Software Project Management

1. Software Project Management Don F. Erwin Buffalo State College Buffalo, New York, USA Part 3 – Communication, Leadership, IT Governance

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 Managing Stakeholders’ Expectations Risk Management Project Communication Leadership in Software Project Management IT Governance Other???

4. Tailoring the Approach 1. Analyze Situation Where were we? • Stakeholder Analysis • Risk Assessment 2. Develop Approach • Strategy • Organization • Feedback (De Baar)

5. Project Communication • Develop a Communication Plan • Based on Stakeholder Analysis and Risk Assessment • Define who needs to be informed • What? • When? • Who does the actual communicating? • Product – DevelopersBut the PM assures the communication is taking place • Process - PM (De Baar)

6. Sample Communication Schedule

7. Requirements • How to get requirements from users’ heads into the final product? • Requirements development is very difficult • Remember the 1:10:100 rule • Challenges • Basic human communication issues • Processes will change with the new system • Not a Project Management task, but assuring its quality is (De Baar)

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

9. Gathering Quality Requirements • Expect requirements to change over time • Stakeholders Change Mind • Project Team Interprets Requirements Differently Than Intended by Stakeholder • “Forgotten” Requirements Pop Up • Changes in the Project Surroundings Affect Project • So… • Be aware of that fact and prepare for it • Feedback will identify changes required • Even the “I’ll Know It When I See It (IKIWISI)” method needs a first cut (De Baar)

10. Getting the Best Possible Requirements • Just ask… • Workshop / Interview • Tailor to the project and the stakeholders’ interests • Educate the stakeholders on how their part fits into the big picture • Satisfy everyone? • Probably not • Some have no interest in project success, but don’t let them disturb the process. (De Baar)

11. Prepare for Requirements Gathering • Checklist (Not an agenda…) • General Information (title, place, and time) • Purpose • Scope • Subjects • Controversy • Strategy • Result • Participants • Roles • Tools • Feedback/Follow-up • Agenda (De Baar)

12. Conduct the Workshop • Getting Information • Ask • Be stupid • Ask what you already know/be incorrect • Repeat • Ask how and why five times • Don’t forget assumed requirements (uptime, performance, modern UI) (De Baar)

13. Conduct the Workshop • Formulate the Requirements • Can’t satisfy everyone, but try to reach consensus by the end of the workshop. • Associate people’s names with requirements (ownership/responsibility) • Group related requirements together • Get participant approval • Establish priorities among requirements • Document process issues that come up separately from product issues (De Baar)

14. Document the Requirements Finite Requirements or User Stories Formal or Informal Structured or Free Format Can be easier, but takes more time to get it right Better if more iterations are planned (De Baar)

15. Communication Types Conspiracy Collaboration • Guarded • “Loose lips sink ships” • Keep what is known secret • Exclusive • Meet “behind closed doors” • Good old boys club • Win/Lose • Individual growth • Open • Encourage word-of-mouth • Discover what is NOT known • Inclusive • “Always an open seat at the table” • Networked relationships • Win / Win • Organization/Industry growth Defined as Transparency Result (De Baar)

16. Win-Win Communication Problem: Heavy-handed use of towel dispenser distracting to lady on other side of wall • Win-Win Approach: • Men get their towels • Lady gets her quiet

17. Process Requirements • Cost • What are the drivers behind the stated cost constraints? • Fixed cost: be sure you know what you want • Time & Materials: be sure you can end the project •  Time • Man-months are for cost estimating, not time estimating • Have those doing the work give the estimate (for ownership) • Scope • Change control process (De Baar)

18. Process Requirements • Selling your Approach • Plan as best you can • Estimate what you don’t know (with disclaimers) • Relate everything back to business priorities • Emphasize the triple constraint • Iteration and feedback increase Time, Cost and Quality (De Baar)

19. Product Feedback • Managing expectations • Communication is influenced by people’s interpretation • Feedback helps get to common interpretations • Why feedback? • Validation • Reassure Stakeholders • Reduces Risk of Miscommunication (De Baar)

20. Product Feedback • How? • Verbal, cheap, easy, but hard to refer to • Written, takes time, no one likes to read of lot of text • Mock-up, takes time, usually throw-away, but great for getting message across • So, consider: • The audience • The time it is needed (temporary or permanent/contractual) • Cost of feedback (is it acceptable within the triple constraint?) (De Baar)

21. Requirements to Design • Design addresses “how” • Designs are ‘build-to” specs, but stakeholders want to see where their requirements are going… • A design is a medium to explain how the requirements will be translated in the real world. • Often considered by techies as “their” document. (De Baar)

22. PM Role in Design • Project Manager needs to make sure that techies communicate their interpretations of requirements to stakeholders in a timely manner • Be aware of the need to do it • Design choices should not be based solely on technical know-how • Take more time that you think, spend it on communicating • As PM, encourage communication, and follow up with stakeholders to verify info was effectively communicated. • Document decisions, including the arguments for the decision • Map design elements to requirements; sort by stakeholder for ease in presentation • Designers need to be prepared to start over (iterative process) • Get agreements in writing; people pay more attention to their agreements (De Baar)

23. More Product Feedback • Pilots and Prototypes • Use them to give/get feedback • But throw them away after the lesson is learned • Build time for this into your project • Benchmarks • Benchmarks provide a measure to compare actual products to • Benchmarks can be created as part of a pilot (De Baar)

