Software Project Management

1. Software Project Management Don F. Erwin Buffalo State College Buffalo, New York, USA Part 2 – Software PM, Stakeholders, Risk Management

2. Survey What are the top 5 issues you need to solve on your software project? The difficulties in estimations (budget, schedule, etc.) Wrong assumptions Customer changing mind How to manage client expectations Not enough qualified resources

3. Overview We Plan to Cover: Project Management Basics Project Management on Software Projects Stakeholder Management Risk Management Project Communication Leadership in Software Project Management IT Governance Other???

4. Project Management on Software Projects What is unique about Software Projects? Management Methods Developing the Right Approach Focus on Stakeholders Focus on Risk Management Project Communication

5. Project Management on Software Projects Software projects are different from other projects • Address unique business processes • Stakeholders are often passionate about current business practices • Stakeholders often have preconceptions about the final product • Designers/Developers often work more closely with end users

6. Management Methods Project Management Methods examples • Project Management Institute (PMI) Framework • Prince2 Development Methods • Plan-Driven • Predictive • Pre-planned • Inflexible • Agile • Adaptive • Iterative • Flexible • Ad-hoc • “Cowboy Coding” • Little planning • Undisciplined

7. Management Methods Project Management Methods Development Methods Software Project Managers need to have knowledge of both to be effective (De Baar)

8. Developing the Right Approach 1. Analyze Situation • Stakeholder Analysis • Risk Assessment 2. Develop Approach • Strategy • Organization • Feedback Iterative approach Involve Stakeholders early Focus on Risks (De Baar)

9. Developing the Right Approach • Strategy • Steps to be taken, sequence, time frame • Organization • Who, roles, relationships • Feedback • Communication to stakeholders on status of products and processes (De Baar)

10. Developing the Right Approach Advantages of Iterative Approach • Solidify as things become clearer • Focuses on stakeholders and their needs • Explicitly documents decisions (De Baar)

11. Developing the Right Approach Tailor the approach at start-up Involve stakeholders Avoids the “not-invented-here” syndrome Those who have to do the work know best what it will take and what the risks are likely to be (De Baar)

12. Introducing Process to the Organization • New projects (usually) mean new processes • Start simple and add process as required • Involve Stakeholders… • Adding too much process, can add risk to the outcome of the project • Visibility is key (transparency) • Schedules • Budgets • Results • Issues • Changes Feedback (De Baar)

13. Stakeholders • Who are they? • Direct (involved in the project) • Indirect (affected by the outcome of the project) • Internal (work for the organization) • External (Do not work for the organization) • Chickens or pigs? • How to identify them • Identified by the Project Sponsor • Identified by the Stakeholders • Self-identified

14. Stakeholders • All stakeholders have something to say • Customers want it for free • Users want it to have great functionality • Programmers don’t want to document and want to use the latest technology • Stakeholders drive the Software PM Process • Negative affects • Positive affects • The human element is hard to predict • Understanding stakeholders’ expectations / abilities / attitudes is critical (De Baar)

15. Stakeholders • The software project manager must be a negotiator and leader. • Must understand and be comfortable with organization’s “politics” (good and bad). • Requirements can change. (Stakeholders’ interests do not) • Need to understand the stakes (interests) that drove the expectations and requirements. • First PM responsibility is to reassure stakeholders that they are heard and that their interests are taken care of. • PM must continually communicate with stakeholders (even bad news…) (De Baar)

16. The Flow of Stakes Interests Expectations recorded by have communicate ProjectManagement Stakeholders negotiated to changes Feedback Requirements communicated (De Baar)

17. Your Stakes • You are a stakeholder • Understand if you can work the project before it is too late to get out • Be willing to say no (De Baar)

18. Stakeholder Analysis • Stakeholder identificationWho are the stakeholders? • Stakeholder expectations and interestsWhat are the expectations and the interests of the stakeholders? • Stakeholder influence and role in the projectHow should they be involved in the project to have the best possible outcome? (De Baar)

19. Stakeholder Analysis Just ask… What are your expectations of the project? What is the purpose or mission of the project team? What benefits are there likely to be? Just phrase the question as boldly as you can. This indicates what the stakeholder thinks is the goal of the project. What does the stakeholder have to gain from the project? (De Baar)

20. Stakeholder Analysis Just ask… • What are your top priorities? • What resources are you willing to commit / reluctant to commit? • Do you expect some conflict of interest? • How do you regard other stakeholders on the list? Are there any conflicts with other issues? How important is the project for this stakeholder? This indicates the level of commitment and participation. Has the stakeholder something to lose in the project? Can you expect some struggles between certain stakeholders? (De Baar)

21. Stakeholder Analysis Just ask… What outcome is needed and/or expected from the project? When should the team’s work be completed? What milestones do you expect? To whom does the team report and how often? This gives you explicit expectations about the project results. This gives you explicit expectations about project process. Who’s calling the shots? Look for the real hierarchy. (De Baar)

22. Stakeholder Analysis Just ask… What is the business case for the project? What organizational policies influence the project? What are your experiences with similar projects (personally and/or departmentally)? This indicates the expectations for the business. Policies can be regarded as expectations of the organization. History determines one’s current expectations. (De Baar)

23. Stakeholder Analysis Stakeholder analysis provides: A list of all the stakeholders An idea about each stakeholder’s relative importance and influence Insight into what stakeholders want out of the project Insight into what makes stakeholders tick An idea about whether stakeholders will work against or for the project (De Baar)

24. Stakeholder Analysis • Helps you Develop the Project Approach • Strategy • Organization • Feedback What is the other thing that helps you develop the Project Approach?

