The University of British Columbia

3 Credits

CPEN 523

Advanced software project planning. Estimation of cost and value. Risk management. Release planning. Productivity and quality metrics. Management of software assets, contracts, project portfolio and distributed projects. Personnel, legal and ethical issues. Applicable standards and tools. 

Course Objective

We want students to be able to distinguish various types of software projects, to select or adapt a lifecycle adapted to the project at hand, to estimate efforts and cost, to track progress on various fronts: time, risks, deliveries, etc., assess quality, both of the product and the process, understand the key issues in managing people and teams, and be able to reflect on their own projects to improve over time their management practice. They also need to understand ethical and legal issues, as well as some of the difficulties communication and coordination related to distance or cultural difference in global software projects, as these are rapidly becoming dominant model.

Course Outline

• Introduction
• A conceptual model of software development
• Contexts of software development
• Process and management frameworks & standards
• Managing risks
• Managing time: macro-level
• Managing time: micro-level
• Managing quality
• Managing objectives and scope
• Managing complexity
• Managing changes
• Managing software assets
• Managing software products
• Managing people: individual level
• Managing people: team level
• Managing external stakeholders
• Managing the software process
• Software development governance
• Very large projects, programs, and project portfolios

Textbooks

Bob Hughes & Mike Cotterell, Software Project Management 5th edition, 2008 McGraw-Hill, UK