Unit 1 Introduction to IT/Software Project Management PDF

Unit 1 Introduction to IT/Software Project Management Presented by Dr. Jaskirat Singh  What is “Software Project Management”? Software: is the program(s) Who builds software? that is (are) the product of a Software is typically built by...

Unit 1 Introduction to IT/Software Project Management Presented by Dr. Jaskirat Singh  What is “Software Project Management”? Software: is the program(s) Who builds software? that is (are) the product of a Software is typically built by a software engineering project. team of software engineers, which includes: A program comprise of routines – Business analysts or and set of instructions of requirements analysts who talk symbolic languages that control to users and stakeholders, plan the functioning of the hardware. the behavior of software and Software engineering: A write software requirements. practical application of – Designers and architects who scientific knowledge in the plan the technical solution. design and construction of – Programmers who write the code. computer programs and the – Testers who verify that the associated documentation software meets its requirements required to develop, operate, and behaves as expected. and maintain them.  What is a Project? Project:- is a large or important undertaking that is planned. Projects have some commonalities: 1. Objective: There must be a clearly defined goal or set of goals for the project. A project must accomplish something. If a project has multiple goals, they should be related to each other, and not conflict with one another. 2. Start and end points. A project is a temporary endeavor. It must have a clearly defined beginning and ending dates. Software maintenance is usually an ongoing operation, not a project, but may have well-defined projects that occur within it, such as specific releases. 3. Uniqueness. A project is a one-time thing, not usually repeated exactly the same way. This does not imply that repeat performance is not a project. For example: Building a house is usually classified as a project, even though contractors have built millions of houses. 4. Constraints. A project has cost, schedule, and quality performance constraints. These  What Is a Program? A program is a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way. Often confused with the project, many people refer to these interchangeably, but the differences are mostly of scale. A program is: – Large. Programs are usually larger than projects and are often composed of projects. – Lengthy. Programs usually span long time periods and extend beyond the time spans of projects. – General. Programs may have general and broad objectives defined for them.  What Is Project Management? Management: involves the Project Management: is following activities : a set of proven principles, Planning: What is to be done Organizing: making methods and techniques arrangements for the effective planning, Staffing: selecting the right scheduling, controlling and people for the job. tracking of deliverable- Directing: giving instructions Monitoring: checking on oriented work (results) progress that help to establish a Controlling: taking action to sound historical basis for remedy hold-ups future planning of projects. Innovating: coming up with new solutions Representing: liaising with users  The characteristics of IT projects: Some General Characteristics IT projects have certain of projects: characteristics that make them different : 1. Planning is required 1. Invisibility: With software, progress is not immediately visible. 2. Specific objectives are to be met or a specified product is to be created 3. The project has a predetermined time 2. Complexity: The tend to be more span complex than other engineered artifacts. 4. Work is carried out for someone 5. Work may involves several specialism's 3. Flexibility: The ease with which software can be changed is its 6. Work is carried out in several phases strength. The software systems 7. The resources that are available for are likely to be subject to a high use on the project are constrained. degree of change. Software projects are also greatly influenced 8. The project can be small, large or by technology. complex  Problems with Software Projects Survey of “Major Issues in software engineering project management” in IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Volume 7, pp 333-342. Managers Point of View: Staff Point of View: poor estimates and Inadequate specification of work Management ignorance of IT plans technology Lack of quality standards Lack of knowledge of application and measures area, training and technical expert advice Lack of guidance about Lack of standards and up to date making organizational documentation decisions Lack of communication between Lack of techniques to user and technicians Deadline pressure make progress visible Poor role defination- who Changing software environment lack of commitment- when a project does what? is tied to one person who then Incorrect success criteria moves.  Objective of Project Management: Time Cost Quality Time Cost Quality : is the triple constraint for project management. Projects need to be delivered on time, to budget, and fulfill the desired quality (correct functionality as desired). The time cost quality relationship is often shown as a Time Cost Quality triangle: Somewhere inside this triangle is your project, being pulled three ways: – If you are going over budget? you need to slow down or reduce the specification. – If behind schedule? Then you need to spend more to catch up (man hours), or reduce the specification. – If the project is not delivering what is required?, you need to  Time Cost Quality: Why? When you are given a project with a set budget, or defined delivery date you need to ask management “why?” For Example: – Why is the budget £10,000? – For what reason is the delivery date set to January 31st 2023? – Why do we need to create this functionality? Project Managers should never accept a project with time, cost and functionality objectives without questioning why. The business reasons behind these objectives needs to be understood. Of course, the company is running projects to stay in business, to develop, and to grow. However the project manager cannot deliver miracles, and needs information to ‘balance’ the triangle.  