| |
| |
| Introduction | |
| |
| |
| About This Book | |
| |
| |
| Who Should Read This Book? | |
| |
| |
| How This Book Is Organized | |
| |
| |
| |
| Starting Your Software Project | |
| |
| |
| |
| Planning Your Software Project | |
| |
| |
| |
| Executing Your Software Project Plan | |
| |
| |
| |
| Controlling Your Software Project | |
| |
| |
| |
| Closing Your Software Project | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Part of Tens | |
| |
| |
| Appendix | |
| |
| |
| Icons Used in This Book | |
| |
| |
| Where to Go from Here | |
| |
| |
| |
| Starting Your Software Project | |
| |
| |
| |
| Examining the Big Picture of Project Management | |
| |
| |
| Defining Software Projects | |
| |
| |
| Defining Software Project Management | |
| |
| |
| Comparing Projects and Operations | |
| |
| |
| Examining Project Constraints | |
| |
| |
| Understanding Universal Constraints (Time, Cost, and Scope) | |
| |
| |
| Managing time constraints | |
| |
| |
| Managing cost constraints | |
| |
| |
| Managing the scope | |
| |
| |
| Controlling Scope Creep | |
| |
| |
| Making Sense of Project Success (Or Failure) | |
| |
| |
| Starting and Finishing Software Projects | |
| |
| |
| Understanding What Makes Software Project Management So Special | |
| |
| |
| Breaking Moore's Law | |
| |
| |
| Dealing with Moore | |
| |
| |
| Dealing with the first-time, first-use penalty | |
| |
| |
| |
| Initiating a Software Project | |
| |
| |
| Identifying the Project Purpose | |
| |
| |
| Talking to the stakeholders | |
| |
| |
| Reaching project consensus | |
| |
| |
| Dealing with Politics | |
| |
| |
| Moving from Here to There | |
| |
| |
| Initiating the project | |
| |
| |
| Planning the project | |
| |
| |
| Examining project planning approaches | |
| |
| |
| Executing the project | |
| |
| |
| Controlling the project | |
| |
| |
| Closing the project | |
| |
| |
| Living with Stakeholders | |
| |
| |
| Loving your project team | |
| |
| |
| Loving your project sponsor | |
| |
| |
| Balancing stakeholder expectations | |
| |
| |
| Completing a Project Feasibility Study | |
| |
| |
| What feasibility studies do (and don't do) | |
| |
| |
| Finding a feasibility consultant | |
| |
| |
| Understanding How Executives Select Projects | |
| |
| |
| Using the benefit comparison selection model | |
| |
| |
| Using a scoring model | |
| |
| |
| Facing a murder board | |
| |
| |
| Finding a project's ROI | |
| |
| |
| Writing the Product Description | |
| |
| |
| Making Your Project Wish List | |
| |
| |
| Finding the ideal tools | |
| |
| |
| Building a dream team | |
| |
| |
| Finding a preferred vendor | |
| |
| |
| Recognizing Doomed Projects | |
| |
| |
| |
| Creating the Software Scope | |
| |
| |
| Understanding Product Scope and Project Scope | |
| |
| |
| Completing stakeholder analysis | |
| |
| |
| Interviewing stakeholders now to avoid surprises later | |
| |
| |
| Managing Stakeholder Objectives | |
| |
| |
| Knowing the sources of common conflicts | |
| |
| |
| Resolving common conflicts | |
| |
| |
| Building the Software Scope | |
| |
| |
| Dealing with regulations and options | |
| |
| |
| Dealing with project constraints | |
| |
| |
| Getting to the signature | |
| |
| |
| Creating the Project Scope | |
| |
| |
| Knowing what the project scope statement must include | |
| |
| |
| What a project scope doesn't include | |
| |
| |
| Creating a Work Breakdown Structure | |
| |
| |
| Creating your very own WBS | |
| |
| |
| Making updates to the WBS | |
| |
| |
| Using a code of accounts | |
| |
| |
| |
| Planning Your Software Project | |
| |
| |
| |
| Planning for Communications | |
| |
