Applied Software Project Management

Applied Software Project Management

Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene


http://www.stellman-greene.com 1


Managing an Outsourced Project

[Modified version of Stellman and Greene’s Chapter 9 slides. Adapted for class use only in the CS 709B course at UNR.

Slides updated by Rakhi Motwani and Hema Jayaprakash, 2009]




What is Outsourcing

Sub-contracting a project to a third-party

May or may not involve some degree of offshoring Offshoring is the transfer of an

organizational function to another country, regardless of whether the work is outsourced or stays within the same corporation/company






Why Projects are Outsourced

Cost savings (and possibly investing increased profits in growing business opportunities)

Focus on core business

Reduce time to market (boost in productivity due to rapid implementation of new strategies and initiatives)

Access to a larger talent poolSupplement limited in-house capacity





Why Outsourcing Fails?No well-defined processes and governance structures in place

Poor project management

No metrics for measuring success

Most organizations are known to be unwilling to invest time at the outset to adequately plan and execute a project

Organizations also wrongly assume they have the internal capabilities to govern an offshore operation





Why Outsourcing Fails?Gartner’s Report:

Unrealized cost savingsLoss of productivity Poor commitment and communicationsCultural differencesLack of offshore expertise and readiness

Most outsourced projects are: Poorly planned, shoddily implemented &

ineffectively managed





Considerations for Deciding to Outsource

Select the right projects to outsource

Select the right vendor

Availability of dedicated personnel for project & human resource management oversight

Offshoring

Manage time zone difference

Invest time for understanding the culture

Resolve work cultural differences

Have clear procedures for both knowledge and process transfer should the outsourcing arrangement not work out





Prevent Project Failure

Outsourcers should figure out their IT process maturity. Mature processes have:

Standardized methodologies Established mechanisms for managing change Detailed service-level agreements Strong skills in project and portfolio management

Weakness in these areas can translate into poor results from outsourcing projects





Don’t be a hands-off client (Get involved)Get involved in the day-to-day management of the individual

team members and their tasksDo not leave all of the decisions up to the vendor Do not assume that it's the vendor's responsibility to fix

every problem that comes up in a way"I'm paying the bills, and the vendor will lose my business if

they don't get this right, so they have to take care of everything!“

No SRS document is complete. The vendor does not have enough information to build the software properly





Constantly communicate project goalsAdequately communicate your needs and goals to the

vendorIntegrate the outsourced team with your organization to

provide contextKeep the team members on track; make sure they

understand your organization's needs, and that the tasks they are performing are in line with organization’s goals

Have daily discussions with the teamSpot check work from selected team members to make

sure you are getting what you think you are asking for





Estimate the workMake sure the project is estimated well“The further away you get from a task, the easier it

seems; the devil is usually in the details”Unrealistic estimates cause projects to failVendors tend to promise things they can't deliverMeet with the vendor's project team and hold your

own estimation sessions, once the project team is assembled





Management IssuesActively manage the projectSet up a communications plan with the

team lead at the vendorKnow all your team membersCollect the daily status of the project

(nightly build reports, unit test results, track the lines of code produced on a daily or weekly basis, access the defect tracking system)





Senior Management (own)Keep them in the loopSenior managers may or may not have a realistic view of

outsourced projectsMake sure your organization's managers understand what

it is that you and your outsourced team are accomplishing, and how you are dealing with them on a day-to-day basis

You will need them to support you in case you make any controversial decisions, if you need further funding, or when you need their approval

Provide status reports to them, encourage them to visit with the vendor





The Vendor’s ManagementBuild a relationship with the vendor’s managementKnow who to approach when things go wrongEstablish trust both waysThe vendor should understand your goalsDon’t allow the vendor’s escalation process to

interfere with the project (this “escalation” process is usually positive for the vendor, but it might work against you)

Make sure the management at the vendor recognizes and rewards good work

Security and intellectual policies at the client side might need to be modified as well





The Project TeamBuild a relationship with the teamA project manager doesn’t have the same kind of

relationship with the team that he/she would with a team in his own organization

Understand the needs of each team member; the project manager is the team's only resource for gathering the information

Keep the team motivatedGain credibility by making good decisions





Collaborate with the VendorTools and techniques for the project phase should be modifiedPlan and manage the project scopeThe project starts either with

• A scope and a budget, or • A scope and a deadline (as opposed to an in-house project, which starts with a

scope and set of known resources, from which schedule, budget and due date are estimated)

