Software Engineering Project Management Covered topics Management activities

Software Engineering Project Management Covered topics Management activities Project planning Project scheduling Risk management 1

Project management Organizing, planning and scheduling software projects The Aim of Project Management To complete a project: § On time § On budget § With required functionality § To the satisfaction of the client § Without exhaustingépuisement the team 2

The Project Manager m Create and maintain the schedule m Should track progress against schedule m Keep some m Be ® ® ® slack in the schedule continually making adjustments: Start activities before previous activity complete Sub-contract activities Renegotiate deliverables m Keep senior management informed 3

Software project management m Concerned with activities involved in ensuring that software is delivered on time and on schedule and in accordance with the requirements of the organizations developing and procuring the software m Project management is needed because : software development is always subject to budget and schedule constraints that are set by the organization developing the software 4

Management activities m Proposal writing m Project planning and scheduling m Project costing m Project monitoring and reviews m Personnel selection and evaluation m Report writing and presentations Management commonalities ® These activities are not peculiar to software management ® Many techniques of engineering project management are equally applicable to software project management 5

Project plan structure 1. Introduction 2. Project organization 3. Risk analysis 4. Hardware and software resource requirements 5. Work breakdown 6. Project schedule 7. Monitoring and reporting mechanisms 6

Project staffing May not be possible to appoint the ideal people to work on a project ®Project budget may not allow for the use of highly-paid staff ®Staff with the appropriate experience may not be available ®An organization may wish to develop employee skills on a software project 7

Activity organization ®Activities in a project should be organized to produce tangible outputs for management to judge progress ®Milestones are the end-point of a process activity ®Deliverables are project results delivered to customers 8

Types of project plan Plan Description Quality plan Describes the quality procedures and standards that will be used in a project. Validation plan Describes the approach, resources and schedule used for system validation. Configuration management plan Describes the configuration management procedures and structures to be used. Maintenance plan Predicts the maintenance requirements of the system, maintenance costs and effort required Staff development plan. Describes how the skills and 9

Project planning Probably the most time-consuming project management activity m Continuous activity from initial concept through to system delivery. Plans must be regularly revised as new information becomes available m Various different types of plan may be developed to support the main software project plan that is concerned with schedule and budget 10

Project planning process • Establish the project constraints • Make initial assessments of the project parameters • Define project milestones and deliverables While project has not been completed or cancelled • Draw up project schedule • Initiate activities according to schedule • Review project progress • Revise estimates of project parameters • Update the project schedule • Re-negotiate project constraints and deliverables if ( problems arise ) then Initiate technical review and possible revision end if end loop 11

Project Planning Methods The “Critical Path Method”, “Gantt charts”, “Activity bar charts”, etc. are roughly equivalent. These methods are best when: ®Model is updated regularly (e. g. , monthly) ®The structure of the project is well understood fiable ®The time estimates are reliable ®Activities do not share resources Critical Path Method is excellent for large construction projects. 12

Example of Milestones 13

Project scheduling Split project into tasks (activities) and estimate time and resources required to complete each task m Organize tasks concurrently to make optimal use of workforce m Minimize task dependencies to avoid delays caused by one task waiting for another to complete P Dependent on project managers intuition and experience The project scheduling process 14

Scheduling problems m Estimating the difficulty of problems and hence the cost of developing a solution is hard m Productivity is not proportional to the number of people working on a task m Adding people to a late project makes it later because of communication overheads m The unexpected always happens. Always allow contingency in planning 15

Bar charts and activity networks m Graphical notations used to illustrate the project schedule m Show project breakdown into tasks. ® Tasks should not be too small. ® They should take about a week or two m Activity charts show task dependencies and the critical path m Bar charts show schedule against calendar time 16

Task durations and dependencies 17

Activity network 18

Activity timeline 19

Staff allocation 20

Key Personnel In computing, not all people are equal: • The best are at least 5 times more productive • Some tasks are too difficult for everybody Adding more people adds communications complexity • Some activities need a single mind • Sometimes, the elapsed time for an activity can not be shortened. What happens to the project if a key person is sick or quits? 21