24. More Product Feedback Testing • Technical • What works • What does it break • Iterative • Functional • “Software is like a banana. It ripens at the customer’s house…” • Plan for it in advance • Provides final feedback and acceptance (De Baar)

25. Change Management • A major part of PM role (Integration Management) • Different ways to address change • Don’t allow it • Set up a process for managing change (De Baar)

26. Process Feedback • Time, Cost, Quality and Scope • Statement on either Project Progress or Status • Consider • Frequency • Medium (written/verbal) • Level of Detail • Goal: Address feedback in terms of stakes, not numbers • Be creative in negotiating progress on budget and schedule (De Baar)

27. Process Reporting • Schedule • Gannt Chart is not the project plan • But many people relate to it • Therefore it is a good tool for reporting status of the project (De Baar)

28. Process Reporting • Budget • Gather all expected costs / Provide a summary • Estimating time required • Let the programmers do it • PM needs to temper programmer estimates with experience and other realities • Understand the critical path • Get agreement • Challenge of getting agreement from programmers • Don’t change their estimates • Estimate At Completion (EAC) • Know when to say the project is no longer viable. (De Baar)

29. Project Manager as Leader • Your Job: • Get people who may not like each other to work together. • Convince people who believe they can not do something to do it – well. • Motivate people who may not be interested in seeing the project be successful. • Do it OTOBOS (On Time, On Budget, On Scope). • Make your boss look good. • Stay sane…

30. Project Manager as Leader 5 Ways to Be A Naturally Visible Leader Don’t demand recognition, inspire it. When your team hits a big milestone, commend them publicly. Recognize individuals that go out of their way to help you. When someone doesn’t credit, don’t react in indignation, fix it. Demonstrate your knowledge by contributing and commenting in any forum. (Henak)

31. Creating the Right Environment ‘The Fifth Discipline’4 and SW Project Management • Personal Mastery • Know/Develop Personal skills • Why do you do what you do? • Mental Models • Our favorite vs. actuality • Different models help to understand others • Models affect reality • Systems Thinking • Focus on interrelationships among components • Look at processes of change to form conclusions Individual Disciplines (De Baar)

32. Creating the Right Environment ‘The Fifth Discipline’4 and SW Project Management • Shared vision • Establish initial vision • Transform initial vision to shared vision • Team learning • Insightful thinking on issues is complex • Coordinated action on specific tasks • Encourages other teams to participate Group Disciplines (De Baar)

33. Creating the Right Environment • Why ? • It is a lot of effort, personally and for the team • It takes time away from the project(s) • Not everyone is as excited about this stuff as you are… • Because… • You’ll have to work with the same people on other projects (hopefully) • Common language/methods are more productive • Team members will enjoy the work, take pride in product

34. Frames of Leadership3 Metaphor Central Concept Image of Leadership Basic Leadership Challenge Structural Factory or Machine Rules, Roles, Technology, Environment Social Architecture Match Structure to Task, Technology… Human Resource Family Needs, Skills, Relationships Empowerment Align Org & Human Needs Political Jungle Power, Conflict Competition, Politics Advocacy Develop Agenda & Power Base Symbolic Carnival, Theatre Culture, Ceremony, Stories, Heroes Inspiration Create Faith, Beauty, Meaning

35. Expanding Managerial Thinking3 How Managers Typically Think How Managers Might Think Limited view of Organizations (e.g. problems attributed to individuals’ errors). Encourage inquiry into a range of issue, people, power, structure, symbols. Often choose rational solutions: facts, logic, restructuring. Consider an array of options, e.g. celebration as well as organizing. Value certainty, rationality, control; Fear ambiguity, paradox, “going with the flow”. Develop creativity, risk taking, playfulness in response to life’s dilemmas. Find the right question as well as the answer. Rely on one “right” answer; surprised by resistance. Commitment to principle combined with flexibility in understanding and responding to events.

36. Leadership Frames in SW Project Management • Projects usually mean something will change • End users: New product, new process… • Developers: New tools, new processes… • Functional Team: Day job as well as project duties, two bosses… • During periods of change, focus on Political and Symbolic frames • Political: Build support, allay fears, communicate • Symbolic: Set examples, demonstrate other successes, make it fun!

37. Frames of Leadership3 Metaphor Central Concept Image of Leadership Basic Leadership Challenge Structural Factory or Machine Rules, Roles, Technology, Environment Social Architecture Match Structure to Task, Technology… Human Resource Family Needs, Skills, Relationships Empowerment Align Org & Human Needs Political Jungle Power, Conflict Competition, Politics Advocacy Develop Agenda & Power Base Symbolic Carnival, Theatre Culture, Ceremony, Stories, Heroes Inspiration Create Faith, Beauty, Meaning

38. Sum It Up • Stakeholders define how the project will perform • Project management is about people, not technology, schedules, processes, etc. • A different approach for every project (De Baar)

39. IT Governance Refer to presentation: Project Management 2. Portfolio Management By Craig Brown http://www.slideshare.net/craigwbrown/the-project-management-process-week-2/ (Start at page 66…)

40. 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. • Henak, Brandon. "5 Ways to Be A Naturally Visible Leader." NewlyCorporate.com. 23 July 2008. Newly Corporate. 26 Aug 2008 <http://newlycorporate.com/2008/07/23/6-ways-to-be-a-naturally-visible-leader/>. • Brown, Craig. “Project Management – 2. Portfolio Management" SlideShare.com. 17 Aug 2008. BetterProjects.net. 7 Aug 2008 <http://www.slideshare.net/craigwbrown/the-project-management-process-week-2>.