Management

I hope this section will give you an understanding of the management and technology issues, including risks and common pitfalls, involved in the design and construction of software systems.

Issues in Managing TEchnology Projects

Business Case

A business case captures the reasoning for initiating a project or task. It is often presented in a well-structured written document, but may also come in the form of a short verbal agreement or presentation. The logic of the business case is that, whenever resources such as money or effort are consumed, they should be in support of a specific business need.

If you have an idea for a game or other software project, you need to ask:

• Who wants this?

• How much will they spend

• Can it scale?

• Is it possible to generate recurring revenue

If all of these look favourable, then it may be worth looking in more detail at:

• How much may it cost to develop?

• What timeframe is involved

• are there competitors or alternatives that might threaten our market share?

Taking a holistic view of the entire business model, an excellent tool is the Business Model Canvas.

How can we measure viability and feasibility?

What is ‘feasibility,’ and what does it entail to get a feasibility study of a project? Likewise, what is ‘viability,’ and how can one determine if a project is viable or not? Let us define what these words mean and how they can be done.

‘Feasibility’ is a study that aims at uncovering the strengths and weaknesses of an existing business or a proposed business venture. It takes into consideration the opportunities offered by the environment, its resources, and the subsequent success of the venture. It should include the description of the product or service, its historical background, operational details, financial data and accounting statements, legal and tax requirements, and its policies on management and marketing research.

‘Viability,’ on the other hand, is the study or an investigation of the existing business or proposed venture’s sustainability. It determines whether the proposal should be approved or not. It involves dealing with strategies on how to make the business grow and last. Business growth is an important aspect of viability. How long a business will last is determined by its viability, and it can be seen in the profits that the business has made for a certain period. Good profit means a better chance at success for the business.

One tool for this is the Force Field Analysis and another is Cost Benefit analysis. These help to evaluate if a project is worth doing.

Tracking Time

A Gannt Chart is one way to track all of the elements of a project- each task can be assigned to a person, and times, dependencies etc. can be mapped visually into a chart as shown here.

System Requirements

Poorly defined system requirements is one of the leading causes for software project failure, with a massive price tag

One reason is poor communication among customers, developers, and users. If only there were agile methods to save us from these terrible consequences of poor planning and communication.