Product-related Problems, Technology-related problems

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Software Project Management (CS615)

LECTURE # 12

2. Software Development Fundamentals

Management Fundamentals

2.10

Problems in Software Projects

⇒ Product-related Problems

III-defined scope: You need to define the scope of the software product in the

initial stages of a software project. The scope of a software product is defined

in terms of the functionality requirements, the performance requirements, the

assumptions, and the constraints on the product. If the product scope is ill

defined, the software project does not have a proper focus on the features

required in the product.

Fuzzy users: You also need to clarify the background characteristics of the

users of the final software product at the beginning of the software project. If

the description of the users is fuzzy, then the software analysis, design, and

development stages may reflect the ambiguity with regard to the functions and

performance of the final software product.

⇒ Technology-related problems

You may also encounter technology-related problems in a software project. These

include:

Overestimated savings from reusable components and new tools and

methods: You can reuse software components in a software project to save

time, effort, and cost of creating the component again. It is important that you

assess the savings that the use of such a software component provides to a

software project. This expectation of both the customer and the management

might not be met, if you overestimate the savings from reusing software

components.

Switching tools in mid way: The current technology environment offers new

tools and technologies for software development at a fast rate. All these tools

and technologies offer the benefits of a shorter development cycle, lower

costs, and under better functionality than earlier tools. You should identify

and commit to the tool and technology for the software project before the

project commences. Switching the tool or technology used during the software

development stage causes the developers to relearn a new tool. In addition,

Software Project Management (CS615)

there is a chance that it might not be possible to integrate the software already

developed with the new tool.

Integrating different software products in cross-platform implementation:

The modem software environment requires that all software should integrate

with each other. However, many software projects do not plan for integration

with existing software in the same or different domain. This limits the

applicationofsu9h software and reduces the shelf life drastically. They key to

the success of a software product is interoperability. The software project

manager needs to determine the scope for the software product such that is

can be integrated easily with existing software.

⇒ Summary

The phases in a software project can be organized into a project life cycle. Some

standard life cycle models are the Waterfall model, the Prototyping model, the

Incremental model, and the Spiral model.

Organizational policies and attitudes influence the progress of a software project

and the tasks of a software project manager. For smooth progress of software,

project, the organization should be proactive in adopting changes in technology

and market environments, focused on developing software, and accept software

projects that match the organizational capability baseline. In addition, the

organization should implement employee-friendly human resource policies and

good knowledge management system.

The role of a software project manager includes managing resources, cost, risk,

schedules, project plan, and quality. Software project management activities can

be divided into phases. The main phases and the associated activities are initiating

the project, planning, controlling, and tracking, implementing the product, and

project closedown.

Initiating the project includes gathering requirements, determining the scope,

allocating resources, and creating an initial project plan. Planning, controlling,

and tracking involve creating a detailed project plan, constructing software, and

implementing a control mechanism. Implementing the product comprises

implementation plan, support plan, training plan, and user acceptance plan.

Project closedown includes preparing closedown report, identifying learning for

future projects, and identifying reusable software components for future software

projects.

Problems- affecting software projects can be classified into people-related,

project-related, product-related, and technology-related.

Various myths regarding software project management are adding more people to

a late project can help to finish the project on time, combining the best resources

Software Project Management (CS615)

with the worst resources results in optimal resource allocation, and changes to the

scope of the software project and the software product can be made at any-time in

the SDLC.

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