Project Manager

Who must Plan, Motivate, Organize, & Control the practitioners who do software work.

Characteristics of Project Manager:

(1) Flexible – Flexibility is required for a PM especially when dealing with new team members who may need specific , firm direction to get started. PM should be able to adopt various styles of leadership (Authorative, Collaborative etc) with various people.

(2) Problem Solving – He should be able to diagnose the technical and organizational issues that are most relevant.

(3) Managerial identity – A good project manager must take charge of project. He/she must have the confidence to assume control when necessary.

(4) Achievement – He must reward initiatives (like bonus, gift etc) as this will optimize the productivity of a project team.

(5) Influence and team building – He must be able to “read” people i.e. he must be able to understand verbal & non verbal signals and react to needs of people. The manager must remain under control in high stress situation.

Skills of Successful Project Manager: There are eight skills a project manager require to ensure success they are :

(1) Technological Skills – Effective project manager should be familiar with degree of technological knowledge to complete the project. This will help identifying Alternative solutions and communicating risks associated to technology to various stake holders and to route the problems to the right SMEs for solution.

(2) Organizational Skills – Although you may not need  intense technological skills but it is important that  PM has  a deep Organization skills  ( Organizational policies, procedures & Planning)  This would help in analyzing the Scope, Time, cost, quality and risk.

(3) Communication Skills – This is the most important skill that a PM should have.  This deals with keeping the stakeholders well informed by Timely distribution of project data and updates to stakeholders.

(4) Team Building - PM should be proficient in Facilitating team meetings, conflict resolution and handling diverse team. Should ensure motivation and empowerment of team members by encouraging the Suggestion and recommendations of the team and allowing the team share their opinions.

(5) Coping – This implies Project Managers should be creative with solutions and flexible with results and they need to Patient and persistent with stakeholders. Coping with stakeholders is necessary for successful solution.

(6) Negotiation – Since there are varied stakeholders with varied objectives, it is important for a Project Manager to persuade and negotiate the terms of Project, Resources and results.

(7) Content - Project Managers should be knowledgeable in the subject matter. Knowing the subject matter without having to consult with SME would reduce project duration time. Uninformed project managers have to prolong tasks by days to wait for responses from experts.

(8) Leadership - Project Managers should be positive, decisive, motivating, empowering and energetic.


TO Download : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BPP25JV7

Project Management Office (PMO)

PMO is a corporate department responsible for the practice & discipline of project management within the organization. They are usually departments with management control over project managers & responsibility for project success. The function of a PMO fall into three categories:

(1) Development Functions: Development functions are those that build a cadre of effective project managers. They include activities such as:

• Recruiting Staff

• Defining project management career and training paths

• Providing support & assistance to project managers

• Evaluating project managers at the end of a project

(2) Support Function: Support functions are those that help project managers become more effective in managing their projects. They include activities such as:

• Time gathering & reporting

• Defining standards for project documents

• Establishing priorities among projects.

• Establishing procedures for issues such as:

        (a) Scope control or review & approval

        (b) Creating standards for initiating and closing projects

        (c)  Implementing project management methodologies & software

        (d) Providing a forum for resolving disputes

(3) Control Functions: They include

• Taking care of employee promotion

• Providing discipline & direction

• Defining mandatory standards such as the frequency of status report or team meeting

• Reviewing projects in progress


To Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WQEVKMFL

Essential Elements of Software Project Management

Choose the Project Methodology: A key decision is the methodology that will be used for your project. A traditional waterfall methodology is highly structured to deliver good results, but can result in longer projects based on its sequential set of tasks. Agile methodologies deliver quicker results, but require managing cross-functional teams and allowing them more freedom to create prototypes in several iterations as requirements are refined.

Identify Requirements: A solid understanding of user requirements forms the foundation for your software, yet there's often a rush to skip this and move to the coding phase. This may cause you to miss necessary requirements or try to meet an ever-changing target as new requirements are uncovered.


Understand the Technology: It's crucial that the project manager understands the maturity level of the technology used for the project, since technology changes at a rapid pace. If it's a well-understood technology, the chance of meeting the project schedule is high.

Communicate with Business Stakeholders: Technical jargon is a foreign language to most business stakeholders, so communication between the project manager, the technical team and other stakeholders can be a challenge. Project managers and technical team members need to talk about the requirements and project risks using business terminology. If users can't understand the explanation, they can't make informed decisions about the level of risk they're willing to accept.

Deliver Phased Results: Many software projects are large, expensive and lengthy efforts. Often the new software isn't delivered until months or years after the requirements were originally documented.

Understand the Culture: Project managers should consider cultural issues in the project planning. This includes adding contingency time in the schedule to work through possible issues and clearly communicating the risks of taking short cuts.

To Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V7SOKFOZ