Project management
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 1
Objectives
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To explain the main tasks undertaken by project
managers
To introduce software project management and to
describe its distinctive characteristics
To discuss project planning and the planning process
To show how graphical schedule representations are
used by project management
To discuss the notion of risks and the risk management
process
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 2
Topics covered
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Management activities
Project planning
Project scheduling
Risk management
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 3
Software project management
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Concerned with activities involved in ensuring
that software is delivered on time and on
schedule and in accordance with the
requirements of the organisations developing
and procuring the software.
Project management is needed because
software development is always subject to
budget and schedule constraints that are set
by the organisation developing the software.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 4
Software management distinctions
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The product is intangible.
The product is uniquely flexible.
Software engineering is not recognized as an
engineering discipline with the sane status as
mechanical, electrical engineering, etc.
The software development process is not
standardised.
Many software projects are 'one-off' projects.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 5
Management activities
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Proposal writing.
Project planning and scheduling.
Project costing.
Project monitoring and reviews.
Personnel selection and evaluation.
Report writing and presentations.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 6
Management commonalities
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These activities are not peculiar to software
management.
Many techniques of engineering project
management are equally applicable to
software project management.
Technically complex engineering systems tend
to suffer from the same problems as software
systems.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 7
Project staffing
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May not be possible to appoint the ideal people to work
on a project
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Project budget may not allow for the use of highly-paid
staff;
Staff with the appropriate experience may not be
available;
An organisation may wish to develop employee skills
on a software project.
Managers have to work within these constraints
especially when there are shortages of trained staff.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 8
Project planning
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Probably the most time-consuming project
management activity.
Continuous activity from initial concept through
to system delivery. Plans must be regularly
revised as new information becomes available.
Various different types of plan may be
developed to support the main software project
plan that is concerned with schedule and
budget.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 9
Types of project plan
Plan
Description
Quality plan
Describes the quality procedures and standards that will be
used in a project. See Chapter 27.
Validation plan
Describes the approach, resources and schedule used for
system validation. See Chapter 22.
Configuration
manageme nt plan
Describes the configuration management procedures and
structures to be used. See Chapter 29.
Maintenance plan
Predicts the maintenance requirements of the system,
maintenance costs and effort required. See Chapter 21.
Staff
plan.
development Describes how the skills and experience of the project team
members will be developed. See Chapter 25.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 10
Project planning process
Establish the project constraints
Make initial assessments of the project parameters
Define project milestones and deliverables
while project has not been completed or cancelled loop
Draw up project schedule
Initiate activities according to schedule
Wait ( for a while )
Review project progress
Revise estimates of project parameters
Update the project schedule
Re-negotiate project constraints and deliverables
if ( problems arise ) then
Initiate technical review and possible revision
end if
end loop
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 11
The project plan
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The project plan sets out:
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The resources available to the project;
The work breakdown;
A schedule for the work.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 12
Project plan structure
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Introduction.
Project organisation.
Risk analysis.
Hardware and software resource
requirements.
Work breakdown.
Project schedule.
Monitoring and reporting mechanisms.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 13
Activity organization
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Activities in a project should be organised to
produce tangible outputs for management to
judge progress.
Milestones are the end-point of a process
activity.
Deliverables are project results delivered to
customers.
The waterfall process allows for the
straightforward definition of progress
milestones.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 14
Milestones in the RE process
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 15
Project scheduling
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Split project into tasks and estimate time and
resources required to complete each task.
Organize tasks concurrently to make optimal
use of workforce.
Minimize task dependencies to avoid delays
caused by one task waiting for another to
complete.
Dependent on project managers intuition and
experience.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 16
The project scheduling process
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 17
Scheduling problems
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Estimating the difficulty of problems and hence
the cost of developing a solution is hard.
Productivity is not proportional to the number
of people working on a task.
Adding people to a late project makes it later
because of communication overheads.
The unexpected always happens. Always
allow contingency in planning.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 18
Bar charts and activity networks
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Graphical notations used to illustrate the
project schedule.
Show project breakdown into tasks. Tasks
should not be too small. They should take
about a week or two.
Activity charts show task dependencies and
the the critical path.
