Prof. Roy Levow

Session 1

Class web page Texts Microsoft Project 2007

MSDNAA Course Objectives Reading Quizzes Team Project

What is a project? An activity with an output

What is to be managed All aspects of the project

Variety of approaches (details later) Traditional Adptive Extreme

Sequence of Activities Activity = chunk of work Sequence is based on dependencies

Usually not linear

Activities are generally Unique Complex Connected

One Goal

Completion by a specified time Completion within a specified budget Completed according to specification

A program is a collection of related projects

Projects in a program have dependencies Usually run through a Program Office

Provides coordination Manages conflict Permanent Office

larger organizations with ongoing programs Temporary Office

ad hoc arrangements when there is no permanent program office

Outcomes Scope Quality

Product quality Process quality

Inputs Cost Time Resources

Changes in any one parameter will require changes in at least one other

Common Issues Scope Creep

Customer expands project scope Hope Creep

Occurs when project is behind schedule Effort Creep

Work is not effective at achieving objective Feature Creep

Similar to scope creep but from team adding features

Problem Escalation Facilitates identifying who owns relevant

project elements Team owns time, budget, and resources Scope and quality belong to customer

Project Impact Statement Scope Triangle can be used to illustrate

alternatives for dealing with proposed changes in project scope

Risk Business Value Length Complexity Technology Cost

Type A Most challenging High business value High complexity Latest technology High Risk

Type B Slightly smaller than type A (9 – 18 months) Good business value Challenging

Type C Most common Deal with organization infrastructure Relatively short duration (3 – 9 months) Use established technology Small team Less formal project management

Type D Minor projects Management often limited to scope statement

Requirements Tend to be less precise for more complex projects

Flexibility Need for flexibility of response increases with

project complexity and uncertainty Adaptability

Larger projects benefit from adaptability of team members

Change Upsets the order of things If much change is likely, don’t overplan later steps

Risk Must be considered and managed

Team Cohesiveness Important factor in choosing team members Without it, it’s not a team

Communications Must be effective but not burdonsome

Customer Involvement Critical to success Key Elements

Customer’s Comfort Zone Ownership by Customer Customer Sign-off

Specification Clear specification is critical Both customer and project manager must

understand and agree Business Value

Must be understood

Pleasantown is a southern California city of 80,000 residents located just outside Los Angeles. Playground space has been at a premium for many years, and many families have had no choice but to let their children play in the neighborhood streets. There have been minor accidents and recently one near miss at a catastrophe. The parents are concerned and ready to take action to rectify the situation.

There is a vacant parcel of city-owned land measuring 200’ by 200’. It has been in disrepair for over 30 years, accumulating old tires, discarded appliances, broken bottles, and all sorts of trash. You have been informed that it is available to be turned into a playground.

Due to significant pressure by various citizen groups, the city entertained proposals for converting the parcel into usable space for children. You and a group of six concerned neighbors submitted a proposal that was accepted by the city. According to the terms of the proposal your group of seven will head up a fundraiser, recruit volunteers, and build the playground. The city expects the project to be finished by September 1. As part of the terms and conditions your group has agreed that the city can dedicate the new facility with a gala event that they will plan and hold on City Founders Day on September 1.

In addition to the time constraint, you have tentatively established the budget at $30,000 because that is about the most you can hope to raise through activities such as car washes, bake sales, etc. In addition you hope to get local merchants to donate materials and other non-cash resources.

Pizza Delivered Quickly (PDQ) is a family-owned local chain (4 stores) of eat-in and home delivery pizza stores. Recently PDQ has lost 30 percent of sales revenue due mostly to a drop in their home delivery business. They attribute this solely to their major competitor who recently promoted a program that guarantees 45-minute delivery service from order entry to home delivery. PDQ advertises one-hour delivery.

PDQ currently uses computers for in-store operations and the usual business functions but otherwise is not heavily dependent upon software systems to help them receive, process, and home deliver their customers’ orders. Dee Livery, their president, has decided to increase their penetration into the home delivery market by locating what she is calling “pizza factories” throughout their market. A pizza factory is not a retail establishment. It receives orders from a central order taking facility and prepares the pizzas. A delivery truck picks up the baked pizzas and delivers them.

Pepe Ronee, their Manager of Information Systems, has been charged with developing a software application to identify “pizza factory” locations and creating the software system needed to operate them. In commissioning this project, Dee Livery, their president, said to pull out all the stops. She further stated that the future of PDQ depends on this project. She wants the team to investigate an option to deliver the pizza unbaked and “ready for the oven” in 30 minutes or less or deliver it pre-baked in 45 minutes or less.

There are two software development projects identified here:* The first is a software system to find pizza factory locations. * The second is a software system to support factory operations. Clearly the first is a very complex application. It will require the heavy involvement of a number of PDQ managers. The goal can be clearly defined but even at that the solution will not be at all obvious.

The second focuses on routine business functions and should be easily defined. Off-the-shelf commercial software may be a big part of the final solution to support factory operations.

These are obviously very different software development projects requiring very different approaches. The pizza factory location system will be a very sophisticated modeling tool. The requirements, functionality, and features are not at all obvious. Some of the solution can probably be envisioned, but clearly the whole solution is elusive at this early stage.

Exactly how it will do modeling is not known at the outset. It will have to be discovered as the development project is underway. The operations system can utilize commercial off the shelf (COTS) order entry software that will have to be enhanced at the front end to direct the order to the closest factory and provide driving directions for delivery and other fulfillment tasks on the back end. The requirements, functionality, and features of this system may be problematic.