1. Review the concepts in this chapter related to improving the quality of software. Write a one-page paper describing how you could apply these concepts to software development projects.
Question No-6, Page No-331, Chapter No-8
Ans) Improving the quality of the project is the main challenging task of any company in the process of developing a software project. This is possible only with strong leadership in the organization. The leadership should understand the cost of quality and provide a good work place to enhance quality. It should work to improve the organizations overall maturity level in the development of the software and project management all assist in improving the quality of the software.
The top management should be quality minded and should take responsibility in creating, promoting quality programs. The top management should adhere to the company’s philosophy and commitment implementing training sessions to the project team members and need to emphasize on improving quality among all the employees and help them taking responsibility towards customer satisfaction. Good leadership provides an environment which is conductive for producing quality. Top management should follow company’s philosophy and should be committed towards implementing training programs to the team members about the concepts of quality and their principles and explain the quality importance.
Top management should work towards developing quality standards and provide the resources like training the staff and taking inputs from customers towards improving the quality.
Question No-1, Page No-331, Chapter No-8
2. Assume your organization wants to hire new instructors for your project management course. Develop a list of quality standards that you could use in making this hiring decision.
Question No-1, Page No-330, Chapter No-8
Ans) The list of quality standards we use in the selection process of the instructor includes the persons academic qualifications which includes the degrees he’s been awarded and the major subjects in them and also from which university. Also the languages he knows and the frequency with which he can speak, read, and write those languages. Does he hold any Scholastic Honours like scholarships, fellowships, honorary, or Fraternities-Graduate and Undergraduate. Has he hold any Post-doctoral fellowships, exchange positions or any civilian government service.
The other quality standards include whether he holds any memberships in any of the learned professional societies and also if he had any articles, books, papers etc published or any other work by him. All these qualities of the instructors will help in improving the organization’s standards and improving efficiency of the people in the organization and help them perform well.
3. Research the criteria of Malcolm Baldrige National Award or a similar quality award provided by another organization. Investigate a company that has received this award. What steps did the company take to earn this quality award? What are benefits of earning a quality award?
Question No-4, Page No-331, Chapter No-8
Ans) This award is given in honour of Malcolm Baldrige who was a proponent of quality management and is given to various businesses which are outstanding in seven areas: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; human resource focus; process management; and results.
This award was established as a standard of excellence that would help organizations to achieve world-class quality. The criteria of this Award is to deliver customers ever improving value and improving the performance of the organization.
The seven categories are explained which make up the award criteria:
Leadership - The leadership examines how the top management guides the organization in addressing the responsibilities towards the public and maintains good relationships.
Strategic Planning - The Srategic planning defines how the organization sets strategic goals and directions and how it determines those plans.
Customer and market focus – This determines how the organization determine its requirements and work towards the expectations of the customers and built good relationships among each other.
Measurement, analysis, and knowledge management – This focuses on effective use of data, analysis and improve the information to support the processes of the organization and improve the performance of management system.
Human resource focus – This examines how the organization is helping its work force to get the best out of them in accordance with the organizations objectives.
Process management – This examines how the processes like production, support, delivery are designed and improved.
Results – This examines the performance in various areas like company’s market performance, financial performance, human relations, customer satisfaction, financial and performance, and performance against competitors.
In 2002, Motorola Inc. Commercial has received this award. To receive this award the company has excelled in all the seven categories. They try to improve their strengths and try to improve in each area.
This Award helps all the company to self-assess their performance, improve better relations among employees and also with public and practising good citizenship. Helps in training and training and develop performance.
4. Read Douglas Ross article “Applying Covey’s Seven Habits to a Project Management career “ ( see the sixth suggested reading in this chapter ) or another article that describes the seven habits. Summarize three of Covey’s habits in your own words and give examples of how these habits would apply to project management.
Question No-3, Page No-380, Chapter No-9
Ans) Be Proactive – This habit means attacking the risks actively and reach out the stakeholders of the project if they don’t come to you. Every project may overcome with many risks like design flaws, high requirements, lack of people who are experienced, advent of new technology, less user involvement, inadequate of development environment. It is impossible to recognize all of them in one day.
In the scope of all these risks we should adopt a proactive attitude in tackling with these risks. when the scope turns out to be too large in iteration, we should reduce the scope and deliver the smaller solution. We should reach the customer if it is not possible for him to reach us. We develop a prototype if the customer is not able to express his ideas.
Begin with the End in Mind – This means we need to structure the iterations according to the goals of the project lifecycle. The team starts the project with much enthusiastically but may get lost somewhere in the end. In the scope of such pitfalls like in the case of iterative development these projects should be structured around the goals of the project.