Management Control  Management : Setting the objectives for the system and monitoring the system for see its true performance. For Example: A IT project to replace manual records. The project life cycle  For Successful Software project management the following is necessitated:  Objectives: knowing what is to be  Sub-objectives and goals: The achieved. objectives may need to be broken – Should be accepted by all the people i.e down into sub –objectives to keep users of the system and developers of the system things manageable. These sub- – If there are more than one user groups, a objectives are also known as goals. project authority(a project steering committee) needs to be identified so that only the authorized have responsibility of setting, monitoring and modifying objectives.  Measures of Effectiveness: effective objectives are concrete and well defined. – The objectives should be such that it is obvious to all whether the project has been successful or not – Any vague aspirations “For Ex: “to improve customer relations” would be unsatisfactory. – Rather there should be measures of effectiveness which quantify the success of the project. For Ex: setting objective as “ to reduce customer complaints by 70%” would be more satisfactory.  Who needs software? Most software is built in organizations for people with specific needs. – A user is someone who will need to use the software to perform tasks. – A stakeholder is a anyone who has an interest (or stake) in the software being completed – Sometimes stakeholders will be users; but often the stakeholder will not use the software. For example, a senior manager (like a CEO in a company) will usually have a stake in the software that is built, even if he/she won’t ever use it. – It is important to identify stakeholders at the beginning of the project. – Stakeholders can be: Internal to the project team, External to the project team but within the same organization. External to both the project team and the organization.  Stages of Project Management Stage 1: Initiation : This phase of Stage 3: Execution : This project phase is project management marks the beginning where the project is carried out all while of the project and is where the feasibility procuring resources i.e. tools to be used, is checked, project charter is developed, and stakeholders are and managing stakeholder identified. expectations. Stage 2: Planning: This is where the Stage 4: Controlling/Monitoring : This project plan is developed. That means phase is often carried out simultaneously costs are estimated, resources are with execution because this is where determined, and requirements (scope quality, scope and cost/time and work breakdown structure) are allocations are monitored. defined. This is also where risk is Stage 5: Closing : This stage of project identified and contingencies are planned management is where the project is for, and where communications are built. finalized and documented. The deliverable is given to the customer, stakeholders are told of the completion of the project, and all resources are released back to their resource managers.  Feasibility Study /Analysis A feasibility study is a way to evaluate whether or not a project plan could be successful. A feasibility study evaluates the practicality of your project plan in order to judge whether or not you're able to move forward with the project. It is typically conducted before any initial steps are taken with a project, including planning. A feasibility study in project management usually assesses the following areas: 1. Technical capability: Does the organization have the technical resources to undertake the project? 2. Budget: Does the organization have the financial resources to undertake the project, and is the cost/benefit analysis sufficient to warrant moving forward? 3. Risk: What is the risk associated with undertaking this project? Is the risk worth while to the company based on perceived benefits? 4. Time: Can the project be completed in a reasonable timeline? 5. Legality: What are the legal requirements of the project, and can the business meet them?  Conducting a Feasibility Study Anyone conducting a feasibility study will take several steps: Preliminary analysis: Many organizations will conduct a preliminary analysis, which is like a pre-screening of the project. The preliminary analysis aims to uncover insurmountable obstacles that would render a feasibility study useless. If no major roadblocks are uncovered during this pre-screen, a more intensive feasibility study will be conducted. Define the scope: It’s important to outline the scope of the project which will include the number and composition of both internal stakeholders and external clients or customers. Examine the potential impact of the project on all areas of the organization. Market research: Those conducting the feasibility study will examine existing competition and determine whether there is a viable place for the project within that market. Financial assessment: The feasibility study will examine the economic costs related to the project, including equipment or other resources, man-hours, the proposed benefits of the project, the break-even schedule, the financial risks, and — most importantly — the potential financial impact of the project’s failure. Roadblocks and alternative solutions: Should any potential problems surface during the study, it will look at solutions for the project to go ahead successfully. Final decision: The final aspect of a feasibility study is the recommended course of action—in other words, whether the project should be proceeded with or not.  