Question

Understanding the Project Management Methodologies

The project methodology is determined by the type of organization and the desired outcomes, such as sequential versus iterative. As the project manager, it is your responsibility to determine what project methodology is best suited for a project.

For this discussion, evaluate two project methodologies and include the following in your post:

• Definition of the methodology.
• Phases of the methodology.
• Required tools, techniques, and documents used in each phase.
• Expected outcomes of each phase.

Answer 1

Discussion:

There are various project management methodologies that are generally used to develop the software product. And a project manager is completely responsible to study each methodology and identify the correct development model that best suites the project.

Each and every process has its own strengths and weaknesses. The management technique which we choose is completely dependent on the type of project.There are various other things that one must look at before choosing a management process.

One must evaluate the project, organization, team, stakeholders and tools needed in the project etc...

Some of the major project management methodologies are as shown below.

• Water fall model
• Critical path method(CPM)
• Hybrid approach
• Scrum methodology
• Integrated project management
• Critical chain project management(CCPM)
• Agile model

Methodologies:

Let us now discuss the most important two methodologies water fall model which is the basic model for all the other methodologies and the agile model which is the latest and the most recently being used model.

Waterfall model:

The waterfall model is the most classic model that is used in software development life cycle with linear and sequential approach.

In the waterfall model, the entire process is divided and categorized into different phases and each phase should be completed before the further next phases can begin.

The outcome of one phase is passed on to the next phase as the input.The development process that is followed here is sequential in which progress is observed as flowing downwards which seems like a waterfall and hence the name.

Phases:

There are basically the following phases in the waterfall model.

• Requirement analysis
• Design
• Implementation
• Integration and testing
• Deployment
• Maintainence

Tools, Techniques, documents used and outcomes of each phase:

Requirement analysis:

This is the first phase of water fall model. This phase generally includes gathering the requirements from the user and analyzing what needs to be done in the further phases.

The specifications of the inputs and the outputs that needs to be produces are identified and recorded here which are used in the further phases.

Design:

With the help of the requirement specifications document, the requirements are used and the design is prepared. The system design plays a key role in the development process.

It helps in identifying and designing the architecture of the product.

Implementation:

With the inputs that are obtained from the previous stage, the product is developed in small programs called modules. There are various modules that are developed in this phase.

These modules are passed on as the input to the next phase in which they are further processed.

Integration and testing:

The various modules that are developed in the previous phase are obtained as the input to this phase.

Each module is tested here independently and these modules are combined and integrated into a system. After integration, the software needs to be tested to find if there are any errors in the product developed.

Deployment:

As soon as the product is tested, the developed product is released into the market or deployed into the working environment of the client or customer.

Maintenance:

This is the final phase of the management methodology. This phase is observed after deployment of the product into the market. This is used to modify and implement some changes into the product if needed. These modifications might need to be done due to the requests of the customer.

In some cases, the changes needs to be done to improve the performance.

Agile methodology:

The Agile is a software development methodology that arised due to the failure of water fall model. The complex and larger projects cannot be maintained by water fall model.

The methodology that is used in the agile is completely opposite to that used in the water fall model.

Agile process is a method that uses the continuous iteration of the development and testing as long as the the development cycle continues to occur.

Phases:

There are basically six phases in the agile method:

• Concept
• Inception
• Construction/ Iteration
• Release the iteration into production
• Production and ongoing support
• Retirement

Tools, Techniques, documents used and outcomes of each phase:

Concept:

This is the first phase of agile methodology. The team identifies the scope of the project and prioritizes the tasks. For each concept, the team analyzes the time and resources needed to complete it.

Inception:

In this phase, the team members discuss with the stakeholders and identify the requirements and record them.

The team generally used the UML diagarms or flow diagrams here to understand how the system must function. The team members are allocated with resources that are needed.

Construction/ Iteration:

As soon as the requirements are obtained from the stakeholders, the development process and the work begins. The developers begins the process of development with their first iteration.

Being the first iteration, the product that is built and obtained after the first iteration has the minimum functionality. The entire product is developed in various sprints.

The software development team works and develops the product based on the requirements that are defined for the current iteration and considers the feedback obtained.

Release the iteration into production:

In this phase, there are various activities that are performed. First we test the product obtained. we check the functionality and identify the errors.

Correction of defects if present is done.

We finalize the product and the user documentation is prepared.We use UML diagrams that helps us in understanding the flow. We release the iteration into production.

Production and ongoing support:

After the iteration is released, the support is provided. We show the users and the customers how to run and use the product.

This phase generally ends when the support being provided to customers stops.

Retirement:

This includes end of life activities. When the system needs to be migrated to another or when we need upgradation to new product, this phase occurs.

During this phase, we remove the release from the production, when we want to replace it with new release.

This occurs when the system or the product becomes contrary to the business process that is being followed.

Agile iteration workflow:

The workflow that occurs during the iteration can be as follows.

• Requirements : The requirements for the current iteration are identified here using the sprint backlog, feedback from stakeholders etc..
• Development : Based on the gathered requirements, the product is developed.
• Testing : The product built in the iteration is tested for flaws and errors.
• Delivery : The production developed in the current iteration is integrated with the previous ones and delivered.
• Feedback : The feedback is collected from the stakeholders after the delivery and it is used in the next iteration of the development.

There are tools and techniques like continuous integration, pair programming, automation testing, design patterns, code refactoring etc.. are used in the agile methodology.