| |
| The Importance of Communicating Effectively | |
| |
| |
| Ensuring accurate communication | |
| |
| |
| How not to communicate | |
| |
| |
| Care and Feeding of Nerds | |
| |
| |
| Avoiding Communication Breakdowns | |
| |
| |
| Facing the risks of communication meltdowns | |
| |
| |
| Managing communications across the enterprise | |
| |
| |
| Calculating the Communication Channels | |
| |
| |
| Building an Effective Communication Management Plan | |
| |
| |
| Knowing the six things every communication plan needs | |
| |
| |
| The communication responsibility matrix: Determining who communicates to whom | |
| |
| |
| Setting up ten-minute meetings | |
| |
| |
| Defining Who Needs What Information | |
| |
| |
| What executives want to hear | |
| |
| |
| What functional managers need to hear | |
| |
| |
| What your project team needs to hear | |
| |
| |
| What you need to hear | |
| |
| |
| Defining When Communication Is Needed | |
| |
| |
| Creating a communication schedule | |
| |
| |
| Hosting team and stakeholder meetings | |
| |
| |
| Defining Communication Modalities | |
| |
| |
| Modalities for formal communication | |
| |
| |
| Modalities for informal communication | |
| |
| |
| Automating communications | |
| |
| |
| |
| Planning for Software Project Risks | |
| |
| |
| Identifying Pure and Business Risks | |
| |
| |
| Dealing with pure risks in software projects | |
| |
| |
| Assessing business risks | |
| |
| |
| Accepting everyday technology risks with your software project | |
| |
| |
| Determining Stakeholder Risk Tolerance | |
| |
| |
| Mitigating Risks Early On | |
| |
| |
| Managing Risks in Your Organization | |
| |
| |
| Identifying risks | |
| |
| |
| Ranking risks | |
| |
| |
| Relying on Quantitative Analysis | |
| |
| |
| Creating a Contingency Reserve | |
| |
| |
| Using Software Models for Risk Management | |
| |
| |
| Using the waterfall model | |
| |
| |
| Using the spiral model | |
| |
| |
| Using the V model | |
| |
| |
| Using the scrum development model | |
| |
| |
| Preparing a Risk Response Plan | |
| |
| |
| Avoiding risks | |
| |
| |
| Transferring risks | |
| |
| |
| Mitigating risks | |
| |
| |
| Accepting the risks | |
| |
| |
| Examining Risk Responses and Impacts | |
| |
| |
| Handling the ripple effect of risk response | |
| |
| |
| Getting to say, "I told you so!" | |
| |
| |
| |
| Planning for Software Quality | |
| |
| |
| Defining Quality | |
| |
| |
| Referring to the product scope | |
| |
| |
| Referring to the project scope | |
| |
| |
| Avoiding gold-plated software | |
| |
| |
| Examining quality versus grade | |
| |
| |
| Working with a Quality Policy | |
| |
| |
| Working ISO programs | |
| |
| |
| Getting a Total Quality Management workout | |
| |
| |
| Slipping into the sixth sigma | |
| |
| |
| Using homegrown, in-house quality solutions | |
| |
| |
| Balancing Time, Cost, and Quality | |
| |
| |
| Examining optimal quality | |
| |
| |
| Considering quality when making changes | |
| |
| |
| |
| Building the Project Team | |
| |
| |
| Determining Your Project Needs | |
| |
| |
| Revisiting the work breakdown structure | |
| |
| |
| Creating a roles and responsibilities matrix | |
| |
| |
| Finding the Talent | |
| |
| |
| Asking the Right Questions (In the Right Way) | |
| |
| |
| Asking questions that facilitate resource management | |
| |
| |
| Asking questions that facilitate leadership potential | |
| |
| |
| Finding a star | |
| |
| |
| Working with organizational structures | |
| |
| |
| Determining Who Is Really in Charge | |
| |
| |
| Functioning in a functional organization | |
| |
| |
| Mixing it up in a matrix | |
| |
