3.

Fundamentals of
Project Management
 Contents

Overview of project Management

Project management life cycle-IEEE Life Cycle
Project Management Process
Role of Project Manager
Quality Metrics
Risk Management Process (Case Study Based)
Risk Identification
Risk Analysis
Risk Mitigation
RMMM
 1.1 Overview of project Management

Project Management

It is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to

perform or carry out project activities in order to meet stakeholders’
need.

Project Management is the discipline of planning, organizing and

managing resources to complete a project within defined scope,
quality and cost constraints.
 1.1 Overview of project Management

• Examples of project
1. A plan or proposal; a scheme.
2. An extensive task undertaken by a student or group of
students to apply, illustrate, or supplement classroom
lessons.
3. A housing project.
 Software Project Management

Software project management is the discipline used for

managing projects effectively.

It is a challenging activity and plays a vital role in the

success of a project.

 SPM is nothing but the planning, monitoring and

control of the people, process and events that occur as
software evolves from preliminary investigation to
implementation.
 1.1 Overview of Software Project
Management
Important Aspects of SPM - 4 P’s
People

Project Dependency Product

4 order 2

Process
Fig. Factors of management dependency form project to
people
 People

For successful project people are important

aspects in project.
They could be:
1.Stakeholders
2.Team Leader/Project Manager
3.Software Team
4.Agile Team
5.Coordination and Communication Issues
 1.Stakeholders

 Senior managers: who define the business issues that often have
significant influence on the project.

 Project (technical) managers : who must plan, motivate, organize,

and control the practitioners who work on software.

 Practitioners/Programmers : who deliver the technical skills that are

necessary to engineer a product or application.

 Customers : who specify the requirements for the software to be

engineered and other stakeholders who have a peripheral interest in
the outcome.

 End-users : who interact with the software once it is released for use.
 Ex. A company (customer) buys software for its employees (end
users).
 A parent (customer) buys a toy for their child (end user)
 2. Team Leader/Project Manager

Jerry Weinberg model for leadership

1.Motivation : Ability to encourage the people to produce
their best level.

2.Organization : Ability to mold existing process or invent

new one that will be enable to translate initial concept to
final product.

3.Ideas or Innovations : Ability to encourage people to

create and feel creative when they must work within the
bounds established for a particular software product or any
application.
 Characteristics of Project Manager

Problem Solving: diagnose and solve

organizational and technical issues
Managerial Identity : He should be confident
and proper control
Achievements : He should have to take
initiative to enhance the productivity
Influence and Team building : Able to read
people, able to communicating with customers
and also proper control in high stress situation.
 Definitions

 Software project management is dedicated to the

planning, scheduling, resource allocation, execution,
tracking, and delivery of software and web projects.
 Software project management is an art and discipline
of planning and supervising software projects. It is a
sub-discipline of software project management in
which software projects planned, implemented,
monitored and controlled.
 It is a procedure of managing, allocating and timing
resources to develop computer software that fulfills
requirements.
 In software Project Management, the client and the
developers need to know the length, period and cost
of the project.
Prerequisite of software project management?

Time
Cost
Quality

It is an essential part of the software organization

to deliver a quality product, keeping the cost within
the client’s budget and deliver the project as per
schedule.
There are various factors, both external and
internal, which may impact this triple factor. Any of
three-factor can severely affect the other two
1.1 Overview of project Management
 1.2 Project management life cycle-IEEE Life Cycle

Project, as defined in the PMBOK Guide, is a

“temporary endeavor(try hard to do or achieve
something)
undertaken to create a unique product, service or
result.”
All projects vary in complexity but they all follow
similar life cycles
 All projects have deliverables (meaning they always
produce something)
Project examples: −
New product development − Building renovation −
Wedding − Dinner party
 What is a project life cycle?

Project life cycle is a series of phases of a project

from initiation to completion.
 The life cycle gives a practical approach to
problem solving applied to all aspects of a project.
 Phases in a project life cycle encompasses
sequential and overlapping phases.
 A project life cycle typically has 4 major phases:
− Initiation Phase
− Planning Phase
− Implementation/ Execution Phase
− Closure Phase
 Initiation Phase

The first phase explores the project concept.

 Scope is defined during this phase.
Feasibility studies are made in order to identify if
there is a business need and justification to
pursue the project.
Project charter(short document)is developed for
approval.
Identify key stakeholders- people involves in
Project
 This is the phase that the project team is
assembled and the project manager is identified.
 Planning Phase

This phase further details the scope of the project.

