MADALINA CROITORU Software Engineering week 6 Madalina Croitoru IUT Montpellier

Project management Techniques needed for software project management: –Good project management cannot guarantee success –Poor management will lead to failure MADALINA CROITORU

Why is it so difficult to manage? The product is intangible: how do you measure what you claim? Not a lot of experience: software engineering is a new discipline Large projects are bespoke: the experience from one does not always help others Technology changes fast MADALINA CROITORU

Activities in software engineering 1.Project planning 2.Project scheduling 3.Risk management 4.Managing people MADALINA CROITORU

1.Project Planning The biggest problem: underestimating resources required for a project It is essential to develop a REALISTIC project plan Types of plans: –Software plans: how you develop the system –Quality assurance plans: standards –Validation plans: how a client will validate the system etc. etc. MADALINA CROITORU

Software (Development) Plans Specifies the order of work to be carried out, responsibilities etc. Important: –NOT overestimate the team’s ability –Simply tell clients what they want to hear –Be pressured by developers MADALINA CROITORU

Structure of Software Plan 1. Introduction: brief description of project (requirements doc) 2. Project organisation: people / roles 3. Risk analysis 4. Hardware/software resources: wh(at)en 5. Work breakdown: activities, WP, links 6. Project schedule: actual dates 7. Reporting and progress monitoring MADALINA CROITORU

Structure of Software Plan √ Introduction: description of project √ Project organisation: people / roles √ Risk analysis √ Hardware/software resources: wh(at)en 5. Work breakdown: activities, WP, links 6. Project schedule: actual dates 7. Reporting and progress monitoring MADALINA CROITORU

Work Breakdown Most common: –Work packages: large, logically distinct section of work (WP1, WP2 etc.) –Tasks: small piece of work (part of a work package) (T1.1, T1.2 etc.) –Deliverables: output that can be meaningfully assessed (report, code etc.) (D1.1, D1.2 etc.) –Milestones: a point when progress can be assessed (the delivery of code etc.) (M1 etc.) MADALINA CROITORU

Work packages / tasks Description Earliest Start date / Earliest End Date Total person months effort Pre requisite WPs or tasks Dependent WPs or tasks Who is responsible MADALINA CROITORU

Critical paths The pre – requisites and dependencies of WPs and tasks determine a critical path The critical path is the sequence of activities that takes the longest time to complete Any delay in activities in the critical path will cause delays for the project MADALINA CROITORU

Gantt Charts A bar chart: time on X axis and activities on Y MADALINA CROITORU

Activity networks Labeled graph: nodes activities and arcs estimated times between successive dependent activities MADALINA CROITORU