Software Project Management
Project Management
Before we dive into it, we need to know what the terms “Project Management” mean and from this we can derive our definition.
Project
A project is a specific finite task to be accomplished that results in a deliverable or product
Management
All activities and tasks undertaken for the purpose of planning and controlling the activities to achieve a specific objective.
Project Management
Application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to meet project requirements.
Not forgetting how will al this be managed and by who, lets see some of the stake holders involved.
Project Stakeholders
- Project team
- Sponser
- suppliers
- users
- Support staff
For a project to be successful there are prerequisites that need to be met.
Management Prerequisite
- Project planning
- Project Resource Management
- Estimation Management
- Project Risk Management
- Scheduling Management
All these activities are headed by an individual, a project manager, lets see who he is and what he does.
Project manager
A project manager is a character who has the overall responsibility for the planning, design, execution, monitoring, controlling and closure of a project.
Responsibilities that a project manager shoulders:
- Managing People
- project leader
- Liaison with stakeholders
- Managing human resources
- Managing Project
- Monitoring progress and performance
- Risk analysis at every phase
- Managing project management activities
- Create the project team and assigns tasks to several team members.
Project planning
Software project planning is task, which is performed before the production of software actually starts.
Project Resource Management
Project Resource Management: In software Development, all the elements are referred to as resources for the project. It can be a human resource, productive tools, and libraries.
Resource management includes:
- Create a project team and assign responsibilities to every team member.
- Adjustment of resources.
- Determining resources required at a particular stage and their availability.
Project Estimation Management
For an effective management accurate estimation of various measures is a must. With correct estimation managers can manage and control the project more efficiently and effectively.
Project estimation may involve the following:
- Effort estimation
- Time estimation
- Cost estimation
Project Risk Management
Risk management consists of all the activities like identification, analyzing and preparing the plan for predictable and unpredictable risks in the project.
Risks may include the following:
- Experienced staff leaving the project and new staff coming in.
- Change in organizational management.
- Requirement change or misinterpreting requirement.
- Under-estimation of required time and resources.
- Technological changes
Risk Management Process
- Identification - note all possible risks, which may occur in the project.
- Categorize - Categorize known risks into high, medium and low risk intensity as per their possible impact on the project.
- Manage - Analyze the probability of occurrence of risks at various phases. Make plan to avoid or face risks.
- Monitor - Closely monitor the potential risks and their early symptoms. Also monitor the effects of steps taken to mitigate or avoid them.
Project Scheduling Management
Project Scheduling in a project refers to roadmap of all activities to be done with specified order and within time slot allotted to each activity.
Steps for scheduling a project:
- Break down the project tasks into smaller, manageable form
- Find out various tasks and correlate them
- Estimate time frame required for each task
- Divide time into work-units
- Assign adequate number of work-units for each task
- Calculate total time required for the project from start to finish