 Tasks and resources are identified and assigned
during this phase
Project manager coordinates the preparation of
the schedule and project budget
Risks are identified ahead to anticipate any project
threats
 Quality plan is developed to maintain proper
standards throughout project
Communications plan is created in order to ensure
everyone is constantly informed of project status
 Implementation/ Execution Phase

This phase is where the work outlined in the

project plan is performed.
 This phase consumes the most resources and
energy.
Constant and close monitoring of the work
should be done to ensure efficiency of the
project execution.
 Status reports are important for all
stakeholders involved.
Deliverables are measured against the set
metrics to ensure quality is acceptable
 Closure Phase

This is the last phase of the project life cycle

and involves handing over final deliverable to
the customer.
 Contracts are properly terminated for
equipment, vendors and staff.
 All stakeholders are to be informed of
project closure.
 This phase is when the team reviews the
overall project and identify lessons learned
for future projects.
1.3 Project Management Process
 Project Management Process

On any project, you will have a number of project constraints that are
competing for your attention. They are cost, scope, quality, risk,
resources, and time
1.4 Role of Project Manager
 1.4 Role of Project Manager
 Leader
A project manager must lead his team towards success.
He should provide them direction and make them understand what is
expected of them.
Clearly explain the roles of each member of the team.
He must build a team comprising of individuals with different skills so
that each member contributes effectively to the best of their abilities.

 Liaison(Co-operation)
The project manager is a link between his clients, his team and his
own supervisors.
He must coordinate and transfer all the relevant information from the
clients to his team and report to the upper management.
He should work closely with analysts, software designers and other
staff members and communicate the goals of the project.
He monitors the progress of the project, taking action accordingly.
Mentor
He must be there to guide his team at every
step and ensure that the team has
cohesion(Unity). He provides advice to his
team wherever they need it and points them in
the right direction.
 Responsibilities of a Project Manager

 Planning
In order for a project to be successful and completed within a specified
time the project manager for a software company must plan effectively.
This also includes:
 Scope:
The project manager must clearly define the scope of the project and
answer questions like, who is the customer? What need will the
software satisfy? How will it be beneficial to others? What are the
operational requirements for the project?
 Activity Schedules:
Making activity schedules and planning out the activities according o
the time frame is extremely important. He must first list out the jobs to
be done and then allot specific jobs to team members. For each job
there are different tasks to be accomplished which must be clearly
outlined. Identifying and specifying the critical activities of the project
and then equally delegating the roles to each member of the team.
 Responsibilities of a Project Manager

 Gantt Chart: (a chart in which a series of horizontal lines shows the amount of work
done or production completed in certain periods of time in relation to the amount
planned
for those periods.)

Once the activities and their different tasks have been outlined, he must list all the activities
in a Gantt chart and allot time frames for their completion. This always helps in deciding
deadlines for the various activities and also in refining the project plan as it moves along.

 Potential Risks:
 He must plan for any hindrances that might occur during the course of the project. Risk
management is an integral part of the project and ensures the presence of a backup plan.
Some of the potential risks could be:
 Design variations
 Variations by the client
 Occurrence of dispute(disagreement) and fixing any discrepancies arising due to personal
conflicts between the team members.
 Incomplete or inaccurate cost estimate
 He must be the one to take the decision of handling any free riders in the team and
decide on how they are to be handled.
 If the project has been delayed, then he must try to fix the gap brought about by the
delay.
 Responsibilities of a Project Manager

Setting Goals
He must set measurable goals that should define the
overall project’s objective.
For example: Complete the project within six months from
start date in the budget of xxx amount.
It is concise(brief), crisp and outlines the objective clearly.

Time Management
Time estimation for the various activities is of major
significance as it helps set the daily priorities of each team
member.
A project manager has to properly time all the activities
for the completion of the project and also prepare for any
delays in any of the activities.
 Responsibilities of a Project Manager

Budget Allocation and Cost Estimates

Project manager must assign budgets to the various
activities and make any cost considerations that there
might be.

Implementation and Monitoring

Implementation of the project’s activities includes
delegating(Assigning) different activities and ensuring
their completion on time.
Executing the plan of action and ensuring that it is
monitored along the way is a key responsibility if his.
A project manager must set out the project boundaries
and scope for the project which them formulates itself
into a plan of action and assists in successful completion
of the project.
 1.5 Quality Metrics

Quality Metrics in Project Management are

those KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) which
are critical during the realization of a project.
Smart project manager always makes sure to
track them, as they provide information on
every aspect of the working process. They
have to be carefully monitored in order to
ensure that the team is working on the proper
tasks. If a project manager does not control
the KPI, the risk of failure or project’s going
past the deadline drastically rises.
 Project mgt quality metrics

