As a practicing project manager I felt that I could provide some good tools, useful information and cool links related to this field. This page is for project managers and the purpose is to share information on software development project management topics. My scope on this page is to provide general, as well as, specific project information and software to assist anyone who is working to establish consistent software project leadership.
Moreover, I hope to provide some assistance Consruction Estimate Management in building professionalism. The current literature still says even with all the training going on and attention to managing projects there is still a rather large error or failure rate in software projects. If your career path is in project management you have a legacy problem and even more reason to read and apply the things that work. My favorite book on this stuff is by Harold Kerzner and is Project Management A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling. I had the good fortune to attend PMI certification training with Dr Kerzner as the instructor.
This article is on project management body of knowledge (PMBOK).
Before anything else remember that responsibility without sponsorship makes you an immediate target for project time, scope and resource adjustment problems. Responsibility without authority is pretty much like having great vanity. It means almost nothing when tough choices are required. It is quite a lot like Solomon’s thinking on vanity being “like striving after the wind”.
First of all my focus is on the principles developed by Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and shared by project managers world-wide within the context of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM).
As a starting point it is important to discuss what is called the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK). The PMBOK was developed to provide c
onsistent definition to the phases of a project and to delineate what should be considered as important within the context of each part of project management guidance.
The knowledge areas and project management processes are contained in nine main focus areas.
Project Integration Management – development of project plan, project plan execution and change control.
Project Scope Management – initiation, scope planning, scope definition, scope verification and scope change control.
Project Time Management – activity definition, activity sequencing, activity duration estimation, schedule development and schedule control.
Project Cost Management – resource planning, cost estimating, cost budgeting and cost control.
Project Quality Management – quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control.
Project Human Resource Management – organizational planning, staff acquisition and team development.
Project Communications Management – communications planning, information distribution, performance reporting and administrative closure.
Project Risk Management – risk identification, risk qualification, risk response development and risk response control.
Project Procurement Management – procurement planning, solicitation planning, solicitation, source selection, contract administration and contract close-out.
As you can see from these focus areas there is a strong emphasis on the use and meaning of the word “control”. A LOT of activity and paperwork can be developed in these management areas, but the main point is that there must be corrective action as required. The authority and responsibility resides with the project manager.