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CEN 4021
Software Engineering II
Software Project Planning (POMA)
A Review
Instructor: Masoud Sadjadi
http://www.cs.fiu.edu/~sadjadi/
[email protected]
CEN 4021
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Acknowledgements

Dr. Onyeka Ezenwoye

Dr. Peter Clarke
CEN 4021: Software Engineering II
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2
Agenda

Organizing (POMA)
– A review
CEN 4021: Software Engineering II
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Organization

Seeks to construct a software development, support, and
service organization based on the project plan.

Activities include:
– Acquiring various skilled individuals needed for the project.
– Obtaining the tools to support the process and methodologies.
– Creating a set of well-defined metrics to track and gauge the
project.
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Human Resources

Possible software organizational structures
– Software development organization
– Software support organization

Preparations to acquire human resources
– Recruiting, hiring

Projects require
– large number of people with range of skills.
– Multiple teams with specialized skills (e.g., testing,
installation).


Personnel hiring may be done in parallel with
preparing organizational structure.
Organizing groups require understanding of project
plan.
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Fig. 6.1 General Software Project Organization
Project Management
Database Management
Application Design
Build/Packaging
User Interface Design
Application Management
Tools Support
Requirements Analysis
Applications Testing
Process and Measurement
System Design
Systems Testing
Publication and Information
Design
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Publication and Information
Development
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Software Development Structures
•
Refining the General Organizational structure
1.
Matrix vs. Hierarchical Orientation
2.
Functional Orientation
3.
Highly Specialized Organization
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Matrix vs. Hierarchical Orientation


The software development structure is flexible based on
the size of the project.
The organization structure may be represented either as
a hierarchy or as a matrix.
– Hierarchy org.: all the people associated with a project are
grouped into functional departments that report directly within
the vertical line of command of the organization
– Matrix org.: people are grouped based on the functions they
perform.
 Functions
may be performed by non-members of official project
organization
 Less function duplication, better focus on specialized skill.
 What about team loyalty and confusion?
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Functional Orientation


The general orgl. structure may be further refined to
show a more precise structure.
It is important that the org. be defined down to a level
where each individual can see her/his name.
Project Manager
(Sally Thomas)
Req. Analyst
(Tom Shaker)
Apps. Designer
(John Chang)
Apps. Designer
(Kim O’Conor)
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UI Designer
(to be hired)
Project interface
to prog center.
(Mark Burke)
Project Interface
to process &
tools (to be
hired)
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Highly Specialized Organization
Software Development
Manager (Sally Thomas)
Apps. Analyst
(Tom Shaker)
Senior Apps.
software Engineer
(Tom Shaker)
Senior Apps.
software Engineer
(to be hired)
Apps. Engineer
(to be hired)
Apps. Engineer
(Laura Lang)
Apps. Engineer
(to be hired)
Apps. Engineer
(to be hired)
Apps Engineer
(to be hired)
Apps Engineer
(to be hired)
Software development
specialization
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II
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Highly Specialized Organization


More specialized, that is the groups responsible for only
the development of software, but not the information
development and publication task.
Group does not perform any of the requirements
gathering and specification activities, nor does it handle
any independent testing.
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Software Support Structures

Spmr must set up an extensive customer interface
group, such as call service dept. that handles the
following duties:
–
–
–
–
Answer calls
Analyze each problem
Respond to the customer if a possible solution exist
Generate a problem report when an immediate solution does not
exist
– Track problem resolution activities
– Report and deliver solutions to the customer
– Close problems
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Software Support Organization
Software Support Manager
Customer level 1
support leader
Customer level 2
support leader
Customer level 3
support leader
Customer Call
support analyst
Problem
resolution Analyst
Software support
Engineer
Customer Call
support analyst
Problem
resolution Analyst
Software support
Engineer
Customer Call
support analyst
Problem
resolution Analyst
Software support
Engineer
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Recruiting and Hiring Software
Personnel
Once the organizational positions are outlined, the
software project management needs to fill open
positions.

The actual hiring of the employees starts with having a
clear definition of the open position in terms of the skills,
training, and character of the candidates required for
each position.
Recruiting:

It is usually not sufficient to provide a general description
of the position title to the HR department.

