02 Software Project Planning

Applied Software Project Management
Applied Software Project

Management
Software Project Planning
http://www.stellman-greene.com 1 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

Who needs software?

Most software is built in organizations for
people with specific needs.
A stakeholder is anyone who has an interest (or
stake) in the software being completed
A user is someone who will need to use the
software to perform tasks.
Sometimes stakeholders will be users; but often
the stakeholder will not use the software.
• For example, a senior manager (like a CEO or CTO in a
company) will usually have a stake in the software that is
built (since it affects the bottom line), even if she won’t
ever use it.

Who builds software?

Software is typically built by a team of
software engineers, which includes:
Business analysts or requirements analysts who
talk to users and stakeholders, plan the behavior
of software and write software requirements
Designers and architects who plan the technical
solution
Programmers who write the code
Testers who verify that the software meets its
requirements and behaves as expected

Project Management
The project manager plans and guides the
software project
The project manager is responsible for identifying
the users and stakeholders and determining their
needs
The project manager coordinates the team,
ensuring that each task has an appropriate
software engineer assigned and that each
engineer has sufficient knowledge to perform it
To do this well, the project manager must be
familiar with every aspect of software engineering

Identifying Needs
The project manager drives the scope
of the project.
The project manager should identify and
talk to the main stakeholder
The effective way to show stakeholders
that their needs are understood and that
those specific needs will be addressed is
with a vision and scope document

Vision and Scope Document

The scope of a project usually refers to the features
that will be developed and the work that will be done
to implement those features.
It often also includes an understanding of the

features that will be excluded from the project
By controlling the scope, the project manager can

make sure that all of the software engineers’
activities are directed toward building software that
will fulfill the needs of the stakeholders.


The “vision” part of the vision and scope document
refers to a description of the goal of the software.
All software is built to fulfill needs of certain users

and stakeholders.
The project manager must identify those needs and

write down a vision statement (a general statement
describing how those needs will be filled).


A typical vision and scope document follows an
outline like this one:
1. Problem Statement
a) Project background
b) Stakeholders
c) Users
d) Risks
e) Assumptions
2. Vision of the Solution

a) Vision statement
b) List of features
c) Scope of phased release (optional)
d) Features that will not be developed

Project Plan
The project plan defines the work that will be done on
the project and who will do it. It consists of:
 A statement of work (SOW) that describes all work products
that will be produced and a list of people who will perform
that work
 A resource list that contains a list of all resources that will be
needed for the product and their availability
 A work breakdown structure and a set of estimates
 A project schedule
 A risk plan that identifies any risks that might be encountered
and indicates how those risks would be handled should they
occur

Project Planning…
Planning is one of the most important
management activities and is an ongoing
effort throughout the life of the project.
Software project management begins with a
set of activities that are collectively called
Project Planning.

Project Planning Objectives

The objective of software project planning is
to provide a framework that enables the
manager to make reasonable estimates of:
• Resources
• Cost, and
• Schedule
These estimates are made within a limited
time frame at the beginning of a software
project and should be updated regularly as
the project progresses.
Statement of Work
The statement of work (SOW) is a detailed
description of all of the work products which
will be created over the course of the project.
It includes:
A list of features that will be developed
A description of each intermediate deliverable or
work product that will be built.
The estimated effort involved for each work
product to be delivered

Resource List
The project plan should contain a list of all
resources that will be used on the project.
A resource is a person, hardware, room or
anything else that is necessary for the project but
limited in its availability
The resource list should give each resource a
name, a brief one-line description, and list the
availability and cost (if applicable) of the resource

Estimates and Project Schedule

The project plan should also include estimates and a
project schedule:
 A work breakdown structure (WBS) is defined. This is a list
of tasks which, if performed, will generate all of the work
products needed to build the software.
 An estimate of the effort required for each task in the WBS is
generated.
 A project schedule is created by assigning resources and
determining the calendar time required for each task.
Estimates and project schedules will be discussed in

detail in later slides.

Risk Plan
A risk plan is a list of all risks that threaten the
project, along with a plan to mitigate some or
all of those risks.
The project manager selects team members to
participate in a risk planning session:
• The team members brainstorm potential risks
• The probability and impact of each risk is estimated
• A risk plan is constructed

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Applied Software Project Management

Applied Software Project

http://www.stellman-greene.com 1 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

Who needs software?

http://www.stellman-greene.com 2 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

Who builds software?

http://www.stellman-greene.com 3 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

http://www.stellman-greene.com 4 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

http://www.stellman-greene.com 5 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

Vision and Scope Document

It often also includes an understanding of the

By controlling the scope, the project manager can

http://www.stellman-greene.com 6 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

Vision and Scope Document

All software is built to fulfill needs of certain users

The project manager must identify those needs and

http://www.stellman-greene.com 7 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

Vision and Scope Document

2. Vision of the Solution

http://www.stellman-greene.com 8 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

http://www.stellman-greene.com 9 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

http://www.stellman-greene.com 10 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

Project Planning Objectives

http://www.stellman-greene.com 12 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

http://www.stellman-greene.com 13 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

Estimates and Project Schedule

Estimates and project schedules will be discussed in

http://www.stellman-greene.com 14 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

http://www.stellman-greene.com 15 Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

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