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Project Management Methods (PMM) Vs
The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
Confusion can often arise between Project Management Methods and
the varying SDLCs.
Understanding of both concepts are required for successful management
of Software Projects of all sizes and complexity. |
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Which Project Manager Certification Scheme
Should I Pursue?
PMP, APMP, Prince2, ITIL?
Prince2 is often cited as a requirement in the UK for IT Project
Management jobs. Especially for government opportunities (not
surprising as this is where the approach emerged!).
The PMP certification scheme is probably better suited to those people
employed in North America.
In the end, completing any of these organisations will bring worthwhile
benefits for a project manager's professional development.
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Should I Join the APM, PMI or BCS?
As the APM is the largest body of its kind in the UK and the largest
member of the International Project Management Association, APM may be
more appropriate if you intend to work in the UK, or wish to network
and meet UK project managers.
PMI are a US based organisation whose membership is largely derived
from the US. If your employer is North American, PMI may be more
appropriate.
The BCS membership can lead to chartered engineer status (CITP -
Chartered IT Professional).
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Software
Project Management Methods
A project management methodology covers all activity areas a project
manager needs to consider regardless of whether the project is wholly
or partly for software development.
Every concept covered in a methodology may not necessarily be
applicable to every project (though there are core common processes).
There are likely to be variations for valid reasons. However,
that does not mean the process should be left to the whim of each
project team. There MUST be some guiding governance provided as to what
is the sensible pragmatic approach for each project.
Gartner research found that an overarching methodology tailored
precisely for each project could improve performance of the team by
30%. The same methodology applied rigidly without thought may give
performance improvements of 10% at best.
A methodology should be a help to a project. Many people in companies
(often quite senior executives) equate methods and process with
bureaucracy and believe it slows down rapid progress. This can be the
case if the method is poorly understood and/or not governed
appropriately. But having no process or method will result in chaos
(the same effect can be seen within companies that appear to have a
method process, but that process is not controlled or governed).
All organisations should have a consistent project management
methodology in place that is common to all types of project. In this
way, people can move comfortably from and to any type of project and
will be comfortable using the same approach.
Training people in project management can be independent of any type of
underlying technology or software development processes (e.g. why, how
and when to manage scope, why, how and when to manage risks).
Popular commercially available methodologies include the Project
Management Institute (PMI)’s Project Management Book of Knowledge
(PMBoK) approach. Training and examinations in which can lead to
professional certification; Project Management Professional (PMP)
Certification.
Another, popular in the UK, is the Office of Government Commerce
(OGC)’s - Prince 2 methodology. Again training and examination can lead
to Prince 2 professional project management certification.
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Software
Development Life Cycles & Frameworks
In a base form, SDLCs & Software Frameworks describe the tasks,
the order of the tasks and what roles are needed to perform the tasks,
that are required to construct software systems and applications.
Most are hybrid in nature in that they overlap with Project Management
method concerns (e.g. the Rational Unified Process contains both an
SDLC framework, but also elements of a Project Management methodology).
Some are very concise and specific in their intent and can drive
project management aspects given their extreme nature.
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Software
for Project Managers
Software Tools can help Project Managers. The most usual or common
software tools are for scheduling work and tracking progress to
schedule.
Software that helps project teams collaborate is useful (email is a
basic example, but much more sophisticated tools can help even more)
The following FREE (open source) software is available:
Gantt
Project - If you can't use MS Project, download and use this open
source software for your schedules
Open Office - Are you a
small business with low budget for office software - then use this open source
MS Office compatible and equivalent software.
Pop Project is an online
internet based Project Planning and Issue Tracking initiative. It is currently
in public beta and you can sign-up for free at the moment. Take the tour at
PoP Project.
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Great
Books on Software Project Management & Development
The following books have proved to be extremely useful as base texts
for software project managers of all levels of experience:
Of course specific texts are needed for particular aspects of software
projects as required. These can be found or searched
for in the software book shop.
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