In the last decades Information Technology (IT) has become vital for every company. And, a company not using IT would be unimaginable today. Primarily, IT was merely used for accelerating existent processes. Mostly standardised applications have been deployed to standard areas in companies (for example accounting software). Today, IT is an important part for modelling all types of business processes, not only the standardised processes. Furthermore, to gain competitive advantages, mere standard software is not suitable anymore. This is because standard software can not support the requirements of individualised processes, necessary for doing business better than the competitor. Therefore, either standard software is customised for supporting individualised processes or a company decides developing individualised software from the scratch.
Often companies decide to develop individualised software on their own because of the following three reasons: First, the process knowledge is important for gaining competitive advantages and this confidential information must kept inside the company. Second, employees within the organisation have the best process knowledge. Effective transfer of process knowledge to the IT-department can be guaranteed. Third, customising standard software needs much external expertise which is in general expensive.
Often, software development projects have budgets of several million Euros and can cause an even higher reduction of costs. Thus, process and software development has become one of the most important aspects for many IT-departments in today’s companies.
However, managing software developing projects is not an easy task. Many software developing projects are not on time and budget. An analysis of the Standish Group shows that only 26% of all software projects are completed on time and on budget and can provide the predefined functions. On the other hand, excellent developers with sophisticated approaches can increase productivity by ten to twenty times. (cf. Moll 2004) Consequently, the potential of cost reduction is very high. In future, companies have to deploy new information systems more effectively than today. Otherwise companies can not sustain competitive in faster changing markets.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- Example project
- Project organisation
- Problem definition
- Introduction to software development
- The nature of software
- Development process
- Waterfall Model
- V – Model
- Agile Software Development
- General problems of software development
- Goal of the thesis
- Management
- General Management
- Strategy
- Strategic navigation system
- Adaption for software projects
- Six key values
- Structure
- Culture
- Effective Management
- Principles
- Focusing on results
- Contribution to the whole
- Concentration on a few things
- Utilising strengths
- Trust
- Positive thinking
- Tasks
- Managing objectives
- Organising
- Decision-making
- Supervising
- Developing People
- Tools
- Meetings
- Documents
- Job design and assignment control
- Effective working methods
- Budget and budgeting
- Performance appraisal
- Systematic waste disposal
- Applicability
- Estimations
- Knowledge management
- Innovation management
- Team
- Viable System Model
- Application to software development
- System Five: Normative Tasks
- System Four: Strategic Tasks
- System Three: Managing Operational Tasks
- System Two: Coordination
- System One: Business analysis, Development
- Applicability
- X-Teams
- Application to software development
- External activity
- Extensive ties
- Expandable tiers
- Flexible membership
- Mechanisms for execution
- X-Teams compared to VSM
- Applicability
- Customer
- Customer involvement
- Eliciting requirements
- Customer Reviews
- Testing
- Design and modelling
- Clear business objectives
- Change management
- Support of senior management
- Evaluation
- Approach
- Rating
- Management
- General Management
- Effective Management
- Team
- The Viable System Model
- X-Team
- Customer
- Customer involvement
- Clear business objectives
- Change management
- Support of senior management
- Results
- Conclusions
- Possible weaknesses of evaluation
- Possible project improvements
- References
- Appendix A – Evaluation of the example ERP project
- The importance of a holistic approach to software management, considering factors beyond traditional development processes and project management.
- The significance of stakeholder involvement, including management, team, and customer, in achieving project success.
- The need for effective communication and collaboration among stakeholders to ensure clear objectives, shared understanding, and successful project outcomes.
- The importance of adapting management practices and team structures to address the unique challenges of software development in a dynamic environment.
- The role of innovation and knowledge management in achieving sustained project success and ensuring competitiveness in the evolving software landscape.
- Introduction: Provides an overview of the increasing importance of IT in business and introduces the example ERP project used for analysis throughout the thesis.
- Problem Definition: Discusses the challenges faced by software development projects, including inaccurate estimations, difficult requirement definition, and complex team management.
- Management: Explores general management principles and effective management practices, drawing on the models of Fredmund Malik and Aloys Gälweiler.
- Team: Examines the functions and dynamics of software development teams, using the Viable System Model and X-Team theory to analyze organizational structure and communication.
- Customer: Highlights the crucial role of customer involvement in software development, emphasizing the importance of eliciting requirements, reviewing designs, and testing the software.
- Evaluation: Evaluates the example ERP project using the criteria developed in the previous chapters, providing a detailed assessment of management, team, and customer aspects.
- Conclusions: Summarizes the key findings of the evaluation, identifying possible weaknesses in the analysis and suggesting areas for project improvement.
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
The thesis aims to define effective software management beyond the scope of development processes and project management. It analyzes key success factors for software development projects by examining the roles of stakeholders: management, team, and customer.
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The thesis focuses on software project management, emphasizing stakeholder involvement, effective management practices, team dynamics, and customer collaboration. Key concepts include general management principles, strategic navigation systems, Viable System Model, X-Teams, agile software development, requirements elicitation, change management, and innovation management.
- Quote paper
- Peter Hirschbichler (Author), 2008, Managing software developing projects, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/165309
