Software Project Management

Lecturer: USMAN MURAD (MSCS)

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 Software Project Management
• Concerned with activities involved in ensuring
that software is delivered on time and on
schedule and in accordance with the
requirements of the organisations developing
and procuring the software.
• Project management is needed because
software development is always subject to
budget and schedule constraints that are set
by the organisation developing the software.
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 Success criteria
• Deliver the software to the customer at the
agreed time.
• Keep overall costs within budget.
• Deliver software that meets the customer’s
expectations.
• Maintain a happy and well-functioning
development team.

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Software Management distinctions
• The product is intangible.
– Software cannot be seen or touched. Software project
managers cannot see progress by simply looking at the artefact
that is being constructed.
• Many software projects are 'one-off' projects.
– Large software projects are usually different in some ways from
previous projects. Even managers who have lots of previous
experience may find it difficult to expect problems.
• Software processes are variable and organization specific.
– We still cannot reliably predict when a particular software
process is likely to lead to development problems.

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 Management Activities
• Proposal writing
– The first stage in a software project may involve writing a
proposal to win a contract to carry out an item of work. The
proposal describes the objectives of the project and how it
will be carried out.
• Project planning and Scheduling
– Project managers are responsible for planning. estimating
and scheduling project development and assigning people
to tasks.
• Project Cost
– Estimating the resources required to complete the project
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 Management Activities
• Project Monitoring and Reviews
– Ongoing process to keep track of the progress of the
project and compare actual and planned progress and costs
• People management
– Project managers have to choose people for their team and
establish ways of working that leads to effective team
performance
• Report writing and Presentations
– Project managers are usually responsible for reporting on
the progress of a project to customers and to the managers
of the company developing the software.
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 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.
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 Examples of common project, product, and
business risks
Risk Affects Description
Staff turnover Project Experienced staff will leave the project before it
is finished.
Management change Project There will be a change of organizational
management with different priorities.
Hardware unavailability Project Hardware that is essential for the project will not
be delivered on schedule.
Requirements change Project and product There will be a larger number of changes to the
requirements than anticipated.
Specification delays Project and product Specifications of essential interfaces are not
available on schedule.
Size underestimate Project and product The size of the system has been underestimated.

CASE tool Product CASE tools, which support the project, do not
underperformance perform as anticipated.
Technology change Business The underlying technology on which the system
is built is superseded by new technology.
Product competition Business A competitive product is marketed before the
system is completed.

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 The risk management process
• Risk identification
– Identify project, product and business risks;
• Risk analysis
– Assess the likelihood and consequences of these
risks;
• Risk planning
– Draw up plans to avoid or minimise the effects of
the risk;
• Risk monitoring
– Monitor the risks throughout the project;
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The risk management process

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 Risk identification
• May be a team activities or based on the
individual project manager’s experience.
• A checklist of common risks may be used to
identify risks in a project
– Technology risks.
– People risks.
– Organisational risks.
– Requirements risks.
– Estimation risks.
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 Examples of different risk types
Risk type Possible risks
Technology The database used in the system cannot process as many transactions per
second as expected. (1)
Reusable software components contain defects that mean they cannot be
reused as planned. (2)
People It is impossible to recruit staff with the skills required. (3)
Key staff are ill and unavailable at critical times. (4)
Required training for staff is not available. (5)
Organizational The organization is restructured so that different management are responsible
for the project. (6)
Organizational financial problems force reductions in the project budget. (7)
Tools The code generated by software code generation tools is inefficient. (8)
Software tools cannot work together in an integrated way. (9)
Requirements Changes to requirements that require major design rework are proposed. (10)
Customers fail to understand the impact of requirements changes. (11)
Estimation The time required to develop the software is underestimated. (12)
The rate of defect repair is underestimated. (13)
The size of the software is underestimated. (14)

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 Risk analysis
• Assess probability and seriousness of each
risk.
• Probability may be very low, low, moderate,
high or very high.
• Risk consequences might be catastrophic,
serious, tolerable or insignificant.

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 Risk types and examples
Risk Probability Effects

Organizational financial problems force reductions in the Low Catastrophic

project budget (7).
It is impossible to recruit staff with the skills required for the High Catastrophic
project (3).
Key staff are ill at critical times in the project (4). Moderate Serious
Faults in reusable software components have to be repaired Moderate Serious
before these components are reused. (2).
Changes to requirements that require major design rework Moderate Serious
are proposed (10).
The organization is restructured so that different High Serious
management are responsible for the project (6).
The database used in the system cannot process as many Moderate Serious
transactions per second as expected (1).

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 Risk types and examples

Risk Probability Effects

The time required to develop the software is High Serious

underestimated (12).
Software tools cannot be integrated (9). High Tolerable
Customers fail to understand the impact of requirements Moderate Tolerable
changes (11).
Required training for staff is not available (5). Moderate Tolerable
The rate of defect repair is underestimated (13). Moderate Tolerable
The size of the software is underestimated (14). High Tolerable
Code generated by code generation tools is inefficient (8). Moderate Insignificant

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 Risk planning
• Consider each risk and develop a strategy to
manage that risk.
• Avoidance strategies
– The probability that the risk will arise is reduced;
• Minimisation strategies
– The impact of the risk on the project or product
will be reduced;
• Contingency plans
– If the risk arises, contingency plans are plans to
deal with that risk;
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 Strategies to help manage risk

Risk Strategy
Organizational financial Prepare a briefing document for senior management
problems showing how the project is making a very important
contribution to the goals of the business and presenting
reasons why cuts to the project budget would not be cost-
effective.
Recruitment problems Alert customer to potential difficulties and the possibility of
delays; investigate buying-in components.
Staff illness Reorganize team so that there is more overlap of work and
people therefore understand each other’s jobs.
Defective components Replace potentially defective components with bought-in
components of known reliability.
Requirements changes Derive traceability information to assess requirements
change impact; maximize information hiding in the design.

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 Strategies to help manage risk

Risk Strategy
Organizational Prepare a briefing document for senior management
restructuring showing how the project is making a very important
contribution to the goals of the business.
Database Investigate the possibility of buying a higher-performance
performance database.
Underestimated Investigate buying-in components; investigate use of a
development time program generator.

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 Risk monitoring
• Assess each identified risks regularly to decide
whether or not it is becoming less or more
probable.
• Also assess whether the effects of the risk
have changed.
• Each key risk should be discussed at
management progress meetings.

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 Risk indicators

Risk type Potential indicators

Technology Late delivery of hardware or support software; many reported
technology problems.
People Poor staff morale; poor relationships amongst team members; high staff
turnover.
Organizational Organizational gossip; lack of action by senior management.

Tools Reluctance by team members to use tools; complaints about CASE

tools; demands for higher-powered workstations.
Requirements Many requirements change requests; customer complaints.

Estimation Failure to meet agreed schedule; failure to clear reported defects.

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