Cost – Benefit Analysis A cost-benefit analysis is a decision-making tool that helps you choose which decisions/actions are worth pursuing. It provides a quantitative view of an issue, so you can make decisions based on evidence rather than opinion or bias. During your analysis, you assign monetary values to the costs and benefits of a decision—then subtract costs from benefits to determine net gains. This helps you estimate the full economic picture (benefit/loss) of your choice so you can decide if it’s a good idea to pursue. The major issue with cost analysis is that a project’s future benefits are predicted by past and current behavior. Assumptions are being made: guesses about future trends, etc., are fed into the analysis. Contingency data is also added to take into account any unknowns events that may occur as the project moves along. This is usually reflected by adding a 5 to 20 percent bump in overall cost. The costs incurred can of different types: Fixed Cost: Fixed costs are those type of costs that are static and do not fluctuate throughout the project lifecycle. Variable Cost: Variable costs are the costs that have a high tendency to variate depending on the duration of a project. Direct Cost: Direct costs are the type of expenses which are directly linked to the project budget. Indirect Cost: Indirect costs are those costs which are not particularly linked to your project but is shared across multiple projects. Sunk Cost: Sunk costs are the costs that have already been incurred, but have failed to generate any value for the project’s objectives. Opportunity costs such as alternative investments by the stakeholders or organization. Intangible costs: These are any current and future costs that are difficult to measure and quantify. For Example: decrease in productivity levels while a new business process is rolled out, or reduced customer satisfaction after a change in customer service processes that leads to fewer repeat buys. Types of benefits Direct benefits: Benefits you can measure with a currency value, like the revenue gained from a project. For example, revenue from new mobile app subscriptions. Indirect benefits: Benefits you can perceive but can’t measure with currency values. For example, this could include increased customer satisfaction and improved brand awareness. Analyze: costs vs. benefits Total costs: The sum of all costs. Total benefits: The sum of all benefits. Net cost-benefit: Total benefits minus total costs. This is also called net benefits. Net present value(NPV): The difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash outflows over a period of time. Benefit-cost ratio: It’s essentially the proposed total cash benefit divided by the proposed total cash costs. If your benefit-cost ratio is greater than one, that means benefits outweigh costs. Discount rates: Used to estimate how the values of your costs and benefits will change over a long period of time—for example, how they might be influenced by inflation. In other words, discount rates are essentially an interest rate you apply to costs and benefits that will occur in the future, so you can convert them into their present value. Sensitivity analysis: Determines how uncertainty affects your decisions, costs, and profits. For example, you could use a sensitivity analysis to compare the worst- and best-case scenarios for your decision. If the worst-case scenario has more costs than benefits, you can look into strategies to mitigate some of those risks.  Project Planning Depending on the characteristics of a project, detailed project planning is done either after project initiation or after completion of project requirements. The requirements together with project scope determine effort, cost, and quality required. In project planning the main tasks that are to be planned are software life-cycle processes which actually build the software product. Any project faces external and internal risks. Software projects face risks related to people, technology, process, and other areas. Due to these risks, the project schedule, cost, or quality may get affected. Recognizing these risks and making proper plans to mitigate negative impact on the project are taken care of by making a risk planning and executing them when the need arise. Depending on the software life cycle chosen, the project plan may vary. For eg. linear model vs iterative model. Software projects need many inputs for making project plans for risks involved, communication, effort and cost estimation, configuration and version control, schedules, resource requirement and allocation, etc. Typically Project Planning can contain the following types of Project Planning: 1. Project Scope Definition and Scope Planning 2. Quality Planning 3. Project Activity Definition and Activity Sequencing 4. Time, Effort and Resource Estimation 5. Risk Factors Identification and planning 6. Schedule Development 7. Cost Estimation and Budgeting 8. Organizational and Resource Planning 9. Project Plan Development and Execution 10. Performance Reporting 11. Planning Change Management 12. Project Rollout Planning 1. Project Scope Definition and Scope Planning: This is the foundation for a successful project completion. In this step, we document the project work that would facilitate us to attain the project goal. We document the project objectives, project deliverables, technical requirements, supposition, constraints, business requirements, user expectations, and everything that describes the final product requirements. 2. Quality Planning: In this step, The quality standards are determined for the project based on the inputs captured in the previous steps such as the Project Scope, Requirements, deliverables, etc. a range of factors influencing the quality of the final product. The processes required to deliver the product as assured and as per the quality standards are defined. 3. Project Activity Definition and Activity Sequencing: In this step we describe all the specific activities that must be performed to deliver the product. The Project Activity sequencing recognizes the interdependence of all the activities to be performed. 