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Questions and Answers
What is the main purpose of tagging in version control systems?
What is the main purpose of tagging in version control systems?
Which statement best describes the nature of recent version control systems compared to early ones?
Which statement best describes the nature of recent version control systems compared to early ones?
In risk management, what is emphasized between the concepts of achievable and achieved?
In risk management, what is emphasized between the concepts of achievable and achieved?
What does the nominal plan refer to in project planning?
What does the nominal plan refer to in project planning?
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Why is financial data alone insufficient in project selection?
Why is financial data alone insufficient in project selection?
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What type of uncertainties should be dealt with in the planning phase of a project?
What type of uncertainties should be dealt with in the planning phase of a project?
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In version control, what feature allows multiple users to work on artifacts simultaneously?
In version control, what feature allows multiple users to work on artifacts simultaneously?
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What is a key challenge indicated in the content regarding the planning phase?
What is a key challenge indicated in the content regarding the planning phase?
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What is the first step in establishing a product for configuration management?
What is the first step in establishing a product for configuration management?
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What does maintaining coherency over time in configuration management involve?
What does maintaining coherency over time in configuration management involve?
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Which of the following best defines a repository in version control systems?
Which of the following best defines a repository in version control systems?
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In change management, what is meant by identifying and approving requests for changes?
In change management, what is meant by identifying and approving requests for changes?
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What is the purpose of semantic versioning in software development?
What is the purpose of semantic versioning in software development?
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What should be done to maintain older versions according to configuration management principles?
What should be done to maintain older versions according to configuration management principles?
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What is emphasized as necessary in addition to tools in effective configuration management?
What is emphasized as necessary in addition to tools in effective configuration management?
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Which statement about baseline records in configuration management is incorrect?
Which statement about baseline records in configuration management is incorrect?
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Which of the following is NOT a function of a version control system?
Which of the following is NOT a function of a version control system?
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In the context of configuration management, what does 'snapshot' refer to?
In the context of configuration management, what does 'snapshot' refer to?
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What is the primary goal of Change Control in project management?
What is the primary goal of Change Control in project management?
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In the context of configuration management, which of the following is NOT a main goal?
In the context of configuration management, which of the following is NOT a main goal?
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Which of the following is a cause for requests for changes in a project?
Which of the following is a cause for requests for changes in a project?
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What does configuration management help to define within a project?
What does configuration management help to define within a project?
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What is typically appointed to approve or reject changes in a project?
What is typically appointed to approve or reject changes in a project?
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In linear development, what is characteristic of application versions?
In linear development, what is characteristic of application versions?
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Which statement best describes the relationship between Change Control and Configuration Management?
Which statement best describes the relationship between Change Control and Configuration Management?
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What is a typical ripple effect of changes in a project?
What is a typical ripple effect of changes in a project?
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What does a sound project management aim to ensure regarding changes?
What does a sound project management aim to ensure regarding changes?
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What is a common challenge faced during the change management process?
What is a common challenge faced during the change management process?
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Why might a technical opportunity lead to a request for change?
Why might a technical opportunity lead to a request for change?
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In the branching development model, what is true about application versions?
In the branching development model, what is true about application versions?
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What typically increases as a project approaches delivery, concerning changes?
What typically increases as a project approaches delivery, concerning changes?
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What defines a perturbation in project management?
What defines a perturbation in project management?
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Study Notes
Establishing a Metrics Program
- A metrics collection program quantitatively assesses how project goals are being achieved
- Process metrics measure project characteristics
- Product metrics measure project product characteristics
- Trends are often more important than individual data points
- Automation is beneficial
Product Metrics: Size
- Size-oriented metrics include source lines of code and number of classes
- Function-oriented metrics include function points and object points
- Size metrics can be automatically collected
- SLOC (Source Lines of Code) count is sometimes controversial
- Function-oriented metrics require trained personnel for collection
Product Metrics: Complexity
- Cyclomatic complexity
- Coupling between objects
- Depth of inheritance
- Fan-in, fan-out
Product Metrics: Quality Metrics
- Ratio between lines of comments and lines of code (indicates maintainability)
- Cumulative number of open issues (indicates project convergence)
- Error density (number of errors per source line of code; helps identify systematic faults in development)
Goals of the Unit
- Requests for changes and changes will occur in your project.
- Understanding the importance of keeping a project under scope
- Recognizing how requests for changes can positively or negatively influence your project
- Learning techniques for managing changes
The Framework
- The scope document formalizes the goals of a project.
- Ideally, after goal setting, the project should move to a design/implementation phase.
- Any deviation from the planned course of action is considered a perturbation, altering goals, plans, costs, outputs, work to be performed.
- Project management aims to effectively manage change.
Fundamental Concepts
- Change Control is the set of practices ensuring changes are managed properly.
- Configuration Management ensures project outputs remain coherent over time.
- Change Control and Configuration Management cover the entire project lifecycle.
- Software artifacts (e.g., files) are easily modified in a software project.
- Software projects often interact with bug reporting/bug lifecycles.
Version Control Systems: Main Concepts
- Working version: currently edited file(s).
