Apr 22 2009 9:51AM GMT
Posted by: Jaideep
Project Plan,
Project Planning,
Software Project,
project overrun,
project acceptance,
project organization,
customer requirements,
software requirements,
Project Management,
project closure,
project manpower management,
project cost,
project timeline,
project timeframe
All projects are prone to overrun. An overrun acceptance is directly proportional to an organization’s fault absorption capacity. Accordingly the definition of overrun is framed to demonstrate an overrun project as rightly completed project.
5 myths about Project Overrun could be:
5. Planning: After the initial plan is made, customer requirements have shrunk but it is good not to revise the plan to achieve in-time project closure (or even earlier).
4. Manpower: Project Plan is made after which additional manpower is inducted in the project, but no need to revise the plan.
3. Cost: Customer is ready to pay the full payment to complete the project, even if it overshoots the timeframe decided as per plan.
2. Time: A project had to complete in 5 months, but it took 10 months to complete. Imagine the manpower engaged in this project that could have finished another project if this project finished in time.
1. Customer: Customer is not able to cope up with plan but not ready to pay for extra efforts being done by the project team on behalf of customer thereby overshooting cost and time. We have a valid reason for this overshoot.
Feb 27 2009 9:54AM GMT
Posted by: Jaideep
software quality,
project quality,
quality standards,
quality measures,
quality metrics,
software metrics,
Project Management,
Software Project,
customer requirements,
software product,
software design,
business requirements,
functional requirements,
software delivery,
Project Delivery,
project execution,
project initiation,
Project Development,
project implementation,
software strategy,
test strategy,
test case,
Test Plan,
test scenarios,
test results,
fixing of bugs,
project close-out,
post implementation phase of project
The definition of QUALITY varies in different contexts. On one hand we talk of software quality that means adopting standards and measures to ensure the building of software product that meets all customer requirements (design, interface, business requirements, functional requirements etc.) and ready to deliver. On the other hand when we talk of Project Quality, we mean the standards and measures by means of building (or adopting) to ensure the success in terms of time and revenues of a complete project right from its initiation till the implementation stage that keeps continuing at post implementation stage also.
In context of software – the quality means – software strategy, plan, text cases, test scenarios, test results and fixing of bugs. Inclusion of quality in this context will vary from organization to organization and project to project (within an organization). This will ensure the successful building of software product ready for delivery.
In context of project – the quality would mean – managing quality standards and measures for a project right from its initiation to all stages coming forth. A project lifecycle in standard terms would comprise of Project Initiation, Project Planning, Development Execution, Implementation execution, Project Close-out, and post implementation phase broadly, which remains on-going till the software built is in use by the customer for a period of years.
The subject matter can continue on pages and pages, but the crux is – software quality is merely a subset of project quality, and even if we have world class standards in software quality, it does not ensure a successful project lifecycle.
Feb 25 2009 10:02AM GMT
Posted by: Jaideep
Software Project,
software business,
software project management,
project objectives,
business survival,
growth,
revenues,
profits,
maturity,
Project Lifecycle,
standards and methodology,
software metrics,
stakeholders,
transparency,
project completion,
project sign-off,
customer satisfaction,
customer delight,
customer requirements,
software requirements,
Team building,
team role,
team responsibility,
team accountability,
software quality,
project quality,
first time right,
project overrun,
continuous learning,
Increase in revenue,
Avoid revenue loss,
Reduce costs,
Avoid cost increases,
Improved service
Certainly and obviously, every business has a set of objectives. Every business strives for survival, growth, revenues, profits, satisfaction and maturity. The clearer the objective are, the easier it is to achieve them. To achieve the objectives, if the destination is clear, it becomes easier to set the direction of the business, to set the milestones, to chalk out the roadmap, to set the drive, to decide the pace and to achieve them. The top 20 end objectives of any software project can be listed as below (note that the hierarchy is not as critical as the understanding of the gravity of each of the objective):
1. Control on Project Lifecycle
2. Standards and Methodology
3. Metrics
4. Stakeholders rights
5. Transparency
6. Pro-active approach to avoid post-mortem
7. Universal approach for similar projects
8. Timely completion, sign-offs and payments
9. Customer satisfaction and delight
10. Customer requirements and both end clarity on objectives of the product
11. Team building
12. Roles, responsibilities and accountability
13. Continuous Learning from failures/ overruns – no repetition of same mistakes to achieve continuous improvement overall
14. First time right approach
15. Quality right from start – ongoing – every step
16. Increase in revenue
17. Avoid revenue loss
18. Reduce costs
19. Avoid cost increases
20. Improved service
Feb 23 2009 10:43AM GMT
Posted by: Jaideep
Software Project Lifecycle,
pain areas of a software project,
Software Project,
customer requirements,
software project management,
software metrics,
Methodology and Standards,
documentation,
Customer requirements understanding,
Measurement of Overrun,
Project Status review,
Role clarity,
Risk analysis,
Team building,
Project Repository,
Learning from Past,
Post implementation support,
Quality – man,
methods,
approach and deliverables,
Version Control
Following are the top 15 pain areas of a software project. All points listed below appear somewhere or the other in a software project lifecycle. The ratio of pain from a particular below listed item may vary from project to project within an organization, and also from organization to organization. So although the hierarchy may vary, the pain areas somehow remain the same. A lack in addressing any one of the issue listed below may call for a big hiccup in the smooth running and closure of a project. The project size (and in turn the time and team size also) will vary depending on customer and customer requirements. Although all points listed below are self explanatory, but the understanding and perception may vary from individual to individual.
