SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

2 DAY COURSE

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Successful software projects require more than just good technical work. Project success hinges on your ability to manage all of the myriad details that must be coordinated in order to make the technical work pay off.

First, you need a good basis for making commitments that your team can actually deliver on. The most common complaint of senior management and customers is that we fail to deliver what we promised on time and within budget. Good project management techniques provide the basis for making reasonable commitments about what we can deliver. And when we are pushed to over-commit, they give us the data we need to negotiate expectations so that the project scope actually matches our constraints. You then need solid but agile processes that will help you to keep the work on track week-to-week. You need mechanisms for:

Assuring that all of the pieces are in place, and no important details are missed
Coordinating your team's work with other groups
Ensuring each team member knows what he or she should be doing each day
Understanding how well the work is tracking against your plans
Identifying trouble spots before they become crises
Recovering project momentum when things go wrong
Controlling project scope-creep
Mitigating the risks to your project
Communicating project status to the various stakeholders
Re-negotiating expectations before problems make the project miss its targets

This course draws from the best in software project management practices, including:

The PMBOK® Guide (Project Management Body of Knowledge)
The CMMI® (Capability Maturity Model Integration) from the SEI
The Agile software development methods, including Extreme Programming

These practices will arm you with effective and efficient methods for ensuring your project’s success.

In Class Workshops and Group Exercises:
In-class exercises will give you the opportunity to explore how you can use the practices covered in this course to make your current software project successful. You will have the opportunity to discuss with your fellow students the problems you have experienced on your projects and explore ways to avoid them in the future. And, you will work with them to apply those practices to the course case study.

COURSE DESCRIPTION CONTINUED...

Specifically, you will:

Identify project management issues
Define the scope of a project
Identify the resources required for a project
Establish a project budget and schedule
Plan for verification and validation activities
Define a communications and stakeholder involvement plan
Develop a procurement plan
Identify appropriate measurement and analysis activities
Evaluate project risks

Immediate Benefits of Attending This Class:

Efficiently establish useful project plans
Manage Project Execution
Assure that all vital activities are on track
Monitor progress and understand project status
Take corrective action to bring your project back under control
Control changes to your project
Establish and manage your project's scope
Identify all of the resources you will need (human and others)
Enumerate the knowledge and skills required for your project
Manage your team members well
Coordinate with other groups to avoid surprises
Identify and accurately estimate all project activities
Develop an achievable schedule
Enumerate all project costs
Develop a realistic budget
Monitor and control your budget and schedule
Plan for all necessary verification and validation (V&V) activities
Assure that verification and validation activities (V&V) are effective
Take corrective action when quality levels fall short
Plan for communication of relevant information to all stakeholders
Identify stakeholders who will be actively involved in the project
Report status and hold reviews as needed
Manage relationships with suppliers
Measure project attributes that will provide the information you need
Identify, analyze and prioritize project risks
Mitigate risks with appropriate plans
Ensure your project’s success

Course Outline

Section 1A: Defining Business Systems
In any business there can be a significant number of systems that aren't necessarily associated with business functions. These systems must be identified and documented as part of the complete requirement specification.

Exploring business systems: usability, reliability, scalability, performance, and supportability
Differentiating between business functions and non-business functions
Differentiating between internal and external systems
Understanding design constraints
Identifying other requirements

Section 1B. General Project Management
Project management is far more than just making sure the technical work gets done well. It includes determining what should happen, establishing appropriate plans, ensuring the required resources will be available, directing the work, resolving resource, coordination and timing problems, understanding project status, taking corrective action when needed, and communicating appropriate information to the various interested parties.

Establish the project plans
Choose a software lifecycle
Define the project processes
Direct and manage the work
Lead configuration management activities
Control change
Monitor progress
Analyze and resolve problems
Take corrective actions

Section 2. Project Scope Management
One of the most vexing problems in software projects is establishing agreement about the scope of the project, and then managing that scope. Project success is not possible unless scope is managed well.

Establish the project charter
Document the project scope
Establish the project objectives and success criteria
Engineer clear product requirements
Manage the product requirements
Monitor project activities against the agreed-upon scope
Control and manage scope changes

Section 3. Project Resource Management
Each project requires a variety of resources to complete all of the work. If those resources are not available when needed, they will threaten the project's success.