Start-up Time On a big project, the start-up time is typically three to six months: ®Personnel have to complete previous projects (fatigue) or recruited. ®Hardware and software has to be acquired and installed. ®Staff have to learn new domain areas and software (slow while learning) ®Clients may not be ready. 22

Example PERT (Program Evaluation Review Technique) m Many hundreds of activities have to be performed in the course of building a product m Some activities can carried on in parallel Suppose that two activities A and B are started at the same time and can be performed in parallel, but that both have to be completed before proceeding with the project as whole. ® A takes 12 days, while B needs only 3 days, ® A is critical; any delay in A will cause the project as a whole to be delayed ® B can be delayed up to 9 days without adversely impacting the project, ® there is a slack of 9 days associated with B 23

Example PERT (Program Evaluation Review Technique) Tasks Duration in days Dependencies T 1 6 T 2 4 T 3 2 T 4 2 T 1 T 5 4 T 1 T 6 7 T 2 T 7 16 T 2 T 8 3 T 9 5 T 4 T 10 3 T 9 T 11 11 T 5, T 6 T 12 5 T 7, T 8 24

Example; PERT chart showing estimated durations of activities (tasks) B T 4(2) B T 9(5) T 5(4) T 1(6) A H T 10(3) F T 11(1 1) T 6(7) T 2(4) C T 3(2) J T 7(16) D T 8(3) T 12(5) G 25

Example; PERT chart showing critical path B T 4(2) B H T 5(4) T 1(6) A T 9(5) T 10(3) F T 6(7) T 2(4) C T 3(2) D T 11(1 1) Completing the whole project will take at least 25 days. T 7(16) T 8(3) J T 12(5) G Critical activity (task) Critical path: ACGJ; if any one of the critical activities is delayed the project as a whole will be delayed If activity AD (task T 3) is delayed up to 15 days, the project as a whole will not be delayed “because there is a slack of 15 days associated with AD (T 3)” 26

estimated durations of activities (tasks) T 4 / 2 6 0 Start 0 T 1 / 6 6 4 T 5 / 4 T 6 / 7 T 2 / 4 4 0 T 7 / 16 15 T 3 / 2 0 8 13 T 9 / 5 T 10 / 3 16 10 11 20 T 11 / 11 22 End 25 T 12 / 5 5 2 17 T 8 / 3 25 27

How compute slacks / critical path m Determine the earliest start times EST: This is the latest of the earliest finish times of all of the immediately preceding activities on which an activity depends. The earliest finish time of an activity is the sum of its duration and its earliest start time. The earliest finish time of the last activity is the earliest finish time of the project. m Determine the latest start times LST: If an activity has several immediate successors, its latest finish time is the earliest of the latest start time of these activities. The latest start time is the difference between the latest finish time and its duration. m Determine the slack (float): The slack is the difference between the latest and the earliest start times m Determine the critical path. The critical path is the set of activities whose earliest start time is 28

Example; Updated PERT chart at day 17 B T 4(3) B T 9(4) T 5(6) T 1(6) F T 6(7) T 2(4) A H T 10(3) T 11(1 1) C T 3( 17) J T 7(16) T 12(5) Critical activity (task) G D Completed activity (task) Suppose that activity AD (task T 3) is in fact delayed by 15 days, activities that have been completed cannot be critical There are now tow critical paths, and activity D (T 8) become critical. T 8(3) 29

Software Engineering Risk Management 30

Risk management m Risk management is concerned with ® identifying risks ® and drawing up plans to minimize their effect on a project. m A risk is a probability that some adverse 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 33

Risk types ®Project Risks: − (budgetary, schedule, personnel, resource, customer) ®Technical Risks: − (design, implementation, interfacing, verification) ®Business Risks: − (market, strategic, management, budget) ®Known risks ®Predictable ®Unpredictable 34

