Project Monitoring CS 414 – Software Engineering I Donald J. Bagert Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology January 30, 2003

CS 414 Software Engineering I - Project Monitoring - January 30, Outline Attack of the Amorphous Blob! Milestones Project Scheduling Project Tracking Project Monitoring Summary

CS 414 Software Engineering I - Project Monitoring - January 30, Attack of the Amorphous Blob! In the Microsoft Word thesaurus, here are some synonyms for amorphous: formless shapeless nebulous vague unstructured Monitoring software projects with a poorly-defined process is like trying to make sense of an amorphous blob – bad news!

CS 414 Software Engineering I - Project Monitoring - January 30, Cartoon of the Day Normy's Postulates of the Time/Job Continuum From the syndicated comic strip “Making It: A Survival Guide for Today” by and © Keith Robinson - no redistribution for profit allowed.

CS 414 Software Engineering I - Project Monitoring - January 30, Milestones Occur when some technical phase of the project has been achieved Question 1: What milestones have the project supervisors required of the teams?

CS 414 Software Engineering I - Project Monitoring - January 30, Milestones Question 2: What milestones has your project manager required of your team?

CS 414 Software Engineering I - Project Monitoring - January 30, Milestones (continued) Milestones are a good first step, but they are not sufficient to ensure good project monitoring You run the risk of just having a bunch of “mini-blobs”!

CS 414 Software Engineering I - Project Monitoring - January 30, Project Scheduling In any project, development is done through the execution of dozens (some hundreds) of tasks These tasks are partially-ordered Project planning determines tasks, effort, the assumptions and outcomes, and partial task order Project scheduling decides Who will do the tasks When they will be done How they relate to the milestones …Which may require more planning! (it’s iterative)

CS 414 Software Engineering I - Project Monitoring - January 30, Project Tracking Now the blob is starting to take shape! Tracking of the project can now be done through both the tasks and the milestones Information is collected through various means Artifact status Weekly reports Formal presentations Project management tools

CS 414 Software Engineering I - Project Monitoring - January 30, Project Monitoring Project Monitoring is Tracking the project Analyzing the information collected Taking appropriate action, if necessary… …which may include further planning and scheduling!

CS 414 Software Engineering I - Project Monitoring - January 30, Project Monitoring (continued) Question 3: How has (or can) project monitoring help on your projects?

CS 414 Software Engineering I - Project Monitoring - January 30, Example

CS 414 Software Engineering I - Project Monitoring - January 30, Summary Monitoring software projects with a poorly-defined process is like trying to make sense of an amorphous blob Milestones occur when some technical phase of the project has been achieved Project scheduling decides who will do the tasks, when they will be done, and how they relate to the milestones Project Monitoring is tracking the project, analyzing the information collected, and taking appropriate action, if necessary