Software Project Management
Software project management is concerned with activities involved in ensuring that software is delivered on time and on schedule and in accordance with the requirements of the organisations developing and procuring the software. Project management is needed because software development is always subject to budget and schedule constraints that are set by the organisation developing the software. Management Activities includes:
- Proposal writing
- Project planning and scheduling
- Project costing
- Project monitoring and reviews
- Personnel selection and evaluation
- Report writing and presentation
These activities are not peculiar to software management. Many techniques of engineering project management are equally applicable to software project management. Technically complex engineering systems tend to suffer from the same problems as software
systems.
Project planning
It is probably the most time consuming project management activity. It is the continuous activity from initial concept through to system delivery. Plans must be regularly revised as new information becomes available.Various different types of plan may be developed to support the main software project plan that is concerned with schedule and budget. For example: quality plan, validation plan, configuration management plan, maintenance plan etc.
Project organization
Activities in a project should be organized to produce tangible outputs for management judge progress. Milestones are the end points of a process activity. Deliverables are project results delivered to customers. The waterfall process allows for the straightforward definition of progress milestones.
Risk management
Risk management is concerned with identifying risks and drawing up plans to minimize their effect on a project. A risk is 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
Risk management Process
