Project management with the IBM Rational Unified Process : lessons from the trenches

Title:

Personal Author:

Gibbs, R.Dennis

Publication Information:

Upper Saddle River, NJ : IBM Press, 2007

ISBN:

9780321336392

Subject Term:

Industrial project management

Information technology -- Management

Computer software -- Development

Software engineering

Available:*

Library	Item Barcode	Call Number	Material Type	Item Category 1	Status
Searching... PSZ JB	30000010125611	HD69.P75 G524 2007	Open Access Book	Book	Searching... Unknown
Searching... PSZ KL	30000010125610	HD69.P75 G524 2007	Open Access Book	Book	Searching... Unknown

Summary

#65533; Master win-win techniques for managing outsourced and offshore projects, from procurement and risk mitigation to maintenance

#65533; Use RUP to implement best-practice project management throughout the software development lifecycle

#65533; Overcome key management challenges, from changing requirements to managing user expectations

The Hands-On, Start-to-Finish Guide to Managing Software Projects with the IBM#65533; Rational Unified Process#65533;

This is the definitive guide to managing software development projects with the IBM Rational Unified Process (RUP#65533;). Drawing on his extensive experience managing projects with the RUP, R. Dennis Gibbs covers the entire development lifecycle, from planning and requirements to post-mortems and system maintenance. Gibbs offers especially valuable insights into using the RUP to manage outsourced projects and any project relying on distributed development teams--outsourced, insourced, or both.

This "from the trenches" guidebook is invaluable for anyone interested in best practices for managing software development: project managers, team leaders, procurement and contracting specialists, quality assurance and software process professionals, consultants, and developers. If you're already using the RUP, Gibbs will help you more effectively use it. Whatever your role or the RUP experience, you'll learn ways to

#65533; Simplify and streamline the management of any large-scale or outsourced project

#65533; Overcome the challenges of using the RUP in software project management

#65533; Optimize software procurement and supplier relationships, from Request for Proposals (RFPs) and contracts to delivery

#65533; Staff high-performance project teams and project management offices

#65533; Establish productive, consistent development environments

#65533; Run effective project kickoffs

#65533; Systematically identify and mitigate project risks

#65533; Manage the technical and business challenges of changing requirements

#65533; Organize iterations and testing in incremental development processes

#65533; Transition new systems into service: from managing expectations to migrating data

#65533; Plan system maintenance and implement effective change control

#65533; Learn all you can from project post-mortems--and put those lessons into practice

Author Notes

R. Dennis Gibbs has been immersed in a variety of roles since beginning his career in the software industry in the early 1980s, including roles in programming, software technical support, quality assurance, systems engineering, software engineering, project and program management, and consulting and mentoring. His customers have been a mix of commercial and government clients, particularly centered on the civilian federal government and Department of Defense sectors. He currently is a software architect with Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in Herndon, Virginia.

