Resourcing Projects
Chapter 8
Contemporary Project Management
Kloppenborg
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
At the end of this chapter…
• Identify resource needs for a project.
• Assign a resource to each activity in a project
schedule.
• Show resource assignments on a project
schedule.
• Describe methods of resolving resource conflicts
• Resource level a project with deadlines imposed
resource limitations.
• Compress a project schedule using crashing
and fast tracking
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter
Vignette
Schawk, Inc.
• Key challenge for product manufacturers is
bringing products to market
• This challenge is thwarted by global projects
• Schawk has adapted by integrating strategic,
creative, and executional capabilities
• Brand point management helps companies
create compelling, consistent brand experiences
across brand touchpoints
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Technical Abilities Needed when
Resourcing Projects
Estimate
resource
demands
Assign one
or more
persons to
each
activity
Create a
staffing
management
plan
Compress
a project
schedule
Identify when a
person is
assigned too
much work at
a point in time
Schedule a
project with
limited
people/reso
urces
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Behavioral Abilities Needed when
Resourcing Projects
• Select the right people
• Identify exactly what
each needs to
accomplish
• Ensure performance
capability
• Deal with difficult
individual work
schedules
• Schedule overtime
when there are
conflicts
• Estimate the amount
of work required to
complete an activity
• Assemble an effective
team
• Deal with people from
diverse backgrounds
• Decide where each
person will work
• Establish effective
virtual relationship
Key Resourcing Considerations
1. Help key people develop necessary skills.
2. Consider project tradeoffs and precedences
3. Understand resource limitations to prevent over
promising.
4. People are often a very large portion of total
project cost.
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Activity vs. Resource Dominated
Schedule Basis Comparison
Estimate Resource Needs
• How many resources of each type and skill or
knowledge level are needed.
• Consider support needs such as information
systems and human resources
• Consider constraints placed upon how people
are hired, scheduled, and released
Estimate activity resources– “the process of
estimating the types and quantities of resources required
to perform each scheduled activity.” PMBOK® Guide
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Create a Staffing Management
Plan
• Identify potential resources
• Determine resource availability
• Decide timing issues
Staffing management plan – “the document that
describes when and how human resource requirements
will be met.” PMBOK® Guide
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Identify Potential Resources
• Work functions…job titles and range of
responsibilities
• Professional discipline…degrees and professional
certifications
• Skill level…experience and performance ratings
• Physical location…willingness to relocate and
travel
• Organizational/administrative unit…costs and
contractual issues
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Identify Potential Resources
Available People
Specific
skill gaps
Resource needs
Available
vs
needed
• Identify an adequate number and mix of people
• Core team should participate in chartering the
project
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Identify Potential Resources
Key subject
matter
experts
(SMEs)
Equally
available
opportunities
Opportunity
options
Available People
Resource needs
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Determine resource availability
•
•
•
•
Identify availability of people
Secure commitment
Full and part time resources
Internal vs external resources
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Timing Issues with Resourcing Projects
• When to bring people on board
• Get the team functioning effectively
– Consider interpersonal relationships
– Establish training needs
– Clarify roles and responsibilities
• Plan for keeping the team motivated and on
schedule
• When to reward and recognize the project team
• When and how to release project participants
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Staffing Management Plan Issues
• How the project planners will identify potential
people for the project
• How they will determine which people are
available and secure their services
• How to deal with timing issues of building up and
then releasing the project workforce.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Project Team Composition Issues
Outsourcing
Crossfunctional
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Assign a Resource to each Activity
• Show resource responsibilities on RACI chart
• Show resource assignments on Gantt Chart
• Summarize resource responsibilities with
histogram
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Show Resource Responsibilities
on RACI Chart
• Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)
• RACI is a form of RAM
• RACI – Responsible, Approve, Consult, Inform
WBS
The work
breakdown
structure
Activity
Project activities
that correspond to
the WBS
Who1?
Who will be
involved
Who2?