Software risks Risk type Description Staff turnover Project Experienced staff will leave the project before it is finished. Management change Project There will be a change of organisational management with different priorities. Hardware unavailability Project Hardware which is essential for the project will not be delivered on schedule. Requirements change Project and product There will be a larger number of changes to the Specification delays Project and product Specifications of essential interfaces are not Size underestimate Project and product The size of the system has been underestimated. CASE tool underperformance Product CASE tools which support the project do not perform 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. requirements than anticipated. available on schedule 35

The risk management process m Risk identification ® Identify project, product and business risks m Risk analysis ® Assess the likelihood and consequences of these risks m Risk planning ® Draw up plans to avoid or minimize the effects of the risk m Risk monitoring ® Monitor the risks throughout the project 36

process 37

Risk identification ®Technology risks ®People risks ®Organizational risks ®Requirements risks ®Estimation risks 38

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 which should be reused contain defects which 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. Organisational The organisation is restructured so that different management are responsible for the project. Organisational 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 which 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. 39

Risk analysis m Assess probability and seriousness of each risk m Probability may be: very low, moderate, high or very high m Risk effects might be: catastrophic, serious, tolerable or insignificant 40

Risk analysis Risk Probability Effects Organisational financial problems force reductions in the project budget. Low Catastrophic It is impossible to recruit staff with the skills required for the project. High Catastrophic Key staff are ill at critical times in the project. Moderate Serious Software components which should be reused contain defects which limit their functionality. Moderate Serious Changes to requirements which require major design rework are proposed. Moderate Serious The organisation is restructured so that different management are responsible for the project. High Serious The database used in the system cannot process as many transactions per second as expected. Moderate Serious The time required to develop the software is underestimated. High Serious CASE tools cannot be integrated. High Tolerable Customers fail to understand the impact of requirements changes. Moderate Tolerable Required training for staff is not available. Moderate Tolerable The rate of defect repair is underestimated. Moderate Tolerable The size of the software is underestimated. High Tolerable The code generated by CASE tools is inefficient. Moderate Insignificant 41

Risk planning m Consider each risk and develop a strategy to manage that risk m Avoidance strategies ® The probability that the risk will arise is reduced m Minimization strategies ® The impact of the risk on the project or product will be reduced m Contingency plans ® If the risk arises, contingency plans are plans to deal with 42

Risk management strategies Risk Strategy Organisational problems financial Prepare a briefing document for senior management showing how the project is making a very important contribution to the goals of the business. Recruitment problems Alert customer of potential difficulties and the possibility of delays, investigate buying-in components. Staff illness Reorganise team so that there is more overlap of work and people therefore understand each other’s jobs. Defective components Replace potentially defective components with bought-in components of known reliability. Requirements changes Derive traceability information to assess requirements change impact, maximise information hiding in the design. Organisational restructuring Prepare a briefing document for senior management showing how the project is making a very important contribution to the goals of the business. Database performance Investigate the possibility of buying a higher-performance database. Underestimated time Investigate buying in components, investigate use of a program generator. development 43

Risk monitoring m Assess each identified risks regularly to decide whether or not it is becoming less or more probable m Also assess whether the effects of the risk have changed m Each key risk should be discussed at management progress meetings 44

Risk factors Risk type Potential indicators Technology Late delivery of hardware or support software, many reported technology problems People Poor staff morale, poor relationships amongst team member, job availability Organisational organisational gossip, lack of action by senior management Tools reluctance by team members to use tools, complaints about CASE tools, demands for higher-powered workstations Requirements many requirements change requests, customer complaints Estimation failure to meet agreed schedule, failure to clear reported defects 45

Key points m Good project management is essential for project success m The intangible nature of software causes problems for management m Managers have diverse roles but their most significant activities are planning, estimating and scheduling m Planning and estimating are iterative processes which continue throughout the course of a project m A project milestone is a predictable state where some formal report of progress is presented to management. m Risks may be project risks, product risks or business risks m Risk management is concerned with identifying risks which may affect the project and planning to ensure that these risks do not develop into major threats 46