SE 477 Software and Systems Project Management
Useful Information

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Table of Contents

• Text Book
• On-line articles, documents and references of Interest for Instructor and Students
• Web Pages of Interest
  
• Project Forms and Documents
• Student recommended readings
  
• Readings for the lectures
• Agile Project Management
  

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Text Book

Required

Software Extension to the PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition, Project Management Institute,  2013 (291 pages), ISBN:9781628250138, available at <http://library.books24x7.com.ezproxy.depaul.edu/toc.aspx?site=XOBDU&bookid=62558>

Deemer, P., Benefield, G., Larman, C., and B. Vodde (2012). The Scrum Primer: A Lightweight Guide to the Practice of Scrum, Version 2.0. Available at: http://www.infoq.com/minibooks/Scrum_Primer.

The definitive text book is:

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge ( PMBOK® Guide )—Fifth Edition, Project Management Institute, 2013.  ISBN:  9781935589679, available at <http://library.books24x7.com.ezproxy.depaul.edu/toc.aspx?site=XOBDU&bookid=51356> [You don't have to buy this, you can use it on-line.]

You can access a textbook online at the DePaul Libraries Web site, http:/library.depaul.edu. [Electronic Books: Books 24x7: BusinessPro  and Books 24x7: ITPro]. 

Recommended:

Material from the following sources is used in the course.  All of these references are available online at the DePaul Libraries Web site, http://library.depaul.edu. [Electronic Books: Books 24x7: BusinessPro and Books 24x7: ITPro].

• Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures, Second Edition, Project Management Institute, Project Management Institute, 2006.  ISBN: 9781933890135 – on-line
  
• Fundamentals of Project Management, Third Edition, James P. Lewis, AMACOM, 2007.  ISBN: 9780814408797
• Information Systems Project Management: How to Deliver Function and Value in Information Technology Projects, Second Edition, Jolyon Hallows, AMACOM, 2005.  ISBN: 9780814472736
• Managing Information Technology Projects: Applying Project Management Strategies to Software, Hardware, and Integration Initiatives, James Taylor, AMACOM, 2004.  ISBN: 9780814408117
• A Survival Guide for Project Managers, Second Edition, James Taylor,  Amacom, May 05, 2006, ISBN: 9780814408773
  
• PMP: Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, 7th Edition, Kim Heldman, Wiley (Sybex), July 2013, ISBN: 978-1-118-53182-2 (my recommendation)
• Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 11th Edition,  Harold Kerzner, John Wiley & Sons, 2013.  ISBN:  978-1118022276   
  

The one I tend to use most is: PMP: Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, 7th Edition.

The following text books contain useful information and are worth looking at:

	Roger Pressman, Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach, 7th edition, McGraw-Hill, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-07-337597-7
	Ian Sommerville, Software Engineering, 9th Edition, Addison-Wesley, 2011, ISBN 0-13-703515-1. This is one of the top two undergraduate software engineering texts.

Other books (worth reading)

These two books are ones that every practitioner in the field ought to read. They are the defining books in the field and often cited by others.

• Frederick P. Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition) (Paperback), Addison-Wesley, ISBN-10: 0-201-83595-9.
• Gerald M. Weinberg, The Psychology of Computer Programming: Silver Anniversary Edition (Paperback), Dorset House, ISBN-10: 0-932633-42-0

Collection of References

• Software Project Management Resources -- Columbia University [Project management resources: templates, samples, articles, software, lecture notes on software & general PM.] Rather comprehensive collection of information and links.
• Project Management Tips and Articles
  

Software Project Management Course by Bas de Baar

A set of web pages and a group of blogs on the subject.
The Microwave Way to Software Project Management is a free guide to help you get the hang of project management stuff in no-time. The entire course consists of seven chapters that are written especially for those who hate long and boring books.

• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Mindset of the software project manager
• Chapter 2: Project Intake
• Chapter 3: Requirements determination
• Chapter 4: Requirements validation
• Chapter 5: Project Progress
• Chapter 6: Risk Management
• Chapter 7: The Bigger Picture

The above was written some time ago. The author has now written a Project Management Book: Surprise! Now You’re A Software Project Manager, by Bas de Baar. You may read the Chapter 1 and if you really like it, you can buy the book [Hard copy or e-Book].