Acknowledgments	p. xvii
About the Author	p. xix
Introduction	p. 1
Chapter 1 Introduction to Outsourcing	p. 7
Outsourcing Defined	p. 8
Four Common Scenarios Encountered in Outsourced Projects	p. 9
Scenario 1 Colocated Contractors	p. 10
Scenario 2 Offshore Projects	p. 13
Scenario 3 Distant Contractors, Same Country	p. 17
Scenario 4 Multiple Contractors	p. 17
Where Does the Rational Unified Process Fit in All of This?	p. 19
Summary	p. 19
What's Next?	p. 20
Chapter 2 Overview of the Rational Unified Process	p. 21
The Traditional Software Development Process	p. 21
Advantages of the Waterfall Process	p. 22
Disadvantages of the Waterfall Process	p. 23
Introducing the Rational Unified Process	p. 26
History	p. 27
The Six Best Practices	p. 28
RUP Lifecycle Phases	p. 36
Is the RUP Agile?	p. 40
Summary	p. 41
What's Next?	p. 41
Chapter 3 Getting Started: Request for Proposals (RFPs), Proposals, and Contracts	p. 43
How Is Procurement Accomplished for Outsourced Systems?	p. 44
The Ten Steps in the Procurement Process	p. 44
Advantages of the Procurement Process	p. 47
What's Wrong with This Procurement Process?	p. 47
How Can Procurement of Software Systems Be Improved?	p. 49
A Proposed Progressive Acquisition Model for Small Projects	p. 49
A Progressive Acquisition Model for Medium to Large Projects	p. 52
Issues with Managing Fixed-Price Projects	p. 55
Monitoring Project Performance	p. 56
Releases	p. 56
Earned Value	p. 56
Project Estimation	p. 60
Selecting a Contractor Proficient in the RUP	p. 61
Lessons Learned for Outsourcing Organizations	p. 62
Lessons Learned for Contractors	p. 62
Summary	p. 63
What's Next?	p. 63
Chapter 4 Best Practices for Staffing the Outsourcing Organization's Project Management Office (PMO)	p. 65
Key Roles Defined	p. 65
The Project Manager	p. 66
The Lead User Representative	p. 69
The PMO Project Architect	p. 70
The Internal Project Champion	p. 73
The Contracting Officer	p. 73
The IT Manager	p. 74
Other Role Issues	p. 75
Developing a Data Model	p. 75
Developing Common Code	p. 76
Summary	p. 76
What's Next?	p. 77
Chapter 5 Best Practices for Staffing the Contractor's Software Project Team	p. 79
Governing Principles for Staffing the Team	p. 80
Roles on the Contractor's Software Development Team	p. 81
The Project Manager Role	p. 82
The Developer Role	p. 85
The Architect Role	p. 86
The Technical Lead Role	p. 87
The Toolsmith Role	p. 87
The Requirements Analyst Role	p. 88
The Tester Role	p. 89
The Configuration Management/QA Role	p. 89
Best Practices for Managing Teams	p. 90
Summary	p. 91
What's Next?	p. 92
Chapter 6 Establishing the Software Development Environment	p. 93
Build, Buy, or Borrow	p. 93
Shareware Tools	p. 93
Commercially Available Tools	p. 94
Custom "In-House" Tools	p. 95
Requirements Management	p. 96
Important Features to Look for in a Requirements Management Tool	p. 97
Change Request Management	p. 100
Features Needed in Change Request Management Tools	p. 100
Configuration Management Tools	p. 103
Features Needed in Configuration Management Tools	p. 103
Considerations for Servers for the Software Development Environment	p. 108
Requirements for Servers	p. 108
Other Considerations	p. 109
Considerations for Client PCs	p. 109
Best Practices for Deploying New Tools	p. 109
Summary	p. 110
What's Next?	p. 111
Chapter 7 Inception: Kicking Off the Project	p. 113
Purpose and Goals of the Inception Phase	p. 113
Artifacts Produced in the Inception Phase	p. 114
The Project Business Case	p. 114
The Project Vision Statement	p. 114
The Project Risk List and Risk Management Plan	p. 115
The Project Software Development Environment	p. 115
The Project Software Development Plan (SDP)	p. 115
The Iteration Plan	p. 116
The Development Process	p. 116
The Project Glossary	p. 116
The Use Case Model	p. 117
Optional Artifacts	p. 117
Soft Skills	p. 117
Setting the Project Vision	p. 117
Maintaining Communication on the Project	p. 120
Establishing a Project Web Site	p. 121
Advantages of Project Web Sites	p. 121
Suggestions for Content of Project Web Sites	p. 122
Other Best Practices for Project Web Sites	p. 123
What Can Go Wrong During the Inception Phase	p. 123
Establishing a Sense of Ownership of the Project Plan	p. 124
Summary	p. 125
What's Next?	p. 125
Chapter 8 Identifying and Managing Risks	p. 127
Technical Risks	p. 128
Managing Technical Risks	p. 128
Political Risks	p. 130
An Example of Discovering a Political Risk	p. 130
Identifying Political Risks	p. 131
Funding Risks	p. 131
Funding on Government Projects	p. 132
Sources of Funding Often Are Not Straightforward	p. 132
Business Risks	p. 132
Risks Resulting from Dependencies on External Sources	p. 133
An Example of Managing Dependency on a Vendor	p. 133
Risks from Other Contractors	p. 135
Creating a Risk Tracking System	p. 135
Characteristics of a Risk Tracking System	p. 135
Summary	p. 138
What's Next?	p. 138
Chapter 9 Navigating the Requirements Management Process	p. 139
Identifying Stakeholders	p. 140
Enabling Success in Requirements Management	p. 140
Attribute 1 The Contractor Has Easy Access to the Proper Set of Stakeholders in the Outsourcing Organization	p. 141
Attribute 2 Establishing a Strong Working Relationship with Stakeholders	p. 142
Attribute 3 Collecting and Disseminating Information Obtained from Stakeholders	p. 143
