The Key Elements of Efficient Software Development Project Management

The present day markets are very dynamic and heavily relying on the digital and IT technologies. A normal business environment have multiple software and IT solutions which help the employees to perform their day to day tasks and improve the organization’s operational efficiency. There are two major categories of the software that businesses use, one is COTS or commercial off-the-shelf solutions and the second is customized software. Here in Dubai and all around the UAE we have witnessed that the COTS are slowly fading, businesses are more aggressively adopting to customized, tailor-made or bespoke software solutions. The biggest advantage of a custom software development project is that it allow businesses full control over the features, functionalities, UI (user interface), UX (user experience), and each and every bit of the software. On top of that the custom software development also offer full ownership rights to the business who will be using it. These are the reasons the custom software development is gaining huge momentum all around the world.

When it comes to custom software development the initial cost is relatively high however, the custom software solutions offer much higher ROIs in the long term. Anyway, the custom software development is a time and effort consuming project. It is important that a business execute the custom software development project with great accuracy and efficiency. The final outcome of the custom software development project could affect employees/users for years. Which is why it is important to follow the best practices to ensure an efficient software development project management. Unlike any other industry the project management in software development also follows the same fundamental principles. However, for any customized software development project the project manager must have to carry out an intense cost-benefits analysis along with the optimization and timeline problems that can reduce the value of the project for the business. In this blog we will list key elements of efficient software development project management which will help our audience improve the outcome of their projects.

Why Software Development Project Management is Important

The project managers are skilled professional who got expertise in getting something done efficiently and effectively. Usually the project managers are given a goal to achieve something from others and they do the research, make plans, select teams, and execute the development phase in timely manner. Usually the project management referred to a framework and set of tools or techniques to ensure the project’s outcome matches with the project goals. These frameworks, techniques and tools enable managers to monitor everything from the day one to the final delivery and while monitoring everything and keeping everything on track and aligned with the final goals. For any custom software development project there is always a goal and a timeline. The project managers oversee the entire process, allocate sufficient resources both human and non-human resources to make sure the project is completed in the given timelines and budget limitations. The efficient software development project management ensures the final outcome on-time and within the budget while justifying the value it is adding to organization against the cost, time and resources it took to build the software product.

Efficient Software Development Project Management: Tasks of a Project Manager

The project manager for software development project or the matter of fact is for any project is responsible for effectively executing each step of the project development cycle while ensuring all the milestones and goals are achieved till completion and final testing phase. The project manager closely monitor each phase of the software development cycle and make sure that the maximum efficiency is achieved. The project manager is also responsible for ensuring smooth and easy communication between the teams and the stakeholders while allocating resources, assigning tasks and managing timelines to achieve each milestone. This will ensure the maximum user satisfaction. Here are some key tasks that a project manager is responsible for efficient software development project management:

1. Project Scope: The software development project scope or the scope of the work is a technical document that enlists all features and functionalities of the software application. It is basically a roadmap or blueprint of the final outcome and should be done with mutual understanding with the project manager and the customer/users of the software application.
2. Project Estimation: The project estimation is the most important task that a project manager should do. The project estimation based on three projections, the estimated time to complete it, an estimation of the cost and estimations of the efforts that are required to complete the project.
3. Scheduling:After the project estimation the next step is to assign the required resources including both human and non-human resources that are required to smoothly execute the project. The resource optimization is a key to save cost.
4. Staffing and Resource Allocation:This step involves the staff planning and building teams to work on the software development project. It is important to take feedback from the staff and understand their current workload and engagement in other projects and make a project plan.
5. Risk Evaluation and Management:The risk evaluation is done on the bases of any unexpected scenarios and obstacles that the project manager or team could face during the project execution and make efficient plans to minimize the risks and eliminate the obstacles.
6. Miscellaneous:The project manager also have to make other plans and strategies which are based on the project nature and demands such as quality assurance and testing, software deployment and implementation plans, integration and collaboration with other teams, etc.

The project manager have to be very vigilant and proactive to ensure the risks are minimized, the obstacles and unexpected scenarios are handled successfully and the final objectives are achieved. Above mentioned tasks can help project managers improve the efficiency of the software development project.

Efficient Software Development Project Management: Improve Efficiency

A project manager is not just an ordinary person-in-charge, in fact he/she has to be a key team player, caption and leader of the team. The project manager can greatly influence the performance of the team and help businesses achieve their goals. The project managers also keep the team satisfied by carefully listening to them, leading and guiding them and solving problems down the road. Here are some key elements of effective software development project management which can help project managers to maximize the outcome of the project:

1. Strong Leadership: Every manager have leadership skills, but a strong leadership attitude will make the difference. A software development project manager leads their team, guide them, coach them, listen to them and solve their problems to maximize their success.
2. Performance Management:Technically every team member is aware of their role and what is to be done at their end, however, setting up realistic goals, measurement metrics and deriving a mechanisms to integrate bidirectional feedback can significantly enhance a team’s performance.
3. Communication: The project manager should focus on the communication. Because a strong communication help them bonding with their team and build a relationship which help them communicating technical and non-technical needs to the team and help them solving problems.
4. Effective Time Management:The time management is not just identifying the milestones and setting up dates and making project plans. In fact the effective time management is making sure all teammates are on track and will complete their tasks on time by solving their problems and guiding them throughout the development phase.
5. Task Mapping:The project manager should be able to see the project in macro level and then breaking it down to individual tasks, and milestones and should be able to map these tasks with the bigger picture to allow team members understand their role and the impact of their tasks on the overall progress or success of the software development project.
6. Critical Thinking/Crisis Management:A project manager should be a critical thinker, usually the project manager is the first responder to the crises, problems, obstacles, bottlenecks and other show stoppers, which demand critical thinking and superior problem solving skills and abilities.

The project manager is responsible for successful software development project execution. All of the above mentioned abilities require a strong and experienced person with strong communication and interpersonal skills and a proactive attitude which help improving the efficiency and efficacy of the custom software development project management and execution process.

Efficient Software Development Project Management: Execution Methodologies

The custom software development project execution methodologies is a set of tools, techniques and principles which provide a complete framework to manage, monitor and deliver a software project. The main objectives of implementing a project management methodology is to improve efficiency, collaboration and quality of the outcome. There are so many different software development project management methodologies, each have its own strength and weakness, for example, some of the project execution methodologies work well with certain industries or project types while they are completely inefficient for certain industries and so on. Here are the most commonly used software development project management and execution methodologies:

1. Waterfall: The waterfall method is one of the simplest project management and execution method. It is the most linear method and the project development is done in phases, but you will only move to next phase if the previous phase is completed. It is great for highly structured projects, but the waterfall method is also popular in software development projects as well.
2. Scrum:The scrum method is majorly used as two-week cycles including a short daily meeting. The daily meeting is also referred to as ‘daily scrum’ and the meeting is headed by a ‘scrum master’. The scrum method is effective only with a team of not more than 10 members. The scrum is very popular in custom software development project management in Dubai and all around UAE.
3. Agile:The agile project management method is used where the timeline is right or you want to complete the project as quickly as possible, even before the timeline. The agile is highly collaborative, evolutionary, adaptive and self-organize method of project development. It offers great flexibility and open to changes if these changes can improve the performance and progress.
4. CPM: The CPM or critical path method requires to build a model of the project which includes all tasks, duration of each task, dependencies, risks and liabilities, and clear milestones and then identifying the longest sequences of activities to complete the project. It is suitable for small and medium size projects as it is hard to keep track of large sets of activities under this framework.
5. CCPM: The CCPM or critical chain project management method majorly focus on the resources that are required to develop and complete the project. It is a very flexible approach to project management and it doesn’t emphasize much on tasks and schedules. It is equally effective for any size of project and improve resource planning and management.
6. Kanban Method: The kanban project management and execution method allow managers to put all the workflows, tasks and progress visually on a board or publishing platform where all employees can access and view it. The visual planning boards are great to motivate teams and improve performance. It equally effective in manufacturing and software development projects.
7. Extreme Programming: The extreme programing method or XP is another branch of agile project management. However, it has shorter software development cycles with multiple releases. The project management take the course of customer requirements and as the requirements changes the project plan and timeline also get changed. It is suitable when the user doesn’t know the full requirements or doesn’t have a clear goal or keep changing requirements more frequently.
8. Lean Method: The lean project development method is used to reduce the waste in a project execution process to maximize the outcome or deliver maximum value. It is widely used for rapid product deliver in software development projects while removing the waste of processes on continuous bases. Equally suitable for software development and manufacturing projects.
9. PMBOK:The PMBOK or project management body of knowledge is basically a great framework which allow project managers to use the guidelines and definition of project planning, execution, schedules, monitoring and controlling. The framework dictates various pre-defined stages of a project which makes management easier in custom software development projects.
10. Six Sigma:The six sigma is a very unusual method of custom software development project management and execution as it majorly focus on what is not working in the project which includes quality of the outcome, progress of the team and the evaluation of the team members. It is only effective at large scale projects where a few hundred to a few thousand employees are involved. This most software development teams avoid this method.

These are widely used project management and execution methodologies. You can easily compare different methods and decide which custom software development project management and execution methodology can fulfill your needs.

Efficient Software Development Project Management: Project Management Stages

The project manager should improve the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Every project manager should have a solid SDLC strategy in order to ensure the efficiency and productivity in the custom software development project. The software development life cycle means breaking down the software development in multiple phases. The SDLC or software development life cycle includes planning, designing & developing or coding, testing, and deploying phases. This help project managers set milestones for all stages and give them more control and grip over the custom software development process. The efficient software development project management usually utilize a simple SDLC templates which involves following generic stages or phases:

1. Project Initiation:The project initiation phase is the very first step of developing a software or application. In this stage the project manager transform an abstract idea of the project in actionable and meaningful goals. The goals and objectives of a custom software development project will dictate the course of the next stages. The project manager can initiate the project charter which is usually a document that gives them authority to utilize organization’s resources for the mentioned project and gives it a legitimate status as a project. The charter document includes, project goals, objectives, timelines, deliverables, budget, limitations and liabilities and a project feasibility study. The project manager also creates a stakeholders’ register which includes all team members or project contributors that might be needed in future to execute the project.
2. Project Planning:The project planning stage is the most crucial stage it involves identifying all the technical requirements with in-depth explanation and deliverables. The custom software development project management planning stage also includes project schedule and development of communication mechanisms to ensure maximum communication between the stakeholders. This stage can also include collecting feedback from the stakeholders and research about the project and its technical aspects.
3. Project Execution:The custom software development project execution is a stage where all the actual development, designing of the software and programing is done. This stage accomplishes all the task and activities that are highlighted in the project plans along with the deliverables. The effective communication is crucial at this stage it will ensure the quality of the outcome. The project manager should ensure the communication between all stakeholders and team members.
4. Project Monitoring: The project monitoring is not a simple phase or stage of custom software development project but in fact it is a continuous process that enable project managers to track, monitor, manage and control the performance and progress of the team members at all stages. It involves developing the KPIs (key performance indicators) and CSFs (critical success factors). The project manager should also track cost of the project and resources consumed by it to further ensure the long term sustainability to meet the budget and timeline requirements.
5. Project Closure:The project closure is the last stage of the custom software development project management process. It includes deployment of the software application in the production environment and delivering or handing over to the end users. The project manager should also have to prepare a complete report that includes the performance of the team and complete review of the entire project and activities from start to finish. This report can be very helpful for future reference and can help improving the project management process.

A well organized and structured strategy to execute a software development project can save a lot of efforts, resources and risks. The communication and tracking performance is a key to optimize the custom software development project’s cost. These five stages are a generic template to work with. The project managers can also create more stages or sub-stages to further break down the project and set milestones for each stage and sub-stage to further increase the performance and efficiency.

Efficient Software Development Project Management: Project Manager

The efficient software development project management is entirely based on the competencies, capabilities and skills of the project manager. The project manager for a project is the like a pillar, which should be able to hold the entire building on it. A weak project manager will cause several problems and result in poor project execution. It is crucial to have a highly skilled and efficient project manager. Here are some key traits that a successful manager have:

• Leadership:The strong leadership capabilities are must for a successful project manager. The project manager should have to lead the team which comprises of different individuals from different backgrounds and technical skills. That is why a strong leadership is a must to have trait for a successful project manager in order to make everyone deliver their best in the project.
• Mentorship: A mentor is someone to whom you look up to. A project manager should not only be a great leader but a great mentor who can motivate its team and keep them at high spirit to ensure everyone performs at their best. The encouragement and understanding plays crucial role in improving team members’ morale and keeping them motivated.
• Documentation:The documentation is a key to effective software development project management. The project manager is entirely responsible for preparing various documents which will have huge influence over the team performance and the final outcome of the project such as project charter, scope, plans, feasibility reports and final documentation. So, the project manager should have strong documentation skills to avoid any ambiguity or confusion during the process.
• Performance Management: The performance management is extremely important. The project manager should have comprehensive knowledge and experience of project performance management. This will help them drive KPIs, CSFs and other monitoring metrics to monitor and improve the performance of the team members which is absolutely essential in achieving goals and objectives of the project.
• Communication: Communication is like the blood in the body, without effective communication no business can perform well. For custom software development project management the project manager should have excellent communication and interpersonal skills to make sure everyone is aligned with the goals and objectives. It also help reducing the risks, preventing obstacles and solving problems during the process.

Traditionally businesses only appoint one project manager to a project but due to complexity and size of the project there could be multiple project managers too. In such situation there should always be a leading project manager to whom all other project managers should report. There should be hierarchal structure between different project manages to ensure efficient software development project execution.

Conclusion

In the modern work environment business have very complex IT infrastructure and they require a tons of IT resources, various different software and systems, and business tools to perform their day to day tasks and to maximize the operational efficiency. The operational efficiency and performance are a key to long term sustainable success and growth. The technology world evolves very rapidly, the software and systems keep changing and upgrading, the markets are changing and the customer needs are growing. In such circumstances the need of a new software solution is very obvious, in fact business keep upgrading and changing their software after a few years in order to ensure maximum efficiency and productivity. Furthermore the technology is also evolving on a greater pace which also compel businesses to adopt to modern and more innovative software which can help them achieving their organizational goals and strategic objectives. The custom software development industry is growing at a rapid pace, especially in Dubai and all around the UAE the businesses are proactive seeking custom software solutions due to its various perks and higher ROIs.

When a new demand arise a business will seek to develop a new customized software solution. Either they will utilize their internal resources or either they will contact a software development agency in Dubai such as RSI Concepts , to assist them with their customized software needs. The project management plays a crucial role in success or failure of a custom software development project. In this blog we have covered the key elements of efficient software development project management. If you want to learn more about the subject of if you want us to help you developing a new highly cost-efficiency and tailor-made software solution for your business, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

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