25. Risk Management • Facts of Project Life • Projects are full of uncertainty • Things you don’t know • Things you don’t realize you don’t know • Risk Management • A structured approach to handle uncertainties • Risk • Likelihood of occurrence • Effect if it occurs • Action • Cost (De Baar)

26. Risk Management • Risk as a Positive thing? • Risk management helps assure desired outcome of the project • Scale to size of project, but always do it • Stakeholder involvement in Risk Analysis • Extremely important • Provides a means for them to feel ownership • Identifies risks that management/development team may not think of (De Baar)

27. Risk Management Methods • Checklists • For Example, SEI structured checklist for Software** • Provides major areas to think about • Product Engineering • Development Environment • Program Constraints • Questionnaires provide specific questions to ask • The goal is to get the team to think about any area that could jeopardize the project (De Baar) ** http://www.sei.cmu.edu/

28. Risk Management Methods Risk Matrix High Likelihood Low High Effect

29. Risk Management Plan • Write it down • Process is important, and so is the document • Helps you to make decisions when you are in the middle of a crisis (risk realized) • Review it often (Top Ten) • Use checklists to identify risks • Weight risks by some method, e.g. matrix • Write down the cost of effect of the risk • Develop a plan for what you will do if the risk is realized

30. Risk Management Example • Approaches to responding to risks include : • Deflection (transferring the risk to another party) • Control (minimize the effect) • Retention (accept the consequences) • Avoidance (reject the risk; do nothing) • Probability guidelines: • Very Likely 70-100% A = 3 • Probable 40-70% A = 2 • Unlikely 0-40% A = 1 • Impact guidelines for scope, cost, schedule, or quality • Catastrophic B = 3 • Critical B = 2 • Marginal B = 1

31. Risk Management Example

32. Risk Management • Helps you Develop the Project Approach • Strategy • Organization • Feedback (De Baar)

33. Tailoring the Approach 1. Analyze Situation • Stakeholder Analysis • Risk Assessment 2. Develop Approach • Strategy • Organization • Feedback (De Baar)

34. Tailoring the Approach • Strategy • Increments • Iterations • Phases • Organization • Feedback Business Priorities Uncertainties (Risks) Insight into Interests (Stakeholder Analysis) (De Baar)

35. Uncertainties and Priorities • Dealing with Uncertainty • Predictable • Unpredictable, but resolvable • Un-resolvable • Proactive Solutions • Make them clear as fast and early as possible • Make sure your solution and project structure has the flexibility to cope with the uncertainties • Passive Solution • Do nothing… (Cockburn in De Baar)

36. The Strategy • Keep it simple and logical • Sequence for defining strategy • Set a clearly-defined goal • Determine the scope • Adjust the project according to the outcome of the previous step • Execute the remainder of the project (De Baar)

37. The Strategy • Based on Business Priorities and Risks will you choose: • A plan-driven method with fewer, bigger releases? • An Agile approach with smaller releases which better refine the product? • In many cases, some of each • Iterations to get feedback to cover uncertainties • Increments to satisfy the business needs for speed (De Baar)

38. Strategy Options Definitions5 Iteration: A period in which a number of predefined tasks are performed. The results are evaluated to feed back to the next iteration. Increment: A period in which some functionality is completed to a production-quality level. Release: Some coherent set of completed functionalities that is useful and usable to the intended users of the system. (De Baar)

39. The Project Organization • Stakeholder Analysis influences Project Organization • Project Organizations are usually temporary • Keep them as small as possible (based on stakeholder analysis) • Find ways to address those that want to be involved but do not add value (De Baar)

40. The Project Organization • Develop The Organization Chart • Work Groups • Help communication and control through group or team leaders • By specialization or product • Assumes responsibility and accountability for leaders • Take culture into account • Steering Committee may be involved to authorize spending, schedule/ scope changes, business practices changes, etc. • Consider type as it relates to PM considerations

41. Making the Organization Work • Relate to the people in the boxes, not the boxes! • Feedback, Feedback, Feedback • Product • Process That takes us to the next subject: Feedback (De Baar)

42. List of Works Cited • Project Management Institute (PMI), Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). 3rd ed. 2004. • De Baar, Bas. Surprise! Now You're a Software Project Manager. 1st ed. Lakefield, Ontario: Multi-Media Publications, 2006. • Bolman, Lee, and Terrence Deal. Reframing Organizations. 3rd ed. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003. • Denge, Peter. The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization. 1st ed. USA: Doubleday Publishing, 2006. • Aguanno, Kevin. Managing Agile Projects. Ed. Kevin Aguanno. Lakefield, Ontario: Multi-Media Publications, 2005.