SPM Generalities and People Management
Andrea Polini
Software Project ManagementMSc in Computer Science
University of Camerino
A.Y. 2016/2017
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 1 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Intuition
Project ManagementManaging and arranging people and activities to achieve some statedgoals using limited resources, budget, and time
SPM concern project management when the goal is to build a softwaresystem
SPMDevelop and mantain a software product by applying projectmanagement principles as well as software engineering principles sothat the software project is delivered at minimum costs, withinminimum time, and with good product quality.
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 2 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Intuition
Project ManagementManaging and arranging people and activities to achieve some statedgoals using limited resources, budget, and time
SPM concern project management when the goal is to build a softwaresystem
SPMDevelop and mantain a software product by applying projectmanagement principles as well as software engineering principles sothat the software project is delivered at minimum costs, withinminimum time, and with good product quality.
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 2 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Peculiarities
SPM has some peculiarities making it particularly difficult:The product is intangibleNo standard software processesLarge software projects are one-off projectsAll activities are strongly dependent on people qualities
The 4 “P”s on which SPM is based are: People, Product, Process,Project Roger Pressman
Bad PM is the main cause of failure for software projects
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 3 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Peculiarities
SPM has some peculiarities making it particularly difficult:The product is intangibleNo standard software processesLarge software projects are one-off projectsAll activities are strongly dependent on people qualities
The 4 “P”s on which SPM is based are: People, Product, Process,Project Roger Pressman
Bad PM is the main cause of failure for software projects
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 3 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Management Activities
Even if each project is different from each other typical are activitiescommonly needed:
Proposal writing: includes objectives, cost and scheduleestimation and motivation for project assignmentProject planning and scheduling: activities, milestones anddeliverablesProject cost: estimation of resources to accomplish the planProject monitoring and reviews: observing and comparingPersonnel selection and evaluation: creating the teamReport writing and presentations: periodic reporting tomanagement
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Sofware Project Management Generalities
People
People working in a software organization are its greatest assets.
Project Managers are then responsible for getting returns from thisasset. A PM uses people to solve technical and nontechnicalproblems, and they have to motivate people in their team, plan andorganize their work, ensure the work is done properly.
Bad people management is the mostcommon reason of project failures
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 5 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
People
People working in a software organization are its greatest assets.
Project Managers are then responsible for getting returns from thisasset. A PM uses people to solve technical and nontechnicalproblems, and they have to motivate people in their team, plan andorganize their work, ensure the work is done properly.
Bad people management is the mostcommon reason of project failures
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 5 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
PM qualities
A PM is a person able to:motivate peopleorganize workconceive new idea and bring innovationhave managerial skills“perceive people”
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Sofware Project Management Generalities
Critical Factors
A PM has to act respecting some basic principles:Consistency: all fairly threatedRespect: people are differentInclusion: everyone can have brilliant ideasHonesty and being humble: Superman is just a comic book!
Aim is not to be a good person but a good PM
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Sofware Project Management Generalities
Selecting staff
PM that have to establish a team have limited resources
Three different information sources are generally used
CV
Interviews
Recommendations
The World Wide Web (Social, Code Repositories . . . )
General considerations:
Constrained and limited availability of internal staff
Some skills are not highly common
Junior team members are normally more enthusiastic in learning new things
The most technically proficient person is not always the right choice
Defining different paths for “techies” and managers
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 8 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Selecting staff
PM that have to establish a team have limited resources
Three different information sources are generally used
CV
Interviews
Recommendations
The World Wide Web (Social, Code Repositories . . . )
General considerations:
Constrained and limited availability of internal staff
Some skills are not highly common
Junior team members are normally more enthusiastic in learning new things
The most technically proficient person is not always the right choice
Defining different paths for “techies” and managers
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 8 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Selecting staff
PM that have to establish a team have limited resources
Three different information sources are generally used
CV
Interviews
Recommendations
The World Wide Web (Social, Code Repositories . . . )
General considerations:
Constrained and limited availability of internal staff
Some skills are not highly common
Junior team members are normally more enthusiastic in learning new things
The most technically proficient person is not always the right choice
Defining different paths for “techies” and managers
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 8 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Selection process relevant factors
In staffing a team some factors have to be generally considered:Application domain experiencePlatform experienceProgramming language experienceProblem solving abilityEducational backgroundCommunication abilityAdaptabilityAttitudePersonality
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Sofware Project Management Generalities
Qualities, metrics and measures – intuition
A quality highlight a particular aspect of a system.
Qualitative aspects are important but quantitative consideration areneeded in an engineering activity
Metrics and measurement techniques need to be defined in SEactivitiesTo assess people qualities psychometric tests are generally used
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 10 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Qualities, metrics and measures – intuition
A quality highlight a particular aspect of a system.
