Software Project Management

INFO 638 Lecture #5 1

Software Project Management

Joint project planning & controlling project

INFO 638Glenn Booker


Joint Project Planning

Joint Project Planning (JPP) uses a goldfish-bowl approach to conducting early analysis of a project

Its scope is typically to define the POS and/or PDS For software, this might include

defining the system scope and key requirements, and/or developing high level system design


JPP vs. JAD

JPP is similar to Joint Application Design (or Joint Application Development) (JAD)

JPP is more general than JAD JPP could be used for planning any

kind of project JAD is software-specific


Planning JPP JPP needs to create an environment in

which key decisions can be made about the project Planning JPP is crucial to its success

It is critical that key people be required to attend a JPP session Notice “required,” not “invited” JPP doesn’t work unless the players

are all present


JPP Attendees

All significant stakeholders in a project need to attend JPP The tough part is identifying what

‘significant’ means Attendees typically include:

Facilitator – an outsider whose role it to lead the JPP session Typically have training in JPP, and are

excellent negotiators


JPP Attendees Project manager – whoever will lead the

project is an obvious choice to attend Technographer – a scribe who will record

the results of the session Might be proficient in tools for recording

brainstorming sessions, prototyping a system, or other appropriate skills

Other key project people – such as a system architect, managers who will report to the project manager, etc.


JPP Attendees Customer rep is often included Resource managers, such as IT staff, HR,

or other relevant support personnel Project champion (aka sponsor) –

whoever has been pushing to make the project happen, other than the manager

Process experts – to help make sure the project will follow sound processes

Anyone else you deem necessary!


JPP Logistics & Facilities

JPP needs to take place in an isolated environment, to help everyone focus on the same thing Generally held offsite, such as a hotel or

conference center Typically allow a few days for the JPP,

depending on the scope of the project and the goals of the session


JPP Equipment

JPP might use various tools to capture the results MS Visio for process flowcharts Axon or Mind Mapper for capture of

brainstorming These are in addition to the usual

conference equipment – computer & projector, sticky notes, etc.


JPP Agenda

JPP needs to have a specific agenda defined before the session starts

The agenda must define what is expected to come out of the session A completed POS, and/or A completed PDS, and/or A project plan, etc.


JPP Deliverables

More specific deliverables could include WBS Activity duration estimates Resource requirements Project network schedule (Pert) Activity schedule (start/end dates) Resource assignments


Project Proposal

The JPP might result in a project proposal, including Background Objective Approach Statement of work Time & cost summary Appendices


Monitoring Progress


Monitoring Progress

By now you have been able to create a detailed project plan, including task definitions, estimates of duration, & assignment and leveling of resources

Then the project actually starts Now you need to monitor what really

happens, and control the future of the project


An Aside

This is great stuff for control freaks You get to define what people will do,

when they’ll do it, and even tell them who is their boss

Now you get to decide if they are doing their job right, and what you’ll do if they aren’t

Isn’t this a great world?


Control and Risk

Controlling a project is closely linked to risk management

You want to minimize the risk that the project won’t finish successfully Successfully generally means “

on time and within budget” To do so, you need measurements to

help decide if the project is on track


Use Pictures

Graphics are key to presenting information well Most senior managers don’t have time to

read tons of words A well thought out graphic will convey

critical information quickly and with minimal explanation

If something’s wrong, need to address what corrective action will be taken


Controls

Without good controls, a project will wander like a 6-year-old on summer vacation

Controls allow us to Track progress – what has been

accomplished? Detect variance – have we departed from

the plan? Take corrective action – fix it!


Balance Control and Risk

More controls on a project Costs more for planning and tracking Reduces risks and creativity

So a critical question for every project is “how many controls do I need?” Need enough to know what’s going on,

without micromanaging the project The answer might change during

the project


Balance Control and Risk

Too little control will increase project cost, because effort will be wasted

In theory there’s an ideal balance possible between control and risk Also need to consider that the product

quality will also be affected by the amount of control over its development process


Progress Reporting System

Some form of progress reporting system needs to be established Want timely, complete, clear, and

accurate status reported Avoid adding too much to overhead to

create the status reports Results are readily available Warns of problems with time to fix them


Types of Status Reports

Typically there are five kinds of status reports Current period reports – report status

during the current reporting period, e.g. this week’s status

Cumulative reports – report history of project from start to the present, or at least a significant amount of time Good for finding trends


Types of Status Reports Exception reports – are generated only

when something is amiss Summarizes what’s wrong, and what action

is desired to fix it Stoplight reports – aren’t really a

separate kind of report They add a simple red/yellow/green

indicator of status – green is all happy, yellow is a problem that needs fixing, and red means project is out of control


Types of Status Reports Variance reports – tell how far the project

is ahead of, or behind the plan Variances generally pertain to the schedule

and/or costs, showing planned and actual values, and the difference between them

Present results from the current reporting period, and maybe one previous period

May be tabular data, or graphic


How & When Collect Data?

