Introduction to Project ManagementIntroduction to Project Management

Sanjay Koulsanjayk@cdac.in

What is a Project?A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken

to produce a unique product or service

Temporary – Definitive beginning and endUnique – New undertaking, unfamiliar ground

A project is a set of activities which are networked in an order and aimed towards achieving the specific goals . Upon the completion of all the activities the goals of the project would have been achieved.

A project is undertaken to achieve a purpose

Temporary UniqueCharacteristics of Projects

Management - Management is the technique of understanding

the problems, needs and controlling the use of resources, such as cost, time, manpower, materials, etc.

Project management – It is an art of controlling the cost, time, manpower, and hardware and software resources involved in a project.

Project Cycle – A project cycle basically consists of the various activities of operations, resources and the limitations imposed on them.

Process – A process is part of the project which consists of simple and routine instructions to achieve a desired result of any activity of the project. A process is responsible to bring about the changes in the input fed to the process and gives out desired outputs as results of the process.

Resource – It refers to manpower, machinery, money and materials required in the project.

Scope – It refers to the various parameters that affect the project in its planning, formulation and executions.

Project Cost – It is the budgeted expenditure of the project.

Some experiences-may happen

Project Success

Customer Requirements

satisfied/exceeded

Completed within allocated time frame

Completed within allocated budget

Accepted by the customer

Project Failure

Scope CreepPoor Requirements

Gathering

Unrealistic planning and scheduling

Lack of resources

Project ManagementProject Management is the application of skills,

knowledge, tools and techniques to meet the needs and expectations of stakeholders for a project.

The purpose of project management is prediction and prevention, NOT recognition and reaction.

Relationship with other management disciplines is essential for a project to be successful. Supporting disciplines includes law, strategic planning, logistics, human resource management and domain knowledge

The Project Manager (PM)A project manager is a person who manages

the project. The project manager is responsible to carry out all the tasks of a project. Responsibilities of the project manager are:

Budgeting and cost control Scheduling tasks Allocating resources Tracking project expenditures Ensuring technical quality Manage relations with the customer and

company

Role of a Project Manager

Process Responsibilities

People Responsibilities

• Project issues • Disseminating project information• Mitigating project risk • Quality • Managing scope • Metrics • Managing the overall work plan

• Implementing standard processes• Establishing leadership skills• Setting expectations• Team building• Communicator skills

Types of Project Managers• Hands-off versus hands-on managers

Most of the hands-off managers are non-technical managers who took up software project management.

Only a handful of the managers sit with the engineers and try to debug the software or at least suggest alternative approaches to solve a problem, particularly during the coding phase.

• Democratic versus anarchic managers To develop a congenial

atmosphere in which the team members can give vent to their creative abilities, a democratic approach is the most ideal approach.

However, one needs to be careful, freedom means responsibility, not carelessness

Proactive versus reactive managers Reactive managers react to events. When an engineer comes and tells

about a problem, he will try to resolve it. A proactive manager takes the initiative to find the status both informally and

formally. Informally, during coffee breaks, lunch breaks or at social gatherings, he gets the different viewpoints of the team members on the status and uses this information to carry out formal reviews.

Who will be a Good Software Engineer?People with good problem solving abilities, good communication skills and team spirit make good software engineers.

Not surprisingly, many organizations recruit people based on an aptitude test (to test the problem solving abilities) and not based on knowledge of programming languages or operating systems.

How does project management benefit you?

You will have goal clarity and measurement Your resources will be coordinated Your risks will be identified and managed You will increase the possibilities of time

savings You will increase the possibilities of cost

savings You will increase the possibilities of achieving

the agreed outcomeYou will increase the possibilities to deliver

projects successfully

Triple Contraint

Quality

ScopeScope

TimeTime

CostCost

Triple Contraint

Increased Scope = increased time + increased cost

Tight Time = increased costs + reduced scope

Tight Budget = increased time + reduced scope.

