Outline of talk
In this introduction the main questions to be addressed will be:
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What is management?�
management is achieving goals in a way that makes the best use of all resources
This involves the following activities:
continued…
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What is management?�(continued)
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What is a project?
A project is a temporary effort to create a unique product or service. Projects usually include constraints and risks regarding cost, schedule or performance outcome.
A project is Planned set of interrelated tasks to be executed over a fixed period and within certain cost and other limitations.��
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What is Project Management?
Why Project Management?
Characteristics of projects
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Management approaches
- communicate the vision, mission, and goals
- Provide resources
- Remove barriers
- Seek employee input and feedback
- Build trust
- Provide training
- Reward and recognize performance
Software project versus others
Are software projects really different from other projects?
Categories of Software projects
PM at it’s Most Basic…
- creating clear and realistic project objectives,
- building project requirements
- managing the triple constraint for projects, which is cost, time, and scope
Management Styles
To define Change Management, you could say that it is about managing this transition from the old position to the new one.
Change management has at least three different aspects, including: adapting to change, controlling change, and implementing change �
Suggested Skills for Project Managers
Suggested Skills for Project Managers
promotes esprit de corps.
Activities covered by project management
Feasibility study
Is project technically feasible and worthwhile from a business point of view?
Planning
Only done if project is feasible
Execution
Implement plan, but plan may be changed as we go along
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The software development life-cycle (ISO 12207)
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ISO 12207 life-cycle
Requirements analysis
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ISO 12207 life-cycle
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ISO12207 continued
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Problems with software projects
commonly experienced problems (from the manager’s point of view)
● poor estimates and plans;
● lack of quality standards and measures;
● lack of guidance about making organizational decisions;
● lack of techniques to make progress visible;
● poor role definition – who does what?
● incorrect success criteria.
Problems with software projects (Another point of view)
● lack of knowledge of application area;
● lack of up-to-date documentation;
● preceding activities not completed on time;
● lack of communication between users and technicians;
● lack of commitment – especially when a project is tied to one person who then moves;
● narrow scope of technical expertise;
● changing statutory requirements;
● changing software environment;
● deadline pressure;
● lack of training
Setting objectives
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Objectives
Informally, the objective of a project can be defined by completing the statement:
The project will be regarded as a success if………………………………..
Rather like post-conditions for the project
Focus on what will be put in place, rather than how activities will be carried out
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Objectives should be SMART
S – specific, that is, concrete and well-defined
M – measurable, that is, satisfaction of the objective can be objectively judged
A – achievable, that is, it is within the power of the individual or group concerned to meet the target
R – relevant, the objective must relevant to the true purpose of the project
T – time constrained: there is defined point in time by which the objective should be achieved
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Goals/sub-objectives
These are steps along the way to achieving the objective. Informally, these can be defined by completing the sentence…
Objective X will be achieved
IF the following goals are all achieved
A……………
B……………
C…………… etc
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Goals/sub-objectives continued
Often a goal can be allocated to an individual.
Individual may have the capability of achieving goal, but not the objective on their own e.g.
Objective – user satisfaction with software product
Analyst goal – accurate requirements
Developer goal – software that is reliable
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Measures of effectiveness
How do we know that the goal or objective has been achieved?
By a practical test, that can be objectively assessed.
e.g. for user satisfaction with software product:
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Stakeholders
These are people who have a stake or interest in the project
In general, they could be users/clients or developers/implementers
They could be:
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The business case
Benefits of delivered project must outweigh costs
Costs include:
Benefits
- Quantifiable
- Non-quantifiable
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£
£
Benefits
Costs
Management control
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Management control
Data – the raw details
e.g. ‘6,000 documents processed at location X’
Information – the data is processed to produce something that is meaningful and useful
e.g. ‘productivity is 100 documents a day’
Comparison with objectives/goals
e.g. we will not meet target of processing all documents by 31st March
continued…..
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Management control - continued
Modelling – working out the probable outcomes of various decisions
e.g. if we employ two more staff at location X how quickly can we get the documents processed?
Implementation – carrying out the remedial actions that have been decided upon
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Effective decision making
- focus on goals to be served
- follow a decision making process
- study the environment factors
- develop personal qualities
- simulate team creativity
- manage opportunity
Decision making process
Key points in lecture
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