Considerations for Offshore and Other Long-Distance Projects	p. 146
Looking for Communication Opportunities	p. 146
Understanding Cultural Differences for Offshore Projects	p. 147
Modeling the Business Process	p. 147
Definition of Business Modeling	p. 148
Use Cases: A Best Practice for Capturing Business Processes and Functional Requirements	p. 149
Transitioning to System Use Cases	p. 150
When the Requirements Process Goes Wrong	p. 153
They Tell You That the Requirements Analysis Is Already Finished	p. 153
Lack of Agreement on the Business Process in the Outsourcing Organization	p. 156
Avoiding Unbounded Growth in Requirements, or Requirements "Churn"	p. 156
Multiple Contractors and "Forgotten" Stakeholders	p. 158
Summary	p. 158
What's Next?	p. 159
Chapter 10 Construction Iterations: Staying on Target	p. 161
How Can You Tell if the Project Is Ready for Construction?	p. 161
Assessing Project Readiness for Construction: Checklists	p. 162
Iteration Planning, Execution, and Assessment	p. 163
How Long Should Iterations Be?	p. 163
Determining the Content of Iterations	p. 164
Construction Phase Iteration Planning	p. 164
Assessing the Results of an Iteration	p. 166
Demonstrating the Results of an Iteration	p. 167
Regrouping After the Demonstration	p. 169
Contractual Issues Revisited	p. 169
Common Mistakes Implementing Iterative Development in the Construction Phase	p. 170
Mistake 1 Plunging into Construction Before the Project Is Ready	p. 170
Mistake 2 Iterations of an Inappropriate Length	p. 170
Mistake 3 Iterations with No Stated Purpose	p. 170
Mistake 4 Getting Derailed by Change Requests	p. 171
Mistake 5 Trying to Plan All Iterations in Detail Up Front	p. 171
Anecdotal Observations from Development Teams Using Iterative Techniques Versus Waterfall Techniques	p. 171
Summary	p. 173
What's Next?	p. 173
Chapter 11 Testing	p. 175
How Traditional Waterfall Lifecycle Models Inhibit Testing	p. 175
Testing with Iterative Lifecycle Models	p. 177
Advantages of Testing with Iterative Development	p. 178
Prerequisites for Testing with Iterative Lifecycle Models	p. 179
The Different Types of Testing	p. 182
Functional Testing	p. 183
Unit Testing	p. 184
Reliability Testing	p. 185
Performance/Stress Testing	p. 186
Other Types of Testing	p. 188
Other Best Practices for Testing	p. 188
Involve Testing Expertise During Requirements Elicitation	p. 188
Keep Testing Staff in the Loop	p. 189
Replicate the Production Environment	p. 189
Testing Is Part of the Delivered Product	p. 190
Final Thoughts and Philosophies on Staffing for the Testing Discipline	p. 190
What if a Separate Team, Perhaps Offshore, Performs the Testing?	p. 191
Testing Efforts Gone Awry	p. 192
Summary	p. 194
What's Next?	p. 195
Chapter 12 Transitioning a System into Service	p. 197
Staffing Considerations in the Transition Phase	p. 197
Project Tasks in the Transition Phase	p. 199
Deploying the IOC	p. 199
Online Help	p. 200
Installation Scripts	p. 201
Change Requests	p. 201
Data Migration	p. 202
Training	p. 207
Acceptance Testing	p. 208
Setting End-User Expectations for Production	p. 209
Identifying User Groups to Aid in Production Rollout	p. 210
Summary	p. 211
What's Next?	p. 212
Chapter 13 System Operations and Maintenance Issues	p. 213
Procuring Maintenance Services	p. 213
Operations Support	p. 213
Maintenance Support	p. 219
Summary	p. 221
What's Next?	p. 221
Chapter 14 Using Consultants Effectively	p. 223
Staff Augmentation	p. 223
Expert Consultants	p. 225
Expert Consultants from Vendors	p. 226
Expert Process Consultants from Consulting Firms	p. 228
Consultant Pricing	p. 233
Summary	p. 233
What's Next?	p. 234
Chapter 15 The Project Postmortem	p. 235
Defining the Project Postmortem	p. 235
Sources of Information for Lessons Learned	p. 236
Why Bother with a Project Postmortem?	p. 237
Instilling Lessons Learned into the Organization's Memory	p. 239
Project Management Forums	p. 239
Examples of Trends from the Configuration Management Discipline	p. 240
Defect Trends on Iterative Projects	p. 242
Trends in the Requirements Management Discipline	p. 243
Collecting the Project Data	p. 245
(Mis)Using Metrics Data	p. 245
Summary	p. 245
Appendix A Common Mistakes Utilizing RUP	p. 247
Mistake 1 Iterations of Inappropriate Length	p. 247
Mistake 2 Iterations with No Clear Goal	p. 248
Mistake 3 Choosing the Wrong Project for Your First Experience with the RUP	p. 249
Mistake 4 Failing to Integrate Change Requests into Iterations	p. 250
Mistake 5 Failing to Tailor the RUP Appropriately	p. 250
Mistake 6 Failing to Test Properly During the Iteration	p. 251
Mistake 7 Assuming You Can Implement the RUP Perfectly the First Time	p. 251
Appendix B Implementing a Two-Stage Procurement Process	p. 253
Cultural Changes Needed	p. 253
Contract Types	p. 254
Who Bids on the Second Phase?	p. 255
What Artifacts Should Be Produced and Made Available During the First Phase?	p. 256
Glossary	p. 256
Vision Statement	p. 256
Software Architecture Document	p. 256
Set of Business and System Use Cases	p. 256
UML Models	p. 256
Set of Supplementary Requirements	p. 256
Executables Produced by Iterations	p. 257
List of Risks and Risk History	p. 257
Other Information	p. 257
Summary	p. 257
Glossary	p. 259
Bibliography	p. 267
Index	p. 271

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Table of Contents