May be more than
one person
Responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) – “a structure that
relates the project organizational breakdown structure to the
work breakdown structure … each component of the project’s
scope of work is assigned to a person or team.” PMBOK®
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Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
Guide
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Partial RACI Chart Example
Positions Needing training
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Show Resource Assignments on
Gantt Chart
• Person responsible for each activity is listed next
to the activity in the Gantt Chart Schedule
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Summarize Resource Responsibilities by
Time Period With Histogram
• Add up demands for each worker at each time
period
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Dealing with resource overloads
• Identify which activities are involved
• Compare resource histogram to the Gantt Chart
Schedule
• Project scheduling software pinpoints when
overloads occur for each worker
• Management decisions required to solve the
problem
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Partial Schedule and Resource
Histogram Example
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Methods of Resolving Resource
Overloads
• Assign certain activities to other workers
• Split an activity into two activities
– Perform 1st part as scheduled
– Delay 2nd part of activity
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Methods of Resolving Resource
Overloads
• Reorder the activities
• Acquire or borrow additional resources
• Reduce project scope or extend project
schedule
• Inform the sponsor of severe overloads
• Resource level the overloaded person’s
schedule
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Resource Leveling
• Delay activities so the person doesn’t perform as
many activities at the same time (most common)
• Delay non-critical activities by an amount no
more than their slack
• Allow the project to slip – reduces peak demand
and smoothes the period to period resource
usage
Resource Leveling – “any form of schedule network
analysis in which scheduling decisions … are driven by
resource
constraints.”
PMBOK®
Guide
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Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.
May not be scanned,
copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Resource Leveling Example
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Partially Leveled Resource Schedule
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Resource Leveling
• If non-critical activities must be completed at the
rate of effort in the original schedule, reassign
activities to another worker
• Resource leveling is a combination of art and
science
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Traditional critical path scheduling
problems
• People make conservative duration estimates
• There is a great deal of variation in durations of
some activities
• Project workers tend to use all of the time
available to them
• Workers are asked to multi-task to keep multiple
projects moving
• Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)
addresses these problems
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Compress the Project Schedule
• Actions to reduce the critical path
• Crashing
• Fast tracking
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Actions to Reduce the Critical
Path
• Reduce the project
scope and/or quality.
• Overlap sequential
activities
• Partially overlap
sequential activities
• Increase the number
of work hours/days
• Schedule activities at
the same time.
• Shorten the duration
of critical activities.
• Shorten activities by
assigning more
resources.
• Shorten activities that
cost the least to
speed up.
Compress the project schedule
• Crashing may cost more money to speed up the
schedule
• Fast tracking may increase the risk to speed up
the schedule
Crashing – “a specific type of project schedule
compression technique… performed by taking action to
decrease the total project duration…how to get the
maximum schedule duration for the least additional
cost.” PMBOK® Guide
Fast Tracking – “a specific project schedule
compression technique that changes network logic to …
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perform
schedule
in parallel.” PMBOK® Guide
to a publicly
accessible website,
in wholeactivities
or in part.
Crashing
• Certain activities are performed at a faster than
normal pace
Which
activities are
on the critical
path?
Which critical
path activity
costs the least
on a per day
basis to speed
up?
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Crashing
Example Set
Up
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Crashing Example – After Round 1
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Crashing Example – After Round 2
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Crashing Example – in “All-Crash” Mode
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Crashing Consideration Questions
• How fast can the project be completed?
• To crash the project one day, what activity would be
crashed and what would it cost?
• To crash the project two days, what activities would be
crashed and what would it cost in total?
• If there is a bonus of $125 per day for finishing early,
what would I crash and how fast would I get done?
• If there is a bonus of $225 per day for finishing early,
© 2012
Cengage
Learning.
All
Rights Reserved.
May not
be scanned,
copied
or duplicated,
or posted
what
would
I
crash
and
how
fast
would
I
get
done?
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Fast tracking
• Activities normally performed in series are performed at
the same time
Alternative Scheduling Methods
•
•
•
•
•
Critical chain
Reverse phase
Agile
Methods are not mutually
Auto/manual
exclusive
Rolling wave
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Critical Chain Project Management
(CCPM)
• AKA critical chain method
• Incorporates calculations on resource availability
into predecessor-successor relationships
• The resource most in demand is identified
• Efforts are made to keep that resource
appropriately busy on critical chain activities
Critical chain method – “a schedule network analysis
technique that modifies the project schedule to account
for limited resources.” PMBOK® Guide
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
CCPM Components
• Avoid multi-tasking
• Estimate how quickly each activity can be
completed
• Put a feeding buffer of time directly in front of
critical chain activities
• Put the time normally reserved for the
uncertainty in each individual activity at the end
of the project as a total project buffer
• Finish activities early if possible
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Reverse Phase Schedules
• Developed by people closest to the work
• Start with final project deliverables
• Ask what needs to be completed prior to starting
work on this deliverable
• Systematically work from end of the project to
the beginning
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Agile Project Planning
• Collaborative approach with workers and
stakeholders
• Stakeholders want cost, schedule, and
functionality data before approving a project
• Avoid too stringent change control
PM in Action Example
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Auto/Manual Scheduling
• Enables users to emulate MS Excel
• Allows manual scheduling
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Rolling Wave Planning
• Plan first part of the project in detail
• Plan later parts at a high level
• Focus on the near term
Illustration in Chapter 9
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Using MS Project for Resource
Allocation
•
Four steps to understanding resource
limitations using MS Project:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Define resources
Assign resources
Identify over allocated resources
Deal with over allocations.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
1. Define Resources
• Resources available to a project must be
described in the MS Project data base
• Resources may be a single unit or a pool of like
units
• Resources include:
–
–
–
–
–
People
Buildings
Materials
Facilities
Supplies
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Define Resources
• Enter resource information before time of
assignment to a task
• Minimum field requirements for defining
resources
– Name
– Max Units
– If costs are to be modeled
• Rates
• Cost per Use
• Accrue At
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Steps in Defining Resources
1. On the View tab, Resource Views group, click
Resource Sheet.