Status reports are critical to understanding a project, yet can also be a waste of time and/or interfere with getting the project done

Need to decide how often reporting is done Academia tends to be monthly, most of

industry is weekly or biweekly



Need to determine reporting period (what day is the start of the week?) This often feeds a repeating process, e.g.

Reports are due Friday to your manager, They report to their boss by Monday noon, A collected report is issued on Tuesdays

Reports contain actual status to date, start and finish dates for tasks



Reports might also include Projections of work remaining, Percent completion of tasks, and The amount of resources spent on each

task (e.g. 12 hours on WBS task 1.3.2)


Variances

Variances are the difference between actual events and the project plan

Positive variances are often good They mean you are ahead of schedule or

under budget But could mean the schedule has

slipped, and little has been accomplished


Variances

Conversely, negative variances are generally bad Behind schedule and/or over

planned cost Rarely, can mean more work has

been done than planned


Displaying Status

There are three major ways to display the status of a project graphically Gantt chart Milestone trend chart Cost schedule control chart


Gantt chart

We covered the Gantt chart in week 3 It is probably the most commonly

used tool to plan and track projects To show progress, dark thinner bars

are used to show how much work has been accomplished

This example is 30% completeID Task Name Duration Start Finish

3 Solve World's Problems 30 days Mon 8/18/03 Fri 9/26/038/17 8/24 8/31 9/7 9/14 9/21 9/28 10/5 10/12 10/19 10/26 11/2 11/9 11/16 11/23 11/30 12/7 12/14 12/21 12/28 1/4 1/11

August September October November December January


Milestone Trend Chart

The Milestone trend chart is a plot of how well specific events and decisions (milestones) were accomplished The horizontal lines represent 1-3

standard deviations above and below the expected completion date of each milestone

Presumably you have historic data to determine the standard deviations



Like monitoring a control chart, poor trends (especially downward) or odd leaps in the data are keys to identifying problems



1 2 3 4 5 6Project month

3

1

2

On Schedule

-1

-2

-3


Cost Schedule Control

Cost schedule control refers to the system used by the many agencies called earned value or C/SCSC

We have already defined a project plan with tasks and resources

Each task therefore has some defined dollar value (its resources times their hourly rate)


Cost Schedule Control To use Cost Schedule Control, we

need to define when we get ‘credit’ for accomplishing each task Only when the task is done Half at the task start, and half at finish Etc.

The total planned value of work done on the project typically forms a long S curve over time



The planned amount of work, in terms of its value, over time form a curve called Planned Value (PV) (formerly BCWS)

As the project happens, we record the actual costs incurred (AC) and how much work we really got done (EV) (formerly ACWP and BCWP)



We can find variances in terms of cost (related to whether we finish within budget) and schedule (will we finish on time)

At any time during the project: Cost variance = AC - PV Schedule variance = EV – PV Recall that negative variances are bad



We can also define indices to tell us if we have a good trend in getting work done Schedule performance index

SPI = EV/PV Cost performance index CPI = EV/AC

Indices >1 are good (got more work done than planned or budgeted)



So monitoring a project with cost schedule control generally means using A plot of PV, AC, and EV versus time Plots of cost and schedule variances Cost and schedule performance indices

Based on these, look for negative variances and/or indices < one


Status Detail

The amount of detail in status reporting depends on the management level of its audience First line managers generally want lots

of detail Project managers generally want to focus

on problems they must resolve Senior managers need a very brief

synopsis of status


Status Meetings

Some form of meeting is often desired to Share the current status of each part of

the project Look for collaboration opportunities Make decisions about problems


Meeting Minutes

Record the actions and decisions in a meeting with minutes Identify who was there Identify what happened

Review previous action requests Review old issues Review new issues

Identify what new actions need to be followed up on, by whom, and when


Change Control

A change control process is needed to manage changes to the scope of a project See this example from the FAA The example cited was used for

managing problems reported with an air traffic control system, but the basic principles are universal


Change Control It describes the activities needed to

analyze a problem, estimate how much work it is to resolve, determine its priority, fix it, and incorporate it into a system change with other problem fixes

The names of the organizations which perform each of the steps may vary wildly, but some sort of review board or change control board is typically used


Escalation

Escalation here means how a problem can be resolved Little problems might be resolved by the

project manager Bigger problems might be resolved by

getting additional resources from your organization

Huge problems might need cooperation from your customer to resolve

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Software Project Management

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