We should mark the milestones for each phase. The project manager first develop a product acceptance plan and this helps define the end of the project clearly according to which the project is rolled out.
Think Win/Win – This emphasizes on satisfying the maximum number of business needs with minimum of effort.
We need to prioritize the business needs and their use cases. We need a traceable development order based on risk and also customer priority. The use cases should be developed according to the increasing order of risk and priority and need to be proactive and negotiate on alternatives of less risk. This gives an edge to the project team and the customer when delivering the project in time matters.
5. How many different communications channels does a project team with six people have? How many more communications channels would there be if the team grew to ten people?
Question No-3, Page No-420, Chapter No-10
Ans) The number involved in a project is the important aspect of information distribution and as the number of people increases the communication becomes complex because of more communication channels. The formula for number of communication channels is mentioned below:
The number of communications channels for a project team with n people is
No of communication channels = n ( n-1 ) / 2
The number of communications channels for a project team with 6 people is
No of communication channels = 6 ( 6-1 ) / 2 = 15
The number of communications channels for a project team with 10 people is
No of communication channels = 10 ( 10-1 ) / 2 = 45
The communication become complex as the team size increases.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
assignment-1 task-1
Q 1 ) Search the Internet for the terms project management, project management careers, project portfolio management, and information technology project management. Write down the number of hits that you received for each of these phrases. Find at least three Web sites that provide interesting information on one of the topics. In a one- to two-page paper, summarize key information about these three Web sites as well as the Project management Institute’s Web site (www.pmi.org).
Ans ) The number of hits I received for the following terms are as below
73,000,000 for project management cereers. (0.12 seconds)
693,000,000 for project management . (0.13 seconds
49,200,000 for project portfolio management . (0.22 seconds)
369,000,000 for information technology project management . (0.17 seconds)
The three Web sites thet provide useful information about Project management are as below
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management
According to this Web site it’s the discipline of organizing and managing resources ( e. g.
people) so that the project is completed within the defined scope, quality, time and cost
constraints.
There are many challenges in project management and the first and foremost one is to
ensure that the project is delivered within defined constraints and the second challenge
is to allocate optimized and integration of inputs to meet pre-defined objectives.
http://www.managementhelp.org/plan_dec/project/project.htm
In this Web site it describes that the project management is a carefully planned and
organized effort to accomplish one-time effort like a computer system. It includes a plan
defining project goals and objectives the tasks and the goals to be achieved and the budjets
and timelines of completion.
www.tpacc.com/knowledge_base_dictionary.htm
This describes Project management as an action of managing a project and involves many
activities like scheduling and communication and uses many tools to measure the progress
of financial outcome.
Q 2) Summarize the three-sphere model of systems management in your own words Then use your own experience or interview someone who recently completed an information technology project and list several business, technology, and organizational issues addressed during the project. Which issues were most important to the project and why?
Ans ) The three spheres of systems management are business ,organization and technology
issues
The business issues concentrate on the costs of the project on various stakeholders
as well as the company which is undertaking the project . It also concentrate on the financial
sense weather the project is feasible or not and weather the company should develop it in-
house or purchase it off-the-shelf. Various issues like the cost of supporting the system and also the maintenance of the system. This issues also concentrate on the impact of the project on present and future customers of the company.
The organizational issues are the most important and also most difficult issues to work on and plays an important role in managing projects. The people in the organization and other people involved in the project called the stakeholders should come to an definite understanding and work together and spend enough time with the project managers for the project to go on smoothly and meet the requirements and deadlines of the project. The project managers should work according to the political context and culture of the organization.
The technology issues concentrate on the kind of the technology should be adopted and weather it is accepted with the stakeholders and that technology adopted is familiar with the team members or they are need to be trained. Is the present hardware and software is compatible with the technology or they are to be changed. And the way they impact internet access and LAN.
My experience of completing an information technology project has the business issues like making the survey about the feasibility of the new project execution. We arranged weekly meetings with all the stakeholders about the future course of the task.
In my experience I find organizational issues are the most important ones during the project as these issues keep tracking on the various key issues of the project like the technology adopted, selecting and training the team and selecting the hardware and software requirements that support the new system.
Q 3) Write a one- to two-page summary of an article about the importance of top management support for successful information technology projects.
Ans ) The top management are the key stakeholders of the project. They need to give their project managers full support and commitment to successfully lead the project without which the projects fail.
The support of the top management is very important in the project as the top management provides adequate resources to the project managers and is important for the project to go on smoothly.
The top management supports the project managers to cope up with the political issues that arise in the organization. The top management helps and encourage cooperation among the team members to work cooperatively.