Enumerate project tasks
Identify the required knowledge and skills
Determine other (non-personnel) resources that are needed
Compute project personnel needs
Reconcile available resource levels with the work
Acquire project personnel
Develop the team vision and charter
Define individuals' roles and responsibilities
Establish team operating procedures
Collaborate with other groups
Manage personnel

Section 4. Project Time and Cost Management
The "success" of most projects is measured by their ability to deliver the promised work within specific schedule and cost constraints. So, a key issue for all project managers is planning and managing cost and schedule.

Estimate product sizes
Define project activities and dependencies
Estimate the effort and cost associated with project activities
Compute activity resources and duration
Build the project schedule
Estimate project costs
Compile the project budget
Monitor and control project costs
Monitor and control the project schedule

Section 5. Project Quality Management (V&V)
The primary contributor to a project's success is the quality of the work that is done, and the main contributor to product quality is the way in which the project is planned and managed. When managers plan for and monitor cost and schedule, but not quality, quality is sure to suffer. And poor quality will generally result in schedule problems as testing and rework go on and on. Successful projects are those where quality is managed as surely as cost and schedule.

Identify verification and validation (V&V) activities
Choose the appropriate V&V activity for each product
Establish V&V procedures and success criteria
Assure that V&V activities are completed as planned
Analyze data from V&V activities
Take corrective action when quality levels are lower than needed

Section 6. Project Communication and Stakeholder Involvement
A project team does not work in isolation. There are many stakeholders outside of the team, some who will provide information or inputs for the team, and others who depend on the team to provide information or products to them. Successful completion of the project is dependent on how well the team's interactions with those other groups and individuals are managed.

Identify the project stakeholders
Establish a communication plan
Negotiate stakeholder involvement with the project team
Integrate the project's plans with those of the stakeholders
Obtain commitment from stakeholders concerning their involvement
Distribute information as planned
Manage interactions with stakeholders
Manage dependencies with other groups and individuals
Report project status and statistics
Conduct project reviews
Monitor commitments to others
Monitor stakeholder commitments to the project
Resolve coordination issues

Section 7. Project Procurement Management
Many projects obtain products or services from outside sources. They may buy tools, hire contractors, or even contract with another organization for development of certain components. The relationships with outside suppliers provide many opportunities for problems, and so they must be carefully managed to assure project success.

Identify acquisitions that will benefit the project
Plan the acquisition activities
Document the acquisition requirements
Review candidate products (if buying off the shelf)
Identify potential suppliers
Request proposals or quotes from potential suppliers
Choose suppliers
Establish contracts
Monitor supplier compliance with the contract
Coordinate with the supplier as needed
Accept and evaluate the supplied product or service
Close out the supplier contract

Section 8. Project Measurement and Analysis
Maintaining control over your project requires that you measure and track things that are important to the project. Often, organizations fail to measure those items that are truly important to project success. We don't want to waste effort measuring things that don't matter. But we must also be careful to measure those things that actually matter.

Establish measurement objectives
Specify measures to collect
Define measurement, analysis and data storage procedures
Plan for data management
Collect data
Analyze data
Store data and analysis results
Monitor project parameters
Apply statistical methods
Contribute information to organizational repository
Use organizational data for project planning

Section 9. Project Risk Management
Every project has risks to its success. Although risks are often outside of our direct control, planning for them often gives us the opportunity to mitigate. That is, we can make the risks less likely, or reduce their impact, should they be realized.

Establish a risk management strategy
Identify project risks
Analyze and prioritize project risks
Develop contingency and mitigation plans where needed
Monitor project risks
Implement mitigation plans

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

Taught only by a PMP-certified instructor. Course draws from the best in software project management practices, including: The PMBOK® Guide, The CMMI® from SEI, and Agile Software Development Methods. You'll leave this workshop able to immediately apply the tools and techniques you've learned, with a plan to take action on your software projects.

How To:

Assure that all the pieces are in place, with no important details missed
Coordinate the project team’s work with stakeholders in other groups
Effectively plan and track resources to ensure availability based on the project schedule
Identify trouble spots before they become crises
Recover project momentum when things go wrong
Control project scope-creep
Mitigate the risks to your project
Communicate project status to the various stakeholders
Re-negotiate expectations before problems cause the project to miss its targets
Successfully manage the project schedule and costs — deliver the promised work on time and within budget
Identify verification and validation (V&V) activities, stop the cycle of testing and rework

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