I am having some issues with planning and tracking software projects.
Since I was used to work according to waterfall with predictable scope and now we are developing software in the field of computer vision but we have annual project to budget and estimate I am still trying to find a good way to plan concrete enogh to be able to detect critical deviations but not detailed enough to avoid re-planning every week.
By the way I am combining MS project for the initial highlevel plan and JIRA for the detailed plan following the rolling wave principle.
How do you manage to plan sw projects without getting lost in your plan?
You can fix time & cost at a reasonable (based on analogous/top-down estimating or expert judgment) level and then let scope (detailed requirements really) be your variable on such projects.
The key is to do "enough" planning, architecture & design exploration & risk identification to ensure that your customer receives value within those time & cost constraints.
Your approach of using a combination of tools is reasonable - senior leadership might want to see a high-level milestone-based schedule which MSP can produce well but the specifics around your backlog and what is planned for a given release & its sprints can be managed and tracked in JIRA.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
You have to take into account this: the method you will use will impact in your plan. The method will have a life cycle included and you have to adjust the plan to the life cycle. If you are using a method based on adaptive life cycle model (what people usually name "agile") then you have to adjust some things. Mainly the way of thinking. Let me give you my personal experience. In my actual work place we have different life cycle and methods defined. One of them is Scrum. To use a MS Project schedule with Scrum has no sense. But I did not convince corporate audit people about that. Then, my team use Scrum and they send to me some data that I put on MS Project to deliver the information to corporate audit. Take my sense? Saving Changes...
Kiron's suggestion is good as long as the client understands well the way of working.
In my experience scope change is not a problem as long as the minimal scope requirements can still be delivered.
@ kiron: how do you manage client's expectations when you don't fix the scope? Saving Changes...
Fully support the comment/ advice from Sergio that in reality you still need in such project scenarios a "translator" towards corporate level reporting.
Francisco, to manage client expectations you work closely together with him on a regular basis in short time-boxed iterations. Ideally, every 2-4 weeks you demonstrate the results in a sprint review. By doing this you constantly discuss and adjust scope. In an adaptive environment you are working in, the client understand his own scope better once he sees something tangible. Saving Changes...
