CS582S Systems Project Management

Study Guide

Dr Robert Macredie

E-mail: Robert.Macredie@brunel.ac.uk,

Introduction

Systems project management is concerned with the management of software projects. This covers a wide range of issues from the sociology and psychology that is central to the management of teams (and individuals within them), to standards relating to quality assurance in software development. With such a divergence of issues, it is no wonder that systems project management is complex at both theoretical and practical levels. The theory that is often presented to students in this area can be conflicting; and even when students develop what they feel is a consistent theoretical perspective, practical situations usually bring unforeseen complications which require flexibility and imagination on the part of the project manager and team members.

This module aims to develop both an awareness of the central issues and an appreciation of the practical challenges of systems project management. This will lead you towards an understanding of the inherent limitations of the theory that is presented and will require you to reflect on possible conflicts between theory and practice. This will support the development of a wider perspective on systems project management which will be useful should you be involved in software development projects at a later time.

Objectives

The module has the following central objectives:

to present traditional techniques which are used in managing the estimation, planning and execution of software development projects
to examine and critique emerging approaches to systems project management
to reflect on the general limitations of the traditional and emerging approaches, and to introduce and develop an alternative systems project management paradigm

Module Structure

The module is structured around three main areas:

traditional approaches to systems project management: This section of the module will present a traditional view of systems project management, covering general project management issues alongside those peculiar to software development projects.

emerging approaches to systems project management: This section of the module will present an overview of emerging approaches to the management of software projects. The implications of the emerging approaches and their likely impact on the software development industry and their customers will be explored.

a research-oriented perspective: This section of the module will critically appraise the traditional and emerging approaches that have been covered, and will suggest why they are likely to be inappropriate paradigms for the management of software projects. A research-oriented perspective (from the Living Information Systems Thinking research group within the Department) will be presented. This will challenge you to reflect on generally accepted issues in systems project management, and will raise your awareness on issues that are central to the management and development of effective software systems.

The three areas are decomposed into the following twelve topics which will be covered in successive weeks:

Traditional approaches to systems project management

1. overview: in this session you will be given an introduction to the modules and its aims and objectives. We will look at the nature of projects and common approaches to SPM.

2. team management: this session will look at the roles of the manager and team members in project work. Sociological and psychological perspectives on group dynamics will be examined.

There are many texts in the Library which introduce and discuss issues in managing teams. No single text is a key reading, but the following are pointers to interesting texts:

Margerison, C. J. (1973).  Managing Effective Work Groups
           (London, UK: McGraw-Hill).  
Margerison, C. J. and McCann, D. (1990).  Team Management:
           Practical New Approaches (London, UK: Mercury).  
Mondy, R. W., Premeaux, S. R. (1993).  Management: Concepts, 
          Practices, and Skills (6th edition) (Boston, Mass.: Allyn and Bacon).  
Moreau, D. (1973).  Look Behind You! An Alphabetical Guide
          to Executive Survival (London, UK: Associated Business Programmes).  
Rees, W. D. (1991).  The Skills of Management (3rd edition)
          (London, UK: Routledge).

3.estimation and risk: this session will review traditional costing models, including COCOMO, and their role in estimation and risk. It will also look at planning issues, including scheduling and resourcing.

Pressman, R. S. (1994).  Software Engineering (3rd Edition)
         (London, UK: McGraw-Hill).

4. monitoring and control: this session will look at project issues in monitoring the project's progress and exercising control over aspects of the project. We will also look briefly at reporting progress.

Pressman, R. S. (1994).  Software Engineering (3rd Edition)
         (London, UK: McGraw-Hill).

5. quality assurance: this session will address aspects of quality from the perspectives of developers and customers.

Pressman, R. S. (1994).  Software Engineering (3rd Edition)
         (London, UK: McGraw-Hill).

6. risk management: this session will examine risk management issues and approaches.

Pressman, R. S. (1994).  Software Engineering (3rd Edition)
         (London, UK: McGraw-Hill).

Emerging approaches to systems project management

7. rapid application development: this session will introduce different approaches that are used to develop software quickly, called rapid application development techniques.

Martin, J. (1991).   Rapid Application Development
         (London, UK: Macmillan).

8. capability maturity model : the capability maturity model (CMM) was developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. This approach aims to enable organisations to assess and improve their ability to develop computer systems. The key quality that the SEI model assesses is the process that an organisation uses to develop computer applications. This session will examine the CMM, its importance to systems project management and its likely impact on developers of software systems as it becomes more widely established over the next ten years.