In that respect, I would like to take each of the points below one by one in my forthcoming blogs to explain how much impact each of the instrument listed below will have on the project and how to overcome this pain not only for that projects but for all the projects in that organization to come in future. The most important activity for each individual is, now, to re-arrange the points (with any additions/ or replacements) according to the ratio of pain it is giving, and then learn how to convert that pain into pleasure once for all (in my future blogs for the later part!)
1. Methodology and Standards
2. Documentation
3. Customer requirements understanding
4. Measurement of Overrun is in money terms immaterial of time overrun (time is not measured in terms of money)
5. Frequent Status review in a forum
6. Status of project movement is person based
7. Role clarity to project manager and team on site
8. Risk analysis
9. Team building
10. Customer clarity in terms of milestones and payments
11. Project Repository
12. Learning from Past
13. Post implementation support
14. Quality – man, methods, approach and deliverables
15. Version Control
Jan 16 2009 10:12AM GMT
Posted by: Jaideep
CRD,
Customer Requirements Document,
business requirements,
customer requirements,
defect free software
You not only have to understand the customer but sometimes you have to make customer understand what exactly he requires to enhance his business. Many a times, a customer is not able to chalk out clearly what business requirements he wants to get embedded in the software. He is not clear about what exactly he should get embedded in the software to get the optimum out of the software and business mix. He might be having a broad idea about what he wants to see as a final product, but may not be able to define what the core components of this product are. Customer would say the team to study their business as they are doing it, without getting involved in it. This could be serious and the seriousness if not understood rightly in time (emphasize on ‘understood’, rightly’ and ‘in time’), would lead to disastrous results.
Customer is not for experimentation. Clear and crisp ‘Requirement freezing’ is the right start. Customer may be required to be educated on what business, requirements and rules can be built in the software. A simulations or scenario generation is important to make customer understand how the software will work once completed. Customer needs to understand very clearly at the initial phases - What ease or comfort will the software bring out to business processes by giving out certain set of business results. Customer has to understand very clearly the other part of the story too. The software definitely will require certain extra skill sets, enhancements, or extra efforts once it is completed and implemented at customer site.
Jan 14 2009 10:10AM GMT
Posted by: Jaideep
SDLC,
business management,
Bug Management,
CRD,
Customer Requirements Document,
team management,
customer requirements
Past is not to be buried. It contains a treasure called EXPERIENCE. In software development this treasure is of ample importance for acquiring skills required to handle the unwarranted turns and twists during the development (and implementation) period.
What we can learn from the past is the hiccups that caused delays and stoppages in a development project. We can use that learning as a tool to tackle the problems occurred during the project life cycle. The learning could be in the form of:
1. Handling customer
2. Freezing customer requirements
3. Preparation of documents
4. Selection of a project manager
5. Development Team formation
6. Key users committee formation at customer end
7. Management committee formation at customer and development end
8. Team coordination
9. Tester’s involvement in the development
10. Choosing a right methodology for project management
Jan 12 2009 10:04AM GMT
Posted by: Jaideep
software quality assurance,
software testing,
documentation,
Project Management,
software,
Development,
software quality,
Quality Assurance,
SDLC,
business management,
software development,
Project Lifecycle,
software requirement,
business requirements,
Project Development,
customer requirements,
defect free software
In software development project what matters most is the timely accurate delivery that gives the benefit of defect free product, customer satisfaction, profits, market edge, growth, motivation across the organization etc. All this is not easy to achieve having so many enemies in and outside the organizations that mars the development progress or a sub-standard product. These negative factors or enemies lead to a low in quality product that faces a tough time at customer end resulting in rejection. To name top 5 quality killers in a software product, I would list them as below:
5. Requirements: customer requirements or product requirements is the foundation of software. Any sort of compromise in this would lead definitely to a disastrous product.
4. Management: Intensity of management’s involvement in the product development throughout spells out the success or failure of a product.
3. Documentation: Development plays an important role during a product lifecycle and so does the documentation.
2. Customer Involvement: The involvement of key users at all levels of development and implementation is quite crucial.
1. Testing: ‘When’ to involve the ‘testing’ team defines the earlier successful completion of a project.