| |
| Prospering in the projectized structure | |
| |
| |
| Cooling in a composite structure | |
| |
| |
| Hosting Your First Project Team Meeting | |
| |
| |
| Working with Organizational Policies | |
| |
| |
| |
| Creating Project Time Estimates | |
| |
| |
| Organizing Information Before You Build a Timeline | |
| |
| |
| Understanding the Importance of a Project Network Diagram | |
| |
| |
| Preparing to Create Your PND | |
| |
| |
| Determining What May Happen - and When | |
| |
| |
| Factoring in external dependencies | |
| |
| |
| Putting together all the pieces | |
| |
| |
| Relying on network templates | |
| |
| |
| Identifying subnets and fragnets | |
| |
| |
| Using Historical Information to Complete Inexact Activity Time Estimates | |
| |
| |
| Identifying Activity Duration Influencers | |
| |
| |
| Documenting project assumptions | |
| |
| |
| Documenting project constraints | |
| |
| |
| Considering the project risks | |
| |
| |
| Considering resource requirements and capabilities | |
| |
| |
| Anticipating the first-time, first-use penalty | |
| |
| |
| Making the Project Duration Estimate | |
| |
| |
| Creating a rough order of magnitude estimate | |
| |
| |
| Creating an analogous estimate | |
| |
| |
| Creating a parametric estimate | |
| |
| |
| Estimating Do's and Don'ts | |
| |
| |
| Using PERT for the Most Accurate Estimates | |
| |
| |
| Knowing What to Say if the Boss Wants an Estimate Now | |
| |
| |
| Understanding the Way PND Paths Interact | |
| |
| |
| Calculating the critical path | |
| |
| |
| Calculating float | |
| |
| |
| Applying float to the project | |
| |
| |
| Creating the Project Schedule | |
| |
| |
| Working with the project calendar | |
| |
| |
| Working with a resource calendar | |
| |
| |
| Using resource-leveling heuristics | |
| |
| |
| Crashing and fast tracking your project | |
| |
| |
| |
| Building Your Project Budget | |
| |
| |
| Creating Cost Estimates | |
| |
| |
| Using the right resources (and using them wisely) | |
| |
| |
| Creating a rough estimate | |
| |
| |
| Creating a budget estimate | |
| |
| |
| Creating a definitive estimate | |
| |
| |
| Creating an Accurate Estimate | |
| |
| |
| Considering Project Profitability | |
| |
| |
| Planning for Contingencies | |
| |
| |
| Controlling Project Costs | |
| |
| |
| Understanding accounting blue dollars | |
| |
| |
| Understanding work-for-hire accounting | |
| |
| |
| Following simple strategies to manage project expenses | |
| |
| |
| Having More Project than Cash | |
| |
| |
| Completing root cause analysis | |
| |
| |
| Reducing the project scope | |
| |
| |
| Begging for cash | |
| |
| |
| Recognizing Budgetary Problems Before You Get to the Root Cause Analysis Stage | |
| |
| |
| Dealing with a Budget Problem that Your Bosses Know about (But Haven't Addressed) | |
| |
| |
| |
| Executing Your Software Project Plan | |
| |
| |
| |
| Working the Project Plan | |
| |
| |
| Authorizing the Project Work | |
| |
| |
| Creating a work authorization system | |
| |
| |
| Using a project management information system | |
| |
| |
| Ensuring Quality in Execution | |
| |
| |
| Understanding the Interoperability of the Quality Management Plan | |
| |
| |
| Following Quality Assurance | |
| |
| |
| Following the Quality Policy | |
| |
| |
| Managing Software Project Risks | |
| |
| |
| Gathering the ingredients for a solid risk management plan | |
| |
| |
| Examining typical risks | |
| |
| |
| Getting a plan together | |
| |
| |
| Gathering information to identify real risks | |
| |
| |
| Monitoring and Controlling Risks | |
| |
| |
| Managing Secondary and Residual Risks | |
| |
| |
