1. Describe what is meant by project management?
2. Describe how software engineering project management differs from other types of project management?
3. Describe the role and skills required of a software engineering project manager?
4. Provide an example of a real project Describe this project in terms of its scope, time and cost goals, and discuss whether it was successful or not?
The project management is the knowledge of managing all the activities that constitute and occurs in project operations (Kerzner, 2013). The processes included in the project management are planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of the operations that constitute the project. The project had been built for creating or delivering one or more services/products to the customers or clients as per the agreed business proposal. The project management concept had been utilizing the management systems approaches for delivering a unique working scope (Leach, 2014). The constraints of time and budget are also considered in the project operations and it is exploited for achieving beneficial changes.
The project management and the software project management are different in terms of operational strategies used, span or duration of the project, and feasibility of the operations (Mir & Pinnington, 2014). The differences have been explained in the following points:
Level of uncertainty: The software projects and their requirements are more uncertain in compare to the other projects. According to DeMarco and Lister (2013), it is due to the fact that the accurate defining of the details of the project is not possible at the initial stage of planning process.
Complexity of operations: The operations included in the software defined projects are more complex in compare to the operations of other project. The operations of the software projects are core based and it requires hardcore knowledge and expertise.
Flexibility in change implementation: The change implementation of the software projects is more flexible than in hardware projects (Mir & Pinnington, 2014). It is comparably easy to change any programs in software projects.
Tangibility and Intangibility: The operations of the software projects are intangible as it cannot be touched or viewed. The programs and coding change are not visible to the users. The changes in other projects like engineering or construction are tangible in nature.
Role of the software project managers
The software project managers have the primary role and responsibility for making sure that the operations of the project are completed successfully and efficiently (Mansor et al., 2016). The roles of the project managers include making of plan, management of time and resources, and monitoring of the project operations.
Formation of plan: The software project managers are responsible for the outlining of the basic plan of operations for the development of the software projects (Shahpar et al., 2016). They form the analysis of the client’s requirements and form an outline for the necessary operations that would be required for the completion of the project. The plan developed would consider the individual processes of the project. The techniques that can be used for making the plan and its schedule are Gantt chart, Work Breakdown Structure, and activity scheduler (Kerzner, 2013). The planning would make sure that the operations of the software project are completed in the scheduled time and resources.
Management of time and resources: The software project managers are responsible for managing the operations of the project. The software project managers have to allocate the managers and time for the operations of the project. The project includes the processes of designing, coding, and implementing of the software developed (Wei et al., 2014). The project would be formed with the management of the project operations. The managers would help in deploying the system for the systematic allotment of the resources and times. All these operations must be distributed among team members and they should be provided with required resources for completing the allocated tasks.
Monitor the operations: It is the duty of the software project managers to keep an eye on the ongoing operations of the project (Shahpar et al., 2016). It is possible that the operations like designing get delayed or there are some errors in the code generated. The software project managers would have to deal with the issues and form some strategies with the designer or coder for solving the issue in the stipulated time. The software project managers would also have to deal with the conflicts among the team members. The operation monitoring would help in forming the plan for the risk assessment.
Skills of the software project managers
The software project managers are required for managing all the activities of the project and hence it is important that they must have prone skills and knowledge (Mansor et al., 2016). The basic skills like good management quality, excellent leadership qualities and communication skills. Apart from these, the software project managers must act as mentor for the team members of the project.
Good management quality: The software project managers must have good management qualities like planning, scheduling, making risk assessments, and budgeting. It would help in compliance of the successful completion for the project operations. The qualities of management would help the business organization with the smart continuity of the project operations.
Excellent leadership qualities: The software project managers must be excellent leaders. The project operations would require the leadership qualities of the managers for dealing with the project operations like budgeting, allocation of resources, and formation of effective coordination. According to Wei et al. (2014), it is the responsibility of the software project managers to form integrity among the team members.
Communication skills: The communication skills are useful for channelizing one’s thoughts and ideas to others. The software project managers use the communication skills for making the project team understand the requirements of the project, their objectives and aims. The effective communication skills in software project managers would help in conveying the messages to the project team members. The operations must be distributed among team members and they should be provided with required resources for completing the allocated tasks.
Mentorship: The software project managers must act a mentor for their subordinates and juniors. The team would require guidance from the software project managers for accomplishing the operations of the project. It is possible that the team members would face issues like delay due to flaws in design or code not running or change in client’s requirements.