2. In the first blank row, enter the resource name
in the Resource Name cell.
3. In the Initials cell, enter the initials of the
resource.
4. Click the Max Units cell and enter the
resource’s maximum availability.
5. </NL>
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Max Units Field
• Must be determined before the resource is
assigned to activities
• Defines the availability of a resource for project
work
– Default 100%, but individual resources are not 100%
available
– Availability is something less than the length of the
normal working day
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Max Units Value Considerations
•
•
•
•
What is considered project work?
What is not considered project work (100%Max Units?)
Organizational holidays are accounted for in
the Standard (Project) calendar.
Vacation days are accounted for in each
resource calendar.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Calendars
• Use Base Calendar field is to specify different
project calendars as needed
• Use resource calendars are to block out
vacation days and other resource-specific nonworking days
– Inherit project-wide working day definitions from the
Standard (Project) calendar
– Used to determine when a resource assignment can
be scheduled
– Access the resource by double-clicking on a table row
in a resource view or a resource name in a resource
form
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Resource Information Dialog Box
The Change
Working Time tab
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Step 2. Assigning Resources
•
•
Allocate resources to an activity
Generate assignment information based on
activity information, resource information,
switch settings and data overrides
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Steps to Assigning Resources
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Steps to Assigning Resources
1. On the Task tab, View group, click Gantt Chart.
2. On the View tab, in the Split View group, click on
Details.
3. Right click the form and select Resources and
Predecessors (if not already present.)
4. Right click in the Start column header and enter Work to
add the Work column.
5. In the upper pane, click the activity row needing a
resource assignment.
6. Click the next blank row in the Resource Name column
in the lower pane’s form.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Steps to Assigning Resources
7. Enter the resource name from the drop-down list.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 to add additional resources to the
assignment list.
9. Enter a units value if the Max Units value is not correct
for any assignment.
10. Click the OK button. No assignment is made until the
OK button is clicked.
11. Note that Work is calculated and the activity duration
value did not change.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Data necessary for creating
assignments
•
•
•
•
Duration is the number of time units between
the activity start and end.
Units represent the availability of a resource for
work each day.
Work (assignment) is calculated by multiplying
the Duration value (converted to hours) by the
Units value.
Task Type is a switch that determines which of
three values (duration, units and work) changes
when one of the other two is modified.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Basic Assignment Calculation with
Fixed Units Selected
•
•
•
•
Sum of all the resource assignment work
values
Activity with no resource(s) assigned – Uses
the Duration and Units values to calculate the
assignment work value and sums the
assignment Work values into the activity Work
field.
Activity with one or more resources already
assigned – Project holds the activity Duration
value constant and adjusts the activity Work
value.
Removal of resources works in reverse.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Modifying an Assignment
•
•
Project maintains a relationship among the
Duration, Units, and Work values.
With the Fixed Units as the Task Type:
1. Change the duration and Project will change the
assignment and task work values.
2. Change the task work and Project will change
the duration and assignment work value(s).
3. Change an assignment units value and Project
will change the task duration.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Tips for Modifying an Assignment
• Switch the Task Type setting to Fixed Work.
– File – Options - Schedule page - Fixed Duration.
– Scheduling Options - All New Projects.
• Save original estimated duration value in a userdefined Duration or Work field
– Task - Gantt Chart, right click the Duration column
heading - Insert - Duration1.
