What do you mean by Software project management ? Explain the software project management activities in brief.

 Software project management

- Software project management is an art and discipline of planning and supervising software projects. It is a sub-discipline of software project management in which software projects planned, implemented, monitored, and controlled.

- It is a procedure of managing, allocating, and timing resources to develop computer software that fulfills requirements.

- In software Project Management, the client and the developers need to know the length, period, and cost of the project.

Project Management Activities

 The project manager's job varies depending on the type of organization and software product being developed. So it is difficult to write a standard job description for a software manager. Some common activities of project managers are as follows:

1) Project planning and scheduling

- Project planning is concerned with identifying activities, milestones, and deliverables produced by a project. A plan is drawn up to guide the development team towards the project goals.

- Software project planning is a task that is performed before the production of software actually starts.

- It is there for software production but involves no concrete activity that has any direct connection with software production, rather it is a set of multiple processes, which facilities software production.

2) Risk Management 

- Risk management involves all activities pertaining to identification, analyzing, and making provision for predictable and non-predictable risk in the project.

- It may include:-

•   Experienced staff leaving the project and new staff coming in.
•   Change in organizational management.
•   Requirement change or misinterpreting.
•   Underestimation of required time and resources.
•   Technological changes, environmental changes, business competition.

3) People Management 

- Project managers usually have to select people to work on their projects.

- Ideally, skilled staff with appropriate experience will be available to work on their project but in most cases, managers have to settle for less than ideal project team members because:-

• The project budget may not cover the use of highly paid staff. Less experienced, less well-paid staff may have to be used.
• Staff with appropriate experience may not be available either within an organization or externally. It may be impossible to recruit new staff to the project.
• The organization may wish to develop a skill of its employees. Inexperienced staff may be assigned to a project to learn and to gain experiences.

4) Project cost

- Project cost includes cost estimation activity that is concerned with estimating the effort, time, and resources required to accomplish the project development.  

- The parameters involved in computing the total cost of a software development project include hardware and software costs including maintenance, travel and training costs, and Effort costs i.e. the costs of paying software engineers and others.

5) Report writing and presentation

Project managers are usually responsible for reporting on the project to both the client and contractor organization. They have to write concise, coherent documents that abstract critical information to a detailed project report.

6) Proposal writing

- Project manager has to write the project proposal to win a contract from the customer. Proposal writing is a skill that acquires through practice and experience. 

- Proposal should include the objective of the project and how it will be carried out. It also includes cost and schedule estimates and justification why the project contract awarded to a particular organization or team

In short, all activities are described below

Project planning

Project managers are responsible for planning. estimating and scheduling project development and assigning people to tasks.

Reporting

Project managers are usually responsible for reporting on the progress of a project to customers and to the managers of the company developing the software.

Risk management

Project managers assess the risks that may affect a project, monitor these risks, and take action when problems arise.

People management

Project managers have to choose people for their team and establish ways of working that lead to effective team performance.

Proposal writing

The first stage in a software project may involve writing a proposal to win a contract to carry out an item of work. The proposal describes the objectives of the project and how it will be carried out.