Bar charts show schedule against calendar
time.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 19
Task durations and dependencies
Activity
Duration (da ys)
T1
8
T2
15
T3
15
T4
10
T5
10
T2, T4 (M2)
T6
5
T1, T2 (M3)
T7
20
T1 (M1)
T8
25
T4 (M5)
T9
15
T3, T6 (M4)
T10
15
T5, T7 (M7)
T11
7
T9 (M6)
T12
10
T11 (M8)
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Dependencies
T1 (M1)
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 20
Activity network
8 day s
1 4 /7 /0 3
15 da y s
M1
T3
T9
T1
5 day s
4 /8/03
T6
M4
2 5 /7 /0 3
4 /7 /0 3
start
15 da y s
M3
2 5 /8/03
M6
7 day s
2 0 day s
15 day s
T7
T2
25 /7 /0 3
10 da y s
M2
T4
T 11
10 day s
T5
5 /9/03
11 /8/03
M7
T 10
1 8 /7 /0 3
M8
15 da y s
10 da ys
T 12
M5
2 5 day s
Finish
T8
19 /9/03
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 21
Activity timeline
4 /7
11 /7
18 /7
2 5 /7
1 /8
8 /8
1 5 /8
22 /8
2 9 /8
5 /9
12 /9
1 9 /9
Start
T4
T1
T2
M1
T7
T3
M5
T8
M3
M2
T6
T5
M4
T9
M7
T 10
M6
T 11
M8
T 12
Finish
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 22
Staff allocation
4 /7
Fred
1 1 /7
18 /7
2 5 /7
1 /8
8 /8
15 /8
2 2 /8
2 9 /8
5 /9
1 2 /9
19 /9
T4
T8
T 11
T 12
Jane
T1
T3
T9
An ne
T2
T6
Jim
M ary
©Ian Sommerville 2004
T 10
T7
T5
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 23
Risk management
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Risk management is concerned with
identifying risks and drawing up plans to
minimise their effect on a project.
A risk is a probability that some adverse
circumstance will occur
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Project risks affect schedule or resources;
Product risks affect the quality or performance of
the software being developed;
Business risks affect the organisation developing
or procuring the software.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 24
Software risks
Risk
Affects
Description
Staff turnover
Project
Experienced staff will leave the project before it is finished.
Management change
Project
There will be a change of organisational management with
different priorities.
Hardware unavailability
Project
Hardware that is essential for the project will not be
delivered on schedule.
Requirements change
Project and
product
There will be a larger numb er of changes to the
requirements than anticipated.
Specification delays
Project and
product
Specifications of essential interfaces are not available on
schedule
Size underestimate
Project and
product
The size of the system has been underestimated.
CASE t ool underperformance
Product
CASE t ools which support the project do not perform as
anticipated
Technology change
Business
The underlying technology on which the system is b uilt is
superseded by new technology.
Product comp etition
Business
A competitive product is marketed before the system is
completed.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 25
The risk management process
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Risk identification
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Risk analysis
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Assess the likelihood and consequences of these
risks;
Risk planning
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Identify project, product and business risks;
Draw up plans to avoid or minimise the effects of
the risk;
Risk monitoring
•
Monitor the risks throughout the project;
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 26
The risk management process
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 27
Risk identification
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Technology risks.
People risks.
Organisational risks.
Requirements risks.
Estimation risks.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 28
Risks and risk types
Risk type
Possibl e risks
Techno logy
The da tabase used in the system canno t process as many transactions per second
as exp ected.
Software componen ts that shou ld be reus ed contain defects that limit their
func tiona li ty.
People
It is im possible to recruit staff wit h the skill s required.
Key staff are ill and unava il able at criti cal tim es.
Required training for staff is not availa ble.
Organ isationa l
The o rgan isation is restructured so that diff erent manag ement are respons ible for
the project.
Organ isationa l f inancial problems force reduc tions in the project budge t.
Tools
The cod e gen erated by CASE tools is i neffi cient.
CASE tools canno t be integrated.
Requi rements
Changes to requirements that require major design rewo rk are proposed .
Customers fail to unde rstand the im pact of requirements change s.
Estim ation
The tim e requir ed to deve lop the software is unde restim ated.
The rate of defect repair is und erestim ated.
The size o f t he software is unde restim ated.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 29
Risk analysis
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Assess probability and seriousness of each
risk.