- Repository: stores all versions of a file (or files) with additional information.
- Coherence in early VCS is maintained by using consistent tags for all artifacts.
- Sophisticated VCS manage multiple artifacts simultaneously
Risk Management
- Risk management identifies, assesses, manages, and monitors project risks.
- The goal of risk management is to improve the probability of positive events and decrease the probability of negative ones.
- Risk management considers whether a project is worth undertaking, how to improve project success, and how to manage project termination.
- Negative outcomes are menaces; positive are opportunities.
- Varying fields utilize risk management practices.
- Various standards support software development risk management.
- Different techniques are used to evaluate risk.
Risk Management: Some Goals
- Understanding project worthiness
- Improving budget refinement
- Increasing the likelihood of successful project completion
- Ensuring project termination according to plan, within scope, quality, budget, and time.
The Risk Management Process
- The risk management process is performed concurrently with other project management activities.
- This process involves defining risk management standards, identifying risks, classifying risks, defining management strategies, monitoring risks, and updating a risk register.
Defining Risk Management Standards
- Goal: structure and define risk management procedures for a project.
- Output: a document outlining project management plan details.
- Defines project standards and best practices.
Risk Identification
- Goal: document potentially influential project risks and their characteristics.
- Process: iterative - new risks may emerge as projects progress.
- Qualitative and quantitative risk analysis is possible based on this stage.
Risk Identification and Classification
- The process of identifying and classifying project risks is iterative
- Identifying specific project risks and their descriptions are integral to this process.
- Analyzing root causes of risks and determining risk categories, impacts, and probabilities are part of this process.
- Understanding different risk characteristics, including when and how risks manifest, can be important to this phase.
- The result of this step is a risk register.
Risk Register
- A Risk Register documents identified risks, including their impact and probability.
- A Risk Register may have columns for risk descriptions, impacts, probabilities, plans, owners, and details.
Risk Identification Techniques
- Meetings
- Document Analysis
- Risk Breakdown Structures, Checklists, Templates
- Analogy
Boehm's Top Ten Causes for Project Failures
- Boehm identified the ten most common reasons for project failures.
- These common causes can be used to identify potentially problematic project issues.
- Key risks include personnel/subcontractor shortages, unrealistic schedules/budgets, poor software function/interface design, ineffective change control, and technical risks.
Root Cause Analysis Techniques
- Cause-and-effect diagrams (Ishikawa diagrams)
- Fault trees and failure modes and effects analysis
Fishbone Diagrams: Starting points
- Employ the 6 Ms (machine, method, material, manpower, measurement, and mother nature) framework for manufacturing sectors.
- For service industries, the 8 Ps (price, promotion, people, process, place, policies, procedures, and product) method is preferred.
- For a service-oriented approach, the 4 Ss (surroundings, suppliers, systems, and skills) principle can be applied, and is especially useful.
Risk Assessment and Risk Management Strategies
- Goal: Prioritize risks based on their probability and impact
- Create a prioritized list of risks, determine project viability, and pinpoint risks needing attention.
Qualitative Risk Analysis
- Utilize risk management standards to define scales for impact and probability.
- Output: a prioritized list of risks (with definitions for each scale of assessment, categorized into probability and impact)
- Organize risks into a risk matrix and use scoring methodology to prioritize risks.
- Decide on worthwhile projects and risks requiring monitoring.
Risk Matrix
- Used to categorize and prioritize risks according to their probability and impact levels.
- Risk matrix categorization includes: negligible, low, moderate, severe, and catastrophic.
Risk Scoring
- Quantifies risk through probabilistic classes of impact and qualitative/numerical scales.
- Qualitative and quantitative risk measures such as Probability: very low, low, moderate, high, very high, and Impact: negligible, low, moderate, severe, catastrophic can be combined.
- A numeric risk score can be derived - (Example: SCORE = P x I)
Socially Constructed Risk
- Two problems associated with qualitative risk analyses: perceived risk levels and lack of objective probability calculation.
- Modelers may experience risk perception bias and underestimate probabilities.
Examples of risks: Causes of Death
- List of various causes of death, including specific numbers for each cause.
- Examples of health-related risks may be useful for contextual risk analysis in various fields.
- This is used to provide real-world risk examples.
Risk Management Strategies
- Goal: develop treatment plans for unacceptable risks and devise strategies for remaining risks.
Strategies: Menaces
- Avoid: the project plan is changed to eliminate the threat (by increasing time or relaxing objectives/requirements to make achieving goals less demanding).
- Transfer: risk is allocated to a third party.
- Mitigate: reduce the probability or impact of risk (e.g., prototyping).
Strategies: Opportunities
- Exploit: improve the likelihood of opportunity occurrence.
- Share: Allocate opportunity exploitation to a third party.
- Enhance: increase opportunity size.
Strategy: Common
- Accept: allow the team to encounter risks, possibly with limited buffer allowance.
- This strategy is typically used when impact or probability is minimal.
Risk Response Planning: Outputs
- Risk response plan: concrete strategy for dealing with identified risks.
