Software Project Management

P r o j ec t Man ag em en t - I N T RODUC T I ON

 A project is a temporary attempt undertaken to create a unique product or service. A project in business
and science is a collaborative enterprise, frequently involving research or design, that is carefully
planned to achieve a particular aim
 Project Management Institute (PMI), has defined Project Management as “the application of
knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the
requirements of a particular project.”
 The ability to deliver projects on schedule, on budget, and aligned with business goals is key to gaining
an edge in today’s highly competitive global business environment. This is where project managers
come in.
 What is a Project?

A Project is a series of activities and tasks that:

1. Have a specific tasks and activities to be completed with certain
objectives.
2. Have a defined start and end dates
3. Have funding limits (if applicable)
4. Consume Resources

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 Typical Project Structure

Project
Definition
Project
Monitoring
Project
Planning

Project Project
Implementation Evaluation

Project
Adjustment 4
 Project Life Cycle

Resources and Effort

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5

Conceptual Advanced Detailed Project Project
Design Development Design Implementation Termination

•Goals •Plan •Define •Manage •Closeout

•Scope •Budget Responsibility •Measure •Document
•Baseline •Schedule •Team •Control •Suggest
•Requirements •Management •Organization •Update and Improvements
•Feasibility Commitment Structure Modify Plan •Reassign
•Desirability •Detailed Plan •Problem Solve •Dissolve Project
•Kickoff Team
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 Successful Projects

A successful project is one which achieves the following objectives:

– Completed On Time
– Completed Within Cost
– Meets Performance Criteria
– Minimum Disruption of the Main Work of the Organization
– Effective Utilization of Available Resources

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 The Triple Play of
Project Management

Time Cost

Constraints

Performance

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Reasons for Project Failures
 Major reasons for project runaways
 unclear objectives
 bad planning
 no project management methodology
 new technology
 insufficient staff
 All of these relate to project management
 Effective project management is key to successfully executing a project
Activities of project management
 Project management primarily focuses on planning, managing and organizing the available resources
 Major activities of project management are:
 Planning Project and Tracking Project
 Estimation of cost
 Estimation of Schedule
 Managing Human Resource
Planning /tracking Project
 Plan how the project will be executed, (ie. the process to be followed)
 Process will decide the tasks, their ordering, milestones
 Plan the team and human resources
 Plan the activities, deliverables and schedule
 Tracking project means:
 How long will it take to develop the system?
 How much will it cost to develop the system?
 Are we working according to the schedule and planned activities?
 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is an important Techniques for planning activities and tasks
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
 Dividing complex projects to simpler and manageable tasks is the process identified as Work Breakdown
Structure (WBS).
 Usually, the project managers use this method for simplifying the project execution.
 In WBS, much larger tasks are broken down to manageable chunks of work. These chunks can be easily
supervised and estimated.
 These smaller chunks and tasks are distributed among team according to their skill and expertise.
Construction of WBS
 Identifying the main deliverables of a project is the starting point for deriving a work breakdown
structure.
 Once this step is completed, the subject matter experts start breaking down the high-level tasks into
smaller chunks of work.
 In the process of breaking down the tasks, one can break them down into different levels of detail. One
can detail a high-level task into ten sub-tasks while another can detail the same high-level task into 20
sub-tasks.
 Therefore, there is no hard and fast rule on how you should breakdown a task in WBS.
 We can decompose System of tasks in multiple ways
1- Deliverable Based
2- Phase Based
Forms of WBS
 Tree structure
 List / Tables
Examples
Examples
Examples
Estimation of Schedule
 Divide the project into smaller activities or tasks and estimates the duration that each task or activity
will take.
 Technique for schedule estimation
 Critical Path Method (CPM)
 Gantt chart
 Building the house
Step 1: Prepare
the site

Activity 1.1: Survey the land

Activity 1.2: Request permits

Example: Steps and activities to Activity 1.3: Excavate for the foundation

Activity 1.4: Buy materials

build a house Step 2: Building

the exterior

Activity 2.1: Lay the foundation

Activity 2.2: Build the outside walls

Activity 2.3: Install exterior plumbing

Activity 2.4: Exterior electrical work

Activity 2.5: Exterior siding

Activity 2.6: Paint the exterior

Activity 2.7: Install doors and fixtures

Activity 2.8: Install roof

Step 3: Finishing
the interior
Activity 3.1: Install the interior plumbing

Activity 3.2: Install interior electrical work

Activity 3.3: Install wallboard

Activity 3.4: Paint the interior

Activity 3.5: Install floor covering

Activity 3.6: Install doors and fixtures

 1.1. Survey complete
1.2. Permits issued
1.3. Excavation complete
Milestones 1.4. Materials on hand
2.1. Foundation laid
2.2. Outside walls complete
2.3. Exterior plumbing complete
2.4. Exterior electrical work complete
2.5. Exterior siding complete
2.6. Exterior painting complete
2.7. Doors and fixtures mounted
2.8. Roof complete
3.1. Interior plumbing complete
3.2. Interior electrical work complete
3.3. Wallboard in place
3.4. Interior painting complete
3.5. Floor covering laid
3.6. Doors and fixtures mounted
GANTT CHART
Gantt Chart
Purpose: Your team members are constantly sending you Slack messages asking you to remind them of
deadlines.
Your client won’t stop emailing you, asking who’s responsible for what part of the project, and when.
GANTT CHART
The top of the
chart shows
the time frame
and the left
side of the
chart lists the
project
activities
In short, a Gantt chart shows:
1.What tasks need to be done to complete the project
2.When these tasks need to be done
3.It lets you set the order in which tasks should be completed.

A Gantt chart is the perfect way to manage tasks between

multiple teams as all the information is in one place, in a
crystal-clear format.
GANTT CHART