Introduction to Software Project Management

   Project Definition:

A project can be defined in many ways :

A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a

unique product, service, or result.” Operations, on the other hand, is work done in organizations to sustain the business. Projects are different from operations in that they end when their objectives have been reached or the project has been terminated. A project is temporary. 

What is Workflow?

Workflow is a sequence of related steps or processes that are necessary to complete a particular task. Often referred to as a business process, workflow moves work from one stage to another until the job is complete. Workflow is happening everywhere all the time.

Going back to the house example, to build a house, you need permits. The “project manager” has to request permission to build on the property, fill out the proper forms, send them back and wait for approval before the building process can begin.

Project Lifecycle

The Project Life Cycle refers to a logical sequence of activities to accomplish the project’s goals or objectives. Regardless of scope or complexity, any project goes through a series of stages during its life. There is first an Initiation or Starting phase, in which the outputs and critical success factors are defined, followed by a Planning phase, characterized by breaking down the project into smaller parts/tasks, an Execution phase, in which the project plan is executed, and lastly a Closure or Exit phase, that marks the completion of the project. Project activities must be grouped into phases because by doing so, the project manager and the core team can efficiently plan and organize resources for each activity, and also objectively measure achievement of goals and justify their decisions to move ahead, correct, or terminate. Let’s take a closer look

at what’s important in each one of these stages:

Fig. Project Life Cycle

1.Planning & Design:

- Satisfies the project sponsor (the person who is providing the project budget), end user, and business requirements.

- Functions as it was intended.

- Can be produced within acceptable quality standards.

- Can be produced within time and budget constraints

2.Execution & Controlling:

Monitoring and Controlling consists of those processes performed to observe project execution so that potential problems can be identified in a timely manner and corrective action can be taken, when necessary, to control the execution of the project. The key benefit is that project performance is observed and measured regularly to identify variances from the project management plan.

Monitoring and Controlling includes:

- Measuring the ongoing project activities (where we are);

-Monitoring the project variables (cost, effort, scope, etc.) against the project management plan and the project performance baseline (where we should be);

- Identify corrective actions to address issues and risks properly (How can we get on track again);

- Influencing the factors that could circumvent integrated change control so only approved changes are implemented

In multi-phase projects, the Monitoring and Controlling process also provides feedback between project phases, in order to implement corrective or preventive actions to bring the project into compliance with the project management plan.

Project Maintenance is an ongoing process, and it includes:

- Continuing support of end users

- Correction of errors

- Updates of the software over time

3.Closure:

Closing includes the formal acceptance of the project and the ending thereof. Administrative activities include the archiving of the files and documenting lessons learned.

This phase consists of:

-Project close: Finalize all activities across all of the process groups to formally close the project or a project phase.

- Contract closure: Complete and settle each contract close each contract applicable to the project or project phase

Work Breakdown Structure

Definition: As per the PMBOK Guide, a Work Breakdown Structure is a “deliverable oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team.”

A Work Breakdown Structure is a visual, hierarchical breakdown of a project into smaller components.

Types of Work Breakdown Structure

The following two types of WBS are most popular in project management:

1.     Deliverable-Based WBS

2.     Phase-Based WBS

Deliverable-Based Work Breakdown Structure

A deliverable-based WBS breaks down the project based on deliverables, such as products, services, or results. 

An example of a deliverable-based WBS is given below:

Fig. Deliverable-Based WBS

Phase-Based Work Breakdown Structure

Many times, you break projects into phases for better management. In such cases, the Work Breakdown Structure will be based on phases.

Here, the final deliverable stays at the top, and the lower level shows five project management phases: initiation, planning, execution, monitor and control, and closure.

An example of phase-based WBS is given below:

Fig. Phased-Based WBS

The 10 Project Management Knowledge Areas

1. Project Integration Management

Project integration management can be simply defined as the framework that allows project managers to coordinate tasks, resources, stakeholders, changes and project variables. Project managers can use different tools to make sure there are solid project integration management practices in place. For example, the project management plan is important for project integration because it works as a roadmap for the project to reach a successful end. Once created, the project plan is approved by stakeholders and/or sponsors before it’s monitored and tracked by the project management team.

