Software Engineering - Old Questions

3. Discuss the importance of project management . What are the different  sections of project plan?

Software Project Management (SPM) is a proper way of planning and leading software projects. It is a part of project management in which software projects are planned, implemented, monitored and controlled.

Project management focuses on developing a product that will have a positive effect on an organization. Without project management, a software development team may begin working on a project without any clear vision or guidance, resulting in more frequent errors and confusion. Part of project management involves making everyone involved aware of the purpose of the project and what steps are required to meet the end goal. 

The project plan sets out the resources available to the project, the work breakdown and a schedule for carrying out the work. The details of the project plan may vary depending on the type of project and organisation. However, most plan include following sections:

1. Introduction: Objectives of the project and sets out the constraints (i.e budget, time, etc.) that effect the project management.

2. Project organisation: Development team hierarchy, people involved and their roles.

3. Risk analysis: Possible project risk and the risk reduction strategies that are proposed.

4. Hardware and software resources requirements: Specifies the hardware and sw required to carry out the development with their prices and delivery schedule.

5. Work breakdown: Whole project into activities with milestones and deliverables associated with each activity.

6. Project schedule: Dependencies between activities, estimated time required and people & resources required for activities.

7. Monitoring and reporting mechanisms: Project monitoring mechanisms and management report that should be produced.