadership according to Jerry
Weinberg [Wei86]
1. Motivation – the ability to encourage (by “push or pull) technical people to
produce their best ability.
2. Organization – the ability to mold existing processes (or invent new ones)
that will enable the initial concept to be translated into a final product.
3. Ideas or innovation – the ability to encourage people to create and feel
creative.
Other key traits of a project manager

Problem solving
Managerial identity - must take charge of the project, have the
confidence to assume control when necessary and the assurance to
allow good technical team to follow their instincts.
Achievement – must reward initiative and accomplishment to
optimize productivity of the team
Influence and team building – must be able to read people and
remain under control in high-stress situations
Duties of the Project Manager
Managing People, Managing Project

Produces the Software Project Management Plan (SPMP)

Defines the organizational roles and allocates staff to
them.
Controls the project by informing staff of their part in the
plan.
Leads the project by making the major decisions and by
motivating staff to perform well.
Monitors the project by measuring progress and reports
progress to initiators and senior managers.
Project Manager Duties Cont..

Negotiating:
Involves conferring with others to come to terms with them or reach an
agreement.
Agreements may be negotiated directly or with assistance.
Negotiation areas may include scope, cost, and schedule objectives, changes
to scope, cost or schedule, contract terms and conditions.
Innovating:
Coming up with new solutions
Communication:
Reporting progress
Software Project Management Plan (SPMP)

The controlling document for a software project.

Specifies the technical and managerial approaches to develop the
software product.
Companion document to requirements analysis document: Changes
in either may imply changes in the other document.
SPMP may be part of the project agreement.
Project Management Knowledge Areas

1. Project Integration Management

Describes the processes required to ensure that the various elements of the project
are properly coordinated.
It consists of project plan development, project plan execution, and integrated
change control.

2. Project Scope Management

Describes the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work
required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully.
It consists of initiation, scope planning, scope definition, scope verification, and
scope change control.
PM Knowledge Areas Cont…

3. Project Time Management

Describes the processes required to ensure timely completion of the
project.
It consists of activity definition, activity sequencing, activity
duration estimating, schedule development and schedule control

4. Project Cost Management

Describes the processes required to ensure that the project is
completed within the approved budget.
It consists of resource planning, cost estimating, cost budgeting, and
cost control.
PM Knowledge Areas Cont…

5. Project Quality Management

Describes the processes required to ensure that the project will
satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.
It consists of quality planning, quality assurance and quality control.

6. Project Human Resource Management

Describes the processes required to make the most effective use of
the people involved with the project.
It consists of organizational planning, staff acquisition, and team
development.
 PM Knowledge Areas Cont…
7. Project Communications Management
Describes the processes required to ensure timely and appropriate generation,
collection, dissemination, storage and ultimate disposition of project information.
It consists of communications planning, information distribution, performance
reporting, and administrative closure.

8. Project Risk Management

Describes the processes concerned with identifying, analyzing, and responding to
project risk.
It consists of risk management planning, risk identification, qualitative risk
analysis, quantitative risk analysis, risk response planning, and risk monitoring
and control.
PM Knowledge Areas Cont…

9. Project Procurement Management

Describes the processes required to acquire goods and services from
outside the performing organization.
It consists of procurement planning, solicitation planning,
solicitation, source selection, contract administration, and contract
closeout.
Project Management processes

Describe, organize, and complete the work of the project.

Two major categories:
1. Product-oriented processes
Specify and create the project’s product.
Product oriented processes are typically defined the project life and vary by
application area.
2. Project management processes and product-oriented processes
overlap and interact throughout the project.
For example, the scope of the project cannot be defined in the absence
of some basic understanding of to create the product.
Software Development Process

The manager of a software development project has to ensure that

all the project activities follow a certain predefined process,
I.e.. The activities are organized as a series of actions conducing to a
desirable end.
The activities are usually organized in distinct phases, and the
process specifies what artifacts should be developed and delivers in
each phase.
The process provides means for control and guidance of the
individual team members and the team as a whole, as it offers
criteria for tracing and evaluation of the project’s deliverables and
activities.
THE END