Chapter 5 Project management

1. Chapter 5 Project management

2. Project management : Is Organizing, planning and scheduling software projects

3. Topics covered • Management activities • Project planning • Project scheduling • Risk management

4. Software project management • Concerned with activities involved in ensuring that software is deliveredon time and on schedule and in accordance with the requirements of the organizations 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 organization developing the software.

5. Software engineering distinctions (differences) (which can make the software management difficult) • The product is intangible (can’t be seen or touched), the managers can’t see the progress of product. • The software development process is not standardized as buildingengineering, the process varies from organization to another • Many software projects are 'one-off‘: each project is different from previous others, even the manager who have a long experience may find it difficult to solve he problem in new software project, Because of rapid technological change in computer . Lessons learned or experienced may not be transfer to new project.

6. 5.1 Management activities It is difficult to put standards for software project’s managers, the ob of manager varies depending on the product being developed and organization. Most managers have these responsibilities: • Proposal writing, objectives of project and how it will be carried out. It include cost and scheduleestimates. • Project planning and scheduling, identifying activities, milestone and deliverable produced by project. • Project costing, cost estimation for resources needed to a accomplish the project plan . • Project monitoring and reviews, it is a continuing activities which can predict potential problems, and track the progress of the project. Such as daily discussion with project staff. • Personnel selection and evaluation, select a skilled personal . • Report writing and presentations, write a report with critical informationto client and contractor , present this report duringprogress review.

7. Project staffing • May not be possible to appoint يوظف the ideal people to work on a project because of: • Project budget may not allow for the use of highly-paid staff • Staff with the appropriate experience may not be available • An organization may wish to develop employee skills on a software project • Managers have to work within these constraints.

8. 5.2 Project planning • Probably the most time-consuming project management activity • It is the tasks required to define resources, timelines. • The project plan sets out, the resources available to the project, the work breakdownتجزئة, and schedule for the work

9. 5.2 Project planning, cont… Continuous activity(planning is iterative process) from initial concept through the system delivery.Plans must be regularly changedas new information becomes available, itevolves as the better information becomes available. . Various types of plans may be developed to support the main software project plan that is concerned with: schedule plan budget planquality planvalidation planconfiguration planmaintenance planstaff plan

10. Types of project plan

11. 5.2.1 Project plan structure Most plans should include the following sections: • Introduction, describe objectives and set constraints (budget, time). • Project organization, the way the development team is organized. • Risk analysis, describe possible risks, and the risk reduction strategies. • Hardware and software resource requirements, describe the hardware and the support software required to carry out the development, estimate of the price.

12. Project plan structure, cont.. • Work breakdown, describe the breakdown of the project into activitiesand identifies the milestones and deliverables associated with each activity. • Project schedule, describe the dependencies between activities, estimate time required to reach each milestone and allocation of people to activities. • Monitoring and reporting mechanisms, describe the management reports which should be produced.

13. 5.2.2 Activity organization (milestones and deliverables) • Milestones are the end-point of a process activity, the software process must be broken down into basic activities. • At the end of each milestone there should be a formal output such as a report. • Deliverablesare project results delivered to customers • deliverables are milestones but milestones need not be deliverables. • Milestones are an internal project result used by manager to check project progress that are not delivered to customer

14. Milestones in the RE(Req. Eng.) process or activties

15. 5.3 Project scheduling • Split project into tasks and estimate time and resources required to complete each task • Organize tasks concurrently(simultaneously or side by side) 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 intuitionand experience • schedules must be continually updated as better progress info becomes available.

16. The project scheduling process

17. Scheduling • The maximum a mount of time of any activity is from 8-10 weeks. • The minimum at least 1 week • If it is larger than this , it must be divided.

18. 5.3.1 Bar charts and activity networks • Graphical notationsused to illustrate the project schedule • Show project breakdown into tasks. Tasks should not be too small. They should take about a week or two • Network Activity show task dependencies and the the critical path • Bar charts show schedule against calendar time • The minimum time required to finish the project is called the critical path, which it is the longest path in the activity graph.

19. Task duration and dependenciesExample: T3 start after T1 finish.

20. Activity networkfor example, if T8 is delayed 2 weeks, it will not affect the completion date because it does not lie on critical path.The critical path is: T1 T3 T9 T11T12The minimum days required to complete project is : 8+ 15+ 15+7+10 =55 day

21. Activity timeline

22. Staff allocation

23. 5.4 Risk managementRisk management is concerned with identifying risks and drawing up plans to minimize their effect on a project.What are the top ten risks for this project? For each of the risk, what is the chance that risk will become a problemand what is the impact if it does?

24. Risk management continues.. • A risk is a probability that some adverse(unfavorable) circumstance will occur, such categories are: • Project risks affect schedule or resources. e.g. Loss of an experienced designer • Product risks affect the quality or performance of the software being developed. e.g. the failure of a purchased component. • Business risks affect the organization developing or procuring the software e.g. a competitor introducing a new product All risk types are overlap : if an experienced programmer leave the project (project risk) replacement with new one with less experience will result in programming errors (product risk)

25. Possible Software risks

26. The risk management process (iterative 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 minimize the effects of the risk • Risk monitoring • Monitor the risks throughout the project

27. The risk management process

28. 5.4.1 Risk identification Six types of risks that can be found: • Technology risks: Risks derived from Hw + SW • People risks • Tool risks : Risks derived from CASE tool • Organizational risks : from Organization environment • Requirements risks: from Req. Change • Estimation risks: from estimate the resources used to build the system

29. Risks and risk types

30. 5.4.2 Risk analysis • Assessprobability and affectsof each risk • Probability may be very low, low, moderate, high or very high • Risk effects might be catastrophic, serious, tolerable or insignificant

31. Risk analysis

32. 5.4.3 Risk planning • Consider each risk and develop a strategy to manage that risk, these strategies fall into three categories: • Avoidance strategies • The probability that the risk will arise is reduced • E.g. deal with defective component by bought a component. • Minimization strategies • Theimpact of the risk on the project or product will be reduced. E.g. staff illness [ overlap work] • Contingency plans • If the risk arises, contingency plans are plans to deal with that risk, if the worse happens, you are prepared for it. • E.g financial problem

33. Risk management strategies

34. 5.4.4 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

35. 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 processeswhich continue throughout the course of a project

36. Key points • 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 which may affect the project and planning to ensure that these risks do not develop into major threats