L1: Introduction & Risk Management

Projects, PROJECTS?!

Unlike jobs, which is a repetition of well-defined and well understood tasks, a project is more explorative and is temporary (meaning it has an end).

What is project Management?

• 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 w solutions for problems
• Representing – liaising with clients, users, developers and other stakeholders

Software Projects vs Other Engineering Project

No difference except for: * Invisibility * Complexity * Conformity to "laws of the nature" * Flexibility

Projects - General

The measurement of a projects success or failure is the degree to which objectives are met.

An example would be a project running out of time, which could be recovered by:

A. Reducing the scope of the project. which would in turn reduce the lead time (total time for the project from start to finish)

B. Increasing the costs/spent effort by adding more resources to the resource pool

On average, a software project costs 30% more than planned. 1/6 of IT projects are 'black swans' meaning it costs 200% more than planned and takes 70% more time than planned.

Software Project Management - Main Areas

• Activity planning
• Effort estimation
• Risk management
• Resource allocation
• Monitor & control execution