General Articles

• Humor
  
• Project Management and Herding Cats (Humor)
• Cowboys herding cats (humor)
• Project Management Proverbs
• Project Management Truths
• Project Management Laws
•  Robert G. Ferrell, /dev/random: project management – a primer, ;login:, February 2010,  USENIX Association, pp.90-92. A tongue-in-cheek discussion of the five phases of project management.
  
• Project Management Book Free on-line book about project management
• Seven steps to ensure project success
• Cornell Project Management Methodology
• Programming Laws and Reality: Do We Know What We Think We Know? How well do programming maxims stand up when compared with hard data?

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Project Forms and Documents

Forms for use

• Project Plan Template (MS Word)

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Student recommended readings

These were cited in a Journal. Enjoy.

• Nice little cheat sheet with some little tips that project managers can use. http://www.insidecrm.com/features/Manager-Common-Sense-Rules-082207/
• Now why couldn't the FBI have hired someone like John Parker to manage the Virtual Case File project?http://www.cio.com/article/21413/Project_Management_When_Failure_Is_Not_an_Option
• How to Manage Key Stakeholder Expectations(Bourne, 2011) http://blogs.pmi.org/blog/voices_on_project_management/2011/11/how-to-manage-key-stakeholder.html
• 5 Steps to Plan the Project Planning(Haus, 2011) http://blogs.pmi.org/blog/voices_on_project_management/2011/10/5-steps-to-plan-the-project-pl.html
• Project Off Track?  Regroup, Reengage, Reset (Ivanenko, 2011) http://blogs.pmi.org/blog/voices_on_project_management/2011/04/project-off-track-regroup-reen.html

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Readings for the lectures

Material is organized in the approximate order it is covered in the course.

A note on reading assignments: I will give the assignment for the PMP Guide on the class page and in the lecture notes. If you are using a different text, use the assignment given in the reading list [below] for the appropriate book. Choose a book and stick with it. You do not have to read all the assignments, just the one for your chosen text.

• Lecture 1: Introduction:  Introduction; Roadmap for Software Project Management; Fundamentals; Software Process or What is a project? Project characteristics; Classic Mistakes;
• Readings:
• PMBOK-SWE Ch. 1
• Supplemental Readings
• PMP Study Guide: Chapter 1
• Kerzner: Chapter 1
• Lewis: Chapter 1
• Hallows: Chapter 1
• Taylor: Chapter 1
• Projects and failure
• Chaos Reports – Written by the Standish Group. These summarize the state of the IT industry, provides statistics and recommendations.
  
• CHAOS MANIFESTO 2012, The Standish Group,  <http://versionone.com/assets/img/files/CHAOSManifesto2012.pdf>
• CHAOS MANIFESTO 2013,  The Standish Group, <http://versionone.com/assets/img/files/ChaosManifesto2013.pdf>
• THE CHAOS REPORT,  (1995), The Standish Group, <http://www.csus.edu/indiv/v/velianitis/161/ChaosReport.pdf>
  
• Phillip G. Armour, "Twenty Percent: Planning to fail on software projects",  CACM, Vol 50, No. 6 (June 2007), p 21-23. [Note: a copy of this report has been loaded on Desire2Learn to save you the effort.]
• Why Software Is So Bad –
  
  "For years we've tolerated buggy, bloated, badly organized computer programs. But soon, we'll innovate, litigate and regulate them into reliability.
  
