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Software Engineering 477
Software and Systems Project Management
March 31, 2014
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SE 477
Software and Systems Project Management
Dennis Mumaugh, Instructor
dmumaugh@cdm.depaul.edu
Office: CDM, Room 429
Office Hours: Monday, 4:00 – 5:30
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Administrivia: Introductions
Dennis Mumaugh
Undergraduate: BSEE - University of California, Berkeley
MS Computer Science - University of Maryland
Ph.D. Studies - University of Maryland
Teaching at DePaul since September 2000
Work
Senior Engineer - National Security Agency
ARPANet Pioneer, Unix™ Pioneer and Technology Transfer,
Member of the Technical Staff - Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies
Unix Development - Current Engineering
IS&R Systems - Knowledge Base Systems
Software Tools and OO Technology
Interests
Operating Systems and System Programming
Software Productivity, Compilers and Software Metrics
Software Engineering
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Administrivia: contact details
 Contact Information:
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Email: dmumaugh@cdm.depaul.edu
Phone: 630-983-1221 (10:00 am - 11:00 pm) except just before
class (After 3pm)
 Office Hours
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Monday, 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm, CDM, Room 429
By arrangement
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Administrivia: Basic Information
 Class home page
http://condor.depaul.edu/dmumaugh/classes/SE477S14/, contains
syllabus and schedule, lecture notes, homework, more reading
material
 About the Lecture Notes - look at “notes” section of the slides
 Also look at the expanded readings page:
http://condor.depaul.edu/dmumaugh/readings/SE477readings.html
 Course On-line:
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Course materials, assignments, assignment submissions,
assignment solutions, and grades will be available on the Course
On Line (COL) site – https://col.cdm.depaul.edu/
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COL now provides the ability to download a podcast of the lecture
 Desire2Learn
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Examinations and quizzes will be given on Desire2learn –
https://d2l.cdm.depaul.edu/
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Administrivia: communications
 Email
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All students are expected to have a email address.
Please make sure it is valid and make sure Campus Connection
has the current email address.
 Course mailing list:
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se477@mailman.depaul.edu
To subscribe to the list or unsubscribe from it, go to
http://mailman.depaul.edu/mailman/listinfo/se477.
» I’ll bulk subscribe on Sunday.
If necessary, update your spam filter to accept messages from
the mailing list.
Unless your message is personal, send it to the course mailing
list!
Last minute information will go to the mailing list.
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Administrivia: reading materials
 Textbook
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There is no assigned text book. Instead, the reading list has listed
several that are useful. These are available using eBooks 24x7. All
of these are available online at the DePaul Libraries Web site,
http://library.depaul.edu.
The following might be a good choice if you need/want a hard copy.
» PMP Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, 7th
Edition, Kim Heldman, Wiley (Sybex), July 2013, ISBN: 978-1118-53182-2
» Note the new edition!
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Administrivia: reading materials
 Collateral reading: these two books are ones that every practitioner in
the field ought to read.
 Frederick P. Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software
Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition) (Paperback),
Addison-Wesley, ISBN-10: 0-201-83595-9.
 Gerald M. Weinberg, The Psychology of Computer Programming:
Silver Anniversary Edition (Paperback), Dorset House, ISBN-10: 0932633-42-0
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Administrivia: reading materials
 Another book you may want
Ian Sommerville, Software Engineering, 9th Edition, AddisonWesley, ISBN 0-13-703512-2.
» This is one of the top two undergraduate software engineering
texts.
 Also look at the expanded readings page:
http://condor.depaul.edu/~dmumaugh/readings/SE477readings.html
 Gartner reports are available though the library and also on
COL > Documents
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Administrivia: reading materials
 A note on reading list
You are not expected to read all of the material on the reading list.
 Select one of the suggested textbooks, read it.
 Look at the various articles as you have time.
» Many say the same thing but with a different perspective.
 Don’t get overwhelmed in reading
 A note on reading assignments:
 I will give the assignment for the PMP Guide. If you are using a
different text use the assignment given in the reading list for the
appropriate book.
