Applied Software Project Management

Applied Software Project Management

Chapter 1. Introduction
  Section 1.1. Tell Everyone the Truth All the Time
  Section 1.2. Trust Your Team
  Section 1.3. Review Everything, Test Everything
  Section 1.4. All Software Engineers Are Created Equal
  Section 1.5. Doing the Project Right Is Most Efficient
  Section 1.6. Part I: Tools and Techniques
  Section 1.7. Part II: Using Project Management Effectively

Part I: Tools and Techniques

Chapter 2. Software Project Planning
  Section 2.1. Understand the Project Needs
  Section 2.2. Create the Project Plan
  Section 2.3. Diagnosing Project Planning Problems
Chapter 3. Estimation
  Section 3.1. Elements of a Successful Estimate
  Section 3.2. Wideband Delphi Estimation
  Section 3.3. Other Estimation Techniques
  Section 3.4. Diagnosing Estimation Problems
Chapter 4. Project Schedules
  Section 4.1. Building the Project Schedule
  Section 4.2. Managing Multiple Projects
  Section 4.3. Use the Schedule to Manage Commitments
  Section 4.4. Diagnosing Scheduling Problems
Chapter 5. Reviews
  Section 5.1. Inspections
  Section 5.2. Deskchecks
  Section 5.3. Walkthroughs
  Section 5.4. Code Reviews
  Section 5.5. Pair Programming
  Section 5.6. Use Inspections to Manage Commitments
  Section 5.7. Diagnosing Review Problems
Chapter 6. Software Requirements
  Section 6.1. Requirements Elicitation
  Section 6.2. Use Cases
  Section 6.3. Software Requirements Specification
  Section 6.4. Change Control
  Section 6.5. Introduce Software Requirements Carefully
  Section 6.6. Diagnosing Software Requirements Problems
Chapter 7. Design and Programming
  Section 7.1. Review the Design
  Section 7.2. Version Control with Subversion
  Section 7.3. Refactoring
  Section 7.4. Unit Testing
  Section 7.5. Use Automation
  Section 7.6. Be Careful with Existing Projects
  Section 7.7. Diagnosing Design and Programming Problems
Chapter 8. Software Testing
  Section 8.1. Test Plans and Test Cases
  Section 8.2. Test Execution
  Section 8.3. Defect Tracking and Triage
  Section 8.4. Test Environment and Performance Testing
  Section 8.5. Smoke Tests
  Section 8.6. Test Automation
  Section 8.7. Postmortem Reports
  Section 8.8. Using Software Testing Effectively
  Section 8.9. Diagnosing Software Testing Problems

Part II: Using Project Management Effectively

Chapter 9. Understanding Change
  Section 9.1. Why Change Fails
  Section 9.2. How to Make Change Succeed
Chapter 10. Management and Leadership
  Section 10.1. Take Responsibility
  Section 10.2. Do Everything Out in the Open
  Section 10.3. Manage the Organization
  Section 10.4. Manage Your Team
Chapter 11. Managing an Outsourced Project
  Section 11.1. Prevent Major Sources of Project Failure
  Section 11.2. Management Issues in Outsourced Projects
  Section 11.3. Collaborate with the Vendor
Chapter 12. Process Improvement
  Section 12.1. Life Without a Software Process
  Section 12.2. Software Process Improvement
  Section 12.3. Moving Forward
Bibliography

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A project manager can use this book to diagnose and fix the most serious problems that plague software projects. It contains essential project management tools, techniques, and practices, which have been optimized to be as straightforward and easy to implement as possible. It also contains advice for avoiding the problems that a project manager will typically encounter when bringing these tools into an organization.

By the time you have read this book, you should be able to:

• Define the scope of your project
• Estimate the effort required to do the work and schedule your project
• Conduct thorough reviews of documents and code
• Gather software requirements and create specifications
• Effectively manage the design, programming, and testing of the software
• Provide guidance if your project runs into quality problems
• Manage an outsourced project
• Make effective changes to the way projects are run in your organization

We have been researching and implementing these tools, techniques, and practices throughout our combined careers. Each of them is the culmination of years of trial and error in many different organizations across multiple industries. Every one of these practices is the solution to a specific, chronic problem. Many people opt to live with the problem, because the solution seems too complicated. Our ultimate goal in writing this book is to help you build better software.

Often, the original idea (before we optimized it) came from a book that we read to solve a specific problem that we encountered on a software project (just like you are doing right now!). References to some of the books that we found most helpful appear in the text in order to help you learn more.