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Agenda

Organizing (POMA)
– Organizing

Human resources
– The Project Team
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Project Team Life Cycle



Very few projects can be completed by individuals.
Group becomes a team through proactive efforts by
members and project manager.
Typical project team life cycle goes through three
stages:
– Team formation
– Team development
– Team maintenance
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Project Team Life Cycle


Teams need forming, developing and maintaining
Amount of management activity differs at different
stages of the team life cycle.
Developing
Relative
management
Effort
Forming
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Maintaining
Team Stages
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Project Team Life Cycle

Team building activities center on education and
training on areas like:
–
–
–
–

Building trust
Negotiation skills
Listening skill
Responding to pressure
Project manager must ensure that there is enough
time in the project schedule for such training.
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Team Formation



Having the best people does not guarantee success
unless experts work effectively as a team.
Project might be delayed or fail due to personnel conflicts.
Tasks may be independent but interrelated.
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Team Formation



Project manager will review tasks and decide on the skills
required to complete them.
Team members should possess other behavioral
characteristics or “soft skills”.
No perfect person exists, managers should not look for
mythical candidates.
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Technical Software skills

Technical skill
– A specialized skill in a subject that is needed to perform the
activities in that subject domain. Usually requires knowledge and
training in a scientific, engineering, or business discipline.
– The skill areas include:




Requirements solicitation and specification
Database design
Design, programming and debugging
Test design and test script writing
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Soft skills and personal traits



Traditionally, managers tend to focus on technical
skills and experience.
Managers should look for other characteristics, many
of which are “soft skills”
Soft skills
– A non-technical skill that can be utilized on multiple
occasions and is not restricted to any specific domain.
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Soft skills and personal traits

These personal traits might include:
–
–
–
–
–

Personal ambition
Interpersonal communication skill
Sense of urgency
Strongly held likes and dislikes
Attention to detail
Some team member may have negative personal
traits.
– E.g., Personal ambition over team goals.
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Team Development

Project manager may need to intervene in the team’s
adjustment process.
– Changing team members
– Dismissing participants
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Team Development

Some key activities for project managers
–
–
–
–
–
–
Ensuring communication is taking place
Ensuring member are treated with respect
Ensuring clear understanding of roles and assignments
Ensuring the team is not harboring a chronic laggard
Ensuring members understand team goals
Ensuring that members follow the agreed-upon process
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Team Development

To promote team building, managers may sponsor:
–
–
–
–
–

Off-site meetings
Motivational speakers
Team games, e.g., softball
Team presentations
Remembering birthdays
Group events create strong bond through trust
– Member can relate experience to need for interdependence
in software project.
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Team Development


Team members behavior need to be continuously
monitored
Project managers should perform conscientious
socializing
– Informal data gathering to pick up any signs of team disorder
(e.g., non-return of emails).

With remote and virtual teams
– Communication is a major source of team related problems.

Members may need counseling on basic working
etiquette
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Team Development


Team or personal Issues
One or more people are upset about something and
its negatively impacting the team.
– E.g., personal (“I can’t stand working with Fred”)
– E.g., systemic (“I hate how we do code reviews”)



Start by talking one-to-one to people involved
Ask what is going on and what can be done?
Seek out causes not just symptoms.
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Team Development

The disagreement is preventing progress.
–
–
–
–
Seek mutually beneficial outcomes (do not compete)
Find a point of unification (e.g., project need to be on time)
Don’t let personality traits distract you from the goal.
Force people to talk about interests (not positions) and reach
agreement
– Be strong but supple


Know points of flexibility
If you can give more time, can you allocate more money?
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Team Maintenance




Rewarding team members
Punishing team members
Handling team attrition
Team member growth
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Agenda

Organizing (POMA)
– Processes, Methodologies and Tools

Organization of Process
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Processes

In addition to hiring new employees, other new
resources necessary for the software project must be
considered, acquired, established, and installed
during the organizing phase.