- Triggers: events triggering risk response actions.
- Responsible parties: those responsible for risk monitoring and responding to risks.
The Risk Register
- The Risk Register is a spreadsheet to list and manage project risks.
- It includes: risk ID, title and descriptions, category, probability, impact, scores (P x I), root causes, timeframes, and monitoring procedures.
Risk Monitoring and Control
- Monitoring project deviations from the nominal plan
- Identifying the root causes of risk-related deviations
- Evaluating suitable corrective actions
- Modification of the project plan
- Planned risks are managed using the pre-established contingency plans; unplanned risks need full process consideration.
Conclusions
- Main risks associated with risk management.
- Includes various risks, and how they are part of risk management.
Some Common Errors: Planning Phase
- Issues during the planning phase can pertain to failing to properly identify and manage risk values.
- Balancing project size and risk complexity is crucial; otherwise, risks can be mis-prioritized.
- Also, misunderstanding cause-and-effect relationships can lead to inadequate problem-solving.
- Examples of errors include inaccurate risk estimation and missing key details.
Some Common Errors: Risk Monitoring
- Dealing with risks as they arise is often more complex and inefficient than strategically planning for risk mitigation/management.
- Inaccurate or poorly understood risk assessment might result in the selection of unsuitable risk management strategies.
- Missing stakeholder involvement limits stakeholder awareness of potential risks and responses to these risks.
- Lack of plan updates results in out-of-date contingency plans
Project Pricing
- Defines factors that affect project pricing, including typical project life cycle phases and pricing models.
Pricing Models
- Cost-based pricing: pricing based on production costs.
- Value-based pricing: considers client perception of value.
- Competition-based pricing: utilizes competitor pricing as a reference point.
Selling, Licensing, or Leasing
- Ownership is a key factor in pricing.
- Licensing is a common method for software pricing, similar to music or books.
- A license includes specific rights for software use, like a copy or authorized number of instances.
- Software leasing is an alternative licensing method where usage is restricted to a specific time period.
- Protection mechanisms are critical in some instances.
Open Source and Free Software
- Diverse open-source licenses exist (e.g., MIT, Apache, BSD, GNU).
- Open-source software often grants users access to source code, the rights to modify code, and the ability to redistribute modified versions.
- Commercial exploitation is possible, but not always the primary driver of such software's development and evolution.
Project Pricing
- Project pricing calculation follows a similar formula to software pricing, with costs and profits being the key variables.
- Pricing models for projects can include cost-based, value-based, and competition-based strategies.
Contractual Agreements
- Opposing interests between clients and contractors are addressed and shared through contracts.
- Specific examples of contractual scenarios (e.g., startup, project execution, project delivery) and their payment structures are important aspects of this.
- Agreements are tools for managing varying project objectives, such as cost and time, to achieve negotiated outcomes and goals.
Fixed Price Contract
- Characteristics of fixed-price agreements, where the price is set at the project's commencement.
- Factors such as accurate estimations, account for potential uncertainties, and considerations to prevent unforeseen financial risks from disrupting the project flow are important for a successful evaluation.
Time and Materials
- Characteristics of time and materials agreements, where costs are incurred and billed according to actual time spent.
Retainer
- Fixed-price contract allowing for future work from a contractor (similar to a rental agreement).
Cost Plus
- Characteristics of cost-plus contracts, where costs are reimbursed to the contractor up to a maximum limit, plus a supplementary profit if performance targets are met.
Contractual Agreements and Project Budget
- Balancing risks (financial exposure for contractors) and commitment (investment) through payment scheduling.
- The cost to finish a project, rather than sunk costs, should determine economical viability.
Typical Payment Structures
- How payment depends on specified project deliverables.
- Payment schedules based on estimated time spent or milestones.
- Project progression-based payments.
- Advances and closing payments can be contingent on meeting project specifications/commitments.
Payments and Cash Flow
- Illustrates payment schemas for various contractual agreement types (including retainer, time-based billing, and milestone-based payments).
- Cash flow, affected by payment timing, and the level of investment necessary on the supplier side are influenced by different payment schemas.
Procurement and Outsourcing
- Projects often require services/products from external vendors.
- Project managers often oversee procurement, subject to organizational constraints.
- Time and available resources are key considerations when initiating procurement procedures.
The Procurement Process
- Identify specific procurement requirements.
- Identify and assess potential vendors, select and award appropriate contracts.
- Manage contract executions.
- Acceptance of final project products.
Solicitations
- Methods used for seeking external vendor submissions - open, restricted, or direct.
- Motivation: trade-offs between costs, quality, and time, determined by contractual approaches.
Invitation to Tender
- Necessary information content of a request for vendor submissions.
- Constraints and requirements are crucial information to provide.
- Modalities for submitting proposals, with clear selection criteria for contract award.
Open Tender Timing Considerations
- Time requirements for open and restricted tenders, from initial idea to final delivery.
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Description
Test your knowledge on version control systems and project management concepts. This quiz covers topics such as tagging in version control, financial data in project selection, and the planning phase of projects. Challenge yourself with these important aspects of modern project management!
