Project Management

AbstractThis article is about software engineering project management, the universality of a five‐element management model, and the application of the five‐element model to software engineering project management.Management involves the activities undertaken by one or more persons for the purpose of planning and controlling the activities of others in order to achieve objectives that could not be achieved by the others acting alone. The five‐element management model categorizes management functions into planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.Project management is a system of management procedures, practices, and know‐how needed to manage a project successfully. Know‐how, in this case, means the skill, background, and experience required to apply knowledge to practical situations.Software engineering projects are frequently part of larger, more comprehensive projects that include equipment (hardware), facilities, personnel, and procedures, as well as software. Examples include aircraft systems, accounting systems, radar systems, inventory control systems, and railroad switching systems. These system engineering projects are typically managed by one or more system project managers (sometimes calledprogram managers) who manage projects composed of engineers, experts in the field of the application, scientific specialists, programmers, support personnel, and others. If the software to be delivered is a “stand‐alone” software system (a system that does not involve development of other nonsoftware components) the software engineering project manager may be called thesystem project manager.The five‐element management model comes from management science. It is a universal model in the sense that management performs the same functions (planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling) regardless of position in the organization or the enterprise managed. management functions are characteristic duties of managers; management practices, methods, activities, and tasks are particular to the enterprise or job managed.The universality of this management model allows us to apply it to software engineering project management.This article describes a comprehensive set of software engineering project management functions, activities, and tasks that should be undertaken by any manager who is assigned the responsibility of managing a software engineering project. It covers the management functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling software projects and the detailed activities and specific tasks of project management that are necessary to successfully manage a software engineering project. The universal functions of management are decomposed into a detailed list of management activities.