Project Management Of Software Engineering

With the exceptional growth in technology, the present day projects are often large and complex involving a significant risk. So, a Project Management Methodology enables the delivery organization to handle these projects comprehensively, systematically and in an integrated manner, which results in strategic, tactical and operational benefits.

Agile Project management is one of the industries dominating methodology for project management in IT. It is an incremental and iterative way to manage the build and design activities for constructing an IT product, services, and project development in manner which is highly interactive and flexible. In this methodology, scope is defined in granularity that is appropriate with time horizon and checked with the agreement on each feature with the customer. In this methodology work steps are divided with feature breakdown structures. In order to track the progress of the project progress charts are used instead of Gantt charts. Cross-functional and test-driven development teams starts working from the very beginning of the project to provide

In order to achieve successful results within established time-frames and budgets, project managers are likely to employ methodologies models. A project methodology is a model that aids managers to plan, design and implement their project goals. Project methodologies are helpful to project manager in any field, for instance, Niel Nickolaisen CIO at the Western Governors University, is an advocate for the agile software development methodology. As these models grants flexibility when dealing with stipulations and scope changes on a project. Needless to say the agile software development methodology is just one example of a varied assortment of methodologies, each with their strengths and weakness. As such, it is up to the project manager to decide which methodology fits their needs, as there isn`t a one fits all solution.

The Agile Methodology Principles makes the development much faster because the primary importance is given to the customer satisfaction and continuously delivers product. Even though requirements change at the ending phase the product is developed. The Agile development insist the self-organizing team which can create requirements, best architectures, best models. The Agile development promotes a distinct way of thinking to build things and methods to deliver continuous improvement of product. It facilitates to make best practices and decisions together. It a development to promote the adaptive planning, continuous improvement, evolutionary development and delivery, and required time to complete work. It encourages for rapid response to change in the whole development cycle. The project team prefers agile development to move in a creative and quick way. The project progress also depends on working software and project environment and support is provided and built by the individuals. They promote the sustainable environment. Constant attention is provided to the technical excellence and best models are given by the agile methodology. This principle helps the project team members

Nowadays, the economy evolves rapidly and levels of competition force companies to adopt new approaches In order to keep up with market changes. Many large and medium scale companies have multiple projects and programs in progress, and they are using PMO as an essential part to apply to project management practices. Over time, many companies with long histories of successful PMO and project management practices may want to accelerate their project performance and adopt Agile as a new approach for their projects. As a result, this change can play an important role to raise different type of problems and difficulties between the existing PMO and Agile development team (Agile developers).

Abstract: Agile software development is a conceptual framework for software engineering that promotes development in iterations throughout the life-cycle of the project .Software developed during one unit of time is referred to as an iteration, which may last from one to four week Scrum is part of the Agile movement. It is a lightweight process framework for agile development. The Scrum method is most often used to manage complex software and product development, using iterative and incremental practices. And results have been shown about significantly increase in productivity and reduces time to benefits relative to classic “waterfall” processes. But scrum method also have some problems and to overcome the problems a new approach is proposed

The Waterfall is very popular in US for developing large software and major technology projects. The project management institute (PMI.org) is helping to promote the project management profession globally and especially, in US. PMI is conducting regular workshops, trainings, and certifications for members. The project management institute publishes the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK) to help project managers with 5 processes, templates, and 10 knowledge areas to manage schedule, cost, and time.

Several adaptations to the traditional approaches like agile, interactive, phased, extreme, etc have been made but each will be expected to meet the requirements of the project objectives, timeline, resources, and deliveries of the stakeholders. Other industry standard certifications like ISO9000 and regulations like the Sarbanes-Oxley have also influenced methodologies and processes used by several organisations (Kerzner, 2003). Generally, managing projects should involved five major process which include the project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and then project closing. See Fig. 2 below.

In Recent times, there is an increase in interest in project management because most of the complex projects are often late, over budgeted and fail over and over again. Standish report says, there is 24% of projects that are failed or cancelled prior to completion or may be never used. 32% of them are successful which are delivered on time, on budget with required features and functions. And remaining 44% of the projects are challenged projects which are late, over budget or less than the required features and functions. The surveys says the IT project cost overrun on 2015 was 59%. Every organization wanted to be successful in delivering the projects. So it is important to implement models or methodologies to follow, check and verify the

Agile is an iterative and incremental (evolutionary) approach to software development which is performed in a highly collaborative manner by self-organizing teams within an effective governance framework, with "just enough" ceremony, that produces high quality solutions, in a cost effective and timely manner which meets the changing needs of its stakeholders [1].

One mooted solution to project management issues is Agile Software Engineering. Agile software engineering was devised, in the early 1990's, as a counter to the then-prevalent preference for huge, carefully-planned and expertly orchestrated grand projects. As Alistair Cockburn has noted, "the 1990's saw some of the most bloated, over-organised attempts at problem-solving imaginable, whereas agile software engineering came in like a breath of fresh air and proclaimed that the era of the individual was back" (Cockburn, 2001). While the old system was believed to deliver nothing more than bureaucracy, inconsistency and ineffectiveness, agile software engineering was

The premise of PMI is that the tools and techniques of project management are common even among the widespread application of projects from the software industry to the construction industry. In 1981, the PMI Board of Directors authorized the development of what has become A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), containing the standards and guidelines of practice that are widely used throughout the profession.

In conclusion, agile software development is a very exciting and useful approach, although some project suit agile more than others. The collaboration and visibility can provide a much better and rewarding experience for the team to develop software products. Over the last years, many companies dramatically improved their performances

Creating proper documentation for the different stages of the project management lifecycle so as to facilitate easy of functioning while preparing new project plans.

“PMBOK” stands for Project Management Body of Knowledge. PMBOK Guide is a book which explains standard guidelines for managing projects. It clearly defines a project management, the life cycle of project management and the related processes.