Project Planning and Feature Control

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Project Planning and Feature Control

• Planning.ppt

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Agenda

• Software-Development Fundamentals
• Management Fundamentals
• Technical Fundamentals
• Quality-Assurance Fundamentals
• Feature Set Control

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Management FundamentalsPlanning

• Estimation and Scheduling
• Estimate the size
• Estimate the effort needed to build a product of
  that size
• Estimate a schedule based on effort estimate
• Figure out what personnel you need pick them
  wisely to fulfill project needs

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Estimation Story for Customer

• You cannot tell how much it will cost until you
  know what the requirements are
• You can ignore expenses or follow a budget
• Software development is a process of gradual
  refinement so cannot be precise
• Estimates will be refined as the project develops

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Management FundamentalsPlanning

• Decide how to organize the team
• Manage the risks. What risks?
• Make strategic decisions on
• how to control the products feature set
• whether to build or buy parts of the project
• Choose the appropriate lifecycle model for the
  project (pp. 156-157)

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Lifecycle Model Selection

• Pick the one suited to your project
• Project with well defined specifications?
• Project with poorly defined specifications?
• Project with multiple versions?

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Management FundamentalsTracking/Monitoring

• Tracking / Monitoring
• task lists
• status meetings
• status reports
• milestone reviews
• budget reports

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Management FundamentalsTracking/Monitoring

• Collect metrics data to show how work is
  progressing on the project
• costs,
• schedules
• errors
• Track historical data to help you plan the next
  cycle

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Technical Fundamentals

• Requirements management
• Record the requirements
• Track design development against them
• Try to pick up the pace during this activity -
  fuzzy front end can often drag on and on
• Design management
• Designer competencies adequate for design
• Use design tools

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Technical Fundamentals

• Construction
• Coding practices standards
• rules for packaging code in modules
• unit testing debugging practices
• Integration strategies
• Use of construction tools
• Software configuration management
• Managing project artifacts so they stay in a
  constant state -- version control

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Technical Fundamentals

• Quality-Assurance Fundamentals
• Excessive schedule pressure increases defects
• Redesign error-prone modules to get rid of errors
• Testing with testing tools
• Technical reviews - find more errors than
  testing!
• Code readings Code inspections are more formal
• Team goes through code
• Developer makes corrections

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Feature Set Control

• Early Project
• Feature set reduction
• Mid Project
• Feature-Creep control
• Late Project
• Feature Cuts

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Early Project Feature Control

• Minimize the number of features when
  requirements are flexible
• shortens requirements phase
• susceptible to developer gold plating
• may leave out important parts of project
• Requirements scrubbing
• Eliminate all requirements not absolutely
  necessary
• Simplify the complex, substitute with cheaper
  options
• Versioned development
• leave some until later

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Mid Project Feature Control

• Typical project undergoes 25 change in
  requirements during its life
• Ripple effect of changes throughout project
• Feature creep most common source of project cost
  schedule overruns
• Stop changes altogether not always wise, why?
• Change Control management
• Establish Change Control Board to approve changes
• Delay until version 2, use short release cycles

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Late Project Feature Control

• Avoid these -- point out to customer the value of
  getting project done!
• Point out how long it will delay the schedule to
  change the feature set
• Try to delay changes until the next version