2. Project Scope Management

Project scope management is one of the most important project management knowledge areas. It consists of managing your project scope, which refers to the work that needs to be executed in a project. To manage your project scope, you’ll need to build a project scope management plan, a document where you’ll define what will be done in your project.

3. Project Time Management

Project time management involves estimating your project duration, creating a project schedule and tracking the project team’s progress to ensure the project is completed on time. To do so, the first thing to do is to define your project scope to identify the tasks that should go into your project schedule.

Those project tasks are then put in an order that makes sense, and any dependencies between them are noted. These dependencies are then determined to be either finish-to-start (FS), finish-to-finish (FF), start-to-start (SS) or start-to-finish (SF). This is mostly for larger projects.

4.Project Cost Management

This project management knowledge area involves estimating project costs to create a project budget. To do so, you’ll need to use cost-estimating tools and techniques to make sure that the funds cover the project expenses and are being monitored regularly to keep stakeholders or sponsors informed. 

5. Project Quality Management

A project can come in on time and within budget, but if the quality isn’t up to standard, then the project is a failure. This means that quality management is one of the most critical project management knowledge areas. Your project management plan should include a quality management plan section that specifies the quality control and quality assurance guidelines for your project.

6. Project Human Resource Management

The project team is your most important resource, so it’s crucial to assemble the best team and make sure they’re happy. But also you need to track their performance to ensure that the project is progressing as planned. A human resource management plan identifies the roles and requirements for those positions, as well as how they fit into the overall project structure. After you’ve determined the job descriptions, it’s time to fill those positions and acquire a project team. This can be done in-house by drawing from other departments in the organization, getting new hires or a combination of both. The team needs development, possibly training and other things that’ll make them viable for the project

7. Project Communications Management

All knowledge areas of project management are important, but communication management might be paramount as it informs every aspect of the project. Communications inform the team and stakeholders, therefore the need to plan communications management is a critical step in any project.

It’s at this point that the dissemination of communications is determined, including how it’s done and with what frequency. Target who needs what and when. Also, note how communications will occur when issues such as changes arise in the project.

Manage the communications when the project is executed to make sure it runs as planned. This also involves controlling communications by reviewing their effectiveness regularly and adjusting as needed.

8. Project Risk Management

Risk management plans identify how the risks will be itemized, categorized and prioritized. This involves identifying risks that might occur during the execution of the project by making a risk register.

Perform qualitative risk analysis after the biggest risks have been identified and classified by likelihood and impact. Then prioritize them. Then perform quantitative analysis according to their impact on the project, such as its budget, schedule, etc.

9. Project Procurement Management

This project management knowledge area deals with outside procurement, which is part of most projects, such as hiring subcontractors. This will impact on the budget and schedule. Planning procurement management starts by identifying the outside needs of the project and how those contractors will be involved.

Now conduct those procurements by hiring the contractors, which includes a statement of work, terms of reference, request for proposals and choosing a vendor. You’ll want to control the procurement process by managing and monitoring, and then closing the contracts once the work has been done to everyone’s satisfaction.

10. Project Stakeholder Management

The stakeholders must be happy, as the project has been created for their needs. Therefore, they must be actively managed like any other part of the project. To start, identify the stakeholders through stakeholder analysis and find out what concerns they have. It’s not always easy, but it’s a crucial part of starting any project.

Now plan stakeholder management, which means listing each stakeholder and prioritizing their concerns and how they might impact the project. This will lead to managing stakeholders’ expectations to make sure their needs are met and that you’re in communication with them.

Throughout the project, you’ll want to control stakeholder engagement by determining if the stakeholders’ needs are being addressed. If not, figure out what changes need to be made to either satisfy those needs or adjust the expectations.