Software projects

Software projects

1. Resources

   • Equipment
     • Ensure that the necessary equipment is available, will new hw need to be purchased?
   • Software
     • Is th required software up to date/ what user licenses will be required/ off shelf or bespoke software?
   • Staff
     • can the software be developed within the company/ do the staff have enough experience? will the project need to be outsourced?

2. Constraints

   • Resources
     • Lack of skilled resources: Could cause project delays or unfilled deliverables
   • Communication
     • Poor communications can kill a project misunderstanding regarding SCOPE, risks and the project schedule can cause uncorrectable problems
   • Technology
     • Advantages in technology can cause project delays due to lack of knowledge on new technology and training and availability of resources

3. Risks

   • Employee leaving
     • When a developer leaves he / she will take with them critcal knowledge, this can cause delay may derail entire project
   • Gold plating
     • Developers that like to show off their skills by adding unnessary features, this is a waste of programminghours
   • Task scheduleing
     • The scheduling of individual tasks must be done carefully as many of the tasks will run along side eachother

4. Project management

   • Is the process of planning , organising and directing responibility for the completion of specific IT goals
   • The cycle of managing a project
     • Initiation
       • The projects goal is identified, project manager is assigned the project
     • Planning
       • Project manager and team work together to plan all the needed steps to reach the projects goal
         • Project panning is itterative throughout the development of the project
     • Execution
       • The project team executes the project plan to create the deliverables
     • Monitoring
       • The project manager will monitor and control the work for time, cost , scope, quality and risk
         • Monitoring will ensure that the project addresses its targets for each task
     • Closing
       • Occurs at the end of each phase and project to ensure that all the work has been completed and approved

5. Role of the project manager

   • to manage the production of required deliverables.
   • To monitor the project, ensure tasks are meetting deadlines
   • Risk analysis: to outline the potential risks that could lead to the failure of a project
   • Staff availability: wil lthe right people be available to carry out tasks: what if developers leave??
   • Report back to the client: responsible of creating periodic reports to show progress and highlight areas of concern
   • Budget control will manage the budget to make the project profitiable
   • Responsible for allocating personell HW and SW to tasks and subtasks

6. Project management tools

   • GANTT CHARTS
     • Primarily used to track specific tasks progress in a project
       • it is a visual representation of what tasks are happening at a given time in a project
         • as well as detailing how long those tasks will take to complete and finish dates
     • FEATURES
       • Time is represented on a horizontal axis of the chart
       • Tasks that need completed are arranged vertically(top to bottom)in order of their start dates
       • Each task takes up one row
       • Dates run along the top in increments of days, weeks or months
       • The expected time for each task is represented using a horizontal bar whose left side representes the beggining
         • and ride side representing the end of a task
       • tasks may run parallel or sequenitally
       • vertical line can be drawn to see the progress of a project at anytime (left of the line are tasks completed/ right of the line are tasks to be completed)
     • ADVANTAGES
       • The length of time required for each task is shown
       • Links can be shown between dependant tasks( tasks that must be completed before another task can start
       • Very quick visual view of whats happening at any time during a projects development
     • Disadvantages
       • They can be too simplistic
       • do not provide detailed information needed in complex projects
       • in large projects they can become to large and unmanagebele
   • Critical path analysis
     • Is the analysis of tasks in a project so that delays and conflicts are resolved to reduce the projects lifetime to a minimum
       • Speeds up delivery
         • Allows projects to calculate the minimum amount of time needed to complete a project
           • allows the PM to identify every task and exactly how long each task will take
             • critical path is the longest path from start to finish
               • if there is a delay on this route (cp) the whole project will be delayed.
               • AIMS TO SHOW pm WHAT CRITICAL TASKS NEED TO BE COMPLETED BEFORE DEPENDANT TASKS
             • idenifies relationships between tasks
         • ENSURES THAT NO TASKS FALL BEHIND OR GET LOST
     • CPA DIAGRAMS
       • useful in helping the pm visualise the projects progress
         • allows the PM to see the project broken down into smaller tasks
           • Useful in allowing the PM to predict how long a project will take
     • CPA NETWORK DIAGRAMS
     • cpa IS A DECISION MAKING TOOL it is a method to organise tasks in the most effcient way that avoids wasting time, money and resources
     • ADVANTAGE / DISADVANTAGES

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