 Choose a book and stick with it. You do not have to read all the
assignments, just the one for your chosen text.
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Administrivia: Course structure
 Nine classes + Midterm Exam + Final Exam
Memorial day is a holiday and thus no class.
Weekly reading
Graded assignments (5)
Team project
Journal
Class structure: lecture (with short break near the middle).
Topics and reading assignments are on the class web
page
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Administrivia: software
 Access to MS Word
 MicroSoft Project - if you have access, you may use it. You are entitled
to one copy of Microsoft Project Professional (2010 edition) as part of
DePaul CDM’s MSDNAA agreement. Full information is available at:
https://my.cdm.depaul.edu/resources/msdnaa.asp
to download a version for home use. You want to download Microsoft
Project Professional 2010.
 Also, check the computer labs, it should be available there.
 ProjectLibre [an open source version of MicroSoft Project]
(http://www.projectlibre.org/) [Uses Java 7]
 OpenProject [an open source version of MicroSoft Project] and older,
(http://openproj.org/)
» Local source [see notes for URL]:
• Windows install file
• Macintosh install file
» Documentation: Getting Started with OpenProj
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Administrivia: Miscellany
 Communications development:
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An essential part of this course is communicating your ideas in
prose.
The ability to communicate clearly and effectively is a skill that will
pay off both in and out of class.
Motivation from a recent NPR business report:
» Robert Half surveyed their corporate customers concerning
resumes they had received.
» Corporate reviewers spent about 10-15 seconds deciding whether
to examine the resume further.
» They instantly tossed the resume if they detected any
grammatical or spelling errors.
Treat your coursework as if it were being reviewed by the manager
who does your performance review and sets your salary.
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Administrivia: Miscellany
 There will be a lot of ambiguity and lack of firm direction in the
assignments and the information.
 That is typical of much of project management.
 This requires you to provide your own experience. Or to research
and discover your information.
 Understanding a problem (statement):
 An essential part of this course is understanding written material,
ideas in prose. The ability to understand a document, to "read
between the lines", is a skill that will pay off both in and out of class.
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Administrivia: Miscellany
 Intellectual property issues:
All material in this course is property of the either the instructor or
other authors.
 You are permitted to download and print copies of the material.
 You are not permitted to redistribute the material in any form.
 Plagiarism:
 All individual assignments must represent your own work.
 It’s a great idea to get together in study groups to discuss the
problems, but you should then do the assignments individually.
 Plagiarism is to take and use as one’s own, or copy without
acknowledgement, the works of another person. The provider of
such material can be ruled equally culpable.
 If you hand in late homework with prior permission, it must be your
own work, not a copy of the solutions presented in class.
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Administrivia: Support
 Technical questions can be addressed during office hours
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or by email
Use the mailing list for all technical questions
 Provide appropriate support to each other
I do not preview homework, but I will answer questions or
make suggestions to generic problems
If you contact me by e-mail
 Please include your name and the course number in all
correspondence
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Administrivia: Feedback/Participation
 Feedback/Participation
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Share your thoughts
Ask questions – wave your hand forcefully to get my
attention
Speak loudly so all can hear
Give me verbal and non-verbal feedback
Don’t just sit there . . . nod, smile, frown, shake your head
 Make sure your email address is correct and works
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Administrivia: assessment
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Regular assignments (5)
A reading Journal
Team Project
Midterm examination (on-line using Desire2Learn)
Final examination (on-line using Desire2Learn)
Each of the above will be weighted as follows
 Homework
20%
 Project
30%
 Journal
10%
 Midterm Exam
20%
 Final Examination 20%
Grading will be done on the usual 60/70/80/90 bands but will be adjusted
to account for clustering and banding of scores. Bands may be
adjusted if there seems to be a systemic bias to the scores.
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Homework logistics
 Homework must be submitted via Course On-Line by 11:59 PM
Chicago Time on the assignment due date.
 Submit MS Word or Adobe PDF files only
 All figures must be embedded in the file, not bundled in a ‘.zip’ file
» Exception, you may bundle files into a zip file if you have a MS
project file as well as the document.
 No extra credit assignments.