  As the engineering historian Henry Petroski suggested in his 1992 book The Evolution of Useful Things, continual refinement is the usual rule in technology. Engineers constantly notice shortcomings in their designs and fix them little by little, a process Petroski wryly described as "form follows failure." As a result, products incrementally improve. Software, alas, seems different. One would expect a 45-million-line program like Windows XP, Microsoft's newest operating system, to have a few bugs. And software engineering is a newer discipline than mechanical or electrical engineering; the first real programs were created only 50 years ago. But what's surprising–astonishing, in fact–is that many software engineers believe that software quality is not improving. If anything, they say, it's getting worse."
• Major Causes of Software Project Failures - Most software projects can be considered at least partial failures because few projects meet all their cost, schedule, quality, or requirements objectives. Failures are rarely caused by mysterious causes, but these causes are usually discovered post-mortem, or only after it is too late to change direction. This article is based on interviews with software consultants and practitioners who were asked to provide "autopsies" of failed projects with which they have been acquainted. Although not a comprehensive compilation of failure causes, this article outlines several areas that should demand your attention.
• FBI Virtual Case File – The 170 million US Dollar software debacle, otherwise known as the FBI Virtual Case File, is a textbook example of large scale software development gone wrong.
• IEEE Spectrum, "Who Killed the Virtual Case File?", September 2005, (11 pages),  How the FBI blew more than $100 million on case-management software it will never use. [Local mirror]. And, also
• NY Times: F.B.I. Faces New Setback in Computer Overhaul, March 18, 2010
• FBI’s Sentinel System Still Not In Total Shape to Surveil,  http://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/computing/it/fbis-500-million-sentinel-case-management-system-still-has-major-operational-kinks-ig-reports
• FBI Software Roundtable, Neumann, Charette, Bellovin & Blaze, < http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail1688.html#>
  
• Marchekwa, J. T. (2010). The FBI Virtual Case File: A Case Study. Communications of the IIMA, 10(2), 1-14. <http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=the%20fbi%20virtual%20case%20file%3A%20a%20case%20study%2C%20jsck%20t.%20marchewka%2C%20niu&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iima.org%2Findex.php%3Foption%3Dcom_phocadownload%26view%3Dcategory%26download%3D270%3Athe-fbi-..&ei=XN7sULyhN4r1qQHC_YDYBg&usg=AFQjCNFrZkOdPOS8_ite_r-OTGwvewywOw&bvm=bv.1357316858,d.aWM>  
  
• How to Ensure Your Project Fails
• How Hard Could It Be?: Five Easy Ways to Fail
• Seven steps to ensure project success
• WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL PROJECT?
• Five Factors That Lead to Successful Projects
  
• Gartner Reports
• Accessing the Reports
  • Note: a copy of most reports have been loaded on Desire2Learn to save you the effort.
• From the CIO Trenches: Why Some Projects Fail and Others Succeed, David McClure (Gartner document ID: G00151721) [Note: a copy of this report has been loaded on Desire2Learn to save you the effort.]
• Waterfalls, Products and Projects: A Primer to Software Development Methods by Matthew Hotle (Gartner document ID: G00155147)  [Note: a copy of this report has been loaded on Desire2Learn to save you the effort.]
• 'Just Enough Process' for Applications by Matthew Hotle (Gartner document ID: G00145561)  [Note: a copy of this report has been loaded on Desire2Learn to save you the effort.]
• The Project Office: Teams, Processes, and Tools, Gartner Research Strategic Analysis Report, Matt Light, 01 August 2000  [Note: a copy of this report has been loaded on Desire2Learn to save you the effort.]
• Realizing the Benefits of Project and Portfolio Management, Gartner Research Strategic Analysis Report, Matt Light, Bill Rosser, Simon Hayward, Gartner ID Number: G00125673 
• Q&A: Can a Project Succeed With Both a Business and an IT Project Manager?, Donna Fitzgerald (Gartner Document ID: G00155052) [Note: a copy of this report has been loaded on Desire2Learn to save you the effort.]
• Lecture 2: Software project management overview: Project managers; Project organization; Putting a process in place; Software process; Phases for software project management; Defining the project; Project charter; Statement of work (SOW); Preliminary Scope; Project management tools
• Readings:
  • PMBOK-SWE Ch. 2, 3 Intro, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7
  • Scrum Primer (all)
• Supplemental Readings:
• PMP Study Guide: Chapter 1-2
  
• Kerzner: Chapter 2-3, 11.1-11.7, 11.22
  
• Lewis: Chapter 2-4
• Hallows: Chapter 2-3
• Taylor: Chapter 2-4 (parts)
• Project management
• Managing Project Risks (Part 1): Don't Be Snared by These 6 Common Traps
• Kruchten, P (2002, Oct 15) Planning an Iterative Project. 
• Robert Martin Articles on Iterative and Incremental Development
  
