CS615 Highlighted Handouts Set 3 by VUBuddy

LECTURE # 1

1. Introduction & Fundamentals

Q1. 1 What is Management?

Basically, the management involves the following activities:  Planning- deciding what is to be done  Organizing- making arrangements  Staffing- selecting the right people for the job  Directing- giving instructions  Monitoring- checking on progress  Controlling- taking action to remedy hold-ups  Innovating- coming up with new solutions  Representing- liaising with users, etc.

Q1. 2 What is Project Management?

Project Management is the art of maximizing the probability that a project delivers its goals on Time, to Budget and at the required Quality.

The art of planning for the future has always been a human trait. In essence a project can be captured on paper with a few simple elements: a start date, an end date, the tasks that have to be carried out and when they should be finished, and some idea of the resources (people, machines etc) that will be needed during the course of the project.

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. Project management is accomplished through the use of the processes such as: initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing. It is important to note that many of the processes within project management are iterative in nature. This is in part due to the existence of and the necessity for progressive elaboration in a project throughout the project life cycle; i.e., the more you know about your project, the better you are able to manage it.

Project management is also defined as a strategic competency that has successfully been applied in such high profile projects as the construction of silk root, organizing and managing the Olympics Games, and the construction of Islamabad-Lahore motorway, just to name a few. If project management can play a major role in these success stories, just imagine what it might be able to do for your own organization. The term project management is sometimes used to describe an organizational approach to the management of ongoing operations. This approach, more properly called management by projects, treats many aspects of ongoing operations as projects to apply project management techniques to them.

Almost any human activity that involves carrying out a non- repetitive task

can be a project. So we are all project managers! We all practice project management (PM). But there is a big difference between carrying out a very simple project involving one or two people and one involving a complex mix of people, organizations and tasks.

Q1. 3 What is Software Project Management?

When the plan starts to involve different things happening at different times, some of which are dependent on each other, plus resources required at different times and in different quantities and perhaps working at different rates, the paper plan could start to cover a vast area and be unreadable.

Nevertheless, the idea that complex plans could be analyzed by a computer to allow someone to control a project is the basis of much of the development in technology that now allows projects of any size and complexity, not only to be planned, but also modeled to answer 'what if?' questions.

The original programs and computers tended to produce answers long after an event had taken place. Now, there are many project planning and scheduling programs that can provide real time information, as well as linking to risk analysis, time recording, and costing, estimating and other aspects of project control.

But computer programs are not project management: they are tools for

project managers to use. Project management is all that mix of components of control, leadership, teamwork, resource management etc that goes into a successful project.

Project managers can be found in all industries. Their numbers have grown rapidly as industry and commerce has realized that much of what it does is project work. And as project-based organizations have started to emerge, project management is becoming established as both a professional career path and a way of controlling business.

So opportunities in project management now exist not only in being a project manager, but also as part of the support team in a project or program office or as a team leader for part of a project. There are also qualifications that can be attained through the professional associations. Software Project Management is the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling software projects to ensure they are completed successfully, using tools and techniques to manage time, resources, and risks effectively.

1.4

What is a Project?

A project is an activity with specific goals which takes place over a finite period of time.

“A temporary organization that is needed to produce a unique and pre-defined outcome or result at a pre-specified time using pre-determined resources”

Projects are often implemented as a means of achieving an organization’s strategic plan. Operations and projects differ primarily in that operations are ongoing and repetitive while projects are temporary and unique. A project can thus be defined in terms of its distinctive characteristics—a project is a temporary

endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. Temporary means

that every project has a definite beginning and a definite end. Unique means that the product or service is different in some distinguishing way from all other products or services. For many organizations, projects are a means to respond to those requests that cannot be addressed within the organization’s normal operational limits.

Projects are undertaken at all levels of the organization. They may involve a single person or many thousands. Their duration ranges from a few weeks to more than five years. Projects may involve a single unit of one organization or may cross organizational boundaries, as in joint ventures and partnering.

Examples of projects include:

• Developing a new product or service. • Effecting a change in structure, staffing, or style of an organization. • Designing a new transportation vehicle. • Developing or acquiring a new or modified information system. • Constructing a building or facility. • Building a water system for a community in a developing country. • Running a campaign for political office. • Implementing a new business procedure or process.