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Surviving SE477
 Make sure you read things, sometimes more than once. People do not
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seem to read assignments and web pages (or do not follow instructions).
Read the assignments carefully. Note special requirements, such as
formats and use of predefined templates!
Start your assignments right after they are handed out (assigned). They
will take some time and starting on the night before it is due is not a
good strategy.
Reading list:
 Is it required? No.
 Is it useful? Yes, especially if you are serious about a career in
software development.
 The articles are usually short but informative. Most are supplemental
– useful for understanding but the notes cover the major points.
Reading should be done in parallel with the lectures.
Pace yourself. Remember: “This too shall pass.”
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Introduction
 Roll
 On-line students: you must send me an email confirming
that you are taking the course. The email must include the
“magic word” – that is: ______________
 You must confirm attendance by April 7.
 With the size of the class we won’t have time to do
introductions, but you are welcome to send a message to
the mailing list with
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Your Background
Day Job (if any)
Major
Project Management Experience
Industry Experience
Optional: Expectations & goals from the class
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Surprise!
It's late Friday afternoon and you have just been told by your boss that
you will be the project manager for a new software development
project starting first thing on Monday morning. Congratulations!
Now, if only you had taken some project management training ...
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Course Objective
 To provide a thorough understanding of the basics of
software project management that can be applied to
systems projects as well.
 Upon completion, students will be able to identify and
apply industry proven techniques to manage successful
software and systems development projects.
 This course provides a fundamental understanding of
project management concepts, tools, and techniques
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Topics
1. Introduction and Overview: Software Process or What is a project?
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Project characteristics; Classic Mistakes;
Software project management overview: Project managers; Project
organization; Putting a process in place; Software process; Phases for
software project management; Defining the project; Project
management tools
System Development Processes: SDLC; Agile Project Management;
Project Planning – Initial Phase: The Project Management Plan; Scope
Management; Creating the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Project Planning: Activity Definition; WBS details; Activity Sequencing;
Estimating size and complexity,
Project Planning: Activity Resource and Duration Estimating;
Schedule Development: Scheduling: Gantt Chart and PERT and
Critical Path Method (CPM); Schedule compression; Resource leveling;
Mythical Man Month;
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Topics
6. Risk Management: Planning, risk identification, quantification and
prioritization; Risk analysis, response planning, avoidance, mitigation,
monitoring
7. Project Processes: Execution; Monitoring, control and tracking;
Project velocity; Earned Value Analysis;
8. Miscellaneous: Quality Control, Planning and Assessment; Change
control and project tracking; Final stages: Project Recovery; Project
closeout; Project Success
9. Managing the Project Team: Project and Team Organization; Project
Management Context; Managing the Project Team; Shaping project
culture
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SE 477 – Class 1
Topics: Introduction, Fundamentals, Classic Mistakes
 Introduction
 Roadmap for Software Project Management
 Fundamentals
 Software Process or What is a project?
 Project characteristics
 Classic Mistakes
Reading:
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Reports on project failures – reasons and statistics
The Project Office: Teams, Processes, and Tools, Gartner Research
Strategic Analysis Report, Matt Light, 01 August
See others in reading list.
PMP Study Guide: Chapter 1
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Assignments
Assignment 1 due April 14, 2014
 Read the Gartner Report, From the CIO Trenches: Why Some Projects Fail
and Others Succeed by David McClure (Gartner document ID: G00151721),
available on the DePaul Libraries Web site. [See also COL.]
 Read the FBI Virtual Case file papers. Read the FBI Virtual Case File
project. [IEEE Spectrum, "Who Killed the Virtual Case File?", September
2005, (11 pages)]. <http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/sep05/1455>
 See also commentary by the New York Times: FBI Faces New Setback
in Computer Overhaul:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/us/19fbi.html
 And also FBI delays Sentinel rollout to May 2012
http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/fbi-delays-sentinel-rollout-may2012/2012-01-03
 Write a three to four-page summary and analysis of the VCF project and its
failure. Provide a summary of lessons learned. Use the template
specified!