Project: Software based integrated operations at Ng Teng Fong Hospital
The development of Ng Teng Fong Hospital with the integrated healthcare would provide the operations of the software project. The integrated healthcare system has provided the ease of patient’s treatment and care with the help of software based information system. The hospital healthcare provides the 1100 bed acute hospital of Jurong community and it has helped in forming the best healthcare system for the operations and treatments (Ng Teng Fong General Hospital & Jurong Community Hospital, 2017). The project was aimed for implementing the information technology system for providing a holistic integrated care unit for the community.
Scope of the project: The project had the scope for providing the intensive treatments and healthcare system for the patients. The organization was supported with the development of technology in Singapore and it helped in formation of the unit (Hwang, Zhao & Gay, 2013). The hospital was made to provide an extensive range of medical services for the treatments and care of the hospital organization. The project scope would be provided with the implementation of the software based healthcare system for the provision of easy public transport access and retail hubs.
Time and Cost goals of the project: The time and costs goals for the project of implementation of the software based healthcare system for the intensive treatments and healthcare system of the patients have provision of estimated time and costs. The calculated budget of the project was about 810 million Singapore Dollars (Ling et al., 2015). The operations of the project included the process of twinning the 700 bed acute hospital with the 400 bed hospital of Jurong community. The estimated completion of the project was scheduled in 2014 and it was completed at the end of the year 2014.
Justification of the project: The project had been a successful one as it has formed the concise structure for the development of the processes and treatments for the patients. The hospital of Jurong community and Ng Teng Fong are integrated and developed simultaneously on a single platform (Teng et al., 2016). They have transformed the healthcare system with the help of their integrated technology and software systems. The planning process of the hospital has taken into account the processes included in the planning process, patients care, rehabilitation, and treatments. The operations of the hospital have been based on the patient’s care and treatments. The hospital healthcare provides the 1100 bed acute hospital of Jurong community and it has helped in forming the best healthcare system for the operations and treatments (Hopewell et al., 2014). The project made had implemented the information technology system that helps in providing a holistic integrated care unit for the Jurong community and their patients.
References
DeMarco, T. & Lister, T. (2013). Waltzing with bears: Managing risk on software projects. Addison-Wesley.
Hopewell, S., Collins, G. S., Boutron, I., Yu, L. M., Cook, J., Shanyinde, M., … & Altman, D. G. (2014). Impact of peer review on reports of randomised trials published in open peer review journals: retrospective before and after study. Bmj, 349, g4145.
Hwang, B. G., Zhao, X., & Gay, M. J. S. (2013). Public private partnership projects in Singapore: Factors, critical risks and preferred risk allocation from the perspective of contractors. International Journal of Project Management, 31(3), 424-433.
Kerzner, H. (2013). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Leach, L.P. (2014). Critical chain project management. Artech House.
Ling, F. Y., Tan, P. C., Ning, Y., Teo, A., & Gunawansa, A. (2015). Effect of adoption of relational contracting practices on relationship quality in public projects in Singapore. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 22(2), 169-189.
Mansor, Z., Arshad, N. H., Yahya, S., Razali, R., & Yahaya, J. (2016). Ruler for Effective Cost Management Practices in Agile Software Development Projects. Advanced Science Letters, 22(8), 1977-1980.
Mir, F.A. & Pinnington, A.H. (2014). Exploring the value of project management: linking project management performance and project success. International Journal of Project Management, 32(2), pp.202-217.
Ng Teng Fong General Hospital & Jurong Community Hospital. (2017). Juronghealth.com.sg. Retrieved 15 February 2017, from https://www.juronghealth.com.sg/Our_Hospitals_Facilities/Ng_Teng_Fong_General_Hospital.aspx
Shahpar, Z., Khatibi, V., Tanavar, A., & Sarikhani, R. (2016). Improvement of effort estimation accuracy in software projects using a feature selection approach. Journal of Advances in Computer Engineering and Technology, 2(4), 31-38.
Teng, T. Y., Khor, S. N., Kailasam, M., Cheah, W. K., & Lau, C. C. L. (2016). Morning colonoscopies are associated with improved adenoma detection rates. Surgical endoscopy, 30(5), 1796-1803.
Wei, K., Crowston, K., Li, N. L., & Heckman, R. (2014). Understanding group maintenance behavior in Free/Libre Open-Source software projects: the case of fire and gaim. Information & Management, 51(3), 297-309.
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