• Iterative and Incremental Development I (local mirror)
  Robert C. Martin
  C++ Report, 1999
  This article, a forerunner to the now famous tale of Rufus and Rupert, describes the woes of a project that uses waterfall.
• Iterative and Incremental Development II (local mirror)
  Robert C. Martin
  C++ Report, 1999
  This article describes the fundamentals of Iterative and Incremental Development.
• Iterative and Incremental Development III - Faking It (local mirror)
  Robert C. Martin
  C++ Report, 1999
  This article discusses how to use an iterative and incremental development process in a company that expects waterfall.
• Lecture 3: Initial Phase: Project Management – Initial Phase: Developing the project charter; Statement of work (SOW); Agile Perspective: The Product Overview Document; Stakeholders: Organizational Structures & Influences. Project Planning: The Project Management Plan; Initial documents: Project Charter – Statement of Work (SOW); Project plans
• Readings
• PMBOK-SWE Ch. 3.3
• PMBOK-SWE Ch. 4 Intro & 4.1, 4.2
  
• PMBOK-SWE Ch. 13 Intro & 13.1
  
• Supplemental Readings:
• PMP Study Guide: Chapter 3-4
  
• Kerzner: Chapter 11.8-11.16, 11.20
  
• Hallows: Chapter 2-3
• Lewis: Chapter 5
• Taylor: Chapter 2, 6
• Strategic Planning and Mission Statements
• 7 Project Pitfalls
• Project Planning (High Level): Risks & Ways to Avoid Pitfalls
• Managing Project Risks (Part 2): 10 Major Mistakes Your Team Can Avoid
  
• Defining the project scope
• Kruchten, P (2002, Oct 15) Planning an Iterative Project.
• Lecture 4: Project Planning – Project scope management; Project requirements; Creating the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS); Activity Definition; Activity Sequencing;
• Readings
• PMBOK-SWE Ch. 5, Ch. 6.1-6.3
• Supplemental Readings:
• PMP Study Guide: Chapter 4, 5, 7
• Kerzner: Chapter 11.9-11.16, 12, 14
• Hallows: Chapter 4
• Lewis: Chapter 5-6
• Taylor: Chapter 6
• Accurate Project Estimation
• Cost Estimation
• "What is a 'Good' Estimate?", Phillip G. Armour, CACM, Vol. 36 No. 6, June 2013, p.31-32, http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2013/6, Whether forecasting is valuable. [Note: a copy of this report has been loaded on Desire2Learn to save you the effort.]
• Programmer Productivity: The "Tenfinity Factor”
• Work breakdown structure
• Work Breakdown Structure - US Govt Publication (local mirror)
  
• Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures, Second Edition (ebooks 24x7)
• Use these five tips when building your WBS
• The Benefits of Scheduling
• The Five Secrets of Project Scheduling
• Project Timeline Management - Gantt
• Examples
  
• Automatic Toll Booth (MS Project)
  
• Lecture 5: Project Planning – Activity: Activity Resource Estimating; Activity Duration Estimating; Estimating size and complexity, Project Planning – Schedule Development: Scheduling: Gantt Chart and PERT and Critical Path Method (CPM); Schedule compression; Resource leveling; Mythical Man Month;   Appendix: PERT Estimation; Critical Path Method (CPM); Forward and backward pass analysis
• Readings
• PMBOK-SWE Ch. 6 Intro & Ch. 6.1-Ch. 6.6
• Supplemental Readings:
• PMP Study Guide: Chapters 5 and 7
  
• Kerzner: Chapter 11.18, 11.25, 12-13
  
• Hallows: Chapter 4
  
• Lewis: Chapter 7
  
• Taylor: Chapter 6
• Accurate Project Estimation
• Cost Estimation
• Programmer Productivity: The "Tenfinity Factor”
  
• PERT Estimation
• Better Project Management Through Beta Distribution
• It Takes Three to Make Good Estimates
  <http://www.visionarytools.com/decision-making/3-point-estimating.html>
  
