PCA20G01T –

SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Unit -1 : Session -1 : SLO - 2

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Contents
 What is a Project?
 What is Project Management?
 What is Software Project Management (SPM)?
 Importance of SPM
 Software Projects vs other Projects
 Some ways of categorizing Projects
 What is Management?

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Project
 Project is a piece of planned work or an activity that is
finished over a period of time and intended to achieve a
particular purpose.
 A project is temporary in that it has a defined beginning
and end in time, and therefore defined scope and
resources. And a project is unique in that it is not a
routine operation, but a specific set of operations
designed to accomplish a singular goal.

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What is a project?
Some dictionary definitions:
“A specific plan or design”
“A planned undertaking”
“A large undertaking e.g. a public works
scheme”
Longmans dictionary

Key points above are planning and size of

task

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Project
 Characteristics that distinguish projects:
 Non-routine tasks
 Planning is required
 Specific objectives are to be met
 Pre determined time span
 Work involves several specialisms
 A temporary work group is formed
 Work is carried out in several phases
 Resources are constrained
 Large or complex
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Jobs versus projects

‘Jobs’ – repetition of very well-defined and well

understood tasks with very little uncertainty
‘Exploration’ – e.g. finding a cure for cancer: the
outcome is very uncertain
‘Projects’ – in the middle!
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Management
 Management is the organization and coordination of the
activities of a business in order to achieve defined
objectives.
 Management includes the activities of setting the
strategy of an organization and coordinating the efforts
of its employees (or of volunteers) to accomplish its
objectives through the application of available resources,
such as financial, natural, technological, and human
resources.

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Project Management
 Project Management is the practice of initiating,
planning, executing, controlling, and closing the
work of a team to achieve specific goals and
meet specific success criteria at the specified
time.
 The primary challenge of project management is
to achieve all of the project goals within the
given constraints

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Who is a Project Manager???
 A project manager is a person who has the overall
responsibility for the successful initiation, planning,
design, execution, monitoring, controlling and closure of a
project.
 Qualities:
 Effective communication skills
 Strong leadership skills
 Good decision maker
 Technical expertise
 Inspires a shared vision
 Team-building skills
 Cool under pressure
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Software Project Management
 It is a sub-discipline of project management
in which software projects are planned,
implemented, monitored and controlled

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Importance of SPM
 Why it is important to become familiar with
project management?
 First there is a question of money. A lot of money is at
stake with ICT projects.
 Secondly, the projects are not always successful,
studies show that only one third of software projects
were proved to be successful.
 The reason for these project shortcomings is
most often the management of software
projects.
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Software Projects vs Other Projects
 Many techniques in general PM also apply to SPM, but
Fred Brooks identified some charateristics of software
projects which make them particularly difficult.
 Invisibility
 Complexity
 Conformity
 Flexibility

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Some Ways of Categorizing Projects

Distinguishing different types of project is

important as different types of task need
different project approaches e.g.
 Information systems versus embedded
systems
 Objective-based versus product-based

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What is Management?
This involves the following activities:
 Planning – deciding what is to be done
 Organizing – making arrangements
 Staffing – selecting the right people for the job
 Directing – giving instructions

continued…

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What is Management? (continued)

 Monitoring – checking on progress

 Controlling – taking action to remedy hold-ups
 Innovating – coming up with solutions when problems
emerge
 Representing – liaising with clients, users, developers
and other stakeholders

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Readings
 [Chapter 1] Software Project Management by Bob
Hughes and Mike Cotterell, McGraw-Hill Education; 5th
Edition (2009). ISBN-10: 0077122798
 [1] F. P. Brooks (1987). “No silver Bullet: essence and
accidents of software engineering ”. This essay has been
icluded in THE MYTHICAL MAN-MONTH, Anniversarary
Edition, Addison Wesely, 1995.

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