Rest of Project Management Plan (done) Organize People and resources process and procedures Monitor schedule cost quality and risk Adjust resolve problems 1

2. Organize: People In Software Development & Support, the most important resource is People. During the planning phase, besides estimating the cost, one needs to estimate the number of and the type of people required to accomplish the activities. Requirements and Domain experts Design experts Programming experts (for the desired language and environment) Testing and QA experts Customer Support personnel Project management personnel etc. The roles of the people will be further clarified and adjusted as the project moves into the “organizing” phase.

People and Organization Many ways to structure an organization: hierarchical matrix distributed vs centralized in house vs out-sourcing vs off-shore Given n people in an organization there may be as much as (2n-1) + 1 different “teams” Given n people, there may be as much as [n*(n-1)]/2 pairs of communications. How do you structure effectively (keeping the needed communications and teams to a minimal number) ?

Sample “Role Based” Organization Designers Requirements Analysts Customers Programmers Users Customer Support QA & Testers Project Management Executive Mgmt Configuration Mgmt & Tools

What are the items to consider ?: More on Personnel What are the items to consider ?: ability technical expertise personality experience interest aspirations physical health other obligations and responsibilities

Other Resources Some other resources, besides people are: Development tools Management tools Software packages for operating environment Computer hardware Communications and Network equipment Physical space Training budget Traveling budget Motivational Budget (e.g. bonus)

Organizing: Process and Procedures What type of process you will use depends on: Size and Complexity of project Risks involved in the project Past experience with similar project Schedule and other attributes (e.g. quality) of the project or the “goals” of the project. Personnel Amount of details needed for the procedures also depends on : process picked existing procedures type of activities that need procedure

Plan, Organize and Monitor: Risks A RISK is a problem that has not occurred, but has a possibility of occurring. Risk management is to understand and control these potential problems along with resolving the problem when it becomes reality. Steps to Risk Management: Risk identification Risk Analysis Risk Prioritization Risk Reduction Risk Planning Problem Resolution Risk Assessment Risk Control

Statistical Risk Analysis For each of the identified risk item: Attach a probability value between 0 and .99. Attach a $ value or some other value system if the risk item does turn into a problem. Multiply the probability and the $ value to get an over-all “risk value” or “risk exposure.” Rank the risk items by their risk values/exposure. For risk control side identify a set of actions and the cost of the actions that will mitigate the risk. Decide on what actions to take, if any Assessment Control

Risk Planning Example For risk items 1 and 2 : Risk Values : risk 1 : prob. of occurrence = .3; cost is $100k (personnel loss) risk 2 : prob. of occurrence = .1; cost is $350k Risk Values : risk value or exposure 1 = $30k risk value or exposure 2 = $35k risk item 2 seems to be a little more riskier than item 1. Examine the risk mitigation cost for each of these: mitigation for risk 1 : $15k (raise/future bonus/ward) mitigation for risk 2 : $30k which one would you plan to spend money on if you had only $35k to spend on risk management ?

3: Monitoring the Project What do you monitor in project management? Schedule and Milestones Cost Quality Personnel (morale and turn-over) Customer/User Satisfaction Risk Who should participate ? Developers Customers Project Management How often ? Weekly, monthly, etc. and/or At pre-set activity completion (e.g. milestone dates)

Project Monitoring Often meets resistance as “bureaucratic” or “overhead”; so it must be defined as part of the process early on with senior executive backing The metric for monitoring is often not well defined except for schedule and cost. These have to be set at the planning time as part of the requirements attributes (quality, performance, etc.) Project Managers need to be trained in the tasks of project monitoring and must have the “proper” personality -( rational introvert or rational extrovert ?). Should have needed management tools and resources to help

Some Metric for Monitoring (*weekly) Schedule : number of milestones met; % of total milestones met average % of milestone time missed (both time under and over) % of current project activities tracking to schedule current schedule status of each activity still in progress Cost: number of items tracking to cost; % of items tracking to cost % of cost overrun by each item over cost. Quality: % of test cases executed; number of test cases executed number of successfully tested test cases number of problems found by severity levels; % breakdown by severity number of problems fixed by severity Risk Items : current status of each risk item ; status of “top five” risk items % of risk items turned into problems; % of problems resolved

4. Adjust Based on the Status monitored, the project managers must take actions and adjust: When do you adjust ? ; Was there a tolerance threshold defined for the item - if not, what should it be? (This is the “killer” problem for most) What action do you take ? Are you authorized to take that action ? (Many times lack of authority results in inaction and depression.) Whom do you need to consult ? What other help do you need ? Adjustment actions are often dependent on personal and organizational culture: e.g. how risk averse is the organization