• Pert Diagram and CPM
• PERT chart (Program Evaluation Review Technique)
  
• Project Timeline Management - Gantt
• Why critical path is critical to project management
• Lecture 6: Risk Management: Planning, risk identification, quantification and prioritization
• Readings:
• PMBOK-SWE Ch. 11 all
  
• Supplemental Readings:
• PMP Study Guide: Chapter 6
• Kerzner: Chapter 17
• Taylor: Chapter 7
• Taylor (Survival Guide): Chapter 13
• Risk Management: There Are No Black Swans, Catalyst – July 30, 2009 < http://all.net/Talks/2009-07-30-Catalyst.pdf>
• And another version: Risk management: There are no black swans (mirror)
• Explaining The Equation Behind The Oil Spill Disaster - Science News
• Managing Project Risks (Part 1): Don’t Be Snared by These 6 Common Traps
• Managing Project Risks (Part 2): 10 Major Mistakes Your Team
  
• Managing Project Risks (Part 3): How to Quickly Assess Potential Pitfalls
• Managing Project Risks (Part 4): A Simple Risk Mitigation Process
• SERIM
  
• Software Risk Management: Not Just for the Big Manufacturers? (January 1997). MD&DI (Discusses SERIM)
  
• Dale Walter Karolak, Software Engineering Risk Management, IEEE Computer Society Press, 1996 (Discusses SERIM)
• Software Design Description  SERIM Software
• Review of Risk Management Methods, Stern R., Arias J.C., Business Intelligence Journal, January, 2011 Vol.4, No.1, Page 59 http://www.saycocorporativo.com/saycoUK/BIJ/journal/Vol4No1/Article_3.pdf (Mirror)
• Journal Entry on SERIM
• Also look at: http://www.slideshare.net/guestfea9c55/software-engineering-risk-management-software-application
• Sommerville, Chapter 5, 26
• Risk management contingency plan for a computer center. Contingency Plan Template
• Lecture 7: Project Processes: Execution; Monitoring, control and tracking; Project velocity; Earned Value Analysis; Project closeout
• Readings
• PMBOK-SWE Ch. 3 Intro & 3.2, 3.5-3.8
• PMBOK-SWE Ch. 4.3-4.4, 4.6, 6.7, 7.4
• Supplemental Readings:
• PMP Study Guide: Chapters 9-11
  
• Kerzner: Chapter 15.5, 19.8
  
• Hallows: Chapter 5
  
• Lewis: Chapter 8, 9
  
• Taylor: Chapter 9, 11
• Taylor (Surviving): Chapter 13-14
• Project Velocity
• Velocity
• Earned value management
• Applying earned value analysis to your project (how to perform EVA in MS Project)
  
• Earned Value Analysis Overview
• THE EARNED VALUE ANALYSIS METHOD: EXTENSIONS AND SIMPLIFICATIONS, FRANK T. ANBARI
• EVA: http://tutorialspoint.com/earn_value_management/
  
• The importance of post project reviews, Sanjay Murthi, <http://www.developer.com/mgmt/article.php/1561881/The-Importance-of-Post-Project-Reviews.htm>
• Organizational Learning Through Post-project Review in R&D.  Zedtwitz, M.V. (2002). 
• Round-Robin Review Training Plan,  http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~leif/OO/ReviewTraining.html
  
• Post-Implementation Reviews
• Lecture 8:  Miscellaneous: Configuration management process: product building, integration and test; Change control and project tracking; Quality Control, Planning and Assessment; Final stages; Project Recovery; 
• Readings:
• PMBOK-SWE Ch. 4.4, 4.5, Ch. 8, Ch. 13
• Supplemental Readings:
• PMP Study Guide: Chapter 9-12
• Kerzner: Chapter 20
• Hallows: Chapter 5
• Taylor: Chapter 11
• Taylor (Surviving): Chapter 14
• Deming’s Principles of Quality Re-stated for the Quality Assurance Professional
  
• Deming, W. Edwards,  Out of the Crisis, MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Study, 1992.
  