| Documenting Risk Management Effectiveness | |
| |
| |
| |
| Working with Project People | |
| |
| |
| Examining the Phases of Team Development | |
| |
| |
| Understanding the life cycle of a typical project team | |
| |
| |
| Making a team out of a group of people | |
| |
| |
| Training the project team | |
| |
| |
| Doing Some Fun Team-Building Exercises | |
| |
| |
| Managing Project Conflicts | |
| |
| |
| Dealing with stakeholders | |
| |
| |
| Dealing with project team members | |
| |
| |
| Documenting project conflicts and resolutions | |
| |
| |
| Using Your Super Magic Project Manager Powers | |
| |
| |
| Forcing a decision | |
| |
| |
| Relying on expert power | |
| |
| |
| Using coercive power | |
| |
| |
| Rewarding the project team | |
| |
| |
| You and Your Positional Power | |
| |
| |
| |
| Procuring Goods and Services | |
| |
| |
| Finding a Vendor | |
| |
| |
| Using RFIs to solicit vendors | |
| |
| |
| Hosting a bidders' conference | |
| |
| |
| A day in the life of a bidders' conference | |
| |
| |
| Setting up criteria for RFPs | |
| |
| |
| Selecting the Vendor | |
| |
| |
| Considering market conditions | |
| |
| |
| Using a screening system | |
| |
| |
| Using the help of others | |
| |
| |
| Implementing a weighting system | |
| |
| |
| Negotiating for the Best Solution | |
| |
| |
| Starting with price | |
| |
| |
| Considering time, cost, and quality issues | |
| |
| |
| Administering Contracts | |
| |
| |
| Selecting the contract type | |
| |
| |
| Writing the terms and conditions | |
| |
| |
| Creating the statement of work | |
| |
| |
| Solving problems and compromising | |
| |
| |
| Closing the Vendor Contract | |
| |
| |
| Auditing the goods and services | |
| |
| |
| Signing off for the procured goods and services | |
| |
| |
| |
| Controlling Your Software Project | |
| |
| |
| |
| Managing Changes to the Software Project | |
| |
| |
| Introducing the Controlling Process Group | |
| |
| |
| Controlling the Project Scope | |
| |
| |
| Examining the project scope | |
| |
| |
| Creating and following a change control system | |
| |
| |
| Determining the value of the proposed change | |
| |
| |
| Correcting mistakes | |
| |
| |
| Controlling Project Costs | |
| |
| |
| Managing project cost variances | |
| |
| |
| Estimating the cost of change | |
| |
| |
| Forecasting variance | |
| |
| |
| Controlling the Project Schedule | |
| |
| |
| Managing project time variances | |
| |
| |
| Estimating impact of change on the project schedule | |
| |
| |
| Forecasting schedule variances | |
| |
| |
| |
| Using Earned Value Management in Software Projects | |
| |
| |
| Defining Earned Value Management | |
| |
| |
| Understanding what earned value is (and isn't) | |
| |
| |
| Discovering the other pieces of the EV formula | |
| |
| |
| Determining a project's worth | |
| |
| |
| Discovering the Earned Value Management Formulas | |
| |
| |
| Playing with Values | |
| |
| |
| Calculating your PV | |
| |
| |
| Calculating earned value | |
| |
| |
| Calculating your AC | |
| |
| |
| Creating a new EAC | |
| |
| |
| Determining the estimate to complete the project | |
| |
| |
| Uh-oh! What's your variance? | |
| |
| |
| Finding your cost and schedule performance indexes | |
| |
| |
| |
| Tracking Project Performance | |
| |
| |
| Planning Project Metrics | |
| |
| |
| Establishing project goals | |
| |
| |
| Planning for project metrics | |
| |
| |
| Determining realistic project milestones | |
| |
| |
| Implementing a Tracking Plan | |
| |
| |
| Using project baselines | |
| |
| |
| Stressing accuracy in reporting | |
| |
| |
| Using a Project Management Information System | |