4. Time, Effort and Resource Estimation: Once the Scope, Activities and Activity interdependence has been defined and documented, the next vital step is to decide the effort required to complete each of the activities. The Effort can be calculated using one of the many techniques obtainable such as Lines of Code, Complexity of Code, Person- Months required etc. 5. Risk Factors Identification and planning: “Expecting the unexpected and facing it”. It is significant to recognize and document the risk factors associated with the project based on the assumptions, constraints, user expectations, specific situations, etc. Based on the risk factors Identified a Risk Resolution Plan is formed that analysis each of the risk factors and their impact on the project. The probable responses for each of the risk factors identified can be planned. Through out the lifetime of the project these risk factors are monitored and acted upon as essential. 6. Schedule Development: The time plan for the project can be achieved based upon the activities planned, interdependence and effort required for each of them. In very large projects it is possible that several teams work on developing the project. They may work on it in parallel, but their work may be mutually dependent. Gantt Charts can be used for creating and reporting the schedules. 7. Cost Estimation and Budgeting Planning: Based on the information composed in all the previous steps it is possible to estimate the cost concerned in executing and implementing the project. A Cost-Benefit Analysis can be based on the Cost Estimates and later Budget allocation can be done for the project. 8. Organizational and Resource Planning: Based on the actions identified, schedule and budget allocation, resource types and number of resources are acknowledged. One of the primary goals of Resource planning is to ensure that the project is run proficiently. This can only be achieved by keeping all the project resources fully utilized as possible. There are various types of resources — Equipment, Personnel, 9. Project Plan Development and Execution: Project Plan Development employs the inputs collected from all the other planning processes such as Scope definition, Activity identification, Activity sequencing, Quality Management Planning, etc. A complete Work Break down structure is formed including all the activities acknowledged. The tasks are scheduled based on the inputs captured and each of the project tasks and activities are regularly monitored. The team and the stakeholders are communicated about the progress. Any delays are analyzed and the project plan may be adjusted consequently. 10. Performance Reporting: As each of the tasks/activities illustrated in the Project plan is monitored, the progress is compared with the schedule and timelines documented in the Project Plan. Different tools can be used to measure and report the project performance such as PERT Charts, GANTT charts, Logical Bar Charts, Histograms, Pie Charts, etc. 11. Planning Change Management: Study of project performance may demand certain aspects of the project to be changed. The Requests for Changes need to be analyzed cautiously and its impact on the project should be analyzed. Considering all these aspects, the Project Plan may be customized to accommodate this request for Change. Change Management is also essential as when the novel product is implemented in the production environment it should not negatively impact the environment or the presentation of other applications sharing the same hosting environment. 12. Project Rollout Planning: Whenever a project is rolled out it may influence the technical systems, business systems and sometimes even the way business is run. For an application to be effectively implemented not only the technical environment should be ready but the users should accept it and use it efficiently. For this to happen the users may have to be trained on the new system. All this requires planning.  Project kick-off A project kick-off meeting is the first meeting with the project team, the client of the project and any anyone whose work is going to be get affected due to this project. Establish common goals and the purpose of the project. Project kick-off meeting will include introducing the team working on the project, talking the client through the project stages, and agreeing on how to effectively work together to successfully deliver the project. Structuring the meeting : How you structure your meeting agenda depends on the project, but key elements should include the 5 W’s, who, what, where, when, why and how: – Introductions – What’s the background of the project – Why are you doing it – What is the project scope – What’s the action plan – Who’s doing what – How are you going to work together and communicate – What will be the deliverables: how success look like  Project Execution At this point, the Project Plan has been approved and the project management working deliverables have been established. Project execution means taking action for actualizing the approved project plan. To Work within the scope of the project is an important element in the execution of the project i.e project activities are done according to the set plans, sequence and procedures to satisfy the requirements of the project. The Project Manager monitors the progress of the team, identifies issues or risks that occur, creates a mitigation plan with the team, and regularly reports on the project’s status to various audiences. A proactive approach to project execution allows for rapid responses to any changes in the project plan. Undertake consistent and appropriate level of updated status reporting to all the stakeholders. Project Execution Activities: Procure the resources (hardware, software, services, etc.). Make project progress information available to stakeholders. Direct and lead the project team, establish communication channels and set up a chain of command. Work results (deliverables) are created. Conduct status review meetings and disseminate status reports. Change management (original project scope, cost, schedule, and technical strategies). Ensure project progresses according to the approved plan. Mitigate any project issues and risks evolved during  Project Management Knowledge Areas What is PMBOK ? – PMBOK stands for Project Management Body of Knowledge. – It is a set of standard terminology and guidelines for project management published and updated by The Project Management Institute (PMI). – Explore https://www.pmi.org/ – PMBOK has defined 10 knowledge areas that are essentially what one must know for effective project management. 