<http://condor.depaul.edu/dmumaugh/se477/assignments/HW1Template.do
c>
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Assignments
Journal – Due at the end of the term
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Students will keep a journal. This will cover collateral reading
assigned, questions asked in class (also exercises at the end of
each lecture), and your thoughts on course material. The journal
entries will comment on the readings and the lessons learned.
While I may suggest topics (or questions) in class (see Exercises),
do not restrict yourself to just those items.
If you do not have other entries, you will not receive 100%.
Maximum size 12 pages!!
Format: HTML or Text only. No PDF or MS Word!
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Thought for the day
"The first 90% of a project takes 90% of the
time, the last 10% takes the other 90%."
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Introduction
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What is a project?
What’s a project?
 PMI definition
 A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a
unique product or service
 Progressively elaborated
 With repetitive elements
 A project manager
 Analogy: conductor, coach, captain
 Better: 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.
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Project vs. Program Management
What’s a ‘program’?
 Mostly differences of scale
 Often a number of related projects
 Longer than projects
 Definitions vary
 Example: Program Manager for MS Office
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Includes projects: Spelling, drawing, Word, Xcel, PowerPoint, etc.
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Project characteristics
 A project is unique
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A Project creates unique deliverables: product, service,
or result
Even technically-identical projects are distinctly unique,
due to internal or external contingent factors
 Projects are temporary
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Every project has a definite beginning and a definite end
Project end may be reached through success, qualified
success, failure, or redundancy
Projects need not be of short duration, but they are of
finite duration
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Project characteristics
 Projects have customer-specified performance criteria
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The customer defines these criteria in the form of requirements
We will see that requirements are one of the most critical
characteristics of a project that contributes to its success or failure
 Projects consume resources
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Personnel resources
Physical resources
Monetary resources
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Projects vs. operations/production
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Characteristics of IT (Information Technology)
 IT encompasses all forms of technology used to create,
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store, exchange, and use information in various forms
‘Information’ includes conventional data, voice, images,
multimedia, etc.
Of central importance are computer, software, and
communications technologies
Virtually all significant projects are now distributed: networks
of computers communicate only via message passing
Distribution poses additional challenges in IT projects:
reliability, availability, security, and information
synchronization
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How do IT projects differ from ‘ordinary’ projects?
 IT products and services possess greater complexity
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IT products and services are intrinsically complex by nature
Computing + communication + diverse data ⇒ complexity
 IT projects have tight schedules
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Tight schedules are the norm in IT development
Scheduling is aggravated by a pervasive ‘rush to market’ mentality
 IT is an integral part of enterprise infrastructure
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IT is no longer an auxiliary element of the enterprise
A business’s success is often critically dependent upon IT support
 IT is permeated by quickly-changing technology
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Technology evolves (and may even become obsolete) during the
lifetime of a major project
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Project characteristics
 Four characteristics of projects:
finite time
 people assigned
 clear roles and responsibilities
 things to deliver
 Have you ever had this feeling about a project?
 not enough time
 too few people
 people not sure what they should be doing
 too much to do
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How Are Software Projects Different?
 Consists of hardware and software.
 Software is [usually] custom written and one-of-a-kind.
 Hard to determine progress. [One can see how far the
Freedom Tower (World Trade Center) has progressed. One
cannot see how far a piece of software has progressed]
 Difficult to estimate schedule.
 Difficult to determine cost.
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What is Project Management?
 Project management is “the application of knowledge,
skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet
project requirements” (PMBOK® Guide, Third Edition, 2004,
p. 8)
 Software Project Management is the art to define, plan,
execute, and monitor the activities that will bring software
products to existence.
 Project managers strive to meet the triple constraint by
balancing project scope, time, and cost goals
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Project management processes
 Regardless of the type of project lifecycle, project management
encompasses the following process groups, shown with some
representative tasks:
1. Initiating/Define – Scope the project; Charter the project; identify
stakeholders
2. Planning – Develop the project plan. Collect requirements; identify
schedule; plan scope, cost, quality, human resource, risk, and
procurement management
3. Executing – Launch the plan. Direct and manage project work;
perform quality assurance; manage and develop project team;
conduct procurements
4. Monitoring and Controlling – Monitor project progress. Monitor
and control project work; manage scope change; monitor and
control schedule; control quality; control risks; control procurements
5. Closing – Close out the project: Close project; close procurements
See note below.