The process used to develop the software must be
clearly defined.
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Processes

The process must be tailored depending on some of
the following:
– The size and complexity of the project based on the
deliverables
– The maturity of the organization
– The history of the working relationships of the people
– The size of the organization
– The goals of the software project
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Process Map

There is a need to map the overall process to clearly
list the activities carried out with in each step, and to
explain any relationships among the steps.

Diagram:
– For waterfall-like process
– Arrows show the flow of activities.
– Dotted arrows indicate the potential for backward flow.
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CEN 4021: Software Engineering II
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Process Map


The conditions for the successful completion or the exit
criteria of a step, which allow the work flow to continue to
the next step, need to be provided as a companion to the
process map.
Typical exit criteria from the design process:
– All the functional and nonfunctional reqs. are designed including
the following:
 The
systems and communication interfaces
 Database and file structure
 Special constraints: performance, security, backup/recovery, etc.
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Process Map

Typical exit criteria from the design process cont:
– All of the design is documented and represented in the preciously
specified format and language.
– The design document is stored in a configuration management
tool.
– The design document is reviewed and all errors found have been
fixed and captured in the updated design document.

The defined exit criteria for the process steps provide a
management and a team approach to controlling the flow
of activities.
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Processes
Configuration Management

Defn: A set of procedures that define, track, and control
artifacts produced during the development, support, and
maintenance of software.
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Processes
Configuration Management

Configuration management is made up of a complex set
of activities including the following key activities:

Part 1: Definition and Setup
-
Defining and listing the artifacts that need to be managed
-
Defining the granularity of managing the artifacts and designing
the directory scheme to accommodate that level if granularity
-
Defining the rules for accessing the artifacts
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Processes
Configuration Management cont
Part 2: Control and track
•
-

Defining the security and controls needed to manage the artifacts
Storing retrieving, locking, and unlocking artifacts based on the
predefined rules
Maintaining all of the tools employed to help in configuration
management.
Note configuration management spans the entire project.
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Processes
Process Introduction and Education

Members of a project team may come from a variety of
backgrounds, all of which use some form of a process.
Even if this process is some form of chaotic organization
i.e., the process is formulated as the project progresses.

Education and communication of project progress should
come in stages.

There are many approaches, one such approach is as
follows:
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Processes
Process Introduction and Education
Stage 1: Process Introduction

–
Provide the intro and education, if necessary, to the general
process chosen for the project.
–
Provide the rationale behind the specific process.
–
Point out both the positive and the negative as well as any
portion of the process that is still untested.
–
Point out any past history, if available.
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Processes
Process Introduction and Education
Stage 2: Feedback and Modification cont

–
–
–
–
–
Allow team members to debate and study the process on their
own.
Ask for written feedback.
Collect and analyze the responses
Make appropriate modifications and prepare for responses to
these changes.
Bring the team together, providing the team members with
feedback on which suggested modifications were accepted and
explaining what was done with both the accepted and the
rejected suggestions.
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Processes
Process Introduction and Education
Stage 3: Acceptance

–
Ask whether any further education is needed and provide it as
appropriate.
–
Ask for concurrence and acceptance of the process.
Stage 4: Reinforcement

–
Quickly review the process and ask for any further input to its
implementation.
–
Make any adjustments and update the process as needed.
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Processes
Process Introduction and Education

The effort required to organize, communicate, educate,
and gain acceptance of the process may be longer than
many people would like.

Stage 4 (reinforcement) may be performed repeatedly as
needed, but not excessively.

As new employees come on board, they must also be
introduced to the project process.

Spmr needs to ensure that the team is clear about, and
ready to follow the process map.
CEN 4021: Software Engineering II
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Methodologies

Methodology is a prescribed set of steps to accomplish a
task.

The process provides the macro steps the methodology
provide the micro steps, i.e., the difference between a
methodology and a process is a matter of degree.
Spmrs have traditionally been highly involved in
discussion on methodologies for the following reasons:

1.
2.
Need to keep up with the new methodologies
Promotion was linked to performance using a methodology
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Methodologies

Spmrs must be familiar with the most appropriate
methodology.

