Carnegie Mellon University

Software Project Management

Instructor CEU Units # of Lectures Hours per Week Tuition
Martin Radley
4.8 12 10-15 $2,700

Course Objectives

The Software Project Management course focuses on plan-driven projects.
Upon completion of the lectures students will:

  • Describe the differences between project management and software project management.
  • Use multiple techniques to estimate software tasks, projects and products.
  • Define, implement, analyze and use the metrics required to manage a software project.
  • Describe the strengths and weaknesses of software estimation and metrics techniques.
  • Define historical data to be captured at project closure.
  • Manage change effectively for software projects.
  • Monitor and report on project progress.
  • Work in teams becoming project managers for a fictional company to address real-world software project problems as:
    • Describe how lifecycle model can impact a project’s estimates?
    • Provide size, schedule & cost estimate to support user requirements and project charter.
    • Provide recommendation for managing change & ‘scope creep’ for the Viking project (strengths and weaknesses of your recommendation).
    • Define a key software project or product metric using either Westfall’s 7 Steps or Basili’s GQM approach.
    • List and describe 3 – 5 key measurements to monitor and control how software is built, tested and released, and describe how to use them.
    • Describe the project's current status, and risks using earned value data.
    • List software development lifecycle model recommended for the project, along with the strengths and weaknesses model.

Prerequisites

None

Required Textbook

Rapid Development by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press, 1996.
ISBN: 1-55615-900-5.

Topics

Lecture 1:      Software is Different and Difficult
Lecture 2:      Planning & Estimation - Historical Data
Lecture 3:      Planning & Estimation - Parametric Estimates
Lecture 4:      Planning & Estimation - Wideband Delphi
Lecture 5:      Managing Project Change
Lecture 6:      Project Monitoring & Reporting
Lecture 7:      Measurement - Overview & Staffing
Lecture 8:      Measurement - Change and Build, Test & Release
Lecture 9:      Measurement - Earned Value
Lecture 10:    Measurement - Defects, Project Closure & Historical Data
Lecture 11:    Measurement - Methodologies, Common Mistakes