– Right click Duration1 - Field Settings – Estimated
Duration
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
3. Finding Over Allocated Resources
• Occurs when a resource is assigned to two or
more activities whose start and finish dates
overlap
• Occurs if an assignment Units value is greater
than the resource’s Max Units value
• Use Level Resources to resolve over
allocations by delaying the start of all but one of
conflicting activity assignments
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Resource Allocation View
1. Task-View-Gantt ChartMore Views…
2. More Views- Resource
Allocation-Edit
3. View Definition-Details
Pane - Detail Gantt.
4. View Definition-Show
5. OK-Apply.
6. Right click Work column
header- Insert Column.
7. Enter Max Units-Enter
8. Add activity Work
column to Leveling
Delay column
9. Right click Resource
Name field header –
View- Data-Outline-Hide
Subtasks.
Resource Usage and Detailed Gantt
Views
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Finding Over Allocated Resources
1. Set the timescale to the start of the schedule.
2. Slowly scroll the timescale toward the end of
the schedule.
3. Analyze each instance of cell values displayed
in red for cause and severity.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4. Dealing with Over Allocations
• Keep Project’s resource leveling function set to Manual
(Resource Leveling dialog box.)
• Protect the schedule’s Critical Path
• Replace an over allocated resource with one that has
time for the assignment.
• Reduce the Units assignment, extending the activity
duration.
• De-scope the activity(ies).
• Remove assigned resources performing little work.
• Use the Leveling Delay task field to delay the start of one
of the conflicting activities – Continue adding delay until
the delay creates a new Critical Path.
• Check the Network Diagram for accuracy – correcting
errors may remove the conflict.
• Ignore the overload if the resource impact is temporary.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Tips for Dealing with Over Allocations
• Note the project finish date, work and cost values.
• Be aware of resource vacation days and organizational
holidays.
• If changing assignments, note the duration and work
values for the task.
• If swapping resources and there is a mix of Units values
among assigned resources, it may be easier to remove
all resource assignments and then re-assign them.
• Try Level Now (Resource Leveling dialog box – Tools
menu) – if the plan is suitable, then go forward (delay is
imposed)
• Work from beginning to end. One fix may break
something else.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Summary
• PM needs to look at the listed activities and estimate the
resources needed to perform each.
• Resource assignments are often posted directly on a
Gantt Chart schedule.
• RACI charts depict work activities on a vertical scale
• Use responsibility histograms to determine overloads
• Use critical path schedule, resource assignments, and
the resource histogram to determine who is overloaded,
at what time, and by what activities.
• Use resource leveling to reduce peak demands by
postponing non-critical activities
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Summary
• Look for methods of accelerating (or compressing) the
project schedule.
– Crashing provides a decision to pay extra money (often in the
form of overtime pay) to speed up certain activities on the critical
path
– Fast tracking allows activities that are normally conducted in
sequence to be overlapped, or performed in parallel
• Alternative scheduling methods include critical chain,
reverse phase, agile, auto/manual, and rolling wave
scheduling
• Project scheduling software such as Microsoft Project is
extremely useful when determining the resources for a
project.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Managing Software Development
with Agile Methods and Scrum
• Holistic approach to managing new product
development (scrum)
• Characteristics:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Built-in instability
Self-organizing project teams
Overlapping development phases
“multilearning”
Subtle control
Organization transfer of learning
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
PM in Action Example
Managing Software Development
with Agile Methods and Scrum
• Attempt to minimize risk via sort time boxes
(iterations or Sprints)
• Time boxes are from one to four weeks
• Scalability is a benefit of this approach
• Ability to re-evaluate priorities incrementally
• ScrumMaster organizes the project – acts as a
productivity buffer between the team and
destabilizing influences
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
PM in Action Example
Scrum Elements
• Dynamic backlog of prioritized work to be
accomplished
• Use of short iterations of Sprints
• Daily Scrum sessions
• Brief planning session to prioritize backlog of
items
• Brief retrospective for reflections about the
Sprint
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
PM in Action Example
Managing Software Development
with Agile Methods
• Teams include all resources necessary to
complete tasks and finish software product
• Metric for progress is working software
• Schedules based on accomplishing Sprints
• Agile methods produce very little written
documentation
• Agile methods are considered to reduce
development time, foster innovation, and
reduce development risk
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
PM in Action Example
Managing Software Development
with Agile Methods
• Teams include all resources necessary to
complete tasks and finish software product
• Metric for progress is working software
• Schedules based on accomplishing Sprints
• Agile methods produce very little written
documentation
• Agile methods are considered to reduce
development time, foster innovation, and
reduce development risk
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
PM in Action Example
Managing Software Development
with Agile Methods
PM in Action Example
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.