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Software Project
Quality Engineering Principle:
 The quality of the software system is controlled by the
quality of the process used to produce that software.
Quality Management Principle:
 Document the process
 Measure the process
 Improve the process based on the measurement
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Software Development Process
 What is the software development process?
A process is a set of documented procedures, methods,
practices, and tools used to produce a software product.
 The process will answer the following:
 What to do? Tasks/activities
 How to do it? Procedure/practice
 When to do it? Sequence of activities
 What are the artifacts? (input/output)
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Software Project
 If the programmer and designer follow the process, then
the artifacts they produce will be
 Predictable
 Based on the requirements
 Easy to maintain and control
 Consistent with the writing style
 Of acceptable quality
 Within acceptable milestones
 By following the process, we will be able to know precisely
what/how/when/where it happened !
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Software Processes
Software Process is an overloaded term
 Metaprocess: an organization’s policies, procedures, and
practices for pursuing a software-intensive line of business;
the focus is on organizational economics, and long-term
strategies.
 Macroprocess: the project’s policies, procedures, and
practices for producing a complete software product within
certain cost, schedule, and quality constraints.
 Microprocess: a project team’s policies, procedures, and
practices for achieving an artifact of the software process.
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Core project management activities
 Identify requirements
 Address the various needs, concerns, and expectations of
the stakeholders in the project
 Establish active, effective, collaborative communications
among the stakeholders
 Manage stakeholders towards meeting project requirements
and creating project deliverables
 Balance the competing project constraints, including: scope,
quality, schedule, budget, resources, and risks
Paraphrased from: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)–Fifth Edition Project
Management Institute, 2013.
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Software Project Trade-offs
What is the goal?
 Balance the main three (other 2 constraints scope and
resource) … in order to:
 Stay within the budget (cost)
 Deliver on time to gain market share (time)
 Exceed customer satisfaction (quality)
The time/scheduling hypocrisy
 What can you tell me about the next project, you ask?
 It is due on February 1st tells your manager
 We hold deadlines too dearly. Of course, time to market is
critical
 But what generally happens on projects when you hit that
deadline?
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What makes a project successful?
Successful project management means meeting all three goals
(scope, time, cost) – and satisfying the project’s sponsor.
Trade-off Triangle
 Project constraints: Fast, cheap, good. Choose two.
Also stated as: “On-time, on-budget, high-quality. Choose
two.”
 Reality often ignored in project planning
 Know which of these are
fixed & variable for every project
 Time
 Scope (aka Cost)
 Quality
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Success Metrics
1. On schedule
Requires good: plan; estimation; control
2. Within budget
 Again: planning, estimation & control
3. According to requirements
 Importance of good requirements
 Perception & negotiation critical
4. High quality. May or may not be same as item 3
Only real measure:
Is the customer happy?
Customer satisfaction!!
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Factors in Project Success &
Failure
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Software Crisis
 Many software-related failures: auto-pilot systems, air traffic
control systems, banking systems, IRS.
 On January 15, 1990, the AT&T long-distance telephone
network broke down, interrupting long-distance telephone
services in US for over 8 hours. [Missing break in a
switch statement.]
 On June 4, 1996, the maiden flight of the new and
improved Ariane 5 rocket exploded 37 seconds after liftoff.
 On June 8, 2001, a software problem caused the NYSE
to shut down the entire trading floor for over an hour.
 Many, many, many more.
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What is the problem?
Software Projects have a terrible track record
A 1995 Standish Group study (CHAOS) [see notes] found that only
16.2% of IT projects were successful in meeting scope, time, and cost
goals (on-time & on-budget) [Things have improved a bit since.]