Project managers should get support from the top management whenever any unexpected problems arise during the project or if there is any need for any additional hardware and software requirements halfway through the project.
Top managers should train the project managers from time to time and arrange timely management classes and train them to be efficient managers and develop leadership skills to become good leaders to lead the project team efficiently.
Q 4 ) Write a two page paper based on the opening case. Answer the following questions:
a. What do u think the real problem was in the case?
b. Does the case present a realistic scenario? Why or why not?
c. Was Nick Carson a good project manager? Why or why not?
d. What could Nick have done to be a better project manager?
e. What should top management have done to help Nick?
Ans ) a) The real problem with this case is that Nick has to once again start preparing the new schedule according to the given time frame and to deliver the project without compromising on any of the prospects of the project.
b) This case does not present any realistic scenario because of the least timeframe given to the new project manager by the top management because of which there could be some compromise on the project outcome.
c) Nick Carson is not a good project manager because he did not focus on all aspects of the project. He also failed to provide accurate schedules and also detailed plans on the happenings of the project. He was performing other jobs leaving aside the work of project manager. Without concerning and understanding the problem of top management he delivered the project.
d) To be a better project manager Nick should have scheduled the project properly and also should have arranged kick-off meetings as many times as possible and know the problem of top management clearly and if possible get the additional resources so that not to comprise on any of the aspects of the projects.
e) The top management should first have a kick-off meeting with all the stakeholders and analyze the present status of the project and the future time frame needed to complete the project without compromising on any of the aspects of the project. Also provide the project team with additional resources needed for the project to be completed successfully in the given time.
Q 5 ) Read one of the suggested readings or find an article related to project scope management .Write a one page summary of the article ,its key conclusions, and your opinion.
Ans ) This is very important for project management. It defines and controls what work should be included and not included in the project. It is the amalgamation of all the projects products and the various requirements of the projects.
Project scope management contains processes such as:
i) Scope planning: It involves defining of the scope and verifying it and also controlling it. It involves how to create and define a WBS
ii) Scope definition: It is the developing of the scope statement for the project that will assist in any project decisions.
iii) Creating the WBS: It is dividing the project deliverables in to smaller manageable components so that it could be easier for the project team to develop the project.
iv) Scope verification: It is formalizing the acceptance of the project scope or the project deliverables.
v) Scope control: It is controlling the changes to the project scope.
The project scope management is very important because the processes in this management will definitely occur atleast once and even more than once at any stage depending on the needs of the project. And according to my opinion the scope management is most important thing in any project for its successful completion not compromising on its quality.
Q 6 ) Read one of the suggested readings or search the internet for an interesting article about software development life cycles, including agile software development. Also, find two informative Web sites related to this subject. What do these sources say about project management? Write a one- to two –page summary of your findings.
Ans ) This plays a very important role in the development of the any project. It is used by analysts for the development of the system and includes training, requirements and validation ,analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_Development_Life_Cycle).
It is also known as application development. Using the SDLC a high quality system is achieved that meets the time constraints and the cost estimates and meets the customer expectations and also works effectively and efficiently in the current scenario of information technology. And maintaining the SDLC is cheaper and also is cost-effective to enhance.
SDLC is a systematic approach for problem solving and composed of several phases
(http://codebetter.com/blogs/raymond.lewallen/archive/2005/07/13/129114.aspx) and multiple steps in each phase.
The phases of SDLC are as follows:
i) Planning phase: It is like establishing the plans like defining the system, defining the scope, developing the project plan and also monitoring and managing it.
ii) Analyses phase: Analyses consists of the thinking of the system incorporating everything asked by the management.
iii) Design phase: This consists of producing one or more models thinking of what the system would look like and a document is produced depicting the description of the system but not in specific.
iii) Development phase: It is the execution of the design phase to realize a physical system and building the system architecture and database.
iv) Testing phase: It consists of testing the system and debugging the outcomes.
v) Deployment phase: The systems are deployed and is used by the actual workforce.
vi) Maintenance: Supporting the system to keep up with the changes in the organization.
Q 7) Find someone who works as a project manager or is a member of a project team. Prepare several interview questions, and then ask them your questions in person, via the phone, or via the internet. Write a one- to two- page summary of your findings.
Ans) The following questions are been asked to the project leader of this project
i ) What is the objective to start this project?
This particular project is developed keeping in sight the prospective growth we can achieve by adding more customers to the company while retaining the present ones by providing the better services to our customers.
ii ) How much does this project cost u?