Qualitative aspects are important but quantitative consideration areneeded in an engineering activity
Metrics and measurement techniques need to be defined in SEactivitiesTo assess people qualities psychometric tests are generally used
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 10 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Qualities, metrics and measures – intuition
A quality highlight a particular aspect of a system.
Qualitative aspects are important but quantitative consideration areneeded in an engineering activity
Metrics and measurement techniques need to be defined in SEactivitiesTo assess people qualities psychometric tests are generally used
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 10 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Qualities, metrics and measures – intuition
A quality highlight a particular aspect of a system.
Qualitative aspects are important but quantitative consideration areneeded in an engineering activity
Metrics and measurement techniques need to be defined in SEactivitiesTo assess people qualities psychometric tests are generally used
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 10 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Motivating people
People are motivated by satisfying their needs
Maslow’s hierarchy provide a structured organization of typical humanindividual needs:
Physiological needs: not a PM taskSafety needs: not a PM taskSocial needs: give time and space to meet each other or organizeevents (in particular with distributed teams)Esteem needs: recognize achivementsSelf-realisation needs: assign challenging but possible tasks, anddefine a personal development plan
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 11 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Motivating people
People are motivated by satisfying their needs
Maslow’s hierarchy provide a structured organization of typical humanindividual needs:
Physiological needs: not a PM taskSafety needs: not a PM taskSocial needs: give time and space to meet each other or organizeevents (in particular with distributed teams)Esteem needs: recognize achivementsSelf-realisation needs: assign challenging but possible tasks, anddefine a personal development plan
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 11 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Motivating people
People are motivated by satisfying their needs
Maslow’s hierarchy provide a structured organization of typical humanindividual needs:
Physiological needs: not a PM taskSafety needs: not a PM taskSocial needs: give time and space to meet each other or organizeevents (in particular with distributed teams)Esteem needs: recognize achivementsSelf-realisation needs: assign challenging but possible tasks, anddefine a personal development plan
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 11 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
People attitude
Bass and Duntenam classified professionals motivations in threecategories:
Task-oriented: motivated by the work itselfSelf-oriented: motivated by personal success and recognitionInteraction-oriented: motivated by pleasure of working with otherpeople
If you want to be a bit better then the others, then compete. if you wantto be better by far then cooperate
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 12 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
People attitude
Bass and Duntenam classified professionals motivations in threecategories:
Task-oriented: motivated by the work itselfSelf-oriented: motivated by personal success and recognitionInteraction-oriented: motivated by pleasure of working with otherpeople
If you want to be a bit better then the others, then compete. if you wantto be better by far then cooperate
Andrea Polini SPM and People Management SPM – A.Y. 2016/2017 12 / 18
Sofware Project Management Generalities
Forming groups
Group compositionyou should create mixed groups (task, self, interaction) and appoint agroup leader for each of them that somehow monitor and reportprogress made by the group to the general PM. Leaders have to beaccepted by the team.
Is election by the team a good idea??Other important aspects to consider:
problem complexitydimesion of the resulting softwareduration of the teammodularityrequired reliabilityconstrained and relevance of deadlines
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Sofware Project Management Generalities
Communications and Organizations
Group communications: good communication is essentialbetween members. Some factors make it more complex:
sizestructurecompositionphysical work environment
Group organization: people should be allocated so that theircompetences are favored. Old style organizational strategies doesnot seem to be much effective – chief programmer
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Sofware Project Management Generalities
Cohesiveness
Group cohesivenessMembers should feel that the group is more important then theindividual. Team members trust each others and no individualist
group quality standard can be established easilymembers work closely together - learn togethermembers can get to know each other’s workEgoless programming can be practised
Favor cohesiveness through: naming, social activities, and gaming. Donot hide information to group members
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Sofware Project Management Generalities
Working environments
Studies have identified some important psychological aspects to takeinto account organizing the working space of programmers:
PrivacyOutside awarenessPersonalizations
Areas with different destinations should be available
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Sofware Project Management Generalities
P-CMM
People Capability Maturity ModelFramework to assess and improve the way in which an organizationmanages its human assets
it introduces 5 levels to classify people management practiceswithin an organization
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Sofware Project Management Generalities
Resources
Study material can be found here (also previous editions of thefollowing books):
Roger Pressman and Bruce MaximSoftware Engineering a Practioner’s Approach 8thEd .McGraw-Hill 2015.
Chapter 31 - Project Management Concepts
Ian SommervilleSoftware Engineering 10thEd .Addison Wesley 2016.
Chapter 22 - Managing People
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