Probability may be very low, low, moderate,
high or very high.
Risk effects might be catastrophic, serious,
tolerable or insignificant.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 30
Risk analysis (i)
Risk
Probability
Effects
Organ isationa l f inancial problems force reduc tions in
the project budge t.
Low
Catastrophic
It is im possible to recruit staff wit h the skill s required
for the p roject.
High
Catastrophic
Key staff are ill at crit ical tim es in the project.
Moderate
Serious
Software componen ts that shou ld be reus ed contain
defects which li mit their func tion ality.
Moderate
Serious
Changes to requirements that require major design
rework are proposed.
Moderate
Serious
The o rgan isation is restructured so that diff erent
manage me nt are respons ible for the project.
High
Serious
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 31
Risk analysis (ii)
Risk
Probability
Effects
The da tabase used in the system canno t process as
many transactions per second as expec ted.
Moderate
Serious
The tim e requir ed to deve lop the software is
unde restim ated.
High
Serious
CASE tools canno t be integrated.
High
Tolerable
Customers fail to unde rstand the im pact of
requirements change s.
Moderate
Tolerable
Requi red training for staff is not availa ble.
Moderate
Tolerable
The rate of defect repair is und erestim ated.
Moderate
Tolerable
The size o f t he software is unde restim ated.
High
Tolerable
The cod e gen erated by CASE tools is i neffi cient.
Moderate
Insignif icant
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 32
Risk planning
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Consider each risk and develop a strategy to
manage that risk.
Avoidance strategies
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Minimisation strategies
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The probability that the risk will arise is reduced;
The impact of the risk on the project or product will
be reduced;
Contingency plans
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If the risk arises, contingency plans are plans to
deal with that risk;
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 33
Risk management strategies (i)
Risk
Strategy
Organ isationa l
financ ial problems
Prepare a briefing document for senior manage ment
sho wing how th e project is making a very important
contribution to the goa ls of the bus iness.
Recruitm ent
problems
Alert customer of potential difficulti es and the
possibil ity of delays, inves tigate buying- in
componen ts.
Staff illness
Reorgan is e team so that there is more ove rlap of work
and people therefore und erstand e ach other’s jobs.
Defective
componen ts
Replace pot entia lly defective componen ts with bough tin compon ents of known reli abilit y.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 34
Risk management strategies (ii)
Risk
Strategy
Requi rements
chang es
Derive traceabili ty info rmation to assess requ ir ements
chang e im pact, maximi se information hid ing in the
design.
Organ isationa l
restructuring
Prepare a briefing document for senior manage ment
sho wing how th e project is making a very im portant
contribution to the goa ls of the bus iness.
Database
performanc e
Inves tigate the po ssibilit y o f buy ing a high erperformanc e database.
Unde restim ated
deve lopment time
Inves tigate buying in componen ts, inve stigate use of a
progra m gene rator
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 35
Risk monitoring
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Assess each identified risks regularly to decide
whether or not it is becoming less or more
probable.
Also assess whether the effects of the risk
have changed.
Each key risk should be discussed at
management progress meetings.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 36
Risk indicators
Risk type
Potential indi cators
Techno logy
Late delivery of hardware or support software, many reported
techno logy problems
People
Poor staff morale, poor relationsh ips amongst team m ember,
job avail abil ity
Organ isationa l
Organ isationa l gos sip, lack of action by senior ma nage ment
Tools
Reluctance by team m embers to use tools, comp laints about
CASE tools , demands for high er-powered workstations
Requi rements
Many requir ements change reques ts, cus tomer comp la ints
Estim ation
Fail ure to meet agreed schedu le, failure to clear reported
defects
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 37
Key points
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Good project management is essential for project
success.
The intangible nature of software causes problems for
management.
Managers have diverse roles but their most significant
activities are planning, estimating and scheduling.
Planning and estimating are iterative processes
which continue throughout the course of a
project.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 38
Key points
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A project milestone is a predictable state
where a formal report of progress is presented
to management.
Project scheduling involves preparing various
graphical representations showing project
activities, their durations and staffing.
Risk management is concerned with
identifying risks which may affect the project
and planning to ensure that these risks do not
develop into major threats.
©Ian Sommerville 2004
Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 5
Slide 39