Question

As a software project manager, list all the software project management control areas and describe one in detail.                                                                               

Answer 1

QUESTION: As a software project manager, list all the software project management control areas and describe one in detail.  

ANSWER:

Responsibilities of project manager:

1) Managing People:

-> Act as project leader

-> Manage human resources

-> Set up the reporting sequence

2) Managing project:

-> Set up the project plan

-> Set up the project scope

-> Managing all the project management activities

-> Estimating cost and analyse risk

-> Solving problems that occur during execution

-> Project spokesperson

Software Management Activities:

1) Project Planning:

This phase is the starting of the project. It involves the rough idea of the project that is to be created. No actual execution is made, only the concrete model which helps for the further project direction is created.

2) Scope Management:

This phase defines the process to be done to make a deliverable software product. In this :

-> The scope is defined

-> Verification and control is decided

-> The project is divided into chunks to execute them easily

-> Control the scope by making changes whenever needed

3) Project Estimation:

Project estimation includes:

-> Software size Estimation: Estimating the size of the project is an important process as large size products are not acceptable by the users. Size can be estimated by calculating the number of function points in the project. It depends on the code done and the user requirements.

-> Effort Estimation: The project managers need to estimate the efforts in terms of humans and the number of hours to create a productive software in less time. Software size is required to estimate the effort.

-> Time Estimation: The total time required to complete the software creation is the sum of the days and hours required to complete all the tasks. Generally the tasks are divided into smaller events, scheduled day-to-day or monthly and executed accordingly.

-> Cost Estimation: The following factors are required to estimate cost-

-- Size of software

-- Quality of software

-- Additional hardware and software tools

-- Training and support

-- Communication and travelling

4) Project Execution and Monitoring:

Monitoring is required to check the risk of any problems and take measures accordingly before the risk is increased. It is done during the project execution. The measure can be taken by-

-> Activity monitoring: It means monitoring all the activities that are in execution, on day-to-day basis.

-> Status Monitoring: Generating the status reports of the activities completed in a given period. This can help the manager know when the project will be completely executed.

-> Milestone Checking: Checking the project work after every few weeks and analyzing the staus reports.