This project costed us a very hefty amount but seeing the good prospects of this project and the expected gains in the future we decided to go ahead with the project. We expect the system paying for itself within one year. And on the long run this could generate profitable revenues by satisfying all the customers.
iii ) How did you initially proceed with the project?
As a start I had an initial meeting with the top management and also with all the other stakeholders and decide about what actually is the project and what are the expectations of the top management and the prospective resources and the budget of the project. And also selected the project team. Then we have many kick-off meetings with the stakeholders every week as the project was progressing ahead to have the valuable suggestions from the stakeholders.
iv ) Was the project finished in the initial budget estimate or it exceeded that estimate. Was it feasible.
The project has definitely exceeded the initial budget estimate. But we were wary of the result and had a definite backup to tackle this out come . But we expect this project pay for itself in one year and expecting more revenues in the long run of its existence.
Ans ) The number of hits I received for the following terms are as below
73,000,000 for project management cereers. (0.12 seconds)
693,000,000 for project management . (0.13 seconds
49,200,000 for project portfolio management . (0.22 seconds)
369,000,000 for information technology project management . (0.17 seconds)
The three Web sites thet provide useful information about Project management are as below
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management
According to this Web site it’s the discipline of organizing and managing resources ( e. g.
people) so that the project is completed within the defined scope, quality, time and cost
constraints.
There are many challenges in project management and the first and foremost one is to
ensure that the project is delivered within defined constraints and the second challenge
is to allocate optimized and integration of inputs to meet pre-defined objectives.
http://www.managementhelp.org/plan_dec/project/project.htm
In this Web site it describes that the project management is a carefully planned and
organized effort to accomplish one-time effort like a computer system. It includes a plan
defining project goals and objectives the tasks and the goals to be achieved and the budjets
and timelines of completion.
www.tpacc.com/knowledge_base_dictionary.htm
This describes Project management as an action of managing a project and involves many
activities like scheduling and communication and uses many tools to measure the progress
of financial outcome.
Q 2) Summarize the three-sphere model of systems management in your own words Then use your own experience or interview someone who recently completed an information technology project and list several business, technology, and organizational issues addressed during the project. Which issues were most important to the project and why?
Ans ) The three spheres of systems management are business ,organization and technology
issues
The business issues concentrate on the costs of the project on various stakeholders
as well as the company which is undertaking the project . It also concentrate on the financial
sense weather the project is feasible or not and weather the company should develop it in-
house or purchase it off-the-shelf. Various issues like the cost of supporting the system and also the maintenance of the system. This issues also concentrate on the impact of the project on present and future customers of the company.
The organizational issues are the most important and also most difficult issues to work on and plays an important role in managing projects. The people in the organization and other people involved in the project called the stakeholders should come to an definite understanding and work together and spend enough time with the project managers for the project to go on smoothly and meet the requirements and deadlines of the project. The project managers should work according to the political context and culture of the organization.
The technology issues concentrate on the kind of the technology should be adopted and weather it is accepted with the stakeholders and that technology adopted is familiar with the team members or they are need to be trained. Is the present hardware and software is compatible with the technology or they are to be changed. And the way they impact internet access and LAN.
My experience of completing an information technology project has the business issues like making the survey about the feasibility of the new project execution. We arranged weekly meetings with all the stakeholders about the future course of the task.
In my experience I find organizational issues are the most important ones during the project as these issues keep tracking on the various key issues of the project like the technology adopted, selecting and training the team and selecting the hardware and software requirements that support the new system.
Q 3) Write a one- to two-page summary of an article about the importance of top management support for successful information technology projects.
Ans ) The top management are the key stakeholders of the project. They need to give their project managers full support and commitment to successfully lead the project without which the projects fail.
The support of the top management is very important in the project as the top management provides adequate resources to the project managers and is important for the project to go on smoothly.
The top management supports the project managers to cope up with the political issues that arise in the organization. The top management helps and encourage cooperation among the team members to work cooperatively.
Project managers should get support from the top management whenever any unexpected problems arise during the project or if there is any need for any additional hardware and software requirements halfway through the project.
Top managers should train the project managers from time to time and arrange timely management classes and train them to be efficient managers and develop leadership skills to become good leaders to lead the project team efficiently.
Q 4 ) Write a two page paper based on the opening case. Answer the following questions:
a. What do u think the real problem was in the case?
b. Does the case present a realistic scenario? Why or why not?
c. Was Nick Carson a good project manager? Why or why not?
d. What could Nick have done to be a better project manager?
e. What should top management have done to help Nick?
