Unit 1 - Introduction to

Software Project Management

Sameer Gautam
Agenda
● Software engineering problem and software product
● Software product attributes
● Definition of a Software Project (SP)
● SP Vs. other types of projects activities covered by SPM
● Categorizing SPs
● Project management cycle
● SPM framework
● Types of project plan.

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Software Project
● Project: Some dictionary definitions
○ Oxford dictionary: “a planned piece of work that is designed to find information about something, to
produce something new, or to improve something”
○ “A specific plan or design”
○ “A planned undertaking”
■ Emphasis is on the project being a planned activity
● PMBOK(6th ed.): “A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a
unique product, service, or result”
● Attributes of a project:
○ Unique purpose
○ Temporary
○ Requires resources
○ Should have a primary sponsor and/or customer
○ Involves uncertainty
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Software Project
● Jobs vs Projects

● “Jobs”: repetition of very-well defined and well understood tasks with very little
uncertainty, e.g. routine maintenance tasks
● “Exploration”: the outcome is very uncertain, e.g. finding cure for COVID
● “Projects”: in the middle!
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Software Project
● Characteristics distinguishing projects from “routine tasks”:
○ non-routine tasks are involved;
○ planning is required;
○ specific objectives are to be met or a specified product is to be created;
○ the project has a predetermined time span;
○ work is carried out for someone other than yourself;
○ work involves several specialisms;
○ people are formed into a temporary work group to carry out the task;
○ work is carried out in several phases;
○ the resources that are available for use on the project are constrained;
○ the project is large or complex.

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SP Vs. other types of projects activities covered by SPM
● Are software projects really different from other projects?
○ Not Really!!! … But …
■ Invisibility: With software, progress is not immediately visible.
■ Complexity: Per dollar spent, software products contain more complexity than other engineered
artefacts.
■ Conformity: Software developers have to conform to the requirements of human clients, who
can be inconsistent.
■ Flexibility: Software systems are particularly subject to change.
○ Make software projects more problematic to build than other engineering projects.

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Categorizing SPs
● Projects may differ because of the different technical products to be created.
○ Compulsory versus voluntary users:
■ It is difficult to elicit precise requirements from potential users as we could with a business
system.
○ Information systems versus embedded systems:
■ A traditional distinction has been between information systems which enable staff to carry out
office processes and embedded systems which control machines.
○ Outsourced projects:
■ While developing a large project, sometimes, it makes good commercial sense for a company to
outsource some parts of its work to other companies.
○ Objective-driven development:
■ Projects may be distinguished by whether their aim is to produce a product or to meet certain
objectives.

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Categorizing SPs
● Another way of categorizing software projects:
○ COTS (Commercial Off-The Shelf) Software Projects
■ Buy a solution rather than build it
■ Less expensive, faster results
■ Risk: dependent on vendors
○ Software Enhancement Projects: This often occurs when a company has built a solution themselves at
some point in the past.
■ Enhance in-house existing solution
■ Risk: Little documentation = more development time
○ New Build Software Project: Scratch Development
■ Built to meet your business needs
■ Strong communication needed
■ Need to fully understand the problem

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Project management framework
● Maps out the methods, processes, tasks, resources and tools needed to take the
project from beginning to end.
● Typically broken into three parts: project lifecycle, project control cycle and tools &
templates.

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Project management framework
● Project Lifecycle

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Project management framework
● Project Lifecycle
○ Initiation:
■ Research, planning, coordinating with both stakeholders, brainstorming ideas and interviewing
customers/stakeholders/partners/manufacturers for input.
■ The focus of the initiation stage should be to identify which key components are required to put
the project into action.
○ Planning:
■ Those planning the projects should determine who specifically will be involved in the projects,
which teams, and plan out progress milestones and success benchmarks.
■ Risk analysis and management should be addressed in detail.
○ Execution:
■ The project kicks off!!!
○ Management:
■ Monitor, review and report all updates—particularly at each milestone—to key stakeholders.

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 Project management framework
● Project Lifecycle
○ Review:
■ Project leaders and team members involved will look back and analyze what went well in the
project, any setbacks/hiccups that came up, and discuss how they can be improved with all
relevant stakeholders, customers and manufacturing partners.

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 Project management framework
● Project Control Cycle
○ Involves the active monitoring and management of the project.
○ Key functions of this component include:
■ managing and mitigating risks, tracking progress across teams and team members, and
communicating project status with external stakeholders.
○ Furthermore, communications channels across different teams and projects are opened.
○ The project control cycle has five of its own stages.
■ Stage 1: drafting the initial plan, for teams involved in the project to follow.
■ Stage 2: monitoring project progress across the involved teams.
■ Stage 3: evaluate actual progress and compare it to what progress was planned to be completed
by that time.
■ Stage 4: identify if progress has deviated at all from the original plan and analyze the
implications if so.
■ Stage 5: If necessary, corrective action should be taken to steer the project back in the right
direction.
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 Project management framework
● Project Control Cycle

Goal Setting

Measuring
Corrective

Progress
action
Actual vs
Planned
performance
Gap analysis
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 Project management framework

● Tools and Templates

○ Offer ready-made structure to organizations looking to implement project management frameworks.
○ Some popular PM frameworks:
■ Agile
■ Waterfall
■ Scrum
■ Kanban
■ PRINCE2
■ Six Sigma
■ Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)
■ Critical Path Method (CPM)
○ The actions in a framework can either be sequential—ideal for a waterfall methodology—or
simultaneous, which a kanban board can support.

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 Project management framework

● Tools and Templates

○ Kanban

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 Project management framework

● Benefits

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 Project plan

● A project plan is a series of formal documents that define the execution and control
stages of a project.
● The project management plan defines how the project is executed, monitored and
controlled, and closed.
● The project management plan’s content varies depending on the application area and
complexity of the project.
● The project management plan may be either summary level or detailed.
● Each component plan is described to the extent required by the specific project.

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 Project plan

● Project management plan components include but are not limited to:
○ Scope management plan: Establishes how the scope will be defined, developed, monitored,
controlled, and validated.
○ Requirements management plan: Establishes how the requirements will be analyzed, documented,
and managed.
○ Schedule management plan: Establishes the criteria and the activities for developing, monitoring, and
controlling the schedule.
○ Cost management plan: Establishes how the costs will be planned, structured, and controlled.
○ Quality management plan: Establishes how an organization ́s quality policies, methodologies, and
standards will be implemented in the project.
○ Risk management plan: Establishes how the risk management activities will be structured and
performed.

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Project plan

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