The eLearning Series:
Systems Engineering for Software Intensive Systems

Software Project Management

Required Textbook

Rapid Development by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press, 1996.
ISBN: 1-55615-900-5.

Course Objectives

The Software Project Management course focuses on plan-driven projects.
Upon completion of the lectures students will:

• Describe the differences between project management and software project management.
• Use multiple techniques to estimate software tasks, projects and products.
• Define, implement, analyze and use the metrics required to manage a software project.
• Describe the strengths and weaknesses of software estimation and metrics techniques.
• Define historical data to be captured at project closure.
• Manage change effectively for software projects.
• Monitor and report on project progress.
• Work in teams becoming project managers for a fictional company to address real-world software project problems as:
  - Describe how lifecycle model can impact a project’s estimates?
  - Provide size, schedule & cost estimate to support user requirements and project charter.
  - Provide recommendation for managing change & ‘scope creep’ for the Viking project (strengths and weaknesses of your recommendation).
  - Define a key software project or product metric using either Westfall’s 7 Steps or Basili’s GQM approach.
  - List and describe 3 – 5 key measurements to monitor and control how software is built, tested and released, and describe how to use them.
  - Describe the project's current status, and risks using earned value data.
  - List software development lifecycle model recommended for the project, along with the strengths and weaknesses model.

Prerequisites: None

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