Project Management

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Project Management

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 2

Laws of Project Management

Projects progress quickly until they are 90% complete. Then they remain at 90% complete forever.

When things are going well, something will go wrong. When things just can’t get worse, they will. When things appear to be going better, you have overlooked something.

If project content is allowed to change freely, the rate of change will exceed the rate of progress.

Project teams detest progress reporting because it manifests their lack of progress.


How it should go (e.g., waterfall model)

Requirements Analysis

Implementation

Design

System Testing

Delivery and Installation


How it often goes

Requirements Analysis

D

E

L

A

YVaporware


Software Project Management Plan Software Project:

All technical and managerial activities required to deliver the deliverables to the client.

A software project has a specific duration, consumes resources and produces work products.

Management categories to complete a software project: Tasks, Activities, Functions

Software Project Management Plan: The controlling document for a software project. Specifies the technical and managerial approaches to

develop the software product.


Functions, Tasks, Activities

Functions (also known as Umbrella activities) Project Management Configuration Management Documentation Quality Assurance (includes Verification and Validation) Traceability Training …


Tasks

Smallest unit of management accountability Atomic unit of planning and tracking Finite duration, need resources, produce tangible result

(documents, model, code)

Specification of a task: Work package Name, description of work to be done Preconditions for starting, duration, required resources Work product to be produced, acceptance criteria for it Risk involved

Completion criteria Includes the acceptance criteria for the work products

(deliverables) produced by the task.


Examples of Tasks

Unit test class “Foo” Test subsystem “Bla” Write user manual Write meeting minutes and post them …


Activities

Major unit of work Culminates in major project

milestone: Internal checkpoint should

not be externally visible Scheduled event used to

measure progress

Milestone often produces baseline:

formally reviewed work product under change control (change

requires formal procedures)

Activities may be grouped into larger activities: Establishes hierarchical

structure for project (phase, step, ...)

Allows separation of concerns

Precedence relations often exist among activities (PERT Chart)


Examples of Activities

Major Activities: Develop Requirements

model Develop Analysis Model Develop Architecture (aka

System Design model) …

Activities during requirements: Define scenarios Identify stakeholders Define Use Case model Design preliminary User

Interface


Example of Hierchical Organization:Chief Programmer Team

Chief Programmer

Librarian Administration Tester

Junior Programmer

AssistantChief Programmer

Senior Programmer


Another Project Organization: Egoless Programming Team (Weinberg)

Analyst

Designer Librarian

Tester Programmer


Project-Based Project Organization

Project Leader

Coaches

Team Members

Basis of organization:Nonlinear information flow across dynamically formed units

Basis of organization:Nonlinear information flow across dynamically formed units

Subsystem Team Subsystem Team Subsystem Team

A B

A wants to talk to B: Communication FlowA wants to make sure B does a certain change: Decision Flow


Observations on Management Structures

Hierarchical structures Do not work well with iterative and incremental software

development process Manager is not necessarily always right

Project-based structures Cut down on bureaucracy reduces development time Decisions are expected to be made at each level Hard to manage


Hierarchical Structure

Projects with high degree of certainty, stability, uniformity and repetition. Requires little communication Role definitions are clear

When? The more people on the project, the more need for a formal

structure Customer might insist that the test team be independent from the

design team Project manager insists on a previously successful structure


Project-Based Structure

Project with degree of uncertainty Open communication needed among members Roles are defined on project basis

When? Requirements change during development New technology develops during project


Your Project-Based Structure

Get together in your group and discuss options for your team organization and structure Subteams for functions, activities, tasks? Team lead? Subteam leads or co-ordinators?

Question: Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these:For a team of 6 members3 members are going to work on delivering the detailed design (they

check their work before submitting it to the team) and correct problems

3 team members are assigned to independently review the detailed design and identify defects

Or6 members are going to work on delivering the detailed design (the

whole team checks the work before it is posted for evaluation) .


Possible Mappings of ToDos to People

One-to-One Ideal but often not worth to be called a project

Many-to-Few Each project member assumes several roles ("hats") Danger of overcommittment Need for load balancing

Many-to-"Too-Many" Some people don't have significant roles Bystanders Losing touch with project


Managerial Processes

Management Objectives and Priorities Philosophy, goals and priorities

Assumptions, Dependencies, Constraints External factors

Risk Management Identifying, assessing, tracking, contingencies for risks

Monitoring and Controlling Mechanisms Reporting mechanisms and formats, information flows, reviews

Staffing Plan Needed skills (what?, how much?, when?)


Project Management Heuristics

Make sure to be able to revise or dump a project plan Complex system development is a nonlinear activity

If project goals are unclear and complex use team-based project management. In this case Avoid GANTT charts and PERT charts for projects with changing

requirements Don’t look too far into the future

Avoid micro management of details Don’t be surprise if current project management tools don’t

work: They were designed for projects with clear goals and fixed

organizational structures

Project Management

Documents

project memberassumes

project phase

project teams

project content

design team project

major project milestone

team organization

right projectbased structures