1. Project Integration Management 2. Project Scope Management 3. Project Time Management 4. Project Cost Management 5. Project Quality Management 6. Project Human Resource Management 7. Project Communications Management 8. Project Risk Management 9. Project Procurement Management 10. Project Stakeholder Management  PMBOK Knowledge Areas 1. Project Integration 3. Project time management Management – The project is divided into tasks, which are – Includes fundamental plans such as scheduled with start dates and deadlines, as developing a project charter that is well as budgets/resources for each task. created during the initiation phase. – The duration of each task is also determined This is the document that sets up the at this point. project and assigns the project – A tool like Gantt chart can be used to place manager. – The project integration area also the tasks on a timeline, and then work on resource leveling to balance resource usage. includes the directing and managing of the project work, which is the production of its deliverables. 4. Project Cost Management: his area involves 2. Project Scope Management – the project budget to make sure that the – Create a management plan that funds cover the extent of the project. defines, validates, and controls scope. – Plan cost management will determine the – project scope must be well-defined method to establish the budget, which and defended throughout the process. includes how and if it will change and what – This will ensure you stay on task and procedures will be used to control it. that everyone, including the project – Each task will have to be estimated for cost, client understands what tasks will be which means including all resources such as included in the project to prevent labor, materials, equipment and anything frustrating changes and unmet else needed to complete the task. expectations.  PMBOK Knowledge Areas 5. Project Quality Management 7. Project Communication – Project can be on time , within budget management but poor quality equals project failure. – Prepare a standalone document that – The communications management plan is measures the quality specs for the crucial to identifying who needs to know product or service. what and when before your project starts. – the deliverables must be inspected to – how it’s done and with what frequency. make sure that those standards outlined in the quality management plan are being met. 8. Project Risk Management: will 6. Project Human Resource identify Management – How the risks will be itemized, – Crucial to assemble the best team – A human resource management plan will categorized(by likelihood and impact) and prioritized. identify their roles in the development of the project. – This involves identifying risks that might – track their performance to ensure that occur during the execution of the project the project is progressing as planned. by making a risk register. – Make sure there are no internal conflicts – Plan risk responses – Look out for project team needs: identify – Controlling risk involves regularly knowledge gaps and opportunities for reviewing the risk register and crossing continued training for individual team off those risks that are no longer going to members impact the project. 9. Project Procurement 10. Project Stakeholder Management – deals with outside procurement, Management which is part of most projects, – means listing each stakeholder such as hiring subcontractors / – prioritizing what their concerns vendors. are and how they might impact – Has a huge impact on the budget and schedule. the project. – hiring the contractors/vendors will – manage stakeholders’ demand: expectations and maintain 1. Statement of work communication with them 2. Terms of reference through out the life cycle of 3. Request for proposals 4. Choosing a vendor the project – Controlling the procurement – The key objective is to process by managing and capture, align, record and monitoring the resource/item being procured. deliver stakeholder – Later, closing the contracts once objectives. the work has been completed to everyone’s satisfaction. Organization s that Support the Software Developmen t Process with Industry Standards Project management Tools and Techniques Waterfall The waterfall methodology is a project management approach that emphasizes a linear progression from beginning to end of a project. In a waterfall method, you may assume that team members rely on the completion of previous tasks before completing new ones. This methodology often used by engineers, is front-loaded to rely on careful planning, detailed documentation, and consecutive execution.  The biggest challenge with traditional project management is effectively adapting to changes during a project. Source: https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/thought- Agile The Agile technique involves the categorizing of a series of short-term milestones into deliverables that project team can quickly deliver. Agile project management is a great technique for projects that require speed and flexibility. Using an Agile method allows your team to – self-govern their tasks, – make independent decisions they believe best contribute to the collaborative goal – rapidly adjust their priorities as necessary. With Agile, you typically break down the project scope into iterations lasting 2–8 weeks. Scrum Scrum is a project management technique derived from Agile methods. The main aim is to deliver value to the customer early and continuously throughout the lifecycle of the project. To this end, those features and product increments that provide the most value for the customer are ordered so that they are developed and delivered first. You may use Scrum to implement sessions, sometimes called "sprints," that generally last for 30 days. These sessions allow you to focus on high-priority tasks and ensure their completion Backlog during this – a prioritised time. list of (ordered) everything You maythatgroup your might be project team developed in ainto smaller teams to focus on more