LM12 (CH 11) - TEXT

T/F: Software projects are becoming so large and complex that a team effort is now considered essential for a project’s success.

TRUE

To achieve the proper balance, it is best to not overwhelm the team. How do we prevent that?

1. Pick three or four measurements to share with team members.

2. Make team aware of risks status regardless of category (keeping high-risk items for non-management).

When picking three or four measurements to share with team members. What four would be a good starter set?

•Schedule status

•Functional completeness status

•Quality status

•Budget status

When determining how information should be portrayed, what should be considered?

The project and the goal to be achieved from sharing data.

One should use a _________ to share data if the goal is to make a single impression because it is very difficult to convey a large amount of data in words.

graphical form

Information updates should occur when if the overall project schedule is brief?

In short intervals—perhaps only a few months.

Who should information reach?

All intended recipients. Thus it should be posted, electronically or otherwise, where all intended recipients can easily access and view it.

Each type of information that is monitored needs to be viewed and analyzed from a ________ and ___________ perspective.

presentation, communication

Besides offering a pictorial representation of information, the software project managers may need to:

Summarize in words the key message that the recipient should come away with.

What types of formats are good for time-related status?

tabular formats, bar charts

Which format is well suited for monitoring and tracking a list of major events for the management team members and desktop review?

tabular formats

A project __________ representation, utilizing a tabular form, may be appropriate for this type of detailed monitoring and reporting on a regular daily, weekly, or semi-monthly basis.

schedule

T/F: Mere electronic posting of schedule status is not the same as communicating.

TRUE; if all activities are moving along smoothly according to the target schedule, then the message should give that news; Ii any item needs special attention, then the message to the recipients should highlight that point.

Additional summary message from the software project managers to the other key personnel accomplishes two important goals:

1. The software project managers must formulate a quick overall assessment themselves so as to write the summary message.

2. The recipients of the message will better understand the managers’ interpretation of the data and the significance of the data reported.

In addition to providing summaries along with reports, what should managers do?

Solicit comments from the recipients of the on-line reports. A minimal response of acknowledging the receipt of the status data should be expected, even if no comment is attached.

T/F: The software project managers should establish communication of acknowledgement of receipt of on-line reports as a “rule” with their key project team personnel.

TRUE

For communicating time-related information to a broader audience, a detailed tabular form may not be suitable because:

it sometimes requires careful reading of the details.

For communicating time-related information to a broader audience, what format should be used?

Bar charts

Define bar chart.

A chart in which data values are represented with graphical bars.

How often is a bar-chart updated?

weekly

How is the bar-chart format helpful?

• Gives a global view of the status of project activities over time.

• Provides a natural way to represent the activity schedule and partial / full functional completeness.

• May be used to show a variety of activities.

What format is best for communicating control-related status?

Control charts

_________ are especially good for communicating project status to a large group of people because of their graphical form and the ease with which one can spot data values that fall outside the control limits.

Control charts

T/F: One may view monitoring the project status as relating current information to planned information.

TRUE

Besides showing current vs planned information, what else can control charts monitor?

To monitor other normalized information, such as productivity-related data.

• When a data value falls within the limits, then the project is progressing according to plan.

• If a data value falls outside the limits, then some effort needs to be spent on checking out the cause of the outlier.

A _______ is often employed to show the proportion of different categories.

Pie chart

Define Pie Chart

A technique for graphically representing the proportions of different categories of data values.

A __________ is another way to show proportional information by categories.

Histogram

Define Histogram.

A technique for graphically representing frequency counts of data values via a bar chart.

Define Pareto Diagram

Pareto diagram A histogram modified to show a frequency count of data values in either ascending or descending order.

T/F: A Pareto Diagram is named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto.

TRUE

What are some newer data representations?

Kiviat Diagram, Tree Map

T/F: The Kiviat diagram provides a visual comparison of multiple attributes

TRUE

Define Tree Map

A method in which to display hierarchial, tree-structured data in nested rectangles. The size of the rectangles provides a comparison of the attribute value of interest.

T/F: Constant, regular representation and communication of software project status will not only serve the project monitoring phase well, but will prepare the team for any needed adjustments.

TRUE

T/F: The importance of presenting and communicating the information gathered from software projects cannot be emphasized.

FALSE

The specific form of data representation and communication chosen will depend on the:

Type of project, the intent of the data representation, and the audience.

Benefit of Tabular Forms

To convey a lot of project detail.

Benefit of Bar Charts

To show a global view.

Benefit of Control Charts

To highlight trends and bounds.

Benefit of Pie Charts

To show relative and proportional information.

Benefit of Histograms

To show relative comparisons.

Benefit of Kiviat Diagrams

To show multiple attributes.

Benefit of Tree Maps

To show hierarchially organized data.

The manager must also consider the frequency in which it is presented. Typically, information should be presented on a regular basis such as:

bi-weekly, weekly, or even daily.

The type of information presented to the team and the frequency of the reporting should be determined by the manager on a:

project-by-project basis.

Detailed status reports like tabular formats may be best presented in ________________ format. Why?

electronic; it is available for the team members to browse on their own time.

T/F: It is often effective to present the data in a way that distinguishes the outliers or potential problems from what is expected or the norm. 

TRUE.