Over 31% of IT projects were canceled [never seeing completion],
costing over $81 billion in the U.S. alone
They never worked
Too late for the market window
Most projects are
Late in delivery
Missing functionality
Have major defects (bugs)
Did not do what the customer wanted
Hard to maintain and support
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The Standish Group’s CHAOS Report (2001)
 Standish compiles and publishes a periodic survey on the
success and failure rates of IT projects
 These statistics date from 2001–however, based on more
recent complementary reports, these numbers have
remained fairly stable over the years:
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Average IT project schedule overrun: 163%
Average IT project cost overrun: 145%
Actual deliverable functionality compared to plan: 67%
IT projects judged a success: 26%
Lost value from marginal and failed projects: $75 billion
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Chaos Report 2012
Project Success: Type 1. The project is completed on-time and onbudget, with all features and functions as initially specified. (2012:
39%)
Project Challenged: Type 2. The project is completed and operational
but over-budget, over the time estimate, and offers fewer features
and functions than originally specified. (2012: 43%)
Project Impaired:
Type 3.
The project is canceled
at some point
during the
development cycle.
(2012: 18%) (Are ALL
impaired
projects failures???)
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What Went Right? – Improved Project
Performance
 The Standish Group’s CHAOS studies show improvements
in IT projects in the past decade
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Why the Improvements?
"The reasons for the increase in successful projects vary. First,
the average cost of a project has been more than cut in half.
Better tools have been created to monitor and control
progress and better skilled project managers with better
management processes are being used. The fact that
there are processes is significant in itself.” *
*The Standish Group, "CHAOS 2001: A Recipe for Success"
(2001).
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What is the problem?
Ever-Present Difficulties
 Few guiding scientific principles
 Few universally applicable methods
 As much people problems as technological
 managerial / psychological / sociological
 Sponsors unwilling to spend money for supposedly
unrewarding activities
 Quality
 Organizational rivalries
 Time pressure
 Cost pressure
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Why do IT projects fail?
 Requirements, requirements, requirements
Requirements are unclear, incomplete, or the project management
methodology does not accommodate changing requirements
effectively
 Lack of user involvement
 A disengaged or absentee user (~customer) is an invitation for
project problems or outright failure
 Often the result of a lack of business and IT integration
 Unrealistic expectations (including unrealistic time frame expectations)
 Closely related to/result of ‘Lack of user involvement’
 “How hard can it be?” attitude of business and technical
management
 Overly optimistic ‘can do’ attitude at all levels
☛ It is the project management team’s responsibility to educate users
in the realities of the project
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Why do IT projects fail?
 Lack of planning
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You cannot achieve any goal without planning
Proper approach to planning in a complex project must be adaptive:
big planning up front is a waste of time and gives a false sense of
security
Related issues: Perceived rush to get started; overconfidence
 Unclear (or lack of) vision and/or objectives
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The project vision must be established as one of the first steps in
project planning
The vision for a project should be short, concise, and laser-sharp:
the ‘elevator statement’ format is most effective
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Why do IT projects fail?
36 Classic Mistakes
 Anti-Patterns [see notes for citation]
 Seductive Appeal: good reason for decisions at the time
 Types
 People-Related
 Process-Related
 Product-Related
 Technology-Related
 Gilligan’s Island
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People-Related Mistakes Part 1
 Undermined motivation
 Weak personnel
Weak vs. Junior
Uncontrolled problem employees
Heroics
Adding people to a late project
Lack of match between people and needs
 Incompetent or over competent
 Culture clash
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People-Related Mistakes Part 2
 Noisy, crowded offices
 Customer-Developer friction
Unrealistic expectations
 Lack of user input
Politics over substance
Lack of effective project sponsorship
Lack of stakeholder buy-in
Wishful thinking
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Process-Related Mistakes Part 1
 Optimistic schedules
Omitting necessary tasks from estimates
 Planning to catch-up later
 Code-like-hell programming
 Insufficient risk management
 Contractor failure
 Insufficient planning
 Abandonment of plan under pressure
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Process-Related Mistakes Part 2
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Wasted time during fuzzy front end
Shortchanged upstream activities
Inadequate design
Shortchanged quality assurance
Insufficient management controls
Frequent convergence
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Product-Related Mistakes
 Requirements gold-plating
Gilding the lily
Feature creep
Developer gold-plating
 Beware the pet project
Push-me, pull-me negotiation
Research-oriented development
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Technology-Related Mistakes
 Silver-bullet syndrome
 Overestimated savings from new tools and methods
Fad warning
 Switching tools in mid-project
 Lack of automated source-code control
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What Helps Projects Succeed?*
1. Executive support
2. User involvement
3. Experienced project
manager
4. Clear business
objectives
5. Minimized scope
6. Standard software
infrastructure
7. Firm basic
requirements
8. Formal methodology
9. Reliable estimates
10.Other criteria, such
as small milestones,
proper planning,
competent staff, and
ownership
*The Standish Group, “Extreme CHAOS,” (2001).
