Management ◦ The activities and tasks undertaken by one or more persons for the purpose of planning and controlling the activities of other in order to achieve objectives that could not be achieved by the others acting alone
Project Management ◦ A system of management procedures, practices, technologies, skills, and experience necessary to successfully manage an engineering project Software Engineering Project Management ◦ Project management where the product is software
Four P’s of Project Management ◦ 1 People ◦ 2 Product ◦ 3 Process ◦ 4 Project
Four P’s of Project Management ◦ 1: People The “most important” element The one who gets the job done What to consider Skills, abilities, talents Motivation, Interest Temperament Reliability Special challenges for managing students in senior design ◦ 2 Product ◦ 3 Process ◦ 4 Project
Four P’s of Project Management ◦ 1: People ◦ 2: Product It’s why you’re in business Determine what are you building (market/customer research) How big a job (scope) What do you have to accomplish task (resources) How hard (effort + ability + resources = feasibility) ◦ 3 Process ◦ 4 Project
Four P’s of Project Management ◦ 1: People ◦ 2: Product ◦ 3: Process The framework organizing tasks of your development work Provides structure and context for development effort Gives guidance on best practices for s/w development Identifies common concerns, e.g., organization, resources, risks ◦ 4 Project
Four P’s of Project Management ◦ 1: People ◦ 2: Product ◦ 3: Process ◦ 4: Project Organizes and integrates the other three Contains the plan of action Uses the process as a guideline Considers the people and resources in estimating Decomposes the product and develops the schedule, resource needs, cost, and risk Provides the “concrete” information needed for tracking (or monitoring) and controlling the effort.
Two types of software projects ◦ Development projects ◦ Acquisition projects Two types of software project managers ◦ Project managers ◦ Acquisition managers
Software Development ◦ The process of developing or modifying a software- intensive system to meet the acquirer’s contractual requirements ◦ The process of developing this system to deliver on time and within budget Software Acquisition ◦ The process of contractually obtaining, from a supplier, a software-intensive system for use by another groups or organization
70% of software organization have no defined methods Process are defined during the development Software ends up ◦ Late ◦ Over budget ◦ Fails to meet requirements
“Today’s major problems with software development are not technical problems, but management problems”
Functions of management ◦ Planning ◦ Organizing ◦ Staffing ◦ Directing (leading) ◦ Controlling
Set objectives and goals Develop strategies Develop policies Forecast future situations Conduct a risk assessment Determine possible courses of action Make planning decisions Set procedures and rules Develop project plans Prepare budgets Document project plans
Identify and group project function, activities, and tasks Select organizational structures Create organizational positions Define responsibilities and authority Establish position qualifications Document organizational decisions
Project managers Software system engineers Scientific/engineering programmers, programmer- analysts Verification and validation engineer Software quality assurance engineer
Lack of project management training Greatly varying skills Inability to predict productivity of engineers Lack of experience Turnover Not enough software engineers ◦ Most graduates are theoretical ◦ Or just coders
Fill organizational positions Assimilate newly assigned personnel Educate or train personnel Provide for general development Evaluate and appraise personnel Compensate Terminate assignments Document staffing decisions
Must look for ◦ Education ◦ Experience ◦ Training ◦ Motivation ◦ Commitment ◦ Self-motivation ◦ Group affinity ◦ Intelligence
Provide leadership Supervise personnel Delegate authority Motivate personnel Build teams Coordinate activities Facilitate communication Resolve conflicts Manage changes Document directing decisions
Positional Power ◦ Power derived from having a leadership position ◦ Not always effective Personal Power ◦ Charisma or personal charm ◦ Sometimes more effective than positional power
Provide leadership Supervise personnel Delegate authority Motivate personnel Build teams Coordinate activities Facilitate communication Resolve conflicts Manage changes Document directing decisions
Job Attractors Job Dissatisfiers Salary Company mismanagement Chance to advance Poor work environment Work environment Little feeling of accomplishment Location Poor recognition Benefits Inadequate salary Facilities/equipment Little chance to advance Job satisfaction Poor facilities/equipment Company management Poor benefits Job responsibility Poor career path definition
Develop standards of performance Establish monitoring and reporting systems Measure and analyze results Initiate corrective actions Reward and discipline Document controlling methods