• Weinberg, Gerald M.,  The Psychology of Computer Programming: Silver Anniversary Edition, ISBN 0-932633-42-0
• Weinberg, Gerald M., Quality Software Management Series see <http://www.geraldmweinberg.com/Site/Quality.html>
    1. Systems Thinking
    2. First-Order Measurement
    3. Congruent Action
    4. Anticipating Change
• Round-Robin ReviewTraining Plan
• Software Quality - Formal Technical Review Methods
  
• Configuration Management: Traditional CM Versus CMII
• The Role of Project Manager
•  Martinez, M. (2013, Mar 04). Project manager duties. <http://www.project-management-skills.com/project-manager-duties.html>
• Scope & Change Control Why, What, How?
  
• Change Control
  
• What is The Importance of Change Management, by David Bowman.
  
• Lecture 9:  Miscellaneous: Agile Project Management;  AntiPaterns;
  • Agile Project Management
    Agile project management is somewhat different from that with the Waterfall SDLC or the Evolutionary/Iterative SDLC. Agile project management is an iterative approach to planning and guiding project processes.
    • Readings:
    • Scrum Primer (all)
    • PMBOK-SWE Ch.2.4
    • What is agile project management?  (Short definition)
    • What is Agile Project Management? (More details)
    • Agile Project Management
    • Agile Project Management– Tutorial
      
    • Why agile projects pose challenges for enterprise project managers
    • Understanding agile project management methods using Scrum, H. Frank Cervone, http://www.gbd.dk/files/649_Understanding_agile.pdf
    • Pernicious Scrum Anti-Patterns
  • AntiPatterns
    AntiPatterns  identify those bad design concepts, technical approaches and development practices that lead to poor quality software and project failure.
    
  • AntiPatterns, Brown, William J., John Wiley and Sons, 1998, ISBN 0-471-19713-0, see especially chapter 7
  • AntiPattern has catalog of AntiPatterns
    
  • Project Management AntiPatterns
    
  • 5 Common Antipatterns in Software Project Management
    
  • Management AntiPatterns
    
  • Software project management anti-patterns, Ioannis Stamelos, Journal of Systems and Software, Volume 83, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 52–59
    <http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.depaul.edu/science/article/pii/S0164121209002325>
  • Software Project Management Anti-Patterns in Students’ Projects by Raptopoulou Charikleia, Poranen Timo, Berki Eleni, and Stamelos Ioannis
    http://www.sis.uta.fi/~tp54752/pub/Anti-patternsinStudentsProjects.pdf
    
  • Pernicious Scrum Anti-Patterns
• Lecture 10:  Managing the Project Team: Project and Team Organization; Project Management Context; Project environments: cultural and social, international and political, physical; Managing the Project Team; Shaping project culture
• Readings
• PMBOK-SWE Ch 2.3, Ch 9
  
• Supplemental Readings:
• PMP Study Guide: Chapter 8
• Kerzner: Chapter 5
• Lewis: Chapter 10
• Sommerville, Chapter 25. [Managing people.]
• Weinberg, Gerald M.,  The Psychology of Computer Programming: Silver Anniversary Edition, ISBN 0-932633-42-0
• Frederick P. Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition) (Paperback),  ISBN-10: 0-201-83595-9.
• The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing (version 3.0)
• Kleiman, Mel. “Are you Lazy Enough to be a Great Manager?” 2004 <http://www.frogpond.com/articles/docs/mkleiman22.doc>
  
• The Lazy Project Manager: The Art of Productive Laziness, Peter Taylor, <http://congresses.pmi.org/NorthAmerica2010/documents/PRJ42.pdf>
  
• Lynda Gratton & Tamara J. Erickson. 8 Ways to Build Collaborative Teams Harvard Business Review, Nov. 2007. < http://www.internetgroup.ca/clientnet_new/docs/8%20Ways%20to%20Build%20ollaborative%20Teams%202007.pdf>
  (Preview) 8 Ways to Build Collaborative Teams.

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Web Pages of General Interest

Risks

Forum On Risks To The Public In Computers And Related Systems [The RISKS Forum is a moderated digest. Its USENET equivalent is comp.risks. (Google/Deja news archive)] You may also may access this forum in Google Groups.