Project Management Methods By Dr. Baker Abdalhaq

Introduction Software developers systematically fail to manage projects. Solutions have been developed during the past 35 years. Still, in practice not much has changed.

A typical "waterfall" model

Project stages Why have stages? Break a large problem down into smaller, more manageable problems A tool for monitoring progress Has project kept to plan so far? Are there any problems? Points at which senior management assess project viability: Will it deliver on-time and stay within budget? Will it achieve what we want? Is corrective action needed? Management authorisation to proceed with next block of work Concentrates the mind Project team members do not want to be the cause of holding up the end of a stage

Project stages How do you decide what stages a project should have? How many? How long? How do you even know what tasks are needed in a project?

Waterfall approach Software development has gradually evolved from unstructured to structured, both in producing programs and in managing projects The waterfall approach assumes all requirements are written down before producing them. Each definition is "signed off" by the user before starting work Project definition signed before starting project Systems analysis agreed before starting design Design agreed before starting programming, and so on Advantages: Planned duration, responsibility pinned down, orderly, should result in few corrections late in project

Waterfall approach

Causes of failure once a project has started: It can be difficult to state when a stage is complete, ie. we may have to correct to previous work Causes of failure once a project has started: 74% Unclear objectives and requirements 60% Lack of business commitment 58% Business requirements changing 45% Poor communication "No-one knows what they want until you give them what they ask for" (Gerry Weinberg)