Software Project
Management
Conclude Adaptive Project
Framework
INFO 638
Glenn Booker
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Lecture #9
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Client Checkpoint
 A key feature of APF is that is
requires customer input throughout
the life cycle
 Combined with short iterations, this
makes problems readily identifiable,
and often easily corrected
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Client Checkpoint
 The Client Checkpoint focuses on
two major activities
 Review of the quality of work done
in the existing cycle
 Need planned and actual functionality
added to the system in this cycle
 Adjust schedule for the next cycle
accordingly
 Need the Scope Bank
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Client Checkpoint
 Key questions to answer are:
 What was planned to have been
accomplished during this cycle?
 What was actually accomplished?
 Is its quality up to expectations?
 Is the scope of this version still valid?
 Are changes needed to the project scope?
 Is the development team working well?
 What was learned from this cycle?
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Client Checkpoint
 Planning for the next cycle needs
to be updated as needed
 Define the scope of
 Functionality completed in previous
cycles
 Functionality not completed, or poor
quality, from previous cycles
 Functionality planned for this and near
term future cycles
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Client Checkpoint
 From this, the outputs should be
 Updated list of functionality to be
developed, and already developed
 Changes to priorities of functionality,
if needed
 Duration of the next cycle
 On larger projects, changes in scope
might require contractual updates
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Go back to Cycle Plan phase
 After the client checkpoint, loop
back to the cycle plan phase, until
this version of the product has
been completed
 Notice that we didn’t do detailed
planning during the client checkpoint
for this reason – it’s followed by the
planning phase
 Stop loop when done with Version
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Post-Version Review
 Recall that a Version of the product
is the result of many cycles
 Once a Version is completed, it is a
deliverable product to the customer
(plus its manuals and documentation)
 The Post-Version Review is done
upon completion of each Version
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Post-Version Review
 There are three activities in the
Post-Version Review
 Determine if the project has met
its business objectives
 Was the error rate reduced, or customer
base expanded, or whatever objectives
were defined for this project met?
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Post-Version Review
 Review lessons learned
 Look for improvements based on the
lessons learned from the previous cycle
 Are there issues involving the team or
customer interface that need resolution?
 Look for APF process improvements
 Identify ways to make the APF work better
for your organization and industry
 This is a built-in quality improvement
process
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That’s APF!
 That concludes the core activities in
the Adaptive Project Framework
 The phases were Version Scope, Cycle
Plan, Cycle Build, Client Checkpoint,
and Post-Version Review
 Now we’ll look at APF variations
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APF Variations
 APF is designed to evolve during
a project by
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Adjusting the number of cycles
Adjusting the length of cycles
Adjusting the priorities of functions
Adjusting the scope of functions at
each client checkpoint
 But there are other uses of APF
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Proof of Concept
 APF can be used for quick proof-ofconcept projects
 Goal is to gather enough evidence to
make the business case for the project
 Might involve prototyping, feasibility
studies, describing use cases,
storyboarding, or any other technique
needed to show the project’s idea is
worth pursuing
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Revising Version Plan
 As a project goes through the first
few cycles, you may discover the
overall scope is flat out wrong
 In such cases, might need to restart the
project from scratch, or at least make
radical changes to the scope and WBS
 Even killing the project might be needed
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Extreme Project Management
 Extreme Project Management (xPM)
is similar to APF, but is better suited
to projects with poorly defined goals
 You don’t know what the objective is
 It isn’t the same as Extreme
Programming (XP), which is part of
the Agile family of development
methods
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Extreme Projects
 Extreme projects are generally fast,
innovative, and ill defined
 High speed – must be developed quickly
 High change – must respond to fast
changes in the project requirements
 High uncertainty – must be able to
handle rapid and unexpected changes
in project direction and focus
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Extreme Project Management
 xPM consists of four phases which are
contrived to spell out INSPIRE
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INitiate
SPeculate
Incubate
REview
 The goal is to work with the client to
determine the project’s goal
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INitiate
 xPM works with an unknown number
of short (1-4 week) cycles
 The Initiate phase focuses on
establishing the project boundaries
 Define the project goal (or what’s known
of it)
 Prepare a POS
 Establish project overall time box and
cost limits
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INitiate
 Establish number and length of cycles
(and expect them to change)
 Establish project priorities
 Scope, cost, quality, time, available
resources – which are most fixed?
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SPeculate
 The Speculate-Incubate-Review
phases are repeated for each cycle
until the project objective is
understood
 The Speculate phase fishes for ideas
about how to approach defining the
problem
 Yes, it sounds like a lot of brainstorming
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SPeculate
 Speculate phase consists of
 Define general structure of the project
 Define Conditions of Satisfaction (COS)
to be met by the project’s objective
 Describe scenarios that fulfill the COS
 Prioritize requirements
 Identify what the first cycle will produce
 Determine how the project will decide to
proceed further or not
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Incubate
 The Incubate phase is the working
part of the xPM approach
 Explore and discover more about the
project, based on the planning
outlined in the Speculate phase
 Assign resources for activities
 Establish cycle plan
 Work together to produce deliverables
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REview
 The Review phase analyzes the
results of this cycle, and decides the
approach for the next cycle, if any
 What did we learn from this cycle?
 What new ideas should we act upon?
 What should we do in the next cycle?
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REview
 So the activities in this phase include
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Apply learning from previous cycle
Adjust project goal if needed
Reprioritize requirements if needed
Make go/no-go decision for next cycle
 Then, if continuing the project, go
back to the Speculate phase
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xPM vs. APF
 xPM and APF have a lot in common
 The main differences are
 xPM has unknown project goals
 xPM has more variability in project
scope, budget, and time
 xPM has more variability in cycle
duration and number of cycles
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xPM vs. APF
 xPM is wildly open to changes, and
therefore has more risk of not
producing anything than APF or TPM
 In exchange for that risk, it most
openly encourages creativity and
new ideas
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