Industrial Management

MAR-APR 2016

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march/april 2016 17 Software management projects often suffer from four big mistakes, but management teams have a variety of tools to ameliorate these problems so that your tasks can be completed on time and on budget and meet their objectives. Indeed, your software devel- opment does not have to take too long and cost too much money. The mistakes are: • Thinking having a "project manager" is project management. It's not. • Not understanding the word "risk" • Not understanding the accuracy of the budget • Business leaders shirk their responsibilities in project management. Let's examine how to manage your software project in a successful manner. 1. A project manager is not enough A project manager is a professional who has studied the tools and procedures of the project management discipline and often holds a certification, such as a project management professional (PMP). Business people, especially those without much exposure to the different roles and titles on software teams, often are confused about the term "project manager." To say someone is the "project manager" seems utterly comprehensive in scope. But many are surprised to find that a project manager's role is rather limited. Because of this, I like to use the term "literal project manager" instead of just "project manager." Figure 1 shows the literal project manager's place on a typical project team. The literal project manager, the spot on the org chart tradi- tionally called the project manager, is in charge of interacting daily with the technical team, making detailed plans and using project management tools to report on progress. You will see this person organizing status meetings, preparing agendas, capturing to-dos and follow-ups and making sure they get done. If a software devel- opment project involves one or more vendors, there will be a literal Software project management is fixable BY ANNA MURRAY

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