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Project management and planning class note #1

CS6388.501 Software Project Planning and Management.
Instructor: John Cole

Project Success: What is it?
Project Failure? If you don’t have any failures, you aren’t taking enough risks.
Control and commitment of resources: the Chiang Kai-Shek(蒋介石) model.

The six stages of a project:
* Wild enthusiasm
* Disillusionment
* Panic
* Search for the guilty
* Punishment of the innocent
* Praise and rewards for the non-participants.


“I want a list of all unforseen problems we’re going to encounter with this project.”
Lines of communication in decision-making need to be as short as possible

Project classification:
* In-house R&D
* Small construction
* Large construction
* Aerospace/defense
* MIS (does this include software development?)
* Engineering

Problems of placing highly technical people in charge of projects.
Moving a non-project-driven organization into project management.

“Life is a game, and money is one way of keeping score.” So projects that pay off well are scoring well. Should project managers be paid more than line management?

Why is software engineering different? Is it really engineering?

Are there any particular risks associated with software projects that aren’t found in other kinds of projects?

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