CS3100 Software Project Management: Monitoring & Control 1 Software Project Management Week 10: Project Monitoring & control Ian Blackman

CS3100 Software Project Management: Monitoring & Control 1

Software Project Management

Week 10: Project Monitoring & control

Ian Blackman


learning outcome

To be able critically to discuss ways of monitoring and intervening in projects in order to ensure smooth progress towards a result that satisfies the customer by meeting the Triple Constraint.


Once a project is running…

Measure& assessprogress

Predict impact

at end

Analyse

options

Take

action

And that’s all there is to it!

time

budgetquality

With respect to the… … triple constraint

More on this:Week 20 – QualityWeek 25 – CRM


Lets try to take this apart a little…


Predict impact

at end

Analyse

options

Take

action

NB Cadle & Yeates and Hughes & Cotterell do it slightly differently

What do we measure?

time

budgetquality

How long is it taking?How are we meeting schedule?How much time is being booked

on timesheets?How long are the sub-contractors

taking?

How much progress have we really made?

Which milestones have we met?What’s on staff activity logs?

How much has been spent?What’s on the financial returns?How much is left in the bank or

the job code?


But you can’t measure everything!

JI

GB FC

EDA

CH

timeStart with measures on the Critical Path…

Every now and then, dive deep into the project just to make sure everything is going the way you think it is.

And then follow-up high impact risks (Week 19)


Lets try to take this apart a little…


Predict impact

at end

Analyse

options

Take

action


How do we measure?

time

budgetquality

Time sheetsPersonal recordsContracts of employmentLab booksOn-line internal notes

Management accountsBank statementsAnalysis of transactionsRecords of staff timePayroll!

Sign-off with customerInternal progress reportsMilestone negotiationsDemonstrators, etc.

The textbooks have some good ideas


Moving on…


Predict impact

at end

Analyse

options

Take

action


time

budgetquality

EV

Earned value analysis enables you to estimate the predicted outturn on budget and schedule!


… and on…


Predict impact

at end

Analyse

options

Take

action

time

budgetquality

See how different strategies

impact upon the

3 constraintsEV


Back to our example from last week…

weeks0 1 2 3 6 7 8 94 5 10

Task A

Task B

Task C

Task D

Task E£30,000

Task A

Task AA

£20,000£20,000

time

budgetquality

After 4 weeks:1. Planned spend was £40,0002. Actual spend was £30,0003. Completed 1 task instead of 2

But what was the prediction?


Earned Value Analysis told us

weeks0 1 2 3 6 7 8 94 5 10

Task A

Task B

Task C

Task D

Task E

Task A

Task AA

To complete the project (& meet the customer’s expectations), Predictions:

1. Planned overspend of an extra 50% (£50,000)

2. Planned delay of an extra 100% (10 extra weeks)

time

budgetquality

So what are we going to do?


Final picture

weeks0 1 2 3 6 7 8 94 5 10

Task A

Task B

Task C

Task D

Task E£30,000

Task A

Task AA

£20,000£20,000

Task B

Task C

Replace 2 low-cost coders with a top class coder who doubles productivity

time

budgetquality


What’s the comparison?

time

budgetquality

time

budgetquality

What we would have guessed

First review - prediction

Later review - prediction

time

budgetquality

First review


The next steps


Predict impact

at end

Analyse

options

Take

action

Measurement and prediction can tell us if we have a problem or not…

… but what can we do about it?

Let’s break this downinto three scenarios.

Scenario 1: The project is on or ahead in terms of spend and schedule

Scenario 2a: The project is slightly behind in terms of either spend or schedule.

Scenario 2b: The project is in fairly or very serious trouble.

Wks16 & 17


Scenario 1


Predict impact

at end

Analyse

options

Take

action

Your monitoring and predictions indicate that everything is fine or ahead of schedule

Possible strategies and actions

Do nothing!Reduce frequency of reviews, or supervision of staffFind out what is going right and try to get more of it!Praise or reward the team

(ONLY) if you are confident…

See whether the customer will pay for earlier delivery!


Scenario 2a


Predict impact

at end

Analyse

options

Take

action

Your monitoring and predictions indicate that you are predicting a minor overrun or overspend

FIRST

Try to work out what has really happened


Scenario 2a


Predict impact

at end

Analyse

options

Take

action


Options:Do nothing! (provides a benchmark for everything else and sometimes works).

Increase effort – more staff or overtime (speeds progress, costs extra).

Modify team roles or skill mix (can be cost neutral and may create a big improvement)

Encouragement and/or incentives


Scenario 2a


Predict impact

at end

Analyse

options

Take

action


Options with the customer:

Change phasing of the deliverables

Negotiate changes in specification

Negotiate for more time or money

Other options:

Subcontract some of the work


Scenario 2b


Predict impact

at end

Analyse

options

Take

action

Your monitoring and predictions indicate that you are in dire straights

FIRST:

REALLY find out what has gone wrong

(THINKSPOT: Why is this difficult)

More in week 16, Recovering from Failure 1 & week 17, Recovering from

Failure 2


Scenario 2b


Predict impact

at end

Analyse

options

Take

action

Your monitoring and predictions indicate that you are dire straights

Options are generally radical

Re-plan projectRe-organise teamBring in specialist helpMajor negotiations with internal managementMajor negotiations with customer


Implementation issues


Predict impact

at end

Analyse

options

Take

action

Communication &documentation

Changecontrol


Documentation

Lab books

PDAs (make sure there is back-up) On-line activity logs

You can use e-mail – if you

structure it well

WHAT?Factors leading to changeAnalysis and predictionsReasons for the changeRisk associated with itPeople who objected

Poor

documentation

willruinyour

wholecareer

Formal docu-ments

later


Everyone must be clear about why

Manager(s)

Communication & listening


Predict impact

at end

Analyse

options

Take

action

Customer?You

Team

You have to take everyone with you

You may need to draw them in earlier, too (weeks 16 & 20)


Change management

Forms:

Will fit with the Company’s systemWill capture the reasons and the resultsMay record any deviations from the planUsually require formal authorisation

There are software systems:

Document controlVersion control

Change authorisation, etc.

Thinkspot: why does this matter?

Bid documents

Meetings,minutes, etc

Formal deliverables


Summary

The basics are simple: measure, predict, analyse, act

We bring each of these to the Triple Constraint

EV helps to link the predicted quality/performance to time and budget

Keep a good set of records


Next week

Guest Lecture

Documents

CS3100 Software Project Management: Monitoring & Control 1 Software Project Management Week 10: Project Monitoring & control Ian Blackman