Key Areas of Project Management

Scope ManagementIssue ManagementCost ManagementQuality ManagementCommunications ManagementRisk ManagementChange Control Management

Scope Management

Primarily it is the definition and control of what IS and IS NOT included in the project.

Managing the scope of the projectProject scope management constitutes 'the

processes to ensure that the project includes all of the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully.‘

Project scope has several purposes:

It defines what work is needed to complete the project objectives

It determines what is included in the projectIt serves as a guide to determine what work is

not needed to complete the project objectivesIt serves as a point of reference for what is not

included in the project

Planning Activities• Choice of Development life cycle model

• Choice of Execution model

• Planning of Reviews

• Process Auditing

• Project Planning Document Preparation

Issue Management

Issues are restraints to accomplishing the deliverables of the project.

Typically identified throughout the project and logged and tracked through resolution.

Rope not thick

Issue… already impacting the cost, time or quality

Issue Management

Issues are restraints to accomplishing the deliverables of the project.

Issues are typically identified throughout the project and logged and tracked through resolution.

In this section of the plan the following processes are depicted: Where issues will be maintained and tracked The process for updating issues regularly The escalation process The vehicle by which team members can access

documented issues

Cost Management

This process is required to ensure the project is completed within the approved budget and includes:

Resources people equipment materialsQuantitiesTiming

Budget

Cost Management

This process is required to ensure the project is completed within the approved budget and includes:Resource Planning - The physical resources

required (people, equipment, materials) and what quantities are necessary for the project

Budget Budget estimates Baseline estimates Project Actuals

Quality Management

Quality Management is the process that insure the project will meet the needs

“conformance to requirements” - Crosby

“fitness for use” - Juran

“the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated and implied need’ - ISO 8402:1994

Communications Management This process is necessary to ensure timely and

appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, and storage of project information using: Communications planning Information Distribution Performance Reportingfor the Project Meetings (Team, OSC,

ESDefine the schedule C), Status Meetings and Issues Meetings to be implemented

Team Structures

• Democratic team or ego-less team

• Hierarchical team

• Controlled Decentralized team

• Single-person army

Democratic team

• Team size is small, less than 10 members.

• All major decisions are arrived at through consensus.

• Regular interaction amongst all the team members.

• The senior-most person acts as the coordinator who will interface with the client for all administrative and managerial work.

Hierarchical team

• There will be a Project Manager who willbe responsible for all project activities.

• A number of Project Leaders report to the Project Manager, each Project Leader is responsible for a module.

• A number of engineers report to each Project Leader. The engineers are responsible for sub-modules.

Controlled Decentralized teamThere will be a project manager who is responsible

for the total project.A number of Project Leaders report to the Project

Manager. Each Project Leader is responsible for amodule.

A team of engineers act as a democratic team andany decision related to this group is takencollectively. The senior most engineer in the groupwill act as the Project Leader

One-Person Army• In this team structure, there will be only one

person who will work on the project.

• This person will report to the project managerperiodically.

• For prototype development of a high-end creativeproducts, this is a good model.

• Many products were initially developed by asingle-person armies: UNIX and C being the bestexample

Rules of the Team Game• Software development is a team effort, even if the

individuals are excellent, if they do not work as acohesive team, the project will not succeed.

• The team members should interact with each otherregularly.

• The team members should communicate with theProject Manager/Leader regularly.

• Formal review meetings should be held periodically and all the team members have to openly discuss all the issues.

