Introduction to the Software Project Management
Project management has been practiced since early civilization. Until the beginning of twentieth century civil engineering projects were actually treated as projects and were generally managed by creative architects and engineers. Project management as a discipline was not accepted. It was in the 1950s that organizations started to systematically apply project management tools and techniques to complex projects. As a discipline, Project Management developed from several fields of application including construction, engineering, and defense activity. Two forefathers of project management are commonly known: Henry Gantt, called the father of planning and control techniques who is famous for his use of the Gantt chart as a project management tool; and Henri Fayol for his creation of the five management functions which form the foundation of the body of knowledge associated with project and program management. The 1950s marked the beginning of the modern Project Management era. Project management became recognized as a distinct discipline arising from the management discipline.
WHAT IS A PROJECT?
All of us have been involved in projects, whether they be our personal projects or in business and industry. Examples of typical projects are for example:
Personal projects:
Obtaining an B.Tech degree
Writing a report
Planning a party
Planting a garden
Industrial projects:
Construction of a building
Provide electricity to an industrial estate
Building a bridge
Designing a new airplane
Projects can be of any size and duration. They can be simple, like planning a party, or complex like launching a space shuttle.
Software Project Definition:
A project can be defined in many ways :
A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.” Operations, on the other hand, is work done in organizations to sustain the business. Projects are different from operations in that they end when their objectives have been reached or the project has been terminated.
A project is temporary. A project’s duration might be just one week or it might go on for years, but every project has an end date. You might not know that end date when the project begins, but it’s there somewhere in the future. Projects are not the same as ongoing operations, although the two have a great deal in common.
A project is an endeavor. Resources, such as people and equipment, need to do work. The endeavor is undertaken by a team or an organization, and therefore projects have a sense of being intentional, planned events. Successful projects do not happen spontaneously; some amount of preparation and planning happens first.
Finally, every project creates a unique product or service. This is the deliverable for the project and the reason, why that project was undertaken.