than one product or service high-priority andper task the session. single source of requirements for any changes to be made in future releases. Sprint planning – a collaborative event to kick off the sprint. The planning session defines the overall goal of the sprint i.e. what backlog items the team will realistically complete, and how that work will be done. Sprint – a fixed timeframe (usually two weeks) that is repeatedly used to deliver selected features from the backlog. The objective is to produce valuable product increments from each sprint. Daily standup – a short team meeting to share progress and intentions, highlight Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) (PERT) is a project management planning tool used to calculate the amount of time it will take to realistically finish a project. A PERT chart uses circles or rectangles called nodes to represent project events or milestones. These nodes are linked by vectors, or lines, that represent various tasks. A PERT These charts charthave allowstheir managers to evaluate the time and resources distinct definitions and necessary to manage a project. terms anticipate how long it will take to finalize a project. "Optimistic time" refers to the shortest duration. "Pessimistic time" is logically the longest it might take. "most likely time" indicates a reasonable estimate of the best-case scenario, Critical Path Method (CPM) CPM outlines the tasks that are critical and non-critical for project completion by determining which activities will take the shortest and longest time to complete. Teams may then accomplish critical tasks first, which may shorten the amount of time needed to complete tasks that require extensive time and effort. Measuring and prioritizing tasks based on their necessity and required effort may help you make informed decisions about the sequence of task completion and could help to contribute to your team's efficiency. You may use Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) in combination with CPM to differentiate between project activities by closely analyzing and evaluating the time and effort necessary for each and creating realistic timelines and budgets based on your findings. The Critical Chain Method (CCM) Critical chain is a sequence of activities with the shortest time advance, which takes into account the constraints of resources (people, equipment) and shifts part of the implicit reserves into so-called buffers. Critical Chain Project Management basic focus is on finding and addressing inefficiencies to enhance the whole workflow. For example, a project buffer set between the last activity in the chain and the project deadline ensures that delays won’t have an effect on the project deadline. buffers include feeding and resource buffers. This technique emphasizes prioritization, dependencies analysis, and optimization of time expenses.  Project Buffer – It is placed between the last assignment and the finish date at the end of the project network diagram. – It protects the project from skipping the projected deadline of delivery and holds the date of completion intact. Feeding Buffer – Placed between the last job on the non- critical chain and the critical chain. – Such buffers are usually applied to the non-critical chain so that any lag in the non-critical chain does not affect the critical chain. Resource Buffer –added only before the critical chain tasks that involve critical resources (people, equipment). Where is the Critical Chain Method(CCM) best suitable? Companies where each team works on one project only, without any overlaps in resource. Teams who have trouble keeping up with deadlines Complex projects that have limited resources. Kanban Kanban is a popular subtype of the agile project management methodology meant to help you visualize your project and then track teams progress on it. Kanban main feature is that:- – it facilitates work transparency and – real-time communication of capacity (Work items are represented visually on a kanban board, allowing team members to see the state of every piece of work at any time. A simple Kanban board consists of three distinct columns and task is moved across the columns to signal the progress and current status of a task: – “To Do” column — When you first define a task you need to work on; you place it here. – “Doing” column — When you start working on a task; you place it here. – “Done” column — When you finish work on a task; you place it here. Agile project development teams today are able to leverage JIT (just in time) principles by matching the amount of work in progress to the team's capacity. Kanban board: display -project tasks, -assigned team members - Statuses to organize your team's efforts, align their expectations and identify areas of delay or barriers Why project. in the use Kanban? Planning flexibility: A kanban team is only focused on the work that's actively in progress. Once the team completes a work item, they pluck the next work item off the top of the backlog. The product owner is free to reprioritize work in the backlog without disrupting the team, because any changes outside the current work items don't impact the team. Shortened time cycles: In a kanban framework, it's the entire team's responsibility to ensure work is moving smoothly through the process. Cycle time is the amount of time it takes for a unit of work to travel through the team’s workflow – from the moment work starts to the moment it ships. If there is a bottleneck of work, the entire team can swarm on it to get the process flowing smoothly again Adaptive Project Framework (APF) Adaptive project management allows you to adjust the scope of your project as needed to most successfully accomplish your goals. It accommodates the unknown factors that can crop up during a project. It prepares teams to anticipate the unexpected and respond. The budget and timeline of projects using adaptive methods may remain constant, but the strategies and tasks within the process may change in order to fulfill project completion requirements. By approaching projects with the understanding that key components are constantly in flux, teams can adopt