Software Project Management (SPM) is a sub-field of Project Management in which software projects are planned, implemented, monitored and controlled.
It consists of three terms: Software, Project and Management. So, let us understand each term separately. Software includes a set of programs, documentation and user manual for a particular software project. So, it is basically the complete procedure of the software development starting from the requirement gathering phase and extending to testing and maintenance. Project means a planned activity which consists of several well defined tasks. Management makes sure that the product comes out as planned.
There are many constraints of the software projects but the main and fundamental constraints includes: Time, Cost and Quality. Any one of the two factors can severely affect the third one. Therefore, Software Project Management is essential to develop software projects within time and the specified budget and that too of good quality.
Software Project Manager:
Software Project Manager is generally never directly involved in producing the end product but he controls and manages the activities involved in the production. He is aware of all the phases of Software Development Life Cycle that the software would go through.
Responsibilities of software project manager:
Proper project management is essential for the successful completion of a software project and the person who is responsible for it is called project manager. To do his job effectively, the project manager must have certain set of skills. This section discusses both the job responsibilities of project manager and the skills required by him.
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Managing people:
- Acts as a project leader
- Communication with stakeholders
- Manages human resources
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Managing project:
- Monitors progress and performance
- Risk analysis at every phase
- Manages time and budget constraint
- Job Responsibilities:
- Involves with the senior managers in the process of appointing team members.
- Builds the project team and assigns tasks to various team members.
- Responsible for effective project planning and scheduling, project monitoring and control activities in order to achieve the project objectives.
- Acts as a communicator between the senior management and the development team and internal and external stakeholders.
- Effectively resolves issues that arise between the team members by changing their roles and responsibilities.
- Modifies the project plan (if required) to deal with the situation.
Categorizing Software Projects:
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Compulsory Vs Voluntary systems (projects):
- Compulsory systems are the systems which the staff of an organisation have to use if they want to do a task.
- Voluntary systems are the systems which are voluntarily used by the users eg. computer gaming, school project, etc.
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Information Vs Embedded systems (projects):
- Information systems are used by staff to carry out office processes and tasks eg. stock control system.
- Embedded systems are used to control machines eg. a system controlling equipment in a building.
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Objective-based Vs Product-based systems (projects):
- Project whose requirement is to meet certain objectives which could be met in a number of ways, is objective-based project.
- Project whose requirement is to create a product, the details of which have been specified by the client, is product-based project.