| |
| |
| Tracking Project Performance | |
| |
| |
| Using earned value management | |
| |
| |
| Creating Pareto charts | |
| |
| |
| Creating control charts | |
| |
| |
| Communicating Project Performance | |
| |
| |
| Relying on the communication management plan | |
| |
| |
| Automating project communications | |
| |
| |
| Hosting status meetings | |
| |
| |
| Sharing good and bad news | |
| |
| |
| |
| Closing Your Software Project | |
| |
| |
| |
| Finalizing the Project Management Processes | |
| |
| |
| Closing the Software Project | |
| |
| |
| Completing quality control | |
| |
| |
| Completing scope verification | |
| |
| |
| Closing Out Vendor Contracts | |
| |
| |
| Auditing vendors' work and deliverables | |
| |
| |
| Paying the bills | |
| |
| |
| Completing the Project (Or at Least Transferring It to Someone Else) | |
| |
| |
| Celebrating! | |
| |
| |
| Releasing project team members from the project team | |
| |
| |
| Case Study: Completing a Project Post Mortem | |
| |
| |
| |
| Documenting Your Software Project | |
| |
| |
| Using Teamwork When Writing Documentation | |
| |
| |
| Completing the Lessons Learned Documentation | |
| |
| |
| Getting your historical information together at the beginning of a project | |
| |
| |
| Creating a lessons learned spreadsheet at the beginning of the project | |
| |
| |
| Organizing Your Lessons Learned Document | |
| |
| |
| Organizing the summary of your document | |
| |
| |
| Organizing the meat of the document | |
| |
| |
| Organizing your references, contributors, and resources | |
| |
| |
| Documenting the project's successes | |
| |
| |
| Documenting the project's failures | |
| |
| |
| Documenting the better approach | |
| |
| |
| Offering advice for future project managers | |
| |
| |
| Creating the User Manual and Help System | |
| |
| |
| Using the project scope as a reference | |
| |
| |
| Establishing operational transfer | |
| |
| |
| Avoiding helpless help systems | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Part of Tens | |
| |
| |
| |
| Ten Ways to Make Your Software Project Crash and Burn | |
| |
| |
| Failing to Plan | |
| |
| |
| Ignoring Risk Management | |
| |
| |
| Letting Your Ego Lead the Project | |
| |
| |
| Letting Your Iron Triangle Melt | |
| |
| |
| Hiding from the Project Team | |
| |
| |
| Hovering over the Project Team | |
| |
| |
| Creating Unrealistic Schedules | |
| |
| |
| Consistently Being Inconsistent | |
| |
| |
| Doing Nothing | |
| |
| |
| Being a Wimp | |
| |
| |
| |
| Ten Ways to Make Any Software Project Better | |
| |
| |
| Asking the Right Questions | |
| |
| |
| Being a Good Communicator | |
| |
| |
| Showing Your Leadership Skills | |
| |
| |
| Creating the Right Project Plan | |
| |
| |
| Finding the Correct Sponsor | |
| |
| |
| Recognizing Failure Before It Arrives | |
| |
| |
| Planning, Planning, and a Little More Planning | |
| |
| |
| Documenting Your Project Even if You Don't Want To | |
| |
| |
| Hosting a Successful Project Meeting | |
| |
| |
| Establishing Project Rules Before the Project Begins | |
| |
| |
| Communicating Good and Bad News | |
| |
| |
| |
| Formal Project Management Training and Certification | |
| |
| |
| Getting Up Close and Personal with the Project Management Institute | |
| |
| |
| Finding Out Whether the Project Management Professional Certification Is for You | |
| |
| |
| Understanding what a PMP certification says to others | |
| |
| |
| Understanding what the PMP certification gets you | |
| |
| |
| Getting started | |
| |
| |
| What Is the CAPM Certification? | |
| |
| |
| Deciding between the PMP and the CAPM | |
| |
| |
| Index | |