Plan for knowledge transfer• Done through meetings, documentation,

working off-site at the vendor, bringing consultants on-site

• Vendor team on-site is less disruptive but has disadvantages




Plan and Manage the Project’s Scope

• Going directly to meet the team helps communicate your needs effectively

• Knowledge transfer should be covered in the scope and vision document

• Include the vendor as project stakeholderRecognize that success for the project

manager and success for the vendor are often two different things






Do your own estimation

Learn about your resources and create a team

Follow one of the estimation methods for the in-house project

Renegotiate the contract or add more resources to meet the deadline

Better to know at the beginning at the project




Maintain your project schedule

Can’t understand the complexities with status meetingsDon’t depend on the vendor to maintain the project plan and project scheduleWhen a project manager is responsible for

the project, he/she must keep track of its status

Know who is doing what and how far they have progressed





Hold reviews and inspections

Identify and fix defects

Inspections as milestones in the project schedule

Discussion groups, mailing lists, log messages from the version control system

No inspection meeting required

Deskcheck to spot check the work

Mentor the team from the vendor






Name Inspection script for use in multiple organizations

Purpose To run a moderated inspection (without a meeting) for a team with members in different organizations

Summary In an inspection, a moderator leads a team of reviewers in reviewing a work product and fixing any defects that are found. The inspectors are in multiple organizations, so they never meet face to face.

Work Products InputWork product being inspectedOutputInspection log

Entry Criteria A moderator must be selected, as well as team of three to ten people. A work product must be selected, and each team member has read it individually and identified all wording which must be changed or clarified before he or she will approve the work product.

Basic Course of Events 1. Preparation. The moderator distributes a printed or electronic version of the work product (with line numbers) to each inspector, along with a checklist to aid in the review. Each inspector reads the work product and identifies any defects that must be resolved, compiles those defects into a single document, and returns it to the moderator.

2. Compile the draft inspection log. Each list of defects returned by each inspector must be compared with the others, in order to identify and combine overlapping defects. The moderator compiles a draft of the inspection log that includes all distinct defects found by inspectors. The log does not yet contain any solutions to those defects.

3. Identify conflicts. The moderator searches for any defects reported by different inspectors which contradict each other. For each set of conflicting defects, the moderator holds a discussion (either in person or via teleconference or video conference, or using a collaboration tool like a mailing list or instant message system) between the inspectors who identified those defects, in order to identify the assumptions behind the defects and resolve them into a single defect. The inspection log is updated to reflect the combined defects.

4. Identify solutions. The moderator uses the same means to meet with individual inspectors to identify solutions to the defects and add those solutions to the inspection log. If more than one person identified the same defect, they must all be involved in creating the solution. Inspectors may also identify additional defects which were not originally found, as well as their solutions.

5. Compile and distribute inspection log. The moderator compiles all solutions identified in Step 4 into the inspection log. Any defects which were not resolved are left as open issues to be resolved by the author. The moderator sends the final inspection log to all inspectors for confirmation. When the inspectors have confirmed that the log is correct, it is sent to the author of the work product.

6. Rework. The author repairs the defects identified in the inspection meeting. 7. Follow-up. Inspection team members verify that the defects were repaired. 8. Approval. The inspection team approves the work product.

Alternative Paths 1. During step 5, if one or more team members find errors in the inspection log, the moderator must address those errors before rework can occur. The script returns to step 2.

Exit Criteria The work product has been approved.

Hold Reviews and Inspections





Design and Programming

Don’t delegate the entire design and programming of the project to the vendorEstablish design constraints early onIf possible, design the software in-house,

or in collaboration with the vendorMonitor the code base using code reviews

and project automation





Software Quality

Take responsibility for the quality of the softwareQuality is not just another deliverable that can be

bought and paid forInclude testing in the scope document and if

possible in the contractDon’t make decisions that undercut the QA teamEnsure that adequate time and budget is allocated

for test planning and execution





Don’t Blindly Trust the Vendor

Even though individual team members may have certifications or degrees, it doesn’t mean that they are competentJust because the vendor’s organization is certified, that doesn’t guarantee that they know better than you do how to run your projectDon’t be intimidated by the vendor’s pedigree. If something on the project looks wrong, it probably is!




Building an Effective Vendor Management Organization


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Applied Software Project Management

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