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Four Project Dimensions
Four Project Dimensions (The 4 P’s)
 People — the most important element of a successful
project
 Product — the software to be built
 Process — the set of framework activities and software
engineering tasks to get the job done
 Project — all work required to make the product a reality
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People
“It’s always a people problem”
– Gerald Weinberg, “The Secrets of Consulting”
 Developer productivity: 10-to-1 range

Teams 3 (or 5) to 1 difference
 Improvements:
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Team selection
Team organization
Motivation
 Other success factors
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Matching people to tasks
Career development
Balance: individual and team
Clear communication
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Process
 Is process stifling?
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2 Types: Management & Technical
Development fundamentals
Quality assurance
Risk management
Lifecycle planning
Avoid abuse by neglect
Customer orientation
Process maturity improvement
Rework avoidance
Goals
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cut time-to-market
Improve quality
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Product
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The “tangible” dimension
Product size management
Product characteristics and requirements
Feature creep management
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Technology
 Often the least important dimension
 Language and tool selection
 Value and cost of reuse
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Planning
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Determine requirements
Determine resources
Select lifecycle model
Determine product features strategy
Tracking
 Cost, effort, schedule
 Planned vs. Actual
 How to handle when things go off plan?
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Measurements
 To date and projected
Cost
 Schedule
 Effort
 Product features
 Alternatives
 Earned value analysis
 Defect rates
 Productivity (ex: SLOC)
 Complexity (ex: function points)
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Technical Fundamentals
Assumed Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
 Requirements
 Analysis
 Design
 Construction
 Quality Assurance (aka Testing)
 Deployment
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Software Project Management
Fundamentals
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Formal Project Management
Advantages of Using Formal Project Management
 Better control of financial, physical, and human resources
 Improved customer relations
 Shorter development times
 Lower costs
 Higher quality and increased reliability
 Higher profit margins
 Improved productivity
 Better internal coordination
 Higher worker morale (less stress)
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Less “death marches”
Less overworked personnel
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Getting organized
So, … now what?
 Who is involved?
 Stakeholders
 What do they want done?
 Charter, vision, requirements
 Who do we have available to do the work?
 Resources and staffing
 How do we do this?
 Project planning, WBS
 How much will it cost
 Estimating
 When will it be finished?
 Scheduling
 What can possibly go wrong?
 Risk Management
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Summary of essential points
 Projects and operations have both similarities and
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differences
Complex projects exhibit highly contingent behavior, are
unpredictable, and face complex risks
Virtually all IT projects should be considered complex
projects
Complex project management requires integration of
significant sociological, psychological, and technical skills
The factors contributing to project success and failure are
reasonable well-known
This course discusses ways to achieve project success
factors
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Next Class
Topic:
Projects & System Development Life Cycles: Software project
management overview and Project organization; Software process;
Phases for software project management; Project management tools
Reading:
Gartner Reports:
» Waterfalls, Products and Projects: A Primer to Software
Development Methods by Matthew Hotle (Gartner document ID:
G00155147)
» 'Just Enough Process' for Applications by Matthew Hotle (Gartner
document ID: G00145561)

PMP Study Guide: Chapter 1, 2
Assignment:

Assignment 1: Three to four page case study of a project failure: the
FBI VCF.
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Journal Exercises
 Discuss the factors that lead to project success.
 Just what is project success?
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