LM14 (TEXT & PP) - 6 STARRED

Software projects are becoming ever larger and more complex, which has led to a new way of developing projects: through _____________ teams.

cooperative

The decision-making process would be much better, easier, and faster if the project management activities and management actions were also conducted by using a ___________ approach.

team

T/F: All the stakeholders of a software project need to be included in the definition of the software project “team.”

TRUE

In undertaking a team management approach, one must also consider the software project organization as a whole, in which people are divided into different groups by ______ and _________.

tasks and expertise

In such a software project organizational structure, there are typically specialized subgroups, such as:

The design or testing teams, and each of these subgroups is headed by a team leader.

Subgroup team leaders are analogous to _______ on sports teams.

“player-coaches”

For projects to be team-managed, a special team management group, called a _____________, needs to be created.

Release Management Council

The Release Management Council (RMC) is created from: 

The sponsoring organization (e.g., executive management) and the project stakeholders.

The members of the RMC must understand two important complementary principles:

responsibility and authority.

The team management approach has very little chance of success if one person is given all the responsibility for the software project but is given ___________ to impose decisions.

no authority

A person who has all the authority but shoulders no responsibility would most likely _______ that power.

abuse

Define Responsibility

The team members’ accountability for project success or failure. That is, the group members must view the success of the project as a team goal.

Define Authority

The power to make (or participate in the making of) decisions so as to achieve the team goals. These decisions must lead to actions.

Thus, for any person to bear a certain amount of responsibility, that individual must be given __________ authority to take actions based on the monitored project status.

commensurate

Release Management Council (RMC) is just a name given to a team of people, including the software project manager, who are charged with:

Setting goals and policy, shepherding the project, ensuring the best decisions are made on a timely basis, and making appropriate adjustments as necessary.

T/F: The Release Management Council (RMC) provides the project manager an explicitly designated and recognized support mechanism. It allows the project manager to formally practice team management.

TRUE

Define Release Management Council (RMC)

A group of project-related people from all areas of software development and support, including the software project manager, who are given the responsibility and authority to set goals, make decisions, take actions, and guide the project to its successful completion and product release.

Typically, the members of the council are team leaders who represent the following project activity areas:

• Customer requirements

• Design and architecture

• Implementation + Development

• Tools, techniques, and equipment support

• Testing

• Library and configuration management

• Quality Assurance

• Customer Support

• Finance

• Personnel

• Purchasing

With the popularity of component-based development, _________ also plays a vital role in many projects.

purchasing

The representative from customer support, may join the RMC when the _______ phase of the project begins.

testing

If the project is large enough, each Release Management Council (RMC) member may be the:

team manager of each of the project’s subgroups

During the early stages of _______ and ______, representatives from the personnel and finance groups may play vital roles in the council.

planning and organizing

T/F: The Release Management Council (RMC) expands in size and in membership as the project enters the active performing phase and management enters the monitoring phase.

TRUE

RMC members need to be chosen carefully, and their task descriptions should be:

part of the members’ normal personal performance plans.

RMC members must have:

• A desire for taking on issues beyond their own specialized fields of expertise.

• Possess excellent communication and negotiation skills.

The ______ of operation of a project utilizing the release management approach is that of shared responsibility and shared authority.

mode

Release Management Council (RMC) members are also the _______ and _______ attendees of the regular project status meetings.

stable, constant

RMC members participate in all the following activities:

• Sharing the data and information

• Analyzing and evaluating the information

• Making decisions and resolving problems

• Communicating the information

• Coordinating their own groups’ activities with other groups

For the regular project status meetings or any subsequent off-line meetings, the ideal situations are:

face-to-face, in physically collocated meetings.

The Release Management Council (RMC) covers more than just the status of the project, however; it is also involved in:

The planning, organizing, solution, and change decisions.

Minutes for each Release Management Council (RMC) meeting should be:

• Promptly compiled + sent to RMC members.

• Summarize the project’s current status and serve as a prompter to follow up on all open issues.

• Provide an audit trail of the project status and decision-making process.

What should be one of the items reviewed at the beginning of each Release Management Council (RMC) meeting?

The status of open issues from the past meeting.

If the software project manager sees a particular item that is discussed repeatedly without any resolution, then it signals that the problem should be:

decomposed into smaller subproblems so that specific actions can be taken to resolve the subproblems.

Release Management Council (RMC) meetings should follow an agenda, preferably a ______ one.

fixed

If the agenda is fixed, then it probably does not need to be:

circulated in advance.

The agenda should include the following topics:

• A status on unresolved items

• General inputs from the specialized areas represented by the RMC.

• Encompass status of risk items

• New, but regular, tracking data collected for this period by attribute (schedule, cost, etc)

• Discussion and scheduling of any off-line meetings

• A generation of status and follow-up on open items.

One key role that the Release Management Council (RMC) performs is to decide on the:

relative state of the product’s or project’s conclusion prior to the actual release.

What signs make the decision to release a software artifact more difficult?

• Constant and erratic deviations from the plan, though each problem is resolved.

• Tracking to plan but with a continuous and widening deviation from the original plan.

• A sudden change just prior to release.

If there are reasons to believe that the product is not ready, then the council must hold the product release back. The Release Management Council (RMC) has several options that are available to it in this difficult situation; these options vary and include the following:

• Flat-out delay with no release to customers

• Release parts of the product, delaying the problem areas until fixed

• Release the product to a small, controlled group

• Release the product to everyone, but establish superb customer support

For team management to succeed, the members of the software project team must exercise both of the following traits:

• Obtain authority to make decisions and take actions

• Accept responsibility for the outcome of the project

A management structure often utilized in software projects is the:

Release Management Council

The members of RMC are chosen from:

the various stakeholders of the software project; customers may be represented on the council either directly or by personnel from the organization’s requirements and support groups.

The Release Management Council (RMC) participates in:

monitoring the entire project, adjusting the project, and makes the final decision about releasing the product or project to customers.

In situations where the established project goals are all met, the decision is a very easy one. When some of the goals are not met, however, it will require:

a concerted effort by the RMC to develop:

1. potential options

2. assess the risks

3. make the adjustment decision

4. take the necessary follow-up actions.

Software projects are often large and complex and require:

–multiple skills

–more time

–more team work

___________ and ________________ are becoming more complex and confusing because of the amount of overlaps/dependencies of phases, people, organizations, departments, etc.

monitoring, making adjustments

Larger, complex projects have a higher risk of making mistakes under fire, especially for ________ actions.

Unplanned

It is best if adjustments are made and actions are taken using a ______________ approach.

team management

A team management approach includes:

–sharing responsibility

–sharing authority

–leveraging diverse resources

For projects to be team-managed, a special team management group, called a ______________, needs to be created.

Release Management Council

A Release Management Council (RMC) is a group of project-related people from _________ of software development and support.

all areas

T/F: The RMC is meant to be physically co-located, but may be remote (with proper team tools).

TRUE

T/F: The RMC conducts a formal management review of the project status and makes joint decisions on actions.

TRUE

RMC members should be:

– Full-time members who participate in the regular project status meetings.

– Exempt from full-time development or other assignment workloads.

The RMC leadership should be:

A person who guides and leads the group; is usually a midlevel manager or an experienced project manager.

RMC meetings should be:

–inclusive

–mandatory

–follow an agenda

How often are RMC meetings conducted?

daily, weekly, bi-monthly

The RMC must have authority to:

move resources, schedules, functionality, and escalate issues.

The approach in which some of the project management activities and tasks are done by members of the team who do the work.

The Team Management approach.

This document should summarize the project’s current status and serve as a prompter to follow up on all open issues. 

RMC Minutes