Humphrey, W. S. (1989).  Managing the Software Process
         (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley).  
Humphrey, W. S. (1995).  A Discipline for Software
         Engineering (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley).  

several papers on CMM are available at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/

A research-oriented perspective

9. the fixed point theorem: the fixed-point theorem reflects the rigid requirements driven design that is traditionally adopted for systems development. This session will explore the inherent limitations of the fixed point theorem, and discuss its impact of system project management and resulting systems. An alternative approach will be developed which moves the focus from providing a system to fulfil certain predefined requirements to initiating a system which can evolve to meet the changing needs of users and organisations over time.

10. the history of the mistake: this session will provide an examination of the problems faced (and arguably caused) by the 'traditional' approach to project management alongside the role played by change.

Grindley, The Report (1986).  Fourth Generation Languages: 
         Volume 1, A Survey of Best Practice (London, UK: IDPM Publications). 
Mintzberg, H. (1994).  The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning 
         (London, UK: Prentice-Hall).

11. thinking differently about SPM: this session considers alternative research views of SPM and ways in which we can think about the development of Information Systems that fit with aspects of organisational change. This will include consideration of approaches such as componentisation and the possibilities that they offer.

Lucas, H. C. (1976).  Why Information Systems Fail 
         (New York: Columbia University Press).
Lyytinen, K. and Hirschheim, R. (1987).  Information Systems 
         Failures: a Survey and Classification of the Empirical 
         Literature.  Oxford Surveys in Information Technology, 4: 257-309.
DeLone, W. H. and McLean, E. R. (1992).  Information Systems 
         Success: the Quest for the Dependent Variable.  Information 
         Systems Research, 3(1): 60-95.
Sauer, C. (1993).  Why Information Systems Fail: A Case Study 
         Approach (Henley-on-Thames, UK: Alfred Waller).
Kanellis, P. and Paul, R. J. (1995). Unpredictable Change and the 
         Effects on Information Systems Development: a Case Study.  
         In the Proceedings of the 13th Annual International Conference 
         of the Association of Management, Vancouver, British Columbia, 
         August 2-5 (Virginia, USA: Maximillian Press).

12. review and discussion: this session will review the module and provide a forum for discussing the general issues that it has raised.

Core Text

The core text for the module is:

Yeates, D. and Cadle, J. (1996).  Project Management
         for Information Systems (2nd edition) (London, UK:
         Pitman Publishing).  ISBN 0-273-62019-3.

This text will support all issues covered in theme I of the module. Supplementary reading which contain useful additional material is shown as appropriate under each session (see above).

Themes II and III have wider associated reading as they aim to question traditional views of project management. The core text will be of less value for these themes.

Other Useful Books

The following book may also be useful. The first two books are generic Project Management texts, which do not focus on software project. the last book is a recent release on software project which have been problematic. Some of you may see material from this book in the Information Systems Seminars module.

Shtub, A., Bard, J. F. and Globerson, S. (1994).  Project
         Management: Engineering, Technology and
         Implementation (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice
         Hall).  ISBN 0-13-102765-4.  

Spinner, M. P. (1997).  Project Management: Principles
         and Practices (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
         Hall).  ISBN 0-13-606690-9.  

Glass, R. L. (1998).  Software Runaways: Lessons Learned
         from Massive Software Project Failures (Upper Saddle
         River, NJ: Prentice Hall).  ISBN 0-13-673443-X.

Assessment

The module is assessed by written examination at the end of the Spring Semester. There is no formally assessed coursework for this module. The exam will take the following format: the paper will last for two hours and you will be required to undertake five questions from seven. Each question will be worth 20 marks. The questions will cover the major topics identified in the module, and you will be expected to draw on the readings presented in the study guide and any further readings suggested in the lecture and seminar sessions.

Study Guidance

In addition to the lecture and seminar sessions you will be expected to undertake independent reading and preparation to develop your understanding of the area. This independent work will form an integral part of the module and will be drawn on in the lecture and group work sessions. The ethos of the module is that you are expected to take control of your own learning by relating what you understand from the lectures and the reading to your own experience. You will benefit from and enjoy the module the most if you are active in developing your understandings beyond the content of the lectures.

The core readings identified in the study guide for each session are a necessary part of the module, and will serve to orient you to the issues involved, which will be expanded upon in the sessions. It is better to do the core reading ahead of time, since you will find the sessions much more rewarding if you have some understanding of the issues involved. Any supporting reading examines particular aspects of the topics (maybe a particular piece of research and some specific findings).

This page was last updated on 13 February 1998.