Risk Management

Risk identification and mitigation strategy Risk update and tracking When\if new risks arise

Tree – location, accessibility, ownership

Weather

Risk… POTENTIAL negative impact to project

Risk ManagementTop 10 risk items [Boehm]

• Personnel pitfalls• Unrealistic schedules and objectives• Developing wrong interface functions• Wrong user interface• Gold plating• Continuous stream of requirements changes• Shortfalls in externally furnished/purchased components• Shortfalls in externally performed tasks• Real time performance• Straining computer science capabilities

Change Control Management

Define how changes to the project scope will be executed

Scope Change

Schedule changes

Technical Specification Changes

All changes require collaboration and buy in via the project sponsor’s signature prior to implementation of the changes

Change Control Management

Define how changes to the project scope will be executed Formal change control is required for all of the

following

1. Scope Change2. Schedule changes3. Technical Specification Changes4. Training Changes

All changes require collaboration and buy in via the project sponsor’s signature prior to implementation of the changes

Quality Management

Quality Management is the process that insure the project will meet the needs via:Quality Planning, Quality Assurance, and

Quality Control Clearly Defined Quality Performance Standards How those Quality and Performance Standards

are measured and satisfied How Testing and Quality Assurance Processes will

ensure standards are satisfied Continuous ongoing quality control

The Training Program• The training program has to cover

– Rules and regulations of the organization – Client details and scope of the project– Communication skills– Team work– Software Development tools– Application domain– Software Engineering Principles– Quality standards to be followed

Choice of Execution Model Off-shore development

– Projects with clear requirements and subcontractor has the capability in the specific area; maintenance projects

• On-site development– Projects without clear requirements/changingrequirements; and constant interaction with client isrequired.

• On-site cum off-shore development– If the project can be partly done using off-shoreexecution model.

Coding Guidelines

• Layout of the code should be in such a waythat it is easy to read and understand.

• Names of files, classes, functions, variablesetc. should be meaningful.

• Exceptions should be handled.

• Internal (on-line) documentation should beembedded in the code.

• Function size to be limited to 40/50 lines

Coding Standards

• Every organization should have a set of codingstandards for each programming language used,indicating:

– Backup mechanism

– Naming conventions

– Internal documentation to be included.

Project Life Cycle

Initiation Phase

Define the needReturn on Investment AnalysisMake or Buy DecisionBudget Development

Definition Phase

Determine goals, scope and project constraints

Identify members and their rolesDefine communication channels, methods,

frequency and contentRisk management planning

Planning Phase

Resource PlanningWork Breakdown StructureProject Schedule DevelopmentQuality Assurance Plan

Implementation Phase

Execute project plan and accomplish project goals

Training PlanSystem BuildQuality Assurance

Deployment Phase

User TrainingProduction ReviewStart Using

Closing Phase

Contractual CloseoutPost Production TransitionLessons Learned

Work Breakdown Structure

For defining and organizing the total scope of a project

First two levels - define a set of planned outcomes that collectively and exclusively represent 100% of the project scope.

Subsequent levels - represent 100% of the scope of their parent node

Project Management Tools

PERT Chart- designed to analyze and represent the tasks involved in completing a given project

Gantt Chart - popular type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule

Gantt Chart

PERT Chart

Critical Path Analysis CPA (Network Analysis)

Critical Path Analysis (CPA) is a project management tool that:

Sets out all the individual activities that make up a larger project.

Shows the order in which activities have to be undertaken.

Shows which activities can only taken place once other activities have been completed. Shows which activities can

be undertaken simultaneously, thereby reducing the overall time taken to complete the whole project.

Shows when certain resources will be needed – for example, a crane to be hired for a building sit

Critical Activities

A(3)

D(12)

B(8)

E(10)

C(7)F(20)

1 5

4

3

23 4

0 0

12

12

22 22

42

42

Critical activities are activities that cannot run late. For critical activities:

Latest finish — Earliest start = length of activity

The green arrows mark the critical activities, which form the critical path. The critical path(s) must form a continuous route from the start node to the finish node.

Postmortem Analysis

The 5 angles of postmortem analysis– Processes– People– Technology– Management– Money

Need for project managementProject management is necessary because – a) a project requires huge investments which

should not go waste b) a loss in any project would have direct or

indirect impact on the society c) prevent failures in projects d) scope of the project activity may undergo a

change e) technology used may change during the course

of project execution f) consequences of negativity in project related

problems could be very serious g) changes in economic conditions may affect a

project