CS3100 S/w Project Management Week 1: Introduction

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CS3100Software Project Management

Dr Ian Blackman & Terry Young

Week 1: Introduction

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Academic staff

Ian Blackman

Tracy Hall

Terry Young

Monday 9:00 am

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Graduate Teaching Associates

Helga Lecca

Georgios Xydopoulos

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Things we have listened to from last year

They didn’t like Blackboard Assessment Seminars A’s! F’s

Your predecessor did well at

Passing! Teaching

themselves one topic

Working in groups (after the moaning)

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Things we are looking out for

Good manners Signing in You need practice in writing

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Engagement monitoring

In a recent year: Out of 800 students:• called 102 students for interview• 60 of which put on 4 week ‘watch’ list• 6 of those either changed course or went

into abeyance• 2 were reported to UKBA.

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BehaviourOur values Students demonstrate this by:

Respect: we treat each other with respect and courtesy.

• Preparing for labs and lectures• Arriving on time• Reflecting on feedback• Being courteous to all students and staff

Responsibility: we take our responsibilities seriously, are accountable for our actions.

• Taking charge of their education• Studying hard• Taking the initiative• Meeting deadlines• Being motivated to learn• Attending all classes and activities

Transparency: we set out what we will do and what we expect clearly and simply and communicate it in a timely way. We act fairly and honestly with each other.

• Being realistic and honest about work, progress and expectations

• Maintaining regular contact with their group and/or project tutor

• Being proactive in seeking support and advice• Telling the Department as soon as possible if they have any

difficulties

Community: we care for and offer support and help to each other. We support and encourage each other to learn and reach our goals.

• Contributing in classes and other activities to the best of their ability

• Provide constructive feedback on teaching, programmes, the Department, and the University

• Being willing to support and be supported by peers• Pulling their weight in team activities

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BehaviourOur values Staff demonstrate this by:

Respect: we treat each other with respect and courtesy.

• Preparing well for all teaching activities• Arriving on time• Listening to and acting on student feedback• Being courteous to all students and staff

Responsibility: we take our responsibilities seriously, are accountable for our actions.

• Providing a positive teaching and learning experience• Inspiring and challenging their students• Supporting student learning• Offering academic and pastoral support• Concentrating feedback on how their students’ can improve

Transparency: we set out what we will do and what we expect clearly and simply and communicate it in a timely way. We act fairly and honestly with each other.

• Promoting honest dialogue around effort, achievement and expectations

• Publishing assessment details and submission dates at the start of each term

• Providing feedback on their students’ work by agreed dates• Replying to email within three working days

Community: we care for and offer support and help to each other. We support and encourage each other to learn and reach our goals.

• Being available at published times to offer support and guidance

• Providing services and advice to help their students to find work• Valuing student-staff activities, and learning from them• Providing opportunities for their students’ personal and

professional development outside core study

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How is the course going to be taught?

Week Lecture Seminar1 Introduction  

2 Project BreakdownCase Study: Large Civil project

3 PERT Case study: ERP project

4 Scheduling and ResourcingCase study: University Project

5Introduction to the Coursework

Case Study: LIMS installation

6 Guest Lecture: Bidding Coursework first week7 Effective Learning Week  8 Guest Lecture: Jon Assessment of learning9 Earned Value Assessment of learning

10Monitoring and Exercising Control

Coursework second week

11 Risk Coursework third week

12User needs and customer relations

Coursework final presentations

13Christmas Break

 14  15  

New

Last year

Now in Term 1

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How is the course going to be taught?Week Lecture Seminar

13Christmas Break

 14  15  16 Recovering from Failure

Private study support through Blackboard

17Guest Lecture: Contracts & IP (RSDO)

18Guest Lecture: Dr Rams Ramanan

19 Agile approaches20 Guest Lecture agile21 Effective Learning Week  

22 Preparing for the examPrivate study through Blackboard

23 Team Types and Evolution Exam techniques

24 Team RolesStudent-led seminars: revision

25 GovernanceStudent-led seminars: revision

26 Guest LectureStudent-led seminars: revision

New

New

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What grade do you want?

C/DRegurgitate information from the lectures and books

A/BYou need to think about applying some of that knowledge, show understanding.You need to be able to write!

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Learning Outcomes

Be able to identify and describe critical phases or processes in software project management.

Be able critically to evaluate issues and problems that arise during these phases or processes and to propose approaches that address or resolve them.

Be able to select appropriate tools, methods, or techniques at various stages of a project and critically discuss their application.

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What are the objectives of a software project?

Meet the agreed scope

On time

Within budget

Acceptable quality

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Conflicting Demands

Triple ConstraintTime

BudgetQuality

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the Triple Constraint

Time

BudgetQuality

Lateness may be the worst outcome for your customer. Someone else may establish themselves in this market first – or it might have significant knock-on effects (e.g.

implementation moves from a quiet summer to the January sales)

No-one likes costoverruns. They may

also be symptoms of otherproblems (e.g. poor planning, hidden quality issues).

The full impact of poorquality may be very difficult to assess, for you and foryour customer

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Conflicting Demands

Triple Constraint (alternative)Time

BudgetScope

Quality

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Construction projects versus software projects

Software Project Construction Project

Protoype Input screens Diagrams and models

Estimating costCost

Time coding Time to lay bricks, plumbing

Requirements/scope Last conversation with the customer

The front of the building faces the right way

Risks Numerous and invisible to the customer.

Tolerances of materials and construction types are well known.

Acceptance testing Gap between what works and what the customer wants.

The front doors is facing the right way and the pipes are connected.

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Thinkspot!

Are software projects different to other types of projects?

Yes & No!Y

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Software projects Other types of project

(a) Software products are less tangible than others• can be harder to specify…• …monitor…• …and sign-off on

(b) Software has a history of overspends & disappointment(c) The software community is not very accessible to outsiders(d) Software development is still quite a young discipline

(a) All projects need the same basic management skills• good planning• sound identification and management of risk• teams of good people, well resourced and managed intelligently

(b) All engineering communities are closed, to some extent(c) Most major projects today involve some level of software(d) Formal methods are increasingly common over the spectrum

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So that’s project management

How is this module going to help you understand it?

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Next week: Project breakdown

Cadle, J. and Yeates, D. (2008). Project Management for Information Systems (5th edition) London, UK: Pearson Education Ltd, Chapter 7&8

There will be questions

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A bit of help in reading

How should you read it?• It’s only just over 40 pages• Skim read it quickly first• Return and read the complicated bits more slowly

Why should you read it?• It is part of learning to learn• It makes the lectures more interesting• You will lose out this year if you don’t prepare