a flexible mindset to continually learn by re-evaluating results and decisions throughout a project. This requires regular communication with stakeholders at every level for the team to effectively adapt. Main characteristics of Adaptive Framework are:  Thrive on change  Learn from discovery  Client driven  The Conditions of Satisfaction(COS): What are the project’s goals defined by the stakeholders. The Project Overview Statement(POS) is the deliverable from the CoS. This document outlines the final approved CoS signed by all stakeholders. Rational Unified Process (RUP) Model Under RUP, development team test beta versions of software and analyze its performance in order to make decisions about modifications and task prioritization to best fulfill project requirements. RUP emphasizes making changes toward the end of project completion to optimize software performance and more accurately assess user experience. It divides the development process into four distinct phases : – Inception - The idea for the project is stated. The development team determines if the project is worth pursuing and what resources will be needed. – Elaboration - The project's architecture and required resources are further evaluated. Developers consider possible applications of the software and costs associated with the development. – Construction - The project is developed and completed. The software is designed, written, and tested. – Transition - The software is released to the public(Beta version). Final adjustments or updates are made based on feedback from end users. Extreme Programming(XP) :- It is used to improve software quality and responsiveness to customer requirements. The extreme programming model recommends taking the best practices that have worked well in the past in program development projects to extreme levels. The best practices involves : Testing : Writing unit tests cases before programming and keeping all of the tests running at all times. The unit tests are automated and eliminates defects early, thus reducing the costs. Simplicity: Starting with a simple design just enough to code the features at hand and redesigning when required. Code Reviews: Programming in pairs (called pair programming), with two programmers at one screen, taking turns to use the keyboard. While one of them is at the keyboard, the other constantly reviews and provides inputs. Integration testing: Integrating and testing the whole system several times a day. Design: Good quality design is important to develop good quality software. So, everybody should design daily. Keeping the customer involved all the time and obtaining constant feedback. Event Chain Management (ECM) ECM is a network analysis technique that is focused on identifying and managing events and relationship between them (event chains) that impact project schedules. Event Chains - An external event can lead to another event and so forth. This creates event chains. Event chains have a significant impact on the course of a project. For example, any changed requirements to the materials needed for the project can leads to missed deadlines and eventually leads to the failure of the project. Events can be local, affecting particular tasks or resources, or global affecting all tasks or resources. Event Chain Diagrams - Event Chain Diagrams depict the relationships between external events and tasks and how the two affect each other.  This moment, when an event occurs, in most cases is probabilistic and can be defined using statistical distribution. We can use the Monte Carlo simulation to analyze the impact of risks on forecasting models such as cost, schedule estimate, etc in a project scenario. This technique gives us a range of possible outcomes and the probabilities that will occur for any choice of action. This technique is of value because some degree of uncertainty exists in these types of decisions. Defining uncertainties using statistical distribution provide accurate results if there is a reliable historical data about duration and cost of similar tasks in previous projects.  The use of Event Chain Methodology in project management produces some interesting phenomenon: Repeated Activity - Certain external events cause the repetition of activities that have already been completed. Event Chains and Risk Mitigation - When an event occurs during the course of a project, a mitigation plan, that is an activity that expands the project schedule, is drawn up. The same mitigation plans may be used for several events. Resource Allocation Based on Events - Another phenomenon that occurs with Event Chain Methodology is the reallocation of resources from one activity to another. Extreme Project Management (XPM) XPM is a part of the Agile project management method family. Extreme Project Management (xPM) is the least structured and most creatively managed of the five models The focus of XPM is managing project stakeholders and human interactions. The success of XPM depends on the team’s ability to communicate well and develop a complete understanding. XPM is fast-paced and allows teams to work within a shorter time frame.  Six Sigma is a measurement-based strategy with the aim of improving the manufacturing process and increasing customer satisfaction. Objective of Six Sigma projects is to improve the organization's products, services and processes across various disciplines, including production, marketing, finance, and administration. It minimize mistakes and maximize value in any business process from manufacturing to management. Driven by data and statistical analysis, it focuses on the DMAIC model. DMAIC stands for: – Define the problems and objectives – Measure what needs to be done to improve and reduce errors – Analyze the process and define the factors of influence – Improve the process by identifying and implementing improvements – Control the process by assuring that the improvements will sustain  PRiSM stands for “Projects integrating Sustainable Methods” that is is based on GPM’s P5 Standards for Sustainability in Project Management. Itis a project management framework that integrates sustainability throughout the entire project lifecycle PRiSM has a far more holistic view of five elements: Project,Process,People,Planet,Prosperity  PRiSM is a principles-based framework, which means organizations first need to have the right values in place before they can successfully implement it. Phases of PRiSM: 1. Pre Project/Initiation Phase This phase allows your team to formulate ideas and review whether a project is feasible or not by measuring the impact of your project against the P5. 