1. PLANNED VALUE

The name says it all – it is the estimated
amount of money that’s needed to finish all the
planned activities and tasks on time. You can
try and compare it to other metrics to have a
better view of the progress of the project. You
will notice if some tasks are doing better than
others, and you will be able to react if some
tasks will be consuming too big part of the
company’s budget.
 2. ACTUAL COST
 Actual Cost KPI tells you how much money your team has
actually spent on the project. As it includes factors that may
appear randomly, there is no formula to calculate it. You
count it by adding up all the expenses that project required.
 If you have all the hours tracked, it is easy to calculate the
Actual Cost spent on salaries, resources, and other factors
that were needed to complete the project.
 3. EARNED VALUE(measures the value of work completed
on a project at a specific point in time)
 Probably the one, that you will be most interested in Earned
Value KPI, which is also called the Budgeted Cost of Work
Performed, is responsible for displaying the results of the
planned work and the budget received for completing them.
 1.6 Risk Management Process

1.6.1 Risk Identification

Dilbert’s Take…
 What is Project Risk?

An event that, if it occurs, causes either

a positive or negative impact on a project
Keys attributes of Risk
 Uncertainty
 Positive and Negative
 Cause and Consequence
 Risk Management

Risk management is concerned with

identifying risks and drawing up plans to
minimise their effect on a project.
A risk is a probability that some adverse (or
positive) circumstance will occur
 Project risks affect schedule or resources;
 Product risks affect the quality or performance of the
software being developed;
 Business risks affect the organization developing or
procuring the software.
 The Risk Management Process

Risk Risk
Risk analysis Risk planning
identification monitoring

Risk avoidance
List of potential Prioritised risk Risk
and contingency
risks list assessment
plans
 Identifying Risk

 Continuous, Iterative Process

 What is it and what does it look like
 The sooner the better(– Needs to be done as soon as a
project is identified, and in some cases before the project is
even approved)
 The more the merrier(The more heads you involve
(stakeholders) the better the process outcome will be)
 Be specific(You should be able to identify the risk and a
trigger/cause of the risk. Example: The hardware may arrive
late (TRIGGER) causing a delay in the schedule
(RISK).Should be able to answer – WHAT & WHY)
 Don’t try to do everything at once
 (Don’t try to qualify, quantify, or remedy at this point…that is
coming)
 Risks and Risk Types
Risk type Possible risks
Technology The database used in the system cannot process as many transactions
per second as expected.
Software components that should be reused contain defects that limit
their functionality.
People It is impossible to recruit staff with the skills required.
Key staff are ill and unavailable at critical times.
Required training for staff is not available.
Organizational The organization is restructured so that different management are
responsible for the project.
Organizational financial problems force reductions in the project budget.
Tools The code generated by CASE tools is inefficient.
CASE tools cannot be integrated.
Requirements Changes to requirements that require major design rework are proposed.
Customers fail to understand the impact of requirements changes.
Estimation The time required to develop the software is underestimated.
The rate of defect repair is underestimated.
The size of the software is underestimated.
 Software Risks

Risk Affects Description

Staff turnover Project Experienced staff will leave the project before it is
finished.
Management change Project There will be a change of organizational management
with different priorities.
Hardware unavailability Project Hardware that is essential for the project will not be
delivered on schedule.
Requirements change Project and There will be a larger number of changes to the
product requirements than anticipated.
Specification delays Project and Specifications of essential interfaces are not available
product on schedule
Size underestimate Project and The size of the system has been underestimated.
product
CASE tool under- Product CASE tools which support the project do not perform
performance as anticipated
Technology change Business The underlying technology on which the system is
built is superseded by new technology.
Product competition Business A competitive product is marketed before the system
is completed.
 Risk Analysis

Assess probability, seriousness, and urgency

of each risk.
Probability may be very low, low, moderate,
high or very high.
Risk effects might be catastrophic(causing
sudden great damage), serious, tolerable or
insignificant.
Urgency might be immediate, short term, or
long term.
 Analyzing Risk - Qualitative

Subjective(Subjective risk is influenced by a

person's experiences, beliefs, and values. This
means that what one person considers risky
might not be perceived as such by another)
Educated Guess(a guess that is based on
knowledge and judgment, and is therefore more
likely to be correct)
High, Medium, Low
Red, Yellow, Green
1-10
Prioritized/Ranked list of ALL identified risks
 Risk Analysis - Quantitative

 Numerical/Statistical Analysis
 Determines probability of occurrence and
consequences of risks
 Should be focused to highest risks as determined by
Qualitative Risk Analysis and Risk Threshold
 Identification Techniques

Brainstorming
Checklists
Interviewing(You can interview stakeholders, project participants,
)
or experts to identify risks

SWOT Analysis (strengths, weaknesses opportunities, threats)

Delphi Technique (anonymous consensus building)
Diagramming Techniques
 Cause & effect
 Flow Charts
 Influence Diagrams