Spmrs need to monitor how the methodology is used on
the project.
The spmr needs to ensure that the team is prepared to
use the methodology. Usually describe at two levels:

1.
2.
Higher-level is a more process oriented way i.e., major substeps
to be employed are listed and their relationships shown.
Deeper level describes the specific methods in each substep.
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Tools

Tools should reduce work and increase productivity and
efficiency.

Tools represent a significant set of resources for
software projects.

There have been claims of 50% - 200% gains in
productivity as evidence of a particular tools’
effectiveness. On the other hand the expected savings
for some tools did not materialize.

Spmrs should take a realistic note of what should be
expected and what effort will be required to achieve the
expectation.
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Tools
Tool Identification and Preparation
Some activities the manager should carry out to prepare
for the acquisition and use of the tool:

–
Identify the specific steps and activities that the tool is expected
to automate or improve.
–
Explore realistic expectations for the tool, stated in terms of
productivity gain or efficiency gain that the automation of these
steps will bring.
–
Review the various tools available that will meet these
expectations.
–
Review the training needed to attain the level of competency for
the expected gains.
CEN 4021: Software Engineering II
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Tools
Tool Identification and Preparation:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Choose the specific tool to be acquired, working out the needed
terms and conditions.
Announce the decision.
Set and communicate the realistic expectations in terms of
productivity gains that the team should be experiencing.
Schedule and facilitate the necessary training.
Acquire and set up the chosen tool.
Ensure the proper continuous support of the tool is in place.
Communicate the project policy for usage of this tool
Set up the mechanism to enforce the usage policy.
CEN 4021: Software Engineering II
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Agenda

Organizing (POMA)
– Goals and Measurement
CEN 4021: Software Engineering II
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Goals and Measurement

During the planning phase the goals for and
measurements of, the key attributes of the product and
services are determined.

Many of the goals for the system are deduced from the
functional and nonfunctional requirements i.e. obtained
from the customer.

Measurable attribute: An attribute for which there is a
well-defined metric and a methodology for its
measurements.
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Goals and Measurement

Validation of goal:
– Comparing a stated goal for an attribute with the actual
measurement taken for the attribute.

Verification of measurement:
– Ensuring that the measurement of an attribute is properly taken
and recorded.

Metric:
– The unit used to characterize an attribute.

Measurement: The act of characterizing an attribute,
which may involve multiple steps, utilizing the agreed
upon metric for that attribute.
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Deliverable-related metrics and
measurements

Some software deliverable attributes include:
– Quality
– Usability
– Functional completeness
– Maintainability
– Modifiability
– Reliability
– Installability

Requires some thought and insight before a reasonable
goal and metric can be designed
CEN 4021: Software Engineering II
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Project and project-related
metrics and measurements

manager is usually required to describe the project in
terms of the following:
– Schedule integrity
– Cost minimization
– Productivity
– Efficiency
– Cost-effectiveness
– Employee morale
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Goals and Measurement

The project plan identifies important attributes and their
goals. The metrics and measurement scheme for these
goals were also conceived.

In the organizing phase several other important notions
must also be considered by managers.
– Are the goals and their associated measurement schemes clearly
defined?
– Has the organization embraced the measuring scheme?
– Has the cost of measuring been taken into account?
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Goals and Measurement

It is important that the project team understand the
definitions of goals and measurements of the project.

To alleviate the problem of the team not understanding
the goals and measurement scheme, the spmrs should:
– Review the goals set for the product and project attributes
– Review the measurement scheme and modify if necessary
– Build an “operational” plan for the measurement schemes
CEN 4021: Software Engineering II
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Goals and Measurement

The desired goals of a project should be stated in a
quantitative way.

The classic example of a goal is “easy to use”.
What does “easy to use” mean???
For goals that can be ambiguous or vague.




Decompose them into subgoals.
If the initial requirement was “The product should be
easy to use” one decomposed subgoal can be:
– Every function in the product should be completed by the user
without external intervention.
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Goals and Measurement

After identifying subgoals, ask the following questions:
– Is the subgoal more specific than the original goal?
– How would we gauge the transformed attribute?
– Is there a need for a specific activity that will allow us to gauge its
attainment?

