Effective software project management focuses on the four P’s: people, product, process, and project.
The People
People factor is very much important in the process of software development.
There are following areas for software people like, recruiting, selection, performance management,
training, compensation, career development, organization and work design, and team/culture
development.
Organizations achieve high levels of maturity in the people management area.
The Product
Before a project can be planned, product objectives and scope should be established, alternative
solutions should be considered and technical and management constraints should be identified.
Without this information, it is impossible to define reasonable estimates of the cost, an effective
assessment of risk, a realistic breakdown of project tasks, or a manageable project schedule.
Objectives identify the overall goals for the product without considering how these goals will be
achieved.
Scope identifies the primary data, functions and behaviours that characterize the product.
Once the product objectives and scope are understood, alternative solutions are considered. From
the available various alternatives, managers and practitioners select a "best" approach.
The Process
A software process provides the framework from which a comprehensive plan for software
development can be established.
A small number of frame-work activities are applicable to all software projects, regardless of their size
or complexity.
A number of different tasks, milestones, work products and quality assurance points enable the
framework activities to be adapted to the characteristics of the software project and the
requirements of the project team.
Finally, umbrella activities such as software quality assurance, software configuration management,
and measurement overlay the process model.
The Project
We conduct planned and controlled software projects for one primary reason it is the only known
way to manage complexity.
A software project manager and the software engineers who build the product must avoid a set of
common warning signs, understand the critical success factors that lead to good project
management, and develop a common sense approach for planning, monitoring and controlling the
project.