PRESENTATION ON:
SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT
DONE BY:
ANJAR AKRAM 15600114003
SOUVICK CHANDA 15600115044
DEBAYAN CHAKRABORTY 15600115009
Software project management
Concerned with activities involved in ensuring
that software is delivered
on time
within the budget
in accordance with the requirements
Project management is needed because software development is
always subject to budget and schedule constraints
Set by the development organisation or the customer
Software management distinctions
The product is intangible
The product is uniquely flexible
The product is uniquely complex
Software engineering is not recognized as an
engineering discipline with the same status as
mechanical, electrical engineering, etc.
The software development process is not
standardised
Many software projects are “one-off” projects
Management activities
Proposal writing
Project planning and scheduling
Project costing
Project monitoring and reviews
Personnel selection and evaluation
Report writing and presentations
Project staffing
May not be possible to appoint the ideal people to work on a
project
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 (as is currently the case) there is an international
shortage of skilled IT staff
Project planning
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
Beware of grumbling developers
Various different types of plan may be developed to support
the main software project plan that is concerned with
schedule and budget
Types of project plan
Plan Des cription
Quality plan Des cribes the quality pro cedures and
s tandards that will be us ed in a pro ject.
Validation plan Des cribes the approach , resources and
s chedule u sed for sys tem v alidation.
Configuration Des cribes the config uration manag emen t
man agement plan pro cedures and structures to be us ed.
Maintenan ce plan Predicts the mainten ance requirements of
the s ystem, mainten ance cos ts and effort
required.
Staff development plan. Des cribes how the skills and exp erience o f
the pro ject team members will b e
developed.
Activity organization
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
ACT IVITIES
Feasibility Requir ements Prototype Design Requir ements
study analysis development study specification
Feasibility Requir ements Evaluation Architectural Requir ements
report definition report design specification
MILESTONES
Project scheduling
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
Identify Identify activity Estimate resources Allocate people Create project
activities dependencies for activities to activities charts
Software Activity charts
requirements and bar charts
Scheduling problems
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
Risk management
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.
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
Software risks
Risk Risk type 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 which is essential for the
project will not be delivered on
schedule.
Requirements change Project and There will be a larger numb er of
product changes to the requirements than
anticipated.
Specification delays Project and Specifications of essential interfaces
product are not available on schedule
Size underestimate Project and The size of the system has been
product underestimated.
CASE t ool under- Product CASE t ools which support the
performance 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.
The risk management process
Risk identification – Identify project, product and
business risks
Risk analysis – Assess the likelihood and consequences
of risks
Risk planning – Draw up plans to avoid/minimise risk
effects
Risk monitoring – Monitor the risks throughout the
project
Risk Risk analysis Risk planning Risk
identification monitoring
List of potential Risk avoidance Risk
Prioritised risk and contingency
risks list assessment
plans
Key points
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 that continue
throughout the course of a project
A project milestone is a predictable state where
some formal report of progress is presented to management.
Risks may be project risks, product risks or business risks
Risk management is concerned with identifying risks that may
affect the project and planning to ensure that these risks do not
develop into major threats
THE END