Ans ) a) The real problem with this case is that Nick has to once again start preparing the new schedule according to the given time frame and to deliver the project without compromising on any of the prospects of the project.
b) This case does not present any realistic scenario because of the least timeframe given to the new project manager by the top management because of which there could be some compromise on the project outcome.
c) Nick Carson is not a good project manager because he did not focus on all aspects of the project. He also failed to provide accurate schedules and also detailed plans on the happenings of the project. He was performing other jobs leaving aside the work of project manager. Without concerning and understanding the problem of top management he delivered the project.
d) To be a better project manager Nick should have scheduled the project properly and also should have arranged kick-off meetings as many times as possible and know the problem of top management clearly and if possible get the additional resources so that not to comprise on any of the aspects of the projects.
e) The top management should first have a kick-off meeting with all the stakeholders and analyze the present status of the project and the future time frame needed to complete the project without compromising on any of the aspects of the project. Also provide the project team with additional resources needed for the project to be completed successfully in the given time.
Q 5 ) Read one of the suggested readings or find an article related to project scope management .Write a one page summary of the article ,its key conclusions, and your opinion.
Ans ) This is very important for project management. It defines and controls what work should be included and not included in the project. It is the amalgamation of all the projects products and the various requirements of the projects.
Project scope management contains processes such as:
i) Scope planning: It involves defining of the scope and verifying it and also controlling it. It involves how to create and define a WBS
ii) Scope definition: It is the developing of the scope statement for the project that will assist in any project decisions.
iii) Creating the WBS: It is dividing the project deliverables in to smaller manageable components so that it could be easier for the project team to develop the project.
iv) Scope verification: It is formalizing the acceptance of the project scope or the project deliverables.
v) Scope control: It is controlling the changes to the project scope.
The project scope management is very important because the processes in this management will definitely occur atleast once and even more than once at any stage depending on the needs of the project. And according to my opinion the scope management is most important thing in any project for its successful completion not compromising on its quality.
Q 6 ) Read one of the suggested readings or search the internet for an interesting article about software development life cycles, including agile software development. Also, find two informative Web sites related to this subject. What do these sources say about project management? Write a one- to two –page summary of your findings.
Ans ) This plays a very important role in the development of the any project. It is used by analysts for the development of the system and includes training, requirements and validation ,analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_Development_Life_Cycle).
It is also known as application development. Using the SDLC a high quality system is achieved that meets the time constraints and the cost estimates and meets the customer expectations and also works effectively and efficiently in the current scenario of information technology. And maintaining the SDLC is cheaper and also is cost-effective to enhance.
SDLC is a systematic approach for problem solving and composed of several phases
(http://codebetter.com/blogs/raymond.lewallen/archive/2005/07/13/129114.aspx) and multiple steps in each phase.
The phases of SDLC are as follows:
i) Planning phase: It is like establishing the plans like defining the system, defining the scope, developing the project plan and also monitoring and managing it.
ii) Analyses phase: Analyses consists of the thinking of the system incorporating everything asked by the management.
iii) Design phase: This consists of producing one or more models thinking of what the system would look like and a document is produced depicting the description of the system but not in specific.
iii) Development phase: It is the execution of the design phase to realize a physical system and building the system architecture and database.
iv) Testing phase: It consists of testing the system and debugging the outcomes.
v) Deployment phase: The systems are deployed and is used by the actual workforce.
vi) Maintenance: Supporting the system to keep up with the changes in the organization.
Q 7) Find someone who works as a project manager or is a member of a project team. Prepare several interview questions, and then ask them your questions in person, via the phone, or via the internet. Write a one- to two- page summary of your findings.
Ans) The following questions are been asked to the project leader of this project
i ) What is the objective to start this project?
This particular project is developed keeping in sight the prospective growth we can achieve by adding more customers to the company while retaining the present ones by providing the better services to our customers.
ii ) How much does this project cost u?
This project costed us a very hefty amount but seeing the good prospects of this project and the expected gains in the future we decided to go ahead with the project. We expect the system paying for itself within one year. And on the long run this could generate profitable revenues by satisfying all the customers.
iii ) How did you initially proceed with the project?
As a start I had an initial meeting with the top management and also with all the other stakeholders and decide about what actually is the project and what are the expectations of the top management and the prospective resources and the budget of the project. And also selected the project team. Then we have many kick-off meetings with the stakeholders every week as the project was progressing ahead to have the valuable suggestions from the stakeholders.
iv ) Was the project finished in the initial budget estimate or it exceeded that estimate. Was it feasible.
The project has definitely exceeded the initial budget estimate. But we were wary of the result and had a definite backup to tackle this out come . But we expect this project pay for itself in one year and expecting more revenues in the long run of its existence.
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