2. Planning Phase In the planning phase, the project manager focuses on what the client or the organization wants to achieve and plots the best way to deliver the project. 3. Executing and Controlling Phase The executing processes of this phase execute and support the planned activities from the last. The controlling process monitors, measures, and controls project performance against the planned performance 4. Closure Phase and Reviews In this phase, the project and all the products are delivered, and the implementation is complete. Project reviews take place to ensure that the benefits of the project were realized and to capture lessons learned that the organization can apply to future projects.  Tools There are various tools that can be used in project management to accomplish a successful project. They can be categorized into: Process Modeling tools Project Planning tools Risk Analysis tools Project Management tools Metrics and Management tools Quality Assurance tools Database Management tools  RACI - Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed A RACI diagram is used to describe the roles and responsibilities of the participants in a business or project activity in terms of producing predetermined deliverables. RACI is an acronym formed from the four participatory roles which are: (R)Responsible; those who undertake the activity or the resources (A)Accountable; those who take the credit for success or accountability for failure or the activity manager (C)Consulted; those whose opinions are sought (I) Informed; those who are kept advised of progress  Stakeholder matrix A stakeholder matrix is used to map stakeholders in terms of their importance and potential impact on programme or project activity.  Sample Cause and Effect diagram (Fish bone Diagram) This type of diagram breaks down the causes of the problem statement identified into discrete branches, helping to identify the main or root cause of the problem. The mouth or head of the fish depicts the problem, and various bones depict the possible root causes. Analyze and brainstorm to identify the most important root causes, by prioritizing them SWOT Analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats A SWOT analysis can be used to draw out the threats and opportunities facing a project.  Project Success factors 1 Scope This project management success factor is very important to review once a project is completed. Did you stay within the scope of your project? If your scope changed, what changed, and how did you handle and track those changes? Assess your project scope success against your intended result to see if you were successful in this area. 2 Budget Determining whether you met your budget for a project involves tracking your spending as well as your time. Taking longer on a project will push you over budget and may require you to bring in more expensive resources to complete the project. Also make sure to ask yourself if you overspent? 3 Schedule Compare your initial schedule to your final timeline to know if you successfully delivered your project on time. One way to ensure this project success factor is to update your schedule weekly during the project to make sure you’re on track. 4 Satisfaction This project management success factor helps you gain insight into how your team, customers, and stakeholders felt about the project. Were they happy with the results? Were they fully supportive of the project? 5 Quality If the project quality isn’t up to par, then your customer satisfaction is likely Successful Project Manager  Role of Project Manager 1. Initiating Project managers begin each new project by defining the main objectives of the project, its purpose, and its scope in the project charter. – Why is the project important? – What’s the specific problem we’re trying to solve? – What is the desired outcome? – What are the project’s success criteria? – Who are the stakeholders on this project? Who is impacted by, or who impacts, this project? – What are the requirements and constraints within this project? – What assumptions are we making? – How will the project be funded? – What is within our scope? What is not within our scope? – Has this project been executed before? If so, what was the result? What information from that past project should be considered in this project? 2. Planning Once the charter is approved, project managers work with key stakeholders to create an integrated project plan focused on attaining the outlined goals. The plan established during this process helps project managers to look into scope, cost, timelines, risk, quality issues, and communications. 3. Executing During this phase, team members complete the work that has been identified in the project plan in order to reach the goals of the project. The project manager will typically: – Assign work and ensure that tasks are completed as scheduled – Protect the team from distractions – Facilitate issue resolution and handle potential risks – Lead the team in working through project changes 4. Monitoring and Controlling In the monitoring and controlling phase, a project manager’s work includes: – Monitoring the progress of a project. – Managing the project’s resources and budget. – Ensuring that key milestones are reached – Comparing actual performance against planned/scheduled performance 5. Closing During the close of a project, project managers will: – Work with the client to get formal sign-off that the project is complete. – Release any resources (budget or personnel) who are no longer needed for the project. – Review the work of third-party vendors or partners in order to close their contracts and pay their invoices. – Archive project files for future reference and use