The precise metric and measurement methodology
should be defined in terms of a particular test if possible.
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Goals and Measurement

For “ease of use” example usability test steps might be:
1. A test case is designed for each function in the product.
2. A numerical count is kept of the number of test cases that are
successfully executed by a test subject without any external
intervention.
3. This test is repeated with the predetermined number of test
subjects to ensure the results’ statistical relevancy.
4. All the unsuccessful test cases are summed.
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Goals and Measurement

A reasonable goal for such a test is to have 5%
unsuccessful or 95% successful test cases.

Some measurements can be potentially misleading.
– See text book for discussion on the meaning: totally complete,
mostly complete, partially complete, and not complete.

If you are using categories to measure if goals are
achieved make sure that:
– Create categories that exhaustively cover the range of metrics
– Each category is mutually exclusive of any other category
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Goals and Measurement
Building a measurement operational plan:

Each item to be measured in the plan may require a
slightly different operational plan.

When refining the operational plan the following
refinements steps should be considered:
– Steps to ensure that the process and methodology are modified
to include the details needed to implement each plan.
– Steps to ensure that proper resources are made available in a
timely manner.
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Goals and Measurement
– Steps to ensure that necessary metrics and measurement
schemes are defined for each plan item
– Steps to ensure that goals are defined for the implementation and
that the achievement of the goals is validated.

Operational Plan: A plan that contains all the details of
how to implement what is contained in a general project
plan.
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Goals and Measurement

Operational plan allows for successful measurement
during the monitoring phase of the project.

During the organization of the project some elements of
the plan may have to be revisited therefore a further
refinement of the plan is essential.
CEN 4021: Software Engineering II
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Goals and Measurement
The following items should be considered during the
organizing and preparation phase of the POMA life cycle:

–
Any additional goal clarification and decomposition
–
Well-defined goal validation
–
Specific measurement techniques and schemes
–
Any process extensions and modifications needed to
accommodate measurements
–
Additional software/hardware tools needed for measurement
activities
CEN 4021: Software Engineering II
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Goals and Measurement
Embracing the measurement scheme:


It is very important to get the team on board with the
organizational plan for the measurements of the goals.
Some measurement schemes may take on quite a bit of
complexity.
CEN 4021: Software Engineering II
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Goals and Measurement

Manager should not perform all the analysis and
justification studies by themselves. Other team members
should participate for the following reasons:
– More team members would understand the goals and
measurements.
– More non-management team members would feel committed to
the goals and measurements.
– Some team members may be counted on to “spread the
message” and educate other team members.
– Sharing the burden would lessen the workload of the manager.
– Distributing the knowledge would lessen the general fear of being
measured.
– Team ownership of the goals would be more likely to be
achieved.
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Goals and Measurement
Goal Attainability

Measurement of the process will make some employer
feel that they are being continually watched.

Sometime the measurements are used to improve the
process for future projects.

A spmr should be realistic about the expectation of
including the measurements of goals in the process.

Before collecting any data explain how the data will be
used to the team members.

The goals and measurements activity should be properly
planned, and the team should be included in the
development of some of the goals.
CEN 4021: Software Engineering II
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Goals and Measurement
Goal Attainability

The team must embrace the goals and measurements as
their own.

During the organization and preparation phase the spmr
must actively and positively communicate the goals,
measurements and measurement scheme to the team.

All team members must be included in the
communication about the goals and measurements.
CEN 4021: Software Engineering II
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Goals and Measurement
Goal Attainability

To win acceptance and positive reception of the goals
and measurements spmr must ensure the following:
– A well-defined goal and measurement scheme
– Attainable goals
– The team’s participation in the setting of the goals
– The team’s understanding and belief in the goals and
measurements
– The commitment of qualified resources for measurement
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Goals and Measurement
Measurement cost:

Goals and measurements are important yet few software
projects do it. Why?
– “Success” is often gauged by only a single goal e.g., a
deliverable’s due date.
– The organization may not see the value of setting goals and
measurements or may fear the process.
– Management may not supply enough resources for the goals and
measurements activities.
– Team may oppose the goals and therefore do not measure them.
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